Page 33
JULIAN
I stand up from tying my shoes and Arush is there with our bottles of water and a smile that makes my heart skip. I’m not sure what it is about him. He’s incredibly unlike the guys in my past that I crushed on and yet, this is an entirely different kind of crush.
I’d go so far as to say it’s more than a crush. I can’t believe I’d spent so many years without him at this point. It seems so unfathomable. The ease with which he fits into my life, as if he’s always been there, leaves me staring. There’s always been an Arush-shaped absence in my life.
I woke up this morning wishing we could go back to the airport and live that day over again, but this time, do it right. He should have seen my smile. My happiness. My relief that he had finally come home to me.
Instead, he found a misguided, confused man, lost in a dream he hadn’t completely thought through. I shudder to think what would have happened if literally anyone else had gotten off the plane and stood before me.
They would have been wrong. They wouldn’t have been Arush.
“Ready?” Arush asks.
I take his forearms, sliding my hand down his soft skin until my fingers find their place between his. “Yes. Let’s go get sweaty.”
He flashes me a smile.
Our innuendoes, though lame at best, are extra amusing because we know we don’t mean it in the way we’re saying it. It’s a mocking innuendo or something. We dirty tease and then laugh at ourselves because we aren’t the least bit interested in getting sexy.
The relief in that knowledge is incredible. I think it has allowed me to become comfortable with him far sooner than I would have with anyone else. I’m not waiting for the conversation that they changed their mind and want sex.
“But you’re so sexy. Can’t I just suck you a little? I promise you’ll like it.”
I push the memory away and kiss Arush’s cheek before pulling open the door. Our hands are linked until we get to the elevator where Ellie and Paul are just stepping out with their hands full. We unburden their loads, earning ourselves amused but pleased smiles.
“Where are you headed so early?” Ellie asks as she leads the way down the hall to her door.
“To the gym,” I answer. “Nowhere exciting.”
“Oh. We haven’t gone to the gym in ages, Paul,” Ellie says. “We should join them.”
“You don’t want two old fuddy-duddies joining you,” Paul says to me.
Arush is already grinning, nodding at the question I didn’t have to ask.
“We’d love for you to join us,” I assure them. “We love your company.”
“You two are such good boys. Just put those on the counter and we’ll meet you downstairs as soon as we put away our perishables,” Ellie says.
Arush and I place the bags on the counter and tell them we’ll see them in a few minutes as we leave their condo again. In the quiet hall, I take Arush’s hand again.
“You have the best floor in the building,” Arush says.
“I’m fortunate,” I agree.
There are four condos on each floor that make L’s around the building, so everyone has two large walls of windows in two directions.
To the right of my condo are Skylar and her parents.
To the left and separating our condos by the first of two elevators are Ellie and Paul.
The condo opposite mine houses three corporate women who work some mad hours.
I’ve met one in passing and I get the feeling everything has a price, including the ten seconds she spared me to introduce herself.
I walked away feeling like I owed her twenty bucks for those ten seconds.
This time of day usually means the lobby is busy with people heading out to work and kids getting ready to be picked up by the bus. I’m not surprised when the elevator makes a stop on floor nine and again on floor five, picking up residents for the start of their morning commute.
We don’t join the crowd but veer off to the left and toward the first-floor amenities. I glance in at the pool and see Mario Simpson from the seventh floor making laps in the pool. I nod in his direction. “He was an Olympic swimmer,” I tell Arush.
“Yeah?” Arush asks, pausing to peek in at the pool. “Did he win?”
“Silver twice and a bronze last year. I’m not sure if he’s going to compete again.”
“I think I’d be obsessed with competing until I manage a gold, if that’s the case. He’s so close,” Arush says.
I nod. “He is, but he did place all three times he competed. That’s a huge accomplishment.”
Arush hums in agreement as we head for the gym.
As far as condo gyms are concerned, this one is decently tricked out. There are three bikes, four treadmills, a wall of weights, and a handful of other machines. It was another major pro to this building when I was looking for a place to live.
The team, like most, prefers if we do weight training and conditioning at their facility where our physical trainers, coaches, and team management can observe but they also understand that we live in the north where storms might make it safer for us to stay home and work out. That’s the risk you take living here.
There are three people already there: a young woman I don’t recognize, wearing headphones and lifting weights in the corner, and Tobias and James—the beefcakes of floor four.
As soon as I open the door, the two men look up. “Heyyyy,” James says, his smile splitting his face.
“Eleven!” the two men chorus together.
I chuckle. “Four!” I return, though my enthusiasm isn’t nearly as loud as theirs.
We meet them in the middle and do the whole fist-bump thing.
“Haven’t seen you in ages, man,” Tobias says to me as he claps Arush on the arm. Arush shifts at the impact. Tobias is one of those guys who doesn’t realize the strength in his playful punches.
“Hockey’s finally over,” James says as I make my way to the treadmill to warm up. Arush follows.
I nod. “Yep, so here I am.”
“Cool, man,” James says.
“You glad it’s over?” Tobias asks.
I shrug as I start up the machine. “Eh. Yes and no. It was a tough season, and I think we all needed to stop and regroup so we can return with a clear head instead of the weight of mountainous losses hanging over us. But then, I love hockey, so yeah, I’m going to miss it.”
“It was definitely a rough season,” James agrees. “You carried Chicago.”
I shake my head, though beside me, Arush is nodding along. I try not to grin. “I didn’t,” I insist. “Hockey is a team sport.”
“Dude, you made half the goals for the entire season,” Tobias argues. “Then, as if that’s not enough, you also started doubling as defense. Like, where were the guys getting paid to be defensemen?”
“I didn’t make half the goals,” I argue, though I don’t know if that’s true at all. I never thought to keep track. “I’m not going to badmouth my team. Bottom line, we had a tough season, and we’ll be better next year. Everyone has an off year. This was ours.”
“That mean you’re staying?” James asks. “You’re not being traded?”
I called my agent yesterday, and she said that there’s talk around three different teams I could be traded to.
I made a really good impression this year, not just by points scored, but also by my versatility on the ice.
However, she also said that Chicago noted the same and don’t want to let me go.
I’m not the best player on the team in skill and experience, but I was the best player this year.
I was one of the few who had my shit together.
I truly believe we were just having an off season. I know for certain that most of my teammates can kick some damn ass. I’ve watched them for most of my hockey career, as one does. I know they can do better than they did.
The door to the gym opens again and Ellie and Paul step inside with Mittens on a harness.
“Heyyyy,” James says.
“More elevens!” Tobias exclaims.
As they did with Arush and me, the guys meet Ellie and James in the middle of the room. They fist bump Paul and give Ellie kisses on the cheek. Mittens isn’t left out, either, getting scritches behind her ears. I think I can hear her purring from here.
Paul heads for the bike closest to the treadmills. I’ve seen these three work out. They take turns on the bicycle and treadmill with Mittens trotting along on the treadmill. When she gets tired, she’ll jump up on the front of the bike and place judgement on the rest of us mere humans.
Ellie stops at the side of the weight-lifting woman.
I’m not surprised to find that they know each other.
When I first met Ellie, I thought she went door to door, introducing herself to everyone in the building.
I was also surprised she hadn’t organized a condo-wide newsletter to update everyone on the happenings in the building.
I’d totally read it. I can already imagine the spunk Ellie would inject the newsletter with.
Ellie joins Mittens on the treadmill, leaving one between her and I. “So, what have I missed?” Ellie asks.
“We’re discussing the odds of Julian being traded,” James says. “The pattern suggests he will, but he also proved his talent on the ice, carrying Chicago this year. Chicago would be stupid to let him go.”
I shake my head. On the one hand, I’m glad others see how hard I worked this year. People on the outside. Those who watch and cheer the game.
“Oh, no!” Ellie says, looking at me with concern. This is the very first time since meeting her I haven’t seen a smile on her face. “You’re not moving, are you?”
“Not at the moment, no. I haven’t been traded yet and I’m not saying I will be.”
Ellie looks at Arush. “Will you be staying, dear, if our Julian gets traded? We’d hate to lose you both.”
Arush looks at me and then leans forward to look at Ellie. I’m very aware of everyone watching us. Everyone except the girl with her headphones on. “No, Ma’am. I’ll be leaving with Julian.”
“Roommates for life!” Tobias and James cheer, stopping what they’re doing to high five with passion.
I exchange a look with Arush, and I can tell that he’s likely thinking the same thing I am. It’s either not at all the same thing or… maybe it is. Who knows?!
Ellie sighs just as the door opens again and Skylar steps into the room. She looks around and smiles as if it’s her birthday. “Awesome!” she exclaims.
“Heyyy,” James says.
“Hall pass!” Tobias and James say together.
Skylar skips her way to them and bumps her fists on one of theirs at the same time. “Hey, snorgls! Where ya been?”
“Here,” they say together and then laugh.
“Where have you been?” James asks.
“I’ve been going to the planetarium a lot. I’m trying to learn the stars like our ancient ancestors did,” Skylar says as she climbs onto the treadmill beside me. We watch as she taps the call button on her cellphone while starting the machine.
Her mother’s face pops up, and Skylar turns the camera to look outward. “Here’s my company today,” she says and sweeps around the room. We all dutifully wave. “I’m safe and secure and know everyone except that girl over there.” She points the phone at the woman resting on the weight bench.
She must see Skylar because she turns toward her, lowering her headphones. “What?”
“She’s fine, dear,” Ellie says, and Skylar turns the video to point at her. “That’s Betsy. She’s a grad student studying law. She lives on thirteen. Perfectly safe.”
The woman named Betsy smiles when Skylar points the camera back at her. “Hi,” she says. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude and ignore everyone.”
“Nah, you’re fine,” Skylar says. “I’m just showing my mom that there aren’t any weird people in here that might worry her.”
“All right,” her mother says. “Be good. I’d appreciate it if you’d come back upstairs with either Julian and Arush or Ellie and Paul, please.”
“Okay, Mom. Salute.” Skylar ends the call and drops her phone into the cup holder. Then she starts talking in gibberish.
“Es war gl?nzend, und die schlüpfrigen Zehen. Wirbelten und kreisten im Wabe: Ganz mimisch waren die Boroughs, und die Mome Raths ragten heraus.”
I’m not the only one eyeing the others as we listen to her.
“Dear, what are you saying today?” Ellie asks.
“Are you putting a spell on us?” Tobias asks, narrowing his eyes.
Skylar laughs. “No. I’m reciting the Jabberwocky poem by Lewis Carroll in German in an effort to learn German.”
“I think one would start with common words in everyday conversations,” Paul says, chuckling.
“I thought you were learning French,” James says.
“Yeah, I’m done with that one.”
“You gave up?”
Skylar grins. “No. I already learned it. C’était l'actualité de la semaine dernière. Essayez de suivre!”
The room looks around, trying to see if anyone else understood those words.
Skylar just grins and begins reciting a poem already made up of nonsense in German again.
We listen to her and somehow, there’s a rhythm to her recitation that makes me push a little harder.
When she’s through the first round, she taps the up arrow on her machine and begins jogging.
She’s moved on to the periodic table, and her recitation is becoming more rapid.
Arush laughs under his breath as we all somehow pick up our momentum.
There’s no more conversation as we listen to Skylar’s brilliance.
Learning another language isn’t the limit of her amazing mind.
The things she does and knows, and the ones she craves to learn, are like an ever-growing mountain.
It gets higher and higher, the peak never within reach because her hunger for knowledge never wanes.
I realize I can’t wait to see what she does as an adult. What impossibilities will she make possible? What unsolvable mysteries will she discover the answer to? What empires will she conquer?
As much as I think I might like a chance on a different team, one that plays cohesively, leaving this condo building and the people who make it up will suck big time. Arizona might be where almost all my friends are, but this building is where my community is.
Neither is my home. Not to get corny or cliché, but when I look at Arush, I know we’ll make a home together no matter where we are. The only thing that matters is that we’re together.
Table of Contents
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- Page 33 (Reading here)
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