behind your back ~ andrei svechnikov

Chapter Nine

For the Carolina Hurricanes' summer get-together before the practice season got into full swing and intensity, the players decided to go take a few hours worth of driving to the coast and settle in Carolina Beach. Everyone was invited, including the players' and coaches' significant others.

"Who's up for a game of volleyball?" announced Martin Nečas as he took off his shirt and grabbed a volleyball.

A lot of people, more specifically the guys, all jumped and formed a huge huddle.

I chuckled. "Everyone must like beach volleyball," I told Ansa, who was Teuvo Teräväinen's fiancé, as we helped each other put on sunscreen.

"Once I'm done putting sunscreen on, I think I'll go over there," she responded as she rubbed sunscreen on her face.

I sprayed my bare legs, then I threw on Andrei's red shirt that I had stolen a few days ago. He still doesn't know that I had stolen it, and he will probably ask about why I have a red shirt with "Canes Hockey" on the front and "Svechnikov" on the back. Oh well, I wasn't going to be in my bikini the entire time.

"Yikes, that's cold!" I yelped as I was spraying my neck and under my hair.

Ansa giggled. "Alright, I'm done putting on sunscreen. Hopefully I don't burn," she told me as she put her bottle back into her beach bag next to her chair.

"Wait for me, I'm almost done!" I exclaimed as I quickly sprayed my face and threw the can into my bag. Ansa chuckled again, then we made our way over to the volleyball court.

"Got room for two more?" Ansa asked, and Martin Nečas shrugged as he looked over to the two split teams separated by a net.

"Sure, you can go over to Antti's team, and Delilah can be on my team," he responded as he pointed to our respective sides of the court. Of course I was put on the same team as my brother, but oh well. At least I was playing against Andrei.

"Rock paper scissors," Martin said as he pointed to me and Ansa.

"Rock paper scissors," we both said as we did the hand motions, Ansa laying a rock and me laying a paper.

I smiled. "Yes!" I exclaimed.

She chuckled. "Darn," she responded, then we went back to our teams.

Martin tossed the ball into the air and slammed it to the other side. Antti Raanta dug it up, passing it up to their setter, who was Seth Jarvis, then Seth set it to Andrei for him to spike down.

Andrei spiked it down to the seam in between me and Sebastian, and I called him off to dig it up. A successful dig, and I passed it to our setter, Brady Skjei. He set it to Jesper Fast, who spiked it to the perfect spot in between Antti and Pyotr Kochetkov.

"Nice hit!" I exclaimed to Jesper as we high-fived each other.

He chuckled. "Thanks, Svechnikov. I didn't realize you were so versatile," he responded, then my face started to redden. I groaned, ignoring the Svechnikov comment, and I returned my smile.

I cracked my knuckles. "I was my high school volleyball team's libero. I've still got it in me," I smirked, hoping that Andrei would see it. He did, and he rolled his eyes.

Martin served the ball over again, and we began a new rally.

"I got it, I got it!" exclaimed Jordan Staal from the serving spot on their side of the court. He passed it up to Seth, who set it back to Andrei, and Andrei spiked it over to the same spot between me and Sebastian, only a little far back.

I backed up and dove to get the ball, and I was able to get some contact, but it went off my knuckle and bounced out of play.

"God dammit," I said.