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.
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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.
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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.
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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.