Chapter 51 – The boys are back in town

Sasha’s POV



Training camp starts next week. I’m going back to DC in a few days. It’s been a long but enjoyable summer. I’d done more traveling in the past few months then I had done in any of my previous summers. This was the first summer that I’d had a girlfriend that lives in another country.

I was excited for the start of the season. I was ready for the routine and regiment that comes with the hockey season. I love the off season but I was ready to go back to work. Packing for the season for me is never much of a hassle. I fly out before my parents and if I forget anything important they bring it over with them. I have just about everything I could need already in DC so the only things I really need to bring are my computer, cell phone, hockey equipment and any other personal effects that I would like to bring.

When Nef came to visit me in July she’s jokingly asked “What, do you have two separate wardrobes? One for DC and one for Russia?” They answer was yes. It’s a lot easier to not have to pack so much to carry back and forth. Right now I was packing things that I had acquired over the summer: presents from Nef, trinkets from our trips, a handmade blanket that her grandmother, Bast, had given me while I was in Egypt.

Nef would be spending the weekend with me to help me clean my house and make it livable. It had been locked up with no one there for several months.

“You go away for the summer and when you come back you invite me over to clean your house and to go grocery shopping for you? I feel so used!” she joked when I asked her to come over and help.

“Not forget to cook food too,” I joked right back at her.

I was sitting on the floor of my room tossing things into an open suitcase when my mom walked in.

”Sweetheart, do you need help- packing?” my mom asked.

”No ma’am.”

She sat down on my bed to talk to me. It had been a little while since we had talked to each other. With traveling and training I just hadn’t had the time. She wanted to make sure that I would be able to take care of everything when I got to DC.

”Yes mom, I have everything under control. I know how to clean and I cook well enough to feed myself. I’m not going to starve; besides Nef is helping with the cleaning and grocery shopping.” I survived just fine without them during the months that they stay in Russia. My mother is a worry wart. She can’t help it. We go through this at the beginning of every season.

”I also wanted to tell you that I invited Nadiya’s mom over for dinner. Nadiya might come.”

”Okay, Mom. I told you I could be civil since you’re friends with her mom. I meant it.”

With that my mom left me to finish packing.




Nef’s POV



I picked Sasha up from the airport after I finished classes for the day. It was September and I had been back in class for a couple of weeks. Things were slowly starting to get back to what I considered to be normal. I had already gone to the store to pick up cleaning supplies. We ended up dropping off Sasha’s luggage at his place and then going to my place. He was too tired to start cleaning right away and I couldn’t sit around in house when there was cleaning to be done.

He laughed at me when I first told him about it. One random weekend early last season we’d been hanging out, watching movies and his kitchen was a mess. If I hadn’t actually walked into the kitchen to get a drink I wouldn’t have seen the mess, but because I did it had bothered me all night. I eventually couldn’t take it anymore and cleaned the kitchen. Everyone has their thing, their little quirk or pet peeve, and mine was cleanliness and tidiness.

We opted to start fresh the next day, when he wouldn’t be so tired. After showering he crawled into my bed and pulled me down beside him.

“Cuddle?” he asked.

I snuggled in beside him and we were both asleep within minutes.





“AHHHHHHH!!!!!” I woke up to that scream coming from the hallway. It was coming from Jackie – my new roommate.

I ran into the hall and I saw her standing over someone. She was swinging a….a flyswatter? Really? A flyswatter? The hallway was dark with the only light coming from the bathroom.

“Get out! Get out! Get out!” she yelled.

“Ow! Stop it!” the person shouted. It was Sasha.

“Jackie, what are you doing?” I asked

“Nef, call 911. There’s a burglar.” Have I mentioned that she’s really dramatic?
Sasha snatched the flyswatter from her with a final “stop it.” I flipped on the hall light and I couldn’t help but laugh at what I was seeing. Sasha’s face was flustered and his arms, chest, and back were covered with red spots from being hit with the flyswatter. Jackie stood in front of him with a look of terror on her face.

“That’s not a burglar, that’s my boyfriend,” I said.

“Your boyfriend? I thought you said he was in Russia.”

“He came back today –“

“Holy crap! That’s Alexander Semin!” she interrupted as her brain caught up with what was going on.

“Sasha, this is Jackie, my new roommate. Steph moved out last month.”

Jackie stood there completely star struck. Sasha handed me the flyswatter and said
“Not let her hit me again.” Jackie blushed and apologized for the mix up. Sasha had gotten up to go to the bathroom and when he came out Jackie was walking down the hall toward the kitchen. She hadn’t expected anyone to be home. Jesse was visiting home/introducing a boy to her parents and I told Jackie that I would most likely be at Sasha’s place. When she came home Sasha and I were napping in my room with the door closed so she assumed that I wasn’t home.

“All of a sudden this giant, half naked man comes out of the bathroom! I assumed the worst.”

“And grabbed a flyswatter? What was that supposed to do?” If someone is attacking you, you should either run or pick up something better than a flyswatter.

“It was the only thing I could reach.”

It was still early – 7:30 -- so we decided that we would order pizza for dinner, watch movies, and invite Jackie’s boyfriend over. I told Sasha about the whole situation with Steph. Things between us had spiraled out of control once we went to court. I decided not to press charges but since I wasn’t actually the sole owner of the car – my parents bought it for me – the decision wasn’t entirely mine. My parents decided to press charges against her. She’d gotten off with a warning and community service. She wasn’t happy with that and it made for an awkward living situation. Her relationship with Terry was just a tumultuous as ever but they ended up deciding that they wanted to live together. Whatever. I didn’t ask questions.

Both Jesse and I knew Jackie from undergrad. She’d been living at home with her parents so when we asked her if she wanted to live with us she jumped at the chance. When her boyfriend Norman showed up Sasha went to the door to let him in. He opened the door and then retreated back to the couch.

“Norman?” Jackie called. “Are you coming in?”

Norman was standing in the door way staring.

“It’s…that’s…”

“Nef’s boyfriend.”

Jackie took his hand and pulled him into the apartment, closing the door behind him. She then led him over to the living room and helped him sit down on the floor in front of the coffee table. Only then did he realize he was staring.

“Hi,” Norman said awkwardly.

“Hi,” Sasha responded back laughing.

“Hi Norm!” I said cheerily

“Why is Alex Semin in your living room?” Norman asked me.

“Because,” I said.

“Because why?”

“Because why not?”

Sasha couldn’t stop laughing at our childish interchange. Jackie had said that’s “Nef’s Boyfriend,” but I guess Norm’s brain was stuck. Norm is a huge hockey fan. Literally this guy lives, eats, sleeps, breathes, Caps Hockey. My friends knew that I was seeing a Russian boy but not many people knew that I was dating a player. I didn’t advertise it for various reasons. I remember when I change my facebook status to “In a relationship.” I had gotten a flood of messages from my friends asking “who are you in a relationship with?” and “Do I know him?” I ended up telling people that I was dating a Russian guy that was in the states for work and he didn’t have a facebook account. Most people assumed that I was either dating someone who worked for my grandfather’s company or someone from my internship. Almost all of my friends knew each other so they knew it wasn’t one of them. I remember a few of them asking Anna if she knew the guy I was seeing or if she knew anything about him. This had been before I went to Russia so she responded “Yes, because all Russians know each other. No! I have no idea who this guy is but we need to find out.”

Sasha pulled me onto his lap and wrapped his arms around my waist. It finally clicked for Norm.

“This is your boyfriend?”

“Yes.”

“No way! That’s so cool!!” he squealed.

”Your new roommate and her boyfriend are crazy.” Sasha said to me.

”Yup.”