Playing the Game of Love

October 10th, 2010
Sunday
Prague Rink
12:10 P.M.

For the first two shifts, Milan didn't go out. On the third it was his turn. She ran her fingers through her hair in frustration when she saw her predictions were correct. Milan skated up next to the opposing player with the puck and tried to steal it away. The player passed the puck to a teammate and hip checked Milan into the boards. Usually, Milan would stay on his feet, and hit back, but he went down hard onto the ice. When he was falling, Milan’s leg bent forward the wrong way, he yelled out in pain as he fell onto his stomach. He attempted to get back onto his feet but felt an unbelievable amount of pain course through his leg. He fell back down onto the ice. The ref blew his whistle and he felt someone lean down next to him and recognized it as Krejci.

”Are you alright Looch?" He sat up a little and said

"My leg is killing me," The refs came over and helped Milan up. It was clear he wouldn't be able to keep playing. He stumbled on one leg towards the locker room tunnel. Raina watched him hobble on one leg across the ice. She walked off the bench to help him as he came off. She grabbed onto his arm to help support his bad side as the ref and Krejci left to go back on the ice. They didn't talk as they made their way into the locker room. When Milan sat down on the bench he began to remove his gloves, still not speaking to her. She stayed silent as well, trying to think of something to say. He pulled off his gear and got a look at his knee. His knee cap had swelled up like a balloon and was grotesquely bruised. The Bruins doctor would be down soon to take a look at his leg. Meanwhile, Raina knew where the first aid kit was.

"I'll get you an ice pack."

"No it’s fine, you go watch the game, go see Blake play." She felt insulted and said

''Blake and I are just friends." Milan threw his head back and laughed loudly.

''I saw you two in the hallway kissing, don't lie to me."

"He was drunk, I was walking him back to his room to make sure he didn't stay out all night, and he was the one who kissed me."

"That's bullshit." He raised his voice; Raina hated it when he raised his voice, especially at her.

"It’s true! Go ask him if you want. I could never have feelings for Blake, he's just a friend.” The two were silent again and Milan hung his head and then said

"I'm sorry I yelled," she decided to probe further and said

“You’re forgiven, and what's your problem With the idea of me and Blake?"

''I just see Blake out all the time with different girls and I wouldn't want to see you get hurt, that’s all.” The doctor then came into the room and said

“Alright right Milan let me see your leg." The doctor came over and examined Milan’s knee for a few minutes.

"It’s just a very severe bruise and the muscles in the leg are pulled from you falling awkwardly on it." The doctor wrapped an ice pack cover that strapped around his leg giving the entire bruise complete coverage. “Keep this on as much as possible, when it warms up, reheat it in a freezer for 20 minutes or so, we'll talk about tomorrow’s game when I look at it in the morning."

"Thanks doc." The doctor left, leaving Milan and Raina alone again. "I hope I get to play tomorrow."

“So are we all good now?"

"We were never not good." he said smiling up at her.

"Don't think I didn't notice you ignoring me or avoiding me." The two walked back up to the
rink. Milan sat on the bench, watching the game while Raina stood back up with her father. The game went very well, the Bruins won and the ending score was 5-2. Everyone was in a good mood with the Bruins first victory despite the fact the game didn't count towards the real season. Before Tuukka left for the locker room he came up to Raina.

''Could you go pick Jaz up at the airport for me, her flight was late which was why I didn't get her earlier."

''Sure," After saying goodbye to Milan, and asking her dad if she could use his car, she was off to the airport. She arrived she found the gate Jasmiina would be getting off at and saw her plane was still getting into position to unload. Raina decided to go over to Dunkin Donuts and get them a box of munchkins in celebration of the Bruins first win. When she got back to the gate people were beginning to get off. When she saw Jasmiina she waved her over.

“How was your flight?"

"Good, did they win?"

''Yup, 5 to 2. It was a great game, but Milan got injured in the beginning." Jasmiina looked surprised and said

“How’d he get injured?"

''He wasn't focusing on the game."

''Why?" Raina explained what had gone on while they walked back to the parking garage. Jasmiina shoke her head at Raina and said

"You shouldn't keep playing mind games with him; it will turn out bad in the end."

“I’m not playing mind games; I'm just testing how much he actually cares about me."

“I’m just warning you." she said, opening the box of munchkins and taking one out to eat. Raina drove back to the hotel and the two girls were soon on their way back up the elevator. The sound of music grew closer as the elevator went further upward. The two girls looked at each other confused. When the doors opened at their floor the loud music came out clearly. They walked out and saw several of the players out in the hallway, eating pizza, talking, and having fun. They must have started a celebration party for their win against the Coyotes. She smiled as Tuukka came up to them. He kissed Jasmiina and then said

''Come get something to eat, we got pizza." He led them down the hallway and into one of the rooms where a huge amount of pizza boxes were stalked up on a table. Raina took two pieces of cheese and went back out into the hallway. Milan saw her and came over.

''Hey, how do you like the Party? This was Vlad’s, Shawn’s, and my idea.”

“Fun,” She said taking a bite of her pizza.

''After eating some of the guys were thinking about taking it down to the pool."

"How’s your knee?"

"It's fine, I'm playing that game tomorrow no matter what.” she laughed and said

''You're so sure of yourself."

"Because I'm always right, I'm never wrong."

"Of course you are." Raina looked around the hallway and said

''Where's Brittany?"

“She and some of the other girlfriends and wives went down to the pool already."

"I think I’ll head down there myself if that's where all the women are."

''When did hanging out with guys ever bother you?"

''When I met you I realized how clueless men are, there are just never usually any girls around to hang out with.” Milan smiled and said

“The guys will be down soon to take over.'' Raina went and changed into the pink bathing suit she had brought along. When she got down to the pool she saw the majority of the wives and girlfriends sitting around the hot tub. She heard them talking and laughing, and decided to join them. When she walked over she noticed some of the girls look up at her in an unwelcoming way. Two of these girls were Brittany and Tammy Horton. Tammy had just come to the team this year with her husband Nathan. As nice and respectful as her husband was, Tammy hadn't seemed to like her for some reason from the beginning. Raina had done a background check on her to find out where she was from. It turns out Tammy was an ex-porn star. She and Nathan had a son together, Dylan, who was a cute baby. It seemed Brittany and Tammy had gotten close. Feeling uncomfortable, she spotted Tatiana Chara With her baby daughter in the pool along with Rebecca Seidenberg who also had her infant daughter Noah, and five-year-old daughter Story in the pool.

“Hey guys,”

"Hey Raina,” said Rebecca, smiling up at her warmly. Raina slowly lowered into the warm water. Story swam over to Raina in a struggled doggy paddle and said

''Hey Raina look what I can do.” The little girl disappeared under the water and did a backwards flip. She came back to the surface smiling.

''That was awesome Story." said Raina smiling back at the girl.

''Didn't I tell you not to keep going under water," Rebecca said, lightly scolding her daughter.

"Sorry mom,'' she said swimming away again. Rebecca shoke her head and said

"Kids, what are you going to do with them." Raina laughed and said

"I wouldn't know the feeling." Rebecca smiled and said

“Oh you will honey, just you wait.”

"Elliz is only a year and 6 months and I already feel like she's on the move to much." said Tatiana.

''Having kids is a wonderful experience, no matter how out of hand things get." said Rebecca. Raina had always dreamed of having kids. She loved taking care of babies. Raina pushed Elliz back and forth with Tatiana. The little girl sat in her pink turtle floaty, looking around with her wide blue eyes, and splashing her small fists in the water. Raina looked back over at the hot tub to see the girls still chatting amongst themselves. Raina only got along with a handful of the wives and girlfriends. The four she considered her friends were Jasmiina, Rebecca, Tatiana, and Sheena (Johnny Boychuck’s fiancée). The ones she would consider herself unfriendly with were obviously Brittany, and Tammy. The others she wasn't very close to know their personalities enough.

"Hi ladies," Raina looked up at the balcony above the pool area to see Milan, Nathan, David, Vlad, and Tuukka along with Jasmiina. The group came down the stairs. Jasmiina instantly came over to the pool to join Raina. All the guys headed over to the hot tub. Raina watched Milan sit down into the water and put his arm around Brittany. Jasmiina and Raina decided to swim down to the deep end and talk in private.

“Seems like Tammy and Brittany are hitting it off pretty well," said Jasmiina.

“Well they both have something in common, they hate me."

"Sheena heard them talking about you."

''What were they saying?" Sheena had become friends with Tammy and Brittany over the
past few weeks. Sheena was still a friend of Raina’s and was incredibly nice to everyone.

"She said that Brittany was saying you were trying to put a wedge between her and Milan and Tammy said that you always got in the way of everything and you only get special treatment because your Claude’s daughter and you shouldn't hang around and pretend you're important."

"They're gonna band together and try to get people to hate me."

''Relax, everyone else likes you, you're been around here a lot longer than they have. The team loves you; you've been part of the Bruins family since you were a Kid."

"I don't want any more drama." Jasmiina opened her mouth to say something but then her
eyes got wide with fear as she looked up at something behind Raina.

"Look out!" Jasmiina swam away as Raina turned to see Milan jumping in at her. She turned to see Milan swim away but was to late as he landed in the water next to her, sending a huge wave of water over her head. She came back to the surface and began to splash him back. Realizing it was doing no good, she began to beat her fists against his chest. He laughed and without effort, picked her up by the shoulders out of the water. She screamed and wriggled around trying to get away from his grip. She felt exhausted and went limp in his hands.

"You're not strong at all." He dropped her back into the water.

“I can bench press ten pounds,” she said

''I can bench press three of you at the same time.”

“Show off,” Jasmiina swam over to them and said

"You could have landed on one of us and killed us,”

“I wouldn't do that, remember I'm a hockey player, I'm coordinated." Raina rolled her eyes and saw Tammy watching her from the hot tub. Tammy poked Brittany on the shoulder and pointed in their direction. Raina stared back into Brittany’s brown gaze. Instead of being catty and giving each other dirty glares they stared each other down. Refusing to blink, Raina felt her eyes get irritated and dry. She felt as if they would have gone on for an eternity if Milan hadn't sent another wave of water over her.

“Shouldn't you be resting with your knee?"

''It really isn't that bad." She looked down at his knee underneath the water and saw it had grown to the size of a small basketball around the entire joint area. ''It isn't sore at all.”

''Really now?" She grabbed his leg and forced him to float on his back as she pulled it above the water. “You can't tell me this isn't causing you any pain at all.”

''Not at all, I can play tomorrow."

“You have too much hair on your legs,” she said laughing. “What if one day you woke up and all your leg hair was gone and I had shaved it all off during the night? Would you feel de-masculinized?”

"Only if you cut off my balls."

''Ew you're so gross.''

“I know."

"Why are you so immature? When’s your next birthday?"

''You forgot my birthday?" he said in a mock hurt voice.

“How could I? You only remind me a billion times before, June 7th 1988, you're getting old." She saw Brittany and Tammy watching again and said

“Can I have a piggy-back ride, like when I was 14?"

"I don't know, I might be too old for that." Raina laughed

“Just let me up," she swam around him and jumped up onto his back, inching her way up onto his shelf-like shoulders. ''Now go!! Run Forest, run!!!" she yelled, bouncing up and down.

''No,”

'We should do a triple piggy-back ride and put Jaz on my shoulders."

"No, no, not gonna happen," said Jasmiina.

''It'd be fun; I’d be able to hold you."

"Nope, not happening," she said again.

''You're right; Milan’s leg needs rest so he can play the first game of the season and rest the
remaining preseason games."

“I’m playing that game tomorrow no matter what, I just started playing hockey again, and I’m not stopping now."

“We’ll see,” she said. The rest of the night was spent at the pool until the manager came down to shut off the lights. Milan had kept a steady rotation between the pool and hot tub to keep both Raina and Brittany satisfied. Tomorrow's game against the Coyotes again lay heavily on everyone’s minds as they went to sleep that night. The Bruins were determined to have a great season and win the Stanley cup.
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Raina's bathing suit