Sequel: Hidden in the Shadows ›
Status: Completed :) Onto the sequel!!
Playing the Game of Love
Chapter Eighteen
October 21st, 2010
Wednesday
Logan International Airport, Boston, MA
7:23 A.M.
Raina felt strangely calm as she looked at Boston getting smaller out her window. More like it she wasn’t really feeling anything. She tried to tell herself that Milan had just told her that he loved her and that she should be excited. She looked back out the window and was surprised to see no longer the city, but wooded neighborhoods. Her mother sat next to her flipping through a magazine. Raina leaned her head lightly back and closed her eyes. Milan’s face appeared in her mind looking down at her with the pained expression he had on when she was explaining why she had to leave.
Raina awoke to her mother saying
“We’re getting off,” She was surprised that she had fallen asleep for the long flight and the clock now said 4:00. She rubbed her eyes and stretched her arms before getting up and helping her mother get the carry on luggage. Her mother has already called a can and it was waiting for them outside the airport when they walked out. Driving through the city of Los Angeles Raina stared out the window watching the palm trees go by. Raina could tell she already didn’t like LA. The smoggy sky gave it a dirty feeling, and made her think before she inhaled air. Before getting into the extremely wealthy part, the rest of the city seemed extremely dangerous. With the high amount of gang activity that went on it made Raina fell unsafe. Crossing into the Beverly Hills area Raina’s mother seemed to light up.
“I’ve always dreamed of owning a home here.” She said with an overjoyed expression. Beverly Hills seemed like a one of a kind place. It seemed like the only area where you could find so many expensive stores and car dealerships packed into one space. “Maybe I’ll meet Angelina Jolie and we can go shopping.” Raina laughed and said
“I bet we won’t even see one celebrity.” The car drove down a street lined with hotels that looked out over a beach.
“There’s our hotel” said her mother pointing out a large elegant looking building. It was gold making the hotel shine in the sun. At the top in elegant large letters it said ‘Paradise.’
“Mom we’re only staying for two days, couldn’t we of just stayed at a motel?”
“This is one of the best hotels in LA.” The cab pulled into the entrance and Raina got out and looked around. It was very humid and sticky out and she couldn’t wait to get into the air conditioned building. Two hotel employees came from the building and began unloading their luggage from the car. Once everything was out she and her mother went inside. Raina was amazed by the lobby. The ceiling rose high above them and was painted with a picture of angels that looked straight out of the Bible. A large aquarium fish tank was in the middle of the room. She walked over as her mom checked in at the desk. All different kinds of exotic fish and sea creatures populated the tank. She was watching a pink starfish when her mom called her over.
“We’re going up to the room now.” Raina tore her gaze from the tank and walked into the elevator with her and the large cart of luggage. Her mother pulled out a card from her pocket and inserted it into a scanner on the button panel.
“What are you doing?”
“We can’t get up to the top floor without this.”
“You got a penthouse?”
“Ya,” Raina laughed again and said
“We’re only here for two days.”
“So? Whenever we go somewhere your father doesn’t let me rent out the penthouse and now that he’s not coming I can!” The elevator took them up to the 30th floor. The doors opened up to a plain looking room with a large wooden double door across from the elevator. Her mother pulled out a key and unlocked the door. The doors opened up to a wide open living room with huge windows that gave them an amazing view of the ocean. Swirly stairs led up to a hallway where three bedrooms were. To the right of the living room a door led into the kitchen and dining room. Raina smiled when she saw the huge flat screen against the wall. She rolled the cart over the stairs and said
“I’m gonna bring my stuff upstairs.” She pulled her suitcase off the top of the pile and began pulling it up the stairs. She checked all the rooms out and decided which one she wanted. It had an outside balcony, a king sized bed, a TV, and its own bathroom. She threw her bag onto the bed and slid back the glass door. She went out onto the balcony and looked down at the people on the beach. It was still humid out and she only stayed outside for a few minutes before going back inside. She heard her mother call up to her.
“Raina I’m going to walk around and shop. Are you coming?”
“No we just got here.”
“I know but I won’t have a chance to any other time we’re here. We have the campus tour tomorrow, and we’re leaving in the morning the next day.”
“When will you be back?”
“Sometime tonight, hopefully I’ll meet some celebrities.”
“Alright, I’m just gonna hang out here,” she heard the door shut downstairs and instantly felt loneliness begin to set in. she grabbed her purse from the bed and checked her cell phone seeing no calls or texts. She felt scared to cal Jasmiina, not because she thought she was mad but because she wouldn’t know what exactly to say. She wondered what they were doing right now.
“She’s probably going to go off and marry some orange tan Hollister model.” said Milan, “Because all the guys over there are exactly like that.” Milan was pacing back and forth across the Bruin’s locker room. He was in front of Tuukka, Vlad, and Nathan who were all sitting on a bench. Tuukka laughed and said
“Raina would never go for a guy like that.” Milan lifted up his shirt to show his stomach and said
“They all have perfect abs there, do I look like I have perfect abs?!”
“Personally,” said Vlad placing a hand on his chest. “I think you’re damn sexy.” Tuukka laughed and said
“Shut up Vladdy,” He looked back at Milan and said “You’re fine and trust me Raina wouldn’t go for a Hollister model type guy,” Vlad spoke up again and said
“Raina’s partly Italian; she definitely likes Jersey Shore guys. So you shouldn’t GTL all day.”
“I can’t believe you actually just said that,” said Tuukka.
“It’s such a funny show, it’s awesome!”
“I bet you think about Snooki when you jack off at night.”
“Guys can we focus on my problem right now.” Said Milan distressed. The four sat in the Bruin’s locker room. It was two hours before the game and they had all decided to get there early. “I told her I loved her isn’t that what she wanted?” Tuukka said.
“The whole situation with Brittany and you just upset her a lot and she’s trying to get away from it all, Raina’s like that, she tries to cut off anything that’s hurting her without question. She told me she doesn’t want anymore drama with Brittany.” Nathan just shook his head and said
“What a mess you’ve gotten yourself into. What about Brittany now? Are you guys still living together?”
“Ya,”
“Do you still love her?”
“I don’t think so; I’m so confused with all of this.”
“If Raina had told you today at the airport she was staying and she wanted to be with you would you have left Brittany to be with her?” said Nathan.
“Yes,” Vlad laughed and said
“You guys really need to stop being so caught up in all of this girl stuff. Be like me, bang every broad in Beantown!!” Ignoring him Tuukka said
“Just wait and see how everything turns out.” At that moment the locker room began filling up with more players and the four had to start getting ready for their game against the Caps. Milan wondered what Raina was doing.
Raina had just come out of the shower and was getting dressed in her pajamas. It was only 4:00 in California but 7:00 in Boston. Raina couldn’t help herself from turning on the TV and watching the Bruins game. It was going to be hard to live in LA. She was already homesick. She made herself some popcorn and sat down on the couch snuggled up in her Bruin’s blanket. The Garden was absolutely packed tonight, and when the players came out onto the ice the crowd roared with excitement. She saw Milan run out and felt her heart leap in her chest. She laughed when she saw Vlad run out, slip, and fall, nearly tripping Blake who was behind him. Vlad got up and took off down the ice. Raina was not prepared for when the camera cut to Milan’s face and they began talking bout how he was doing in the beginning of the season. Milan didn’t have his helmet on yet and he seemed to be looking up at the big screen. The announcer then went on to talk about his goon reputation and the scares he had collected on his face over the years. Raina loved the one on his nose he had gotten from a fight back in his second season with Bruins. It seemed to Raina women thought Milan was either the sexiest man alive, or he extremely ugly. There was never in between. To Raina his rough face, big nose, and scars made him as handsome as he was and she would have him no other way. Another thing Raina had heard people poke fun at was Milan’s hunched back. Milan had told her how his first fight in hockey was over the fact that the opposing player had made fun of him. Milan had a back condition called Scheuermann’s Disease. Although it didn’t cause him any pain it meant he was born was a curved spine. Some days it seemed worse than others. Raina wasn’t bothered by it all. It was another thing that made him unique that she loved. The game began and Raina cheered from the couch like she would if she was at the rink. Her happy mood began to sour as the Bruins were losing 3 to 0 in the 2nd period. Instead of cheering she found herself yelling angrily at the TV. They really weren’t playing well tonight. They could not keep possession of the puck for more than a few seconds. By the middle of the 3rd period the score was 5 to 1 with the only goal scored by Chara. At least it wouldn’t be a shutout. The game ended and the team left the ice. Raina listened to some of the after game reports and watched the Garden empty out behind the reporters. She jumped in surprise when she felt her phone vibrate under her leg. She pulled it out and saw Jasmiina was calling her. She debated whether or not to answer it and finally decided to.
“Hello,”
“Hey did you just watch the game?”
“Ya,”
“What time is it there?”
“Only 6:30,” there was a long pause before Jasmiina said
“I’m sorry if I came off earlier as trying to stop you from doing what you want or trying to hold you back. I’m just going to miss you so much. I already feel like I don’t see you enough because I have to go back to Finland every summer. I just don’t want to lose you as a best friend.” Raina was smiling listening to her and said
“You’re my best friends Jaz, and I was never mad at you. I’ll miss you too. You can fly out every so often and spend a couple of days with me and I’ll come out to Boston to see you too. It will all work out; I’ll make sure that it does. I just can’t stay and watch Milan and Brittany be together. He wouldn’t break up with her for me,”
“How are you so sure?”
“He already would have.” There was a moment of silence before Raina said “So what’s been going on since I left?”
“Not much, I’m waiting outside for Tuukka,”
“Have you seen Milan?”
“No,” in the background Raina heard a car door open and shut and then Tuukka say
“Who are you on the phone with?”
“Raina,” she heard a shuffling noise and then Tuukka said into the phone,
“Hey Raina, how’s LA?”
“Humid,” she said.
“Do you like it there?”
“It’s alright,”
“So it’s not great it’s just alright?”
“Yup,”
“Good, I want you to stay in Boston,” she smiled and said
“How was the game?”
“It was alright,” he said in a smart ass voice, copying what she had said before.
“So it wasn’t horrible it was just alright?”
“Yup,” he said laughing.
“That’s not what I saw,”
“Oh you hush; it’s just the beginning of the season we’ll improve.”
“You better,” she said. “There’s a game Friday night when I get back.”
“I thought you weren’t coming to any hockey events anymore?”
“Games not practices, and I’m gonna sit in a balcony seat.”
“Suit yourself,” he said. Raina heard Jasmiina say
“Can I have my phone back now?”
“No I’m not done talking to Raina,” Raina heard another loud shuffling noise and then heard Jasmiina say
“I wrestled my phone from him, but it’s about to die anyway so I gotta go.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow after I get out of the campus tour at 3:00, which will be 6:00 for you.”
“Goodnight,” she heard Tuukka also yell goodnight in the background.
“Night,” said Raina. She flicked through channels settling on a National Geographic show about endangered animals. She found herself slowly falling asleep. Jet lag was telling her it was 10:30. Not wanting to fall asleep on the couch she made her upstairs, dragging her Bruins blanket along behind her. Her mom still wasn’t back and Raina knew she wouldn’t be for awhile. She moved her things off of her bed and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. When she came back into the room she noticed the beautiful orange setting sun. She opened the glass sliding door and walked out onto the balcony. The air was no longer sticky and gross. It had cooled down a bit and a war breeze had started up. She leaned against the railing looking out at the oceans dark blue rolling waves wash into shore. Only a few people were left on the beach, walking their dogs, or sitting and watching the sunset like she was. She heard two sea gulls call back and forth to each other as they flew through the sky. She felt at peace for the first time in weeks. After spending another ten minutes watching the sun sink further down she went back inside, closed the shades, and crawled into bed.
__________________________________________________
Thanks everyone for reading!! Please comment and I'll update more.
I'm going to be posting a new chapter every Friday or Saturday night from now on. Maybe a few more during the weekdays if I can fit it in with my school work.
Wednesday
Logan International Airport, Boston, MA
7:23 A.M.
Raina felt strangely calm as she looked at Boston getting smaller out her window. More like it she wasn’t really feeling anything. She tried to tell herself that Milan had just told her that he loved her and that she should be excited. She looked back out the window and was surprised to see no longer the city, but wooded neighborhoods. Her mother sat next to her flipping through a magazine. Raina leaned her head lightly back and closed her eyes. Milan’s face appeared in her mind looking down at her with the pained expression he had on when she was explaining why she had to leave.
Raina awoke to her mother saying
“We’re getting off,” She was surprised that she had fallen asleep for the long flight and the clock now said 4:00. She rubbed her eyes and stretched her arms before getting up and helping her mother get the carry on luggage. Her mother has already called a can and it was waiting for them outside the airport when they walked out. Driving through the city of Los Angeles Raina stared out the window watching the palm trees go by. Raina could tell she already didn’t like LA. The smoggy sky gave it a dirty feeling, and made her think before she inhaled air. Before getting into the extremely wealthy part, the rest of the city seemed extremely dangerous. With the high amount of gang activity that went on it made Raina fell unsafe. Crossing into the Beverly Hills area Raina’s mother seemed to light up.
“I’ve always dreamed of owning a home here.” She said with an overjoyed expression. Beverly Hills seemed like a one of a kind place. It seemed like the only area where you could find so many expensive stores and car dealerships packed into one space. “Maybe I’ll meet Angelina Jolie and we can go shopping.” Raina laughed and said
“I bet we won’t even see one celebrity.” The car drove down a street lined with hotels that looked out over a beach.
“There’s our hotel” said her mother pointing out a large elegant looking building. It was gold making the hotel shine in the sun. At the top in elegant large letters it said ‘Paradise.’
“Mom we’re only staying for two days, couldn’t we of just stayed at a motel?”
“This is one of the best hotels in LA.” The cab pulled into the entrance and Raina got out and looked around. It was very humid and sticky out and she couldn’t wait to get into the air conditioned building. Two hotel employees came from the building and began unloading their luggage from the car. Once everything was out she and her mother went inside. Raina was amazed by the lobby. The ceiling rose high above them and was painted with a picture of angels that looked straight out of the Bible. A large aquarium fish tank was in the middle of the room. She walked over as her mom checked in at the desk. All different kinds of exotic fish and sea creatures populated the tank. She was watching a pink starfish when her mom called her over.
“We’re going up to the room now.” Raina tore her gaze from the tank and walked into the elevator with her and the large cart of luggage. Her mother pulled out a card from her pocket and inserted it into a scanner on the button panel.
“What are you doing?”
“We can’t get up to the top floor without this.”
“You got a penthouse?”
“Ya,” Raina laughed again and said
“We’re only here for two days.”
“So? Whenever we go somewhere your father doesn’t let me rent out the penthouse and now that he’s not coming I can!” The elevator took them up to the 30th floor. The doors opened up to a plain looking room with a large wooden double door across from the elevator. Her mother pulled out a key and unlocked the door. The doors opened up to a wide open living room with huge windows that gave them an amazing view of the ocean. Swirly stairs led up to a hallway where three bedrooms were. To the right of the living room a door led into the kitchen and dining room. Raina smiled when she saw the huge flat screen against the wall. She rolled the cart over the stairs and said
“I’m gonna bring my stuff upstairs.” She pulled her suitcase off the top of the pile and began pulling it up the stairs. She checked all the rooms out and decided which one she wanted. It had an outside balcony, a king sized bed, a TV, and its own bathroom. She threw her bag onto the bed and slid back the glass door. She went out onto the balcony and looked down at the people on the beach. It was still humid out and she only stayed outside for a few minutes before going back inside. She heard her mother call up to her.
“Raina I’m going to walk around and shop. Are you coming?”
“No we just got here.”
“I know but I won’t have a chance to any other time we’re here. We have the campus tour tomorrow, and we’re leaving in the morning the next day.”
“When will you be back?”
“Sometime tonight, hopefully I’ll meet some celebrities.”
“Alright, I’m just gonna hang out here,” she heard the door shut downstairs and instantly felt loneliness begin to set in. she grabbed her purse from the bed and checked her cell phone seeing no calls or texts. She felt scared to cal Jasmiina, not because she thought she was mad but because she wouldn’t know what exactly to say. She wondered what they were doing right now.
“She’s probably going to go off and marry some orange tan Hollister model.” said Milan, “Because all the guys over there are exactly like that.” Milan was pacing back and forth across the Bruin’s locker room. He was in front of Tuukka, Vlad, and Nathan who were all sitting on a bench. Tuukka laughed and said
“Raina would never go for a guy like that.” Milan lifted up his shirt to show his stomach and said
“They all have perfect abs there, do I look like I have perfect abs?!”
“Personally,” said Vlad placing a hand on his chest. “I think you’re damn sexy.” Tuukka laughed and said
“Shut up Vladdy,” He looked back at Milan and said “You’re fine and trust me Raina wouldn’t go for a Hollister model type guy,” Vlad spoke up again and said
“Raina’s partly Italian; she definitely likes Jersey Shore guys. So you shouldn’t GTL all day.”
“I can’t believe you actually just said that,” said Tuukka.
“It’s such a funny show, it’s awesome!”
“I bet you think about Snooki when you jack off at night.”
“Guys can we focus on my problem right now.” Said Milan distressed. The four sat in the Bruin’s locker room. It was two hours before the game and they had all decided to get there early. “I told her I loved her isn’t that what she wanted?” Tuukka said.
“The whole situation with Brittany and you just upset her a lot and she’s trying to get away from it all, Raina’s like that, she tries to cut off anything that’s hurting her without question. She told me she doesn’t want anymore drama with Brittany.” Nathan just shook his head and said
“What a mess you’ve gotten yourself into. What about Brittany now? Are you guys still living together?”
“Ya,”
“Do you still love her?”
“I don’t think so; I’m so confused with all of this.”
“If Raina had told you today at the airport she was staying and she wanted to be with you would you have left Brittany to be with her?” said Nathan.
“Yes,” Vlad laughed and said
“You guys really need to stop being so caught up in all of this girl stuff. Be like me, bang every broad in Beantown!!” Ignoring him Tuukka said
“Just wait and see how everything turns out.” At that moment the locker room began filling up with more players and the four had to start getting ready for their game against the Caps. Milan wondered what Raina was doing.
Raina had just come out of the shower and was getting dressed in her pajamas. It was only 4:00 in California but 7:00 in Boston. Raina couldn’t help herself from turning on the TV and watching the Bruins game. It was going to be hard to live in LA. She was already homesick. She made herself some popcorn and sat down on the couch snuggled up in her Bruin’s blanket. The Garden was absolutely packed tonight, and when the players came out onto the ice the crowd roared with excitement. She saw Milan run out and felt her heart leap in her chest. She laughed when she saw Vlad run out, slip, and fall, nearly tripping Blake who was behind him. Vlad got up and took off down the ice. Raina was not prepared for when the camera cut to Milan’s face and they began talking bout how he was doing in the beginning of the season. Milan didn’t have his helmet on yet and he seemed to be looking up at the big screen. The announcer then went on to talk about his goon reputation and the scares he had collected on his face over the years. Raina loved the one on his nose he had gotten from a fight back in his second season with Bruins. It seemed to Raina women thought Milan was either the sexiest man alive, or he extremely ugly. There was never in between. To Raina his rough face, big nose, and scars made him as handsome as he was and she would have him no other way. Another thing Raina had heard people poke fun at was Milan’s hunched back. Milan had told her how his first fight in hockey was over the fact that the opposing player had made fun of him. Milan had a back condition called Scheuermann’s Disease. Although it didn’t cause him any pain it meant he was born was a curved spine. Some days it seemed worse than others. Raina wasn’t bothered by it all. It was another thing that made him unique that she loved. The game began and Raina cheered from the couch like she would if she was at the rink. Her happy mood began to sour as the Bruins were losing 3 to 0 in the 2nd period. Instead of cheering she found herself yelling angrily at the TV. They really weren’t playing well tonight. They could not keep possession of the puck for more than a few seconds. By the middle of the 3rd period the score was 5 to 1 with the only goal scored by Chara. At least it wouldn’t be a shutout. The game ended and the team left the ice. Raina listened to some of the after game reports and watched the Garden empty out behind the reporters. She jumped in surprise when she felt her phone vibrate under her leg. She pulled it out and saw Jasmiina was calling her. She debated whether or not to answer it and finally decided to.
“Hello,”
“Hey did you just watch the game?”
“Ya,”
“What time is it there?”
“Only 6:30,” there was a long pause before Jasmiina said
“I’m sorry if I came off earlier as trying to stop you from doing what you want or trying to hold you back. I’m just going to miss you so much. I already feel like I don’t see you enough because I have to go back to Finland every summer. I just don’t want to lose you as a best friend.” Raina was smiling listening to her and said
“You’re my best friends Jaz, and I was never mad at you. I’ll miss you too. You can fly out every so often and spend a couple of days with me and I’ll come out to Boston to see you too. It will all work out; I’ll make sure that it does. I just can’t stay and watch Milan and Brittany be together. He wouldn’t break up with her for me,”
“How are you so sure?”
“He already would have.” There was a moment of silence before Raina said “So what’s been going on since I left?”
“Not much, I’m waiting outside for Tuukka,”
“Have you seen Milan?”
“No,” in the background Raina heard a car door open and shut and then Tuukka say
“Who are you on the phone with?”
“Raina,” she heard a shuffling noise and then Tuukka said into the phone,
“Hey Raina, how’s LA?”
“Humid,” she said.
“Do you like it there?”
“It’s alright,”
“So it’s not great it’s just alright?”
“Yup,”
“Good, I want you to stay in Boston,” she smiled and said
“How was the game?”
“It was alright,” he said in a smart ass voice, copying what she had said before.
“So it wasn’t horrible it was just alright?”
“Yup,” he said laughing.
“That’s not what I saw,”
“Oh you hush; it’s just the beginning of the season we’ll improve.”
“You better,” she said. “There’s a game Friday night when I get back.”
“I thought you weren’t coming to any hockey events anymore?”
“Games not practices, and I’m gonna sit in a balcony seat.”
“Suit yourself,” he said. Raina heard Jasmiina say
“Can I have my phone back now?”
“No I’m not done talking to Raina,” Raina heard another loud shuffling noise and then heard Jasmiina say
“I wrestled my phone from him, but it’s about to die anyway so I gotta go.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow after I get out of the campus tour at 3:00, which will be 6:00 for you.”
“Goodnight,” she heard Tuukka also yell goodnight in the background.
“Night,” said Raina. She flicked through channels settling on a National Geographic show about endangered animals. She found herself slowly falling asleep. Jet lag was telling her it was 10:30. Not wanting to fall asleep on the couch she made her upstairs, dragging her Bruins blanket along behind her. Her mom still wasn’t back and Raina knew she wouldn’t be for awhile. She moved her things off of her bed and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. When she came back into the room she noticed the beautiful orange setting sun. She opened the glass sliding door and walked out onto the balcony. The air was no longer sticky and gross. It had cooled down a bit and a war breeze had started up. She leaned against the railing looking out at the oceans dark blue rolling waves wash into shore. Only a few people were left on the beach, walking their dogs, or sitting and watching the sunset like she was. She heard two sea gulls call back and forth to each other as they flew through the sky. She felt at peace for the first time in weeks. After spending another ten minutes watching the sun sink further down she went back inside, closed the shades, and crawled into bed.
__________________________________________________
Thanks everyone for reading!! Please comment and I'll update more.
I'm going to be posting a new chapter every Friday or Saturday night from now on. Maybe a few more during the weekdays if I can fit it in with my school work.