Chapter 2.
It had been two weeks since the school year had begun at St. Peters, which also meant that Gleb would be returning home for the weekend.
He walked to the grounds that Friday at noon after he had finished with swimming practice and headed to find Anya, who just like he had suspected, had gotten used to the school's way easily enough, she was sitting at a garden study table near the dorm buildings when he spotted her. They had been talking a lot and spending time together as much as their different schedules allowed them to. On Friday, right after the last class of the day, they were allowed to use their cell phones so she had texted him to meet her there. He moved cautiously towards her as she seemed to be focused on her book. "What are you reading?"
Anya didn't jump, she'd probably heard him coming her way, and instead, she smiled. "Oh, nothing, you'd laugh." She said closing it shut.
"Try me." He said.
"Harry Potter?"
"How very British of you." He smiled warmly, peeking over her shoulder.
"Very nerdy of me, more likely." Anya said with a sigh. "My sisters kept insisting I read it, but I resisted... now Alexei and I can barely put the books down."
"There's nothing wrong with a little fantasy, sometimes it's way better than the real world." Gleb said, a bit of sadness in his voice. He was now sitting beside her on the bench, it was now early September and it had begun to cool down, so she felt him shiver a bit, his hair was still a little wet and his jacket was not that thick. She smiled again.
"I guess you are right. How was practice?"
"It was fine. There's this new guy on the team though, he just enrolled this year and he can't stop bragging about how great he is." Gleb sighed. "I can't stand people like that."
"What does the coach say?" Anya asked. "I'm sure if he takes it too far, he'll tell him off."
"You sound like Dimitri; he'd like nothing more than to tell on him."
Dimitri was one of the other boys with a Russian background at St. Peter's who was in Gleb's year. He'd arrived about two years before right after having moved in with his Uncle.
"Is he going to?" Anya asked.
"If he doesn't, I will." Gleb admitted.
"You know, it's impolite in Russia to tell on people?" she said with a bit of mischief.
"Good thing we're not in Russia then." They remained quiet for a moment. "Is someone coming to get you and Alexei?"
"Yes and honestly, I can't wait to go home. I'm sure Jimmy misses me as much as I miss him."
"I'm sure he does." Gleb agreed. He had come to learn just how special pets were for the Romanov family, especially their dogs and even though Anya and Alexei had gone home the previous weekend as well, he was sure she missed her dog more every time she had to leave home. "What time are they coming?"
"Not soon enough, I told Alexei I was going to go get him past noon." Anya glanced at the time on her phone. "I actually should get going."
"I'll walk with you; I have to go get Evie and get the bus anyway. Lidia told me she had been held up at work."
"Do you want us to drive you? I'm sure Jeff won't mind."
Gleb hesitated for a minute. He didn't like having to ask for help. "I couldn't ask you to do that."
"You are not asking, I'm offering." Anya insisted.
He scratched the back of his neck shyly. "Well if Evie and Alexei don't have a problem with it, then I don't either." Gleb told her finally. "Thank you."
They walked together to get her little brother from his dorm. "Have a good weekend then Alexei, I'll see you Monday?" The boy said goodbye to his housemaster and few of the kids that were left in the dorm and followed Anya out, Gleb was standing with his back to a pillar as he said hello. "Hey Gleb, so you finally asked him to dinner?" Alexei said all of the sudden.
Anya turned red. "No, I haven't…" She hissed at her brother.
"Am I missing something?" Gleb asked, a bit amused.
"Nothing, uh, Papa sort of wants to meet the boy who was so kind to Alexei, so he asked me to ask you if you'd mind coming to dinner."
Gleb bit his lip. Nicholas Romanov was nothing like Stefan, he was practically royalty, compared to the middle class kind of man his father was, he was able to get his children to St. Peters thanks to his military ties and private service at that point in their lives, not that they were poor, far from it but Dimitri had done his research, Anya's family was closely related to the current Royals.
Far from Gleb's upbringing in a small flat.
"It doesn't have to be this weekend, but what about the next one?" Anya asked, as if she could hear his mind reeling.
"Of course, if you want." Always so polite.
"Sure we do, Papa already likes you better than any boy my sisters have brought home." Anya shot her brother an exasperated a look and Gleb fought hard not to laugh.
"Here, let me help you with those." Gleb said to Anya as she reached to grab her backpack and her brother's.
Alexei had finally given into letting them push him around school in his chair, which Anya asked Gleb to take out from the small closet at the side of the door she was standing by, he could see the look on Alexei's face as they unfolded it for him to sit on but he said nothing and instead handed his crutches to his sister and pushed himself onto it easily.
Gleb had not asked a lot on the little boy's condition as he didn't want to pry, but Anya had told him he had been born with Cerebral Palsy which had affected his mobility mostly, he was a bright and sensible young boy who didn't let that problem define him, or so Gleb could see. Evie had told him that Alexei was in her year despite the fact that he was a year or so younger, so both of them had certainly been spending more and more time with the Romanov children.
The three of them went in search of Evie, who at the sight of her brother and new friends, said her goodbyes and hurried outside."Aren't we headed for the bus?" Evie asked, as she and Gleb followed Anya and Alexei to the main parking lot.
"No, Anya offered to drive us home. So, no bus today."
"Hurray! We might make it home in time for us to enjoy Friday for once." Evie said, who quickly thanked Anya with a hug and offered to be the one to push Alexei further, just as Jeff, was parking the family's SUV. Her father's driver was a young man, of about 30 who had been working with the family for the last five years and he was particularly fond of Alexei. He greeted the kids and shot Evie and Gleb a kind smile as Anastasia asked if he wouldn't mind dropping them home.
Jeff didn't say no of course, and helped them with their things.
"So, you just give me directions, alright?" Jeff said kindly as he drove away. Gleb was in the back of the dark blue SVU he figured important people would ride in. His family had a van and his older brother Ivan had a used car, his father had one nicer car but with six kids, he'd barely taken anyone in it.
They lived in a suburb neighborhood south of the school, in an apartment complex, modest but nothing fancy. A place he had been living at since his father had taken his current job after he'd married Lidia. "Just down that street please." Gleb said to Jeff who took a turn, parking right in front of their building.
"Thanks Anya and Alexei. You should come over and play sometime if you're allowed" Evie told the young boy kindly. Gleb helped his sister get the door and grabbed her bag. Anya climbed out of the car behind Evie.
"Hey Gleb?" He turned around. "You were so quiet the whole time. I hope the dinner thing didn't throw you off or offended you in some way..."
"No, of course not, why would it?" He told her. "It's very nice of you to invite me even though I only did what any decent human being would." Offering her a reassuring smile, he added. "Next weekend, right?"
"Yes. Friday night."
"Alright, tell your parents thank you and for the ride. I'll see you Monday?"
"See you Monday."
Anya remained in a dream state for the rest of the weekend and her sister noticed that Saturday when she arrived home from a friend's house. "So...Gleb…"
"What about him?" Anya asked, turning as she didn't like her sister's tone.
"Do you like him?"
"He's my friend Maria."
"Do you want him to be more than just your friend?" He sister asked, arching her eyebrows.
"I…"
"So, you do!" She squealed. "Well, I've seen him. He's captain of the swim team isn't he?"
"What exactly are you suggesting?"
"That he's a good one. He seems to be since he helped Alexei and Papa wants to meet him."
"Papa wants to meet every boy that says anything to me. Especially if he's Russian."
"Exactly."
Anya sighed. "He's just my friend. I doubt he'd want to be anything more."
"You understand so little about boys my sweet sister." Maria smiled. "You'll see, just give it time."
Anya could hardly shake her sister's words from her head. Could it be possible for Gleb to eventually like her that way? He was kind and she assumed that they were friends but she wasn't sure she had thought of him as something more.
Monday arrived too fast for Anya's liking; she and Alexei were dropped off by her mother that morning. She as always, wanted to make sure everything was running smoothly for her children. Anya scanned the parking lot, she didn't know if she was scanning for Gleb or hoping she wouldn't run into him and having to introduce him to her mother before Friday. Why? Anya couldn't really say. So she ignored it and was polite when Evie said hello to her and somehow introduced herself to her mother. With her brother beside her.
The Vaganov children were polite and well behaved, her Papa would approve of that even though they came from different backgrounds.
Her Mama didn't point out dinner on Friday and for that Anya was grateful, she didn't want to have to put more pressure on Gleb. She wanted to give him a chance to bolt, although by the looks of it, he would keep his word and show up on Friday.
"Well I better let the two of you go." Her mother finally said, pulling Anya from her daze. Gleb and his friends as well as Evie were gone by now but she and Alexei had to hurry if they didn't want to be late.
For once, her brother didn't protest when she pushed the way to his dorm to collect his things and get to class.
Anya accompanied her brother as far as his class building and then headed for her own.
"Anastasia?" It was Dimitri, Gleb's friend. "Hey... umm how are you?"
"I'm fine. How about you?"
"Good thanks, do you mind if I walk you to class? I didn't want to intrude because you were with your brother."
"Oh, it's fine. You are friends with Gleb, right?" Dimitri smiled.
"Yeah. You and him have been spending a lot of time together?"
"Well, he's been so kind to me and Alexei; we're both new to St. Peters so…"
"Yeah, that sounds like Vaganov. He did the same when I first got here." Anya could see Dimitri had a slight accent, like the one that sneaked into the voice of her Papa once in a while, a mix of English and Russian.
She did not know a lot about Dimitri, only that he had moved to England two years before. "He's a good guy, better than most around here, but well I'm not so bad either." He extended a hand to her. "If you ever need anything..."
"Thank you Dimitri…" Anya said kindly, shaking his hand
"Well us Russians have to stick together." Dimitri said casually with a small smile as it had seemed they had reached Anya's class. "I'll see you Anastasia."
Anya nodded, opening the door and entering the building. Wondering exactly what the exchange had meant. Back in her old school, she didn't have any boys to talk to. Here, it seemed that's all they wanted to do.
"Wait, he likes her?" Michael, one boy asked another as they prepared for practice.
"I don't know, but there are not really a lot of Russian girls at St. Peters, despite the name…" Another boy said. "If it comes to it, and Dima lays his eyes on her too…"
"Oh, drama."
"Shut up. Gleb was the one who helped her little brother; he already made the first move…" Both boys stopped cold when they saw Dimitri and Gleb walking over.
"Why would you even be nervous? You were raised by your father, you breathe manners." Dimitri said to Gleb.
"Yes, but Nicholas Romanov isn't your ordinary high society man."
"It's not like you invited yourself over." Dimitri said. It was all his friends could talk about. How a simple act of kindness had landed him in good graces with the ambassador and his family. He was only doing what any decent young man would have been raised to do. He didn't need to be recognized for it.
But somehow he couldn't say no to seeing Anya outside school.
The week passed quickly as he was busy with schoolwork and practice. In truth, he'd barely seen the Romanov siblings that week; he didn't want Anya to think he had been avoiding her. But maybe in a way, he had been.
When Friday arrived, Maria was the one to drive her brother and sister home. Gleb had late practice so he would shower and take a bus to Anya's house. She had insisted the day before that Maria would not have a problem with being the one to drive him to her home when he was done.
But he didn't want Maria to drive back and forth. He had never needed to depend on people and he didn't want to start.
"Are you ready for this?" Dimitri asked. His friend had admitted to talking a little with Anya, although the girl hadn't seemed too interested in him.
Gleb didn't know if he should be ashamed for feeling relieved. Not that maybe Dima was merely being friendly, because he was. But he had a girlfriend or at least was dating a nice girl and she could get the wrong idea.
Gleb had never really had a formal girlfriend. You would have thought that the school's setting would allow him to but he was just not really interested. He had practice and his schoolwork to keep him busy enough.
Not that girls had not tried to flirt with him. He was almost as tall as his father and although not built, he was not skinny either. Just a regular sixteen year old boy.
He slapped himself mentally for thinking of Anya that way; he had, in the last couple of days, thought of just what meeting her family would mean. Would they think of him as a friend and if he tried to somehow tell Anya about his feelings, would her father think he'd already betrayed his trust?
It was a lot to think about for a Friday afternoon. And yet, Gleb couldn't help but wonder, to imagine that maybe, maybe a day would come that if he would want to ask someone out, that it would be Anya.
Soo... what did you think? Please leave me a review, they make me happy :)
