Who Do You Think You Are?

Alyssa wished she hadn’t of accepted the offer to stand behind the bench with her father, it was nerve wracking. Honestly, she wished she didn’t want to become a coach because she’d be a nervous wreck. But then one moment changed everything. Four minutes into the period, Victor Hedman stepped out onto the ice for the first time and was drilled by PK Subban. Victory immediately went back to the Swedish bench.

“YAH PK!” Alyssa screamed, “BOOYAH! TAKE THAT SWEDEN!”

The whole bench turned around, all with the same look on their face, complete amazement. Then Pat whacked one of the boys in the back of the head and they turned their attention back to the game. Pat shifted his gaze to his daughter and gave her a slight nod, Alyssa blushed. And then the unthinkable happened, Canada was on a power play and John skated up the side, looking for a pass, he got one and put in it the back of the net, just over Mark Owuya’s shoulder.

“YAH!” Alyssa started cheering again and then turned to Zack, “He listened to me! He actually listened to me.”

John was back on the bench, beaming about his goal and turned to look at Alyssa. He gave her a smile and a head nod and went back to the game. Alyssa laughed softly, it was becoming a tradition between them; the unspoken recognition.

The game continued, Cody Hodgson scored one to put Canada up 2 nothing, but then Sweden struck. Oscar Moller was left open for a couple seconds and was able to find the back of the net. Alyssa shook her head, “I told you guys to stick to him. Does nobody listen to me?” The third period started where both Zack and Jamie Benn potted goals for Canada. Then Sweden struck again.

Stefan Della Rovere took a penalty for roughing and Victor Hedman jumped over the boards to take part of the power play. The second he touched the puck, he was streaking up the side. Alyssa was screaming “Stop him, don’t let him get close!” But it was too late, Victor scored a short-handed goal for Sweden, Alyssa huffed in frustration, the boys needed to take her research to heart if they wanted to win.

The interviews were done so after; the boys were ecstatic about their win and wouldn’t sit still on the bus ride back to the hotel. PK attempted to control the Ipod on the ride back, but soon the whole team was yelling “What is this? What kind of music is this?” PK sheepishly sat back down in his seat.

Back in the hotel room, Alyssa was changed into her pajamas and was settling into bed. John had taken a quick shower and came out, glistening with water dripping down his chest. Alyssa forced herself to look away, but failed. Miserably.

“John, seriously!” Alyssa said, sarcastically. “Your whiteness is burning my eyes!”

John looked down and laughed, “You know you like it.”

Alyssa started laughing, joining John. They both realized they were laughing together and stopped. They both went about their business before bed. Alyssa crawled into bed, quickly checking her e-mails and settled down to go to sleep. John changed and then shut the lights off, before saying, “Thanks for the help Als.” Alyssa smiled in her sleep.

The next couple days flew by, another intense practice to get ready for their game against Finland. Alyssa was in her usual spot on the bench, researching and taking notes on their next opponent. The team drove down to Mississauga to play Finland at the Hershey Centre. The game ended 7-3 in favour of Canada, with seven different scorers with Pat enjoyed very well. Celebrations once again, raged on, on the bus ride back to the hotel. PK attempted to control the Ipod, but John challenged him.

Alyssa was giggling in her seat as she watched PK and John wrestle over the Ipod, in the aisle. The whole team was crowding around, cheering and having a blast. PK came out on top, leaving John defeated. Alyssa smiled and yelled to PK, “Nice one! Put John in his place!”

John’s face contorted, “You think you could take me?”

Alyssa stopped laughing and turned around to face John, “Is that a challenge?”

Evander was quick to jump in. “Hey now! We don’t need that,” Evander said, facing John, “Do you seriously want to fight a girl?”

John’s face soften, “No, she’s not worth it.”

This sent Alyssa overboard, “I’m not worth it? Well excuse me Mr. Almighty. I think you’re afraid you’ll lose.”

Evander stepped in again, “You two are ridiculous! Why don’t you just have a race?”

Alyssa’s eyes light up, “Perfect, how ‘bout it Tavares?”

“Deal, tomorrow after practice.”

The tension in the hotel room was thick, John and Alyssa stayed on their separate sides of the room, neither saying a word. Alyssa was typing away on her laptop, doing some early research on Slovakia. The key types broke the silence, a steady tap, tap, tap. This aggravated John, until he couldn’t handle it anymore.

“AH!” John grunted, “Stop already, PLEASE!”

Alyssa smirked, it was her turn to push John’s buttons, she continued typing away, ignoring his pleas. When John realized she wasn’t going to stop, he leaped across the room right onto Alyssa’s bed, straddling on top of her, inches from her face.

Alyssa felt the air catch in her chest, she was staring John straight in the face, she could see every minute detail; his chestnut hair, brown, hazel eyes and the stubble that was forming on his chin. John likewise could see Alyssa’s pale brown hair falling just past her shoulders, her green eyes, her soft lips and tan complexion. Their gaze’s were locked on each other, neither wavering. What seemed like forever, John began inching his way toward Alyssa, but was interrupted.

WHAM!

John was off Alyssa in a flash, back onto his bed as if nothing had happening. Alyssa stayed frozen, attempting to figure out what had just occurred. She nervously looked over at John, to find him looking straight back at her.

WHAM!

“I…uh…I’m going to see what that is,” Alyssa said, stammering. She opened the door to see that a couple of the players were playing soccer in the hallway.

Zack came up to her, “Hey Als, are you okay? You look really pale.”

“I’m fine, just tired. I think.”

Zack nodded, “Well, then off to bed for you missy!” he said, pushing her back into her room.

Alyssa went straight to bed, lying so she was facing the wall, because she couldn’t face John at what had happened just minutes before. John followed so after, lying so his back was to Alyssa for the exact same reason.

Morning came all too quickly, as Alyssa groaned as the alarm went off. She rolled over to turn off the irritating buzzer; she looked over to see John fast asleep and an idea popped into her head. Alyssa quietly slipped out of her bed, grabbing her pillow; she slowly climbed onto John’s bed. He stirred slightly from the added weight on his bed, Alyssa stifled a laugh. She swung her arms up and just before the pillow was to hit John’s face, he caught it. Alyssa shrieked as John twisted the pillow, bringing her with it, underneath him.

Alyssa and John found themselves in a very familiar situation, a situation they both enjoyed, but denied it to themselves. Alyssa could feel the heat radiating off John’s body, it made her heart beat even faster. John smiled as he realized the effect he was having on her. Then, an all too familiar ‘wham!’ was heard from the door.

“I should get that,” Alyssa said slowly. John nodded and released her from his grasps. The knock at the door was Zack telling them to hurry up ‘cause the bus was leaving soon for the arena. Alyssa smiled shyly at John as they left together to get on the bus. The team noticed the tension and hostilities seemed to have disappeared over night.

An intense practice soon followed, despite their convincing win over Finland last night. Alyssa sat in her usual spot, but didn’t do as much research as she usually did. She decided that she would actually enjoy the practice today and learn John’s habits as a skater. The practice ended short after and the team skated over to Alyssa, who was finishing up lacing her skates. She looked up and sent a smirk in John’s direction.

“You know, you don’t have to do this. You can just forfeit,” she said, challenging John.

John laughed, “Take your own advice.”

“Never,” Alyssa said confidently, “Let’s get this over with.” She looked over at Evander, “Are you going to be the judge?”

John disagreed, “No way! He’ll just say that you won no matter what!”

Alyssa’s brow furrowed, she didn’t like people dissing her friend, “Then who would you suggest?”

“Chet. He’s neutral territory.”

Alyssa rolled her eyes, “Whatever.”

John and Alyssa lined up at one end of the ice, both poised to break away at any second. The race was up and down the ice once, winner takes all. The team lined up along one side, with Chet standing out in front.

“One. Two. Three. GO!”

They took off at the same time, matching speeds for the first couple strides, and then John took the lead. Alyssa gritted her teeth and pushed her legs harder, by the turn around she had caught up to John. He looked over and smirked at her, which made Alyssa snarl. When there was about 15 feet left, it was dead even, then it appeared that Alyssa accelerated, but in fact, John slowed down. Alyssa finished first with John at her heels. The team erupted into cheers, they didn’t really care who won.

Alyssa was furious with John and waited till the team left the ice. “What was that?” she hissed.

“What was what?” he said, acting oblivious.

“You slowed down.”

“No, I didn’t. Why can’t you just take you win and go?”

“Cause I didn’t win fairly –”

Alyssa was cut off by John, his lips felt cool against hers. John had taken her by surprise, and it took a couple seconds to react. Then John pulled away, clearly surprised by his own actions.

“I…uh…have to go,” he said quickly and then sprinted off the ice.

Alyssa felt her lips, they tingled where John’s lips once were, then shook her head, attempting to clear it. This changed her relationship with John drastically. She walked off the ice, in a daze, not noticing someone slip away.

Alyssa and John didn’t talk at all that night; they were both confused with their feelings. Alyssa had slipped away to Zack’s room, to clear her head and to spend some time alone. But she forgot one detail; she had left her laptop open on her bed.

John laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling; counting the dots to pass the time. He played the moment at the arena over and over again in his head, and realized that he liked Alyssa. John started talking to himself, trying to find the right words to express his feelings. Then, a bleep broke his concentration. He looked over to see a MSN box up on Alyssa’s laptop. John knew that if he read it, Alyssa would freak, but he couldn’t resist. He sat down, and opened up the box, to read.

SeenStamkos? says:
Heard you have a new boy toy. Is he as good as me? Or are you do forget what happened in Czech last year?

John couldn’t believe what he was reading, but one word was going through his mind.
Whore.