Friends In High Places? [Alexei]

[alexei]

"I'd love to meet your dog sometime," Alexei agreed. "He sounds great." Max had been the first dog he had ever had, and Alexei would spend hours playing with him when he was younger, teaching him to do tricks and whatever else he could think of. Max would even walk with Alexei to school and come back at the end of the school day to walk home with him!

Alexei nodded. It was always cool meeting other people who had things in common with you, it made conversation come so easy, with common interests. "Swimming's probably my favorite thing to do," he continued. "I usually swim three or four times a week before work."

And then, since they had both finished their refreshment, Alexei asked, "Do you want to go for a walk or something?

[melissa]

Melissa grinned when Alexei said he would love to meet Kaiser sometime. She smiled again when he said Kaiser sounded great. "Yeah, he's a great dog, I'll definitely bring him to meet you one day." Melissa replied, of course, she would have to take Alexei's number, so she could phone and make arrangements with him, seeing as she didn't actually live in New Jersey. "Which reminds me, we should definitely swap numbers." She said brightly, as she went into her bag, brought out a pen and a small notepad, and quickly wrote her number down and handed it over to Alexei. "There's mine anyway, I always keep a pen and mini notepad in my bag, never know when you might need a pen and paper." Melissa said with a laugh.

"Swimming is brilliant, although I don't go into the sea myself, I have a fear of it, but I will go to the local swimming pool." Melissa said with a grin. Even though she took Kaiser to the coast, she loved watching him run in and out of the sea, and she would paddle in it, but she wouldn't swim in it. Not after the incident which killed her parents.

Then Alexei asked if she wanted to go for a walk or something, seeing as they were finished their refreshments. She smiled at him, "That sounds like a wonderful idea, for a short while anyway, as I'll be having to make my way back to Washington soon." Melissa replied, giving Alexei a warm smile and then she collected her bags and stood up, waiting for Alexei to make his exit from the cafe.

[alexei]

"Great." Alexei grinned. "Oh, yeah, definitely," he agreed. Just from this relatively short meeting that he and Melissa had had in this cafe right here, it seemed like they could possibly be friends. Alexei took the piece of paper with Melissa's number on it and tucked it into his shirt pocket, then reached behind him to pull his notebook and pen out of the backpack hanging on the back of his wheelchair.

He flipped through his well-worn notebook, past pages of designs, sketches, calculations, and notes, stopping when he got to a blank page. He quickly wrote down his home phone number and email address on the paper before tearing it out of the notebook and sliding it across the table to Melissa. "There's my number and email address."

"I generally stick to the swimming pool, too," Alexei said, nodding. "Getting to a beach can be quite a pain in the ass." He paused, a sardonic smile twitching on the corners of his mouth. "Well, figuratively."

"And I'll have to get back to work soon," Alexei agreed, glancing at his watch and crumpling up his sandwich wrapper. They made their way out of the cafe and started casually heading up the sidewalk.

[melissa]

Melissa gave Alexei a warm smile when he agreed about swapping numbers. She didn't think she had been the only one to think they had got on well enough to become friends. Alright, so Melissa didn't stay in New Jersey, but it was relatively easy enough for her to get there. So they could definitely meet up again some time soon. Of that she was sure. When he passed the paper to her with his number and e-mail address, Melissa smiled again. "Thanks Alexei, I will make sure to contact you in some way. Even if it's a while before we can meet again, we can always keep in contact by e-mail."

Melissa loved the fact that technology was so good these days, that you could easily sit at a computer screen in one state, type up a few words and hit send, and it instantly reach another state or country within seconds, minutes. It was amazing.

Melissa couldn't help but laugh lightly when Alexei gave his reasons for sticking to a swimming pool. "I can understand that Alexei." She replied, "It's good that you can joke about the situation though, although I think you kind of have to sometimes, or you'd probably cry." Melissa added with a warm smile. She wasn't being patronising, but she knew if she suddenly lost the use of her legs, hearing, speech or sight, she'd be irritated as hell by it, and she'd probably become one of the toughest people to be around for some time.

"Oh, well that doesn't make me feel so bad for suddenly having to rush off on you then." Melissa replied when Alexei said that he would have to be heading back to work soon. They made their way out of the cafe and soon they were casually making their way along the sidewalk.

[alexei]

Alexei nodded. "For sure. And don't worry about it being a while before we can meet again. You are a..." He paused dramatically, switching to the voice of Jeremy Irons, who had a deep, resonant, dramatic voice. "...a government official," he said conspiratorially. "But yeah." He returned to his normal voice as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. "But yeah, definitely email me."

"Oh, believe me," Alexei said sardonically when Melissa commented on his having a sense of humor about his situation. "I haven't always. You should have seen me eight years ago." He paused. Even though he had returned to work relatively shortly after his injury, it had been over a year before he got over the anger and the depression that came with the revelation that he would never walk again. But now, eight years later, here he was, and he had accepted it and moved on with his life. Alexei continued quietly. "Sometimes having a sense of humor about it is the best thing to do."

They continued up the sidewalk for a while, chatting easily about this and that, and Alexei happened to glance at his watch. He paused. "I really should get back to work," he said reluctantly. He glanced up at Melissa, wheeling back slightly so he could look at her without wrenching his neck as far backwards. "It was really nice meeting you."

[melissa]

Melissa smiled when Alexei said it was fine if it was a while before they met again, and then he went on to say that she was a government official but in a very different voice. A voice which sounded a lot like the actor Jeremy Irons. Melissa couldn't help but raise her eyebrow at that. "Now, that's what I call impressive." Then she laughed a little. "But thanks for understanding." She would definitely keep in touch with Alexei by e-mail, it felt good to have made a friend, even if he was in another State.

Melissa nodded her head in understanding, "Well I can imagine it wasn't easy to begin with, but as you say, sometimes a sense of humour is for the best. You really are a remarkable man Alexei." Melissa said giving him a bright smile and touching his shoulder gently with her hand.

After they continued to walk along the side walk for a while, Alexei then said in what Melissa knew was a tone of reluctance that he should get back to work. "And I should get to my car for the drive back to Washington. It was lovely to meet you too Alexei." She replied, giving him another smile, before she gave him a wave and made her way in the general direction of where she packed the car.

{ooc End? Unless you feel you want to do a finishing Alexei post - PM Claire and let me know - unless you catch me in the c-box.}