Page 13 of Bad Teammate
Andof course,at the precise second I dared to look, she sensed it. She immediately whipped her head around and cast her smoky, accusatory eyes on me.
Caught. Immediately caught. That made me the worst of the worst—an ogler of a teammate’s girlfriend.Ugh.My shameful heart wentthudin my chest.
At least no one in the locker room would know. Until Niko learned English, maybe.
Annoyed, Katya hiked her hoodie up over her shoulders, then went right back to arguing with Niko. The two of them kept glancing over at me while they argued.
“Great. Now you guys are obviously talking about me,” I said.
I rolled my eyes.Fuck this, man.
“Well, don’t mind me,” I said as I wove through the quarreling lovers. I dug out my keys and unlocked the double doors, swinging them open wide. “Welcome to my home, I guess.”
The Russians went right past me, squabbling the whole way, abandoning Katya’s luggage in the hall.
“Don’t you worry, Niko.I’llgrab her bag,” I said sarcastically.
I bent down to pick up her suitcase. She’d left her cellphone on top of it. I could hear the rasp of music still playing on her headphones. Curious what she’d been listening to, I held an earbud close to my ear. A piano rang out, each key hammered so crisply and cleanly, as the melody sped towards a thunderous crescendo.
Classical music,I thought with a laugh.How very Russian of you, Katya.
I took her phone with me and dragged her luggage inside.
Still, they argued.
“Damn.” I kicked off my shoes. “You guys aren’t gonna quit, are you? How long is she staying with us, anyway?Isshe staying with us? It’d kinda be nice to know these things ahead of time.”
Niko threw his arms in the air—he’d finally had enough. He walked off, but Katya chased him through the condo, lecturing him in Russian. The argument ended when he barricaded himself in his bedroom and locked the door.
Katya returned to the living room, her arms folded. She moved around the condo like a cat: stealthy, slinky, every step carefully calculated yet so smooth. Her ballet flats barely made a noise on the hardwood floor as she looked around the place and took in her surroundings.
“Congratulations,” I said. “Looks like you badgered Niko into submission.”
She stared at me and didn’t say a word.
“You can’t understand anything I’m saying, can you?” I asked aloud. Before I gave her a chance to answer, I kept ranting. “Perfect. Now I’ve got two of you. Living with two Russians? Are you kidding me? I think I’m gonna go crazy—hell, I’m already talking to myself.”
Her eyebrows arched at me, her glare growing more bewildered.
“This is great,” I said with a sigh. “Just great.”
I grabbed my guitar from its stand and headed for the couch. She followed me.
“Your girlfriend seems a little psycho, Niko,” I said aloud. “For your sake, I sure hope you didn’t cheat on her last night.”
I threw myself into the couch.
She sat on the furthest cushion away from me, curling her legs under her, and stared at me while I strummed and plucked at my guitar.
“But hey, I gotta give it to you, Niko,” I said. “She is really fuckin’ cute.”
“Um!” she said at last, pressing her lips together as if she had something urgent to say.
I looked up at her, my fingers frozen on the fretboard. Was it just me, or did thatumsound decidedly American?
“Do you speak English?” I asked, hoping she wouldn’t answer.
“I do,” she said with a slight Russian accent.
