Chapter 16 #2
Anfisa caught Alisa by the arm, and together they rolled their suitcases like girlfriends on a trip.
All these journeys with the team reminded her so much of childhood, of trips to sports camps…
and every time, she loved that feeling inside, that quiet joy, the anticipation of competitions, and the sense that something interesting was waiting ahead.
They were greeted with signs, and a whole minibus had been prepared for them.
Alisa and Anfisa sat side by side again, looking out the window at the tall, towering buildings of the city.
The contrast between St. Petersburg and Beijing was striking, it felt like two different planets.
Everything was unusual, unfamiliar… but so interesting.
And the writing, were those hieroglyphs everywhere? Alisa couldn’t read a single word, yet in some way, she liked it.
As soon as they arrived at the InterContinental Beijing, Alisa glanced around the lobby while they waited to be checked in.
After collecting their passports, a staff member asked them to wait for room assignments.
Alisa quietly hoped she would be placed with Anfisa. Or alone, though that was unlikely.
And she was lucky.
She and Anfisa ended in one room together.
Giggling, they rushed there, quickly dropping their bags before choosing their beds. Alisa picked the one closest to the window and immediately threw herself onto it, bouncing lightly before settling into the mattress.
She laughed softly while Anfisa moved around the bathroom, already organizing her things, placing everything neatly in its place.
After a moment, Alisa got up and went to the window. From there, the arena was visible, almost as if it lay in the palm of her hand. They would still have to walk to it, but it felt close, close enough to reach by foot.
She turned back, heading into the bathroom as well, arranging her own things, lining up her cosmetics. She rubbed cream into her hands, as if wiping away the dust of travel, then offered it to Anfisa, but she shook her head, refusing.
“We have a short practice in an hour, right? Want to grab a coffee and walk to the arena?”
“Yeah, sure, let’s do it!” Anfisa nodded enthusiastically, stretching her neck with a tired sigh. “I’m so tired after the flight…”
“Then let’s take a quick shower for like five minutes? And then change into our training outfits.”
“Yes, great idea, I’m first!” Anfisa laughed and immediately pushed Alisa out of the bathroom, nudging her in the back while Alisa giggled.
“What are you doing, as if I haven’t seen anything like this before!”
“Oh, you saw nothing, go away, shoo shoo shoo!” Anfisa laughed, closing the door behind her.
Alisa returned to her suitcase, unpacking it, searching for something comfortable to wear for practice, the first run-through of the program on the ice. Tomorrow would be the official performance; today was only their first training session.
She took out her favorite pink outfit and carefully laid everything out on the bed. Then she picked up her phone.
Should I write to Tora?
Alisa pressed her lips together slightly, looking out at the arena again, the phone still in her hand. She turned on the VPN, international messengers didn’t work in China either. It wasn’t the first time she had dealt with it…
But it still felt just as unpleasant.
She logged into one of the messengers and saw that Tora hadn’t written anything; maybe she was already on her way, because it was a long flight from Norway, although she had said that she would only be able to come for the free program, so waiting for her today or tomorrow would be pointless, and yet Alisa’s heart still wouldn’t settle for that thought.
She wanted to see her—so much that it almost hurt—but at the same time it frightened her, because they hadn’t seen each other for so long, and even here they would have to hide, and Alisa kept wondering where Tora would be, whether she would sit somewhere far away in the arena among strangers, or try to get closer, somewhere near the skaters, and whether Alisa would even be able to bring her into those restricted spaces, whether she would manage to make that happen at all.
Her thoughts rushed too quickly, tangling into one another, and she didn’t even notice that Anfisa had already come out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, nodding toward her, and only then Alisa blinked, left her phone on the bed, and went to shower.
She washed quickly, as if trying to rinse off the weight of the flight itself, and when she came out, still wrapped in a towel, Anfisa was already dressed in her training uniform, shifting from one foot to the other, stretching slowly.
Alisa took her own uniform and went back into the bathroom to change, and soon enough they both grabbed their skate bags and everything they needed and went down to the hotel restaurant, where breakfast was already in full swing, the space crowded and noisy, filled not only with skaters but with other guests as well, because the hotel stood so close to the arena that it seemed to belong to it.