Behind Enemy Lines

Alyssa.

With one final heave, Alyssa Dean shoved the giant hot pink Juicy Couture duffel bag into the trunk of the car, wondering what the hell her best friend could possibly have packed into that bag that weighed so much. With an exhausted sigh, Alyssa quickly scanned the suitcases and bags and pillows that covered the entire volume of trunk space, mentally going through a check list to make sure that all necessary items were packed and ready to go. Looking at the car packed to the brim with travel goodies, one would think that the two girls were moving cross-country rather than spending two weeks in Canada. However, Alyssa had been friends with Phoebe long enough to understand that her best friend never packed anywhere near on the light side, and had to say that she was rather proud that her friend had done fairly well while packing for this trip. It had only taken minor persuasion on Alyssa’s part to convince Phoebe that although it may be fun to have all-night competitions in their hotel room, carting the entire Band Hero set around with them was not really necessary. Alyssa considered the fact that the PlayStation3 console and all its contents were still at rest on the floor in Phoebe’s basement to be a rather large success.

“Are you ready yet?” Alyssa heard Phoebe call from the driver’s seat in a sing-song voice much higher than should belong to anyone at such an ungodly hour of the morning.

She nodded, although she knew that Phoebe couldn’t see her, before calling out her response. “Yup, we’re all set,” Alyssa assured her friend, scanning the contents of the trunk one final time before slamming the door shut and hurrying around to the passenger’s side. The cold Minnesota air whipped at her face, causing Alyssa to pull her thick North Face parka tighter around her frame as she flung open the door and hopped up into the Jeep Liberty’s heated leather seat.

Alyssa turned to wave out the window at her mother who was watching with a wary eye from the front porch as her only daughter began to pull out of sight. “Bye, mom!” Alyssa called happily as her other’s figure faded from view in the dim glow of the early morning.

“I made us a road mix!” Phoebe exclaimed excitedly as she squinted in the dark, keeping her eyes on the barely lit road as she dug through the center console, finding what she was in search of and tossing her iPod into Alyssa’s lap. “Put it on.”

Fumbling through the playlist with cold hands, Alyssa was finally able to hook the iPod to the jack and pressed ‘play’ on their road tunes. The sweet sounds of Taylor Swift immediately filled the car, and both girls found themselves singing along like it was second nature. Alyssa grinned widely as she looked over at her best friend, who’s long, dark hair was piled into a messy bun on top of her head that was beginning to escape it’s band’s hold as she bobbed her head while singing along to Picture to Burn. Alyssa couldn’t help but feel a rush of excitement as the houses and streets passed by in a blur as Phoebe switched on her left turn signal, merging into the highway and beginning their long trek further and further away from St Cloud, Minnesota.

“So are we staying in the same hotel as Brayden?” Phoebe asked conversationally as she set the Jeep into cruise control, bringing her knees up to rest against the steering wheel as her hands gripped the top of the leather.

Alyssa eyed Phoebe’s position cautiously before answering. She had never been quite comfortable with her best friend’s driving skills – or lack thereof – and the fact that her feet were nowhere near the pedals was making Alyssa a bit uneasy. Shaking the caution out of her head, knowing this was only the start of things to come for the proceeding fortnight, she shook her head slightly in response. “Nope, I guess Team Canada’s hotel is booked full. So we’re staying at one that just down the block or something. We’ll be able to see him plenty,” she assured her friend.

“Well, thank God for that,” Phoebe smirked, sending a knowing wink her friend’s way.

Alyssa laughed lightly, rolling her eyes. Phoebe, boy crazy as she always had been, had always had a tough time taking her hazel eyes off of Alyssa’s hockey playing cousin, Brayden Schenn. Although her mom’s sister’s family didn’t come down to Minnesota often from their home in Canada, whenever they made the trek to visit Alyssa could be certain that Phoebe would be popping by for dinner. When Alyssa’s mother had casually brought up in conversation one day while the two girls were stretched out across the couch in the Dean family basement watching reruns of What I Like About You that Brayden had made Team Canada for the annual World Junior Championships but that unfortunately the Schenn family wasn’t going to be able to attend, leaving Brayden’s family unused tickets and suggesting – or rather, enforcing – that the two girls go in support of Alyssa’s cousin, Phoebe had been all to happy to accept the invitation. Alyssa, who much preferred the older Luke to his brother Brayden, who she believed lacked any fun personality traits, hadn’t been to keen on the idea at first. But if Phoebe couldn’t talk up an idea to make it sound like it would be the greatest time of their lives, than no one could.

The fourteen hour drive from their hometown of St Cloud, Minnesota to the World Junior Hockey Championships in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan had seemed like it would be a breeze when Phoebe had eagerly gone through the details like it was a once in a lifetime adventure, planning everything from the music they would listen to to the food they would eat to the topics they would discuss. To Alyssa, fourteen hours in Phoebe’s red Jeep that was packed full of a year’s worth of suitcases and smelled faintly of her new golden retriever puppy was more than any sane human being could handle. But although at first the trip hadn’t held much of an interest to her, by now her friend’s excitement had begun to wear off on her. Even though most of her family was from and still lived there, it had been many years since Alyssa had been back to Canada and she was itching to stretch her legs around the streets and to watch some hockey.

Alyssa wasn’t a die-hard hockey fan, but having so many relatives that were Canadian she had grown up surrounded by the sport. Her cousin Luke, Brayden’s brother, had fairly recently signed a professional contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and whenever the Leafs were in Minnesota to play the Wild or in a city nearby enough to go and watch, Alyssa and Phoebe would always go to see him play. Hockey games were one of the many rather out of the ordinary things the two best friends did together, and now that Phoebe was away at St Cloud State for her freshman year of college, their game viewings were becoming more and more limited. Alyssa planned on going somewhere a bit further away for college after she graduated high school in the coming June, and she was grateful that she had this adventure to share with her lifelong best friend while they still had the chance. What else better to do on your winter break than road trip to Canada to watch a cousin you didn’t particularly enjoy play in a hockey tournament?

Alyssa had barely noticed that Phoebe had gotten off at an exit, pulling off of the highway and into the parking lot at a McDonalds. She smirked at the troubled look on Phoebe’s face as she could see her friend battling internally, trying to decide whether her hunger outweighed her hatred for McDonalds and fast food in general. Watching, amused, as she could see the decision being made as Phoebe put the car into park and twisted the keys out of the ignition before grabbing her wallet out of the side pocket of the door.

“Where are we?” Alyssa asked as she took in the surroundings of the outdoors before catching the glass door as Phoebe stepped inside, not bothering to hold it open.
Phoebe shrugged, digging through her wallet for her credit card as Alyssa chuckled at her friend’s ignorance towards any kind of direction. “Canada?” Phoebe guessed with a smile, stepping forward towards the high school dropout at the register and placing her order of “Whatever you’ve got on your menu that won’t cause me three blocked arteries.”

Rolling her eyes at her friend, but knowing that Phoebe’s hatred of fast food could only be blamed on her health nut mother, Alyssa stepped forward to order her traditional McDonald’s usual of a McNugget Happy Meal and medium fountain soda, which she proceeded to fill with her drug of choice: root beer. Settling down in the booth next to Phoebe, who was happily munching away at her fruit and walnut salad and yogurt parfait while typing out a quick text, Alyssa couldn’t help but ask her friend if she thought this trip was actually going to be something they’d enjoy. It was, after all, nothing but a hockey tournament.

Phoebe raised her eyebrows as she twirled the yogurt spoon around in her mouth before letting out an airy chuckle. “Aly, it’s Christmas Day and we’ve already driven twelve hours from Minnesota to God-knows-where, Canada,” she laughed. “I don’t know about you, but I’d say it’s already a fun story, at any rate.”

Alyssa laughed lightly, shaking her head as she muttered her agreement. The tournament was to start the following day, December 26th, but in order to get there on time it had been necessary to spend nearly all of Christmas Day in the car. Being Jewish – okay, half Jewish – it didn’t really matter much to Alyssa, but she had wrongly assumed that Phoebe would be more eager to spend the holiday with her family. After nearly eighteen years of knowing Phoebe, Alyssa guessed that she should have just assumed that her extremely non-religious friend really just looked forward to Christmas for the presents, and when her mom had given her the okay to open them all on Christmas Eve instead, Phoebe had been dead set in favor of the Christmas Day road trip to Saskatooon.

“Do you want me to drive?” Alyssa asked as the two exited McDonalds, about two hours south of their destination. She could tell that Phoebe’s attention span was near it’s end point, and to be perfectly honest Alyssa really couldn’t think of anything more dangerous than Phoebe driving spastically through unfamiliar territory.

Phoebe nodded enthusiastically, tossing the keys to the Jeep through the air so Alyssa could catch them, all of the obnoxious key chains clanging off the key ring as she did so. “Be my guest,” she offered. “I’ll DJ.”

One hundred and thirty five miles, one pit stop, and a never ending playlist of Britney Spears – the friends’ greatest guilty pleasure – later, Alyssa pulled the Jeep up in front of a nice, modern looking hotel. Breathing a sigh of relief as she hopped out of the driver’s seat, handing the keys to a smiling valet, she whirled around to find Phoebe, who was instructing a bellhop to bring the wide assortment of suitcases and duffels up to their room. Alyssa pitied the man, who even with the trolley cart was probably going to have to make multiple trips, but was in too good of spirits that they had actually made it to Saskatoon in one piece to really pay him much mind. Smiling at the man, she scurried off after Phoebe, who had set off at a rapid pace towards the front desk to check in.

“There you are, Ms Marks, enjoy your stay,” the smiling lady at the front desk bid us a good evening as Phoebe and I raced towards the elevator, taking notice of the cute, curly haired blonde boy who made eyes at Phoebe as the girl reached the lift first. Alyssa raised her eyebrows at her friend, who mouthed a 'he's cute!' with a nod towards the retreating boy's back.

“I can’t believe we’re actually here!” Phoebe squealed as the elevator doors opened, stepping inside the confinements and reaching up and pulling out the tie holding her long hair on top of her head, letting it cascade down her shoulders before gathering it up into a thick ponytail once more. “To be honest I was pretty positive that we would get lost.”

Alyssa nodded her agreement, thanking God above that they actually had made it here in one piece. She had already sent a quick text to her mother, letting her know that she as indeed alive and fully intact – Alyssa wasn’t the only one in the family who questioned Phoebe’s driving abilities. After getting pulled over for going one hundred and eight miles an hour soon after getting her license, half the city of St Cloud feared for their lives while on the road with her. “Should I text Brayden and tell him we’re here, or do you want that honor?”

To Alyssa’s surprise, Phoebe shrugged, stepping off of the elevator when it reached the tenth floor and waiting for Alyssa to follow suit. When they stepped into stride beside each other, Phoebe responded. “Go for it. I just need to unpack. Do you think Brayden has cute teammates?”

“I would assume so,” Alyssa mused as she slid the key that Phoebe had handed her into the lock and pushed open the door. “Welcome home!” she grinned as they stepped into the sunlit room, the curtains pulled back on the large window on the far side of the hotel room to reveal a light snow falling outside.

Stepping into the room and letting herself collapse against one of the two extra soft queen sized beds that took up residence in the rather spacious room, Alyssa let a wide smile escape her lips. She was alone for the next two weeks in a brand new place with her very best friend. Who knew what was in store? There was one thing that Alyssa was absolutely sure of – even if they were here for yet another of her cousin’s hockey tournaments, she knew that between she and Phoebe, they could make sure the next two weeks were anything but typical.