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.