Page 38 of Unrecognizable Player

“Stop it.”

When the game’s over,I hang back with Alice, waiting for her to pack her trumpet up and say goodbye to the brass and percussion sections. I don’t expect to see Alexei until we’re back at home later, maybe not even then. The team won, so maybe he’ll go out to celebrate? Bring a girl home even though he saidhe never does that? My heart sinks at the prospect of hearing him have sex with some girl he picked up at a bar.

10

ALEXEI

My family are here tonight. I get changed fast so I don’t leave them waiting outside in the cold.

As I’m coming out of the locker room, I spot Stef and Alice leaving. They’re chatting and laughing and I think about catching Stef laughing at Alice’s dancing in the stands and how much of a fire it lit in the pit of my stomach. I’m suddenly shy, but before I can head out, Alice looks up and spots me, waving me over.

“Good game Captain,” she beams.

“Thanks, good… um… trumpeting?”

“Thank you.”

Did I get that right?

“It’s not a hockey game without a trumpet,” she says.

“Right.”

I glance at Stef and he laughs awkwardly.

“Aloyshka?”

Shit.

I turn around to find Papa, Babushka and Dasha standing by the main doors, watching us.

“Papa, hey, this is my roommate, Stefanos.”

Papa looks him over before shaking his hand. My heart sinks as I catch that look on his face. I know that look, it’s disapproval. Papa has a way of making snap judgements. He calls it trusting his instincts, but I don’t think it’s just that. There’s a hint of prejudice in there too. I wonder what he sees in Stef’s appearance to bring that look out. Is his hair too long? I know how he feels about men with long hair. There’s this Russian tennis player he loves, but every time he watches him play, he shouts at the TV for him to get a haircut. When the guy shaved his head to do military service a few years back, I thought Papa was going to throw a fucking parade.

I kiss my babushka on the cheek and ruffle Dasha’s hair.

Dasha’s looking at Alice like the sun shines out of her ass.

“Hey, you play the trumpet right?”

“Yep.”

“Do you play anything?” She asks Stef.

“Violin.”

“Woah, cool.”

“I thought your roommate is Tom?” Papa says, ignoring Stef completely now.

“I told you, Tom moved out.”

There’s an awkward silence I don’t know how to break.

“Well, we’d better get going, it was nice meeting you,” Alice says. “Good game Alexei.”

I watch her and Stef leave, kinda wishing I was going with them. But then Dasha punches me in the arm and tells me I was awesome out there.

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