She Ain't You

Being in Evgeni’s arms again was the best feeling to calm down the stress I was feeling, he invited me to sleep over and so I told Autumn to go home. I stayed close to him as we made our way through the corridors of the arena, we didn’t talk very much because we both were just happy to be together again.

“I have something show you” Geno whispers, then steps in front of me and takes both of my hands, backs up and glances into Mario’s office.

“What?” I say, laughing and Geno smirks at me before, taking my hair and twirling me around to face inside the office.

Inside was a big desk, possibly mahogany, and Mario sat at it, with a small puppy on his lap. I think the insides of me melted as my instincts shaded my brain.

“You didn’t” I say, looking at Geno and he nods. “You adopted one of those stray dogs?”

The puppy proudly jumps off Mario, prances it’s way over to us and it hesitates when I bend down to pick it up. It’s soft fur tickles my skin, and I melt even more when it places it’s paws on my collar bone.

“He too cute to leave” Geno says, and Mario laughs.

“Glad my wife wasn’t there then” Mario says, and walks up to us, petting the dog and sliding passed up. “Glad to have you back G”

“Glad to be back, Mario” Evgeni says and I smile. “Home?”

“Yeah, let’s go home”

I carry the puppy to Geno’s car, while he carries his gym bag and leads me to his car. The puppy sits on my lap, while we get on the freeway and I play with his ears. My mind wanders about how I’m going to tell Geno about the job offer, how he was even going to take it and if his reaction was going to affect my decision when I do make it.

We ended up getting stuck in traffic, it was rush hour and I started to feel a bit carsick from the stopping and going.

“You okay?” Evgeni asked and shook my head.

“Do you have any water?” I ask, and he nods, he holds his finger up in a one second motion and then waits till with stop to turn and reach for a bottle. I take a sip, breathing through my nose. Geno pats his lap, calling the puppy over and which it obeys. “Just the stopping and going isn’t doing good for the motion sickness problem I have”

“I remember team boat ride” Geno says with a grin on his face.

“Shut up!” I say, groaning and lying my head back. “I have to get my jacket off”

I take my seat belt off, Geno helps me take it off and throws it in the back. He then rubs my back, one hand on the steering wheel and makes sure I feel okay. When my body jolts forward as I gag back the release, that get Geno going and he takes every chance he can get to get off the highway.

We ended up taking the long way home, but it did make me feel a bit better. We pulled up the big driveway of Geno’s house, he parks in the garage and quickly guides the dog inside the house. He then grabs his gym bag, I start to get out but Evgeni quickly walks over and curves his arm around my back.

He picks me up, bridal style, making me laugh and he takes me into the house. Geno’s house is big, but sensible and to be honest, this has always been my dream home and I’m not even sure if it’s just because Geno lives in it.

Geno takes me up to grand staircase, then enters into his bedroom before dropping me onto the bed. I would be lying if I didn’t maybe expect Geno to maybe confess his love to me but now that it seems that he won’t, I feel kind of stupid. But I don’t fake a smile while grinning at him because I’m just so happy that we’re okay.

Geno slides off his t-shirt, and I slide off my jeans. We lie next to each other, tangled up and holding each other close.

“I missed you” I whispered.

“I miss too” Geno says, sighing.

“Are you upset about Sochi?” I ask, propping up my elbow. He just nods and cover his face with his hands.

“I fail Russia” He says, his voice faltering and the lump in my throat returns, realizing that he thinks this way.

“You didn’t fail anyone, you did your best and that’s all everyone asks for” I say, playing with a strand of his hair. “You can’t just blame yourself, you weren’t the only person on the team”

Geno uncovers his face with red, tear filled eyes and looks at me.

“You are an amazing hockey player! Whether someone says you are or not, you have the statistics to back it up!” I explain and Geno laughs a bit. “Don’t blame yourself”

Evgeni nods, and I wipe under his eyes.

We don’t talk anymore, my nauseaness softly causes me to fall asleep along with Geno’s hand softly running up my outer thigh.

--

When I was woken up by Geno, it was barely light outside and the clock read 6:55 am. I had slept through the whole evening. Geno and I laugh a bit, but he is showered and already dressed.

“Friends here, we watch game!” He says excitingly, I smile and hold my hands up to hug him but he hooks his arm around my back and under my knees, picking me up again, then bringing me down the stairs.

I see everyone sitting on the couch, they smile at me with cheeky grins and I hide my face in Geno’s chest. James and I smile at each other too, it was glad to know we were all okay. Steph pulls out the camera that I assume she brought from my condo and takes a picture before Geno drops me on the corner of couch. He sits beside me and the game begins.

-

The game was strongly in Canada’s favor, Jonathan getting the first goal making Steph stand up and dance for her boyfriend. When Sidney got the second, Autumn screamed so loud and we all cheered. But when Kunitz got the third goal, I just screamed ‘yes!’ so loud, people had been so critical against him and seeing him get a goal made me so happy.

When the clock ran out, us Canadian dance and smile for our country. But everyone is silent when they show Trina Crosby, but now just Trina Crosby because she was sat with a blonde, a blonde we all knew too well.

“Is that..” James trails, looking at all of us.

“Wait” Faith says, but stops.

“That can’t be” Steph states, but the more the camera is on her, the more we all start to believe it.

Everyone’s eyes are on Autumn now, she looks at the television in utter disbelief and my mind wanders back to when Sidney told her she shouldn’t come because it was unsafe. Autumn’s eyes well up with tears and that makes me so angry.

“I’m going to fucking kill him” I growl, standing up and grabbing my phone but Geno stops me.

“What you do?” He asks confused.

“Give him a piece of my damn mind” I say, holding my phone to my ear.

I knew he wouldn’t answer, but voice mail was all I wanted. When it directed me to voicemail, I tried to plan something in my head but I gave up knowing it wouldn’t come out the same.

“Congrats Sidney on the medal, I would say I’m proud but to be honest I can be proud of a lying cheatin ass hole like you. She’s sitting with your Mom buddy boy! You didn’t think the camera wouldn’t show your Mom?” I exclaim in disbelief. “I hope you’re really happy”

I hang up, grip the countertops of the kitchen and hold back tears myself. Geno grabs me and hold me into a hug.

“Why would he do that?” I ask, and Geno hums.

I hear sobbing coming from the other room, which only causes me to sob into Geno more.