Fragmented Snow Chapter 7

Chapter 7
“Ah! They’ve been posted!” Victor exclaimed while waving his phone. “Clara! Yuuri!”

“We’re right here Victor,” Yuuri stated. “No need to shout.” Clara let go of the barr and put her out stretched foot down. Victor rushed over, his face beaming. He caught his breath and pulled up the website. “Lets see. Oh wow! Clara, you’re qualifying competitions are Skate America and Trophee de France.” His eyes sparkled. “You get to skate in Chicago. Is that exciting?”

Exciting wasn’t how she’d like to put it. Nerve-wracking would be more accurate. Heather probably already knew and if she knew, everybody else did as well. Clara had hardly talked to anybody back in Chicago the past few months, mostly because of the time difference but also because she found it painfully awkward. Plus they were all busy with their own lives. “Y-yeah. Super exciting.”

Yuuri gently touched Clara’s shoulder and she felt herself relax a bit. “It’s going to be fine. You’ve been working hard and your programs are fairly polished. Now it’s just tweaking everything so you peak at the final. You’ll blow them all away, you’ll see.”

“It’s been years since we’ve been in America,” Victor rambled happily. “Clara you have to take us sightseeing.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Clara said. “I never did much sightseeing.”

“What? You lived there.” Victor looked at her with confusion.

“I was training,” Clara stated. “Last thing I wanted to do was walk around the city after practicing all day.”

“All the more reason to go,” Victor said happily. “I heard they have cat cafes. We should go to one.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I thought you left on good terms,” Yuri stated.

Clara scratched Tora’s ear, the fat orange tabby purred loudly as he laid on her lap. Out of Yuri’s three cats, Tora was the one she liked most. The feeling was mutual as Tora only really snuggled with her. Yuri was a little jealous, but he tried not to show it. “I did, but it’s still awkward. Wish you could come along.”

“Yakov won’t allow it, trust me. He’s kept me on a pretty tight leash the past few years when it comes to traveling outside of competing.” He handed her a cup of tea and sat beside her on the couch. “We’ll meet up in Paris and I’m sure Victor will let you tag along to Moscow.”

“But what if…”

Yuri held up his hand and frowned. “Stop. None of that.” Clara sighed and sipped her tea. “You’ve earned your spot, Clara. Show them why.”

“You’ll watch, right?”

Yuri sipped his tea. “Of course. Then we’ll meet up in Paris.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took two planes to get back to Chicago. For both they sat in first class. Apparently Victor found the seats in coach unbearable. Not that she minded, the plush reclining seats made much easier to get some form of sleep. She was still groggy when they landed at O’Hare. The airport was as busy as ever, but they retrieved their luggage in a timely manner and made their way out of the terminal.

“Clara!” Two girls, eight and nine years in age, tackled her with hugs, nearly knocking her over. “Did you bring us presents?” They asked in unison.

“Sorry, I didn’t,” Clara said sheepishly.

“Krystal. Nikki. Let her breathe,” Heather said sternly. She was a bright young woman, barely in her forties. Or that’s what she wanted people to think. Her short, blue hair and star tattoos on her neck made others assume her age was much younger than what it really was. She liked it that way. Heather tightly embraced her. “Welcome home.”

“Thanks Heather,” Clara smiled. “Is Tyrone here?”

“He’s circling around.” Heather’s eyes sharpened as she looked to Yuuri and Victor. Yuuri shivered, nervous. “As for you two.” She offered out her hand. “Thank you for looking after her. I’ve been worried sick. She hardly ever calls and her social media skills are severely lacking for somebody her age.”

“It’s our pleasure,” Yuuri said as he politely shook Heather’s hand. “We’ll make sure she calls more often if you’d like.”

“She works really hard. I swear she spends more time on the ice then anything else,” Victor chuckled.

“Yeah, that sounds like her.” Clara bit her lip and looked away as Heather shot her a glare.

“Clara, let’s go get pizza!” Krystal said. “Mom said we can get some when you came in.”

“Yeah! Aren’t you hungry?” Nikki asked.

Clara smiled. “Yeah. A little.”

A mini van pulled up and the horn blared. “That’s Tyrone.” Heather grabbed some of the luggage and loaded it into the back of the vehicle. “Clara, you can take the front seat. You two,” she pointed to Victor and Yuuri. “You’re with me in the back row.”

“There’s my girl,” Tyrone greeted as Clara hopped into the front seat. He handed her a travel mug. “Picked this up for you on the way. Should still be warm.”

“Yeeeeeeeessssss.” She took a mouthful of coffee. “An eight hour flight and all I could get is soda.”

“Ew gross,” Tyrone said as he checked the mirror. Everybody was strapped in and the road was clear. He turned on the signal and joined the traffic.

“I know right?” Clara sipped the coffee and looked out the window. “How’s school?”

“It’s rough, but I’m almost done. I’ve managed to get into a few small shows. Being a stagehand is finally paying off. How’s Russia?”

“They don’t have heatwaves. Summer barely got to the mid-eighties.”

“Shit man, that’s awesome.”

“Oh and salt water up the nose burns like hell.”

Tyrone chuckled. “I bet.”

The atmosphere in the back as a bit more tense. Heather had wedged herself between the two men, taking turns giving them the side eye.

“So,” she started, causing the two men to tense up. “Has she been eating?”

“Uh,” Yuuri stumbled. “She has dinner with us regularly, so…”

Heather shook her head and huffed. “Listen, she doesn’t eat when she’s nervous or under a lot of stress. She get hyperfocused and all she does is skate. Took me months to get her to just eat a protein bar when she’s like that.”

Victor blinked. “Really?”

“Listen, I’ve was her coach from she was seventeen to she flew to the other side of the world to train,” Heather said sternly. “She’s basically my daughter, so I know these things.”

Yuuri nodded. “Is there anything we should know?”

Heather paused. While she would have liked to divulge all her knowledge about her former student, she still had to respect Clara’s boundaries. “She’s taking you sightseeing, right?”

“Yes,” Victor said, confused.

“Just follow her,” Heather stated.

They arrived at the hosting hotel within an hour, which was pretty decent with how congested the city was. Tyrone, Heather and her girls followed the three skaters up to their rooms. Clara had her own, though there was a door connecting the two suites. The Grand Prix series hardly ever had her placed in Chicago, despite training there for years. It was odd to be staying in a hotel rather than in her and Tyrone’s old apartment. Or Heather’s for that matter.

“This place sure is swanky,” Tyrone joked.

“Being a world class skater has it’s perks,” Clara chuckled. She turned on her phone. She had a few messages from Yuri. One wishing her safe travels then another with a video of Tora getting into the cookie jar again. She looked out at the city. “Were you able to find a roommate?”

“Zoey moved in,” Tyrone said.

“Well she practically lived there already,” Clara stated.

“Yeah yeah. Just she’s paying half the rent now. I’m thinking about proposing once we graduate.”

Clara blinked. “Wow, really?”

“Yeah,” Tyrone beamed. “We’re a great team and we make each other happy.”

Clara nodded and smiled. “I’m happy for you.”

“Thanks. What about you? I saw you smiling at your phone.”

“Oh Yuri just sent me a video of one of his cats trying to steal cookies,” she chuckled and showed him her phone “Tora’s a trouble maker.”

Tyrone grinned. “Yuri?”

“We’re rink mates, Ty.” Clara huffed.

“Suuure you are.” Tyrone wiggled his eyebrows.

“Oh my god. Stop that.” She gave him a playful shove.

Tyrone chuckled. “I’m glad you’re making friends, Clara. I was worried, you're quite the hermit.”

“I’ve been working on that.”

They jumped as Victor came through the door. “Clara, we’re ready to get pizza. Let's go.”

“I have to get going,” Tyrone stated. “I’ll see you later.”