Page 109 of Chasing Gold, Catching Her

“Of course, no problem.”

Hermann took a couple of sips, with no straw obviously, and handed it back to her with a satisfied nod. Then he put his helmet back on and skated off toward the goalie, apparently returning to finish his training, while at the other end of the arena the gates were already opening for the Zamboni ice machines.

A heavy hand suddenly landed on Alisa’s shoulder, and she turned left, only to realize Anfisa was already there. Their joint training session again.

Alisa smiled instantly. Her mood lifted on the spot, because honestly… how do people say it? Everything really is more fun with a friend?!

“Did you just… give him your coke to drink?” Anfisa looked at her with visible disgust, which made Alisa burst into laughter. She had known Hermann for a long time, he was basically like a brother to her. They shared food, went to parties, had late-night hangouts… but strictly as friends. Nothing more.

“Well, yeah…” Alisa shrugged, slipping the straw back into the can and continuing to drink, even though there wasn’t much left.

“What a horse,” she muttered with a grin under her breath.

Anfisa just stared at her in horror. “So you just had indirect contact, you exchanged bacteria, and now his bacteria is in your coke. And now it’s in you.”

Alisa almost laughed again, completely unfazed. She wasn’t squeamish at all when it came to people close to her.

“Well, we’ve been sharing bacterial biomes for years already, so I think I’ll survive.”

Anfisa pressed her lips together and slowly turned her gaze toward Hermann, narrowing her eyes aggressively and baring her expression like a panther ready to bite.

And then she shifted focus again, digging through her bag until she found a transparent lip gloss. She pulled out a small heart-shaped mirror and started carefully applying lipstick.

Alisa immediately wanted to joke, “What, like, are you showing off for Hermann?”

Anfisa made an offended little sound, a dramatic “uh!” and playfully bumped Alisa with her shoulder, which made her burst out laughing just as the hockey players started approaching the gates and leaving the ice. Hermann was coming off from their side.

“Ladies!” he bowed slightly, placing the protectors on his blades, then headed toward the locker room, winking at Anfisa on his way.

“What was that just now?” Anfisa frowned.

“Should I be asking you that?” Alisa raised her eyebrows, while the ice resurfacer rolled out and began polishing the rink.

“We’re going to skate on ice ruined by hockey players again!” Anfisa closed her eyes, trying to calm herself.

“Oh come on, they didn’t destroy it today…”

“It’s the same thing every time. Every time I tell them not to use our ice. What’s so hard about them always going to the main rink?”

“Well… probably the fact that, unfortunately, they’re not the only ones allowed to skate there.” Alisa shrugged and stood up from the bench, stretching slowly, her neck first, then shoulders, waking her body up properly.

“What do you have today, by the way?” Anfisa asked.

“Hmm… Dana promised a short program to Deftones. You know that track? It’s dramatic, it gives me goosebumps. We thought we could redo the last short program around it.”

“You just decided to change everything suddenly?”

“Dana said too many classical programs are already being prepared for the final internal qualifiers. So I want something that stands out.”

“Oh, I heard something about that Dana decided to experiment with you right away. Well… good luck then.”

“What about you? What are you skating for your short at the qualifiers?”

“Oh, Alyona and I chose Michael Jackson. I love his tracks.”

“He’s cool, yeah… good luck to you too.”

“Are you rehearsing your program today already or?”