“I can’t believe they have this kind of food here when they know we’re all athletes who need to eat a special diet,” I said.
“Coaches and refs aren’t on a training diet,” Toni reminded me.
“I never eat like this, but it’s delicious,” I admitted, taking another bite of my breakfast sandwich.“I already feel a little bit better.”
Toni flipped her hair, sending a cascade of blonde waves over her shoulder.I had an image of her dancing last night.She’d been wearing a form-fitting skirt that hit her mid-thigh and a knit top that had done wonders for her cleavage.At one point she’d arched back, arms up in the air, those perfect tits pointing towards the ceiling, and that curtain of thick hair had slid down to touch the top of her muscular ass.
I was pretty sure that image would be burned in my brain for the rest of my life.
“Wait.”I set down my second breakfast sandwich and looked around furtively before finishing my question.“Did you say we kissed last night?”
Toni nodded, her eyes dancing with mischief.
“You sat your ass on my bunk, pulled me down to sit next to you, and told you were going kiss me breathless -- if I didn’t mind.Nice of you to check for consent by the way, despite your drunken state.”
“And did I?Kiss you breathless?”
She gave me a huge smile that made my breath catch in my throat.
“For about two seconds.Then you groped one of my breasts, told me I was beautiful, and passed out.”
I closed my eyes as it all came flooding back.“Jesus, I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be.I had fun last night, and it seemed like you did too.I suspect you don’t let your hair down like that very often.”
“Yeah, you’ve got that right.”
I’d always been cautious about drinking given my father’s behavior when he was drunk.In fact, I don’t think I’d ever had more than one drink in my life.But the wine had been so tasty last night, the perfect complement to the food, and I’d been enjoying myself.Still, I wasn’t proud of my behavior.
I must have said that last part out loud because Toni said, “You didn’t do anything wrong last night.It’s okay to be silly and have fun.Trust me, I do it all the time.”
“You weren’t drunk though.”
She laughed.“No, but I’m not a lightweight like you.It takes more than a couple of glasses of wine to tip me over to intoxicated.I thought Russians were big drinkers.”
“I was born in Vermont,” I snapped.
She rolled her eyes and continued, “Finish your sandwich and we’ll go to the sauna and sweat out the rest of that alcohol.”
It was a beautiful, sunny day although a bit cold, so we ended up taking a long, slow walk after breakfast.As we made our way across the campus and through the neighborhood we talked.Not about anything serious.We shared hockey stories, crazy things we’d seen on the road, a little bit of gossip about our teammates.It was like Toni and I never ran out of things to talk about.
This must be what it’s like to have a best friend,I thought at one point.
I had casual friends, or people I was friendly with, like Greta.We might go to dinner or see a movie together, but I’d never had anyone I was close with.Someone to share hopes and dreams and fears with.Somehow in just a few days, Toni had become that person for me.I realized I was going to miss her when the Games were over, when we both went back to our teams and respective cities.We’d still see each other, sure, but we wouldn’t have concentrated time together like we did here.
“What will you do after you retire from hockey?”I asked.
“I’ve been thinking about this since I turned thirty,” Toni said.“Like, I know my body won’t be able to take this much of a beating forever.I considered coaching – both my parents are coaches now – but that doesn’t quite feel right.”
She paused, sending me a look I couldn’t interpret before she continued, “I’ve never told anyone this before, but I think I’d like to be a kindergarten teacher.”
“Kindergarten?Really?”
I was surprised but not really that surprised.I imagined that Toni was probably good with kids given her playful and sunny personality.
“I majored in elementary education in college,” she said like she was revealing a secret.“And kindergarten is a great age, everything is new to them, you know?Like you get them before they’ve been told that there’s a certain way to act, before they care about who has money or what the color of their skin is.Kids are just… genuine I guess.I love that, and I love the idea of helping them use their natural whimsey and curiosity to learn new things.”
She stopped talking and for the first time since I’d met her, Toni seemed embarrassed.“Maybe it’s a stupid idea.”
