Playing the Game of Love

October 17th, 2010
Sunday
Caffe Vitoria, North End, Boston, MA
1:03 P.M.

Raina pulled into the parking lot near Caffe Vitoria. She walked down the street and entered the cafe. It had a nice, cozy atmosphere to it. She smelled the delicious cinnamon scent of different drinks, coffees, and food they had their. It was one of Milan’s favorite hang outs and Raina had been there with him several times. At first she couldn't find him as she looked around the room but then she saw him sitting with someone in the far corner of the room. At first she thought it was a fan asking for an autograph but realized it was Brittany. She stopped in her tracks and considered turning around and walking back out the door but Milan saw her and waved her over. She stood there feeling glued to the floor. She found her feet and walked forward. As she grew closer she noticed the open seat across from Brittany. He couldn't expect her to sit there. When she got to the table Milan gestured her to take a seat. She slowly walked over, not looking at Brittany. She could feel her burning gaze on her.
“So why am I here. '' said Raina in a quiet voice looking at him.

"I wanted to have a talk with you two.” Brittany took her eyes off Raina and looked confused at Milan.

"What!?"
“You two are getting ridiculous with your competitiveness over me."
''What competitiveness?" said Brittany crossing her arms over her chest and sticking her nose in the air.
''Don't think I'm not noticing, it started from the day you were introduced to each other."
“Well you can't blame me,” said Brittany, "She's clearly in love with you." Milan looked at Raina who was staring down at her feet. “And I’m gonna fight for what's mine."
“Brittany, Raina’s just a friend." Brittany threw her head back and laughed.

“How can you not see how much she loves you, it’s so fucking obvious!” Raina couldn’t stand listening to her bullshit any longer and said

“I do not want to break you up! If Milan’s happy than I’m happy for him, I won’t deny anything else you’ve said about me but I have no intention of breaking you up ever!” And with that Raina grabbed her purse from the back of her chair and stormed off out of the café. Milan put his face in his hands in frustration. Did Raina just admit she loved him? Never mind that, his chances to connect Brittany and Raina were now completely ruined.

“That little bitch tries to act so fucking innocent.” He looked up at her with anger. Not saying a word to her he got up and walked out of the café. He heard her yelling at him to come back on his way out the door. He stood on the sidewalk for a moment or two, thinking of what to do. He took a deep breath knowing he was going to need some long alone time to sort out his thoughts. His mind kept going back to what Raina had said:

“I won’t deny anything else you’ve said about me.”

Did that mean he really did love him? The fluttering feeling of excitement came into his chest. He needed a bit of teem away from both girls and with someone who he always went to when he was being steered in opposite confusing directions by his family and friends, Zdeno Chara. Zdeno had given him great personal, hockey, and relationship advice in the past. His parents had decided to go on historical tours all day which left him free. He flipped open his phone and called Zdeno. After three rings he picked up.

“Hello?”

“Hey it’s Milan I need your help with something.”

“What is it?”

“It’s about me and Brittany and,” he took a deep breath, “Raina.”

“I figured sooner or later this would come up.”

“Can I come talk to you about it now?”

“Sure, Tatiana took Ella shopping so you can come over now.”

“Alright I’ll be there soon, see you.” Milan hung up and walked back to his car parked on the curb. He had to get this all straightened out, and drove off towards Zdeno’s house.

Raina felt her eye brimming with tears as she drove to Tuukka and Jasmiina’s condo. She parked the car on the side of the road and ran up the cement stairs to the entrance door. She pressed the buzzer to let them know she was there. A few seconds later the door unlocked and she went inside. A white tile staircase led upstairs where she heard Jasmiina’s voice.

“Who is it?”

“Raina,” she called out. She heard the tapping of Jasmiina’s heels and saw her face appear over the railing looking down at her.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s her again,”

“Who is that?” She heard Tuukka call out in the background.

“It’s Raina,” She heard Tuukka run down the stairs and come to the railing next to Jasmiina.

“What’s up?” Raina then burst into tears and they ran down the stairs to see her. Tuukka was freaking out.

“Oh my God was it something I said?!”

“No, no it wasn’t you,” said Jasmiina leading her up their stairs. She sat down on the couch in their living room. Tuukka and Jasmiina took seats on both sides of her.

“What happened?” Raina explained what had gone on in a shaky voice as she held back more tears. After she finished Tuukka said

“You can’t let her bother you anymore.”

“I’m not, I’m just gonna stop talking to Milan.”

“Don’t let her win.”

“This isn’t about winning or losing anymore.” She took a deep breath and said “I know what I have to do, I have to go out west, and go to LA like my mother wants.”

“No, no you can’t!” said Jasmiina.

“Yes I can, and I will, I’ll send out the application and nothing can stop me.”

“Maybe I’ll talk to Looch about-”

“No don’t say anything to him! Please!”

“Alright, but please don’t go to LA over this!”

“I’ll think about it,” said Raina. Her phone vibrated and she read a text from her mother. It said:

‘Where are you? I need help picking out a birthday cake for Katryna.’

Raina had forgotten it was Katryna’s birthday on Wednesday.

“I gotta go guys, my mom wants me,” As she stood up Jasmiina followed her with a concerned look.

“Are you sure you’ll be ok?”

“Ya, I’ll call you later.” She then drove over to the bakery in Lexington to see her mother. She walked into the small shop to find her mother standing at the glass counter looking down at the cakes inside it. Without looking up she somehow knew Raina was there.

“I’m stuck between these two,” she said pointing out two different pink cakes.

“Mom, I’ve been seriously thinking about your college in LA,” she swallowed the lump in her throat and said “I looked at it online and it looks very interesting, can we go visit the campus?” Raina had already decided not to visit BU. Her mother turned to her with a huge grin on her face.

“Yes we can visit! I’m so happy you’ve finally decided to go! You’ll meet so many new people!” She came forward and gave Raina a hug. Raina knew the hug was only because she had told her mother what she had wanted to hear. “We can fly out Wednesday and go tour Thursday and be back to Boston on Friday!” Raina put on a smile and said

“Sounds great!” A half an hour later her mother had settled on a large pink, white and black cake for Katryna and they were on their way home.

As much as she wanted to go Raina voided all the practices and one game. Instead she filled all of her new free time with riding her mother’s horses. She was done with Milan, the Bruins, hockey, and the city of Boston and all the people in it. She wasn;t that nervous about visiting LA and was so much in her own world by Tuesday she had told no one she was going away. She hadn’t seen anyone except for her family every now and then. On Tuesday night, when she was packing she got a three way call from Tuukka, Vlad, and Jasmiina. She answered the phone to an angry Jasmiina yelling.

“WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!?!?”

“Oh um-”

“Ray everyone’s really worried about you,” said Vlad.

“Everyone’s been asking me about you and where you have been.” said Tuukka.

“I’ve been getting ready to go away for a couple of days.” She said trying to sound as innocent as possible.

“Where are young going?!” said Jasmiina.

“To LA, to go on a campus tour for college.”

“YOU CAN’T GO TO LA!!”

“You guys can come see me when you play away game against the LA Kings.”

“Raina stop, you’re being ridiculous,” said Vlad in the most serious tone she’d ever heard him use.

“I’m not, I’m serious about this. Just wanna get out of this city and away from everyone.” All three on the other end of the line were shocked. Raina had always loved Boston, she always talked about how it was her favorite place she’d lived in so far and she hoped to remain there for the rest of her life. Jasmiina heard the new misery in Raina’s voice and without thinking of gentler way to say it she said

“What happened to you?”

“I’m moving on with my life, doing what’s best for me, and not getting caught up in stupid emotional stuff. I’m going to leave behind this city and be independent somewhere far away.”

“But we love you, everyone here loves you, you can’t just leave behind all your relationships and feelings.”

“Yes I can, yes I can,” she said slowly to herself more than them. Everyone fell silent, even Vlad didn’t blurt of a sarcastic line. “I’ll leave behind my identity and recreate myself somewhere else.” Raina saw her clock read 11:30. Her flight was at 7:00 in the morning and she needed to finish packing. “I gotta go guys; I have to finish packing for the trip. I’ll be back Friday night, but I’ve made the decision I’m definitely going.” She waited a minute to see if someone would say goodbye and when no one did she just hung up herself. They’d have to get used to her being far away now. She had made the decision that the only people she would contact back in Boston would be her family, Tuukka, Jasmiina, and Vlad. After all those three had always been her true best friends. Right when she had finished packing her phone vibrated again. She saw it was Milan and ignored the call. He called again a minute later and she ignored it. After two more calls Raina decided to shut off her phone. After getting in bed she lay in the dark thinking about the transformation she was going through. She knew cutting the Bruins and mainly Milan out of her life would be the healthier choice for her.

She slept on and off throughout the night, stricken with nightmares about Milan. When the sun streamed through her bedroom curtains at 5:30 she got up and began to move her luggage downstairs.

Milan got up wide awake at 6:00 after his alarm clock went off. Brittany was still asleep next to him, turned on her side away from him, the way it had been for the past few days. His parents were also still asleep in the next room over. Milan had to be up at 6:00 or he wouldn’t make it in time for 7:00 to see Raina. Tuukka had called him last night and told him everything Raina had said about leaving for LA. His father and Chara were right, he had to go after her. He had pushed his true feelings for her to the back of his mind for over two years now and he needed to confront them. He quickly dressed and had breakfast before driving to the airport. He finally arrived and parked. He ran into the airport and read the sign to see where the LA gate was.

Raina stood next to her mother in a long line of people boarding the plane to LA with them.

“I’ll be right back honey, I’m gonna go to the bathroom before we leave.” Raina’s mother left and Raina stood alone. She felt someone tap her lightly on the shoulder. When she turned around and saw Milan standing there with a desperate look on his face she was shocked.

“Milan?”

“You’re not getting on that plane without listening to what I have to say.”

“You can’t make me listen!” She said crossing her arms.

“I suppose I can’t make you listen, but please just hear what I have to say! Please?” Raina slowly lowered her arms and said

“Alright go ahead.”

“Don’t go to LA, please don’t, life would become unbearable. I want you; no I NEED you to stay. These last few days without seeing you were the worst days of my life. Wondering where you were, what you were doing, it made me feel worse than you will ever know.” He lightly ran his hand across her soft check and then held his hand there. “What I’m saying is…… is……” he took a long pause before letting himself say it. “I’m in love with you, sooooo much, and I’m not gonna stand here and let you walk away from me forever,” She stood there for a moment, letting what he had said sink in. Before she would have been ecstatic and jumped into his arms loudly confessing her live for him but instead she stayed calm and said

“I am in love with you too. I’ve been in love with you for a very long time but I have to leave. You’re with Brittany, not me, that’s the way it’s supposed to stay. It’s not a healthy environment for me here, I have to get away. Go on and have a wonderful life with Brittany or any other lucky girl that comes along.” She moved forward so quickly Milan didn’t have time to realize what she was doing. She pressed her soft lips up against his. The kiss lasted a few second before she pulled away. She then turned away and gave the flight attendant her boarding pass and walked onto the plane from his sight.
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Thanks everyone for reading :) Please, please comment!!

So finally I've got them to confess their love for each other yayyyy lol, the story isn't close to being over yet, I think I'm going to be finishing off at around chapter thirty give or take a few. For anybody who is wondering YES THERE WILL BE A SEQUEL and several other stories about Bruins hockey players that relate to this one and that keep all of the characters the same. So in the end I will probably have one giant series made up of different mini series lol. If you have any questions feel free to message me at any time. :)