Sequel: Pursuit of Happiness ›
The Ice Queen
061:
Chapter Sixty One
“You think you can handle her, Brace?” Coach asked and I smirked and nodded my head.
“Definitely,” I said and the guys smirked and nodded their heads.
“Good, she looks tough,” Coach said and I looked at the picture of the newest female NHL player, Veronika Menshikov.
It was the first week of January, two weeks had past and we had gotten word that the lockout was over and our first game was going to be in a week. The whole team was in Boston and now we were at one of the practice arenas watching clips of our newest rivals this season. It had been all over the NHL network for a while now about the Maple Leafs newest player, one because she was supposedly good, and two, because she’s a she. The NHL is making a big story about the Russian beauty because now there were two females in the NHL and the reporters were coming to me asking about this new competition.
Our first game was against the Rangers, we knew we were going to win because we were on home ice and I was excited to show my skills as a Bruin. I’ve been practicing hard with everyone and Milan’s been helping me with my fighting skills. He doesn’t want me to fight, but I knew that I needed to learn, especially if I wanted to consider myself as a Bruin.
“Yo AJ! We’re goin’ out for lunch, you in?” Brad asked as we all piled out of the room where we were going over players’ skills.
“Um, I’ll meet you there, I have to head home and feed the kittens,” I said and the guys nodded their heads.
“I thought Becca was doing that?” Nathan asked as he came up next to me.
“She was, but she went to school to pick up her books and wasn’t going to be home in time to feed them. Since I’m here, I told her that I would get it,” I said and Nathan nodded his head as Milan came up on the other side of me.
“I’ll help,” Milan said and I smiled and nodded my head.
“See you guys at the restaurant,” Nathan said and we nodded our heads and walked over towards Milan’s car, since we rode together.
We went back to my apartment and fed the four little kittens that I rescued back on Christmas Eve. I ended up taking to the vet to get them looked over and found out that they were a week old when I found them and there were three males and one female. Nathan said that when the kittens were at least a few months old, he would take one for Dylan since the little guy really wanted one. Chara said that he would take one as well for his daughter. I was still trying to get Ference to take one, but he didn’t like cats.
-Milan-
“What are their names again?” I asked as I sat on the floor and watched as Alyssa handed me a black kitten.
“This is Boomer,” she said and I smirked and held the kitten and then took the little bottle and started to feed it to him, “They should be able to eat out of a bowl soon.”
“Yeah,” I said and looked at the other three, crying for some food, “Which one is Horty taking?”
“Simba,” Alyssa said and I chuckled at the names, “There’s Boomer, Simba, Cole and Lilly,” she said and I smirked, “Lilly’s going with Chara and I’m trying to push Cole onto Ference.”
“Good luck with that,” I snorted and Alyssa scoffed, “How’s Duke with the kittens?”
“He’s afraid of them,” Alyssa giggled and I smirked and looked down to see that the kitten finished eating, so I placed him back in the box and moved onto Lilly.
By the time that we finished with the kittens, Alyssa and I left to head to the restaurant that we were going to meet some of the guys at.
During lunch I noticed that Alyssa was talking with Tuukka a lot and I wanted to know what they were talking about. By the end of lunch Alyssa said that she was going to head with Tuukka and I nodded my head and headed over towards Nathan’s house.
“What’s wrong with you?” Nathan asked as he looked at me and saw a look on my face.
“What is Tuuk up to?” I asked and Nathan shrugged his shoulders.
“What do you mean?” he asked and I sighed, “You don’t trust them?”
“No, it’s not that-“
“Looch, Alyssa’s not like those other girls that you dated, she’s our friend, our teammate- She probably just practicing with Tuuk.”
“Yeah you’re right,” I said and Nathan patted my shoulder.
“Everything’s gunna be all right, you’re too paranoid.”
“I know, you know how I was when she was on the Capitals-“
“Dude, I was going to kill you if Alyssa didn’t come to Boston,” Nathan said and we both laughed.
-Alyssa-
“Do it again, AJ!” Tuukka yelled and I nodded my head. I took a deep breath, skated a circle around the puck and then headed towards the net. I shot the puck at Tuukka, hoping for a goal, but he caught it and I growled, “Come on girl, you’re off your game!”
‘…I’m not off my game, you guys are a lot better than the Capitals…’ I thought as I glared at the ice and skated back towards the center and got the puck and did it again.
Tuukka and I have been doing this since after Christmas. We figured, and hoped, that the lockout would end soon, and I wanted to be in tip top shape, so we’ve been practicing together. I was getting better, but it was hard to score against him, he was really good.
“Nice one!” he praised as I managed to slip a puck between his legs and got myself a goal.
“Three out of what- A million,” I laughed and Tuukka smirked and pulled up his helmet.
“What can I say? I’m awesome,” he said and I smirked and shoved him a little.
“What’s going on over here?” we heard and turned our heads to see Coach standing by the bench. Tuukka and I skated over towards him and sighed, “What are you two doing here?”
“Practicing,” I said and looked at Tuukka, “Tuuk said he would help me on my scoring.”
“Oh, all right,” Coach said and looked at his watch, “Well wrap it up, the crew wants to clean the ice and head home.”
“Oh, ok,” I said and Coach opened the gate so that Tuukka and I could head to the locker room. Tuukka and I were in the locker room changing out of our practice gear.
“You did good out there, AJ,” he said and I looked over towards him as I threw my jersey onto the floor.
“Thanks, I hope to be getting better,” I said and he smirked and nodded his head.
“You definitely are, trust me. Stop thinking that you’re not a Bruin, Pete or Coach wouldn’t have added you to the team if you weren’t Bruin material,” he said and I smiled brightly and nodded my head.
“Thanks Tuuk,” I said and then grabbed my shower supplies and headed towards the showers, hearing Tuukka flowing behind me.
Once I finished, I heard that Tuukka was finished in the shower, so I waited for him to come and get me, cursing that I forgot to bring my clothes to change in here.
“Tuuk!” I call after waiting for a while and growing impatient, “Tuuk!” I hold the towel tight around me and walk out of my shower, down the hallway and towards the door that led back into the locker room, “Tuuk?” I slam my eyes closed as I peak my head into the locker room. When I heard nothing I inched an eye open and saw that no one was there, “Son of a bitch!” I growled and then sighed and walked into the room and over towards my locker, “Wait ta tell me that you were finished, Tuukka.”
-Milan-
Alyssa’s been gone for a while and I was at my place sitting on my reclining chair wondering where she was. I knew that she had her own place, but it was the weekend, I thought that she would be over her. I growled and then grabbed my phone and called her. She answered just as it was about to hit her voicemail.
“Hey Milan! I just got home,” she said and I sighed and rubbed my face.
“I thought you were going to come over here,” I said and heard Alyssa walking around.
“Give me a little while, I’ll grab some clothes and head over. I think Becca wants help with the kittens- I don’t know, give me an hour or so,” she said and I stood up.
“All right, what were you doing? How’d you get home?”
“Tuuk gave me a ride home, I was with him-“
“Yeah I know that,” I said, probably a little too rudely, and Alyssa caught it.
“Wow there Mr. Grouch,” she said and I sighed, “What’s your problem?”
“Sorry, that was a dick move,” I said and heard her sigh.
“I’ll see you later Milan,” she said and then hung up before I could put another word in.
“Dammit,” I growled and then shook my head and rubbed my face, ‘…You did it now, Looch’.
Alyssa was over in almost two hours and she was a little pissed. I sighed and knew that I was in for it.
“What the hell was that about?” she growled as she placed her bag on the counter and looked at me as I stood in the kitchen, “Look, if you don’t trust me-“
“Whoa! Never said that-“
“No! You didn’t, but you sure as hell acted like it,” she growled and I sighed and nodded my head, “Milan, I love you, I would never do anything-“
“I know, I’m sorry, I was being an idiot,” I said and she walked over towards me and placed her hand on my arm.
“What’s going on?” she asked and I looked at her and shook my head, “Milan, come on.”
“It’s just, you’re on the team now- And I’m happy about that! But what if you start to like someone else,” I said sadly and then looked at Alyssa shocked when she started to laugh.
“You’re an idiot, you know that,” she said and I sighed and nodded my head. Alyssa cupped my face and made me look at her, “I love you, only you! You’re such a goof.”
I smiled towards her and placed my hands on her waist and pressed my lips against hers. She wrapped her arms around my neck and I picked her up and sat her on the counter, moving in-between her legs and pressed her body against mine.
We both pulled away and Alyssa laid her head on my shoulder, “I’m not going anywhere, Milan.”
“Good,” I said and felt her kiss my neck. But it was still bugging me, I needed to know, “Hey babe?”
“Hmmm?”
“What were you and Tuuk doing anyways?”
“Ugh!” she growled and pulled away and hopped off of the counter, “We were training!”
“Huh?” I looked at her confused.
“Tuuk’s been helping me with my scoring!!!” she said and I looked at her surprised, “You guys are on a whole ‘nother level from the Caps. I need to get better and he’s been helping me.”
‘…I’m an idiot…’
“You think you can handle her, Brace?” Coach asked and I smirked and nodded my head.
“Definitely,” I said and the guys smirked and nodded their heads.
“Good, she looks tough,” Coach said and I looked at the picture of the newest female NHL player, Veronika Menshikov.
It was the first week of January, two weeks had past and we had gotten word that the lockout was over and our first game was going to be in a week. The whole team was in Boston and now we were at one of the practice arenas watching clips of our newest rivals this season. It had been all over the NHL network for a while now about the Maple Leafs newest player, one because she was supposedly good, and two, because she’s a she. The NHL is making a big story about the Russian beauty because now there were two females in the NHL and the reporters were coming to me asking about this new competition.
Our first game was against the Rangers, we knew we were going to win because we were on home ice and I was excited to show my skills as a Bruin. I’ve been practicing hard with everyone and Milan’s been helping me with my fighting skills. He doesn’t want me to fight, but I knew that I needed to learn, especially if I wanted to consider myself as a Bruin.
“Yo AJ! We’re goin’ out for lunch, you in?” Brad asked as we all piled out of the room where we were going over players’ skills.
“Um, I’ll meet you there, I have to head home and feed the kittens,” I said and the guys nodded their heads.
“I thought Becca was doing that?” Nathan asked as he came up next to me.
“She was, but she went to school to pick up her books and wasn’t going to be home in time to feed them. Since I’m here, I told her that I would get it,” I said and Nathan nodded his head as Milan came up on the other side of me.
“I’ll help,” Milan said and I smiled and nodded my head.
“See you guys at the restaurant,” Nathan said and we nodded our heads and walked over towards Milan’s car, since we rode together.
We went back to my apartment and fed the four little kittens that I rescued back on Christmas Eve. I ended up taking to the vet to get them looked over and found out that they were a week old when I found them and there were three males and one female. Nathan said that when the kittens were at least a few months old, he would take one for Dylan since the little guy really wanted one. Chara said that he would take one as well for his daughter. I was still trying to get Ference to take one, but he didn’t like cats.
-Milan-
“What are their names again?” I asked as I sat on the floor and watched as Alyssa handed me a black kitten.
“This is Boomer,” she said and I smirked and held the kitten and then took the little bottle and started to feed it to him, “They should be able to eat out of a bowl soon.”
“Yeah,” I said and looked at the other three, crying for some food, “Which one is Horty taking?”
“Simba,” Alyssa said and I chuckled at the names, “There’s Boomer, Simba, Cole and Lilly,” she said and I smirked, “Lilly’s going with Chara and I’m trying to push Cole onto Ference.”
“Good luck with that,” I snorted and Alyssa scoffed, “How’s Duke with the kittens?”
“He’s afraid of them,” Alyssa giggled and I smirked and looked down to see that the kitten finished eating, so I placed him back in the box and moved onto Lilly.
By the time that we finished with the kittens, Alyssa and I left to head to the restaurant that we were going to meet some of the guys at.
During lunch I noticed that Alyssa was talking with Tuukka a lot and I wanted to know what they were talking about. By the end of lunch Alyssa said that she was going to head with Tuukka and I nodded my head and headed over towards Nathan’s house.
“What’s wrong with you?” Nathan asked as he looked at me and saw a look on my face.
“What is Tuuk up to?” I asked and Nathan shrugged his shoulders.
“What do you mean?” he asked and I sighed, “You don’t trust them?”
“No, it’s not that-“
“Looch, Alyssa’s not like those other girls that you dated, she’s our friend, our teammate- She probably just practicing with Tuuk.”
“Yeah you’re right,” I said and Nathan patted my shoulder.
“Everything’s gunna be all right, you’re too paranoid.”
“I know, you know how I was when she was on the Capitals-“
“Dude, I was going to kill you if Alyssa didn’t come to Boston,” Nathan said and we both laughed.
-Alyssa-
“Do it again, AJ!” Tuukka yelled and I nodded my head. I took a deep breath, skated a circle around the puck and then headed towards the net. I shot the puck at Tuukka, hoping for a goal, but he caught it and I growled, “Come on girl, you’re off your game!”
‘…I’m not off my game, you guys are a lot better than the Capitals…’ I thought as I glared at the ice and skated back towards the center and got the puck and did it again.
Tuukka and I have been doing this since after Christmas. We figured, and hoped, that the lockout would end soon, and I wanted to be in tip top shape, so we’ve been practicing together. I was getting better, but it was hard to score against him, he was really good.
“Nice one!” he praised as I managed to slip a puck between his legs and got myself a goal.
“Three out of what- A million,” I laughed and Tuukka smirked and pulled up his helmet.
“What can I say? I’m awesome,” he said and I smirked and shoved him a little.
“What’s going on over here?” we heard and turned our heads to see Coach standing by the bench. Tuukka and I skated over towards him and sighed, “What are you two doing here?”
“Practicing,” I said and looked at Tuukka, “Tuuk said he would help me on my scoring.”
“Oh, all right,” Coach said and looked at his watch, “Well wrap it up, the crew wants to clean the ice and head home.”
“Oh, ok,” I said and Coach opened the gate so that Tuukka and I could head to the locker room. Tuukka and I were in the locker room changing out of our practice gear.
“You did good out there, AJ,” he said and I looked over towards him as I threw my jersey onto the floor.
“Thanks, I hope to be getting better,” I said and he smirked and nodded his head.
“You definitely are, trust me. Stop thinking that you’re not a Bruin, Pete or Coach wouldn’t have added you to the team if you weren’t Bruin material,” he said and I smiled brightly and nodded my head.
“Thanks Tuuk,” I said and then grabbed my shower supplies and headed towards the showers, hearing Tuukka flowing behind me.
Once I finished, I heard that Tuukka was finished in the shower, so I waited for him to come and get me, cursing that I forgot to bring my clothes to change in here.
“Tuuk!” I call after waiting for a while and growing impatient, “Tuuk!” I hold the towel tight around me and walk out of my shower, down the hallway and towards the door that led back into the locker room, “Tuuk?” I slam my eyes closed as I peak my head into the locker room. When I heard nothing I inched an eye open and saw that no one was there, “Son of a bitch!” I growled and then sighed and walked into the room and over towards my locker, “Wait ta tell me that you were finished, Tuukka.”
-Milan-
Alyssa’s been gone for a while and I was at my place sitting on my reclining chair wondering where she was. I knew that she had her own place, but it was the weekend, I thought that she would be over her. I growled and then grabbed my phone and called her. She answered just as it was about to hit her voicemail.
“Hey Milan! I just got home,” she said and I sighed and rubbed my face.
“I thought you were going to come over here,” I said and heard Alyssa walking around.
“Give me a little while, I’ll grab some clothes and head over. I think Becca wants help with the kittens- I don’t know, give me an hour or so,” she said and I stood up.
“All right, what were you doing? How’d you get home?”
“Tuuk gave me a ride home, I was with him-“
“Yeah I know that,” I said, probably a little too rudely, and Alyssa caught it.
“Wow there Mr. Grouch,” she said and I sighed, “What’s your problem?”
“Sorry, that was a dick move,” I said and heard her sigh.
“I’ll see you later Milan,” she said and then hung up before I could put another word in.
“Dammit,” I growled and then shook my head and rubbed my face, ‘…You did it now, Looch’.
Alyssa was over in almost two hours and she was a little pissed. I sighed and knew that I was in for it.
“What the hell was that about?” she growled as she placed her bag on the counter and looked at me as I stood in the kitchen, “Look, if you don’t trust me-“
“Whoa! Never said that-“
“No! You didn’t, but you sure as hell acted like it,” she growled and I sighed and nodded my head, “Milan, I love you, I would never do anything-“
“I know, I’m sorry, I was being an idiot,” I said and she walked over towards me and placed her hand on my arm.
“What’s going on?” she asked and I looked at her and shook my head, “Milan, come on.”
“It’s just, you’re on the team now- And I’m happy about that! But what if you start to like someone else,” I said sadly and then looked at Alyssa shocked when she started to laugh.
“You’re an idiot, you know that,” she said and I sighed and nodded my head. Alyssa cupped my face and made me look at her, “I love you, only you! You’re such a goof.”
I smiled towards her and placed my hands on her waist and pressed my lips against hers. She wrapped her arms around my neck and I picked her up and sat her on the counter, moving in-between her legs and pressed her body against mine.
We both pulled away and Alyssa laid her head on my shoulder, “I’m not going anywhere, Milan.”
“Good,” I said and felt her kiss my neck. But it was still bugging me, I needed to know, “Hey babe?”
“Hmmm?”
“What were you and Tuuk doing anyways?”
“Ugh!” she growled and pulled away and hopped off of the counter, “We were training!”
“Huh?” I looked at her confused.
“Tuuk’s been helping me with my scoring!!!” she said and I looked at her surprised, “You guys are on a whole ‘nother level from the Caps. I need to get better and he’s been helping me.”
‘…I’m an idiot…’