From Boston to Pittsburgh With Love

Adriana's P.O.V.

July
************

Holy shit. I'll kill him next time I see him. I swear to all the gods that exist I will beat the living shit out of my brother the ext time I see him. He can't be doing this. HE CAN'T BE SERIOUS.

I stared out the window of the private jet as it prepared to take off. My mind flashed back to the past week in Boston...

I arrived back at Milan's apartment to see an unfamiliar car in the his parking spot. As I open the door to the apartment my palms begin to sweat and for the life of me I have no idea why. The door creaks open to reveal the three people that I definitely didn't feel like arguing with right now, and I could feel a screaming match coming. There standing in the living room next to Milan where my mother, grandmother, and oldest brother stood solemnly.

"And what do I owe the pleasure of this?" I ask with a hint of sarcasm in my voice as I dump my bag on the counter.

"Adriana Valentina Lucic! Never speak to us like that again!" My mother scolds me.

As much as I wanted to roll my eyes and stalk out of this room I knew the only way to get through whatever was yet to come was to swallow my pride.

"My sincerest apologies." I mutter while plastering a fake smile on my face as I give my mother and grandmother a kiss on the cheek and my oldest brother Jovan a tight hug.

"I asked them here to speak with you regarding your future." My brother Milan mutters with a smile from the corner of the room where he's nursing a cold beer.

I let out a sigh knowing that that is the reason Milan gave them for asking them here, but it was not his true motive for enlisting the help of some immediate family to intervene. I knew Milan had found out that I had been meeting his teammates Tuukka and Gregory for coffee once a week a few blocks away. Naturally he has assumed the worst, one particular thing to note about my brother is that once he has believes in something he will never back down from it. Thus he has yet to ask me what happened and instead has drawn his own conclusions.

"It is about time we talk about what is in store for your future my beautiful." My grandmother speaks in Serbian.

When the language switches from English to Serbian it was easy to see that Milan, Jovan, and I immediately perk up. Though the three of us spoke a mediocre amount of Serbian we were able to understand it fluently. In fact I was the only one who could speak a the best in my grandmother's native language.

"Then let us begin. I would like to point out that I have been successful here in Boston as a physical therapist. I have gone to school and am making a successful life for myself here. I see no reason to change." I speak slowly in Serbian as to plead to my grandmother, not personally caring what my mother had to say in the matter.

"Your mother and I have talked it over. We believe a young women like yourself needs to become more worldly." My grandmother speaks switching the conversation back to English when she notices that my brothers aren't able to keep up.

I began to reply when I was interrupted by my mother. "You will do what your grandmother will ask of you without question."

I nodded my head in reply and awaited the verdict with clenched fists.

"We have come to the conclusion that you will spend the next four months at the family's estate in Prague being educated on how to conduct yourself as a sophisticated, classy, and respectable Serbian women." My grandmother spoke slowly as she sips the tea Milan has placed out prior to my arrival.

As the words left her mouth I felt the world go numb around me. Three things became very clear to me in that exact moment. First, my life was here in Boston, I was making more friends everyday since I had arrived two months prior to work at a physical therapy firm. Tuukka and Greg were actually extremely nice people who I had become close friends with in the past weeks. Second, I wouldn't be able to support Milan's NHL career from thousands of miles away in a foreign country. Something I had been trying to do more and more even though Milan maintained the firm belief that the NHL was no place for his baby sister. Third, my grandmother and mother live hundreds of miles away in Vancouver. Meaning they never would have thought of this without an outside push. Coming to this conclusion my head immediately snapped up to look directly into the eyes of Milan.

"You never even asked my side of the story." I say coldly looking him dead in the eyes.

"I haven't the slightest idea what you mean. I merely called them two weeks ago to say that I was concerned that Boston was not the place for you." He spoke with a sly smile on his face.

I have the utmost respect for Milan, in fact I can say confidently I would die for him. I love my brothers. But I knew better than to think that Milan did not have an ulterior motive than what he publicly told my grandmother and mother.

"Adriana your brother is right. And in fact showing how thoughtful he is. He is looking out for your best interests. You should be thanking him." My mother says throwing a smile in Milan's direction.

The tears were coming, I could feel the sting in my nose. I pinched my wrist to keep from appearing weak in front of my family, especially at this moment. It dawned on me that Jovan had not muttered a single word since arriving.

"What, not a word from you?!" I say not realizing the bite behind my words as they left my mouth.

Before Jovan could say anything in defense my mother interjected. "Adriana!! You are not helping your case here. If anything you are proving to all of that you do not deserve to stay in America."

"There will be a car here to pick you up tomorrow morning at 9 am sharp." Milan says no longer looking devilish, instead like a little kid who was caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

And with that my family began to leave. Cold hugs and cheek kisses were given by me to the people I call my family.

When I awoke that morning I found Milan making breakfast with his wife Brittany. I dragged my bags to the door not muttering a word, instead choosing to give my favorite niece Valentina a kiss.

"Want breakfast before you go?" Asked Milan thoughtfully.

I wasn't about to fall for that. "I'm fine thanks. I better go."

I gave a hug and kiss on the cheek to Brittany and baby Valentina. When I came to Milan I hesitated, but he wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug.

"I'm sorry it came to this Addy. I just don't want you involved in that lifestyle. You having brighter things in store for you." He whispered in my ear.

When I heard him use his old nickname for me I melted. Immediately I forgot the anger I was feeling, I squeezed him tight and whispered back "I love you Milan. I don't understand now but give me time and a punching bag and I will."

He pulled back and smiled at me before waving as I walked out the door with my bags.