Page 48 of Unrecognizable Player

I bop to it a little, liking the relaxed sound. It’s nothing like some of the rap songs Ari listens to.

“What do you listen to?” He asks.

“Classical.”

“Just classical?”

“Yep.”

“Okay, so what do your parents listen to?”

“All kinds. Baba loves Sinatra. And they play Greek music at the restaurant, but I think that’s just for the ambience. I used to play traditional Greek stuff when I was a kid on my violin, and the bouzouki, for the customers.”

His eyebrows come up. “You played music at the restaurant?”

“Yeah. Haven’t you ever been to a traditional Greek restaurant?”

He shakes his head.

“You’ll have to come to Astoria. It’s not a meal unless you have some sort of entertainment.”

A shy smile spreads over his face. It’s seriously criminal how handsome he is. “Is it culturally inappropriate to ask if you guys smash plates?”

A full-throated laugh bubbles up from the pit of my stomach. “No, we do. Not all the time though. On special nights, my dad gets really cheap ones and lets the customers have at it.”

“I’ll definitely come then.”

“Deal.”It’s a date. Nope. Still not a date.

Alice and Mischaare already out on the ice when we get there. I spot them skating in a big circle, holding hands. Big smiles on their faces.

“They make a cute couple,” Alexei says, leaning in close enough for me to smell his aftershave and a unique scent coming off his jacket. Like artificial snow.

“Yeah, they do.”

He hands me a pair of skates with this look on his face like he distains of them.

“I’m guessing you don’t like to wear rented skates.”

“Rentedcrappyskates.”

“These wouldn’t make it in the NHL?”

He just grins and shakes his head as he takes a seat on one of the benches surrounding the rink.

There’s a crispness to the air, a chilly wind biting through the thin faux-wool of my gloves. Alexei sees me blowing on my hands so I can get the feeling back enough to lace my skates and takes his big padded gloves off, handing them to me. “Here.”

“What?”

“Take ‘em.”

“No, I couldn’t-”

He shoves them against my chest, leaving me little choice but to grab them or else let them fall on the floor.

“You’ve got more chance of chopping a finger off on the ice than me.”

I feel the color drain from my face and he laughs, leaning in with a sly smile. “Don’t worry Lilai, I won’t let you get anything severed out there, not on my watch.”

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