[dare2dream28]

Veggie_Delite & Shakrin OMG ROTFLMAO@ the ass hug stuff!!!! You two literally had me laughing out loud at that! You'll see in the next update just how much I liked the 'ass hug' idea. Make sure to read my Author's note at the bottom.

Chapter 56 pt 1

On the drive home, it took all the control Yulia had not to burst out screaming that she had actually won the backstage passes. What’s the perfect way to surprise Lena? Well, before I even think about surprising her, I better get some armor fit for a battle since no doubt she’s going to pummel right over me in excitement. Yulia couldn’t help but let a small giggle pass her lips.

“What do you think’s so funny?” Lena asked.

“Ummm…” Think Volkster, think! “I was just thinking, how do you give an ass hug?” Yulia said. Wait…an *ass* hug? Where did *that* come from??

“An *ass* hug? What the hell is that?” Lena gave Yulia a quizzical look.

“Uhh, you know when people say that they gave someone a ‘huge ass hug’? How on earth do you give a hug with your ass? Is that something that you crazy Americans came up with that the rest of the world hasn’t caught on to yet?”

Lena busted out laughing, slightly swerving because of the happy laughter tears that were slightly blurring her vision. “Oh my gosh, Yulia! HAHA! That’s gotta be your new catch phrase! I can see the headlines now: ‘America Obsessed with Ass Hug Fad via Crazy Russian Student; Experts warn against air-quality danger resulting from increased farts.”

“You are *crazy*, you know that?” Yulia laughed. One of the many reasons I can’t get enough of you!


Judging from the regular sounds of Lena’s jeep pulling up to the cabin instead of a combination of tires squealing in addition to blaring Shania music, Mrs. Katina easily deciphered that Lena nor Yulia had won the backstage passes. Oh dear. That girl is going to be pouting around the house for a week! Poor child.

“No luck this time?” Mrs. Katina asked as she looked between Yulia and Lena.

“Nah.” Lena answered. (gold star to anyone who got the Shania song reference hehe)

“It’ll be alright though! We just have to take advice from Shania and be optimistic, right? I have a feeling that you’ll still get to meet Shania somehow.” Yulia added. Hehe!

Mrs. Katina noticed a spark in Yulia’s eyes when she said this, but chose to ignore it.

“We’ll see I guess. Anyways, I’m going to take Rebel out for a walk. You wanna come, Yulia?” Lena asked as she went to get Rebel’s leash.

At the jingle of his leash, Rebel came running into the living room. Right before he made it to Lena, however, he suddenly stopped as he was overcome with a coughing fit. Lena immediately was at his side, afraid to touch him since she wasn’t sure if it would help or hurt him.

“Woah, woah, woah, Rebel. Easy there boy.” Lena rubbed Rebel’s back as the cough died down.

“He did that yesterday after you left. Dad said that when he took Reb out on a walk yesterday that he stopped a few times and coughed just like that.” Mrs. Katina said as she gave Rebel a worrisome look.

“Well we better keep a close eye on that. I don’t like the sound of it.” Lena unconsciously pulled Rebel a little closer as she spoke.

“We’ll just take it a little slower today. No worries.” Yulia said as she grabbed a few of Rebel’s treats and some water for the walk.

Rebel looked eager as always, which eased Lena’s mind a bit. “Alright then. Let’s get Gabby (the other dog, remember? Yeah, been a long time LOL) and head out.”

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During the walk, Yulia noticed that Lena was quieter than normal, which she assumed was because of the contest. I can’t let her mope around all day. Ohhh I know what I’ll do!

Yulia abruptly bent over, parted her butt cheeks with her hands, and shuffled backwards right into Lena’s hip.

“Ewww! Yulia, what on earth are you doing?”

“I’m giving you an ass hug, what does it look like?” Yulia said as she continued to rub her butt on Lena.

“It *looks* like you’ve got this massive itch in between your butt checks and are attempting to use me as a huge scratch post! *That’s* what it looks like!” Lena couldn’t help but laugh at Yulia when she froze in her ass hug position.

Lena almost peed her pants laughing when unexpectedly, Rebel walked over to Yulia and sniffed her butt, since after all, that is what dogs do.

“Ahhh!” Yulia fell flat on her face at the surprising presence on her rump, causing Lena to fall to her knees because she was laughing so hard.

“Yeah Rebel! Way to go boy! Ha! Here’s a treat!” Lena handed Rebel a little piece of his Beggin’ Strips treat as she gave him a small pat on his head.

In the blink of an eye, Lena’s cheerful mood died and turned to sheer horror as she witnessed with shocked eyes Rebel’s coughing body become stiff as a board before falling over with a hard thud on the ground.

“REBEL!!!!!!!” Lena screamed at the top of her lungs as Rebel’s body began violently convulsing. Through blinding, tear filled eyes, Lena lunged for Rebel, pushing Gabby aside as she frantically scrambled to open Rebel’s mouth and search for anything that was blocking his airway.

Yulia froze in place, observing Lena shove her finger down Rebel’s throat to clear way for air. Something inside her, however, told her that what Lena was doing was wrong. It seemed like time moved in slow motion as instincts kicked in and Yulia roughly pushed Lena backwards, freeing Rebel from her grasp, allowing Yulia to pick Rebel up underneath his chest and stand him up on all fours.

If it were anyone but Yulia, Lena surely would’ve been swinging punches the moment she hit the ground, but somehow she knew to take control of her temper.

Within seconds Rebel’s coughing ceased and he immediately sat down, panting heavily.

Lena immediately went for Rebel, but was gently stopped by a soft hand on her arm.

“Let him catch his breath. Give him a minute.” Yulia whispered as she slowly guided Lena to sit in her lap.

The instant Lena felt Yulia’s soothing arms around her, she burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably.

“It’s okay. Rebel’s okay. He’s going to be okay.” Yulia softly cooed as she tightened her grip around Lena’s body. Please God, let Rebel be okay. Please.

Lena allowed herself to be comforted for another minute before she pulled herself away from Yulia’s embrace to check on her beloved Rebel.

“Hey boy. How ya doing?” Lena said in between her sniffles as she gently petted Rebel.

Yulia almost created some waterworks of her own as she saw Rebel look up at Lena and lick the tears off her face. Lena smiled through her tears and tenderly put her arm around Rebel.

“Here. I’m sure he’s thirsty.” Yulia whispered as she handed Lena Rebel’s water.

As Rebel lapped up the water from Lena’s hand, Yulia squatted next to Lena and gave her a one-armed hug, partially to comfort Lena, but also because she just needed to be close to Lena. Even though she never admitted it, Rebel had become very dear to Yulia in the time that she had spent at the Katina’s house so she too, was experiencing pain at the moment.

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The walk back to the cabin seemed like the longest walk Lena had ever been on.

“Lena, oh my gosh, what happened???” Mrs. Katina’s voice failed to hide her panicked feeling as she took in the sight of a panting Rebel, a blood-shot-eyed Lena, and a pale-faced Yulia.

“What’s going on?” Mr. Katina asked as he came through the door, having just got off of work.

“I’ll tell them, you go on with Rebel.” Yulia said as Lena went to take Rebel to her room so he could lie down on his bed.

As Yulia explained the recent events to Mr. & Mrs. Katina, she noticed the stoic look on Mr. Katina’s face fall for just a second as she recalled exactly how Rebel collapsed.

“That’s it. Make an appointment for tomorrow. He’s going to the vet.” Mr. Katina said sternly as he began to walk out of the room. When he reached Yulia, his gaze softened a bit and he whispered a ‘thank you’ before going upstairs.

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At the sound of a light knocking on her door, Lena quickly wiped her nose and face of the tears that were still lingering.

“Come in.”

“Hey. How’s he doing?” Mr. Katina asked quietly while eyeing Rebel’s heavy breathing.

“I think he’s doing better. He needs to go to the vet though.” Lena said as she gently stroked Rebel’s back.

“I told your mother to call Dr. Brown and set up one for tomorrow. You know I will do everything possible for Rebel, Lena. I don’t care how much it costs.” Mr. Katina said as he squatted beside the pair on the floor.

“Thanks, Dad.” Lena whispered, not daring to say anything more for fear of more tears.

Mr. Katina sat there for a few minutes petting Rebel until he saw Yulia at the door.

“Alright, well I’m going to get ready for dinner. I’ll see you two in a half hour.” Mr. Katina said as he walked out of Lena’s room and closed the door.

Before Yulia could say anything, Lena stood up and engulfed Yulia in a bear hug, nearly squeezing all of the air out of her lungs.

“Now this is what I call a huge ass hug.” Yulia squeaked, smiling as she heard Lena chuckle.

“You always know how to cheer me up.” Lena said softly with a smile as she eased her grip on Yulia, but not enough to completely let go.

“I’m glad you feel that way.” Yulia smiled.

Lena rested her head on Yulia’s shoulder since she knew she couldn’t look at Yulia while expressing her feelings.

“Thank you, Yulia, for what you did today. You have no idea what that means to me.”

Yulia’s heart melted since she knew how much it took for Lena to express what she was feeling, especially at a time like this.

“Anytime. You know I love y—Rebel and I’d do anything for either of you.” Yulia returned Lena’s hug and relished in the closeness.

“Thanks Yulia. You know I’d do the same for you.” Lena gave Yulia one final squeeze before reluctantly pulling away.

“Alright, enough mushy stuff. Let’s go, I dunno, do something with lots of risk or something.” Lena said with a quirky smile.

“Yeah, geeze, God forbid you actually do something like *gasp* express your emotions! We must go act ‘manly’, or rather ‘womanly’ and prove that we’re tough!” Yulia pounded her chest like a gorilla and hopped around the room flaying her arms around.

“Me, beast. You, human. Ooo ooo ooo ahhh ahh ahhh!”

Lena laughed at Yulia’s ape display. “Alright, alright, I get your point. But I’m still tough!”

“Of *course* you are! And don’t you worry, your secret is safe with me…that’s what friends are for, right?”

“You got that right. You’re the best damn friend I’ve ever had. I mean that.” Lena looked directly into Yulia’s eyes to make sure Yulia knew she was serious.

Yulia bashfully looked down before whispering, “Thanks, Lena. That means a lot.” If only you knew how much.


Author’s note: Full credit goes to Veggie_Delite and Shakrin from tatysite for the ‘ass hug’ idea. LOL