Let's Run

“Tatyana, thank you for coming in and speaking with us today.” I smiled politely at the American man giving the interview.

I fell further into the couch, but managed to maintain a straight posture. My mother would kill me if she watched my interview and saw that I was slouched.

“Thank you so much for having me.” I responded.

“Well first of all let’s talk about the medal around your neck; you are the first woman to win the gold for Russia.” I beamed down at the gold medal I was sporting. I happily held it up, giving the man a better view of the medal. “How were you feeling going into the Olympics?” he asked.

“I was terrified.” I laughed. “It’s my third games and I couldn’t be more grateful to my country to have even been considered.” I pushed some of my dark hair over my shoulder. “And to win after working for it for twenty-three years wasn’t too bad either.” I grinned.

“Well I can’t be too happy for you, being an American and all.” I laughed a bit at his response. “But that performance was simply too incredible to ignore.” I blushed and crossed my legs at the knee, brushing down the skirt of my dress over my knee.

“Aside from the gold medal there’s another obvious topic of discussion.” I raised an eyebrow, curious as to what he wanted to ask me about. “You and Evgeni Malkin are close friends.”

I smiled, realizing where he was going with this. I nodded and angled my body back towards him.

“Enlighten me.”

“What do you want to know?” I laughed. “He and I grew up together. Our parents were friends and my older brother played hockey with him and his brother.” I shrugged.

“Is there anything else at all going on there?” he asked. “You two looked awfully cozy at the Canada vs. Norway game.”

I smiled and shook my head.

“Just friends then.” He stated.

I only smiled, waiting for him to continue on with further questions.

We moved on from Evgeni and began talking about my predictions for other Olympic events. He even asked me to predict who would medal in the men’s hockey competition.

I frowned and chewed on my lip, having to think about it.

“I think Canada is looking pretty good.” I stated. “I’m not an expert, though, I only pretend to know anything about hockey, but if a team has Sidney Crosby they are winners in my book.”

“Are you a fan of Sid the Kid?” he asked with a smile.

“How could I not be?” I replied.

“What are you planning on showing at the gala tonight?” he asked me a few moments later.

I shrugged, “That’s a surprise for everyone!”

After finishing my interviews for the day I was escorted back to the arena to prepare for the showcase that night. Many of the most popular figure skaters were invited to perform for the crowd in a night of fun, rather than for a competition.

“Tatyana!” I turned and smiled brightly at the other Tatyana as she hurried over to me.

We hugged tightly and began chatting animatedly about our performances. She brought me over to the other Russian figure skaters who were all gathered together, waiting to perform.

“Maksim,” I beamed up at the man and reached up to kiss his cheek. He chuckled and kissed me back.

We were soon surrounded by all of our fellow figure skaters. The group all chattered loudly and excitedly. I responded to everyone who spoke to me and took many pictures with everyone.

“Tatyana!” I hugged Adelina Sotnikova as she hurried over to my side.

I’d been helping Adelina for the last few years with her skating so that she could take my place at the next Olympics and become Russia’s new Golden Girl. She’d done very well in the free skate competition and I was super proud of her.

Soon enough it was my turn to skate. I stepped out onto the ice and smiled widely at the crowd and the applause I received. I skated over to the center of the ice and waited for the music to start. My smile widened when the opening notes of “What Makes You Beautiful” by One Direction began to play and everyone in the arena went wild. I had a huge soft spot for One Direction, so it was only fitting for me to skate to something by them at the gala.

I blocked out the noise as I always did when I was performing and ended the performance somewhere near where I started with my arms up in the air. I laughed and waved happily at the audience. I skated over where I knew my family and the Malkins were sitting and blew them kisses. I skated over to a piece of clothing that had been thrown down onto the ice and laughed when I saw a black hockey jersey. I lifted it up and raised an eyebrow, but smirked and put it on anyway. I waved as I skated over to the side and exited the ice with the Penguins jersey covering most of my body.

At the finale I skated out onto the ice with everyone else. Towards the end we all gathered together in a line. The middle of the line opened up and I skated out of it, waving my hand in a goodbye to the crowd. I blew kisses and smiled, even though there were tears streaming down my face.

Up until that moment I had been able to ignore the fact that I was actually finished with competitive figure skating forever. It was hard to say goodbye to something I’d been doing practically my entire life.

“Ana! Ana! Ana!” my smile widened at the chants coming from the crowd. I shook my head and then bowed for the final time.

My family bombarded me with hugs and congratulations after the gala. I laughed and hugged Elena as she sobbed on my shoulder. She was possibly more upset about my retirement than I was.

“You were amazing, my flower.” I smiled brightly at Vladimir and hugged him tightly. “We are so proud of you.” he whispered to me as he leaned down and kissed my forehead.

He passed me on to Natalia, who babbled excitedly about my performance and asked if I was sure about the retirement because I could surely get another gold. I laughed and only hugged her back, not bothering with the argument about my retirement again. Natalia and my mother had been arguing light heartedly lately about whether I should retire or not. My mother believed I should stop skating and start a family. Natalia believed I had all of the time in the world to do that.

“Ana.” I smiled up at Denis and hugged him. He grinned and messed my hair a little and then stepped over to join my parents, Natalia, Vladimir, Viktor, and Elena.

“Hi you.” I smiled up at Evgeni tenderly. Ever since their elimination, I’d been walking on eggshells around him and any of the other Russian hockey players.

He smiled back and pulled me into him. He hugged me tightly and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. I saw a flash from the corner of my eye and turned with an eyebrow raised at my sister who only grinned back at me and put her phone back into her pocket.

“Are you going tomorrow?” I asked him.

The final game for the gold medal was the next day.

He nodded.

“I want to see the guys get the gold. I’m glad it’s them if it couldn’t be us.” he replied.

I nodded, happy that he was able to cheer for his teammates as their country fought for the gold for the second games in a row.

“Will you come with me?” he asked.

“Of course.” I replied as he slid his arm over my shoulders and walked with me behind my sister out of the arena.

“We’re headed back to the hotel.” My mother leaned forward and kissed my cheek. I kissed her back and then moved on to say goodbye to the rest of my family while my mother kissed Evgeni.

“See you both tomorrow at the closing ceremony!” my father waved as they all crammed themselves into my parents’ SUV.

Together, Evgeni and I walked over to one of the shuttles that the athletes used to move in between the competitions and the village. We spent the short ride to the village discussing the outcome of the hockey game tomorrow. We both had complete faith in the Canadian team.

When we got to the village we decided to hang out in Evgeni’s room because it was sure to be quieter. Most of the other guys on the team had already traveled back to America if they were in the NHL to practice with their teams or back to wherever they played. Evgeni only stayed behind to watch me at the gala and his teammates at the gold medal game. The figure skaters were going to be up all night celebrating.

I fell back onto Evgeni’s bed with a sigh and kicked my legs.

“I’m tired.” I whined impishly.

He laughed and scooted onto the bed beside me on his stomach.

“Where are you going to live in Pittsburgh?” he asked a few silent moments later.

I glanced over at him and shrugged. I hadn’t really thought about it. I’d made friends over the years in New York after spending half a year there every year, but I didn’t think I could spend more than that there. I’d only lived in New York because it was the best place to train. I’d fallen in love with Pittsburgh after visiting Evgeni for a weekend and decided that’s where I would go when I retired. My parents hated that I was going back to Magnitogorsk, but I didn’t think of myself much as a Russian anymore.

“Well then you’ll live with me.” he shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal.

I felt my heart skip a few beats and I had to bite my lip to keep myself from saying anything. I only nodded with a small smile.

“Better warn your American girlfriend before we head back, we don’t want her to be too shocked when I show up.” I winked.

He rolled his eyes.

“You know you’re the only girl for me, Ana.” He teased back.

“And you’re the only man for me, Ev.”