Chapter 2

For several years now Vlad has been going to the gym, trying, as he puts it, to bring his body closer to the outward ideal of male beauty. Beautiful and perfect things inspire him in general. At school he was a skinny teenager, but those days are long gone, while his desire to improve hasn't gone anywhere. In that time Vlad has achieved good results, and he boasts about it a little... All right. He boasts a lot about his body and the size of his biceps. Sometimes even I feel awkward watching him admire himself in random mirrors. But that's his own business, and everyone has their quirks!

As for me, I have three more months to figure out where this relationship will lead us and how I should live next.

"I do, but I decided to skip it. I'm not in the mood."

"Yo-ou?" Now I really am surprised, and Vlad shrugs:

"The gym has been packed these last few days. It's impossible to train! New people showed up, and it gets on my nerves. Show them this, show them that. I don't like being distracted when I have a new workout plan. It's fine," he smirks, "I'll move the workout to the morning. Better let's go to the movies, since my evening freed up."

His.

Hearing that, I slow down and tense.

"Alice?"

"Today? We agreed on the weekend."

"Yes, but what's stopping us from going now?"

Nothing, except one tiny little detail.

"Vlad, honestly, I'm really tired and wanted to get home early," I admit. "I haven't finished the translation job I picked up on the side. If I manage to get it done by tomorrow, I'll get a bonus."

Vlad snorts, showing me just how unserious that sounds to him.

"A bonus? Alice, you'll get pennies! Just enough for the movie."

"And even if that's true?" I'm not trying to argue at all. I've long had my own opinion on the subject, but his words sting.

"When are you supposed to live, Snowy?" He shrugs. There it is, this again. "I only see you on weekends, and then in quick dashes between school and work, like now. It isn't enough for me." He suddenly stops and turns me toward him by the hand. "Just don't tell me you're going to run off again and that you don't give a damn about me."

Vlad comes from a fairly well-off family. He doesn't need to combine work with school, and he doesn't even need to understand me. I've always believed you can't demand from others what they can't give, and he agreed with that. But unfortunately, the longer we are together, the more often Vlad forgets our original agreement. And I find a thousand reasons of my own to keep distance between us.

Maybe he's right, and I'm being unfair.

We leave the metro and stop again. Out here on the street it's not as loud anymore, and we can hear each other without trying to shout over the draft and the roar of the escalators.

"What would you want, Vlad?" I ask, looking him in the eye.

He looks at my face, then drops his gaze to the strap of my backpack.

"Well, I don't know. We could go hang out with my friends so people see us together more often. You could stay over at my place sometimes. My parents would understand. And in general, we need to spend time like adults who are planning a future together, not like friends."

"Rybkin." I tug him by the sleeve, making him look me in the eye. "We had an agreement, and you agreed."

"Alice, when was that? Last winter! Haven't you gotten used to me in all that time?"

"I have."

"See? There you go! Let's rent an apartment. It'd be convenient. You could train with me. Go to the same gym and ride to university together. It's not as if your family would object!"

"I don't think they would."

"So what's stopping us?"

"But who's going to pay for the banquet of our independent life, Vlad? The apartment, food, clothes?" I say bluntly. "Your workouts and mine? Textbooks, transportation, entertainment, and medication?"

Vlad wants to seem confident, but he still flushes in his plump cheeks. This guy has a strong body, but his character hasn't caught up yet. It happens. Otherwise he would see the obvious himself.

"Medication? Snowy, what for? I'm healthy as a bull!"

I turn away, adjusting my hat and the strands of hair that have escaped from under it.

"Nothing, don't worry about it. I was just saying."

"Oh."

"Fine, you're right. Let's go to the movies," I agree, smiling at him. "Only I'm starving! Can we stop somewhere on the way?"

"I hope not at a pizza place like last time. You need to watch your figure."

I lift an eyebrow in amazement, stunned by the remark.

"My figure suits me perfectly," I answer, because that's how I feel. "Doesn't it suit you?"

"It does, Alice, don't think that!" Vlad hurries to reassure me. "I'm just talking about the future. You're so slim, and it looks good on you! If only you knew how obsessed the girls at the gym are with calories and supplements so they can stay in shape. They hit on me nonstop, but I always remember I have a girlfriend! I still can't believe you agreed to date me."

Vlad hugs me again, kisses my cheek, and as we walk, starts telling me something about his day and himself, already forgetting within a second where the conversation began. He can talk for hours. Once, I liked him precisely because he filled every pause with talk without demanding anything in return. It gave me a way not to be bored with him, while not seeming unsociable or cold.

And also to think. To think quietly about my own things.

So now, too, my thoughts drift back against my will to what happened today at the school and the man's indecent offer. It leaves me upset. If the student's father decides to make trouble for me, I will lose the job I got with such difficulty as one of the best students in my department. And if he stays silent, then from now on, whenever I meet that disgusting type and talk to him about his daughter, I'll have to pretend I have amnesia.

How vile and unfair!

Vlad and I don't go to a pizza place. In the end I want to warm up much more than I want to eat, so I make do with a hot cinnamon latte, drinking it at a table in the movie theater cafe. And with the company of my boyfriend's friends, whom we "unexpectedly" run into at the movie premiere.

All right, pretending I haven't figured out why Vlad brought me here isn't that hard. I really do avoid noisy groups and parties, which doesn't suit my boyfriend very well. First, I don't like them, and second, I have no time for them. So I take twenty minutes in the company of Vlad's acquaintances as a fair contribution to our relationship and try to be friendly. Especially since the action comedy turns out to be excellent, and I really do manage to distract myself.

But on the way home, I remember the translation order and realize I won't be going to bed anytime soon. Everything has its price, and today I will have to pay for an unscheduled trip to the movies with three hours of sleep and work.

Well, it's not a disaster. Tomorrow is Friday, then Saturday, and... I'll catch up on sleep!

Of course, if Romka lets me.

 ***

When I get home around ten in the evening, the landing is quiet, I can't hear my brother's friends, and I open the apartment door with my own key, relieved that I'm finally home.