Chapter 27 #2
The coach nodded, but he didn’t look happy about it. “Grab some water and meet me on the ice. If you change your mind though, that is fine.”
“I won’t change my mind.”
“I honestly didn’t think you would.” His intonation hinted it was not a good thing. Instead, it seemed more like Coach Williamson had simply accepted it.
When Dmitrii reached the ice after changing, both Coach Truskel and Coach Williamson were there.
They were standing near the table with the sound equipment, but neither had their skates on right now.
Coach Williamson looked over to him. “I told Lisa that we’re running through your short program today. ”
Dmitrii knew that wasn’t all that he had told her.
He could tell from the slight frown on her lips that he had also told her about Tyler.
He just gave a curt nod in response. This was just the short program, which meant there were only three jumps.
However, one of them was required to be an Axel.
Three jumps, three spins, and a step sequence.
The short program was the more artistic of his programs. Artistry had never been Dmitrii’s problem.
He pulled his leggings down over his skates. The black fabric blended into the black skates, which made his legs look longer. He had been told so many times in his life how that was necessary.
Without a word, he skated out onto the ice. While the coaches whispered to each other, Dmitrii skated around the edge of the rink, warming up his muscles and getting a feel for the ice.
He did a few single jumps, not even realizing how he was too distracted to be having anxiety right now.
He just kept thinking about what they were saying.
Tyler had been their student since the man had been so young.
They had to be attached to him. No, he knew they were attached to Tyler.
He saw how they interacted with him and how they loved having him around.
Dmitrii had fallen in love with Tyler in just days; of course, the people that had known him for years adored him.
Dmitrii didn’t have that closeness with any of his coaches.
Back home, he was on his seventh coach. Most of his coaching changes had been moving up to someone more experienced.
One had been because he didn’t like being sworn at for no reason.
One had been because the doctors were worried when he hadn’t gained weight back when he was twelve and demanded a change when they found out his nutrition plan.
None of them had left any sort of emotional connection to Dmitrii.
For two of his former coaches, he didn’t actually even know their first names.
None of them had ever treated him like the coaches here treated Tyler. The coaches here were actually warmer to Dmitrii even than his own coaches back home. Well, they had been until today. Today was different, but even with everything that had happened, they hadn’t shunned him.
Dmitrii finally stopped at center ice, the worried expression clear on his face.
He had never had coaches who were as kind to him as these two had been.
He didn’t want to go back to Russia. He wanted to stay here, but he couldn’t.
This was the wrong country. He wasn’t good enough to insist that he be allowed to train outside Russia.
All Dmitrii could do was just go wherever the skating federation told him to go without him having any real say in it.
“Are you okay?” Coach Truskel wasn’t trying to hide the worry. She could see his expression and knew it was not at all what the young man normally looked like.
Dmitrii nodded. There wasn’t anything else that could be done for him. He had made his decision. This was what it was.
She paused before starting the music, even with Dmitrii in his starting position. It was apparent she didn’t like this. She didn’t like this at all. Of course, the camera was recording. This would be sent to his doctor just like all the other training session videos.
The music was classical, which was to be expected.
The mournful look on Dmitrii’s face perfectly matched the somber music that began to play.
The death scene from La Bayadère was not as well known as other ballets.
In some ways it had fallen out of favor, but the emotional impact of the music could not be denied.
When the music began with sad, powerful tones, Dmitrii’s skating depicted the mood perfectly.
His movements had control to them, yet the force behind each stroke of his skates gave him the speed he needed to pull off his first jump.
He wasn’t holding back today as he threw himself into a 3A before he even had enough time to get nervous.
In this part of the ballet, Nikiya thought she had no hope of being with the man she loved.
She was going to be married off to a more powerful man, and she saw no way out of it.
Dmitrii didn’t want to think of the parallels to his own life.
His combination jump dropped to a triple followed by a double, but he was in no position to be trying quads yet.
Then the music changed. As he went into his first spin, the pace of the score shifted its meter to near frantic and joyful.
In the ballet, Nikiya had received beautiful flowers and thought they were from the man she loved.
In that moment, she had had hope. Dmitrii knew what that felt like.
When he had been with Tyler, anything had seemed possible.
Without warning, the music changed again. This time discordant and timed with his last jump. It was the moment a venomous snake hidden within the flowers bit her.
Dmitrii entered his final spin as the music became hectic.
In the ballet, Nikiya was offered the antidote to the poison if she would renounce her love.
She refused, choosing death over being alive without her love.
Both the spin and the music came to an abrupt end as Dmitrii froze in his ending pose with both hands reaching towards the sky as if asking some divine force to save him.
He didn’t move for a few seconds. Nikiya had chosen not to betray her love.
Even on penalty of death, she had chosen love …
Dmitrii wasn’t that strong. Besides, he hadn’t known Tyler that long.
It would be foolish to risk everything to stay.
Dmitrii tried desperately to make himself believe that.
Nikiya had chosen love, and the whole ballet ended up as a flaming tragedy with buildings destroyed and masses of people dead.
As he relaxed from the ending pose, he couldn’t stop thinking.
Would it be crazy to stay? No, the damage was already done.
He’d already broken up with Tyler. It was over.
The decision was made, so he couldn’t stop now.
He had to persevere and keep moving forward.
He let out a breath and then skated towards his coaches.
Intellectually, he knew that the program had been good, but he didn’t feel any sense of celebration.
There was no relief in it. He honestly …
he was not going to think about what he felt about skating.
Now was not the time to delve into those feelings.
He already had more than enough depressing things to talk about in therapy.
“That was wonderful.” Coach Troskel seemed as if she had not been expecting that at all.
“The choreography is beautiful. That, it took me a moment, but parts of that are almost directly from the ballet.” Coach Williamson seemed more impressed, but he was also the one who had recognized the music.
As Coach Troskel glanced down to make sure that the song wasn’t displayed on the computer, she asked, “What is it from?”
Dmitrii could not get the ballet out of his head. She had chosen love, but he had chosen the antidote. “It’s the death scene of Nikiya from the ballet La Bayadère .”
Coach Troskel shook her head as Dmitrii answered, “I don’t know that one.”
“One choreographer that my coach in St. Petersburg knows also works with the Mariinsky, and it’s one of her favorites. It’s … well, my coach doesn’t believe in taking risks with music, so none of his skaters ever skate to modern music.”
“Prokofiev for the free skate and Minkus for the short is about as risk-free as you can get.” Coach Williansom tried to look less worried as he said, “The music suits you, maybe too well? Are you sure you’re okay? We could call it early today and start jumps on Monday?”
“Jumps on Monday is good, but I’m fine.” The second part of that statement was a lie, but one that Dmitrii was desperately trying to act like it was the truth.
When the coaches didn’t contradict him, he skated back out to work and listen to improvements on his step sequence. He could ignore the jumps today. There was no reason to push himself with those. On Monday, they would work jumps. Today he could work on his edges and his footwork.
When he got off the ice after almost an hour, it hit him. He needed to use his phone to get a car back to the hotel. Today, there was no Tyler. There were no after practice kisses. Today, and for the rest of his time here, he was alone.