Viktoria's Secret

There was something about the way you could actually get comfortable enough in those set of three blue airport seats when you laid across them. But it just might have been the long wait.

It was just my luck that I was stranded alone in an airport in a different country that I had never been to before, nor ever had the desire to visit. But the day that I decided I wanted to take an extra week or so to cut off my ends in Stockholm, I made the ultimate decision of being alone in St. Louis for a few hours. Whatever, I had things to take care of before I could leave home that Patrik or his friends would never understand. It was inevitable.

So the days passed quickly during my last day in Sweden, and before I knew it, it was the nineteenth and I found myself packing all over again. I should have listened to my mother when she advised me to keep everything I didn’t need in my already packed tight suitcases. Oh well.

Midnight, the very early morning of October twentieth, I boarded a plane from Stockholm to St. Louis, Missouri. Fourteen fucking hours in the air, alone, and that’s not including the various layovers that were scheduled in random cities of the United States. Believe me when I tell you that I kept my eyes peeled for anything that looked remotely close to a terrorist.

Now, you’d probably think there isn’t much to do on a plane for fourteen hours, right? Well, in the time I was a mile high in the air, I read through an English book to brush up on the language that I had studied all through schooling, and when I wasn’t doing something productive, I was making faces at the small child who sat a few rows away. You’d think after the first time I made him cry, he’d stop turning around in his seat to look at me. I guess some kids never learn. At one point, I figured it would be a good idea to hold up a piece of paper informing him that if he kept his face like that for too long, it would stick like that. Even though his mother turned around and glared at me when he started to sob, I didn’t regret it soley because both of their facial expressions were gold.

So, almost twenty four hours (if we’re not counting the time travelling that went down when we crossed through time zones) after my initial take off, I was sprawled across said set of three ugly blue seats in the middle of some huge airport in St. Louis. My bags were shoved under the seats and the ones next to me. Patrik was certainly not going to be happy when he sees the amount of clothes I packed. But he of all people should understand the importance of beauty and fashion, right?

Patrik had a game tonight in some city with the team named the Penguins, who I knew (with Patrik’s confirmation) that they were the defending champions. They were due to arrive home to St. Louis within the next hour, so for the past three hours, since my plane touched down, I’ve been off in my own world, half asleep and half in high alert. Who would have thought that the jetlag from a flight half around the globe would have been so brutal?

Unfortunately, I wasn’t filled in with many of my future plans. All I knew so far is that I would be living with Patrik and some kid named Erik in their new apartment that was explained to be more so a house. Luckily, they had decided to splurge with the money that they had been earning in the big leagues and bought some huge apartment that only Paris Hilton would consider substantial size. With a few extra guest rooms and plenty of space, I was just happy to not be moving into some run down meth lab.

My father was excited to be informed that I would be attending every home and possibly a few away games while I was in America. He was always the hockey nut in the family. You can only imagine how joyous he was when he found out that I was dating the city’s future star hockey player. You know, most dads wouldn’t be happy with their only daughter dating at all.

Personally, I never cared too much about hockey until I started to date Patrik back in grade nine. We had gone to different elementary schools in the city, but were united in high school. Before that, hockey was never in my lists of interests. It was always just kind of there, but never mattered to me. But when I was guilted into attending Patrik’s games, I had gotten more into the sport so I could actually understand how it’s played.

I wasn’t sure if it was a usual thing to see a random girl casually laying across the airport seats. The workers never gave me a second look when I actually was awake, but I was sure that when I was drifting off a few times, I had to of looked like some sort of hobo just looking for a place to sleep.

It was only after midnight when a pointer finger flicked my forehead, pulling me out of my sleep and sending me upright to look around frantically. I glared (not so) playfully up as Patrik’s teammate, who I remembered was named TJ Oshie. He just grinned down at me and joined Patrik as he slid a few of my bags out from under the seats, even though they both had their own large, logoed duffle bag to take care of.

Wordlessly, we all tiredly carried my copious amount of bags towards the front entrance, where TJ finally spoke up as Patrik waved for a cab.

“How was your flight?” He asked politely, setting my suitcase down on the sidewalk. While he wasn’t keen on showing his strain holding so many heavy things in his arms, I knew he released them for a rest. I smirked at this and nodded a bit.

“It was okay. How was yours?” I returned just as politely, but kept my usual sarcastic tone just evident enough for Patrik to notice it, but TJ to think I was actually being sweet. He smiled at me, his rounded cheeks pink at the not so prominent bone.

“There’s nothing like a flight with the boys in our private jet,” he bragged lightly, his teeth showing smile fading down into a smirk. I rolled my eyes and shifted my weight to my left leg.

“Well aren’t you just lucky that you didn’t have to sit on a flight with an annoying little kid turning in his seat every two seconds to give you odd facial expressions,” I retorted, pursing my lips. TJ once again smirked at me, lifting the bags from the cool pavement.

“Your accent is cute,” he commented casually. I raised my eyebrows, watching out of the corner of my eye as Patrik awaited my reply with a smirk.

“Your accent is dumb,” I told him simply. As TJ’s jaw slacked ajar, Patrik’s lips curved into a smile.

“Shut, down,” Patrik mumbled musingly just as headlights came our way. Patrik helped TJ load all of our bags into the trunk while I decided it’d be best if I stood around and acted pretty as I wondered why neither of them had their cars with them.

He climbed into the yellow taxi that pulled up to the curb. I didn’t bother to hide the fact that I was blatantly staring at his ass, but neither did the kid behind me. I was pushed into the taxi with a hard nudge. As I situated in the seat beside Patrik, I turned to glare at the boy who was squishing himself between me and the door of the cab with a smirk.

“Do you think there’s a chance this is Cash Cab?!” I whispered to the boy excitedly, letting my eyes shine as I looked up at the roof of the cab for any indications of blinking game show lights. He laughed beside me while the taller boy on my other side shook his head, a smile stretching across his lips.

“Cash Cab is in New York, not St. Louis,” TJ informed me with a tired laugh. Slightly disappointed, I scrunched my face up and did the best I could to sink in my seat with two large boy’s shoulders and legs pushing up against my body tightly.

Patrik managed out an address to the cabbie before he let out a yawn. Seeing as yawns are highly contagious, one escaped my lips as my head lazily fell against Patrik’s bicep.

While I was falling in and out of consciousness, I tried desperately to figure out how casual and well, not tense Patrik and I were around each other after all that we had been through two years ago. Maybe that is proof that we’re over each other after all. But really, shouldn’t there be at least a bit of awkwardness between us?

I had never felt as tired as I did just then in the cab, leaning up against my ex boyfriend’s shoulder. It felt like jet lag had roundhouse kicked me in the fucking face, Chuck Norris style.

But I actually wasn’t annoyed for once when TJ tapped my shoulder silently and pointed out the window at the gorgeous city lights that were still lit up. The infamous arch stood proudly in the middle of all of the shining orbs, beautifully accented by the stars that floated proudly in the night time sky. It was breath taking.

The taxi came to a complete stop only a few minutes later after speeding through the city streets. While TJ paid the driver and got out to retrieve our luggage, I couldn’t help but to hesitate to wake Patrik.

His cheek was pressed against the cold window with his lips parted lightly at the contact with the unmovable surface. I bit my lip as the smile forced itself upon my lips with no intention to falter. Hearing TJ close the trunk, I sighed, knowing I had to shake him awake.

Patrik let out a boyish groan as his blue eyes fluttered open to look into mine. He gave me a half, sleepy smile before opening the door and practically stumbling out into the cool October night air.

With a small, content smile, I slid out after him, but not without giving the cabbie a weak thank you. I grabbed the only bags that the two men had left for me and followed them up to the front entrance of the typical city apartment building.

In the elevator, all was silent. My eyes were permanently watering due to the yawn that pushed through my lips every few seconds, and I was sure the boys on each side of me were going through the same thing.

The ding finally sounded and the doors opened in front of us and Patrik made his way to walk out while TJ handed me the only bag he held that was mine with a grin. I gave him a thankful smile and clutched onto the heavy bag the best I could.

“I’ll probably see you tomorrow,” he told me, “night!” As I walked backwards, I scrunched my face up in confusion.

“You’re not coming with us?” I asked him, glancing over my shoulder to watch where Patrik was going. Fortunately, he was only a few feet away, jamming his keys into the brass door knob of the nearest door. As I turned back to the boy still in the elevator, he shook his head with a small, amused smile.

“I live in the floor up,” he said with a nod of his head, mentioning up just as the doors started to close. I just gave a confused nod as the doors shut in front of me.

I yawned as I turned back to Patrik just as he pushed the door open and nodded for me to follow him in.

He walked to what I’m assuming is the living room and dropped all of the bags in his arms.

“Just put your bags in here. We’ll deal with that when we’re not zombielike,” he said, rubbing at his tired eyes. I chuckled lightly with a half nod and dropped my bags where I was standing, fighting the urge to rub my arms from all of the strenuous heavy lifting.

Patrik led me down a hall, telling me which rooms were which before we go to the end of the hall where he announced that this would be my room. I gave him a thankful smile, but was thoroughly confused when he didn’t leave like I expected him to.

“Erik is staying at his girlfriend’s tonight, so you’ll meet him tomorrow morning before practice,” he trailed off slightly. I only nodded, falling back onto the bed in the center of the room. My eyes shut the second my head laid on the pillow.

“Night, Toria,” he bid awkwardly, flipping the light off before exiting the room, shutting the door behind him.

So far, Patrik seemed to not have a problem with me being here. That’s a good thing, right?