Playing the Game of Love

October 6th, 2010
Wednesday
Brenton Boston Luxury Apartments, Beacon St., Boston, MA
4:50 A.M.

Both Milan and Raina were in total shock. Raina was the first to speak up.

“Oh um hey, this is totally not what it looks like, trust me,” Brittany raised her voice and said

“Alright then, tell what IT is?” Milan climbed off of Raina and stood up. He was the next to speak.

“Brittany we were just fooling around, she came over to watch a movie, it got late and I asked her to stay overnight because she was to tired to drive home.”

“Bullshit,” Brittany then charged at Raina who had gotten off the bed and was standing behind Milan. Before Brittany could jump on Raina, Milan grabbed her and held her back. To Raina’s surprise he pulled Brittany into a tight hug. She stopped struggling and went limp in his arms. She heard Milan speak softly to her.

“I would never cheat on you, you should know that. I could never feel the same romantic love for anyone else as much as I do for you.” Raina felt a wave of hurt crash down on her. She saw Brittany move her face over Milan’s shoulder. She smirked at Raina and then buried her face back into his shoulder. Raina tried to hold back a sob.

Suddenly there was a loud commotion downstairs and they heard someone running hurriedly up the stairs.

“RAINA IT’S TUUKKA, DON’T DO IT!! DON’T HAVE SEX WITH LUCIC!! HE’S NOT WORTH LOSING YOUR VIRGINITY TO!!”

Tuukka ran into the room with a wild look in his eyes. He froze when he saw a hugging Brittany and Milan and an upset looking Raina.

“Oh shit this isn’t good,” he turned to Raina. “I’m here to take you home,” she nodded. Milan and Brittany broke up and seeming a little upset himself, Milan had his head down and without looking at her said

“See you tomorrow at practice.”

“Ya see you," she said in a fake happy voice. Brittany watched her go with a victorious look on her face. Tuukka and Raina didn’t say a word to each other on their way out. Only when they had both gotten into the car and shut the doors did he explode on her.

“What happened?!” Raina sighed and then began to explain everything.

“Sounds like if Brittany hadn’t of walked in he would’ve been trying to take your clothes off, I saw how Brittany looked at you when you were leaving, now I believe she hates you and you’re not just being paranoid.” It was 5:00 and Raina could see the rising sun when they left the parking garage. She groaned in annoyance,

“Great now I’m going to have to run all day on no sleep. I have a practice at 2, and I have to baby sit till 11, then I’m up at 2:00 tomorrow morning to leave for Czech. I’m going to be in such a bitchy mood.” He laughed and said

“So is Jasmiina, we were up until 3:00 doing some stuff…..” he said sounding like he had regretted saying anything. Raina smiled

“So you were yelling at me not to screw Milan while you in fact had just finished up having sex with your own girlfriend.” His entire face went red with embarrassment.

“When I was on the phone with you she kept telling me to go back to sleep. I think she’s pretty pissed at me for keeping her up.” They pulled into her driveway and she hopped out.

“I’ll see you at practice. I hope Jasmiina doesn’t beat you up to bad.” He laughed and said

“Alright see you,” she shut the car door and walked into her house. She was shocked to see Katryna and two of her friends going into the dining room.

“Wow I rarely see you here anymore,” Katryna turned around and narrowed her eyes at Raina. Her two friends stood next to her like bodyguards.

“Where have you been, whoring yourself off to more of those hockey players you hang out with?”

“Nope, just actually spending my life in a good way, unlike you,”

“Whatever, you just wish you were as fabulous as me,” and then she turned away with her two friends and walked off into the dining room. Raina laughed to herself at her sister’s last comment and went upstairs to see that her parents were not awake yet. She walked up to her own room, shut the shades to block out the morning sun and climbed into bed, making sure to set her alarm for 1:00. Going to sleep was like escapism for her, if she was ever in a serious problem she could always walk upstairs and go to sleep, and forget about the whole thing.

When she woke up around 1:00, it took Raina about a half hour to get out of bed, so she had to quickly get dressed and leave. She felt groggy and still extremely tired. She came in just in time to see the team coming out onto the ice. She walked over to her dad who took one look at her and said

“Honey you look sick, what happened?”

“I was up all night at Looch’s watching movies, and I’m still dead tired.”

“You don’t have to help out on the ice today, go rest in the bleachers,” as much as Raina liked helping out she was glad she was off the hook. She saw Jasmiina sitting at the top of the bleachers, and Brittany at the bottom. She thought she’d be able to get past Brittany without speaking to her but she was wrong. Brittany stood up to face her.

“I know what you were trying to do this morning, and you won’t win. You heard what he said to me. He’d never cheat on me especially with you.” Raina was so exhausted the fight had gone right out of her.

“Look I really don’t have time for this, I’m on very little sleep so if you will excuse me,” Raina tried to continue going up the bleacher stairs but Brittany blocked her way.

“No, you just don’t want to face the fact that you lost to me, and if we were in a situation where he could only save one of us you know it’d be me.” Raina felt angry and annoyed.

“Get the FUCK out of my face and out of my way,” but Brittany still blocked the way.

“What? Can’t face the reality you two will never ever be a couple, and that he could never love you like he loves me?” All of the sudden there was a loud bang from behind them. Raina jumped and turned around. Vlad had purposely thrown a puck into the boards near where they were standing to break up the fight. She waved and smile appreciatively at him as he watched her from out on the ice. She shoved past Brittany who was still in shock from the unexpected noise. Raina walked up to Jasmiina.

“Hey Tuukka told me what happened,” She nodded, to tired to really start a conversation about it.

“I’m gonna go back to sleep,” she said laying down next to Jasmiina.

“Lucky, I got no sleep either except I can’t just go to sleep like you can, it has to be dark and I have to be in a bed.” Raina didn’t answer and just rested her head on her hands and closed her eyes. She drifted off into a half sleep. She could still hear her father ordering out directions to the players, and their skates moving over the ice.

An hour later she felt Jasmiina trying to shake her awake.

“Hey Ray practice is over, we’re leaving, get up.” Raina sat up and rubbed her eyes and looked around the rink it was empty except for a few players by the door getting ready to leave. She walked down the bleachers and out the door to see everybody getting into their cars. She walked over to Milan’s car. He was already in it with the engine running. She ignored Brittany sitting in the passenger seat and said

“I’ll see you tonight at 2:30 for the flight.”

“Technically it will be tomorrow,” said Milan smiling at her. She rolled her eyes and said

“See you then smart ass,” she backed away from the car and went to find her own after waving goodbye to Jasmiina. She had a couple hours before she had to go and baby-sit Doug’s kids and decided to use the time to pack.

When Raina pulled into the garage she only saw her father’s car there. Katryna and her mother weren’t coming to Prague, and her mom was probably out shopping for food. The team got a private plane complete with a bar in the middle of the aisle, waitresses, first class food, wide screen TVs, a good bathroom with a shower and a toilet, and tables in between the seats. The plan had two rooms. The one up front closest to the pilot room was where her father, the other coaches and staff would be staying. The other room, towards the back of the plane, was where all the players would be. She was allowed to stay in either room because her dad was the head coach. Usually all that went on in the staff room was boring talk so she stayed with the players.

They were only going to be in Prague for three days so she didn’t need to pack much. She pulled out her rolling suitcase from the closet and opened it on her bed. She packed four outfits, her pajamas, slippers, two different pairs of shoes, and all of her make-up and toiletries. She’d pack up her laptop tomorrow before they left. Raina looked at the clock, when she was done it was still only 4:00. With nothing better to do she figured she’d go and work out some of the horses. Her mother probably hadn’t had time to do it today, and the least she could do was ride one or two of the around the ring for a few hours.

She kept on the jeans she was wearing and just stuck her hair up into a low ponytail so it would fit in the helmet. It had started lightly raining, it gave the air a very damp, cold feeling, and the sky was completely gray, but that wasn’t going to stop her. She left the yard and walked up to the barn entrance. She pushed open the sliding wood door and was greeted by a soft nickering from one of the three horses. She decided to take Stunner, her mother’s most high strung and energized horse out to ride around the ring. She tacked the horse up, and then led it outside. She choose to ride in the ring closest to the barn.

Leading the horse to the center of the ring she easily mounted without needing a mounting block or help. She started the horse out in a walk but then picked up the pace to a steady trot. Raina wasn’t so focused on the horses rhythm, all she could think about was the plane ride. Would Brittany be with the players? Usually no extra people were allowed to fly with them, even a close girlfriend. Occasionally they’d allow wives but most of the time anybody else wishing to go had to go on a normal flight. Not even Jasmiina would be along for the flight. She tried to convince her dad every year to allow Jaz to come but the rules were strict due to the limited seats and space in the plane.

She moved the horse up into a canter, having to concentrate more on the horse’s movements now so she didn’t fall off. She pushed the thoughts of Brittany to the back of her mind. After an hour of trotting and cantering around she slowed the horse to a walk again to cool down before she returned it to the stall. She brought another horse and rode around again for another hour before the rain started to heavily fall, and she could hear thunder rolling in the distance. She gave all three of the horses a good grooming and fed them before leaving to go back up to the house. She took a shower to get the smell of horse off of her and then got dressed in a pair of loose jeans and a gray sweater. She still felt exhausted but knew she’d be up until around 11:30 or so by the time she got back from Doug’s house. She wasn’t a fan of carbonated drinks nevermind the giant energy drinks. But deciding she needed some source of energy she went into the fridge and found one of her sister’s Monster drinks. She drank about half of a can and hoped it’d be enough for the next three or four hours.

As she was getting her things together to leave her mother walked in with an armful of grocery bags.

“Hey, I worked out Stunner and Tango for you, I never got to Silver, it started to pour, we should get an indoor ring.” Her mother nodded her head as she set her things down on the table.

“Are you off to baby-sit?”

“Yup,”

“Don’t fall asleep at the wheel on your way over there, you looked exhausted.”

“Ya, don’t worry, I won’t. I’ll see you later.” She grabbed her keys off the counter and headed downstairs. Raina pulled her hood over her head as she left the house. It was still pouring and the thunderstorm had taken full force. She jumped when a bolt of lightning flashed through the sky, as she ran towards the garage.

She started her car and backed out of the garage. The Houda’s lived in Winchester which was only a town over.

The Houda’s also lived in a rather big house, and when she pulled into the driveway she saw that Doug had put on the bright spotlight that shown over the front of the house for her.
She ran inside, trying not to get to wet. When she walked through the front door she saw Doug and Shelley waiting. After telling them to have a good time and gotten the directions from Shelley on what time she wanted the kids in bed, they left. Raina walked down the hallway into the family room. Shelly and her siblings all sat in their pajamas on the couch watching a movie on the flat screen.

“Hey you guys,” she said setting her purse down on the kitchen table. Shelly hopped off the couch and ran over to her and hugged her leg.

“Come watch the movie with us!!” the little girl grabbed her by the hand and led her into the living room.

“What are you guys watching?”

“High School Musical!!” Squealed Shelly excitedly. Raina hated High School Musical, she saw it once when it had first come out and she had promised herself she’d never watch such a horrible movie ever again, but now she had no choice.

“You had to choose this stupid movie.” Said Toni, clearly annoyed. “I wanted to watch Pirates of the Caribbean.” Shelly just pouted at her older sister and handed Raina the disc for her to put in the DVD player. She wished she hadn’t had the energy drink so she could fall asleep during the movie.

Once she had put it in she returned back to the couch to sit next to Shelly who was bouncing in her seat excitedly. Raina sat through the first half of the movie without having to puke or make a comment about how fake of an actress Ashley Tisdale was. She went into the kitchen to make the kids and herself some ice cream and then was forced to finish watching the movie. The movie finally ended and Shelly had a starry eyed look.

“Zac Efron is sooo hot,” Raina nearly choked with laughter as she was swallowing the last of her vanilla ice cream.

“You’re only six,”

“I still am going to marry him someday, and we’ll fall in love like Troy and Gabriella and live happily ever after.” Thinking about the miserable situation she was currently in with Milan she wanted to tell the little girl that love wasn’t so easy and it never worked out how you wanted it to but refrained from it and instead said

“I think it’s your bedtime missy.”

“But I don’t want to go to bed.” Shelly whined, Raina smiled at her. She would give anything to go to sleep at the time and wished she could switch places with her.

“But you have to so you can grow big and marry Zac Efron someday.” The little girl giggled and said

“Alright I’ll go,” Toni and Kris were allowed to stay up for another half hour, until 10:00. After she’d made sure Shelly had brushed her teeth she tucked her into bed.

“Can I ask you something Raina?” said Shelly looking up at her from her pillow.

“Sure,”

“Do you love someone?” Raina froze as she straightened Shelly’s pink Disney princess covers. She tried to think of an answer.

“Not yet,” ‘Such a lie’ she thought to herself.

“Why?”

“I haven’t found a person to love yet,” Shelly nodded her head tiredly and didn’t ask anything else to Raina’s relief.

“Goodnight Shelly,” said Raina flicking off her bedroom lights.

“Night,” she kept Shelly’s door cracked and then walked back downstairs to find Toni and Kris still on the couch.

“Can we play some video games before we go to bed?” said Kris.

“Sure, I’ll be in the kitchen.” Raina sat down at the kitchen table and pulled out her cell phone to see that nobody had texted her. Deciding she’d text Milan, she opened her phone and began to type.

Hey, is Brittany coming on the plane tomorrow?

She knew that Milan knew something was going on between the two girls. There was no hiding it anymore; it was obvious they disliked each other. Her phone vibrated to show that she had a new text.

No, she’s not allowed to. What are you up to?

She smiled to herself and then texted back.

Babysitting for Doug, I leave at 11:00.

He seemed to answer almost immediately.

Have fun, I’m going to bed, I’ll see you in a few hours.

Lucky you, Goodnight.

She didn’t expect him to answer, and was surprised when she heard her phone vibrate again. She opened it to see a text from him.

Goodnight, sweet dreams :)

She felt her heart warm up. He never had texted her anything like that before. Maybe he really did like her, or was he leading her on?

She tried to text Tuukka and Jasmiina but neither answered and she figured they’d already gone to bed. Not even bothering to try and text Vlad she rested her forehead against the table’s surface, feeling the energy drink losing its effect. She should have drunk the whole thing.

At 10:00 she put Toni and Kris to bed. The house was silent, and the storm had slowed down outside. The only thing that could be heard was the refrigerator running. She shut off the TV and lay down on the couch. She set herself an alarm for 10:50 on her cell phone and then let herself fall asleep, sinking into the cushions on the couch.

When her high pitched ringtone started blaring in her ear to signal her it was time to wake up she felt slightly confused to where she was. She accidentally rolled over and fell off onto the rugged floor. Sitting up and looking around she remembered that she was in Doug’s house. Her eyes and head hurt and she had a hard time getting to her feet.

Getting her things together, she stood by the front door waiting for Doug and Shelley to come home. When she saw them pull into the driveway she opened the door to meet them down the walkway.

“How was the restaurant and movie?” said Raina.

“It was wonderful, thanks for watching them. Did they give you any trouble?”

“Nope, they’re all asleep.”

“That’s good, here have this.” Shelley reached into her purse and pulled out twenty-five dollars.

“You don’t have to pay me; I’ve known you guys long enough.”

“No it’s ok; you took your time to watch them.” Raina smiled at Shelley and said

“Thanks,” she took the money and then turned to Doug.

“I’ll see you later on.” He nodded at her and she walked down to her car in the driveway.

Nobody seemed to be on the road this late at night, and it gave Raina a creepy feeling. Every once in awhile she’d see a car driving behind her and the thoughts of being followed entered her head. But the car would turn off onto another road making her feel safer.

She finally pulled into her own driveway, seeing that the lights in her house were all out. Her parents had probably already gone to bed. It seemed like the entire world was asleep and she was the only one still up. it gave her a lonely feeling. She pulled her car into the garage and shut it off. She sat in the darkness and silence for a minute and then got out.

She quietly shut the front door in the case anyone was awake when she walked in. She walked up the stairs and peeked into her parent’s room seeing them both asleep. She walked up to her room, dropped her purse on her desk, and climbed into bed without even bothering to change. She almost instantly fell asleep when her head hit the pillow and she had pulled the covers over herself. She had the next two hours to sleep before she would have to be up and getting ready to leave.
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Thanks to everyone reading my story!!

I'll be going away on vacation again from July 23rd to August 1st so I probably won't be able to fit in another update this week because I'm going to be extremely busy. Like before I'll be writing more chapters while I'm away and updating the day I get back.

Also for anyone who's interested I do post journal entries every few weeks or so to keep you filled on future plans, what's going on in my life that might keep me from writing regularly, etc. Here's my most recent one.

Here's a birds eye view of Doug's house.