Open Your Eyes

When Marian Hossa parked his truck at North Avenue Beach, he saw his best friend and teammate Tomas Kopecky already stretching outside of his own vehicle. “Hey,” the younger man called out. “Ako sa máš?”

“I’m good,” Marian answered Tomas’ Slovakian question of ‘How are you?’ with English. “You?”

“Dobré,” Tomas answered, smiling. He tied his shoes tightly as Marian shook his head and began to stretch. Marian knew that Tomas preferred communicating in Slovak, but Marian enjoyed speaking English. He’d been in the country for many years now, but he always liked opportunities to practice the language.

After the two men had finished warming up, they began to jog along the lakefront. They alternated between running on the smooth, paved path and the resistant texture of the sand of the beach, just to amp up their workout. Without stopping, Tomas was the first of the two men to strip off his shirt, running it quickly over his face to absorb the perspiration before keeping it clutched in his right hand. Marian followed suit shortly after, feeling the heat from the sun being absorbed on his slightly tanned shoulders.

Usually Marian was quite pale, but when summer came along he spent as much time in the sun as he could. Due to Tomas’ darker complexion, he had a dark, even tan all over whereas Marian’s shoulders and face displayed the brunt of his color.

Two young women jogged in the opposite direction of the hockey players, and Tomas smiled and winked at them as they went by. “You could have at least smiled at them,” Tomas grumbled, catering to his friend’s preference of English. “I can’t always be the one to do all the work.

“Smiled at who?” Marian asked, oblivious. Tomas chuckled and shook his head, telling him about the women who had just passed by. “Oh. Sorry.”

“No you’re not,” Tomas smiled knowingly. “You’re thinking about Alyssa.” Marian opened his mouth to argue, but Tomas cut him off. “You were following her around during the entire barbeque last night.”

“I liked her,” Marian shrugged. “She was nice.”

“And pretty,” Tomas added with a smirk.

“Yes, and pretty,” Marian agreed. “Her friend Aimee was nice too, you know.”

“The waitress?” Tomas sniggered. “She didn’t seem so nice to me.”

“Yes, the waitress. And she didn’t seem so nice to you because you insulted her.”

“I called her attractive,” Tomas defended.

“You called her stupid,” Marian corrected. “Attractive and stupid.”

Tomas just shrugged, not really caring that he had offended the young woman. She wasn’t supposed to know what he had said to Marian anyways, but after he had seen the fire in her eyes that his mystery comment had ignited, he just had to tell her the translation himself.

“Did you see how good they looked after they came out in their bikinis though?” Tomas whistled low, a feat not easily accomplished after two miles of jogging on the beach.

“A blind man would have been able to see how good they looked in their bikinis,” Marian agreed. He remembered the way his brain had shut down after he spotted Alyssa in the hot pink material, her long legs and curves on display. Tomas was lost in his own reverie, remembering the way the white bikini had popped against Aimee’s tanned skin and outlined her curvaceous form.

“Water,” Tomas grunted out, his voice more hoarse than intended as he spotted a water fountain. Marian nodded and followed him to the fountain, waiting as Tomas took a long drink. After Tomas cupped his hands and splashed water onto his face and over his head, he shook out the rest of the water from his hair and stepped aside to let Marian have his turn.

The two men paused briefly to look out at the shoreline as they caught their breath before turning and jogging back to the direction of their cars. When they had reached their destination, a young man of about fifteen broke away from the group he was with and approached them.

“Marian Hossa,” he stated hesitantly. “I hate to bother you, but do you think I could get your autograph?”

“Of course,” Marian smiled, genuinely happy to do the small gesture for a fan. He glanced at Tomas, who told him to go ahead.

Tomas knew that Marian was the bigger name compared to him, and he honestly didn’t mind. Whereas Marian got asked for more autographs and pictures, Tomas got more peace and quiet. Sure he enjoyed posing for photos with fans or signing jerseys and what not, but in no way shape or form did he ever want to receive the level of publicity guys like Crosby or Ovechkin got. Those guys couldn’t sneeze without someone spreading the word about it, let alone try and have a personal life. Tomas would take all the privacy he could get for as long as he could get it.

Once Marian had finished, the two men discussed grabbing a bite to eat. They went their separate ways so they could go home and shower before meeting up at the agreed upon restaurant, which they had heard about from talks with their new teammates.

Marian was grateful that everyone had been so welcoming so far, especially since the addition of him and Tomas had cost the Blackhawk’s a beloved player in Martin Havlat. Luckily, Marian, Tomas, and Marty were all good friends, and while things were tense at first there were no hard feelings anymore. Marian just hoped the fans would be as accepting.

---

“Hello ladies,” the hostess greeted Aimee and Alyssa, who decided to stop for lunch before a large shopping trip. “Just the two of you?” After Lyss and Aimee nodded, she asked if they’d like to be seated indoors or outdoors, and since the weather was gorgeous, they chose the latter.

“So, when are you going to Europe again?” Aimee asked as they flipped through their menus.

“In a couple weeks,” Lyss answered. “I’m so excited.”

“Must be nice,” Aimee started normally, before altering her voice to sound slow and adding, “to be edu-ma-cated enough to have such an adventurous job.”

“Oh stop it,” Alyssa scolded.

“How can you even be friends with a girl who’s just a waitress?” Aimee continued, ignoring her. “You have such a charitable heart.”

“Please, not this again,” she groaned, running a hand through her short hair.

“Well excuse me for being offended,” Aimee stated. “How would you like it if someone judged you just based on your job?” Alyssa sighed, and Aimee knew she still didn’t truly understand. “You’re a woman, and you work for a professional sports team. Clearly you’re just trying to hook up with one of the players.” Aimee knew what she had just said wasn’t true, and that Alyssa was actually very passionate about her job. She might not object to dating a player, but she surely wasn’t using her job just to fuck one of them.

“That’s not true!” Alyssa argued, incensed. “I’ve worked hard to get where I am, and just because I’m a female with this job I-” She suddenly paused, her cheeks tinted pink. “Oh,” was all she could manage.

Aimee shot her a ‘That’s what I thought,’ look, and Alyssa leaned back in her chair. “God, I’m sorry,” Alyssa apologized. “I thought you were being over dramatic, but I guess I didn’t realize the extent of it.”

“It’s okay,” Aimee sighed. “I probably am being overdramatic. I guess it got to me because he tried to be a weasel about it and say it in a different language. Not to mention we had just met him. Fucking douche.”

Alyssa laughed at her friend’s expression, noting that if Tomas were here he’d be six feet under. “You have to admit though….” Lyss started, Aimee’s eyes revealing that she knew where her friend was going with her statement and dared her to continue. “He’s pretty handsome.”

“Please,” Aimee’s eyes rolled as she took a sip of her water. “If praying mantises were handsome.”

“Aimee,” Alyssa said seriously, dissecting her best friend with her eyes. “I saw you checking him out in his swim trunks. It was kind of funny, actually, since while your body was wrapped around Burish your eyes never left Tomas.”

“Oh alright! So I think the man’s hot. It doesn’t change the fact that he’s an asshole.” It was Aimee’s turn to blush, but mostly she was just frustrated that she let Tomas get under her skin like that.

“Look who it is,” a voice called out, causing Aimee to bristle immediately. “Ladies,” Tomas greeted. Aimee inwardly groaned at how good he looked in his tight white t-shirt and aviator sunglasses. Sunglasses which, Tomas noted, he was glad he had on so she couldn’t see him look her over in her short sundress.

“Well hello there,” Alyssa responded, her tone friendly. “How’s it going?”

“Good,” Marian answered. “We just came to grab a bite to eat after our jog.”

“Jog?” Aimee asked.

“It’s a form of exercise,” Tomas answered, a smirk planted on his lips. “Similar to running.”

Before Aimee’s glacial stare escalated into more, Marian broke in. “We go jogging along the lakefront every morning. That will probably change once the season starts, but during the summer it’s s good way to stay fit.”

Alyssa couldn’t agree more as she spotted the muscles under Marian’s thin, cotton shirt, and when she felt Aimee kick her from under the table she knew her best friend’s thoughts were far from clean too.

“Hi, I’m Sandy, I’ll be your server,” a young woman approached the table, looking at the two seated women and two standing men. “Are you all together, or…”

“No, we were just saying hello to the ladies,” Tomas smiled.

“You guys can join us,” Alyssa invited politely, regretting it almost instantly as her shin throbbed from a harder kick from Aimee.

“Oh no, that’s-”

“We’d love to,” Tomas interjected, pulling out a chair. Since the table was square and Aimee and Alyssa had been sitting across from each other, the boys took the remaining chairs opposite one another as well.

The waitress handed the men a couple more menus and told them she’d give them a few minutes to look them over. The table was deadly silent until the waitress came back and took all their orders. Alyssa didn’t speak because she didn’t know what to say, Marian didn’t speak because he was afraid to make the situation worse, Aimee didn’t speak because she was too angry, and Tomas didn’t speak because he knew his smug silence was making Aimee more annoyed.

“So,” Alyssa finally started, unable to take the silence any longer. “Are you two excited about Europe?”

“Kopy is,” Marian nodded. “I won’t be going, since its not like I can really play.”

“When do they say you’ll be able to come back?” Alyssa asked, referring to his shoulder injury and the surgery and rehab that went along with it.

“We’re shooting for before December, hopefully,” Marian shrugged, clearly upset that he’d have to miss a chunk of the season.

“Well at least you’ll be healthy,” Lyss smiled. “That’s the most important thing.” Marian returned the smile, causing the other two diners at the table to roll their eyes.

Once the food arrived, the four people were able to slip easily into conversation, unless it involved direct statements between Aimee and Tomas. Alyssa and Marian did their best to avoid these scenarios or change topics quickly however, and for the most part they were successful.

“So what do you ladies have planned the rest of the day?” Tomas asked casually. Aimee wanted no reason to answer, so she busied herself by grabbing a spoon and digging an ice cube out of her water glass, grasping it with her fingers.

“Shopping,” Alyssa grinned excitedly. “Aimee’s going to help me pick out some stuff for Europe.” Aimee shifted her glance toward Tomas, wondering what snippy remark he was going to come up with this time. She was caught off guard though, when she noticed he wasn’t even paying attention. His gaze was focused on her mouth, where she had just slipped the ice cube into her mouth with her thumb and forefinger. His gaze slowly traveled up to meet hers, his heated expression making her feel warm in the already hot summer weather. Thankfully the waitress appeared with a refill for Aimee, who quickly took a drink from the cup.

“I was wondering when she was going to get you a refill,” Tomas said.

“What?”

“You’ve had nothing but ice in your cup for like ten minutes,” Tomas observed. “I’ve noticed.” Aimee was about to roll her eyes and drop the subject, but Tomas continued. “Don’t you waitresses have some kind of, training program at least? I mean I know they don’t hire you for your brains but they should at least make sure you have some common sense.”

Aimee clenched her jaw and looked over at Alyssa, silently telling her she was about to punch him in the jugular.

“Tomas, really it’s inappropriate for you to speak like that,” Alyssa frowned. “Not only are you insulting someone you’ve just met, but you’re insulting my best friend, and for no reason at all.”

“It was just supposed to be a joke between me and my teammate,” Tomas shrugged. “It’s not my fault that you pushed it.”

“That we pushed it? Pushed what?!” Aimee exclaimed. “Pushed you to man up and tell us what you had spinelessly whispered to Marian in another language?”

“Even if my original impression of you was wrong, the way you've acted since then hasn’t led me to have a very high opinion of you,” Tomas gave an insolent little grin.

“Marian, muzzle your bitch before I stab him with my fork,” Aimee seethed.

“See? Classy,” Tomas noted. Marian and Alyssa watched helplessly as Aimee grabbed her glass and threw the remaining water into Tomas’ face. She grabbed her purse and stormed out just after, leaving many other customers agape.

“Uhm, I should…I need to…um,” Alyssa stammered, looping her purse around her arm and standing up. “I have to go,” she finished quickly, rushing after her best friend. Tomas grabbed a napkin and ran it over his face and neck before looking up at Marian.

“Don’t look at me like that,” the older man ordered, seeing the intensity in his friend’s eyes. “You deserved it. Alyssa and I were getting along just fine until you had to start shit. So thanks for that.” Tomas threw the napkin on the table just as the waitress came back, looking confusedly at the scene.

“Um, here’s your check,” she said, setting the bill on the table before scurrying away.

“Great. Thanks,” Tomas called out angrily after her, grumbling to Marian about being stuck paying for the girls' meals as well.

Meanwhile, Alyssa had barely jumped into Aimee’s car before the other woman had sped off out of the small parking lot.

“Muzzle. Your. Bitch,” Alyssa said simply, and Aimee didn’t miss the tone of disappointment in her tone.

“Don’t fucking start with me,” Aimee warned.

“Listen Aims, I know he’s a pest but he’s just trying to get to you. I don’t think he actually means any of it.”

“That doesn’t make it any less annoying,” Aimee pointed out.

“You missed some nice wet, white t-shirt action though,” Alyssa sighed. “Shame.”

“I’ll live.”

“Maybe if you didn’t rile him up so much he wouldn’t feel the need to return the favor,” the brunette suggested.

“He’s the one who started it, not the one returning it! How could I have possibly riled him up?”

“Aimee, you practically gave your ice cube a blow job before finally sticking it in your mouth,” Alyssa snorted.

“It’s eighty seven fucking degrees outside!” The older woman defended. “And I didn’t know he was watching me, like a creeper! You know what, I am done with this topic of conversation. The next thing out of you mouth better be the name of a store, or else you better be prepared to tuck and roll.”

Alyssa sighed and shook her head, naming the first store that popped into her head before settling back into her seat. Hopefully she could keep Tomas and Aimee away from each other from now on, otherwise it was going to be one long season of hockey.