behind your back ~ andrei svechnikov

Chapter Seventeen

After the Hurricanes game tonight against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Andrei said he had a surprise for me.

The whole game I was curious as to what this particular surprise was, and I was thrown off by my wonders after my brother managed to get a puck past Lightning star goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy to put the Canes up 1-0 in the first period.

I yawned as the Lightning and Hurricanes lined up to take the face-off at the right side of the net of Antti Raanta. The Lightning were on a power play after a minor was called to Sebastian Aho for hooking, and so far they were oh-for-one on power plays for the night. Hopefully Carolina's defense can kill the power play once again for a second time.

"So, how are things? I know you haven't really come to any games in the last few weeks, but that could be because you're busy with work and such," Sophia said.

I shrugged. "The same. Yeah, work has been a burden since it was the end of the year and I had to figure out W-2 and W-3 forms and such, then send everything to the state and federal governments," I told her, taking a sip of my soda.

She chuckled. "Boy, good thing I didn't go to school to be an accountant," she responded. "But I'm glad you're enjoying your work,"

"It's really fun. I've always been good at math and dealing with numbers," I mentioned. "I considered teaching math but then I decided on going to school for accounting,"

She smiled, then she took a sip of her beer. "Want a sip? It's actually really good," she offered, handing the cup to me.

I gently pushed the cup away and back to her so I wouldn't spill any of the beer. "No thanks. I can't drink alcohol for a while," I told her.

She raised an eyebrow. "How come?" she asked, setting the cup into the cup holder in front of her.

"Carolina penalty, number thirty-seven, two minutes for high-sticking," the linesman said at center ice as he showed the hand motions for the high-sticking penalty.

"What the hell," I muttered. "That's his second penalty of the game,"

Sophia chuckled. "Now you know how I feel. Anyways, why can't you drink alcohol?"

I sighed. "I have a really sensitive and upset stomach. If I drink alcohol it'll irritate it," I told her, trying to avoid telling her that I was pregnant. I was wearing Andrei's sweatshirt underneath the jersey he got me so it would cover up the bump I had on my stomach that was now definitely noticeable compared to a few weeks ago.

She raised the same eyebrow as she did a few moments ago before Andrei was sent to the penalty box. "Really? You didn't have a problem drinking wine when we were in Southern Shores in November," she responded.

"Well, I went to the ER in the beginning of December and they told me I can't drink alcohol for a while," I snapped.

Sophia looked at me in even more confusion. "Delilah, are you feeling okay?" she asked me, and we locked eyes with each other.

I blinked, sighed, and lowered my head. "No. Sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you. I've also been having wicked mood swings recently," I told her.

Sebastian Aho came out of the penalty box to return the power play to Tampa after they failed to score on the two-man advantage. Andrei had another few seconds in the penalty box for his separate minor.

"Ah, mood swings suck. I had them when Seb and I were in Finland for a month because I had bad jet lag. He got me this weird Finnish over-the-counter medicine and it worked like a dream," she told me with a soft chuckle. "I actually still have it if you want me to give some to you,"