Somewhere in Boston

His arms drew tighter around his chest, determined to push the coat closer to his body to keep him warm. The loud crunch of rock salt under his feet made his heavy footsteps even more loud than they were normally. Tuukka's lanky legs brought him closer to the staircase that led to the train tracks above his head.
Boston was unusually quiet and he was glad to be out of the sweaty club and into the cold night air, taking the train back to his apartment.

There was only one other person on the rickety platform and she sat on the only clean bench, tapping her red patent shoes on the wooden boards that acted as a floor. Tuukka knew that he wasn't thinking to his full extent as he crept up to where the woman sat, tugging her leather jacket closed.
"Can I help you?" She looked up at him and her eyes caught him off guard.
"Uh, I'm sor- I'm sorry." He never had an issue with his English like this before.
Her hazel eyes narrowed and she shrugged him off, tugging on her tights. It was then that Tuukka realized that she was extremely underdressed for the cold winter night, her legs were only clad in black pantyhose and she wore a skirt that rode up too high.
His eyebrows furrowed together until she glanced back up at him and said, "Are you going to keep staring, or..?" She then patted a part of the bench that was next to her, clear of snow. Tuukka sat down where she offered and asked, "Aren't you cold?"

The girl shrugged again, a general aura of not caring was present around here. "What's your name, kid?" He couldn't help but watch the way her painted lips moved with fascination. He shook himself out of it, thinking he drank way too much.
"Tuukka, yours?"
She cast a suspicious look at him before replying, "Sapphire. Tuukka isn't a real conventional name. Where are you from?" Pleasant conversation began as she rubbed her thighs, trying to work up some friction to keep her legs warm.
Instinctively, Tuukka pulled his coat off his shoulders and draped it on her lap. He hoped his cardigan would hold up against the cold breeze that whipped through the train station. "I'm from Finland."
Sapphire smiled brightly at Tuukka after he placed the coat on her chilled legs and the smile turned curious when he replied.

"What are you doing all the way out here in Boston, darling?" Her head tilted slightly and Tuukka was hooked.
"I uh, I'm an athlete." He spoke, his breath making the air around his lips fog and curl away from his face.
Sapphire nodded and they began to chat. They didn't really talk about anything important, thought provoking, or revealing. The two sat on the bench, waiting for the train, pleasantly sharing thoughts with each other.

The distant grind of the train surrounded them and she stood, looking down the train tracks.
"Well, this is my train." She said as it pulled up to them, slowing to a stop. A door opened behind her and she gently handed Tuukka his coat back.
"I'll see you around." Sapphire hopped onto the train too quick for him to even reply or ask for her phone number or anything relatively productive.
The silver bullet of public transportation sped off, leaving Tuukka in a cloud of freshly lifted snow. He shrugged his thick coat back on and pulled out his cell phone as he descended the stairs. Tuukka dialed the number for a local cab company he was familiar with and held the phone up to his ear, the smell of Sapphire and the glint of her gold polished fingernails still invading his senses.

Realistically, Tuukka believed could not be seeing that same woman from three months ago standing on the opposite street corner, hugging her leather jacket close to her body.
The signal allowed him to cross the street and the closer he walked to her, he realized that it was her.
"Sapphire?" He asked desperately when he approached her. Her hazel eyes widened in shock and she replied shakily, "Tuukka?"
He smiled brightly and rubbed her arms joyfully. "You must be freezing, let me buy you some coffee!" Tuukka wanted to act as nonchalant as possible but the concept seemed to abandon him. He had been searching Boston every time he stepped outside into the streets for her. Ever since that night, the thought of her was in the front of his mind, constantly probing him- forcing him to go out looking for her.
Sapphire's eyes shifted down the street but he would not take no for an answer.
"I don't really think it's a good-" Her voice was cut off by Tuukka's. "I insist. You're freezing to death out here. Please?"

Her eyebrows furrowed and she looked pained. She gave a slight nod and he smiled, pulling her into the coffee shop behind them. As they sat and Tuukka left to order them something to warm to drink, Sapphire's eyes kept scanning the street outside the building.
He returned with two steaming mugs of coffee and she smiled, but it didn't reach her normally bright eyes. "Thank you."
"Is there something wrong?" He asked, determined to be the perfect gentleman.
Sapphire sighed and looked up at Tuukka. "Look, I'm sure you're amazing and everything but-" for the second time in less than an hour she was interrupted. But this time it was not by Tuukka.

A large Assyrian man entered the coffee shop, looking like the hounds of hell should be on his tail. Sapphire jumped up and started babbling nonsense, "I'm so sorry Emir, I couldn't say no..not a customer..so sorry."
Tuukka pieced together the pieces of the puzzle quickly and stood as the man lumbered closer.
"I swear to god, you little bitch." His voice was too violent to not mean harm so Tuukka stood in front of Sapphire, which he was pretty sure was a fake name. It was all so stereotypical.
"Get out of my way, boy."

Tuukka's eyes narrowed and in order to glare at the man, he had to move his eyes slightly upward.
"No. She came here because I made her. It was my fault." His Finnish accent was starting to get thicker, making him difficult to understand.

The larger man growled his dislike and shoved Tuukka to the side, grabbing for Sapphire. All thought flowed out of the young man's head as he regained his balance and punched the Assyrian in the side of the head, knocking him down. Apparently it was a little known fact that goaltenders possessed amazing upper arm strength. Tuukka silently thanked his teammates for the skills he was taught in fighting. He popped the man in the face a couple more times until he went down, clutching his nose. A quick glance told Tuukka that Sapphire was ready to bolt. He grabbed her arm gently and ran out into the cold night with her. She followed willingly, running with him into to the side streets of Boston. A chilly spring breeze blew through them and Tuukka was glad his apartment was only another block away. He kept looking over his shoulder, expecting the large man to be following them but every look back assured him that he was not coming. They approached a large brick building and he took Sapphire's hand and entered the hallway. His hand shook as he flipped through his keys, finding the one to his apartment door.

When they had the door closed and locked securely behind them, Sapphire was at her wit's end and began to cry. Sliding down the nearest wall, she collapsed into a puddle of tears on the floor.
Tuukka was distressed, "Please don't cry. I didn't want to hit him but he was going to hurt you and..and- I couldn't let that happen, right? I couldn't let him hit you!"
Sapphire shook her head and managed to cut off his guilty train of thought. "No, no, I'm glad you did, Tuukka. Thank you for defending me."
"Well it was my fault, anyway! If I didn't make you come into the coffee shop.." His voice trailed off and he paced the hallway where Sapphire still crouched on the floor. His body language screamed distress and he wasn't feeling so good about being the white knight anymore. Tuukka wasn't worried about the man, he was more concerned with what Sapphire would do now that he ruined everything.

She stood and approached the pacing man, draping her arms around him in a hug. "Thank you, Tuukka."
He loved the way his name sounded when she spoke to him. Her Boston accent wrapped around the letters and sounds perfectly and it made him smile. He was slightly more calm as he wrapped his arms around her.
"No problem." He sighed, pressing his face into her soft brown hair.
"Where'd you learn to fight like that?" She asked him, her voice muffled by his chest.

"I'm an athlete, I told you that much, but I'm a hockey player, so I guess it comes with being teammates with fighters. I'm a goalie."
Sapphire pulled back from the hug, "That's where I recognize you from! The sports channels love you." Tuukka laughed and replied, "About time." She could tell there was a story behind that bitter laugh but she let it go. They both had stories.

"Is Sapphire your real name?" He asked, almost regretting the question. Now that he had learned she was a prostitute, he wanted to know if all the things she told him that late night at the train stop were true.

She shook her head and replied, "Well, it's a hooker thing, you know? My name is Hope, how ironic." Her hand reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out her wallet. Handing him her driver's license, Tuukka scanned it quickly. Her name was in fact, Hope and she was younger than him.
"You're only twenty-one?"
Hope nodded, looking pathetic as she took her license back. "I'm sorry I burdened you and everything."

Tuukka let out a loud chuckle and embraced her in a hug again.
"Hope, I know we barely know each other but my season has already ended, you know, the NHL?"
He could feel her nod and he continued, "Come to Finland with me and start over. We'll be back in Boston before summer is over and you can go to school or something, get a fresh start. You're better than this."
Her shoulders shook and he pulled her away from his chest to look at her face. He knew he was being insane and crazy, but why was she crying so silently?
"What's wrong- you don't have to go if you don't want to. I can promise I won't hurt you or anything like that! People can vouch for me! I have a home in Finland, you'd like it!" He became desperate- why was she crying?

"Oh Tuukka, why are you so sweet to me?" Her words were punctuated with sobs and Tuukka pulled her back in for a strong hug. His toned arms wrapped around her body easily and he hugged her tight.
"Because you deserve another chance at a good life." Tuukka knew that wasn't the only reason he was so sweet to her but right now it would be the only reason he'd say.

"I think.." Her voice was extremely low and muffled so he pulled her away again so he could hear her. Hope's face was tilted downwards, staring at his shoes while she mumbled so Tuukka gently took her chin in his hand and brought it up so they made eye contact. Her beautiful eyes that he loved so much were bright and shiny from the tears but they looked serious.
"Yes?" He prompted her to start again.

"I think I will come with you. Until you get irritated with me, then I'll leave and- I don't know, find something to do here." She looked generally worried that she would bother him in the slightest.

Tuukka knew this was all unreasonable and surreal but he couldn't help what he did next. His lips gently touched hers before he pulled himself away.
"I'm so glad you've decided to come with me." A smile stretched across his face and she looked equally as happy as she pressed her lips against his again and he felt like he was floating. Maybe this could work, as batty as it was, maybe Tuukka could make her happy and they could be together.
"We have seven hours of flight time to learn everything about each other." He assured her as their foreheads touched and they stared into one another.
"I'll be the best seven hours of my life, even if all my friends think this is a stupid idea." She replied, smiling woefully.
"What's a stupid idea?"
"Running away from all my problems in Boston to Finland with a boy I met at a train stop."
"You're not running away from your problems, you're solving them by running away to Finland with a boy you met at a train stop." He smiled at her and it was infectious because she grinned right back.

"Rakastan sinua ja et tiedä sitä vielä." He whispered and Hope looked at him curiously, wanting to know what he had said in his native tongue.
Tuukka just smiled and shook his head, embracing her in another hug, both of them still high off of last minute daft decisions made entirely by instinct.