Chapter 13 #2
Grace was in her mid-teens, with her brown hair tied back into a braid.
Max looked a lot like Tyler, same dark brown hair and blue eyes, except a little shorter and a little stockier.
Tyler’s parents were in their mid to early forties, and the dark hair was clearly from Tyler’s father since his mother had much lighter blonde hair.
They all smiled at Dmitrii as Tyler continued the introduction. “This is Dmitrii Lebedinsky.”
Stepping forward, Dmitrii held out a hand to Tyler’s father. “It is nice to meet you, sir.”
As they shook hands, Tyler’s dad grinned, “Nice to have you here. Hellen says you’re out here by yourself while you train at Tyler’s rink?”
“Yes, sir.” Dmitrii kept smiling. “I’m out here for some extra training.” There was no mention of the issues he was having, and Tyler assumed that was very much intentional.
“That sounds great. I know Tyler’s coaches are fantastic. He goes into seniors this year.” With the way he phrased that, it was clear Damian did not actually understand that the reason Tyler was moving into Seniors was that he had aged out of Juniors.
Dmitrii didn’t seem surprised or put off by the man not seeming knowledgeable. “That’s what he was telling me. Tyler’s been working on his jumps a lot this week.”
“He’s always jumping around the house. When he jumps up in his room, he makes the whole house shake.”
“Dad!” The embarrassment of his father saying that to anyone would have been high, but to say it in front of Dmitrii was even worse, so, so much worse.
“What? You practice a lot. That’s a good thing. I can’t build an ice rink in the backyard like Gretzky’s dad did.” He gestured out at the backyard. “I was going to put a pool in, but your mom didn’t want that.”
Tyler’s mom walked over, pressing a kiss to her husband’s cheek. “There is a pool two blocks away at the community center. There is no reason we need to have a pool in our yard as well.”
“That didn’t stop you from having me put in a dance studio in the basement.” His dad was clearly just teasing his mother.
As Tyler’s parents discussed what changes had and hadn’t been made to the house for the kids’ sports, Tyler looked over to Dmitrii and shrugged a bit. These were his parents. He was used to it, but he knew they could be a lot for other people.
The parental discussion didn’t last long, ended by Tyler’s mom saying, “I bet the boys are starving, dear. Why don’t you get the burgers on the grill?” Then she turned to Tyler and Dmitrii. “Sweetie, why don’t you get Dmitrii something to drink?”
With a nod, Tyler led Dmitrii back to the kitchen and the air conditioning inside. “Sorry about my parents.”
“What’s there to be sorry about? They seem nice?” He grabbed a can of cola when Tyler opened the fridge and gestured inside.
“Just my dad tries to get into skating, but … I don’t know.
I’ve been skating forever, and he can’t even tell an Axel jump.
” The Axel was normally the first jump people learned to recognize since it was the only one that the skater jumped from a position of skating facing forward instead of backward.
“He seems enthusiastic?” The smile on Dmitrii’s lips had softened in a way that made Tyler feel a little breathless.
“He is… He just does better with Max’s swimming. If you give him a stopwatch, he understands. When I try explaining all the scoring in skating? Well, he tried. It’s not like he’s bad at numbers either. He’s an accountant. He does numbers all day.”
“I think it’s nice that he’s enthusiastic. He’s proud of you, too.” Dmitrii’s voice had dropped down into the same range he used when speaking Russian, and the words seemed a little softer as he stood barely a foot away from Tyler.
“I don’t know what he would do if I actually competed internationally. Anytime I’m at anything that even streams online, he is so excited. He barely knows the difference between a short program and a free skate though.” Tyler was laughing as he said it, looking at Dmitrii maybe more than he should.
“That’s nice, though. You’re lucky to have that type of support.” He glanced down at the soda in his hand. “And they don’t enforce a food plan.”
“I normally eat healthy, but, like my dad says, I burn all the calories off, anyway. So, as long as the doctors say I’m good, he just lets my mom shove vegetables and fruit at me.” Then Tyler took a chance. “Are your parents strict?”
The instant the words were out of Tyler’s mouth, Dmitrii’s face froze, and the honest smile suddenly became very fake. “My coaches are the ones who make sure I follow the rules. The rink has a dietitian, and he makes sure I have planned meals in my kitchen. The food is fine.”
“I’m sorry.” Tyler apologized without even thinking about what he was apologizing for. It was clear that something about mentioning his parents had made Dmitrii very uncomfortable, but he wasn’t sure why.
“For what?” Dmitrii glanced from Tyler to the door to the deck.
“I don’t know.” Tyler paused for a moment before just barely whispering, “I just … I didn’t want to ask you anything that hurt you like that.”
Dmitrii turned back to Tyler, and his eyes seemed to soften.
“I don’t talk about my parents. People don’t normally ask me though.
” He let his eyes drop before looking back at Tyler.
“At the rink in Russia, there aren’t many people that try to be social with their rink mates.
Well, at least at my rink. Everyone is too competitive for that. ”
Tyler didn’t pause before answering, “You skate at a higher level than I do.” Oh, he was so aware of how Dmitrii was the better skater.
“You’re working on a quad Lutz and landing it. That’s impressive. If you were in Europe, you’d be competing internationally.” Dmitrii took a step towards Tyler, eyes gazing into his. “And I can barely skate now. You’re the one skating at a higher level than I am.”
Tyler shook his head. “You’re getting better every day. You’re going to be back to jumping quads soon, and you are such a beautiful skater.” Tyler realized what he had said after the words were out of his mouth.
“Thank you.” Dmitrii’s voice was softer as they stood a little too close. “And thank you for inviting me. I think it’s healthy for me to maybe get out of that hotel room.” Dmitrii’s eyes darted to the side for a moment. “It’s … nice.”
Before Tyler had a chance to ask what Dmitrii meant by that, his mom was calling out from the deck, “Tyler! Can you grab the ketchup and the mustard? Your dad says the burgers are almost done, and I forgot to grab them.
Whatever closeness they had been flirting with was broken, and Tyler took a wide-eyed step backwards. “I’ll grab them.” He gave Dmitrii a quick, awkward smile before turning to the refrigerator to grab the condiments and carry them out onto the deck.
As soon as they opened the door to the deck, the delicious smell of the hamburgers filled the air.
There wasn’t time for any more awkward conversations.
Instead, everyone started to ask Dmitrii questions as they sat down at the patio table to eat.
It was a very stereotypical meal, but it was warm enough out to be using the grill, and the day was too beautiful to spend inside.
Tyler knew all the answers to the questions that his parents asked Dmitrii, but he listened to Dmitrii’s answers.
Tyler knew Dmitrii trained in St. Petersburg, and he already knew that Dmitrii was from a small town outside of St. Petersburg.
He hadn’t known that Dmitrii had moved to St. Petersburg when he was eleven.
All the questions were just typical conversation until his little sister asked her own question.
Grace stabbed a piece of grilled eggplant with a fork as she asked, “Do you have a girlfriend?”
Dmitrii’s eyes went wide as he sat up straighter.
Hellen corrected Grace, the sigh making it clear that this was very typical. “What have I told you about asking those types of questions?”
“I’m just asking. I looked him up online, and there is like no information, but he has all kinds of articles and interviews posted.” She rolled her eyes again as she stood up to gather up the plates.
Tyler’s dad looked over. “Oh? Really?”
“I told you.” Tyler let out a sigh. “Dmitrii is a very talented skater.”
Dmitrii shrugged, “I did well at Nationals last year, so I was selected for Europeans. That led to some international media.” He looked back at Tyler. “Tyler has almost as many quads as I had.”
“Yeah, I don’t have the Salchow you do.”
“You could get it. I mean, your Lutz is looking good, and that is so much harder than the Salchow.”
Tyler’s dad laughed. “Oh, you and your skating talk. I didn’t know we had a skating celebrity with us.”
“I would not say a celebrity.” Dmitrii turned to where the dog was whining at the door to the deck, acting as if she was locked up in a tiny spot instead of an entire house.
Tyler’s mom stood up, walking over to let Molly out onto the deck. “Grace? Did you take her for a walk before dinner?”
“I was helping Dad with the hamburgers, and now you want me to do dishes.” She didn’t say no, but it was clearly a no, just with an effort to avoid being in trouble.
“Max?”
“I’m getting picked up by Daren’s mom because we are doing that movie tonight, so I can’t.”
Hellen sighed again before looking at Tyler. “I know you have Dmitrii here…”
“It’s fine, Mom.” He stood up, looking at Dmitrii. “I need to walk Molly. Do you want to come with or stay here?”
“I’ll come with.” He gave a little smile as he followed Tyler back into the house so Tyler could grab a leash and the poop bags.
While Grace cleaned up, Tyler led the way to the front door so they could take the dog for a walk. “Molly doesn’t like going in the yard, so we have to do this. I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s fine. She’s a nice dog.” He gave Tyler more of a smile this time.
Being alone with Dmitrii was nice, but realizing that Dmitrii seemed happier that they were alone was even nicer. “Was this better than staying at your hotel?”
“This was so much better than staying at my hotel. I mean, Molly alone is enough to make this better than my hotel. Your family is nice though.” Dmitrii was watching Molly as they walked along a small paved trail not far from the house.
When they reached a bit of an undeveloped area near a creek, Molly pulled on her leash, and Tyler let more length out so she could get into the tall grass. “Yeah, the excitement of taking a dog out to do her business?”
“She’s a good dog.” Once Molly finished, she came running back to them.
As Tyler went to bag the mess, Dmitrii knelt down to pet her.
“I’m sorry I got so tense when you mentioned my family.
My family doesn’t have much contact with me.
I just didn’t want to say that around your family because I didn’t want them to feel bad for me. ”
“I should have realized. I don’t think you’ve ever mentioned them in an interview.” He tossed the baggie into a garbage can and walked back over to Dmitrii.
“How many of my interviews have you seen?” The question was soft, and Dmitrii kept eye contact with Tyler as he also knelt next to the dog.
“As many of them as I could find? I’m sorry if that sounds creepy.
I caught one of your junior programs in your last year of juniors, and I wanted to see more, so I searched out your programs. People had put most of them online.
You had a lot of clips on your social media too.
So, I kinda recognized you the second I saw you. ”
“Even with the hair?” Dmitrii brought a hand up to his short hair.
“Even with the hair. It didn’t change how you moved or how your eyes looked.” The second the line about Dmitrii’s eyes left his lips, Tyler’s eyes went wide. “I am sorry if that seems creepy.”
“It’s not creepy.” Dmitrii bit his lower lip again, and if Tyler was forced to tell the truth, he’d say how cute Dmitrii looked when he did that. “So, to answer your sister’s question, no.”
“No?” Tyler took a second to remember what Grace had asked, then realized the ‘No’ was in response to ‘Do you have a girlfriend?’. “Oh!”
“I shouldn’t have said anything. Please don’t tell people. It could be bad for me when I get back to Russia. I just didn’t want to lie to you.” Dmitrii was looking around, shifting on his feet as he said, “I should get back to my hotel.”
“Dmitrii, I’m not going to go and say anything to anyone.” He tilted his head as he looked at the other man. “I promise.”
“I don’t know why I said anything. You’re already keeping a lot of secrets for me.”
“It’s fine. I promise I won’t tell anyone. Not about your skating. Not about what you just said. I promise.” He stepped closer, his hand resting on Dmitrii’s wrist. “I can take you back to the hotel if you want?”
Dmitrii paused, looking at how close Tyler was, not saying anything for a moment.
“Umm, I probably should? It’s getting dark, and your brother had things to do, and …
” He leaned forward, not breaking eye contact with Tyler.
They were so close, just a few inches between them, when suddenly Molly barked at something and pulled on her leash.
“Molly!” Tyler let out a sigh as she jerked him to the side of the path.
“No, you can not chase the squirrels.” The moment broken, he looked back at Dmitrii, a smile still on his lips.
“Come on. We can go someplace?” That look had been so telling, and Tyler would bet that he had missed a kiss by seconds.