If you’re dating a professional athlete don’t ever go to a sports bar or pub. It was an off day for Sasha and it was Football Sunday with the Ravens playing so we decided that we’d all go to a sports bar in Baltimore to watch the game. My roommates and I are huge football fans in addition to hockey. Jesse is a Ravens fan with me and Jackie loves the Redskins. Anyway the Ravens were away and we thought it was a good idea to go to Ryleigh’s in Baltimore. They’ve got great beer and good crabs – the only two things a Baltimorean needs to watch football. It was getting to close to the end of crab season and my roommates and I wanted to get some.
It started out simple enough. We were in a booth towards the back of the first floor bar. It was a few minutes before kickoff and we were teaching Sasha how to pick crabs.
“That look disgusting,” he said when I popped open the shell.
“But it’s sooooo good!” I love crabs, probably more than is healthy but whatever. Don’t judge me!
He made a face and I said “I don’t think we can be together anymore. Me be with a man who doesn’t like crabs? Sacrilege!”
It didn’t take him long to be able to do it – he even managed not to make a mess of himself. He understood football but wasn’t a huge fan of the sport. He’s much more of a soccer fan. About half way through the first quarter a group of college age guys came in and sat down at the bar. They were already pretty plastered. I guess...no I'm sure they were frat boys. I'm not sure which frat though. One of the guys had left the bar to go to the restroom and on the way back he walked by our table.
"Hey!" the guy said stopping. "You're Alexander Semin!"
"Yeah," Sasha said nodding.
Sasha being recognized didn't bother me. Sasha giving autographs doesn't bother me. Most of the time people are respectful, wanting to congratulate him on a win or some other accomplishment, or wanting to wish him good luck. He'd had a natural hat trick in previous night's game and a few people had come up to congratulate him. Both he and I have a soft spot for kids. They're adorable and often times get so excited for a squiggle on a napkin or a shirt. What does bother me is when an entire group of drunken guys comes up to a table of people clearly eating to hound him for autographs while hitting on and groping me and my roommates.
The guy ended up going to his group of friends and telling them that Sasha was there. They all came to the table and drunken obnoxiousness ensued. Sasha managed to clean up his hands well enough to sign a few things and pose for a few pictures but rather than leave the guys decided to invite Sasha over to hang out with them.
"Great game last night! Come hang out with us."
"Thanks but no, I can't. I here with people," he respectfully declined.
"Bring the hot chicks too. They're all lookers!" one of the guys said ogling me, Jesse, and Jackie.
"I'm sorry but no."
One of them, he had brown curly hair, decided to take Sasha's seat beside me.
"Don't you want to hang out with us?" he asked leaning in a little too close for comfort.
"No, thank you."
"Aww come on sweetie," he said wrapping one of his arms around my shoulders and his free hand cupping my chest. He was almost to the point of being sloppy drunk. "We're a fun time."
Before I could push the guy off of me Sasha had grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked him out of the seat. Sasha may seem quiet and meek but there is surprising strength in him even if he couldn't throw a punch to save his life.
"Not do that." It was rare for Sasha to lose his temper but he was quickly approaching that point.
The one who had first spotted Sasha grabbed this guy and pushed him toward the back of the group.
"I'm so sorry," he said to me.
"Go find a waitress and close the tab. We're leaving," he said slipping me his card.
I got up from the table to find the waitress we'd had already making her way to the table.
"We're going to be leaving," I said to her, giving her Sasha's card. "Can you close us out?"
“Is there a problem?” she asked.
I turned toward the group of guys still standing around our table trying to get Sasha to join them.
“Yeah,” I said.
After closing out the tab and tipping the waitress we left for Sasha’s car. Instead of going home we went to my parents’ house where we caught the second half of the game with my dad and younger brothers.
“I blame you Nef!” Jackie said.
“Me? What did I do?”
“You and your damn boobs! That guy was obviously taken by the size of them.”
“I’m wearing a Ray Lewis jersey! You can’t even see my boobs besides you’re the one in the little tiny shorts in October! It was his fault,” I pointed at Sasha.
He stuck his tongue out at me and then pinched me. By now we were use to this. He was recognizable and it was something that almost always happened. Guys hit on me and my friends with alarming frequency when we were out at bars but only a few sleaze balls would cross that line. It had happened before and I was adept when it came to dealing with them but now that I had Sasha he tried to make sure that he was my knight in shining armor. I guess it’s a guy thing. The need to protect to you, the need to “defend you honor” and all that jazz.
“Abuse! Domestic violence!”
“Hush,” he said.
Sasha’s POV
My dearest Love,
Yes, I know that’s really cheesy. I’ve started this letter about 30 times in the past two weeks and I’m not any closer to finding the right way to start it so I thought I should just jump right in. I love you. I love you so much that it hurts to be away from you for longer than a few days. I’m happiest when you’re with me. In the past year I’ve learned so much about you, about myself, and about what I want from my life. I’ve learned that I want you. I learned that you make me better in ways that I never considered. I can only hope that you feel the same way as I do. I can only hope that you’ve benefited from our relationship in the same ways that I have.
It took me a long time to find the perfect gift for you – and I even cheated a little. I asked Im for help and he turned out to be very useful. He told me what the ring you gave me meant. I will cherish it in the same way I cherish you. So I give you this – I promise that I will love you to the best of my ability. I promise that I will work hard to be a man worthy of you in the same way that you work hard to be a woman worthy of me. I know that it’s not always easy but it’s definitely worth fighting for.
You mean the world to me and I hope that this is the first of many anniversaries that we’ll share.
Yours,
Sasha
I’ve been working on this letter to Nef for about two weeks and I have learned that I am not a master of words. I’ve tried using flowery and symbolic language but it comes off as superficial. I’ve tried to use basic words and put my feelings in the simplest terms but it comes off as inadequate. So I’m going with honest and simple words. This is who I am and this is why I love you. I hope that it’s enough to show her what she really means to me.
We were in her room when I gave it to her. Our plans for the night were drinks with friends, dinner, dancing, and then back to my place to spend time together. I walked into her room with her presents behind my back.
“You look pleased with yourself,” she said as she put on her earrings, standing in front of the full length mirror that hung from the back of her closet door.
“I am. I work hard to find the perfect present.”
“You had help! No more conspiring with my twin,” she frowned.
“He tell you what I get?”
“No. He told me to wait and see.”
Good, then that means that this will still be a surprise. I had been worried that Im wouldn’t be able to keep this from his twin. Those two were incredibly close and tended not to stray away from each other.
“Chose, left or right,” I said.
“Left.”
I gave her the larger box that was in my right hand.
“I said left. Left.”
“I know. I want give you this one first.”
She rolled her eyes and said “why did you give me a choice if you weren’t going to listen?” I threatened to not give her any presents and she rolled her eyes again. She sat down on her bed and I put the smaller box in my jacket pocket. I sat down beside her as she tore open the package. I watched her pull out the fame and read the letter that I had spent so much time on. When she looked up at me she was smiling and her eyes were glossy. I leaned in to kiss her and murmured “I love you” against her lips.
“It’s perfect,” she said.
She placed the frame on her night stand, right beside our picture – the same on from the Cherry Blossom festival that she had given to me. She opened the draw and pulled out my present. It was a small box wrapped in black paper with a large white bow. I pulled the second box out of my pocket.
We exchanged presents and hurriedly opened the boxes. I heard a small gasp from Nef as she lifted the lid of the box. When I lifted the lid of the box she’d given me I smiled. She’d given me a platinum pendant. There were three hieroglyphs on it. At the top was the character for her name, in the middle was a glph that I had never seen before and at the bottom was the symbol for eternity. She told me that the symbol in the middle meant love. She leaned over to remove the chain I wore and slid the pendant into place. It fit nicely with the 28 pendant I have and the crucifix my parents had given me. When she the pendant around my neck I picked up the ring from the box and slid it onto the ring finger of her left hand. I kissed it gently and told her I loved her.
AN:
Nef's ring!
http://www.tiffany.com/Shopping/Item.aspx?fromGrid=1&sku=GRP00032&mcat=148204&cid=287466&search_params=s+5-p+10-c+287466-r+101323351-x+-n+6-ri+-ni+0-t+
Pendant: Sasha's pendant looks something like this one:
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