Sophia and I laid out our towels on soft, sandy Atlantic Beach, taking in the summer heat and ocean breeze on a warm, sunny August day.
"Oh, this sounds like trouble," I heard Andrei say to our right.
Both Sophia and I turned our heads after we straightened our beach towels out, seeing Andrei and Sebastian walking over to us. Andrei had our two year old son Mikhail in his arms and slung around his neck, wearing a little Hurricanes bucket hat and sipping on a carton of apple juice.
I rolled my eyes. "Says you and Sebastian," I retorted, sitting down on the towel. "You're more trouble than Soph and I,"
Both Andrei and Sebastian rolled their eyes in sync and in retaliation, even though we all knew that they were the worst duo.
"Yeah, yeah. I had to go back out to the car so Mikhail could have some of his apple juice. Didn't even get to the sand and he already complained," Andrei chuckled, letting Mikhail down so he could walk around the sand and take everything in. Not that he hasn't been to a beach before, just so Andrei had a break.
"Sounds like you," I responded. "Complaining about something right away? Yeah, he's your son,"
Andrei rolled his eyes. "Anyways,"
I laid back on the towel and closed my eyes. I felt a cool breeze past by, tingling my skin that wasn't covered by my blue bikini and sunglasses I was wearing.
Sophia and Sebastian invited Andrei, Mikhail, and I to spend some time with them at the beach, and since I've been so wrapped up in getting my master's degree in accounting and taking care of Mikhail, I've been in need of a break. This seemed like too much of an excuse to spend some time relaxing and hanging out with Sophia.
"Mom," Mikhail said, and so I opened my eyes and bent back forward, back to a sitting position.
"Uh-huh?" I responded, and he frowned. He looked up at Andrei, who was looking back down at him.
Mikhail looked back me, keeping that frown. "I'm hungry," he said.
Andrei groaned with a smirk, face-palming himself. "Come on," he said. "I got you your apple juice, now you want your fruit snacks?"
I chuckled as I opened my arms for Mikhail to come to me, and so he did. "Don't listen to Dad. He's going to get your fruit snacks," I assured as Mikhail's eyes started to water. Poor kid.
Sophia and Sebastian just kept laughing at Andrei. To be honest, if I didn't have Mikhail, I would've been laughing too.
"You better get your kid some fruit snacks," Sebastian said. "He looks so upset from your shenanigans,"
Andrei rolled his eyes. "You don't have anything in your big bag, Delilah?" he asked, pointing at the white-striped navy blue bag I had brought and sat next to my towel.
"Yeah, but not food," I responded, rubbing Mikhail's back. "You can take a few minutes to get some fruit snacks for Mikhail,"
Andrei blew his tongue at me and we walked away and back to our car to abide by my order.
"Jeez, what's his problem?" Sophia chuckled as Sebastian sat behind her and started rubbing her shoulders.
I shrugged with a smile on my face as I continued rubbing Mikhail's back. "Who knows," I chuckled.
"Does Mikhail know any Russian so far?" Sebastian asked, rubbing deeper into his wife's tanned shoulders.
I shrugged again. I didn't really know the answer to that question. Andrei is the one who's in charge of that, considering he's a native Russian speaker and is a lot better than me.
"I honestly don't know," I giggled as Mikhail sat on my lap, still sucking on the straw to his apple juice. "Andrei's supposed to teaching him some easy things, but who knows if he's even doing that,"
Both Sebastian and Sophia laughed in response.
"Is the apple juice good?" I asked Mikhail.
He raised his head and nodded it with a smile. "Yeah, juice good," he responded.
"Awh," Sophia said. "What's your favorite kind of juice, Mikhail?"
He looked at Sophia, who had a beaming smile on her face. She had severe baby fever, and I hope that Sebastian would make that possible soon for their own. Though obviously that's none of my business.
Mikhail blinked and held out his apple juice carton to show her. "Juice," he said.
She giggled. "Apple juice is your favorite?"
"Yeah,"
I scratched his head with the bucket hat still on. He cooed in response, and even a little hiccup came out.
"Okay, I got your fruit snacks," Andrei said as he sat down next to me in the sand and handed Mikhail an opened package of Funables fruit snacks.
"Thank you," Mikhail said, reaching his fingers into the package and popping a blueberry flavored on into his mouth.
I glanced over at Andrei, who was taking off his red Carolina Hurricanes shirt and he tossed it over to my navy blue beach bag. "Who got you in a pissy mood?" I chuckled, lightly punching him in the bicep.
Andrei looked back at me, a smirk plastered across his reddened, rectangular face. "Oh, I dunno. Maybe because your son wanted me to walk back in forth in circles because you didn't want to pack everything he'd want to eat," he responded, fighting back the urge to laugh. Oh, he's not pinning this all on me, considering he's the one who packed the damn beach bag and he almost forgot sunscreen.
I rolled my eyes. "You're being dramatic. You're a hockey player. You need the exercise," I retaliated. "And you're not the one talking when you forgot to pack sunscreen. You're lucky I checked the bag to see if we had everything we need. Turns out, you want all of us to burn in this Carolina sun and ninety degree weather,"
Sophia and Sebastian started laughing in the background again because Andrei and I were squabbling about something that shouldn't be such a huge deal, but Andrei has to find a way to complain about something. That's just how he is, and how he has been.
I smirked again. "And I'd hate for someone as pale as you, and someone who grew up on the edge of Siberia, to become a crispy piece of meat because you were irresponsible," I added.
Mikhail took another fruit snack and held it out to offer it to his father. Andrei took it and popped it in his mouth. "Thank you," he said with a smile as he scratched Mikhail's head, causing the bucket hat to bunch up in his grip.
Mikhail cooed in response.
"Have you been teaching him any Russian?" Sebastian asked Andrei as he stopped rubbing Sophia's shoulders, still sitting behind her with his legs spread open.
Andrei glanced at Sebastian. "I dunno. Maybe just yes, no, hello, and goodbye. Not going into anything complicated since he is only two," he responded, his brown eyes sparkling an amber hue. "Maybe Delilah could help with that," he added with a wink, widening his smile.
I rolled my eyes, scoffing. "Please. I'm not the best at speaking Russian. At least Mikhail could have a teacher who grew up speaking Russian," I replied to Andrei's remark. "Considering he's got a bit of your Russian accent,"
Andrei chuckled. "He's just two, it won't show until he's five," he responded.
"Well, it'd kind of be a surprise if Mikhail doesn't speak some Russian, considering his full name is nothing but all Russian, right?" Sebastian questioned. "Mikhail Andreyevich Svechnikov? Yeah, that screams nothing but Russian,"
We all chuckled, and even Mikhail stirred up a cute laughter, even though he probably he no idea what we were talking about.
"Just like you better teach your kid some Finnish, Aho. Just because your wife's American doesn't give you the excuse to let him speak free English," Andrei responded, being the hypocritical person he is. Maybe he should do some fact-checking some in a while.
Sebastian scoffed. "Says you, Svechnikov. You're refusing to teach your son Russian until he's five years old. Not to mention your wife is also from America," he retorted, pointing a finger at his teammate who really was just full of shit.
Andrei smirked, raising an eyebrow.
"And for your information, we're not having a child," Sebastian added.
"Yet," Andrei said.
Sebastian rolled his eyes and looked away from him, still smiling.
I looked at Andrei, who was creepily looking at me back.
I glanced at Sophia, who was applying some sunscreen to her tanned face. "How was Finland?" I asked her, and probably directed at Sebastian as well. They went to Sebastian's hometown of Rauma, then they stayed in Helsinki until flying out and back to the States. They were probably gone for about three weeks, much like how Andrei and I go over to Russia for a couple of weeks during the summer.
"It was good," Sebastian said, answering his the question that was directed toward his wife. "Nothing new, but still good to see,"
I nodded my head. "That's cool. I'd like to go to Finland some day, but I'm stuck here and in Russia," I chuckled, and that even made Andrei giggle.
Sebastian chuckled as he played with Sophia's hair a little. His gold wedding band reflected a bright ray of sunlight as his fingers weaved through her soft brown hair. "Yeah, but I'm sure Russia's great," he said, giving me reassurance.
"It is. But I wish we had more time to go out and do things, you know? Explore the world," I responded.
Sebastian turned to look at me and smiled. "Once Svech retires, then you have all the time in the world to do so. Which, could be in ten to fifteen years," he said.
I looked at Andrei, who was either red from what Sebastian had said, or he was actually starting to burn from the sun. I looked back at Sebastian.
"Seems like a long time," I said as Mikhail picked his juice box back up and sucked on the little white straw.
Sebastian nodded his head. "It may seem like it, but it goes quick," he told me. "Trust me,"
Sophia held up her right hand to tell Sebastian to stop stroking his fingers through her hair. He nodded his head, going by her command, and taking his fingers through her hair.
"I think I want to go for a walk. We can take Mikhail if you and Andrei wanted some alone time," she said as she stood up and stretched her arms.
Mikhail's face lit up in excitement. He loved walks, and even with aunt Sophia and uncle Sebastian. Even if they're not his actual aunt and uncle, they seemed to be like it with how much they're around him.
"Do you want to go with them?" I asked Mikhail as I gripped his hips and lifted him off of my lap.
He cheerfully smiled. "Da..." he said, reaching out towards Sebastian as he starting walking over to them.
All Sebastian could do was laugh. "I can't tell if he said 'yes' in Russian or he thinks I'm his dad taking him for a walk," he chuckled, scooping Mikhail in his arms and grunting as his weight shifted onto him.
Both Andrei and I laughed.
"We'll be back in a few minutes. I'll give you a call if anything goes wrong," Sophia said, directed towards me, then her and Sebastian walked away with Mikhail in his arms.
Andrei put his hand on my thigh, tracing his fingers along the skinned surface, causing my nerves to tingle at his gentle touch. I blushed, glancing back up into his gorgeous, deep brown eyes.
"You let Mikhail run off with those two hooligans?" Andrei asked with a smile on his face, both of us knowing what he said was a joke.
I chuckled, Andrei still tracing his fingers on my thigh. "Yeah, because they're actually willing to take Mikhail somewhere for his liking unlike you complaining when you have to get him fruit snacks and apple juice," I responded, gently punching him in the bicep.
He rolled his eyes. "Well maybe you should have packed something in your big bag you have right next to you," he said, lifting his finger from my thigh to point at the blue bag next to my towel.
"Maybe I should have, but you're also the one who likes to poke around laughing at Russian memes for five minutes," I retorted, my smirk growing wider. "Set your priorities, Svechnikov."
He rolled his eyes. "Oh, nyet, detka. I'm too busy," he said jokingly with a frown.
I scoffed. "Too busy jacking off doing dumb shit?" I asked him.
"No, more like trying to keep you in line, and really, our whole family," he responded.
"Like sitting on the couch eating cookies and watching Dubak?"
Andrei's face reddened, then he turned away from me and back out to see the ocean ripple as a breeze blew by. "No," he muttered innocently.
Got you.
I chuckled, scooting over and wrapping my arm around his shoulder. "You know, we've been together for over four years, married for two. I have seen all of your insecurities inside and out, and how you like to function on a daily basis. You don't need to lie to me, Andrei." I told him, rubbing his bicep with my thumb in circular, gentle strokes.
He looked back at me and frowned. "Sorry," he apologized, but I really didn't see a reason for him to apologize. I just said something about how he acts and thinks, that's all. He doesn't need to get all sad and depressed about it.
I pecked him on his definitive, rough lips to hopefully calm him down a little. "Don't apologize. You had nothing to apologize for," I assured, smiling.
His eyes lit up, and he reached his right hand over to place it gently on my cheek. "Sorry for apologizing when I shouldn't have," he said.
I glared at him. "Andrei...," I responded. "Stop,"
He stuck out his bottom lip and rubbed his thumb on my cheekbone. "But I'm serious," he assured, lacing his fingers through my blonde hair and bringing his face closer to where our noses touched.
"Show how serious you are," I said, then he pressed his lips against mine and shifted closer.
He gripped the roots of my hair with forceful ease as he went deeper within the kiss and in my mouth, letting me take in all of his sweet and savory saliva that I loved so much. His tongue swirled around mine, then he pinned me down to the towel that I was currently sitting on.
My hips bucked as he brushed his abdomen along mine, almost making sexual thrusts against my body. My legs wrapped around his back, and he put his arms under mine and locked them into place, still having his fingers laced in my hair.
I weaved my fingers through his hair on the back of his head, and he was growing a long enough mullet that I could grip on to the back of his neck.
I moaned as he sucked on my bottom lip, just abiding by his orders as he took over me.
"Someone likes that," he said, lifting his head from the kiss.
"Keep going, who's stopping you?" I asked him.
He glanced up to see nobody around, then looked back down at me as he lifted his hand to pull back his hair, showing off his black wedding band that complimented and stuck out against his reddened face.
"The only one's that stopping me is you, detka." he said, then went in for round two, gripping tighter and went deeper than the first.