"And expect a blizzard tonight with high winds," the weatherman said. I was watching the news because there was supposed to be a big snowstorm tonight and tomorrow.
I left the TV on and went to take a shower and change into my pajamas. It was only 5 in the afternoon but since I was going to be snowed in I wanted to be comfortable.
I put on a pair of pajama pants and one of my college sweatshirts, along with some fuzzy socks. As I was heating up some pasta for dinner I heard a knock on my door.
Confused as to who would be coming over during the snow, I made my way over to the door. When I opened it I saw Artemi standing outside.
"Hey, what are you doing here?" I asked as I let him in and kissed his cheek which was freezing cold.
He shed his coat and took his boots off. "Since there's going to be a blizzard Coach Q cancelled practice tomorrow and I didn't want to be lonely in my apartment."
We went into the living room and sat down on the couch. I ate my pasta that I had gotten from the kitchen. "How's college going?" He asked.
I groaned. "Don't even get me started. We had finals like a month ago and we already have another paper due in a few weeks. And it has to be like 15 pages!" I began to rant.
"I'm sorry baby," Artemi rubbed my back. I leaned into his touch.
"When's your next game?" I asked.
"Thursday." Today was Monday so he had a couple days to rest up. We laid on the couch just talking about random things for most of the night.
We ended up sitting in a comfortable silence for a few minutes until Artemi broke it. "Claire," he said in his thick accent.
I sat up a bit. "Yes?"
"Tell me about your family."
I was surprised and wondered where that came from. "Oh, okay. Well I used to live in Michigan so we grew up Detroit fans but when I moved to Chicago for school I took a liking to the Blackhawks and a certain Russian forward," I winked, causing Artemi to laugh.
I continued talking about my past. "Uh, I have one older brother named Chase. He's two years older than me and he used to play football in high school. My family loves football," I smiled at the memories. "My parents names are Rebecca and Joe. That's about it. What about your family? Tell me about them."
Artemi's eyes lit up as he talked about Russia and his family. He talked about his siblings, his mom, and his grandparents, but he left out his dad. I wondered if it was a touchy subject for him. "What about your dad?" I asked softly.
Art visibly tensed up. I immediately apologized, saying "Oh I'm sorry Art. You don't have to tell me if you don't want-"
"It is okay," he said, placing a comforting hand on my thigh and rubbing small circles on my skin. "He divorced my mom when I was very young. That's why I'm so close with my grandpa; he's like the father I never had."
My heart broke at his words. I had no idea how to respond to that so instead I wrapped my arms around his torso. He hugged me back tight and I rubbed his back soothingly.
He pressed a soft kiss to my shoulder. "I don't want anyone to leave me again."
"I don't plan on leaving anytime soon."
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YOOOO I AM SO SORRY
ik I said I would update while I was on vacation but we were so busy and I kept rewriting this chapter bc I didn't like how it was before ugh
IM back now tho so I will definitely update more! Thanks for reading(:
