The Exchange

Chapter 28, Part 2

There were several hours until the mall finally opened, and as entertaining as Arti and Blaine were, it was going to suck being in the cold for so long. I really wasn't the most patient person in the world.

Blaine's face was already red and teary even though there wasn't much of a wind on top of the cold. Was this even worth it? Why the hell did people put up with this shit?

But fortunately, I was blessed with a brain that functioned pretty damn well, and with a bunch of empty slots on my list that needed to be filled, the easiest solution was to get Viktor to talk.

Goddamn genius.

But before I could get any sort of small talk going, Matt interrupted my thoughts with a complaint. "This sucks."

He wasn't wrong, but it didn't necessarily have to be miserable.

"This isn't too bad. Sometimes in Sweden, the sun only shines for a few hours in the day, which is worse than cold," Viktor said.

"I didn't realize this was the goddamn Sucky Winter Olympics," Matt said.

Viktor hesitated. "You and Candy Cane can be so negative sometimes. The weather's really not so bad."

"Yet," I said.

"See? That's negative," Viktor said.

I shrugged. I just called it how it was.

He turned to Blaine. "I know a lot about Arti, Matt, and Candy Cane, but not very much about you."

Just when I thought Viktor's fake positivity couldn't get any worse, a snow shower began, and the snowflakes glittered in the parking lot lighting.

Viktor looked up at the sky. "Now this feels more like home." He looked over at me and smiled.

"It'll only get worse from here. By the time Christmas comes, I'm sure you'll be sick of it," I said.

"I don't think I will ever get tired of snow."

"I didn't see snow until I was five years old, and I miss those days. Little specks of white bullshit. That's all it is," Blaine said.

"You were five when you remember seeing snow for the first time?" Viktor asked.

"I was lived in Texas until then. Yeehaw." Blaine smiled.

"Really?"

"Yep. The basics of it are that when my mom was nineteen, she got pregnant with me, finished her freshman year in college, then dropped out. My dad told her that he'd always provide for her, and she'd never have to work a day in her life, but it was a bunch of bullshit. He left when I was almost three, and so me and my mom moved in with my grandma here in the great state of Minnesota so she could watch me as my mom went back to school."

Viktor frowned. "I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about. I'm happy. I love my mom; I found some people who care about me. It doesn't really get any better than this," Blaine said.

I smiled. "That's really sweet."

"In no way was I talking about you. That's the last thing you need, another boost to your ego."

I always thought the same thing when I wanted to say something nice about him, but deep down, I knew he could always use a little bit of kindness. I sure as hell wasn't the most openly affectionate person, but he never minded that as far as I knew. As much as I liked to make fun of him for being a dumbass, he was a perceptive one and saw through a lot of shit.

"This is pretty much the first time I'm living somewhere besides Stockholm, even though I traveled a lot for hockey," Viktor said.

It was no secret that hockey was an expensive sport, but Viktor's family took it to a whole new level. What eight-year-old kid got to go thousands of miles for a game? But there had to have been some stories that came with that kind of opportunity.