Chapter 10

Sid’s Point of View
We arrived in Philly around11, and after getting checked in and settled, it was almost midnight. Jess was lying on the bed watching TV and I was organizing the suitcases in the corner, but by the time I had turned around to join her on the bed, she was out; mouth open and everything. I just laughed to myself as I changed into a pair of pajamas. She still had her street clothes on and I wasn’t sure if I should wake her. I figured she should be comfortable after a 5 hour drive, so I leaned over and nudged her awake. “What? What is it?” were the first words out of her mouth.
“Here, put something else on to wear to bed,” I said.
“Huh? OK,” she mumbled all in one so it sounded like, “Huhkay.” I pulled a shirt of mine out of my suitcase and handed it to her as she pulled the shirt she had on over her head. There was that polka-dotted bra again, before she slipped the shirt I had handed her over her head and fallen back down on the bed. I was hooked, and I knew it. This girl had me, and I don’t even think she knew how far I’d fallen.
-
The next day, after our embarrassing 3-6 loss to Philly and getting everything together from the hotel, Jess said that we had to go visit her uncle before we left. We had the bus stop at the airport so we could rent a car that would get us to her uncle’s and back to the airport. I said goodbye to my teammates and told them I’d see them in Atlanta. I was in a bad mood the whole time, grumbling on and on about how every time we had a game at 1 in the afternoon, we lost. She directed me down towards the Ben Franklin Bridge, and had me get off at the last possible exit before heading over the bridge to New Jersey. We pulled up to an upscale looking building and walked into the lobby where her uncle was waiting for her.
“Jess! How’re you? Your mother said you’d be here, but I can’t figure out…” he trailed off as he saw me. I stepped forward to introduce myself.
“Hey. Sidney Crosby, nice to meet you,” I said extending a hand. He glanced at Jess who shrugged and smiled before reaching out a hand of his own and saying, “Patrick Farrell. This is really an honor. So are you dating my niece?” he prodded.
“Well sir, I’d like to think so,” I said lacing my fingers in Jess’s as she blushed.
“So do you have time to do something? Or do you have to leave?”
“Well, actually,” Jess said, “we’re heading down to Yorktown before I have my surgery. Sid has a game against Atlanta on the 18th, so we figured we’d stop off there, but before we leave, I’m feeling some ice cream.”
-
We walked about five minutes out the back door of his building and down a little alley before we came to Franklin’s Fountain, apparently one of the oldest ice cream shops in the country complete with old fans turned by actual fan belts, an extremely old fashioned telephone with separate ear and mouth piece and an assortment of old-fashioned candy. “I once ate a whole banana-split from here when I was 16. It was amazing,” Jess said as we walked into the ice cream shop. “Let’s get one. It’ll probably be the best thing you will ever taste in your life.”
“I can’t. I don’t eat junk food, or sweets or anything like that. I can’t,” I said sheepishly. Her mouth hung open as she looked at me.
“Are you serious? I definitely couldn’t be a professional hockey player. I have no self-control or self-discipline. You’ll be lucky if you can get me to work out. Whatever, I’m ordering one, and if you want any of mine, you’d better speak now.”
“Why?” I was genuinely curious now.
“Oh, you’ll see,” she said with a smile.
She proceeded to order the most expensive and biggest banana split I had ever seen in my life; 6 scoops of ice cream, two each of chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla, two whole bananas thrown in there somewhere, pineapple and walnut toppings, and to finish it off, two cherries perched on the center mound of ice cream. I had to admit, my mouth was watering and I really did want some, but as she started eating it, I realized I wouldn’t have had the chance to eat any even if I could. It was gone in 2 minutes flat. That’s what she meant by speak now. “I told you you’d better ask beforehand,” she said as she sat back in her chair like an old man wearing suspenders would in the movies.
“And you don’t feel sick now?”
“Not really… This ice cream doesn’t fill me up for some reason.”
“You obviously haven’t seen her in action,” he uncle chipped in. “She could eat for days without stopping.” Jess nodded her approval and grinned.
“I guess I haven’t,” I said, still in shock from the disappearing banana split.
Jess sat forward in her chair, checked her phone and said, “Alright Uncle Patrick, Sid and I have to get going. It’s 6 o’clock and I told my mom we’d be there around 8 or 9.
“So you’re flying?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’ll make sure to stop by the next time Sid has a game here, but we really have to go now. Bye.”
Hugs were exchanged and I shook his hand again. He seemed pretty chill, and I saw a lot of him in Jess. “You really like your uncle don’t you?” I asked once we were in the car and driving back to the airport.
“Yeah, I do actually,” she said skeptically. “How’d you know?”
“I see a lot of his mannerisms in you, and that’s a good thing.” I smiled at her as we pulled up to the airport and unloaded our luggage.
-
Jess’s Point of View
Our plane landed sooner than I expected, around 8:30, and I really wasn’t ready to brave my parents. I wasn’t used to not having anything to do or anywhere to go; welcome to Virginia. I remembered just how much I hated this airport; there were a total of 6 gates, one place to buy coffee, and 2 places to claim luggage. Talk about small town. We stood in the line for a rental car and when we got up to the front, the man working just so happened to know who Sid was, and made a huge fuss about the fact that he was renting a car out to Sidney Crosby. Sid had to be nice, and sign a few autographs for what seemed like the entire staff of the airport. As much as I wanted to just grab the keys and walk out, I controlled myself and waiting patiently for him to finish, with a fake smile plastered on my face the whole time. We walked out in silence and I finally asked, “What am I going to tell my parents about us?”
“The truth?” he asked innocently.
“That doesn’t always fly with my parents Sid. You want me to say ‘Hey mom! This is Sidney Crosby. He’s seen me in my bra and we’ve made out a few times since we met two weeks ago.’?
“No… Why don’t we just go with, ‘We’ve been seeing each other.’?”
“My mom thinks I’m throwing my life away being with you and bringing you here.”
“Did she say that?”
“No, but when I talked to her, that’s what it sounded like,” I said.
“Well, we’ll find out soon enough, won’t we?” he said reassuringly.
-
We pulled up around the house in our rental Escalade around 9ish. Sid just had to get the biggest SUV there was. “Are you ready?” I asked sincerely.
“I’m pretty sure I’ll be OK,” he replied.
“Alright, let’s go then,” I said and grabbed his hand as we walked up the front path and up the few stairs into my house. The second I opened the door and walked into the small foyer, I knew everything would be alright. My brother Mitch was home, and he always managed to diffuse situations. He was currently a junior in high school and girls called the house almost everyday; I was thrilled when I got to answer it and scare them if he didn’t like them.
“Jess! It’s been so boring around here without you!” he said as he hugged me. Even though I was 3 years older than him, he towered over Sid and me at 6’4”. I stood at 5’11”, and Sid at 6’0” on a good day. “Mom’s in the kitchen,” he said and pulled out his phone to finish texting whoever it was that he had been talking to.
“Thanks Mitch. Come on, let’s go,” I said to Sid. We walked down the narrow hallway with me leading the way into the kitchen. My dad, Ted, was sitting in the recliner watching what appeared to be a re-run of SportsCenter and my mom, Jillian, was cleaning up the kitchen.
“Hi Mommy!” I said, and ran to hug her. I could hear the leather creak on the recliner as my dad got up to come over and say hello. I let go of my mom and gave my dad a hug when he reached me. Sid stepped forward and said, “Hi Mr. and Mrs. Spade, I’m Sidney Crosby, nice to meet you. My dad responded with a grunt and my mom said, “Well, Jess did tell us you were coming, so we made up the guest bed for you. Jess can show you. It’s very nice to meet you.” And with that, she turned around and continued cleaning. My dad actually stepped forward and shook Sid’s hand.
“Young man, I hope you have only the best intentions with my daughter,” he said. “And I think you’re a phenomenal player by the way. You’ll have to tell me how you two met later, but why don’t you go upstairs now; you’ve probably had a long day.”
I led the way up the stairs and into the room that housed our family computer and guest bed. After knowing where to go, Sid went back and forth to the car a few times before he got all of our stuff in; mine in my old room and his in the guest room. I sat on my old bed after changing into a pair of flannel pants and a sweatshirt, wondering what had just occurred with my parents.
-
Sid’s Point of View
Jess’s room fit her perfectly. A huge daisy was painted on one wall, while different pictures filled up the others. Every picture was a different style and of something different than the last. She caught me looking at them and said, “My uncle, the one we just met, did all of these.”
“They fit your personality really well. This whole room is just what I expected from you,” I said as I sat down on the bed next to her. I paused before continuing. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m not sure what just happened with my parents. I’m pretty sure they don’t mind you, I think it’s just that they don’t want you to turn into a mistake.”
“Why would that happen? I asked.
“I had this boyfriend in high school, his name was Steven Merrin. We dated for a long time, and then he up and left me for a hockey school up north. They don’t want that to happen again,” she said, picking at her nails the whole time.
“Jess, you know I’m never going to do something like that to you,” I said sincerely, intertwining our fingers.
“I was a mess after that happened. They just don’t want me to get hurt again. Their intentions are good, but the way they’re going about it is all wrong.”
“I promise you that I’ll never just up and go. Really. I expect you to hold me to that.” This must be hard on her, always having that memory, and here I am, a hockey player; she must constantly think that something like that will happen again.
“Thanks,” she replied, and pulled away from me to lie back and look up at the lantern hanging over her bed. “I really like you Sidney. A lot. Just thought you should know that before my parents kill you,” she said jokingly as she turned over stifling a yawn and laid her head on the pillow.
“I know your parents won’t kill me,” I said as I got up off of the bed. “And I really, really, like you Jess. I hope you like me as much as I like you.” But I knew there was no way that was even possible. Then I leaned down and kissed her forehead before saying, “I’m exhausted. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”
“If my parents haven’t killed you in your sleep that is,” she replied, pulling the covers up around herself. I could only laugh.
“Goodnight,” I said, and shut the light switch as I walked out of the room.
-
Jess’s Point of View
As I laid there in the darkness of my room, with so many things being so familiar, and so many memories flashing before my eyes, I remembered what it was like with Steven.

“Jess! Hey baby! I was amazing out there wasn’t I?!” he said after getting right off of the ice, still smelling of the game.
“Steve, you’re always amazing. You’ll always be amazing to me,” I said, and leaned in to kiss him. He kissed me back, and lifted me up into the air.
“I love you. So much,” he said.
“I love you too,” I said, leaning my forehead against his.

He was my first love, and now here was Sid; another amazing hockey player, and I was spiraling down into him, and I could only hope he felt the same way about me. I didn’t want to let him all the way in; I didn’t want to get hurt again. I know junior year was a long time ago, but I know there’s a scar on my heart from when Steven left.

“Baby, I’m going to a hockey school up north for senior year,” he told me.
“What? When did this happen?”
“I got the letter the other day.”
“You didn’t even tell me that you applied,” I said.
“I’m leaving in a few weeks.”
“You’re going to just leave me? Just like that?” I asked, hysterical.
“I’m sorry. It’s what’s best for me and my hockey,” he stated emotionlessly.
“What about what’s best for us!?” I screamed at him, a glass clenched in my hand from the dishwasher I had been emptying. “I love you!” I yelled, hoping that would make him stay.
“You weren’t even a factor in my decision. I’m going to the school. I have to leave now,” he said, and with that, he walked out of my house and out of my life. I slid down the side of the counter and pulled my knees to my chest, letting the glass fall out of my hand and the tears run down my face.

I pulled myself out of one of my most painful memories and realized I had tears running out of the corners of my eyes. I threw my covers off and tip-toed down the hallway to where Sid was sleeping in our guest room. I opened the door, stepped over the creaking floorboard and got into bed with him. He must have been sleeping, because he sat up with a start and said, “Jess! What’s wrong?”
“Don’t ever leave me,” I said, snuggling up against his chest and wrapping my arms around him. His arms mimicked the movement and brought me even closer to his body.
“Why would I do that? You know I won’t.”
That was what Steven had said, but I didn’t tell him that. I just let him wipe the tears from my face and after a few minutes, I fell asleep in his arms.

Chapter 9

Jess’s Point of View
I arrived at the game on the 11th with a knot in my stomach. I actually paid attention to how I looked for once, considering I was going to meet the great Mario Lemiuex. I did a blow-out on my hair, making it even bigger and curlier than it usually was, and I had put on a pair of black skinny jeans, grey plaid button up Henley and gold flats. I was never one for heels for quite a few reasons. One, I ended up being even taller than I already was, two, they hurt, and three, they were never practical, no matter where you wore them. My shoe wardrobe consisted of Sperry’s, loafers, sandals and the occasional flats, but never heels. I walked up to the window and received my tickets from another unenthused teenager before making my way through the crowd. I was stalling as much as possible. I really didn’t want to meet these people, even thought Sid wanted me to. It came within 10 minutes of game time and I finally stopped buying random food items and made my way up to the club boxes. I wandered down the never ending hallway to the box marked on my pass. I opened the door, expecting the worst, and was greeted by smiling faces. The woman who I took to be Nathalie stepped forward, beaming. “So I take it you’re Jess! I’m Nathalie, Mario’s wife. Sid’s told us so much about you. I hear you play basketball?” she said. She seemed extremely nice, and I realized this night wouldn’t be as bad as I had expected. I was surprised Sid had told them so much about me.
“Played basketball,” I corrected. “I tore my ACL about a month ago, and I’m having surgery in a few weeks.” I nodded as if that would ease the pain that just talking about it brought.
Nathalie’s face faltered for a moment, but then she was back to her cheery self as she said, “Well, let’s not have that hampering our evening! Come over here and I’ll introduce you to Mario!”
We walked over to a very serious looking Mario Lemiuex. I knew who he was and what he’d accomplished. He was just as nice as his wife as he introduced himself and told me to help myself to the bar and food that were laid out in the mini-kitchen before turning back to another serious looking business man.
“Don’t mind him, he gets so serious at games. Why don’t we go up to the railing and watch the game,” Nathalie said. “You’ll have such a great view!”
She led me over to the railing, and I settled myself into a chair. I was watching Sid down on the ice skating and shooting before the puck dropped, when I glanced up at the jumbo-tron to see my face looking back at me along with Mario’s and Nathalie’s.
“They always show our booth before games,” Nathalie said to me.
“OK, I was a little confused for a second,” I said with an attempt at a laugh.
“Don’t worry honey, relax and enjoy the game! Sid always manages to make it interesting.”
The game started and after two periods of awkward chatter between myself and Nathalie, I excused myself to the concourse and therefore the bathroom. Just one more period of this, I said to myself as I wandered down the hall to the bathroom. What if they ask us to do something with them after the game? I asked myself as I was washing my hands in the bathroom next to some snooty looking girl with perfectly coifed hair. My hair on the other hand had deflated quite a bit since the blow-out I had given it an a few hours ago. This girl also managed to be taller than me, with the help of four-inch heels. The point is, I felt like a pile of dog poop in comparison. I slinked out as quickly as possible and back to the suite feeling even more disheartened than I already had, but when I walked in, I was met with a pleasant surprise.
“So, Sid said you were going to be Pitt’s star center?” Mario asked me. He seemed so much more cheerful than when the game was about to start. I guess going up 8-1 with one period left could do that to you, and I had to admit, it had a nice effect on everyone around me. Before the game everyone was serious and talking business, but now everyone was laughing and cracking jokes.
“Yes, but I’m sure you’ve also heard I tore my ACL.”
“Sid did mention something about that…” Mario said with a thoughtful look. “Anyway, how are you managing?”
“Oh, well, it’s hard, but I’m determined to come back even better next year,” I said smiled, knowing I’d have to work to accomplish this.
“I’ve had a few setbacks before, and you’re right, you always want to come back even better. But enough of this talk. Tell me about last year,” He said with a smile, and I was off.
I told him about blocked shots, rebounds and steals. I admitted I wasn’t much of a scoring threat, but that I wanted to work on that while I had time; and that my dribbling needed work. He nodded the whole time, looking genuinely interested in what I had to say, which encouraged me to keep talking. I even told him about high school and how I was the only freshman on varsity, and how hard that was. He said he knew what it was like being the youngest and still one of the best, and how hard that could be. Just as I was beginning to get into how I tore my ACL, the final buzzer rang.
“Well, Jess, it seems like you have a bright future for basketball, and I truly mean that. Don’t let anyone tell you different. I’ll be looking for your name in the paper next year,” he said with a wink as he shook everyone’s hand in the box and left to go downstairs.
I left a few minutes after him, gathering up my stuff and taking my time as I ambled down to the locker room. Sid was actually waiting for me this time, and in a decent outfit no less.
-
Sid’s Point of View
Jess was looking even better than usual as she walked towards me after the game. Her hair looked nice and even though I really couldn’t tell a good outfit from a bad outfit, I could tell that she spent time on this.
“What?” she asked as she got closer and slowed down. “Do I have an arm coming out of my face?”
I laughed as she closed the few feet between us and kissed my cheek. “No, you just look really sexy,” I whispered in her ear before she pulled away with a smile on her face.
“You don’t look half bad yourself. Who dressed you?” she said with a smirk before grabbing my hand.
We ambled hand in hand out to the parking lot and waiting fans. We had talked to Mario about being public with our relationship after games and he told us with a laugh that it was alright as long as we weren’t making out against the side of the building, so we walked out from under the shelter of the service gate and into the watchful eyes of fans. I could feel the girls’ eyes on us, mostly Jess, as her hand tightened in mine and I hurried her over to the Range Rover, my hand on her lower back, pushing her forward. “I won’t get out to sign anything today.” I said with a smirk as I pecked her lips once we were safely inside the Range Rover.
“Good,” she said before asking, “What’s my prize?!” For the second time in a week, she looked like a little kid, excited for whatever the surprise was.
“We’re going to go back to my place, and I’ll show you,” I said with a sideways smile and a wink.
“You’ll show me?” she asked slowly, contemplating what I had just said.
“You’ll like it, I know it.”
-
We pulled up outside my house and without delaying on the front walk, made it into the house before freezing to death. “Right this way,” I said, leading her up the stairs and down the familiar hallway we had traveled yesterday. “You said more relaxing, you’ve got it. I’m all yours, all night.” I walked into my room to the bed and turned around to face the doorway where Jess was standing, hands on either side of the door frame. A broad smile spread across her face, and I had never really noticed how beautiful she really was until just now; her curly blonde hair sticking out at odd angles, but still managing to look just right and beautiful, her blue eyes vibrant against her alabaster skin and one of the best things, her smile. It could light up a room. Some would consider her teeth big, but with her, it fit just right with the rest of her face and all the proportions of her eyes, her teeth, her nose, worked to her advantage. “You’re so gorgeous,” I whispered making my way over to her. She dipped her chin and turned a cute shade of pink before looking back at me. By that time, I was within inches and had my hand on the lowest button of her shirt.
-
Jess’s Point of View
He wanted to sleep together so much more than I did. I expected it to be the other way around, him being the gentleman, and me being pushy. I also didn’t think it would come to this so soon. We only met a little less than two weeks ago. A fleeting thought crossed my mind: You’d better get on this. You’re having surgery in 2 weeks. I knew I couldn’t do anything afterwards, let alone have sex, and so did he. That was why he wanted it so bad. You can’t do anything right now, why not? This was also true. I couldn’t run, I couldn’t jump, so really, why not? 6 months of rehab. My thoughts convinced me that if I wanted this to happen, it had to happen before surgery, not after.
We ended up curled up in his bed watching a West coast hockey game, clothes still intact and on our bodies, except for my Henley which did get pulled off. I had a tank-top on though, so no harm done. He had pulled a big sheepskin blanket up over both of us and snuggled in close. A sudden wave of exhaustion hit me and with my head on his chest, listening to his heart beat, I drifted off to dreamland.
I woke up to see Sid was gone, the place where he had been, cold. I sat there in a panic for a total of 5 seconds before I heard him banging around in the kitchen downstairs. I got out of his bed and shuffled down the stairs to see what he was banging on about. I walked into the kitchen still rubbing my eyes when Sid grabbed me in a huge hug. “Guess what today is,” he said in my ear.
“I don’t know Sid, let me go. I’m grouchy in the morning.” He didn’t let me go.
“We’re leaving for Philly!” he said overenthusiastically. It hadn’t even dawned on me that we were leaving today. I hadn’t even packed! And I knew Melissa would be livid when I walked into the dorm wearing the same clothes as yesterday and on top of that, not calling her. Was she my mother? Sid finally let me go and I sat down at the counter.
“I know I should be excited, but it’s too early for excitement. What time is it anyway?” I asked, my eyes falling shut again as I set my forehead on the cold granite counter.
“7:00!” he said way too brightly and cheerfully.
“Sid, you’re going to have to stop with the happy and cheerful until at least 9:00.” He just laughed and continued cooking whatever it was he had been cooking. Smelled like omelets to me, which immediately perked me up. “Are those omelets?” I asked, my head still on the counter.
“Yup, you want one?” he replied.
“Yes please.”
“Well, you’re going to have to be happy and really nice if you want any,” he said with a smirk as I raised my head off the counter. I figured I’d play along. I walked over to the stove and sat on the counter next to it.
“Sidney,” I said in my most sugary sweet voice, my fingers playing with his shirt sleeve, “I’d really appreciate it if you could make me an omelet.” He turned to look at me, a look of absolute shock on his face, his mouth open slightly. “Please?” I continued, biting my bottom lip for emphasis and looking up through my lashes, not only being nice, but sexy at the same time. I jumped down off the counter and leaned into him. “It would just make my day. All I want is that omelet, on that plate.” He flopped the omelet down on the plate and handed it to me, then turned back around to put the spatula down, but before he could turn around to where I had been seconds before, I was back at the counter, eating the omelet.
“Really Jess?” he said with an exasperated sigh. “I got excited for a second.”
“You said be nice,” I replied as a piece of omelet fell out of my mouth before I could catch it. I was anything but a neat eater. He laughed at me, shaking his head.
“Anyway, so, we need to go back to your place and get all your stuff together. The bus leaves tonight a little earlier than it did for New Jersey, I’d say around 6.” I nodded as more omelet made its way out of my mouth and onto my plate. “Have you talked to your parents recently?” Sid asked, eyeing the half-chewed piece of omelet in disgust.
“Well, they know I’m coming, but they don’t know you’re coming with me,” I said slowly, waiting for his reaction.
“OK, you might want to do that before we actually get there,” he said with a small laugh as he finished up his own omelet and sat down next to me at the counter.
-
Sid’s Point of View
We left my house around 1 with everything I needed for a week of travel. Jess picked out specific outfits for me to wear everyday we were in Yorktown so as not to embarrass her. I guess she wanted to visit old friends and stuff while we were there, which I was all for. We pulled up at her dorm and walked up the stairs through the doors and past the still waiting fans. “I’m warning you now,” she said. “Melissa may be a little angry with me if she’s home. I didn’t call her and I’m wearing the same clothes as yesterday.”
“Doesn’t she sleep over at guys’ places all the time? She strikes me as that sort.”
“Well, yeah, but ever since I hurt my knee, she’s been super protective of me.”
“What does she think of me?” I prodded.
“She thinks you’re just what I need,” she replied and kissed me quickly before the elevator doors opened to her floor and we walked down the hallway to her room. I was surprised at that. It seemed like you needed a lot to get Melissa to like you, but I guess since I was involved with her best friend, she had to like me. Jess let us into her room, peeking around the door first to make sure Melissa wasn’t there. “She’s not here, it’s OK,” she said as she pushed the door open completely. “I’m going to have to face her eventually to tell her we’re leaving. She actually lived down the street from me in Yorktown,” she said as she pulled a duffel bag out of her closet with the words ‘Tabb Basketball’ printed on the side.
“Was that your high school?” I asked.
She glanced at the bag before replying, “Oh, yeah, no fancy boarding school for me. Plain old public school 5 minutes from my house.”
“Are we going to see that?”
“Of course. I want to go back to see my old coaches and stuff. I haven’t been home since I’ve been here. It’s always just seemed like too much travel, but my parents come up here a lot because my grandma and aunts and uncles and stuff live here.”
She was throwing things in the bag now, filling it up to its top with an arrangement of clothes in all different colors. When she was done there, she moved into the bathroom and pulled out another bag which she started to fill with makeup and perfume and anything else that you could think of.
“Do you really need all that?” I asked in a state of amazement.
“You never know,” she replied and continued to add things to the already brimming cosmetics bag. She finished filling the cosmetics bag with things I had never heard of. She had a hair-dryer that looked like some sort of ray-gun, but according to her, it was a diffuser, which didn’t sound much better.
After about 3 more hours of her rummaging through drawers and filling up 2 more bags with things that, to me, seemed useless, we made it out the door, but Jess said she had to call Melissa before we left, so I took the bags down to the Range Rover and waited for her.
-
Jess’s Point of View
I pulled out my phone and punched Mel’s speed dial number in before hitting talk. After a few rings, she picked up.
“Hey what’s up?” she said. She must not have known I’d spent the night at Sid’s.
“Hey, where are you?”
“Oh, I’m at Adam’s. I spent the night.”
“OK, well, I’m just calling to tell you that I’m going home for a week or so,” I said bracing myself for her reaction.
“Really? OK, that’s cool,” she replied. Adam must have been there. She was never this calm, about anything. I debated for a few seconds whether I should tell her Sid was coming with me or not. I decided against it.
“Yeah, so I’ll be back the 19th…” I trailed off, waiting for her to say something.
“Alright. Have a good time!” She was so calm about this, I was a little scared.
“You’re not angry I’m not taking you?”
“No, I think it’ll be best for you if just you go home before your surgery,” she stated. There it was. I knew she had a soft sensitive side.
“Thanks Mel, I’ll see you on the 19th!” I said before hanging up after her goodbye.
Now, I had to figure out a way to tell my mom that Sid was coming with me. I’d told my parents that I’d met him, but I never said anything about us dating. I dialed my house phone and after a few rings, I heard my mom’s voice on the other line, “Hello?”
“Mommy!” I had never gotten out of the habit of calling her that.
“Hi Jess! How’re you? You’re coming down here tomorrow right?”
“Yeah, we should be there around 8 or 9 tomorrow night.”
“Jess, honey, who’s we? Is Melissa coming? Because I was just talking to her mom and she said that-“ I had to stop her now.
“No, Melissa’s not coming with me.”
“Well then, who is?”
“Uh, don’t get mad at me.”
“Why would I get mad at you?”
“Because Sid’s coming with me, not Melissa.” I spit it out like it was poisonous. There was silence on the other end. All I could hear were re-runs of General Hospital going on in the background.
“Well, this is surprising to say the least,” my mom said after a pause. “Are you two seeing each other?”
“Kinda, I guess you could call it that.”
“Is it a friends with benefits deal?” “No mommy, we haven’t even had sex yet,” I said. I felt slimy saying this. Any sex talk with my mom was always awkward, no matter what I was saying.
“OK, good. You know how I feel about sex before marriage,” she continued. Little did she know, I had lost my virginity to Steven, my longtime boyfriend in high school. I regret it now. I never knew he’d just leave me so quickly, but with Sid, I knew he’d never do anything so heartless. The way he’s been acting about my surgery, wanting to be there when it happened… that’s not something Steven would have ever done. I’m not quite sure what I saw in him. I think it was the hockey.
“Mom, I have to go. I’m going to Philadelphia with him tonight for a game and he’s waiting in the car.”
I heard a deep sigh on the other end, and I knew she wasn’t happy with what I was doing. “OK honey. Be safe, please? Don’t let him turn into another Steven. And while you’re in Philly, stop in and say hi to Uncle Patrick.”
“OK mommy, I love you,” I said.
“I love you too,” she said, and then she was gone.

Chapter 8

Sid’s Point of View
Jess’s hand was in mine as we drove down towards the rivers and the Andy Warhol Museum. Jess was giving me background info on the whole museum, like the fact that it was sponsored by Carnegie Mellon and that Andy Warhol had actually gone there when it was know as Carnegie Tech. “Both of my parents went to Carnegie Mellon,” she added as we got out of the car. “My dad went for engineering and my mom went for graphic design. I take after her,” she said with a smile. I knew how good of a school Carnegie Mellon was, and I was impressed that not only one of her parents went there, but both.
“Your parents must be really smart”, I said as I kissed her cheek. Her response surprised me; she said matter of factly, “Not really. My mom only got in because of her portfolio, and my dad transferred there from West Point.” I found this comical and stifled a laugh. “You can laugh. I know it’s ridiculous. That’s their claim to fame: ‘I went to Carnegie Mellon!’.”
“No, it’s good that they went there, no matter how they got there.” She didn’t answer, but just leaned into me. By that time, we had gotten to the front desk, and the receptionist just happened to be a Penguins fan, so I was obliged to sign an autograph before paying for Jess’s and my ticket. We wandered into the first room where it went through Andy Warhol’s life. I learned he was gay, he was born in Oakmont, and he was famous for his silk-screen prints. I got bored with the masses of information, so I walked up to Jess and put my hands around her stomach, and proceeded to kiss her neck. She leaned into it without saying anything and brought her hand up to my cheek, but then quickly grabbed my hand pulling me towards the stairs and the other exhibits. “I promise the others aren’t as boring as that one. We’re supposed to start at the top and work our way down. The top is where they put the new exhibits.” We made our way up the stairs, stopping every once and a while for me to kiss her, and for her to pull me up the stairs after only a few seconds of my lips on hers. Every time, I grumbled a little, hoping the next time she’d let me kiss her longer, but she never did. We finally made it up to the top floor where they had photos by a guy named Ansel Adams. All of his pictures were of nature, and most were in black and white. I marveled at the awe-inspiring beauty he managed to capture in every shot.
“Can you believe how beautiful his photos are?” Jess asked in amazement, “I mean, I couldn’t do anything like this in a million years. I’m better at making things “pleasing to the eye”.” She winked at me, and I could only imagine what she meant by that; whatever it was, I wanted to find out. I’m pretty sure I wandered around after her like a puppy the rest of the time we were in the museum. I kept feeling like I was forgetting something, and checked my watch to see that it was around 4. I then remembered that the guys were heading to New Jersey at around 8 o’clock that night, which left me with a good 2 hours to spend with Jess before I had to get ready.
“Hey,” I whispered in Jess’s ear from behind her, wrapping my arms around her waist.
“Mmm?” She murmured back to me.
“What do you say we get out of here?” She turned around to face me and said in mock hurt, “What? You don’t want to see the rest of the great, gay, Andy Warhol’s artwork?” before smiling at me.
“It’s not that I would LOVE to spend the last 2 hours here before I go to New Jersey for our game tomorrow, but I’d much rather do something with you. Somewhere not in public.”
-
Jess’s Point of View
I knew what he was implying; I’m not stupid, and to be honest, I kind of wanted to just curl up with him in a bed on a cold and windy day like today.
“Can we go back to your place, and maybe just curl up by the fire?” I asked in a pleading tone.
His face softened, and he replied by saying, “Of course.” I really felt like doing something with him; being close to him. We left the museum as quickly as possible and ran out to his car, fighting the wind and cold the whole way there. He unlocked the car and we jumped in, and cranked the heat.
“Let it just run for a little while and get the heat up,” I said to him. He nodded and reached for my hand, placing both of ours on my knee. I reached up to take his face in my hands and kiss his lips. He kissed me back with more passion than anything I had ever felt. I really wanted him, right at this moment, but now was not the right time. I didn’t want to be that whore that slept with their guy after only a few times out. I pulled away and said, “Not now. I know what you want, and I want it to, but not right now.” He groaned and started complaining.
“Jess, come on. If not now, when?”
“Don’t be like that. It’ll happen eventually. We’ll be together. Don’t worry, I promise.”
He mumbled something and sat back in his seat, put the Range Rover in drive, and drove off in the direction of his house.
-
“I don’t understand how you can be so sure of everything that’s going to happen,” he said, referring to my promise that we’d be together, as we got out of the car and walked up the walk to his house.
“Honestly? I’m not sure about anything anymore,” I said with a small smile. “After this whole knee thing, I’ve learned that I can’t be sure about anything that’s going to happen. But I do know, that I need to have faith in whatever it is, and that it’s happening for a reason.” We had stopped walking towards the house and were now facing each other.
“Maybe, like you almost falling on me out in that student rush line?” he said with a smirk and a step closer to me. The wind was biting my cheeks as I too took a step closer.
“Exactly like that,” I said as I stepped into him and my eyes closed as our lips made contact. He wrapped his arms around me, and I pressed my hands to either side of his face, just like in the movies. With the wind blowing my hair around, and snow beginning to fall, I felt like I was in a fairytale, and at that moment, there was nothing more that I could have asked for.
-
Sid’s Point of View
She felt so good in my arms, and I never wanted to let go. This wasn’t that same burning passion I had felt earlier. This was softer and more loving, like I wanted to always take care of her, then it hit me. I really cared about this girl. I wanted to make her happy. I really wanted to be with her. She pulled away, smiled, kissed me one last time on the cheek and pulled me up to the door. I fumbled with my keys for a bit before opening the door and leading the way in, and up the stairs to my room.
“I didn’t see your room before,” she said as she flopped herself on my bed and grabbed a blanket off the bottom.
“Well, you kind of passed out on the couch last night,” I said as I crawled in next to her. We propped ourselves up with pillows and just lay there, watching a hockey game on the TV opposite my bed.
“This is really nice,” Jess said after awhile, snuggling up even closer to me. “It’s exactly what I needed after a horrible night last night, even if we did plan one of the best vacations ever today.” She smiled and looked up at me. I smiled back and thought to myself, ‘This girl I’ve found has got to be amazing.’ I glanced at the clock and realized it was 6. I didn’t want this to end, but I had to go. The guys were leaving in 2 hours.
“Jess, I have to be at the Arena by 8. We’re leaving for New Jersey tonight.”
“Oh, OK,” she said, and sat up.
I rolled off of the bed, and started getting my stuff together while Jess still sat there, an amused look on her face, just watching me run around getting stuff together. I got everything together in record time: an hour and a half, and both of us were out the door by 7:30.
-
I pulled up to Jess’s dorm at around 7:45, and she got out, but not before kissing me. I wanted so much more than that, but she was right, now wasn’t the time. “Sid, that was really nice. Seriously, just sitting down and relaxing was really nice. We need to do that more often,” Jess said with a small smiled as she was shut the door.
I leaned over the armrest and said, “I’ll be back tomorrow for our game against the Islanders. You need to be there. I want you there, OK? I’ll leave you a pass for the box upstairs with Mario and Nathalie at the window. They want to meet you.”
“Sid! I don’t want to be in the box with them! I’m definitely not worthy! What will they think of me?! I’m just some college kid! You told them about me?” Jess said as her voice turned from anger to curiosity.
“Of course I told you about them. I go round there every once and a while to visit with the kids, and they always ask if I’m seeing anyone. I can’t just lie.”
“You could have! You could have told them you weren’t seeing anyone!”
“Now, Jess, would you have wanted me to do that? Just pretend like you don’t exist?” I smiled knowing I’d got her with that one.
She kicked at the tire on the car like a little kid, and deep down I was convinced she really was one, and said, “No…”
“Well then come to the game and sit in the box with Mario and Nathalie. You’ll have fun. I promise,” I said, mimicking her words from earlier.
She looked up at me and smiled before saying, “Fine. I’ll do it, but I hope I get something for this.”
“You’ll get an amazing prize,” I said and smiled at her as she looked back at me as she walked up the path to her old decrepit dorm.

Chapter 7

Jess’s Point of View
“What the hell Jess?!” were the words I was greeted with as I walked through the door to my dorm. That was practically Melissa’s catchphrase. “You couldn’t call me to tell me you weren’t coming home last night?!” she screamed at me.” Mel, listen, I told Sid about my surgery.” At those words, her face instantly softened and she lowered her arms that were just seconds ago waving wildly through the air gesticulating her anger towards me. “And?” “He took it a lot better than I thought, but I had a breakdown. I haven’t told you anything lately about my knee, because it’s been so hard to talk about. All the emotions I’ve been holding in came out last night.” “Is that why your face is so puffy?” I nodded and she finally seemed to calm down completely. “Oh boo, you could have told me. I know I’m not always the most sensitive, but know I’m always there for you.” I sat down on the bed, tired and exhausted. “Mel, you have no clue how hard this is.” “Then tell me about it.” “I’ve never had any form of surgery before. I’m terrified of needles, and I can’t get blood work. I’m going straight to the top with knee surgery and in 2 weeks.” “You’re right. I have no clue what it’s like to have surgery, but I’ll be there for you. I promise”, she said, echoing Sid’s words from last night. “And the fact that you have Sidney now can only help.” I grinned knowing she was right. “He really cares about me and my knee. I think he’s almost as scared as me though. He’s never had any surgery before either, and he probably won’t ever have any.” “The important thing is that he’s there for you when you’re going through all this.” “I know. I feel like all this could just go away in an instant.” Being the boyfriend queen, I felt pretty dumb telling her this stuff. “Any relationship is like that at the beginning. I know that all my boyfriends never really helped you out in high school, but trust me on this, he’s good for you.” So she did know about the high school thing! That hoe. I let it go, figuring it was in the past, and all that mattered now was my current situation. “I mean, I really only had Steven in high school and all those sleazy wingmen that always tried to hook up with me because of you.” I shot her a look and she looked embarrassed at me bringing up the way she worked her way through our guy pool in high school, I continued, “Even though Steven lasted a long time, it never quite felt right, but this? This feels like it’s what I’m supposed to be doing.” Steven Merrin was my boyfriend for all of junior year in high school. He played hockey and I loved going to his games, but for senior year he went to some sports academy in upstate New York to pursue hockey, leaving me back home. Mel loved talking about boys unless I brought up her history with them or Steven. I had brought up both, so needless to say, so was getting a bit uncomfortable. I on the other hand, felt like I was glowing just talking about Sid and what we had together.
-
Sid’s Point of View
After dropping Jess off and getting insulted all in one, I ran into the arena still laughing at her tease remark. I knew I’d have a lot worse to face in the form of Max, and by now, he’d have told the whole team about his walking in on me and Jess going at it in the storage room. I ran down hallway after hallway until I got to the locker room where I slowed to a trot to catch my breath. 9:10. I had 20 minutes to get ready and be on the ice. I walked into the locker room bracing myself for anything the guys had to throw at me. Max, Staalsy, and Tanger were all finishing gearing up when I walked in. “Have a nice night?!” Max shouted at me. He didn’t know the meaning of indoor voice. “I did actually. Thanks”, I replied with a smile, trying to play it all off. I walked over to my locker to find it filled with condoms. “Just thought you should be safe!” Tanger yelled as Max and Staalsy bust out laughing. “Max filled us in on what happened last night”, Tanger explained as a smirk grew on his face. I knew I was probably a wonderful shade of fuchsia by now. “So’d you do her?” Staalsy; always to tactful. The other two didn’t seem to see how rude that was and just looked on eagerly like, ‘Yeah. Did you?!’ I stared back and proceeded to pull out my gear and set it among the condoms. Tanger then tried to get me to talk with, “Come on man! Fill us in! The whole team knows about your little stunt in the storage room. There’s nothing to hide, and going by what Max said, this girl’s a looker.” All three of them grinned at me and I felt like punching Max in the face. “Nothing happened last night, and that’s the truth.” They looked disappointed and skeptical at the same time. “Dude, when’s it going to happen?” Max asked, unaware of the fact that I did not want to discuss this. “She’s having knee surgery in 2 weeks so-“ I was cut of by Max yelling, “You gotta hit that soon dude! She won’t be able to move for a long time afterwards!” I had finished putting my Under Armour on and was about to start putting my pads on. I was doing my best to ignore them, and I think Tanger, one of the more soft-spoken in the group, picked up on my telepathic waves that I didn’t want to talk about this because he said, “So tomorrow we’re playing New Jersey, and I personally intend to bring it!” Max and Staalsy seemed interested enough in this because they started talking about the game tomorrow with Tanger. I was happy they left me alone as I began lacing up my skates, all the while thinking about Jess and how upset she’d been last night. I speed-laced my skates and made it onto the ice with Tanger, Staalsy and Max right at 9:30 to be greeted by the rest of the team and Coach Therrien making an announcement. “So we just beat the Devils 4 – 1 about 2 weeks ago. It’s not going to be that easy again. We need to…” I was day dreaming by now about how that day we beat the Devils, I met Jess. I knew I should be paying attention to what coach had to say, but I couldn’t focus, and I would catch every other word as my mind would flicker back to Jess’s pained face on that day; her knee. She had surgery in 2 weeks. 2 weeks. What Max about her not being able to do anything for awhile afterwards flashed across my mind, as I heard coach say, “…move the puck around more.” I figured he was still going over keys to the game, and someone would tell me later anyway, so I went back to day dreaming. This wasn’t like me; not paying attention. I knew Eaton had had to have knee surgery on a torn MCL last year, but I was almost positive that a torn ACL was much more serious. I decided to ask him and the trainer after practice. I looked up to see coach yelling, “Alright! Let’s go!” I had no clue what we were doing, so I skated off in the direction of everyone else. Practice was a blur. I just went through the motions and was the first off the ice; that was a first. I was usually the last. I took off most of my gear and headed down to the training room to talk to our trainer, Chris about ACL’s and what the rehab time was for them.
-
I ambled down the hallway to the training room and poked my head in. No one was in there except for Chris. I startled him by saying, “Hey, Chris, you got a minute?” “Yeah man, what’s up, you hurt?” I hesitated, knowing what I was about to say was ridiculous. “No, but remember the girl I brought in here with the torn ACL a week and a half ago?” Chris looked confused as he replied warily, “Yeah…” “OK, because me and her, we’re sort of seeing each other now, and, let me finish.” Chris looked like he was about to interrupt me, and I wanted to get everything out before he said anything. “And she’s having knee surgery in 2 weeks. I want to be there for her. I want to know what to expect, and I want her to know what to expect. Can you help me out man?” Chris paused, digesting the information I had just thrown at him. I was nervous for his answer, fearing it would be a bad one. All he said was, “ACL tears in women are very common. Did she tear her meniscus?” “I don’t know. She just told me she’s having surgery in 2 weeks.” He thought about this some more. “So here’s what’s probably going to happen with her. If she tore her meniscus and her doctor can fix it, she’ll be on crutches for 3 weeks. If it’s just the ACL, only 1 week.” I nodded, absorbing all the information he was handing me. “If you’re going to be the one helping her while she’s recovering, be ready. She really won’t be able to move on her own for at least a few days.” My head was reeling, just imagining Jess going through all this. “Then, she’ll probably have a brace to wear right after surgery all the way till she can walk normally without it. That’s pretty much all you need to know for recovery, is that it?” “What about rehab?” I asked, frightened by what he may have to say. “The normal recovery time for walking with crutches is about a month or so, and then she’ll probably work her way up to walking without the crutches, walking without the brave, and then walking normally before she’s cleared at around 6 months. Is that everything you needed?” He seemed eager to get back to work, and I felt a little dizzy. It took me a minute to respond. “Yeah. Yeah that’s all. Thanks…” Chris nodded and turned around to continue the work he was doing when I walked in. I stood there for a few seconds letting it all sink in, and turned around to walk down the hall a little drunkenly. Oh my God. She really had to do all that. She had to hobble around on crutches for up to 3 weeks. The gravity of the situation was stunning. It took be a minute to regain my focus, but once I did, I felt strong and capable of handling this horrible situation for her. I felt like I could have the knee surgery for her. I needed to see her, now. I quickly undressed and showered, put on fresh clothes, threw all my stuff in my bag and hustled out to the car.
-
Jess’s Point of View
Around noon that afternoon, I heard a knock on the door while I was studying. Mel had gone out with Adam, her new boyfriend, and I was back at the dorm chilling. I got up to get the door, setting my books and notebooks down, and was extremely surprised to see Sid, of all people, standing there, looking extremely intense. “What’s wrong? Are you OK?” were the first words out of my mouth. He didn’t reply, but just pulled me into him. He smelled so good, like he had just taken a shower, and I never wanted to leave his arms. He began kissing my neck feverishly, and pushing me towards the bed. I knew something was up, and I had to stop him before this got too crazy. “Sid, ahh, Sid, stop for a minute. Stop.” His kisses came with less force and he finally let up after I asked him to stop about three more times. “What’s up? Why’d you look so intense?” He was still on my neck as I said this, but he looked up and said, “I talked to Chris, the trainer for the team, and he told me what to expect for your surgery and recovery. I’m ready to help you through this.” His sincerity touched me, but it really did seem like he was getting a little worked up about this surgery. He was preparing more than me. I knew it would probably be one of the hardest things I would ever have to do, but I had gotten used to the idea. I guess any new information he got made him on edge about it. Nevertheless, I liked that he wanted to be there. “Thanks Sid”, I whispered as he twisted around so I was standing in the space he had just vacated. He backed towards the bed, pulling me on top of him as he sat on the edge, me straddling his torso. “I want you”, were his only words as he kissed my neck again, and then brushed his lips over mine before really, truly kissing me. All I could do was hold onto him to keep myself from floating up into the ceiling from the happiness I was feeling at the moment. I had forgotten that Sid left the door open, and as someone walked by, they of course had to stop and yell into the room, “Get it Jess!” That pulled me out of my fantasies and brought me back down to earth. Sid stopped his kisses and sat back a little. I got up off of him to close the door, fixing my slightly disheveled shirt as I went. I turned around to see Sid lying on the bed looking at the ceiling. I walked over and lay down next to him. We laid in silence for a few minutes before I said, “We never finished our talk this morning; you never told me about you.” “What do you want to know?” He turned his head towards me, eyes still burning intently. I scooted closer to him and snuggled up under his arm lying on my side as close to him as I could possibly get, and laid my head on his chest, listening to the rhythmic beating of his heart. “Everything. I want to know where you went to high school, and what you like to do. I want to know who you are.” He smiled as I brought my hand up to rest on his muscular chest, and his arm curled around me to rest on my thigh. “Well, we both know I was born in Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia along with the rest of the hockey world, and I attended Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Minnesota in high school to pursue hockey.” “Do you like to play anything else? Maybe basketball?” He chuckled at me and said, “I fish off my dock in the summer, and I do like to golf, and maybe a little baseball. I’ve never really played basketball.” “Well, maybe I could teach you. I am, after all, ‘Jess Spade, basketball extraordinaire’”, I said quoting him from the first night we went out together. “I’ll let you teach me basketball if I can teach you hockey. After you get your knee fixed.” This was depressing to me. I knew I wouldn’t be able to do anything for a long time after I had surgery, and I wanted to do everything now, but I knew I couldn’t do that either. I just lay there, as Sid continued with everything he liked. I only caught every few words until he said, “I really want to go see where you’re from. Yorktown. It always sounded like such a neat place.” I was in a little disbelief when he said this. It seemed kind of sudden. All of sudden saying you want to go to the place where the girl you met 2 weeks ago is from? Despite how sudden it was, I actually liked the idea; a lot. Really, I did. I sat up letting his hand fall off of my thigh. “Sid, that’s really not a bad idea. I need to see my parents before I have surgery anyway, and I’ll be on break. You could come with me!” His face lit up and it was almost as if a light bulb had gone on over his head. He sat up saying, “After we play the Flyers on the 13th, we have five days off, well really four, until we play the Thrashers on the 18th. You should come with me to Philly and then from there, we could fly down to your place.” This plan was probably one of the best things for my knee and the slight depression I had fallen into as a result. It would be nice to be home for a week. We were sitting cross-legged and face to face on the bed now, overly excited with our plans. Sid was practically yelling with jubilation. “You could come down to Atlanta with me on the 18th, and then we could head back up here on the 19th!” “Yes! Yes! Oh my God. Sid, you’re probably most definitely the best.” I smiled at him and said it as I leaned in to kiss him. His hand was on my face, and mine was on his knee when Melissa walked into the room with Adam in tow looking totally enchanted by her. “Oh, sorry. Adam wanted to see our room.” She winked at me, and I threw her a look as Sid and I got up off the bed. I decided I’d be nice and introduce myself to this poor boy she had. “Hey Adam, I’m Jess, Mel’s roommate.” “Nice to meet you, Mel’s told me about you.” He seemed nice enough. Poor guy had no clue what he was in for. His gaze wandered over to Sid, and his mouth hung open a bit in shock as he said, “Whoa, you’re Sidney Crosby?” “Hi, nice to meet you. Adam, is it?” What a nice Canadian boy I’d picked for myself; and by accident! Adam nodded and looked at Mel who just shrugged and said, “They’re dating I guess.” Adam turned his gaze back towards me and Sid who had laced his fingers in mine. “So anyway,” Mel continued, “have you seen the new art exhibit they have at the Andy Warhol Museum Jess?” I hadn’t. I glanced at the clock, realizing it was almost 2. “Uh, no, I haven’t. I guess we’ll go check it out?” I said it as a question, inquiring about her motives for asking me. Sid seemed to pick up on what she wanted, and I finally did too because he said, “Yeah, we were just about to go get something. Bye Mel, Adam.” Adam still had a look of disbelief on his face, and Mel was grinning as we went out the door. “Well, Adam seemed nice”, Sid said as we walked down the hall. “Oh, he’s really nice until Mel works him over. She likes the chase and gets kind of bored when she actually has the guy.” Sid laughed and pulled me into the elevator after him. We shared a few kisses as the elevator brought us closer to the ground floor. Most of the people on the ground floor caught on to the fact that Sid visited, so some of the hardcore fans took to sitting around on the couches near the elevator waiting to see if he would go in or out of one. Luckily, there weren’t any diehards there today, so we could go outside without fighting people off. “Do you actually want to go to the museum? You don’t have to. I know Mel just wanted to get us out of there so she could be alone with him.” We walked towards his car as a massive gust of wind blew my curls into my face, leaving me spitting them out of my mouth. Sid laughed at me, and I knew I looked ridiculous. “Yeah. I’ll go. I think it’ll be fun to see everything he’s done. I’ve never been and I don’t really know anything about him, but you can tell me.” “I think he’s probably one of the most amazing artists ever.” Sid stopped walking, I kept walking and he grabbed my wrist and twirled me around back to him. I screamed from the surprise, as he pressed my body to his, wind blowing around us. My scream had turned to a giggle and he said, “But I’m the most amazing guy you’ve ever met.” “Of course you are.” I smiled, and he pecked me on my smiling lips, satisfied, and let me go. We continued to amble in the direction of his car, hoping the wind wouldn’t blow us away. Sid unlocked the Range Rover and I hopped in the second we got to it. The wind was absolutely biting, and I wanted some warmth and relief. As soon as Sid turned the car on, I threw the heat on high and blew it right into my face. He laughed at me and kissed my cheek before working his hand into mine and driving off towards the museum.

Chapter 6

So, I think I'm going to try out this whole, 'different point of views' thing. Let me know what you think, because I don't have to keep doing it. Enjoy! :)

Jess's Point of View
I walked around the locker room waiting for Sid to finish his shower, burning every single image of what just happened into my memory. I made my way over to Sid’s locker and looked inside to see dirty old equipment that looked like he had never replaced it. Everything was held together by zip-ties or tape and I was wondering how it didn’t just disintegrate on him every time he put it on. It was pretty gross so I just turned around and kept walking circles past all the other lockers. ‘That really happened’, my brain kept telling me. My mind was doing overtime thinking about how all that just felt so right; my half-naked body pressed against his muscular chest. Despite all the happiness and euphoria I was feeling, the same question kept coming back into my head: ‘Where do we go from here?’
-
Sidney’s Point of View
‘She looks so good without a shirt on’, was my first thought when she started to change in the back room, but now, my thought was, ‘I like this girl, a lot, and what just happened was amazing.’ I finished up my shower, still thinking about Jess, grabbed a towel, and dried myself off before wrapping the towel around my waist and walking back out to the main locker room for a change of clothes. I had forgotten to bring them into the shower room with me because Max got me all flustered, which reminded me I’d have to deal with him and his smart remarks tomorrow at practice. I walked out to see Jess inspecting all the lockers and their contents. “Everything meet your standards?” I asked as I walked over to my own locker. She turned around and seemed a bit flustered before asking, “Have you ever gotten new equipment? I mean, ever?!” I laughed at that because I knew my stuff was pretty gross. “Not completely new. I always have to put something from my old gear on my new stuff. See this tie?” I asked as I reached behind me for my chest pads and pointed at a blue zip­­-tie holding part of my pads together. She nodded. “That’s from when I played in Rimouski.” “Oh Sid that’s so gross!” She laughed, and while doing so, scrunched up her nose to make the cutest face I had ever seen. I wanted her. Now. “Let me go change into normal clothes and then we’ll get going”, I said, eager to get out of this locker room and on our way somewhere with about that only person I wanted to be with at the moment.
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Jess’s Point of View
Sid came back out of the locker room after changing into a decent outfit I picked out for him from the clothes he had in his bag. “Am I suitable to be seen with you in public now?” he asked playfully. I hit his arm because, if anything it was the other way around; a college girl tromping around Pittsburgh with Sidney Crosby. I could see the headlines now. “Shut up”, I said and smiled as he kissed me softly. “Ready to go?” “Yeah. Where are we going anyway?” “You’ll find out in a little”, he said with a sly smile. We walked out to his Range Rover which took almost 15 minutes because he kept kissing me, and of course we had to stop and address each kiss with more kisses. We were so new to each other; we had to explore, and now I knew where we were going from here. We were going to make this little flicker of a relationship into something big; something real. Just wait. We made sure that once we got out to where all the fans waited by the service gate, we walked normally; side by side with no hand holding or mini-make out sessions. I was surprised people were still waiting outside and even more surprised at how bold some of the girls were when he walked out. Cries of “I LOVE YOU SIDNEY!” filled the air and I really wanted to just grab his hand and kiss him right there, but he had said that if we were too openly public, he could get in trouble with his coach and other people of that nature. Even though when we walked out I could hear murmurs of “Who’s that?” and “What’s she doing with him?”, I didn’t feel like that was enough. I wanted to make people jealous; jealousy, the emotion I had been feeling my whole life. I let it go; for now. We managed to get to the Range Rover without me attacking him first from sheer desire, but once we got in the Range Rover and behind the tinted glass, he grabbed my face and kissed me deeply. “That walk was hard”, he said and grinned into my mouth. I smiled back into his as we parted and he started the car. He backed out with his hand on my knee and pulled up towards the gate. I was still surprised at how many people, especially girls, were waiting there for him. “Do you mind if I get out to sign some autographs?” “No, just don’t get killed by the mob.” “I’ll try not to”, he said and with that he got out and walked over to the people. The girls were seriously crazy. It must have been 30 degrees out and here they were standing in nothing but a jersey and glitter eye shadow. Sid signed a few autographs, waved, and started to walk back to the car, but before he could, a “true fan” of a girl ran up to him and hugged him, hard. That made me mad, but I was determined to not let my jealousy get the best of me like it had so many times before. Sid was with me; not this puck bunny, and I wanted to prove it. After he peeled the girl off and got back in the car, I grabbed him and kissed him, long and hard, as if to say to all the girls out there, hands off, he’s mine. I think the effect was pretty nice. I had a happy and content boy sitting next to me and about 20 stunned girls standing outside. “What was that for?” he asked smiling after I let go. “Oh, nothing. I don’t know.” He looked skeptical but let it go. I knew we’d have to have this talk later on. I had so many things I needed to tell him. A hush fell over the girls outside, as they now saw me as their enemy, and that was OK with me. We drove off and started down the highway. “So, Sid, guess what.” “What?” I hesitated, knowing he wouldn’t like what I had to say. “I uh, I’m, I scheduled my…” I wasn’t quite sure how to put what I had to say into words. It seemed so easy in my head, but once I tried to tell him, it became extremely hard and I felt like I wanted to cry. Just talking about what I wanted to say made me tear up. He turned his gaze towards me and off the road. “You can tell me. Whatever it is.” I took a deep breath and said, “My surgery is December 23rd.”
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Sidney’s Point of View
My head was reeling from the information Jess just gave me. She was having surgery, and in 2 weeks. I had to pull over. I hit the brakes, and pulled off on the side of the road. “I shouldn’t have told you. I’m sorry. It doesn’t even concern you.” She looked like she was going to cry. This was probably really hard on her and here I was being a wimp about it. She was the strong one in this situation when I should be. She was the one having surgery, I was just the guy she met last week. There was a battle going on inside my head. ‘You shouldn’t care this much’, my head told me. ‘You barely know this girl.’ But I did. I cared, I wanted to be there, and I wanted to help her. “What can I do?” She looked up from the fingernail she was picking at, tear tracks staining her face. “Be there for me?” She sounded like a little kid; like she needed someone. I wanted to be that someone. “Done.” I leaned over and wiped the tears from her face with my thumb as my hand cupped her face and she leaned into my hand. “I’ll do whatever you want me to do. I want to help you in any way possible.” “I’m so scared”, she whispered. “I don’t know what’s going to happen.” “Let’s go back to my place. We can go out another time.” Jess nodded and I wiped the rest of the tears off her face, and pulled back onto the road. I held her hand the whole ride home, stroking the back of her hand with my thumb while silent tears rolled down her face. Every once in a while I reached up to wipe them away, and she would force a smile. We finally pulled up to my house and got out, I waited for her to get out and I put my arm around her waist. She leaned into me, tears still running down her face. We walked up the walk and into the house. I silently led her down the hall to the living room where I turned on the fire and made her sit down. I sat next to her and she snuggled up under my arm, searching for comfort. “Tell me everything”, I said.
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Jess’s Point of View
It was like all the emotions I had been feeling since this whole knee thing happened just exploded; like a dam broke. “Why’d this happen to me?!” I wailed as Sid sat there and listened to me cry and hiccup. “This surgery is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life. I’ve never ever had my wisdom teeth out. I can’t do it. I can’t do this.” Sid stroked my hair and I felt so much better just from that. “The first day of practice! On the first drill!” “Listen to me. You’re going to be OK. I’ll be there for you. Anything you need. I promise.” Last time we discussed my knee, he seemed more scared than me. I’m not quite sure what happened between then and now, but I liked the change. I liked feeling safe and protected. “I’m so scared”, I repeated. “I’m so worried that something will go wrong and, and I just want to play basketball!” I was sobbing by this point. This was so hard to confront, I just wanted to crawl under a rock and hope that it all went away. “I’ve been holding all this in, trying to be strong, but I can’t do it anymore. I can’t pretend like I know what’s going to happen because I don’t! I can’t keep this mask intact forever.” I felt so horrible, I couldn’t even articulate the feelings into words. I just wanted to cry, and that’s what I did; I cried. I cried about my knee, I cried about my surgery, I cried because I couldn’t play basketball, and I cried because I couldn’t believe that any of this even happened to me to begin with.
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Sidney’s Point of View
I let her cry. I felt so much stronger than I did an hour ago. I felt like I could take this on for the both of us. Her sobs slowly faded away to a soft breathing and I could tell she had fallen asleep. I gingerly got up off the couch and laid her down where I had been sitting. I couldn’t believe everything she had to go through. All to play college ball. I knew that I shouldn’t feel this attached to someone I barely knew but I felt so oddly protective of her and what happened to her that I couldn’t just let her go through this alone. I grabbed a blanket off the back of the couch and threw it over her, then went to the kitchen to wet a tissue and clean the mascara off of her face. I sighed and ran a hand through my hair, then made my way upstairs to my room where I laid in my bed staring at the ceiling thinking, and eventually drifting off the sleep. I woke up the next morning at 7. Practice was at 9:30, so I figured I could make Jess some breakfast before dropping her off and heading to practice. I crawled out of bed and took a quick shower before going downstairs to see Jess still asleep on the couch. Trying to be as quiet as possible, I shuffled over to the kitchen, got out a frying pan and tried to decide what to make; French toast or omelets. I decided on French toast and began to get out the ingredients, eggs, toast, butter, when I saw Jess’s head pop up over the back of the couch and look around before seeing me in the kitchen. A smile crossed her puffy face and she got up off the couch to come sit at the bar across from where I was preparing our breakfast. “Hey“, she said as she sat down. “How are you today?” I asked concerned. “Better. I feel better now that I finally told someone about all that.” “Good.” I smiled at her and I felt that it really did help her to have all that happen last night. I finished making our breakfast: French toast with syrup and strawberries on the side, sat down and said, “I want to know you. I want to know everything about you.” “OK”, she replied like she knew it was coming.
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Jess’s Point of View
I actually really wanted to have this conversation with him. I wanted to tell him everything about myself and I wanted to know everything about him after everything that happened last night. I felt so much better now that all my emotions were pretty much wrung dry. “You know where I’m from and all that stuff, so what exactly do you want to know?” “Let’s start with your family.” “Ok. My mom’s name is Jill, and my dad’s name is Tom. They went to Carnegie Mellon, down the street, together and that’s how they met. My dad’s 6’4”, and I have an uncle who’s 6’7”.” He looked so shocked at hearing that. I loved telling all the guys I dated that I had big scary relatives because then they took me seriously. I never thought Sid didn’t take me seriously, but if anything, the facial expressions were always worth it. “He actually lives right outside Pittsburgh; just a phone call away.” I smirked at that one. “I was actually born in Long Beach, California and we moved down to Yorktown when I was five and my brother, Matt, was two. I can still remember things from out there, like our old house, and what color carpeting we had.” He just nodded, encouraging me to go on. “Now, let’s skip to high school. Nothing important happened in middle school. My freshman year I made varsity basketball and I was the only freshman. That was hard, and I feel like that helped me be a stronger person. I’m sure you know what it’s like to play with people so much bigger and better than you. For me it was scary. That year was when I met Melissa, and here we are today, 6 years later, still best friends. Once I met her though, she always had all these guys everywhere, and I was just, there. I was never the girl the guy actually wanted to hook up with. I was almost an obligation. That wasn’t the best for my self-esteem, so I got jealous easily as a result.” “Oh, is that what that kiss was about in the car earlier?” I felt my face turn red. “Yeah. I didn’t really like that that girl threw herself on you.” “You have nothing to worry about”, he said as he leaned over the counter between us and kissed me. “Continue”, he said when we parted. “Well, I graduated with honors, earned a four-year letter for basketball, went off to college, and here I am today, at Pitt, studying graphic design and business marketing. That pretty much sums up me.” I finished with a smile. “Ok, now tell me your favorites”, he encouraged. “Alright, favorite color yellow, favorite animal cat, favorite food fish, favorite desert tiramisu, favorite...” I went on and on with the favorites and he just soaked them all up, like he remembered every single one of them “…and my favorite smell? You.” He grinned from ear to ear and this time walked around the counter to me and took me in his arms. His mouth was so close to mine as he said, “You are so perfect”, and then we were off, but this time our little session was cut short by Father Time. We had made our way to the couch and he had his shirt off, but all of my clothes were still on. His lips were on my neck when he suddenly asked, “What time is it?” “I don’t know Sid, come on”, I fake whined to get him to come back to me, but he sat back on his knees over me and looked around. “8:30? Jess we have to go. I have practice in an hour!” I grumbled a little about this, but I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the couch to fix my shirt and hair. Sid was running around the house like a maniac getting his bag together, so I figured it’d be best to wait on the couch until he said it was time to go. About 10 minutes later he was running down the stairs yelling, “Come on, let’s go!” I got up off the couch and shuffled out the door behind him, still mad that we couldn’t finish what we started.
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I sulked in the car as Sid checked his watch every five minutes and made sure to alert me of the time every moment he did so. “8:45!” Five minutes later: “8:50!” We pulled up outside my dorm at around 8:55, and by now, Sid had calmed down a bit by now knowing he’d be there on time, so he leaned over to kiss me quickly, but I wanted more. I really didn’t care if he was late for practice right then. I felt his tense body loosen under my touch, and slowly begin leaning towards me over the arm rest. The hand that was on the steering wheel was now tangled in my hair, but only for a moment before he pulled away and said, “9:00.” I pouted a little at how sudden everything stopped before grabbing my bag and jumping down out of the car. I shut the door and said through the window he just rolled down, “You’re such a tease” with a smirk on my face, leaving him with his mouth open yet smiling as I turned for my dorm.