Open Your Eyes

Aimee hated it when Marian or Alyssa would slyly make her and Tomas sit or do things together. She had to sit in the back seat with him when Alyssa shouted “shot gun” upon realizing Marian was driving, and now she had to sit next to him at the restaurant as well because Lyss had pulled Marian into her side of the booth before Aimee could slide in next to her.

The older woman glared at her friend as she sat across from her, Tomas sliding in to the booth and trapping her between his body and the wall. The waitress set down their menus and told them she’d be back in a few minutes, leaving the quartet in a comfortable silence as they decided what to eat.

The small Mexican restaurant was quaint, but it had a reputation for having some of the best food around. Aimee originally hadn’t wanted to come along, seeing as this was a celebration of sorts of the other three’s birthdays, but Alyssa had somehow conned her into it.

“I don’t know what any of this is,” Tomas muttered, squinting at the menu as if it would somehow translate itself. “What’s a pole-o?” Aimee furrowed her eyebrows and looked over at him, causing Tomas to point to what he was talking about. She saw his finger by the word pollo.

“Poy-oh, not pole-o,” Aimee corrected, turning back to her own menu. “It’s Spanish for chicken.”

“What’s this?” Tomas pointed again, turning to look at Aimee’s mouth so he could watch her pronounce the words.

“Borrego. It’s lamb.” Aimee was able to read one word of her own menu before Tomas spoke again.

“And this?”

“That section is mariscos, which means seafood. So, camarones is shrimp, pescado is fish-”

“What’s this?” He interrupted, pointing at a picture of food.

Aimee glared at him, noting that he was all over the place on the menu. “You can’t seriously tell me you’ve never eaten Mexican food before.”

“Yeah I’ve eaten it, but I’ve never ordered it. I just eat whatever is put in front of me,” he shrugged. “What’s a…hu-ah-chin-gano?” Tomas had butchered the word so bad that Aimee had no choice but to have it pointed out to her, and this time was no different. She read over the word, huachinango, which was unfamiliar even to her.

“Wa-chin-ango,” she corrected to the best of her ability.

“Fine, but what is it?”

“No idea,” she told him truthfully.

“What do you mean? Isn’t this like, your people’s food?”

Aimee frowned at him, utterly confused. “What?” Marian and Alyssa just watched the scene in front of him over the top of their menus.

“We’re in a Mexican restaurant,” Tomas started. “You’re Mexican.”

Alyssa bit her tongue to keep from smiling, because she knew this was one of Aimee’s pet peeves. People assumed she was Hispanic all the time, but she wasn’t. Actually, people assumed she was a lot of things. Hispanic, Italian, Hawaiian, etc. Over the years she had grown accustomed to it, but it didn’t mean it didn’t bother her.

“I’m not, actually,” Aimee droned boredly, resuming her search of her menu.

“But…those words. You knew how to say them and what they meant,” Tomas reasoned.

“It’s called knowing another language, Tomas. I studied Spanish in school. End of story.”

“Well then, what are you?”

“A Martian,” the raven haired woman retorted.

“Aimee,” Alyssa scolded lightly, a smile still playing at her lips.

“I’m Filipino, Tomas,” Aimee sighed. “Well, half anyways. You’re not the only one to not know how to racially categorize me.”

Once Tomas caught up with Aimee’s complicated phrases, he frowned. “Well I’m sorry either way,” he admitted. “I didn’t mean to assume-”

“It’s fine,” Aimee waved off, not comfortable with Tomas when he was nice. She’d rather him be his asshole self, because she could deal with him (and her response to him) better that way.

Alyssa had told her that Tomas was mad at her for making out with Ben, but Aimee didn’t fully believe it. She glanced over at him, deciding that he didn’t seem mad at all. He was just acting like his regular old jackass self, causing her to relax a bit. If Tomas was mad, she reasoned, he was mad because she could have hurt Alyssa with her actions, not because he had feelings for her or anything.

Aimee was embarrassed by the Ben incident, because if Alyssa had reacted negatively, she would be in deep shit right now, as would Ben. Aimee smiled to herself when she thought of that morning after, and Alyssa’s story of pretending to be mad at Ben. He had also come to Aimee’s restaurant to seek her out and apologize, and to make sure she and Alyssa were all good. He was a nice guy, and it was unfortunate that he was still a bit too…frat boy-ish to settle down and be with Alyssa.

Aimee looked over the top of her menu at Marian then, seeing him glance at Alyssa. She smiled to herself, suddenly glad that Ben wasn’t the commitment type just yet. Now Lyss had Marian, if the man ever decided to make a damn move.

---

After everyone had decided on what they were going to eat, they decided to order some margaritas to start the night off. As both girls chatted with each other, Tomas was trying to get Marian’s attention. The older man was looking around the restaurant at all the authentic décor when he felt a kick at his shin. Marian turned his head to glare at Tomas, who just motioned towards the girls slightly with his head.

The females were deep in conversation, apparently sharing new news about people they once knew. Some would call it gossiping, but Aimee and Alyssa liked to think of it as keeping tabs. Their chatter was not what Tomas was pointing out, however. It was their subconscious movements that he was alerting his teammate to. Both women would periodically graze the rim of their margarita glasses with their fingers, taking some of the salt off and bringing it to their lips to lick and suck it off.

Marian turned back to his teammate to glare some more, but Tomas didn’t seem to care as he just wiggled his eyebrows with a grin. “You just can’t help it, can you?” The blonde haired man asked in their native tongue.

“Nope,” Tomas smiled, looking over at the girls once more. They had just finished their small side conversation, leaving the table in a short, comfortable silence as they waited for their food. The topic of discussion then drifted to the birthdays they were celebrating. The date was January 12, Marian’s birthday. Alyssa’s was at the end of December and Tomas’ was in the beginning of February, so they were having a joint celebration for the three of them.

“This is turning out a lot better than our little celebration for your birthday, Aimee,” Alyssa giggled as she sipped her margarita.

“Oh god, don’t remind me,” the older woman groaned, running a hand through her hair. “I can still feel that hangover.”

“Wait, your birthday passed already?” Tomas asked.

“Yeah, it’s in October,” Aimee replied just before Alyssa dove into the story of their outing.

“We had decided it was going to be a quiet occasion, since we both had to work long shifts the next day. We started off on track, just going out to a nice dinner and a little coffee place afterward. But the coffee must have been part jet fuel because we were absolutely wired afterwards. We figured it couldn’t hurt to go out for a couple drinks and some dancing, so we went to a club. That’s where it gets hazy,” Alyssa finished with a smile.

“I’m guessing you had more than a few drinks?” Marian asked, amused.

“Possibly,” Aimee nodded, taking a sip of her beverage.

“I’m starting to think you’re an alcoholic,” Tomas muttered into his own drink.

“I’m starting to think so too,” she agreed with a smirk, motioning to her empty glass. Tomas rolled his eyes, but ordered her a second drink nonetheless.

“I feel bad we missed your birthday,” Marian stated, scratching the back of his neck. “And here we are having a special dinner for the three of ours.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Aimee waved off. “We were all still getting to know each other back then, and it was a busy time anyways.”

“We’ll make it up to you somehow,” Marian vowed, not bothering to ask Tomas for input. A few minutes later the food arrived, and the table quieted down to enjoy the meal.

“So, how excited are you guys for the Olympics?” Alyssa asked the two men. Both hockey players had been chosen to represent their home country of Slovakia for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

“It’s crazy,” Marian answered, causing Tomas to nod. “It takes a while for it to really sink in, you know?”

“It’s a huge honor,” Tomas added, taking a bite of his food. “This is so good. What is it again?”

Aimee rolled her eyes, sighing. “Carne asada,” she answered, watching him shove more into his mouth.

“Mmm,” he responded, prompting Aimee to shoot Alyssa a look.

“Anyway,” the brunette started, wanting to avoid any snarky comments coming from her best friend’s mouth, “We’ll definitely be rooting for you guys. It’s so exciting.”

“Big fan of the Olympics?” Marian asked her.

“Not as big as Aimee,” Alyssa teased. “She gets borderline addicted to watching the Summer and Winter games. I like a few events here and there, but I’m definitely excited for ice hockey this year, since I actually know some of the competitors.”

“Well, why don’t you guys come with us?” Marian suggested.

Alyssa laughed it off at the same time Aimee dropped her fork in surprise, causing the two women to look at each other. “We can’t…I mean, how would we…?” Alyssa said to Aimee, shaking her head.

“The Olympics, Alyssa. The Olympics!”

“I told you she gets obsessed,” Alyssa mumbled. “Aimee, think about this realistically. There’s no way we could just go off for over two weeks on such short notice. Our apartment, our jobs…”

“The Olympics!”

Alyssa sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes.

“Lyss, I’m sure you could get off no problem,” Tomas told her. “It’s not like there’s anything Blackhawk related going on. There’s nothing NHL going on period.”

“Aimee, you have a month to somehow get out of working for two weeks,” Marian announced, causing Alyssa to start shaking her head.

“You guys, no,” Alyssa denied. “This is ridiculous. Aimee, we can’t just go off to Canada for over two weeks. Besides trying to get off of work, we have an apartment to take care of. Not to mention there’s no way we’d be able to find accommodation in Vancouver this close to the games. Plus tickets to the events are probably all sold out, and then there’s the expense of transportation-”

“Listen, you guys take care of your jobs and find someone to house sit, and we’ll take care of the rest, okay?”

“But-”

“Okay,” Aimee agreed, interrupting Alyssa. The younger woman rolled her eyes, but relaxed into her seat. She knew there was no way in hell Aimee was going to get the time off, because she was the best waitress on staff and her boss used that to his advantage as much as possible. He would know that people would be in to watch the games, and he’d want her on the floor for those big event nights.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Alyssa stated, having no intention of trying to do anything. As long as Aimee wasn’t going to get time off, she wasn’t even going to waste her time.

---

“I’m off!” Aimee exclaimed, bursting into the apartment the next night.

“…What?” Lyss replied, startled and confused.

“For the Olympics,” Aimee clarified, setting her things down. “I got the two weeks off.”

“What? How?”

“Well, at first my boss said no,” Aimee explained, going to the fridge to grab a beer. “But then I reminded him that I was the best waitress he had and I deserved a break. Not to mention that this was an opportunity of a lifetime for me and if he didn’t give me the time off I’d just quit. He knew he couldn’t risk that, so he let me off.”

“Wow,” Alyssa muttered, disgruntled. She hadn’t been counting on Aimee to use her status as the best server to her advantage. And now that she had, Alyssa realized she needed to somehow get time off too.

“I know,” Aimee smiled, not picking up on her roommate’s displeasure. “Can you believe it? The Olympics!”

“The Olympics, with Marian and Tomas,” Alyssa tried, stressing the name of the man that Aimee disliked so much.

“I would marry Tomas if it meant I got to go to the Olympics a few times,” Aimee waved off, causing Alyssa’s shoulders to slump.

“I’m going to tell him you said that,” the younger woman mumbled, flopping down onto the couch. Aimee didn’t seem to care as she sighed wistfully, leaving Alyssa to brood about what she was going to do.

The next day at work, Alyssa sat at her desk, having just finished preparing for a small management staff meeting that was in an hour. The brunette was currently and desperately rifling through her purse, looking for that small, plastic wrapped item. “Shit,” she muttered under her breath, tossing her purse to the side and running a hand through her hair.

She picked up her phone and dialed Aimee, hoping that the woman was awake, not busy, and able to come to her rescue. By the third ring, Alyssa’s spirits began to dwindle, but just then Marian Hossa appeared in her doorway. “Hey,” he greeted, knocking on the open door politely. Alyssa immediately hung up her phone, shooting a look at Marian.

“I need a huge, huge favor from you,” Alyssa started, noticing that Marian was freshly showered. That meant that the boys were now done with practice and he was free to come to her rescue.

“Sure, anything. Name it,” he responded with a smile. Alyssa blushed a bit and she bit her lip shyly. Marian listened intently to her request, his face blanching a bit. “Uh. Uh. Sure,” he finally muttered, turning around and immediately walking out.

Marian rushed back to the locker room, seeing Tomas still by his locker. He called out to him, and the younger man halted and nodded at him. “What’s up?” Tomas asked.

“Tomas, I need you to come with me to the store,” Marian said, speaking lowly. Tomas raised an eyebrow at his friend, wondering why he was acting so suspicious.

“What for?”

“Alyssa has a meeting in a half an hour and needs me to pick something up for her,” Marian answered.

“So…go pick it up,” Tomas replied, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

“I’m your ride,” Marian reminded him. “So you’re coming with me either way.” Tomas slumped his shoulders, just wanting to go home and shower, but he agreed and followed Marian out to his truck.

When the two men arrived at the store, Marian walked past every aisle until he found what he was looking for.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Tomas muttered as the two men stood in front of the tampons.

“Which ones should I get?”

“How should I know?!” Tomas exclaimed, staring at his teammate incredulously. “Just pick one.”

“Help me!”

Tomas sighed and looked at the selection, noticing that there were far too many choices. “Just get those,” he stated, motioning towards the Tampax.

“Okay,” Marian nodded. “Grab them.”

“You grab them!” Tomas argued.

“What if they aren’t the right kind?”

Tomas swore in Slovakian, wishing he had driven himself to practice that day.

---

Alyssa was sitting at her desk when Marian and Tomas burst through the open doorway, each holding about three boxes each. Her cheeks colored a bit when she saw that Tomas had been informed about her small problem, but her embarrassment quickly melted when she saw that the two males were much more uncomfortable than she was.

They both walked up to her desk and unceremoniously dropped all the boxes onto her desk, splaying them everywhere. Alyssa stared at her desk for a moment, stunned.

“Thank you both so much for doing this for me, but…why did you get so many?” she inquired.

“I didn’t know which kind to get you,” Marian explained. Alyssa blindly grabbed a box, holding it up.

“Any one of these would have sufficed,” she chuckled. Tomas eyed the box in her hand, noting it was the Tampax.

“I told you!” he punched Marian’s arm and promptly left the office.

“You’re a lifesaver, Marian,” Alyssa said to him, getting up and kissing him on the cheek.

“Any time,” he answered, smiling at her.

“Was there something you wanted before? You know, before I asked you to go buy me tampons,” Alyssa chuckled.

“I just wanted to know if you and Aimee had figured out the Olympic situation yet,” Marian inquired.

“Aimee’s all set,” Alyssa nodded. “As a matter of fact, she’s so set she could probably be ready to go in an hour if you asked her.”

Marian laughed, thinking to himself that Tomas would be pleased by that news, even if he refused to admit it. “And you?”

“I’m going to talk to them at the management meeting in a few minutes. Hopefully it will be okay,” she informed him, already knowing it would be. She had briefly mentioned the idea to her boss before, and he had been receptive. The Hawks wouldn’t be playing while she was gone, so there was nothing she really had to be around for that the rest of her team couldn’t handle. “Have you guys come through on your end?” Alyssa asked, referring to the fact that she and Aimee had no airline tickets, event passes, or hotel reservations.

“We got your flight situation covered, and we’re going to request family passes for you and Aimee. You’ll have access to all our games and a few other events. We still have to pull some strings on a hotel though.”

“Aimee will be fine sleeping on the street once I tell her the news,” Alyssa smiled, glancing at the clock. “Alright, I have to go, but I’ll talk to you later, okay?”

“Sounds like a plan,” he nodded, watching her grab her folders for the meeting. “See you later.”

He kissed her on the cheek and departed, leaving Alyssa staring after him. She smiled to herself, thinking that Marian Hossa had to be the sweetest guy she ever met.