Playing the Game of Love

October 9th, 2010
Saturday
Prague Airport, Prague, Czech Republic
2:03 P.M.

Milan was deeply confused as he hugged Brittany. He felt the deep feelings he had for her. He needed to get his thoughts straight.

''When are we going to your practice?" said Brittany.

”We have to now actually.” He turned around to talk to Raina but saw she had gone and sat down in one of the benches “Raina?'' She looked up at him and said in an irritated voice,

''What?”

“We’re going,” She stood up off the bench and said

"Now we can go tell my dad what went on last night."

”What happened?" Brittany looked up at Milan, expecting an answer. He looked back at her accusing stare. Raina walked ahead of the two on their way back to the parking garage, listening to their conversation. Milan was quickly telling her the story about how they had gotten lost. They got to the car and they were quickly driving towards the arena. Raina sat in the back, not wanting to make the atmosphere uneasy again. When they pulled into the parking lot behind the arena they saw Tuukka and Vlad running over to the car yelling. Milan rolled his window down.

"Where have you guys been?! Everyone’s been so worried!"

"We're fine, the GPS broke on the way to the hotel and we had to stay overnight at a different hotel. Tuukka stuck his head into the car and looked back at her.

"Raina! Come tell your dad you're safe!" Tuukka pulled open her door and yanked her from the car. She laughed and turned back to the car to say

''I'll see you on the ice Looch." Tuukka talked extremely fast as he dragged her along by the arm.

”Your dad was so worried about you, the only reason he didn't send out a search party was because he knew Looch was with you, and nobody in their right mind would attack him." He pulled her into the rink and started yelling again.

"Claude I got her!" Her father came out of a door that led down into the looker room. He smiled when he saw his daughter and came toward her to give her a hug.

"Sorry for scaring you dad, we got lost." Raina began to explain the situation she and Milan had gotten into.

"Where's Milan?"

”Out parking.”

''I wanna thank him.”

“For what?"

''For keeping you safe." Raina rolled her eyes and said

”I was fine I took care of myself."

“Well he's been keeping track of you for the past 4 years ever since he’s come to the team.” Raina remembered back to a time when she was 14 and her father had left Milan to watch her.

Raina sat on the couch in her living room watching a cartoon. It was the weekend and her father and mother had taken a flight into New York to go to a hockey meeting for the day. They'd be home late and didn't want her home alone at night, so they asked Milan to watch her. Raina was having a lazy day and had been watching TV Since she had woken up. She was still in her PJS.

She heard the door downstairs open and knew it was Milan. He walked into the living room a minute later and saw her sitting there.

''Hey, your dad called to tell me not to let you lay around and go outside to get some fresh air, so come on, let's go.''

“I wanna stay here.” She grabbed the clicker off the coffee table and flicked through the channels. Milan knew he wasn't going to get anywhere with the stubborn 14-year-old unless he took action. He went over to the couch, took the clicker from her and shut off the TV.

“Milan!" She whined, getting up off the couch. Milan held the clicker over his head as Raina tried to take it by jumping upwards. ''Give!"

''Nope you have to do something else other than sit around all day." Raina pouted at him and the brought back her fist and punched him in the balls. He yelled and fell backwards onto the floor holding himself. The clicker fell out of his hand and clattered on the ground next to him.

Raina picked it up and returned happily to the couch. Milan still lay on the floor groaning in pain. He stayed there for another few minutes until the pain subsided enough for him to stand up. Pissed off, he went over to her and said

''That's it you're coming with me!" He grabbed her by the waist and flung her over his shoulder. She yelled at him and beat her fists against his back as he carried her away out to the backyard. He threw her into the pool. When she came back to the surface looking at him madly he smiled and said ''That's what you get." He ran back towards the house as she tried to pull herself out of the pool. He ran inside and locked the slider door. He laughed at her as she tried to pull open the door. She realized he locked it and banged on the glass, screaming. He watched her, amused as she stood there dripping wet with her clothes still sticking to her. She stopped banging on the door and knelt down in exhaustion. Next time she looked up at him, he was surprised to see her laughing along with him. She had found humor in the situation. She backed away from the door and
said

”Come on in with me!" She ran back to the pool and jumped in. He pushed open the door and ran after her, jumping into the water next to her. She grabbed onto him and tried to push him under. She climbed onto his shoulders and said

''I want a piggy-back ride." she clung to his wet shirt as he moved slowly around the pool.

"Hey for the Wives Carnival in January will you let me be your wife?" He laughed.

”Why?"

"Because my dad doesn't let me help with setting it up and if I was your wife he couldn't stop me."

"Aren't you a little young looking to pretend to be my wife?"

“I could pass as 16 or 17.''

"Alright I'll talk to your dad."

'”Yay!! Thank you Looch!" She started bouncing up and down excited on his shoulders and he let go of her legs. She dropped backwards into the water with a scream.

Milan walked in a second letter with Brittany hanging off his arm.

"Thanks for making sure she made it back to me safe Lucic.”

''No problem Claude." Raina got in between him and her dad and said

“He wasn't babysitting me! I am a legal adult now."

''You’re eightTEEN." said Milan putting more emphasis on the word teen.

"You were the same age only a few years ago." Her father interrupted and said

”Milan you should go get ready in the locker rooms. Raina are you on the ice today?"

“Ya,”

"Your skates are in the locker room.'' she headed off to the locker room with Milan, happy to get away from Brittany. The minute she walked into the room a fully dressed Blake jumped in front of her and said

"Where have you been?!"

”We got lost,"

''Tell me!" Milan left her to explain and by the time she was done explaining he and the rest of the team were fully dressed. As they were leaving the locker room she got her skates on. They were having a normal practice with the regular drills and exercises. She felt more at home in the rink besides the fact that all the banners hanging off the ceiling were in Czech.
The practice was only an hour and once it was over Raina went back down into the locker room with the team. The instant she walked in the scent of sweat and several different deodorants hit her. She got a glance of Milan’s toned and tanned chest as he pulled on a clean white T-shirt, she sat down on the bench next to him and began untying her skates.

”What are your plans for tonight?” she asked him.

”I think I'm going to take Brittany out for dinner and then walk around the city and see some of the night life with her.” She felt her heart sink and heard him say ''so what are you doing?"

"I'll probably just hang around the guys; I thought I heard Marc say that everyone was going to the night club in the hotel for a party. I'll probably go to that.” Frustrated she pulled at the tight knot on her skate, trying to get it undone. He watched her struggle with it and finally said

”Here let me do it,” He leaned down in front of her and began to carefully undo the knot. She wished he’d get down on one knee and pull out a ring for her. He got the knot undone and took off her skate for her. She felt a sort of like Cinderella except he was taking her shoe off rather than putting it on; and it wasn't made of glass.

"Thanks.” she said, slipping her sneakers on and standing up.

”No Problem,” she grabbed her skates and said

”I'll see you later,” and went back up into the rink leaving Milan alone. She saw Brittany
waiting by the door and ignored her as she walked out. She met up with her father and they headed back to the hotel. They had rented out an entire floor of regular hotel rooms (which had two beds per room unlike the hotel her and Milan had been at.) When Raina first walked in she threw her bag down onto her bed and plopped down next to it. She let out a long sigh.

"Is anything wrong sweetheart?" said her dad who had come in behind her.

''Just a little tired,” she lied, she was really thinking about Milan and Brittany going out to the restaurant together. He would probably come back to the hotel to get dressed into different clothes. She was determined not to see him before she left. She took out the new cell phone that worked in Czech and called Marc. He picked up.

”Hey, where are you?"

”Driving into the hotel parking lot, why?"

''Are you having a party tonight at the hotel night club?"

"Ya Shawn and I were trying to get something together.”

''I'll help, are you guys renting out the night club?”

”Nope, I don't think many people will recognize is in Czech.”

”Alright, when are you guys going down?"

”Probably around eight tonight, most of the guys are going out to eat at this one restaurant with some weird name that Vlad kept trying to make me pronounce,” Raina laughed.

“I'll be there; I don't have anything better to do.”

“It’s a fancy restaurant so wear something really nice. We're leaving around 5:30, that's
when our reservation is."

"K, I’m coming, bye.” When he hung up the phone she went off into the bathroom to get ready. First she and her make-up and then choose a nice light purple dress that came up to her thighs. By the time she was ready it was 5:10.

''Hey dad are you coming out to eat with the team?"

''No, me and the other coaches are eating in the hotel restaurant." She heard a knock on the door and opened it surprised to see Blake in a suit.

”You're coming out too?"

"Ya I came to see if you’re ready,” She went back in and grabbed her purse, and was soon out the door. She and Blake rode down the elevator to the lobby.

”Are we taking several cars?"

”Nope, a couple of limos actually." They walked out into the pick-up area in the parking lot where she saw other players on the team. Blake took her through the crowd to where Tuukka and Vlad were standing. Vlad saw her and said

"Raina we're going in the same limo! We need to take pictures of ourselves making kissy faces and peace signs like teenage girls!" He was talking so excitedly and so fast that he slid right into talking in Czech. A pak musíme sedět vedle sebe u stolu a musí být zcela nepříjemný k Číšníci, protože je to opravdu fantazie místo, a-" (''And then we need to sit next to each other at the table and be totally obnoxious to the Waiters because it's a really fancy place, and-“)

”Vlad I do not understand Czech!" He stopped talking.

”Sorry,” he said.

"So is Looch the only one not coming?” said Tuukka, looking at her.

"Ya, I think so," Said Marc cutting into the conversation. Vlad had grinned and said

”We should go find the restaurant that him and Brittany are at and go up to the window and make faces at them." Raina rolled her eyes at him. Vlad saw her and scoffed

"Right Raina, like you totally love the idea of their relationship." She gave him a dirty look. Several limos pulled down into the road. When the driver came around and opened the door, she was the first to step in. When she sat down in one of the seats she looked up to see Tuukka, Vlad, Blake, David, Marc, and Shawn pushing and shoving each other to get through the door first.

"Geez guys calm down." Soon the seven of them were settled and had given the driver the address.

"There are some pretty hot puck bunnies here but none of them understand me so I've had
no luck,” said Marc sadly. He looked at Vlad and David who were laughing and said,”Lucky bitches you are."

''Did you call Jaz for me; she's coming in tomorrow morning.” said Tuukka to her.

”No, sorry Tuukka I forgot, I'll do it tonight.” He nodded and the car went silent again except for road noise. The silence was abruptly broken when Vlad said obnoxiously,

”I bet Brittany is going down on Looch right now in his car,” Tuukka who gave him a playful shove and said

"Come on man don't give me those kind of mental images!'' The other five roared with laughter. Shawn spoke up and said

"Remember that puckslut named Rebecca who somehow got into the locker room at one of our practices a year or so ago? And how she wanted us all to do her. Which of you silly bastards ended up hooking up with her?" He pointed around the limo accusingly with a wild look on his face. David raised his hand smirking.

"How was she?"

"Want me to go into details?" they all yelled 'ya' excitedly and got in closer to each other. Raina cleared her throat and said

"Um excuse me? I'm still here,"

"So?" said Vlad.

"So, I'd prefer not to hear about some little whore you all had a turn with."

"You'll be ok," said Vlad. She gave him another dirty look.

"Fine, fine, save the story for another time David." They pulled up to a large building that reminded Raina of the state house back in Boston. She stepped out of the limo to breath in the cool Czech air. Vlad had walked alongside her and said

"Let’s get a bowl of croutons from the salad bar and throw them at the waiters."

"'Sure," They went up the granite grand staircase and opened up the thick glass doors. The restaurant was dimly lit. There were several circular tables around a good sized room with royal blue carpeted floors. Marc went up to the hostess and said

”I have a reservation here. I’m Marc Savard." The woman looked blankly at him, obviously not knowing English. Vlad stepped toward and started talking to her in Czech.

"Máme výhrady zde pod jménem Marc Savard.” (”We have a reservation here under the name Marc Savard.") She looked through a list and nodded. She led the team to a room in the back that had a long dining table to seat them all. Vlad had grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to a seat in the center of the table where he sat next to her.

”When they let us get up to go to the salad bar we’ll get the croutons,” he grabbed the menu in front of him and began to read through it. Tuukka sat on the other side of her.

”Do you want me to call Jaz for you now if you want?"

''Alright,” She took out her cell phone from her purse and dialed Jasmiina’s number. She picked up on the 3rd ring.

''Hey Ray! What's up?"

"Just called to see if you're ready for tomorrow.”

”Ya, sort of….”

''I heard you and Tuukka were having problems.”

''What did he tell you!''

"He said a girl wanted his autograph and you thought he was flirting with her.”

”He was! She was wearing a Bruins T-shirt and he kept telling her how good she looked in it, and she flirted back, it was horrible.” Raina was unsure of what to do and said

”Alright, hold on." She covered the mouth piece and turned to Tuukka. ”She's telling me you
kept telling the girl that she looked good in the shirt she was wearing."

”I just told her that I liked her Bruins shirt!"

''Here, YOU take the phone and talk to her, it’s your girlfriend!” Tuukka took it from her hand and stood up from the table.

”I'll be right back,” he walked out to the front of the restaurant. Two waiters came and took their drink orders and they were allowed to go up to the salad bar. Vlad instantly got up and came back a minute later with a large bowl of croutons. He emptied half the bowl onto her plate and said

"These are yours."

”Great,” she said sarcastically. Tuukka came back and handed her the phone. He was beaming at them as he sat down.

”How’d it go?"

”Great we're all good. She finally believed me that I liked the shirt rather than the girl, and we
made up."

”Good," The waiters came back and handed out the drinks. As they walked away Vlad took a handful of croutons and threw them at one of the waitresses as her back was turned. She whipped back around and looking around with a surprised expression. After a few seconds she turned back around and walked off. Vlad grinned and took another handful to throw.
Despite the large amount of people there, the food came in pretty quick. Raina had ordered some seafood Czech dish Vlad had suggested to her, and it was actually pretty good. It was 7:00 by the time they left. They rode the limo back to the hotel. When they pulled up to the entrance she told Marc she'd be down to the club to party in a bit, and she was going up to her room to change.

When she opened the door with the card to her room, she saw her father had not come back yet and she had the room to herself. She quickly changed into a simple gray halter top that came above her belly button, a pair of dark blue flare jeans, and silver high heels. She was determined to not let her mind wander off to thinking about Milan tonight, she was going to go out and have fun with her friends.
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Thanks for reading :)

I'm soooooo sorry I haven't updated in so long. I feel bad and as a surprise I'm going to be posting the first chapter of my Sidney Crosby story sometime towards the end of this week.

Here's the dress Raina wore to the restaurant:
Dress (imagine it purple and without out the lines going across it.)

Here's the outfit she picked out to wear to the night club:

Halter Top
Jeans
High heels