Chapter 8

Reunited

The First Day of the Olympics…

Nadia, Sally, Tina, Halley, and Chelsea got to Lake Placid the day of the opening ceremonies. Nadia and Sally were excited about this project. Nadia, as you recall, loved hockey even though she never got a chance to play and was looking forward to seeing Vladislav Tretiak again. Sally wasn't as interested in hockey as Nadia was, but was looking forward to meeting a boy for her. Sally only had one boyfriend before then and had loved the feeling of being in love. Tina, Chelsea, and Halley were there strictly to meet hot guys. They could care less about the extra credit. Halley and Tina had become more and more like Chelsea's followers since the trip to Russia.

"Okay little girls," said Chelsea meanly, "here's how it's going to work. Your two will do everything and—."

"Then what will you three do?" asked Sally.

"Duh! Meet hot guys! I heard the USA team is full of them." Said Tina.

Nadia sighed, "Fine… we'll do the interviews and watch the hockey, but you three have to help with the report. I mean it is, on teamwork."

"Fine!" said Chelsea, "We'll help with the report. But right now, were going to do big girl things. Run along now kiddies! The things that we are going to do you've probably never even heard of!"

Halley and Tina laughed at her comment and nodded to each other.

"Well, maybe Nadia has heard of these things! I mean, she did almost do it with her goalie!" said Tina.

"Shut up!" said Nadia, "We are just friends!"

Nadia knew that this was one of the biggest lies she'd ever told.

"Oh yeah! That's why you two made out at the airport and had a little sleepover!" said Chelsea.

"Just shut up!" said Sally.

Sally was the oldest out of the five of them, but the smallest, besides Nadia. She was 26 years old and in her last year of college. Tina was 23, Halley was 21, and Chelsea was 24.

Chelsea pushed Sally against the wall. The three of them laughed and walked away.

"Okay…" said Nadia, "I'm very excited about seeing Vlad again! Can we please go find him first?"

"Yeah." Said Sally.

They walked down a long hallway. As they neared the door at the end of it, they could hear men speaking in Russian. Nadia, being Russian, understood what they were saying. She heard someone say, "I'm hungry," and automatically knew who it was. Nadia ran down the hallway happily and burst through the door. All of the men looked at her in shock.

"Nadia!" someone shouted.

She turned around to see Vladimir Krutov.

"Wow! It's so nice to see you!" he said.

"Likewise!" she said, "Where's Vladislav?"

"On the ice! He'll be so happy to see you!" Krutov said.

Nadia, forgetting that she wasn't allowed on the ice with sneakers, ran onto the ice and slipped about half way to the goal. She slid over to the net on her knees and saw Vlad look at her. He slowly took of his mask and looked into her eyes.

"Nadia…" he said.

She stood up and went a little closer to him.

"I missed you." She said quietly.

Vlad leaned in to kiss her but Nadia fell on her butt. They both started laughing hysterically at what had just happened.

"I'm sorry!" she said, tears of laughter rolling down her face, "Now, where were we?"

Vlad leaned in to kiss her again, but this time held her legs still so she was safe. They shared a nice kiss.

Meanwhile, Sally had just come in the door and was puzzled as to what was going on.

"Hi." She said.

"Who are you?" asked Vladimir Petrov, coldly.

"I'm Sally Zhao, Nadia's best friend."

"Oh, well, hi." He said, "Nadia's talking to Vlad right now. Maybe you should wait here for a little while."

"Okay." She said.

Sally looked around at the hockey players and saw one in particular that she liked. He was tall, maybe 6-foot-2 with dark brown short hair and a sly expression.

'I have to ask Nadia about him.' She thought.

"What have you been up to lately?" asked Nadia.

"Same old things… hockey, that's about it. How about you?"

"Not much. School, hanging out." She replied.

Nadia didn't feel as comfortable around him as she thought she would.

"I thought you would have forgotten about me." She finally said.

Vlad looked at her with shock, "Of course not! How could I ever forget that smile?"

Nadia blushed.

"And the way you blushed so innocently at every complement I gave you," He continued, "The way you were so new in a relationship and yet knew exactly what to do."

"I could never forget you." She said, "The way you kissed me with such passion, like you had known me for years."

Vlad nodded.

"Why are we talking about things that happened in the past?" she asked, "We should be doing something fun, getting a snack, you know, something that friends like us do."

"That sounds good." he said.

"After we can go to your room… and…"

"I'm sorry, I want to, but it might hurt my game." He said, "I have been training so hard for so long, just for this moment. I can't let my team down because I was thinking only of myself."

"I understand, I'm sorry…" she said, "You think of the best for your team."

"Maybe after the Olympics, we can…" he started, but stopped because Nadia already knew what he was going to say.

She smiled and nodded.

"So," Vlad said, changing the subject, "Tikhonov was wondering if you were coming. That's surprising considering he told me not to fool around with you. He said I could hang out with you, though."

"Oh…" said Nadia, shocked.

"Look, I know that he was hitting on you." He said, "If he ever does that again, tell me. Unless you, well, liked him doing it."

Nadia giggled, "I'll tell you. That makes me quite nervous to know an older, married, man likes me."

Vlad looked into her big, hazel-brown eyes.

"I'll never forget how beautiful your eyes are."

Nadia hugged him and said, "I'm looking forward to the end of the Olympics."

She kissed him lightly on his lips and walked carefully off the ice. Midway she slipped and fell again, but Vlad came and picked her up and came off the ice with her.

"So Vlad," said Krutov, "What are you and Nadia planning on doing tonight?"

"We've both agreed not to do anything in that range until the Olympics end." Nadia said.

"Oh, then can we do something in the mean time?" he asked.

Sally immediately looked over at Krutov and Nadia. She wasn't used to Nadia getting spoken to in that manner.

Nadia playfully hit him.

"I thought it would be better for you guys if I didn't have any love on my mind." Said Vlad, "I mean, I'm still going to hang out with Nadia, but nothing that involves… well, yeah…"

"Than how come I just saw you two kiss?" asked Petrov.

Nadia blushed and said, "I just had to get that out of my system."

'I wish it could have been better than just a little peck on the lips.' Nadia thought.