Russian Roulette

I wake up early on Thursday and decide to go for a run. My mind never slept and was constantly racing and I found the only thing that helped was blasting loud music and going for runs. I had nearly broken my record for distance when I turned back towards the apartment. Geno got back today and was taking me somewhere for dinner. He didn’t tell me where so I had no idea what to wear. I walk inside and Audrina is getting ready for work.

“How’s work lately?” I ask her.

“Oh you know the usual. Simon nearly crosses the sexual harassment boundary on a daily basis and totally makes me feel inept at my job. Being a paralegal is so not glamorous,” she says while shaking her head.

“He sounds like a douchebag. You should quit,” I tell her.

“I would but it’s the top law firm in the city and I get along great with everyone else its just Simon. Anyways I gotta run, I’ll see you after work!” She grabs her thermos and is out the door. I had the day off so I figured I might as well use it to catch up on sleep. I head back to bed and close my eyes.
My phone buzzes and I wake up to check it.

Geno:
Pick you up at 7

I check my watch and it’s already 6:30 p.m. I hurriedly get out of bed and walk to the kitchen where I find Audrina unpacking groceries.

“I’m supposed to be going on a date in half an hour and I have nothing to wear,” I tell her panicked.

“I had a feeling this was going to happen so I already picked out an outfit,” she says excitedly. She goes to her room and pulls out a short classy seafoam green dress. I put it on quickly and it hugs my body and I silently thank the fashion gods that we are the same size. She gives me a pair of nude pumps and a trench coat to go over top. We go to the bathroom and she quickly curls my long black hair into think loose curls. She sweeps it to one side and sprays it. She gets out her make-up box and proceeds to do my make-up.

“Wow if this whole paralegal things doesn’t work out, I’d be a kickass stylist,” she says proudly. I look in the mirror and I almost don’t recognize myself. My usually pale face has color and my eyelids had a subtle shimmer on them. My blue eyes looked intense rimmed with black eyeliner and heavily coated eyelashes. I looked like the kind of girl that Geno would typically go for. Geno texts me saying he’s here and I put the coat on.

“Have fun tonight,” she says winking. I wasn’t used to wearing heels so I slowly made my down to his car. I hop in and he’s smiling widely.

“Look amazing,” he says smiling.

“Thank you,” I reply. He grabs my hand and we drive to the restaurant.
We get to the restaurant and I find myself feeling nervous. I hadn’t been on a first date in a very long time.

“How was your road trip?” I ask awkwardly.

“Good we won almost all games. Missed you though,” he says smiling.

“I missed you too,” I reply. He tells me about the restaurant and he tells me about his favorite Russian food.

“You look Russian,” he tells me.

“My mother was from Russia,” I say smiling.

“And you no learn Russian?”

“My foster parents never taught me and I didn’t bother to learn because I didn’t think I would ever need it.”

“I teach you,” he smiles.

“Oh really?”

“Da. It good if Russian girlfriend speaks Russian.” I almost choke on my knish and he gives me a funny look.

“Girlfriend?” I manage to get out.

“Da,” he says simply. He’s smiling and I can’t but smile to.

“Okay so you’re okay with having a girlfriend that speaks no Russian and doesn’t know how to cook?”

“Da. I teach both. Be fun,” he says smiling. Once again I can’t get the stupid grin on my face. I wasn’t used to feeling this happy but I wasn’t going to question it. Evgeni brought out a part of me I didn’t even know I had. He made me laugh till my stomach hurt and I wanted to be around him every minute of the day. We finished our meal and we sat in the car a moment before he turned the car on.

“So home?” he asks.

“Yeah it’s getting late,” I say awkwardly. He drives to the apartment and I unbuckle my seatbelt. “Thank you for tonight. I had a lot of fun.”
I lean over the console and my lips meet his. His lips are soft and he opens his mouth slightly. My tongue traces his lower lip and our tongues meet in the middle. Everything in me is telling me hop onto his lap and take right there but I will myself to stop. I pull away breathless and smile.

“Goodnight Geno.”

“Goodnight Quinn,” I get out of the vehicle and walk inside my apartment. I plop down beside Audrina and take my heels off.

“I’m guessing by that smile on your face that you had a good time,” she asks.

“So much fun. I don’t know what it is about him Audrina but he makes me feel like a…” I trail off trying to find the right words.

“Like a love struck teenager. Yeah that’s the good stuff. I’d keep him around if I were you,” she says smiling.

“He called me his girlfriend,” I tell her timidly.

“Oh my god you know what that means. You’re a wag!” she screams.

“Pardon me?”

“You know a wag! Wives and girlfriends of the athletes hello! That means you’ll totally be in with all of them.”

“I’ll be a wag? What does that mean?”

“The wags all hang out and have dinners and plan stuff for charities. It’s really cool.”

“Uh no thanks,” I say shaking my head.

“Quinn you’re representing Geno now, if you want to be part of his world this is it.”
I go into my room and change into an old t-shirt and shorts. I crawl into bed and think about what Audrina had said. Audrina had been my only female friend ever, how was I supposed to get along 20 other women? I was going to the game the next evening and I figured that would be the time to do it. I plug my earphones in and tried to distract myself from the anxiety that was building.

Notes

Enjoy!