Open Your Eyes

Alyssa jolted awake suddenly, aware of some turbulence on the plane. They had left Chicago several hours ago and were on their way to Switzerland. Alyssa hated planes, so she figured falling asleep as fast as possible was her best bet. The only problem was that she was so nervous she couldn’t fall into the deep sleep she needed. Every little bump, dip, or loud noise from one of the players caused her to stir, and she was beginning to get restless.

She unbuckled her seatbelt and made her way to the bathroom to splash some cold water on her face. Just a few more hours, she told herself, heading back out of the bathroom. As she was on her way back to her seat, she noticed that the aisle was blocked by Patrick Sharp. He was goofing off with the camera she had given him, and she grinned. She paused and waited for Patrick and Jonathan Toews to discuss playing a prank on the sleeping Radek Smolenak, who was seated next to Tomas. Tomas just grinned up at the camera from his seat next to the window, and Alyssa managed to sneak by.

She retook her seat next to Ben Eager, who was also sleeping. She had to shimmy by him since he was on the aisle and she was by the window, and she didn’t want to disturb him. She quickly sat down and buckled her seatbelt, jumping when she noticed Ben’s sleepy eyes were on her. “You alright?” he asked, groggily.

“Yes, fine,” Alyssa nodded. “I just snuck off to the bathroom is all.”

“Really? Wow I didn’t even notice,” he remarked, sitting up a bit and rubbing his eyes. “Are we there yet?”

Alyssa laughed, shaking her head, “Far from it.”

“Damn. I was hoping to knock out some time with that nap,” he yawned, obviously still tired.

“I wanted to do that too, but I just can’t seem to fall asleep,” she shrugged. “Nervous flyer.”

“Why didn’t you say so?” Ben smirked. “I’m great with nervous flyers.” And with that, he moved the armrest between them into an upright position and threw an arm over her shoulders. He pulled Alyssa in to rest against the curve of his shoulder before taking his blanket and spreading it over the both of them. “Try and rest,” he mumbled against her hair, kissing her head. Alyssa gave into the warmth and sense of security Ben’s embrace provided and slowly slipped into a deep sleep.

The next time Alyssa stirred, it was because Ben was softly nudging her. “Hey,” he called out. “We’re going to be landing in twenty minutes, so I figured you’d want to change back into your clothes and stuff.”

“Thanks,” Alyssa yawned, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. “Wait, did you say we’re landing in twenty minutes? I can’t believe I slept so long!”

“Told you I was good with nervous flyers,” Ben winked at Lyss, causing her to blush. Tomas was walking by at this exact moment, rolling his eyes at his teammate before settling back into his seat.

Tomas liked Ben and everything, but he wasn’t so sure about the guy’s intentions. He knew Ben was a flirt and a ladies man, and he also knew that Alyssa had a crush on him. It didn’t exactly spell out success. Not that Alyssa’s love life was any of his business.

Marian liked her though, that much was painfully obvious. But with Alyssa focused on Ben, and Marian still in Chicago, Tomas figured his fellow countryman’s chances were going to be even slimmer once the team returned from Europe.

Tomas made the decision right then to spend as much time with Alyssa as he could during this trip. That way, he could keep her away from Ben and give his best friend a fighting chance. Also, he mused, it would give Alyssa the chance to get away from Ben before her heart got broken. He knew that Ben really cared about Lyss and would never purposefully hurt her, but Tomas wasn’t so sure that Alyssa realized that Ben wasn’t about to settle down any time soon. He figured he was helping out all parties involved, and genuinely smiled at Alyssa as she made her way down the aisle toward the bathroom with her bag in hand.

---

A little while after the boys had gotten situated in their hotel, they were off to the arena to practice. Alyssa had gone with them to set up her temporary office, and while in the small room she called her roommate.

“Hello?” Aimee answered groggily.

“Oh shit, were you sleeping? Sorry, I didn’t even realize with the time difference-”

“No, no Lyss, it’s fine,” Aimee assured. “I’m glad you called. I was wondering if you had gotten in okay.”

“Yeah, we’re at the arena now.”

“Already? Shit they don’t waste any time huh?” Aimee chuckled.

“I feel bad for them. Its not like the rest they got on the plane was all that great. But I guess technically it is the next day and all…” Alyssa trailed off.

“How about you? Were you able to sleep on the plane?”

“Not at first, no,” Alyssa started, unsure if she should tell Aimee about Ben. She didn’t want to be making something out of nothing. “But Ben helped me.”

“Did he now?” Aimee’s grin was audible through the phone. Alyssa then went into detail about everything that had occurred on the plane, wondering what her friend’s interpretation was going to be.

“So what do you think? Was he just being nice? Am I reading too far into this?” There were a few seconds of silence, and Alyssa could sense Aimee’s hesitation. “Oh God,” she groaned, slumping against her desk.

“Look Alyssa, Ben’s a sweet guy. But I don’t think he was doing all that just to be nice,” Aimee said carefully.

“So he is interested?” Alyssa inquired, hopes raised.

“He’s interested in something, that’s for sure,” Aimee mumbled, almost inaudibly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It just means be careful, that’s all,” Aimee cautioned, concerned about her friend. A sharp knock on the door interrupted whatever response Alyssa was going to make, so she instead told Aimee to wait while she answered to door.

“Hi,” Tomas greeted from the other side, his face breaking into a smile. Alyssa froze, her brain giving her a million different commands all at once.

“Who is it?” Aimee asked, confused by the lack of conversation. Alyssa stood there for a moment longer, desperately wanting to keep Tomas quiet or at least keep Aimee from hearing him. So when Tomas looked as though he was about to speak again she panicked.

“Oops sorry girl, I have to go!” She spoke quickly.

“But-”

“Talk to you later bye,” Alyssa rushed, making the sentence sound like one whole word before she hit the ‘end’ button. She stared at the screen, afraid Aimee would call her back.

“Um,” Tomas sounded, making Alyssa jump. She had almost forgotten he was there in her state of calamity. “Are you busy?”

“Hm? Oh, no. I was just on the phone with a friend. It wasn’t important. Did you need something?” she asked anxiously.

“When I asked if you were busy I meant are you still working, or are you done for the night? And Does Aimee know you consider conversations with her unimportant?”

“You are a snake, you know that?” Alyssa smiled at the mischievous smirk on Tomas’ face. “Yes, I was on the phone with Aimee, as you obviously know. There’s been so much friction between you two that I got flustered when you showed up at the door while I was talking to her,” Alyssa explained. “And, when I said our conversation wasn’t important I just meant that it wasn’t work related.”

“Okay, whatever you say,” Tomas nodded.

“Anyways, what did you need?” Alyssa began to pack up her belongings.

“I came to see if you wanted to grab a bite to eat,” he told her. Alyssa paused momentarily, struck by the fact that he was asking her to dinner and by the fact that she hadn’t eaten since she was in Chicago.

“Isn’t there a team meal?”

“That’s tomorrow,” Tomas answered, relieving her of her heavy binders and large purse.

“Don’t you want to go out with the guys?”

Tomas chuckled, “Listen, if you don’t want to go to dinner with me you can tell me flat out. I won’t be offended. It’s not like I’ve been the most charming guy around you.”

“No, that’s not it at all,” Alyssa denied, following Tomas out of the room. “I just figured you’d want to hang out with the big group.”

“The big group is jetlagged and mostly everyone’s going back to the hotel,” Tomas informed, holding the door open for her to step outside. “The ones that aren’t are grabbing cabs to go out to eat, and I am one of those guys. I thought I’d ask if you wanted to join me, otherwise I’m stuck with Toews, Kane, and Versteeg. A man can only handle so much in one day.”

What Alyssa didn’t know, was that Tomas had overheard Eager saying he was going to ask Alyssa out for dinner after he had showered. Luckily, Tomas had just gotten out of the shower, so he quickly changed and gathered up his stuff so he could commandeer her first.

“I get you,” Alyssa laughed, understanding where Tomas was coming from. “And I’d love to grab a bite to eat.”

“Great,” Tomas smiled and hailed a cab, ushering Alyssa inside and inwardly smiling at his own victory.

Alyssa had expected dinner to be a complete disaster. She had expected Tomas drop his nice guy act and revert into his royal jerk self. She had expected that by the end of the night, she’d be calling Aimee and telling her horror stories about the Slovak.

But as it turned out, she was pleasantly surprised. Not only was the food at dinner really enjoyable, but so was the company. Alyssa found Tomas to be a genuinely nice and charismatic man, and chivalrous to boot. Besides carrying most of her heavy things, there was not one door Alyssa walked through that Tomas didn’t hold for her. He held out her chair, and even paid for the entire meal and both cab rides even though she insisted to pay her share.

The real kicker was that when Alyssa had commented on his gallant behavior, he seemed to honestly not understand what she was talking about. It was then that it occurred to her that he wasn’t acting that way to impress her, and that he simply must have been raised to be so well-mannered. Her mind then wandered to whether it was just an individualistic trait, or if all Slovakian men were as courteous as he was. Slovakian men such as…Marian Hossa, for example.

Not that she was interested in him specifically, she was just curious about the culture as a whole.

Tomas’s nice behavior did prompt her to ask the most obvious question, which was why he insisted on being such a jerk to Aimee.

“Her buttons are easy to push,” Tomas had answered, shrugging his shoulders. “And so are mine,” he added deliberately, conveying that Aimee hadn’t been completely innocent in the whole situation. Alyssa nodded, knowing that the two of them were just destined to rub each other the wrong way. They both had smart mouths and weren’t afraid to use them.

Alyssa felt a little bit guilty that after Tomas had dropped her off at her room with plans to hang out the next day, she didn’t have a horror story to call Aimee about. Quite the contrary, she went straight to bed with no phone call, because she was afraid that Aimee would insult Tomas and Alyssa wouldn’t be able to stop herself from defending him.

The next day, Alyssa moved about her hotel room, getting ready to go out and do some sight seeing. Just as she finished putting on her makeup, she heard her Blackberry ring. “Hello?” she answered, seeing Ben Eager’s name pop up on the I.D.

“Hey gorgeous. Hope I didn’t wake you. We all just got finished with our team meal, and I’ve got the rest of the day free. Got plans?”

Alyssa hesitated, trying to decide what to do. She did in fact have plans with Tomas, but here was the guy she’d been swooning over for months asking to hang out with her one on one. She considered cancelling on Tomas, but knew she’d feel like a total bitch if she did that just to do the same thing with another guy.

“I do, actually,” she replied apologetically. “Tomas and I are going to see the sights around Zurich. You’re welcome to come,” she offered, hoping Tomas would be okay with her invitation.

Her answer had caught Ben by surprise. After his shower the night before, Ben had gone to Alyssa’s office to ask her to dinner, only to find the room empty and closed up. Originally he just figured she had gone back to the hotel early to go to bed, but then he heard that she had gone out to eat with Kopecky. Now she was going sightseeing with him too? Ben was suspicious, wondering what was going on between them.

“Uh, no, that’s okay,” Ben denied. “You guys go ahead. I was planning on taking it easy anyway; try and adjust to Swiss time.”

A beep on her phone informed Alyssa that she had another call, so she quickly wrapped things up with Ben and switched over. “Hello?”

“Hey boo,” Aimee greeted, sounding a bit buzzed. Alyssa glanced at her clock, noting that it was about ten thirty in the morning. That made it about three thirty in the morning in Chicago. Alyssa could hear the background noises of the city, causing her to straighten up a bit. “What you up to?”

“I’m in my hotel room, getting ready. Why are you still out?” Alyssa questioned her friend sternly, hoping she was being safe in her inebriated state.

“Calm down, I’m barely drunk,” Aimee said from the other end. “I just calculated that it was an acceptable time to call you, since I’ve been waiting to do so for hours. I let you sleep in until ten thirty.”

“I’ve been up since eight,” Alyssa remarked. “You could have called me at one.”

“Fuck,” Aimee muttered, heaving a big sigh. “Shut up,” Aimee added, laughing a bit.

“Excuse me?” Alyssa heard a knock on her door, so she rose to answer it.

“Oh not you,” Aimee said to Alyssa, who swung her door open as her friend spoke. “I was talking to Adam and Marian.”

Alyssa said “Marian and Adam are with you?” at the same time that Tomas said, “Ready to go experience Zurich?”

Alyssa then heard a simultaneous chorus of “What?” from Aimee and Tomas.

“Who was that?” Aimee continued while Alyssa brought her finger up to her lips to silence Tomas.

“Who was who?” Alyssa played dumb.

“Who was me, probably,” Tomas supplied, louder than necessary. Alyssa whirled to face him with daggers in her eyes, but Tomas just looked smug.

“That is not who I think it is,” Aimee stated, sounding a lot more sober than before.

“And who exactly do you think it is?” Alyssa stalled, trying to shoo Tomas out of her room.

“Who is, Tomas Kopecky?” Tomas answered, easily resisting her insistent shoves toward her door. “Was that the Daily Double?”

Alyssa was ready to ignore Tomas and face Aimee’s wrath, but the man just kept on talking, much to the younger woman’s chagrin.

“No wait,” he continued. “Not Daily Double. Double Jeopardy. Or just, Jeopardy. Or, is it the tree bark one?”

“It’s Trebek, Tomas. Alex Trebek is the host of the show Jeopardy. Double Jeopardy is the second round of the game, and the Daily Double is one of the clues that is given during a round,” Alyssa explained exasperatedly, knowing that if she didn’t then the man would never shut up. She had given up trying to quiet him however, because there was no way Aimee hadn’t caught on by now.

“So I was right!” Tomas exclaimed, delighted. “I'm surprised, because I do not watch this show.”

“Shocker,” Alyssa muttered, trying not to be effected by his accent.

“You bitch,” Aimee gasped. “Fraternizing with the enemy! Wait, I thought you said you were in your room? What is Tomas doing in your room?!”

“Tomas is in Alyssa’s room?” Alyssa heard Marian ask. She then heard a barking laugh that belonged to Adam Burish.

“Oh Lord,” Alyssa mumbled to herself, pinching the bridge of her nose.

“I have to go,” Aimee suddenly said, bringing Alyssa’s attention back to her.

“No Aimee, just listen, okay? He’s actually a really nice guy and-”

“No, really, I’m going to go. Have fun with Tomas.” Alyssa heard Aimee disconnect, and she suddenly felt tremendously guilty.

“Ready to go?” Tomas asked as if nothing happened.

“Why would you do that?” Alyssa scowled. “Now she thinks I’m a bad friend for being chummy with you.”

“She’ll get over it. Come on, I want to go to the zoo,” he pulled her out of the room, only pausing for her to grab her purse. Alyssa wanted to protest, but once he said they were going to the zoo she found herself unable to say no. She had read about the Zurich Zoo in the Zurich guide pamphlet in her room, and she found her feelings of excitement were outweighing her ones of guilt.