The Russian Bear Chronicles

Grinning, I took out my buzzing phone and was unsurprised to see who the text was from. I opened it and read the simple “Back. You coming over?”

“You leaving me Lils?” the much more gingery haired person asked. My grin was now directed at the man known as The Flying Tomato instead of my phone. He was sitting casually next to me with his legs slung over the side of the armchair watching my face very carefully.

“Well, you know, when nature calls or whatever,” I winked at Shaun White as I stood up and stretched my slightly stiff body.

'Not stiff for much longer,' snarked my brain.

I had spent the majority of my day lazing about the USA house in the Athlete's village with Shaun. We had both had our prelims for the half-pipe yesterday; his in the morning, mine in the afternoon. Unsurprisingly, both his and my scores had placed us comfortably in first in our respective fields. There had been a some press to deal with afterwards, but then our team had gone out for a dinner afterwards. Following the big supper, we had joined in on an insane celebration at the USA house; Team USA had beaten Team Canada in hockey in the first round or something. Thus, when we had gotten back, there had been some major celebrating in the house. Thank god for the younger drinking age in Canada which allowed for my 18 year old self to be able to party. I was the youngest on the boarding team for team USA. In normal life, the drinking age wouldn't really stop me, but representing the USA, it had me be a little more careful. Though, those hockey guys made it hard to resist. Granted, I didn't remember much from the previous night; we all had a much later bedtime than what was normal, so most everyone had had a late start to the morning.

Everyone did not include me. I kept with my morning routine, waking up early, going for a short run to attempt to stay loose, granted feeling not as great as normal. Following the run, I met my mother and best friend Jen for breakfast at a sweet little restaurant. Even though it was only my second Olympics, it had become my favorite competition I was involved with. I loved being able to share the experience again with my mom and for the first time with Jen. Though, Jen was busy with photography for the US media, we still had many opportunities to see each other.

After breakfast, the three of us had all went our separate ways. Jen had to get to the ski courses for the competitions of the day. Mother was off to meet the Whites and some of the other boarding families before heading to watch some events. And I was headed back to the USA house to see who was around or rather who was awake, biding my time until later this afternoon. In normal circumstances, I would have been hanging out with boarders from other countries, or really a particular guy from a certain nation. That particular person, however, was on the mountain on his training runs until the afternoon.

Luckily, as I was returning to the house, Shaun texted me letting me know he was awake. I did a u-turn as I got to the house; Shaun wanted to go grab food somewhere. The second meal officially gave me a bit of a food baby. I had spent so many months training and being so focused on becoming an absolute machine, it felt weird to be so lazy and eat so much food. It was strange, my fat percent was at the very lowest it had ever been before, and I had added a lot of muscle, but I felt a bit underweight. I was looking forward to adding back a few pounds of non muscle after this competition was over. ‘After you have your second Gold,’ my brain stated obviously.

As always, the two of us had fun. We were very different yet very much the same in fundamental ways. Snowboarding was our life, and respectively our faces were the most recognized around the world for the sport. However, he was very much more known as the bad boy snowboarder or whatever persona it was he was trying to pull off. There tended to be a little more drama that followed him and his choices. I was known as the ridiculously world-conscious, socially-conscious, little pipsqueak who came out of nowhere at the age of 14 to win the gold medal in Turin and follow it up with another 4 years of a flawless record in all the big competitions. The world had seen me grow up, and were now waiting to see if at 18, I could nab my second gold or if I would choke. ‘Stuff it. And not so pip-squeaky now, as I was taller than The Flying Tomato,’ I thought smugly. Granted, I still did really stupid things, but because I still lived with my mother and was just starting to try to move out on my own, I hadn’t really had any chances to really screw up yet. Plus, I was smart enough to not get caught or get caught on photo.

“Well, it was nice to see you for at least a couple of hours,” he teased, “Though, I think you are taking the ‘Making International Connections’ thing a little far.”

“You are just jealous you don’t have a hot Swedster asking you to come over,” I smirked as I strutted away. The guy wasn’t really a secret with certain people. I mean, I had practically lived with the snowboarding team the last couple of months; we unfortunately knew way more about each other than we wanted to. But even still, it was a rare occurrence for me to actually say anything about the guy to Shaun or anyone else. Despite the similarities, Shaun and I weren’t really close.

I headed towards the elevator but I changed my mind and instead of waiting for the elevator, I quickly took the stairs up two floors and to the room I was sharing with another boarder. I brushed my teeth quickly, before pausing to look at my choice of jackets. We were encouraged to wear the Team USA one everywhere, but it often drew attention, which was something I didn't want where I was going. I decided and put on a plain black zip-up, and laced up my shoes. I slide a small wallet into a pocket and turned for the door, but first glanced at the mirror.

My hair was a bit more crazy than normal, and the hue was darker than normal as the summer’s sun effects had faded. But my freckles hadn’t faded at all. My green eyes were bright with the prospect of what was to come. I was definitely wearing more make-up than normal, dark eyeliner, mascara, and even some lip color. Could I actually put on some cute clothes and make more of an effort? Definitely. Did I really want to put that much effort into it? Definitely not.

“This is as good as its gonna get,” I muttered as left the room.

As I passed the living area on my way out of the USA House, glanced over to where I had been sitting for the majority of the day. Shaun was still there, now with a flock of other females, who for lack of a better term were essentially fan-girling. I made eye contact with Shaun and I shook my head, smirking at him.

“Be safe and use protection!” I heard Shaun yell at me drawing everyone on the floor’s attention.

I didn’t reply with words, I simply continued to walk away with both of my hands in the air flicking him off.

Exiting the house, I instantly cursed myself for not remembering my sunglasses. It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining, which for the amount of times I had been here boarder, I knew was a rare occurrence. I walked casually yet with haste out of the more quiet area that the USA house was located. The Sweden House was located across on the other side of the Athlete’s Village, no where near the USA House. It made things complicated, but it was sure worth the end result.

Because of the sun, or because I was still a little foggy from all of the consumed alcohol from the previous night, I was a little slower than normal on the uptake that I was being followed. There were three of them; paparazzi or news journalist or whatever they wanted to call themselves.

“Fuckity fuck fuck,” I muttered as I tried to duck behind a group of people walking casually in the opposite way. I didn’t have to look back to know I hadn’t lost the tails. I knew that it wouldn’t really look good for me to walk into Sweden House or be seen around there.

There had already been rumors that I was seeing someone. This was a loose truth. We were seeing each other, but definitely not dating. He and I were strictly non-committal playtime partners. Well, non committal as in we had both agreed to be exclusive non-committal playtime partners, so I guess we had reached a sorta awkward complicated stage. He was great though, really. We had met through mutual friends a couple of months ago and had hit it off. He was a mogul skier, a couple years older, and looked like a Norse god.

Out of the two of us, I knew I was the one complicating everything; I did not want a boyfriend. Boyfriends came with emotions, bad break ups, distractions from what was important which was snowboarding. However, the situation I was in with him now did help relieve tension and promote relaxation. I couldn’t help but grin to myself as I thought about three nights ago. And yet, I knew how I kept the emotional distance was driving him crazy. I was pretty sure though he thought things would change after the Olympics. I was too much of a selfish asshole to tell him otherwise just quite yet.

I had reached the busiest area of the village, and I knew this was the only real chance I had to get away from the photographers. I ducked and weaved, trying to be as elusive as possible. In my less than graceful movements, I knocked into someone, well, I would argue the someone could be a wall.

“Sorry!” I muttered as I paused looking up at the person.

He looked down, but not by much as he wasn’t that much taller than me, with a polite smile. The man was wearing a black baseball cap which was hiding his face pretty well until I had knocked into him and drawn his attention. My eyes flicked up and met his eyes, and I felt myself momentarily lost in his incredible amber eyes. Falling, my body seemed to be falling as I gazed into the never ending colors of those eyes. Amber was too simple of a word to describe those eyes. There were so many colors encompassed in them, it was impossible. ‘How can someone have eyes as such? They are almost golden’ my brain thought foggily as I felt my stomach start doing weird things. My eyes flicked around his face quickly taking in his slightly large nose, but even larger lips which seemed to fit his face very well. However, my eyes couldn’t help but drift back up to his eyes.

I blinked quickly several times trying to collective myself. We must have only stood there for a second or two, but it had felt like a lifetime. And then a loud voice distracted me calling out a name which in turn drew more attention and I was moving again trying to escape the throng of excited people.

I hurried around one corner and then down a street and around another until I finally allowed myself to glance back. But that was when I felt myself run into something, or someone else again.

“Fuck!” I muttered glancing at the even bigger person standing in front of me. He was part of a group of tall, very fit looking men.

Upon me walking into him, he had turned around to face me. I glanced behind me and quickly grabbed the man I had run into and turned him back around so I was in the middle of their group. I peered around the man, since I was too short to peer over his shoulder.

I glanced up at the guy’s whose arms I was still clutching. My mouth popped open slightly and I felt a blush come across my cheeks.

“I am so terribly sorry,” I started, “I am avoiding some people.”

He looked down at me with a very amused expression. He had a pair of dark kind eyes, an interesting nose, and a mouth that clearly looked as if it was smiling most of the time. His dark brown hair was sticking out at odd angles due to a toque(beanie) he was wearing.

“You trouble?” He asked in a very thick Russian accent. It was then I realized he was wearing a Russian zip-up sweatshirt as well as the toque he was wearing said Russia.

I grinned raising an eyebrow with my flirt on slightly for this cute Russian, “I’ve been told not in a bad way.”

He grinned back at me and I felt his eyes check me out. Behind us I heard the guys say some things to each other in Russian.

“Look familiar,” he said his eyes turning serious for a moment.

“Lily Rivers,” I held out my hand.

One of the guys standing near us started speaking quickly in Russian to the guy I was standing in front of. I smiled awkwardly, as the guy I was closest to and holding out my hand to grinned wider and spoke something back to the guy.

“You,” he gestured pointing with two of his fingers in a half circle motion. He was trying to communicate a halfpipe.

“Snowboard,” I nodded grinning, glancing around the group, “Were you were at the half-pipe prelims?”

“Yes. We watch you yesterday. Crazy. You best. There no Russians for when we there, so we cheered you.” He said shaking his head smiling as well. I tilted my head smiling at the kind large Russian.

“Thank you, uh Mr.” I paused

He finally took my hand, his hand easily dwarfing mine, “Evgeni Malkin.”

“Evgeni Malkin,” I said the name rolling in my mouth. The name sounded familiar, but I didn’t know why. Obviously, with the build of this Evgeni and the rest of the guys in the group, they were hockey players. It was the only winter sport that could fit.

That’s when I saw one of the guys who had been following me turn around the corner. Luckily, he was looking the other direction when I saw him. I cringed behind Malkin’s larger form. Malkin turned a little, taking in the man with the camera I was trying to hide from. Before I knew it, he was taking off his hat and putting it on my head. He slung an arm over my shoulder and said something loudly in Russian to his teammates and they all started laughing. I joined in, nervously, though clearly I had no idea what we were laughing about.

The group started walking, and Malkin towed me along, all of them still talking in Russian. I had no idea what was going on, but I couldn’t help but feel warm fuzzy feelings about this kind protective Russian.

“Think he gone,” Malkin said switching into English after we had been walking for several minutes.

I glanced around, “I seriously can not thank you enough.”

Turning my attention to the rest of the group, I smiled, “Hi! I am sorry I so rudely interrupted!”

The guys all were watching me with kind smiles on their faces.

“Sergei Gonchar, Alexander Semin, Fedor Tyutin, Semyon Varlmov,” Malkin said the names of the people we were all standing with.

“Wow, never did I think I would rescued by the Russian hockey team,” I said with a smile. I was rewarded by big smiles from several of the guys.

“You know hockey?” Malkin asked surprised.

“Nope. Not a single thing.”

“Is good we meet. I good teacher.”

I tilted my head up at the Russian, slightly confused of what his angle could be.

“Well, I would love that, but right now, I am running late. But I seriously appreciate the rescue.” I explained. There was something about the Russian I really liked, but I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea.

“No problem,” he shrugged as if saving fleeing girls was an everyday activity for him, “You go USA house?”

“No, I am headed to the Sweden house to see a friend,” I said as neutrally as I could, but even though we had just met, he could read me like a book.

Malkin grinned wolfishly, “Friend.”

I blushed, “Friend.”

He turned around and said something in Russian to the group. There were some raised eyebrows and then exchanged words and they all started to walk away, waving at me goodbye, leaving just him and me.

I glanced up at him, rather confused, raising an eyebrow which couldn’t be seen due to how low the toque hung on my head.

“I walk you, better for hiding,” Malkin stated as if covert operations were a natural thing for him as well.

“You really don’t need to,” I assured him wondering why he was doing this.

“S’okay. Girlfriend mad at me and not meet at restaurant with us,” he shrugged his shoulders.

‘Ah, he has a girlfriend,’ I thought to myself, I felt myself relax instantly, before asking, “But your friends?”

“They fine.”

I felt my phone buzz, and I knew it would be him wondering where I was. I stopped arguing with the large Russian. Thus, we started walking again.

“So, where do you play when you aren’t in the Olympics? In Russia?” I asked as we started walking away from the group.

“No, with Pittsburgh Penguins,” He replied proudly. I could almost see his chest puff out a bit with pride.

“Huh. I haven’t ever been there.” I said, “Is the team good?”

“Is best. We have best player in world, Sidney Crosby. You know?”

I made a face, I had heard the name several times since I had been here. He was like, the greatest thing since sliced bread or something in Canada. Though, the USA team had beaten Canada, so I wasn’t sure if I could believe in what I had been hearing.

“The name sounds familiar,” I admitted, but kept the thoughts to myself.

“But Sergei too, Talbot, Tanger, Kuni, Staal, Pauly, more; best team.” he rattled off a bunch of names that did me no good at all.

“I bet,” I said grinning looking up at the Russian.

Malkin grinned looking down at me knowing I had no idea of any who any of the names he named off.

“What you know hockey?” he asked excitedly.

I made a face, “You have sticks and hit people?”

Malkin started laughing and quickly launched into an explanation of the sport. I wasn’t sure if I was actually interested in the sport at this point, or if it was the way he explained it with his passion, but I felt myself completely captivated.

All too soon, we stopped in front of the large building that held the Swedsters. I turned to the Russian, feeling sorta sad that our walk was over. I was sorta wishing we could walk around the block again.

Looking up at Evgeni, I sighed, “Well, thanks again for going above and beyond in my rescue.”

“No problem,” he answered grinning, “If ever in Pittsburgh, you come game. You like hockey, I promise. Just tell me, I get tickets.”

I pulled my cell from my pocket, and opened a new contact form and filled out the name before handing him my phone.

He looked at my phone for a moment, then started laughing, “My name not Russian Bear!”

“I know,” I teased in a sing-song voice, “But I think it suits you.”

“Lily!” I heard a voice calling my name. I turned my head and saw an incredibly well dressed Swede coming out of the front door of the house. Smirking slightly I let my eyes slowly wander up and down the godlike man. His blond hair was still wet from a shower fell into his eyes, his crystal blue eyes which were staring fixedly at Malkin and myself. I shifted my focus back onto the Russian. I had a strange feeling pass over me as I looked at Malkin again; it was if I would rather head to the restaurant and hang out with him and the Russians. I shook my head clearing the ridiculous thought that passed through my head.

“I gotta,” I jerked my head towards the man standing by the door.

“See you Lily. Have fun yes?” he said suggestively grinning.

“Oh, I will.” I winked at him and turned away. I walked up to the door and to the man.

“Hey you,” I sighed.

“Who was that? Why are you wearing a Russian hat?” He asked his voice slightly cold, his Swedish accent so very different from the Russian I had started becoming familiar with.

“Oh shit,” I said turning, before yelling, “Evgeni!”

Malkin hadn’t made it very far and stopped to looked at me.

“Your hat!” I called, starting to take a couple of steps toward him.

“Keep, you need more. And call me Geno.”