Chapter 7
Distracted by the phone, Tyler didn’t notice Coach Williamson and Dmitrii walk out of the sportsplex. Well, he didn’t notice until his coach yelled out, “Tyler, what are you still doing here?”
Startled, he ended his call quickly and blurted out his answer before thinking of how it sounded. “Oh, my mom called. She wanted me to pick up some things.”
“I see. I was going to have you give Dmitrii a ride since you live out that way, but if you’re busy.” Coach Williamson kept walking towards his SUV.
Tyler shoved his phone in his pocket as he trotted over. “All I have to do is swing through the drive-through pharmacy down the road. It’ll be five minutes. I can drive him.” He paused, realizing what he had just said. Hopefully, it didn’t sound as desperate as he feared.
“Umm …” The coach looked from Tyler to Dmitrii, “If that’s okay with you. He’s going to be driving that way to get home. I can drive you though. It’s not a problem.”
“If Tyler doesn’t mind…” Dmitrii took a step towards Tyler. “I am sorry to impose. I could just call a car.”
Tyler had to think fast. This was his chance to have Dmitrii Lebedinsky in his car.
“No, don’t bother. It is literally a little detour to grab something from the pharmacy.
My brother is on the swim team, and he get’s swimmers ear a lot, so I just need to pick up the eardrops.
” He gave Dmitrii a smile as the other man opened up the passenger side door to get in, his skate bag on the floor by his feet.
“Is that serious?” Dmitrii latched his seatbelt, looking over as Tyler slid into the car.
“No. It happens all the time. If you catch it early, it just means he has ear drops for a week and complains about the earplugs he has to wear while swimming. It’s really, really not a big deal.” He started up the car, reaching over to turn down the music before it blasted too loud.
“I’m sorry if I’m out of your way.” Dmitrii seemed nervous as he fidgeted with the straps on his backpack.
“I was going to say it’s not out of my way, but I don’t even know where I’m going.” He gave his best smile as he said it. He pulled out onto the road to drive to the grocery store his mom used for prescriptions. They had a drive-thru, so this really would not take a lot of time.
“I am at the extended stay on Old Ox Road near 28 over towards the airport.” This time, he didn’t pull out the street address right away.
“Oh yeah, I drive right by there to get home. It’s really not out of the way. It’s right across from the gas station I normally stop at.”
Tyler was trying to figure out how to ask Dmitrii why he was here. He also really wanted to know why Dmitrii’s skating had looked like that. Maybe he could figure out a way, but whatever he was going to say was interrupted by Dmitrii remarking, “I know you saw that shitshow of a program I did.”
“What?” Oh, Tyler hated how his voice cracked at that.
“One of the times I looked up, I saw you high up in the stands.”
“Shit. I didn’t mean to … I mean, I meant to watch. I was curious, but I didn’t know …” Oh, how could he get out of this? He got a moment’s salvation by reaching the grocery store pharmacy and having to tell the woman through the speaker who he was picking up for.
“It’s fine. I knew I couldn’t keep what happened secret forever.” Dmitrii turned to look out the window, those sea glass green eyes looking so sad.
“I’m not going to tell anyone.” He took the little white bag with the prescription from the pharmacy tech with a thank you and tossed it into the center console.
“Is it because of the accident?” He immediately regretted asking that when he saw how Dmitrii tensed up.
Tyler quickly tried to reassure him. “You don’t have to tell me. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s …” Dmitrii paused for a moment. “I’m physically fine from the accident. I just need to …” He bit at his lip before continuing. “It’s just a mental block that I am working on.”
When Dmitrii seemed to be done explaining, Tyler nodded.
He wasn’t going to push. He had seen the accident live on a stream at six AM his time.
“I don’t think anyone else at the rink even recognized you the other day.
One of my friends sent me a text saying there was a new cute guy, but she didn’t know who he was.
” Tyler said nothing about how his friend had also said the new guy sucked.
“I think after what happened when they had me on the ice with other skaters, it’s going to be like today instead. I think the coaches are going to use that block of time when no one is … well, no one is supposed to be there.” Obviously, Tyler had been there today.
“I was only even still around because Mitch decided I could come out of the harness finally on my quad Lutz attempts.”
“Mitch? Oh, Coach Harris, right? I’m sorry, I have been learning so many new names in the past few days and learning how everyone refers to everyone else.”
Tyler felt the need to try to reassure him.
“No, it’s fine. Mitch doesn’t enjoy being called Coach Harris.
He thinks it makes it sound too much like someone is talking to his dad.
His dad is a coach up in Maryland, so we see his skaters at competitions and …
that’s kind of a rambling answer, isn’t it? ”
“Just a little, but it’s fine.” For a second there was a hint of a smile before Dmitrii took another deep breath and saw the exit for his hotel coming up. “We’re almost there.”
“Yeah. Did anyone come out here with you? This is just temporary, right?” Tyler hoped Dmitrii was alone. Even if he didn’t have a chance in the world with the guy, at least if there wasn’t a boyfriend … or a girlfriend, Tyler wasn’t actually sure what Dmitrii preferred.
“I’m just here while I try to work through this mental block.
” Mental block didn’t even begin to touch what was wrong, but it was the phrase Dmitrii kept reusing.
It made it sound less debilitating. “I flew out by myself. My normal coaching staff is back in St. Petersburg. They have a lot more responsibilities than just me.”
“It just seems … I don’t know, lonely? I mean even if your English is really good, this is like a place you’ve never been.”
“I’m fine. I have a nice room here, and Coach Truskel has been very welcoming.” He gripped his bag as they stopped in front of the hotel. “I spent time in California when I was younger.”
Tyler didn’t know that Dmitrii had been in America long enough to be so fluent.
Maybe that meant that he was going to stay in Virginia for at least for a while.
Tyler didn’t want to say goodbye and leave, but there was no reason he could think of that would let him delay.
In a desperate attempt, he blurted out, “Do you want my number?” Tyler really hoped the offer sounded normal, but that didn’t stop him from babbling a little more.
“I don’t live far from here, and then if anything comes up, at least you have a local person you can call? ”
It almost seemed like Dmitrii was going to turn down the offer, but then he reached into his pocket for his phone. “Sure.”
As Tyler recited his number, Dmitrii entered it on his own phone, and then he composed a message really quickly. He hit send just before he opened the car door. “Thank you for the ride.”
“No problem!” Tyler was smiling as he watched the other man walk into the hotel.
Only then did he look at his phone. ‘This is Dmitrii’s phone :) .
’ He read it, eyes widening a little. There was a little smiley face at the end of the text.
He wasn’t sure exactly what it meant, but it didn’t seem that it could be anything bad.
His mom would be waiting for him to get back with the medicine, and he wasn’t going to just hang out in the parking lot here like some sort of creepy person. However, he now had Dmitrii’s number.