The Dream

A week has passed and the Penguins/Lightening series is tied at 2-2. Although a lot of the staff and players were upset about not leading the series, I was not. The longer the series went on the longer I got to spend with the team and, specifically, Evgeni. Plus, I had no doubt that the Penguins would ultimately take the series win. I have been thriving at this job, connecting with my coworkers, and obviously gaining the confidence to work with male athletes. I feel like I owe a lot of credit to the University of South Carolina. My education there has helped me excel even without field experience. I can keep up with the medical jargon, charts and graphs, and the players have even started coming to me for medical advice on proper rehab and conditioning techniques. I think one of my favorite things about working with a hockey team is the travel. I loved being in Pittsburgh one day and Florida the next. It made me feel fancy as fuck flying on their charter plane. Plus the flights usually consisted of the guys and I playing each other on our Playstation Portables, playing cards, or, on rare occasions, napping, which is always great. Things with Geno were going so well that it pained me using the wall and window of the plane as a pillow instead of his shoulder. I know, though, that dating a coworker is unethical and is notorious for ruining a doctor's career. I could not let that happen to me, especially since I wasn't even out of undergrad yet. It didn't take long for me to feel at home with the Penguins. They, as an organization, had a way of immediately welcoming people into their little family and it made my heart warm knowing the players liked me enough to want to speak to me beyond our medical examinations.
We landed back in Pittsburgh early on May 21st. Geno grabbed my bags from the overhead compartment before I could protest so I whispered a quick "Thank you" and shuffled off the plane, hoping no one read too much into it. As he loaded up my car he spoke low with his thick and tired Russian accent,
"You at practice later?"
"No, Dr. McLane gave me the day off since I've been filling in for her on the away games."
McLane hated the traveling so she was thrilled when I talked about my extensive flying and traveling background and love for planes on my phone interview. I was surprised she let me go and work with Dr. Vyas, the head team physician. He was extremely intimidating but incredibly smart so I took advantage of the trips to pick his brain. Although he offered great experience in the medical field, his social skills were lacking so every wise crack I would make to a player during practice or game evals he would give me a perplexed look, probably wondering how I could be so unprofessional. I was just hoping he would report nothing but positive things to, not only McLane, but also General Manager Jim Rutherford.
"Birthday 23rd right? Go out that night after win?"
"Yeah of course but you have to win for me on the 22nd."
He cracked a dorky smile, shut the hatchback of my Ford Escape, and still didn't break eye contact with me. I was biting my lip so hard I'm surprised it didn't start bleeding. I was tired of this game, I wanted him now, tomorrow, in a week, in a year, every year, for the rest of my life. Our starring contest was broken by the honk of Sidney's horn. In that moment I realized, even if Geno and I end up together, I'll always be second in his heart, right after Sid. He got in the passenger side of Crosby's SUV, they both gave a subtle wave goodbye and just like that, they were gone. I felt exhaustion defeating me so I climbed into my car and drove home, where I collapsed onto my bed and began the best nap I have ever had.

It was a close game, but the lightening won it 4-3 in overtime. Tyler Johnson, one of my favorite Lightening players, got the winning goal less than a minute into OT. I could't help but think about tomorrows plans and if the loss would make G and the guys back out of them. After finishing my paperwork and being dismissed from the office by Dr. McLane, I hauled ass to the locker room to catch Evgeni before he left. When I walked into the room there were only a few guys left giving interviews. I waited until Captain Crosby was done and before I could even ask he spoke softly but sternly "He went home already." Evgeni Malkin has never been able to take losses well but this leaving immediately thing was starting to piss me off. I followed the GPS directions to the address he gave me the night before and drove to his house faster than the speed limit permitted. I don't know why I was going, or even why I was so pissed off. He wasn't my boyfriend so he didn't have to wait around for me after games, I guess I just figured he'd start wanting to, especially since I can talk to him and help him move on from a shitty game. I knocked on the door so firmly that my knuckles actually began hurting. I could hear his TV on the post game coverage and, slowly but surely, I heard his giant self get up off the couch and walk to the door.
"Wh-Mae???" before he could say anything else I was standing in his living room with my arms crossed.
"Geno, I'm sorry you lost ok? That sucks I get it. But you can't just be into me on the days you're winning, you need to be into me after the shitty days too. I've done this no-consistancy thing before and I'm not willing to do it again so even if you don't like me like that then, as a friend, you still owe me the decent act of saying goodbye to me before you leave the arena."
I could have went on but by the time I finished my lecture Evgeni was standing inches away from me, towering over me but, not in the scary way, in a way that made me feel safe. After taking a deep breath in I realized my eyes were filled with tears, when the fuck did that happen? He must've noticed because before I knew it his long, muscular arms were wrapped around my waist and his hands joined on my lower back. I was left paralyzed for a minute processing the first non-medical interaction I was having with this amazing athlete. I slowly untangled my arms which were pressed against his chest, and I wrapped them closely around his neck, letting my head fall just below his shoulder. I could hear him breathing, slowly and calmly, as his chest would rise and fall with each breath. We stayed like this, intertwined in the middle of his large living room with ROOT coverage playing in the background, for what felt like 20 minutes. Finally, he loosened his arms until his large hands were gripping my waist. I brought my hands around so they were resting lightly on his broad shoulders. While looking into his big brown eyes, the sounds of the TV faded out, and it felt as though him and I were the only two people in the world. He took a deep breath in as a slight smile crept across his face.
"С днём рождения" (Happy Birthday)
I looked over at his grandfather clock in the corner of the living room, 12:05am, he knew it was my birthday before I did.
"Спасибо, Женя " (Thank you, Zhenya)
His face instantly lit up, his fake but perfect teeth were on full display, and his huge hands changed position from my waist to both of my cheeks.
"Вы можете говорить русский?" (You can speak Russian?!)
"Да!" I replied, matching his enthusiasm.
And before anything else was said, his lips clashed with mine and my eyes went wide with excitement and then closed with passion. My hands dropped from his shoulders to his waist, where they met his toned abdomen. I knew I was being unethical and a little whorish but I didn't care. Geno was all I wanted for my birthday and I was fully prepared to unwrap him tonight. He wasn't introducing his tongue into the heated make-out session so I made the first move which was immediately welcomed by him with a heavy set groan. I began feeling for the end of his t-shirt, and as I began to bring it up his body he broke the kiss.
Both of us out of breath, he was able to let out "Слишком быстро." (too fast)
"Evgeni Vladimirovich Malkin, are you cock blocking me on my birthday?" I said with a slight smile and giggle.
"да....."
"how dare you sir!"
Before I even got the whole sentence out he sweeped me off my feet and began carrying me to the staircase.
"and where you think you're taking me?" I said with my arms once again gripping the back of his neck, my fingertips swirling slightly through the ends of his hair.
"stay," he whispered as he reached the top of the stairs and kicked the door open to the massive master suite. There were two large dressers along the far wall, separated by a window that only allowed light in through the parting of the two curtains. It was unusually dark so I only made out the larger objects in the room. He threw me down, gently but playfully on his unnecessarily huge and comfortable bed.
"Geno, I can't stay. I don't have clothes." He walked swiftly over to the left dresser, sifted through some clothes, and then turned and threw me an oversized shirt which I assumed had a pens logo on it somewhere.
"Don't look." I teased as I reached down and pulled off my work polo, unclasped my bra and threw on the cotton t-shirt. I shimmied out of my khaki pants and kicked them onto the floor. To my surprise, Evgeni didn't even try to catch a glimpse of my temporary exposed body, and instead took the opportunity to climb into bed and nestle himself under the covers. I also buried myself in the lavish plush comforter and turned to face Evgeni. I felt the bed shift a little as he inched closer to me. I could feel his hot breath engulfing my face, which normally would bother me, but with him it didn't.
"I like," he whispered, his thick Russian accent sending chills down my body.
I matched his volume, "I like you too G...a lot."
And with that I slowly drifted to sleep next to my tall, sweet Russian, having no expectations for my birthday other than getting to spend it with him.

Notes

Y'all, pray for me. I have a midterm tomorrow that I'm obviously not studying for.

lol @ my life
also, I should email this to my Russian professor to show her how I'm applying what she is teaching me hahahaha