Chapter 16
In honor of those who went to the qualifiers, they organized a party a couple of days before departure just to wish the athletes good luck, so to speak, so that they could secure the remaining quotas for the country.
All the athletes gathered in one popular restaurant - RoofTop, which had been booked out entirely for the evening.
There was a pool on the roof, something that was very rarely used except on especially hot summer days in St. Petersburg, and it was usually too cold for it; today was no exception.
Still, everyone was dressed in suits and dresses, the official dress code for the evening.
Alisa stood in black pumps and a short black dress with a thigh-high slit; it somehow reminded her of her performance costumes, so she felt quite comfortable in it, even at such a short length.
She held a glass of prosecco in her hands and looked out at the night lights of the city, the passing cars below, the people hurrying along about their business.
She felt a vibration in her purse.
Really?
No way…
Alisa reached for her phone with a flicker of hope and pulled it out of her small clutch; it took up almost all the space inside. Were the messengers working today?
She quickly opened the app and noticed incoming messages from Tora, those messages she had sent before, but Alisa had received no notifications, until now. The date showed they were almost a month old… they had not spoken for an entire month…
Tora: How are you doing there?
Tora: We’re preparing for the Olympics, in general everything is standard—training, then more training, and then even more training…
Tora: When will we be able to call, at least audio… I don’t even dream about video calls anymore.
Tora: I miss your voice so much…
Tora: I hope you’re okay, I know you probably are, but you know, when you don’t answer me for weeks, it bothers me, maybe I did something wrong?
Tora: I’m sorry if I did something wrong… I hope you’re okay, please call me as soon as you can… as soon as you can… I miss you, your world champion, Tora.
Alisa felt only a dull sense of guilt, but she had no control over the Internet or how it worked; they had spent a month without it across the entire country, only minimal services like taxis or government websites functioned, nothing else.
The phone had truly become a useless piece of hardware, capable only of very rare calls or SMS, and even then, no one from her family had called her during that time…
Apparently, her mother had completely given up trying to reason with her daughter about grandchildren and had stopped writing or calling, or perhaps the connection in the region where her parents lived had been cut off entirely and she could not even reach her.
Alisa did not care; it was better this way, quieter since no one distracting her from training for the trip, from earning those final Olympic quotas.
Time passed quickly… very quickly, and a week later they were already preparing to leave for China.
Well, not just “they”, Alisa for certain.
As for the team: Slava and Raul in men’s singles, Alisa and Anfisa in women’s, and two junior pairs Violetta and Andrey, as well as Anna and Richard.
All of them would be going to Beijing in just a couple of days.
And today, all of them were being honored here, in this rooftop restaurant.
Alisa looked at the phone screen, trying to figure out what to say to Tora, she needed to write something quickly, but instead she decided to call immediately via video while there was still a connection.
Tora picked up after a couple of rings.
“Oh my God, is that really you calling? I thought I was already hallucinating!”
Alisa moved to the far corner of the bar so that no one would notice her talking to Tora on a video call, just in case.
“Yes, I’m sorry, there was no Internet at all… I’m so glad to see you and hear you!”
Alisa smiled, looking at Tora with watery eyes.
She was sitting with a cloth mask on her face and took it off; her skin was glowing after the procedures, apparently unwinding after a hard training day.
Alisa’s gaze dropped for a moment to the deep neckline of her white tank top, and Tora immediately smirked.
“I caught you, you’re staring at my boobs again, aren’t you? We haven’t seen each other for a month!”
“I’m no better than a man…” Alisa replied with a quiet chuckle.
“Love you like this, you know that right? And you know, I was just… well, I was looking into how to come to Russia and realized I need a visa? I googled it, and it turns out I actually need one, I’ve never dealt with that before! What does that even mean? Do I seriously need a visa?!”
“Welcome to a small part of my world with a weak passport, haha… yes… visas are fun.”
“Then why don’t we meet in Finland? You can go there, it’s right next to you… and it’s not far from me either, just a couple of hours by train or car…”
“Yes, but I need a visa for that too… this time I was only given a Schengen visa for specific travel dates, so…”
“Then when will I see you?” Tora’s expression grew more serious.
“I don’t know…” Alisa pressed her lips together slightly, her gaze drifting past the screen into the emptiness of the night. She fiddled with the heart pendant between her fingers to calm her nerves, and Tora, noticing this, tugged her own dagger chain in response.
After a couple of seconds, Alisa seemed to return to herself; the reality of visas, of borders, of the simple impossibility of even meeting each other hit again. She smiled softly at Tora and whispered, “You look beautiful today by the way.”
Alisa licked her lips, damn, how much I want to be with her now instead of this party, lying beside her in Norway on that comfortable couch. She recognized the interior immediately, even though she had only been to Tora’s home once…
“Thank you, babe, you look good yourself though! Are you on a date with someone?” Tora’s tone shifted instantly as she studied Alisa’s outfit, her revealing dress.
“No, I’m at a restaurant, we’re celebrating the athletes who are going to Beijing in a week.”
“Oh, already? Damn… and who’s going?” Tora asked, pursing her lips before absentmindedly licking them; those full lips drew Alisa’s attention completely, and somewhere in her head a voice kept repeating: I want to kiss her, now, now, now.
“Well…” Alisa hesitated.
“Are you going?” Tora straightened up on the couch; it looked like her legs were inside a compression massager, it was such a divine invention, so pleasant after training.
Alisa had thought more than once about getting one herself, although she could only use one at the rink, after practice, when the recovery room was free…
Alisa nodded. “Yes. I’m going. I’ll be competing in women’s singles.”
“Damn!”
For a second, Tora froze, and Alisa tensed, had the connection dropped? But then the screen flickered, and the video returned through the interference.
“Damn, looks like they’re cutting the Internet again,” Alisa muttered.
Tora began speaking faster, rushing her words, “Can I come to Beijing for the qualifiers, to see you? When are you performing?”
“September 19th for the short… the 21st I’ll be free…”
“I’ll be there. Have they told you the hotel yet?”
“Yes, it’s the InterContinental Beijing.”
“I’ll come on the 21st then… for the finals.”
“Okay… I’ll be waiting.”
Alisa smiled and then the connection cut out.
“Blyat’…” she muttered under her breath, slipping the phone back into her bag. “Well… at least we talked…”
The phone turned into a useless brick again, cut off from the rest of the world.
“Hey, why did you run off into a corner?” Lev walked up to Alisa, placing his hands on her shoulders; he was already moving well now, without any crutches or support, looking completely normal, as if nothing had happened to him six months ago.
Alisa let out a nervous breath. “Yeah, I just… wanted to talk to Tora.”
Lev only shook his head. “Come on, let’s go, we’re supposed to be celebrating, not being sad about the fact that you can’t be with your girlfriend.”
Alisa pressed her lips together. “Yeah. You’re right.”
“You deserve a night like this, at least let yourself relax.”
Lev was saying all the right things, but Alisa was already anxious about everything; it felt like it was time to switch to antidepressants instead of morning coffee, but then she wouldn’t be allowed to compete because of them, so she would have to survive through it all however she could.
She forced a small smile and followed Lev back to the center of the celebration.
The athletes who were heading to Beijing for the qualifiers and the final quotas for the country were already gathered in the middle of the restaurant. They welcomed Alisa warmly into their circle, and Anfisa stepped forward and hugged her as she joined them.
Alisa froze for a second, they hadn’t spoken since the internal qualifiers.
“I’m sorry,” Anfisa whispered.
Alisa held her tighter. “I’m sorry too.”
“It’s okay,” Anfisa replied, pulling back from the embrace.
They stood side by side, and when everyone around them raised their glasses, they lifted theirs as well.
“To winning in Beijing.”
“To winning!” the athletes echoed, and drained their glasses to the bottom.
* * *
Alisa landed in Beijing early in the morning; the pale sun was still shining through the plane windows, and by the time they touched down, it was already full dawn at the airport.
As they approached, she noticed a huge star-shaped structure from above, like a sea star stretched across the ground.
The airport was enormous, and when they stepped inside, Alisa was stunned by its space and scale, it seemed to be the largest airport she had ever been to.
The other skaters reacted much the same way.