Chapter 2 - England

At the arrival gate of the airport in London,  a tall man was holding up a sign indicating he was picking up people for TravelEuropeINC. The man introduced himself as Marshall, one of the three tour guides for the next several weeks. He also introduced us to Isabella, his Spanish-speaking counterpart.  Our coach, plastered with the TravelEuropeINC logo on the side, was waiting for us outside of the airport. 

‘If you will all join us in the ballroom for an informal meet and greet with your co-travellers, we will be assigning your room mate and giving out your room keys in half an hour.’ Marshall informed us once we had arrived at the hotel. It was a little awkward for me at the meet and greet because it seemed that most people were travelling in pairs. Looking around I tried to imagine who they were going to pair me with and if we would get along. I followed the sound of english speaking group to introduce myself, when I suddenly heard someone say my name. Who knows me here? A tall brunette with her hair up in braids was walking towards me with a big smile on her face. 

‘OH my god! Are you Avery Chasse?’ I smiled and nodded at her. ‘Are you kidding me! I love your show!’ she said in awe! Her outburst caused several people to turn around looking for the source of the excitement, attracting me a little bit of attention. Many people looked on trying to figure out who I was.  A few people took my photo in the off chance that I was a big celebrity. But let’s face it, no one outside of New England knew who I was. ‘My name is Julie and this is my friend D’Arcie’ the brunette said and pointed to her friend ‘we’re travelling together’. She announced. I looked at her friend D’Arcie who was short like me with shoulder length black hair, she seemed more reserved than Julie was, maybe even shy.  I smiled at them both and we got into conversation until Marshall called for our attention. 

‘Welcome everyone’ Marshall said with a smile. He sounded a little British but I couldn’t be sure. ‘It’s my pleasure to welcome you to this 5th TravelEuropeINC tour. You fine people have chosen an amazing trip you won’t regret!’ He paused for applause and cheers, some people were clearly already drunk. ‘It’s a great honor to be one of your tour guides along with my amazing co hosts Isabella and Lyosha. We will be offering tours everyday in every city for those who are interested. Isabella and I will do ours together in English and Spanish, whereas Lyosha will be taking care of the Russian travellers. If you have any questions at any time please feel comfortable to come see us. We are 100% at your service!’  He turned to look at Isabella.

‘We will be assigning you to your rooms’ Isabella continued, ‘every room is accounted for and switches are not permitted as per the company policy. We have accommodated those of you who are travelling in pairs, but I’m afraid to say for you solo travellers we took the liberty to assign you a roommate for the duration of the trip. I would like to remind you all that you are representing our company, it is with good behaviour from our patrons that we are able to offer these tours at such a great rate, so please keep this in mind. This isn’t ContikiTours so keep it in your pants people. Also, be aware that there are a few people travelling with us that will only turn 18 in a few weeks, so iit is important that these rules are followed and respected.’ The ballroom was buzzing as people giggled and began to talk amongst themselves. ‘Your attention please,’ Isabella said loudly and the chatter died down, ‘when I say your names please come and collect the keys and bring your luggage to your room.’ I listened as Isabella started listing names and perked up when she called out mine. 

‘Avery Chasse and Aleksandra Kuznetsov’ Isabella finally called. I started walking towards the host, looking around to get a glimpse at my new roommate when a crowd of guys at the back started jeering and wolf whistling. I turned to look at them and felt my face flush as several of them were looking in my direction. I didn’t understand their outcry until I watched a tall muscular man with dark brown hair stand up with his belongings making his way to the front of the ballroom. I was confused, maybe I hadn’t heard my name after all. I felt hot, clammy and uncomfortable all of a sudden, I slowed my walk and hesitated whether to continue on or to pretend like I wasn’t Avery Chasse, but Isabella called my name again. I moved to the front of the room towards Isabella and the guy. Everyone was paying attention to the scene unfolding.

‘It’s Aleksander’ the guy said with an accent clearly irritated. He looked at me with a frown. ‘You want me to share a room with her?’ he scoffed, pointing at me.

‘Well there is clearly a mistake’ Isabella shifted uncomfortably. Marshall and Lyosha approached us checking and double-checking their list with her. ‘Just stay here a minute while I assign everyone else their rooms, maybe there was a mistake with someone else’. While she went on with her list Aleksander talked animatedly with Lyosha glancing my way every so often.  Once everyone had been assigned a room and no other mistakes had been found Isabella looked at me with a frown, she brought us along with her to the front desk but the staff was unable to help.  Aleksander and I were stuck together as roommates while in England. He looked at me curiously, but his frustration seemed to have vanished. 

‘I’m really sorry’ Isabella said, ‘There’s no other rooms, the hotel has no other vacancies at the moment, but I will do my best to rearrange the rooming situation once we’re in France or if anyone opts out in the next few days I will switch you out right away.  I really hope this isn’t too awkward.’ She frowned at us, her face steeped in guilt. I gave her a sympathetic smile as Aleksander motioned for me to follow him with a sign of the head. I was pretty anxious at the way the trip was starting, but with any luck, I was going to be so busy visiting and making friends that I wasn’t going to have to spend much time in my room. I followed him down the hall dragging my luggage across the carpet.  The darn thing had lost a couple of wheels on the journey there, and I cursed under my breath as I struggled to pull it along. I could feel my roommate observing me on the ride up the elevator and as the doors opened he grabbed my bag from my grasp. 

'Hey! What are you doing?' I asked.

'Trying to help you, Malyshka' he replied and effortlessly carried both our luggage.

'My name is Avery, and I'm quite capable of carrying my own bag' I was jogging to keep up with his long strides.

'Of course you are, Zayka. My name is Sasha’ he said and mumbled something incoherent under his breath.

‘Sasha? I thought she said your name was Aleksandra.’ I said in an attempt to lighten the mood. He rolled his eyes at me and I stifled a giggle at his expression.

‘Yes, officially my name is Aleksander Kuznetsov, but it makes me feel like I am in trouble with the headmaster when I am called that. I prefer Sasha.’ He answered.

‘How do you get Sasha from Aleksander?’ I asked, puzzled. He chuckled.

‘You have a lot of questions don’t you, Zayka?’ He said in a kindly tone. Looking down at me with clear blue eyes. I recoiled a bit, regretting being nosy.

‘Yeah, so I’ve been told’ I mumbled under my breath. He pushed his hair back and out of his face with one hand.  It was a little long on the top but shaved along the sides.  It was a bit of a mess but it really suited him. 

‘I’m from Russia, we use nicknames and pet names a lot. Aleksander is my official name but my friends and family all call me Sasha.’ He explained.

‘Oh, interesting’ I said lamely. He flashed me a million dollar smiles and my heart fluttered a little in my chest. 

‘I was once told it’s similar for people named Richard to be called Dick,  or Peggy instead of Margaret’. I nodded in understanding as we arrived at our rooms.  Sasha handed me one of the room keys and proceeded to hold the door open for me. ‘Which bed do you want’ he asked. I simply shrugged so he picked the bed closest to the door and started to unpack his clothes. 

‘Do you mind if I use the shower, I’ve had a long flight’ I asked timidly

‘Do what you want, I’m not the boss of you’ he said coldly. I flinched at his remark. Damn this was going to be an awkward trip.

When I got out of the shower Sasha was gone, I was relieved and actually started to relax a little. I took that time to call Sam to let him know  I had arrived safe and sound but I didn’t mention anything about my roommate. I was confident that Isabella was going to fix the sleeping arrangement for the next leg of the journey. 

I unpacked some of my belongings and headed downstairs to meet up for a scheduled tour of the London eye and surrounding areas. There were only a handful of us on the tour but I supposed a lot of people were probably taking the time to rest and get acclimated to their new surroundings. 

We returned from the tour at about 9pm that night and I resolved to take time to capture the day in writing every night during the trip. I set on that mission with my brand new journal, but quickly realised I was no literary artist. The beginning of the entry started off well and fine, but then it quickly degenerated into bullet points of the daily highlights. By the time I was ready to go to bed, my roommate had not returned. I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. 

I absolutely loved London. Since I was travelling on my own I stuck to the guided tours. Julie and D’Arcie were usually on the tours as well and we spent most of our time together. They were incredibly nice. My first impression of D’Arcie was so wrong though. She was not the shy or reserved girl I had initially thought she was.  On the contrary, she would say exactly what was on her mind at any given time. She was a feisty, loud and friendly woman. I felt like I had known the two of them my whole life. 

We usually arrived from the tours around 5:30 pm and left to our own device for supper. Jamie had sent me a list of restaurants I absolutely HAD to visit for every country and I planned on trying out as many of them as I could. Julie and D’Arcie always accompanied me talking up our dining experience to the rest of our group the next day. By the end of the week we had amassed a bit of a following. 

On Friday, we had been in England for a week. My brother had suggested a bar to try out not too far from our hotel. Marshall overheard my plans for the evening and began talking enthusiastically about the place. A dozen or so people had come along to the restaurant where the food was amazing and the cocktails just kept on coming. I had lost track of how many I had drunk but I was feeling great! I joined the girls on the dance floor and by the end of the night I was one hot mess. Marshall hadn’t been drinking and made sure we were all returned to the hotel safely at around 1 in the morning. 

I stumbled into my room and noticed that Sasha was there. I had barely seen him since we had arrived. If it wasn’t for the fact that his bed was unmade in the morning, I would have thought he hadn’t been in the room all week. We rarely saw the ‘Russians’ as they were dubbed, since they were always doing something different than we were. I had no idea what they got up to but they were up early and came back late. 

Sasha looked at me quizzically as I stumbled into our room. ‘Where were you all night?’ He asked in a tone similar to Sam’s when he was reprimanding me. I raised an eyebrow at him. 

‘Excuse me? I’m a grown ass woman, I do what I want.’ I giggled while tripping. Sasha moved swiftly, his strong arms catching me around the waist before I hit the floor.

‘You’re drunk?’ He laughed a flash of amusement dancing in his clear blue eyes. 

‘It appears so. I’m just gonna go to bed ok?’ 

Sasha simply nodded returning to the chair and diverted his attention back to the book he was reading. I crawled on top of the bed fully dressed and fell asleep immediately.

The next morning I woke up under the blankets, my shoes having been removed and placed near the entrance.  Sasha was standing over me gently shaking my shoulder.

‘Malyshka, did you want some breakfast this morning?’

‘No… go away, ' I said groggily.  I pulled the blankets over my head to shield my eyes from the light, my head pounding. 

‘Here I brought you some water and some headache medicine’ Sasha says quietly, ‘Take it, it will help’. 

‘Thank you’ I managed squinting, as I sat up to take the offered pain killer. 

‘There you go, now come, let’s go eat before you miss breakfast’. I obligingly got up, brushed my teeth and washed my face quickly then threw on some sweat pants and a t-shirt. I was still a little dizzy so Sasha held my elbow as we walked down to the dining area in silence. I received several confused looks from some of the other guests as we made our way to a table. Sasha offered to get my breakfast for me. 

‘It’s okay, I can get my own’ I pleaded with him. But he pushed me back down onto the chair, walking away.  He came back with two plates and two mugs of tea. My plate was loaded with scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, and buttered toast. I grabbed the toast and pushed the plate away, the smell of bacon and sausages made me nauseous. Sasha pushed the tea towards me urging me to drink it. 

‘Nothing like a cuppa to cure all your ails, or so my babushka used to say’ He winked. As I’m about to interrogate him further about the meaning of babushka, malyshka and whatever other russian word he had been using, a rowdy group of men joined us. 

‘Privet’ one of the guys calls out to Sasha who simply nodded. The men eyed me while speaking russian and smirking amongst themselves. Sasha replied to them curtly, his eyebrows drawn together.

‘I hear you are the food connoisseur’ Lyosha said in a much thicker accent than Sasha’s as he sat in front of me. He was nearly as tall as Sasha and just as muscular. His long dark blond hair was slicked back, his square jaw was covered in day old stubble and his sharp cheekbones made him look like a male model. His dark blue eyes held my attention and mesmerised me, I stared at him a little stunned. ‘My name is Lyosha’ he finished almost in a purr. 

‘I’m Avery’ I replied shyly, breaking his entrancing gaze. Everyone at the table introduced themselves to me and returned to their breakfast. There was Misha, Maksim, Vanya and Dmitry.

‘What do you mean by food connoisseur Lyosha?’ Sasha asked, looking at me curiously. Lyosha looked at me again and held my gaze.

‘Well apparently your roommate here knows all the good restaurants in town. She’s been bringing people to amazing places I hear.’  Lyosha answered, smiling at me. Sasha said something to him sharply in Russian and Lyosha lowered his eyes away from me while the other guys at the table sniggered. They spoke amongst themselves for the remainder of the meal and I was content with being quiet, eating and observing them. I felt very out of place. 

‘Excuse me guys,’ I interrupted ‘but I’m gonna head back to my room, I don’t feel well’ the men all laughed and Lyosha gave me a knowing wink. I smiled weakly at them and made my way to my room. Once there I decided a shower would probably set me straight. I turned the water on as hot as it went and took a nice long shower. When I got out, the bathroom had turned into a sauna, I could barely see my hand in front of my face. I wrapped a large plush towel around myself and headed out to collect my clothes. Sasha had returned and was sitting on his bed with his back against the headboard. He was so seldom there, I forgot he might be present when i got out of the shower.I felt stupid for not having the forethought to collect my clothing beforehand. I felt self conscious as I dug through my bag to collect my clothes, gripping my towel tightly and making sure I was covered appropriately. I could feel Sasha’s eyes on me but I tried to avoid looking at him. 

Once dressed I flopped myself down on the bed and grabbed a book I had bought the day before. We spend a few hours in companionable silence. Although my book was incredibly interesting I couldn’t help but steal glances up at Sasha . A look of intense concentration came across his face as he turned the pages. I saw the muscles in his broad jaw twitch as his eyebrows relaxed and a smile spread across his lips, I couldn’t help but smile too.  He chose that moment to look up at me, my face flushed as the blood rushed to my face. 

‘Sorry’ I mumbled and looked away. He didn’t say anything but I felt him continue to look at me. 

‘What are you reading’ he asked.

‘Some romance novel’ I admitted shyly ‘You?’

‘Some fiction novel’ he replied matching my tone.

‘Oh’ I said lamely. Sasha snickered. I’m excellent at being awkward. I could have died of embarrassment right then. Luckily my phone rang and I hurriedly answered. 

‘Hey Sammy. I’m good! No you didn't wake me up…it’s the middle of the afternoon here’ I felt Sasha watching me while I talked to my brother but I tried to block him out. 

‘You got a letter in the mail with the University of Rhode Island’s logo’ Sam mentioned casually.

‘Open it!’ I demand loudly. Sasha raises an eyebrow at me from across the room.

‘Ok, ok, give me a minute’ I heard paper ripping in the background. 

‘Dear Ms. Chasse’ he started in a pretentious voice, ‘we are happy to announce that you  have been accepted in our nursing science program starting in September’ Sam stopped

‘WHAT?’ I yell out in excitement. 

‘Congrats Ave! You’re gonna be fantastic!’ Sam answered. ‘There’s a bunch of deadlines on here but looks like you’ll have plenty of time to do all that when you get back. I’ll send you a picture of the letter when we hang up’. We talked for about half an hour about the places I had visited since I arrived and all the restaurants I went to on Jamie’s recommendations. Sam told me about a case he was working on and finally after an hour we hung up. My phone beeped almost immediately afterwards as Sam sent me photos of the letter of acceptance. I grinned down at my phone like an idiot. 

‘Boyfriend?’ asked Sasha.

‘Oh, no, that was my brother’ I answered. ‘I got accepted at college!’ I squealed, unable to contain my excitement.

‘Congratulations’ he answers with a sincere smile. ‘We should celebrate’.

‘Oh, no, that’s not necessary… I celebrated too much last night I think’

‘Nonsense! This is a special occasion! Come, Malyshka, bring me to one of your restaurants and we will celebrate!’ I giggled at his enthusiasm. By 5:30 there were twenty or so of us being seated at the restaurant. Sasha ordered everyone a round of vodka. Looking at me from across the table, he held up his glass and announced:

‘To success’

‘Za uspekh!!!’ 

‘To success’ 

‘Cheers’ the others said in unison as they downed their drink. I followed their lead and downed mine as well. 

The food was on point again at this restaurant. I knew Jamie put a lot of thought into the restaurants he recommended and I was so grateful for him. We headed to a pub afterwards and downed a few more beers. D’Arcie and I hit the dance floor again for a majority of the night. I didn’t drink as much as the night before, opting for water whenever the music wasn’t doing it for me. I couldn’t help glancing over to where Sasha was every once in a while, my gaze was always met by his. I gave him a shy smile from the dance floor inviting him to come dance with us, but he pretended not to see me. The crowd was thinning and the DJ started slowing the music down. A guy named Joe from our group asked me to dance, extending his hand out for me to follow him. I took his hand, smiling, as he led us to the dance floor. He held on to one of my hands, placing the other in the middle of my back.  His body was close to mine while we danced and talked about the sites we had visited in London. I noticed Sasha glaring at us, then getting up to leave. When the song was over Heart’s Alone came on. Joe was about to ask me to dance with him again when Sasha rudely interrupted giving Joe a nod of the head indicating that he could leave us alone. Joe looked at me to make sure I was okay with Sasha. I smiled at Joe and thanked him for the dance. Sasha grabbed my hand roughly out of Joe’s and placed both my hands around his neck and placed his low on my hips. 

‘Uhm, that was a little rude’ I reproached pulling myself away, my hands falling down to his muscular upper arms. Sasha simply shrugged and held me close. His scent was intoxicating and wintery, a mix of vodka, pines and mint. His toned body was hard against mine making me feel self-conscious of my soft curvy body. 

‘I wanted to come out to celebrate with you,’ he whispered softly in my ear, ‘but you’ve been celebrating with everyone else but me’. The warmth of his breath on my ear and neck awakened a strange sensation in me. ‘Have you enjoyed your evening, Malyshka?’. I looked up at him noting how clear his blue eyes were, how full his lips were, how soft they must be, and how close they were to mine… I caught myself and simply nodded, he gave me a crooked smile. The song ended and Sasha gave me a peck on the forehead, leaving a tingly sensation there as if I had received a low voltage shock to the head.

‘Thank you for dancing with me, prekrasnaya, and congratulations again’. I didn’t want the song to be over but Sasha’s hands had fallen away from my hips and he was walking away towards the bar as the barmaid announced the last call. Julie and I called a cab to get back to the hotel. 

I changed into my usual short and t-shirt sleep combination and climbed between the sheets. I was exhausted from going out two nights in a row. London had been a great success. I was looking forward to our next destination.