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.