Family Reunion
Nine
The last two days in Savonlinna is mostly touring, showing John around the city, even going to one of Joonas' games. Thankfully, we manage to avoid my parents and Tuukka and get home without another call from my brother.
The rest of the season flies by, and I become the statiscian I always am when the end of the season nears to see who the Capitals will be playing in the first round- if they can make it. While John and his teammates are playing their final game of the season, the Senators who they're competing for the final spot with, are playing also. The boys win the game against the Rangers 4-1, while the Senators lose, boosting the Caps to the seventh seed of the playoffs. John looks up into the stands, finding my seat and grinning even wider than he was before; but I can't smile back, because their first round opponent is the Boston Bruins.
-
"Ready?" John calls into the bedroom, checking his watch. Once he glances up from the doorway and sees the mess I've made of my clothes in my attempts to pack, he comes into the room and sits down on the bed next to where I'm sitting, hugging my knees to my chest. He pulls me into his lap, and I bury my face into his neck.
"I can't do this. I can't go to Boston and I can't see Tuukka," I say, curling myself back into a ball.
"You don't have to see Tuukka. All you have to do is come support your boyfriend and his team. We don't have to go anywhere in the city. We can be hermits and live in the hotel room if that's what makes you happy. Just come to Boston."
I take a few deep breaths, eventually giving in and nodding. I can feel John smiling as he kisses the top of my head and pushes me off of him playfully, trying to get me to smile, then stuffing all the clothes on the bed into the suitcase and zipping it up. He reaches out his hand for mine when he's done, and after a few seconds, I take it and he pulls me up, leading me out of the apartment.
Once we get on the plane, John leads me to a pair of empty seats in the middle of the plane. I take the aisle seat, looking across to the seats facing us and seeing Karl and Braden. Braden smiles reassuringly at me and Karl pulls out a deck of cards from his backpack underneath his seat.
The hour long plane ride flies by, spent playing poker, and when we land, John and I go straight to the hotel as promised. The team has practice in a couple hours at TD Garden, so John flops down on the bed immediately, falling asleep within ten minutes. I'm left to wait till he wakes up, working up the nerve to walk around the city for a while, setting an alarm on John's phone for him.
Since it's barely noon here, I decide to call Joonas back home, just to make it seem like I have a bit of company. I pass a Whole Foods on the way, deciding to get a smoothie and a piece of pizza. While I eat, Joonas and I continue talking about the playoffs and his preparation for Nashville's development camp in a few months. A couple people give me weird or confused looks when they hear me talking in Finnish, but one person in particular looks more than confused. I barely glance at him, before returning to my pizza, but I notice out of the corner of my eye that he's staring. That's when I recognize who it is. "Joonas..I have to go." I quickly clean up, throwing away my pizza and making a break for the exit.
"Eela, wait!" the guy calls. I only stop to give him a death glare, but he catches up to me, "Eela-"
"What, Tuukka?" I snap. He jerks back, but keeps his grip on my wrist to keep me from leaving. "You don't talk to me for- what?- seven months, and then you see me in Whole Foods trying to have a conversation with my brother and suddenly you're chasing after me?"
"Wait- what are you doing here?" he asks, letting go of my wrist.
I pause, "My boyfriend's playing a couple hockey games up here," I mumble before running off.
-
The next day, John leaves a few hours early for the game with the rest of the team and before I have to leave, I call Joonas again. "Eela, what happened yesterday?" he answers in Finnish right away though it's almost midnight in Finland.
"I saw Tuukka," I get out. I hear Joonas sigh. "I was eating lunch at Whole Foods like I had told you and he heard me talking to you like I am now, in Finnish. I ran as soon as I realized it was him but he caught up to me and asked why I was in Boston. I just told him my boyfriend had a couple hockey games. But he's probably going to figure out what I mean tonight."
"Go to the game, Eela. You'll regret it more if you don't than if you do. Wear your Capitals jersey, just make sure there are other Caps fans around you."
I nod, mostly to myself and agree with Joonas, saying goodbye and then pulling John's jersey over my head over one of his team hoodies before walking out of the room to TD Garden.
John hadn't told me where the ticket was in the arena, so I blindly follow the directions of one of the Garden employees to my seat ten rows off the glass, directly across from the visitor bench. Probably so John could low key keep an eye on me during the game while he waits in between shifts, though he knows he should focus on the game in front of him.
After about twenty minutes, the lights drop and the two teams come out for warmups. I speed walk down the steps, getting to a spot on the glass just as John flies past me. He comes around once again before dropping to his knees on the ice to stretch, winking at me when he spins around on his way up. I notice a couple of the guys tossing pucks to the few Capitals fans that had also crowded around to watch warm ups, and I turn to the guys taking shots before John stops in front of me, juggling a puck and blocking my view. He looks up at me when he hits the puck a final time, sending it over the glass and into my hands. I smile at him, turning the puck over in my hands and seeing a Bruins logo on one side and the NHL shield on the other. I glance over to the Bruins' side of the ice and see that Tuukka isn't the backup and instead, Marty Turco, who took his spot after Tuukka had a groin injury against the Islanders in March skates around warming up.
John stays as close as he can during warmups and once everyone starts to clear off, he comes over one final time, knocking his shoulder into the glass in front of me and sliding down to the other Caps fans before skating off.
Before the game starts, the scratches of the night come onto the jumbotron, Tuukka’s name included in the list. Finally, the lights drop again and the teams emerge once again from the locker rooms.
The entire game passes by, completely scoreless, both fanbases on the edge of their seats waiting for a goal. And one finally comes in the first overtime period from Chris Kelly on the Bruins. The Caps players all sulk off the ice, upset, as the Bruins celebrate on the ice. I make my way to the family room once the Bruins leave the ice to wait for John, knowing he’ll be a bit longer after the loss.
Some of the Bruins and Caps players, however, start filtering out to meet their families almost immediately. I scan the room, trying to see if there’s anyone that can recognize me before I see Jasmiina- Tuukka’s girlfriend. I pull the hood of one of John's sweatshirts I brought over my face and yank at the string to scrunch it up. I leave a little hole, just enough to see the door the players come from. But, I stand out in all red and Karl recognizes me in my Carlson jersey, yelling my name. Jasmiina’s head snaps up from looking down at her phone, looking around the room before she sees me sheepishly pulling down my hood to say hi to Karl.
Jasmiina jumps up once Karl leaves with Mandy, walking with her out of the Garden where the team bus waits for him, a few minutes later, telling me John would be out soon. She comes up to me, “Eela?”
I sigh and nod, but before she can say anything else, John comes up behind her. “Ready?” he asks, a little confused. I look to Jasmiina and she backs off, going to her original spot. I manage a smile as he holds his hand out, taking mine.
-
“Who was that back at the garden?” John finally asks once he gets back to the hotel room from the team bus.
“One of the Bruins WAGs I guess, you came up before I could catch her name,” I lie. He lets it drop after that though, surprisingly, and falls asleep a few minutes later.
The rest of the season flies by, and I become the statiscian I always am when the end of the season nears to see who the Capitals will be playing in the first round- if they can make it. While John and his teammates are playing their final game of the season, the Senators who they're competing for the final spot with, are playing also. The boys win the game against the Rangers 4-1, while the Senators lose, boosting the Caps to the seventh seed of the playoffs. John looks up into the stands, finding my seat and grinning even wider than he was before; but I can't smile back, because their first round opponent is the Boston Bruins.
-
"Ready?" John calls into the bedroom, checking his watch. Once he glances up from the doorway and sees the mess I've made of my clothes in my attempts to pack, he comes into the room and sits down on the bed next to where I'm sitting, hugging my knees to my chest. He pulls me into his lap, and I bury my face into his neck.
"I can't do this. I can't go to Boston and I can't see Tuukka," I say, curling myself back into a ball.
"You don't have to see Tuukka. All you have to do is come support your boyfriend and his team. We don't have to go anywhere in the city. We can be hermits and live in the hotel room if that's what makes you happy. Just come to Boston."
I take a few deep breaths, eventually giving in and nodding. I can feel John smiling as he kisses the top of my head and pushes me off of him playfully, trying to get me to smile, then stuffing all the clothes on the bed into the suitcase and zipping it up. He reaches out his hand for mine when he's done, and after a few seconds, I take it and he pulls me up, leading me out of the apartment.
Once we get on the plane, John leads me to a pair of empty seats in the middle of the plane. I take the aisle seat, looking across to the seats facing us and seeing Karl and Braden. Braden smiles reassuringly at me and Karl pulls out a deck of cards from his backpack underneath his seat.
The hour long plane ride flies by, spent playing poker, and when we land, John and I go straight to the hotel as promised. The team has practice in a couple hours at TD Garden, so John flops down on the bed immediately, falling asleep within ten minutes. I'm left to wait till he wakes up, working up the nerve to walk around the city for a while, setting an alarm on John's phone for him.
Since it's barely noon here, I decide to call Joonas back home, just to make it seem like I have a bit of company. I pass a Whole Foods on the way, deciding to get a smoothie and a piece of pizza. While I eat, Joonas and I continue talking about the playoffs and his preparation for Nashville's development camp in a few months. A couple people give me weird or confused looks when they hear me talking in Finnish, but one person in particular looks more than confused. I barely glance at him, before returning to my pizza, but I notice out of the corner of my eye that he's staring. That's when I recognize who it is. "Joonas..I have to go." I quickly clean up, throwing away my pizza and making a break for the exit.
"Eela, wait!" the guy calls. I only stop to give him a death glare, but he catches up to me, "Eela-"
"What, Tuukka?" I snap. He jerks back, but keeps his grip on my wrist to keep me from leaving. "You don't talk to me for- what?- seven months, and then you see me in Whole Foods trying to have a conversation with my brother and suddenly you're chasing after me?"
"Wait- what are you doing here?" he asks, letting go of my wrist.
I pause, "My boyfriend's playing a couple hockey games up here," I mumble before running off.
-
The next day, John leaves a few hours early for the game with the rest of the team and before I have to leave, I call Joonas again. "Eela, what happened yesterday?" he answers in Finnish right away though it's almost midnight in Finland.
"I saw Tuukka," I get out. I hear Joonas sigh. "I was eating lunch at Whole Foods like I had told you and he heard me talking to you like I am now, in Finnish. I ran as soon as I realized it was him but he caught up to me and asked why I was in Boston. I just told him my boyfriend had a couple hockey games. But he's probably going to figure out what I mean tonight."
"Go to the game, Eela. You'll regret it more if you don't than if you do. Wear your Capitals jersey, just make sure there are other Caps fans around you."
I nod, mostly to myself and agree with Joonas, saying goodbye and then pulling John's jersey over my head over one of his team hoodies before walking out of the room to TD Garden.
John hadn't told me where the ticket was in the arena, so I blindly follow the directions of one of the Garden employees to my seat ten rows off the glass, directly across from the visitor bench. Probably so John could low key keep an eye on me during the game while he waits in between shifts, though he knows he should focus on the game in front of him.
After about twenty minutes, the lights drop and the two teams come out for warmups. I speed walk down the steps, getting to a spot on the glass just as John flies past me. He comes around once again before dropping to his knees on the ice to stretch, winking at me when he spins around on his way up. I notice a couple of the guys tossing pucks to the few Capitals fans that had also crowded around to watch warm ups, and I turn to the guys taking shots before John stops in front of me, juggling a puck and blocking my view. He looks up at me when he hits the puck a final time, sending it over the glass and into my hands. I smile at him, turning the puck over in my hands and seeing a Bruins logo on one side and the NHL shield on the other. I glance over to the Bruins' side of the ice and see that Tuukka isn't the backup and instead, Marty Turco, who took his spot after Tuukka had a groin injury against the Islanders in March skates around warming up.
John stays as close as he can during warmups and once everyone starts to clear off, he comes over one final time, knocking his shoulder into the glass in front of me and sliding down to the other Caps fans before skating off.
Before the game starts, the scratches of the night come onto the jumbotron, Tuukka’s name included in the list. Finally, the lights drop again and the teams emerge once again from the locker rooms.
The entire game passes by, completely scoreless, both fanbases on the edge of their seats waiting for a goal. And one finally comes in the first overtime period from Chris Kelly on the Bruins. The Caps players all sulk off the ice, upset, as the Bruins celebrate on the ice. I make my way to the family room once the Bruins leave the ice to wait for John, knowing he’ll be a bit longer after the loss.
Some of the Bruins and Caps players, however, start filtering out to meet their families almost immediately. I scan the room, trying to see if there’s anyone that can recognize me before I see Jasmiina- Tuukka’s girlfriend. I pull the hood of one of John's sweatshirts I brought over my face and yank at the string to scrunch it up. I leave a little hole, just enough to see the door the players come from. But, I stand out in all red and Karl recognizes me in my Carlson jersey, yelling my name. Jasmiina’s head snaps up from looking down at her phone, looking around the room before she sees me sheepishly pulling down my hood to say hi to Karl.
Jasmiina jumps up once Karl leaves with Mandy, walking with her out of the Garden where the team bus waits for him, a few minutes later, telling me John would be out soon. She comes up to me, “Eela?”
I sigh and nod, but before she can say anything else, John comes up behind her. “Ready?” he asks, a little confused. I look to Jasmiina and she backs off, going to her original spot. I manage a smile as he holds his hand out, taking mine.
-
“Who was that back at the garden?” John finally asks once he gets back to the hotel room from the team bus.
“One of the Bruins WAGs I guess, you came up before I could catch her name,” I lie. He lets it drop after that though, surprisingly, and falls asleep a few minutes later.