Love is Blindness

Chapter 1; Merry Christmas

Christmas was going to be great. On the 22nd we beat Minnesota 4-1. Dom played great. Leaving for the holiday with a win like that was like an extra Christmas gift for me and the whole team.

Juliana was having a small Christmas part for her friends. Her and her boyfriend. Valtteri Filppula decided that it would be nice to have a couple of friends over to their apartment. I made a family favorite, peanut butter blossom cookies. They're basically peanut butter cookies with Hershey kisses on top.

I put on a pair of blue skinny jeans with a red- knit V- neck. I put on my white Reebok sneakers and straightened my hair before I left.

I stepped out into the cold air. The warmth of the cookies kept my hands warm. The snow was falling peacefully and stuck to my hair as I jumped in the front seat of my BMW. I only had to drive a few blocks down.

I walked inside the building. The smells of turkeys, vegetables, and other amazing foods flooded the stairwell. I had eaten light all day so I would have room for the Christmas dinner that Juliana and Valtteri were preparing. The aroma made my mouth water.

I reached their apartment and heard Christmas music and laughing coming from the other side. I knocked and heard someone coming. Juliana opened the door.

"Merry Christmas," I said excitedly.
"Same! Come on in!"
I walked in to see food all over the table. I looked into the kitchen to see Valtteri basting the turkey. To his right I saw my other best friend, Sam. I walked over and greeted them.

"Turkey should be done in about 30 minutes," Valtteri said.
"Thank God! I'm starving!"
While we waited for the turkey we talked about what we got from our parents.

"Look at this bracelet! It's 14 karat gold! Look at the charms! Here's the Red Wings logo! Ane here, ha, here is my dad's number!" Sam pointed to a red number 18 dangling from her wrist.
"I love it! Your dad has good taste," I said.
"What about you, hun?" Juliana asked.
"My parents are flying in tomorrow for the game," Valtteri replied. Juliana's face lit up. She loved spending time with Valtteri's family. "Did your dad get you anything, Hannah?"

My smile turned to a frown as my shoulders slumped.
I sighed, "No. He didn't. He's never done this before."

Sam got up and wrapped her arms around me. Juliana left Valtteri's side and sat to the opposite side of me, hugging me too.

After a minute there was a knock at the door. Sam sighed as she stood up to go answer it.
"Oh hey, Mr. Yzerman! Merry Christmas! What brings you here?" I whipped my head around at the sound of my dad's name.
"Merry Christmas to you too, Sam. And please, I've known you since the day you came home from the hospital! Call me Stevie! And I came because I wasn't able to catch my little girl in time before she came here."

I ran to my dad's side and gave him a hug. I hadn't seen him in a few weeks since he had been so busy.
"I got you something Sweetie!" he reached into his jacket and pulled out a smallish box. I carefully took it out of his hands and tore the wrapping paper off to reveal a rectangular velvet box. Inside the box was a silver chain and at the end was a white and red diamond- studded pendant molded into the Red Wings logo. It was absolutely beautiful!

"That's incredible daddy! I've never seen anything like it before! How's you get it?" I asked excitedly.
"Your damn right you've never seen it before! Your mother made it. I gave her the idea then she put it together. Like it?" he replied with a wide smile.
"Like it? Are you kidding? I love it! Thank you so much," I screeched and gave him another hug.
"Well darlin' I'd better get going. I gotta get ready for tomorrow's game. Val! You better get some sleep! No funny business tonight!" my dad yelled. Both Juliana and Valtteri blushed bright red. Sam and I looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"I love you dad! See you tomorrow," I said as I began to close the door behind him but then two girls popped through the door. They were Val and Juliana's neighbors. They were slightly younger than us so the two of them, twin sisters, lived together to pay rent until they were able to afford on their own.

"Merry Christmas!" they said simultaneously.
"Hey Lauren," i gave her a quick hug. "Hey Lindsay," then gave her a hug.

We all gathered around the TV to watch a Christmas movie. I was sitting on the smallest couch with Sam, the twins were on the other couch, and Juliana and Val were on the love seat together.

About half way through the movie I saw Val beginning to doze off along with Juliana who was falling asleep on his chest. I decided it was time to close up. I flicked the TV off, stood, stretched, then walked over to Val and flicked the back of his head. Juliana started giggling at the surprised face he made. The girls began laughing too.

"Go to bed. Now! We got practice in the morning! You better not be late! Your heard my dad, no funny business!" The five of us began cracking up again.
"I'll walk you two idiots out!" Juliana said, still laughing.
"Thanks for inviting us, Julz! You be at practice?"
"Deff girls! Night! Oh, and you two seriously need boyfriends so you know what it's like to be constantly harassed by your best friends!" Juliana shot out, giving us a serious face.
"Shut it, douche!" Sam spat back and her and I turned to walk down the stairs, laughing.

When we got back outside, it was still snowing. I began to open my BMW when I noticed Sam standing at her car door.

"What...?" I looked around.
"You know, she could be right..." she replied.
"About what?"
"About we needing boyfriends. Now that I think about it, I'm sure we deserve our fair share of harassment after saying everything we have to her and Val. I'm sure it gets annoying after a while. Ha ha. Anyways, g'night." She opened her Acadia, revved it up and drove away. I began to think about what she said. I guess she was right but I didn't worry about that now. Right now I had to focus on other things, like our game tomorrow night against St. Louis. I got in my car and drove back to my apartment.