Chapter 47: Jack's Wedding

Ellen and Dan's wedding was a small affair, but Sophia and Warren had a good time. They really did make each other happy, and Sophia was just plain crazy about Kate.

A week after that, Sophia and Warren found themselves en route to Washington DC for Jack Garrison's wedding. They were booked at a hotel, and made mad love before crashing. It was an afternoon/evening wedding, outside, on a large estate.

They wandered in, found what table they had been assigned to, and went to find it. As they approached it, they heard the bellow of Christine Arsenault: "Well, if it isn't Daniels and Kelleher, the future of American Ice Dance!"

"Shut up, you," Warren said, as he walked up to her and gave her a kiss. He did the same to Elizabeth Cushman, who was with her. Sophie hugged them in turn.

"You guys at table ten, I hope?" Liz asked.

"Yup. You?"

"Yeah. Christine and I don't have dates, so they put us together, which was nice."

"Hope the press doesn't get a hold of that," Warren quipped. "There would go all those Arsenault Cushman vicious rivalry stories."

"Yeah, well, to be in a rivalry, one skater has to actually beat the other skater occasionally," Liz quipped.

"HEY! I beat you at Nation's Cup last fall!" Christine said indignantly.

"Oops, you're right."

They found their table. Already seated were former National pairs champion Renee Miller and Ted Sorrell. Sophia and Warren had met them a couple of times, and had liked them. They exchanged greetings.

"Check it out, Liz, two swinging single gals like us, and they stuck us with all the old married couples."

Renee and Ted just laughed, but Warren said, "Not only are we not married, but old? I'm two years younger than you are, Arsenault."

"OK, so you're not old. Married is accurate, if not yet legally, and you know it."

Warren and Sophia just smiled at one another. "So who's the other married couple at the table?"

"Oh, I don't know, I was talking about you two and Renee and Ted."

They were chatting about not much, Warren always enjoyed the dynamic between Christine and Liz. They were fierce competitors, but they were also close friends. It was interesting.

They also both liked to tease. Each other, and other people. They had, along with Jack, set up an elaborate joke at Warren and Sophie's expense, and, as Liz caught a glimpse of two people walking across the yard, it was time to set into action.

"Hey, guys, I don't know if I know this. We've been talking about skaters we like and stuff, but I'm not sure if I know who you guys' favorite dance team of all time is."

"Malekova and Boranachenko," Sophia and Warren said simultaneously. "Great technique and passion to burn," Warren said. "We worship them," Sophia added.

"Ah, what a wonderful thing to hear from a young talented ice dance team," Warren heard said behind his back in a Russian accent. He and Sophia turned-and saw Anya Malekova and Gennadi Boranachenko. Sitting into their seats. At their table-Anya was right next to Warren, as a matter of fact.

And Sophia and Warren both had their eyes bug out of their head.

Anya smiled at them. "I know you two. Sophia Daniels and Warren Kelleher. Second at US Nationals in juniors last year, first in the free dance. We were there. You're very talented."

"Thank you," Sophia managed to squeak out.

"Yes, thank you very much. Oh my God, I'm sitting next to Anya Malekova," he said to the air. Anya and Gennadi just laughed.

"Hey, guys?" Liz interjected. "You know, I lied. Warren told me six months ago that Anya and Gennadi were your idols. And I know them, because they work out of my rink and choreographed some stuff for me."

Warren stared at her. "This was a set-up!"

"Uh-huh." Liz grinned. "Chris, Jack, and Anya and Gennadi were all in on it."

"We're just innocent bystanders," Renee Miller smiled.

"Right!"

Warren looked at Liz, and then at Anya. "You know, we promised each other we were not going to hero-worship today. And, we were doing a good job of it. Heck, I met Shae-Lynn Bourne and Nicole Bobek today and didn't gush once." Everyone laughed at that. "And then you two showed up. Ah, well, so much for keeping our composure."

"You have to understand," Sophia told them, "your Bach free dance that won you the Olympics in France is *why* I'm an ice dancer."

"Thank you, that's quite a compliment." Gennadi said. "Although, having seen you skate, I'm a little surprised. That's one of our most romantic dances.

"Aah," Warren said, "Well, our love of Big Band has kind of taken over. In fact our free this year is another big band mix. We like to swing on the ice."

"However," Sophia smiled, "wait until you see our exhibition. Not classical-it's to a pop song-but very M&B, or at least that's the goal."

"Aah, but you see," Anya said, "to have the passion on the ice, you must have the passion off the ice."

Christine cracked up laughing. Warren and Sophia just looked at each other and smiled.

"Did I miss something?" Anya asked.

Christine sputtered. "I have a picture of them, skating together, that Warren emailed me. I think the ice melted."

"My stepfather saw our exhibition and said he thought he was going to have to hose us down," Sophia added. She looked at Anya and Gennadi. "We've been a couple off the ice longer than we've been a couple on it. We started dating when we were fourteen."

"Ah, but you're so young, even now," Gennadi said.

"True love don't know age, guys," Liz interjected.

"True," Anya agreed with a smile.

The rest of the wedding was great. Jack and Amanda made a great couple. Sophia and Warren got to dance a lot-although, in a crowd of ice skaters and Amanda's dancer friends, they blended more into the crowd than they usually do, which was a nice change, actually. They met lots of people, and even got to talk to some of them. Anya and Gennadi turned out to be sweet and charming. And Warren even got an unexpected surprise when a slightly inebriated Stephie Eberhardt, his favorite skater, fell into his lap--literally. She even chatted amiably and gave him a kiss on the cheek-making him blush bright red-before she got off his lap. "Oh, Snugglebear, you must have thought it was Christmas," said a plainly amused Sophia.