We Don't Have Forever

“This place reeks of alcohol,” Jonathan muttered as he plopped down on the bed after he had come out of the bathroom from his shower.

We’ve been back for two days now and we’re just now slowly getting accustomed to the time. I’ve heard Katie move about late at night, but Jonathan still hasn’t spoken to her… and I’m kind of afraid what will happen when he does.

“We were in Russia. We probably reek of vodka,” I tried to lighten his mood.

Slowly, he turned his head towards me, letting his tired eyes tell me that he wasn’t amused. I smiled innocently and reached over to kiss his lips gently. He countered by, tightening his hold around me, pulling my body closer to his. With our jetlag, we haven’t really moved from his bed much… and I don’t mind it.

“You should try and talk to her,” I spoke gently after he nuzzled against my shoulder. My fingers came up and ran through his hair that was longer than it normally is now. The ends were beginning to curl slightly… and I loved it.

“I don’t want to,” he muttered stubbornly.

“It would be good for both of you though,” I kept going.

“Mhm,” he hummed, getting lost in the sensation my fingertips were delivering to his scalp rather than my words.

I didn’t want to start an argument with him right now. He looked like he was about to fall asleep anyway. Leaving him at peace, I inched my arm over to the table beside the bed to get my phone. I had heard it buzz a few times before, knowing I had some kind of messages. Once I unlocked it, a bunch of emails greeted me… that I needed to get a hold of. I’ve been putting off work since the Sochi trip and I knew it was going to take me forever to catch up.

While I was replying to a few, a text message slid down from the top of my screen… It was from Jack. Yes… Jack. After the Canada VS USA game, we bumped into each other afterwards and exchanged numbers to keep in touch. I haven’t heard from him since then, so I thought it was just one of those things to be nice… but today changed that.

He asked how I was adjusting to being back home. It was a normal conversation starter, so I replied… and I told him not well. I was so tired… and then I asked him how the silver medal life was treating him.

This started quite a lengthy conversation between us. It ended by him… asking when I’m going to Columbus. My answer was if I had any work there… which I never had, but he seemed pleased with it. He said he’d show me around when that time came. I thought it was sweet of him.

Once I put my phone down, Jonathan stirred a bit. I caught his eyes twitch opened as he reached over to pull me back against him. I giggled and rubbed my hand over his chest.

“I like you snuggly a lot more than when you have a pissy attitude,” I told him.

“I’m sorry about my pissy-ness all throughout that whole trip,” he muttered, but his eyes opened completely to stay fixed on me.

“You were under a lot of pressure, so I guess I’ll forgive you,” I taunted.

“Good,” a small smile teased its way across his lips.

“Now if you could just say sorry to your sister…” I kept going, letting my index finger come up and trace around the short stubble along his jaw.

“One thing at a time,” he muttered, letting his eyes close once more.

I don’t have siblings so I don’t know how this whole brother/sister thing works. All I know is how to treat people and how you should apologize when you’ve done something wrong. The longer Jonathan takes to apologize to her sister though… I’m afraid the worse it’s going to get.