Chapter 11

Jess’s Point of View
The next day, I woke up to see Sid’s peaceful face inches from mine, and for a minute, I couldn’t remember how I had gotten there. After a few seconds it all came rushing back to me; the painful memories, my crawling into his bed and Sid’s promise to never leave me. I then realized that if my parents found me in bed with my “sort-of” boyfriend, I’d be in trouble. I whipped my head around to look at the clock hanging on the wall: 8:30. My parents wouldn’t be up for awhile, but despite the fact that I never wanted to leave his arms, I figured I’d be on the safe side and go back to my room. I attempted to ease myself out of his arms, but when I had almost freed myself, his grip tightened and I saw his eyes open. “Jess, come back to bed,” he moaned. “Please.” I took in his muscular arms, lean chest and pleading eyes before I gave in and rested myself on his chest. He sighed contentedly and wrapped his arms around me, our bodies melding together. “I’ll never leave you Jess,” he whispered in my ear, his eyes closing, repeating the words from last night. I kissed his chest, and I closed my eyes for what seemed like 5 minutes, but when I opened them again, it was 9:30, and Mitch was standing in the doorway, his mouth open.
“Jess, what are you doing?! Mom and dad are up, so I suggest you get out of there, and quickly.” I didn’t even think twice as I bolted out of Sid’s arms, past Mitch, and into my room, throwing back the blankets and getting underneath them, waiting and listening for my parents to come out of their room. All I heard was Mitch walking down the stairs, but then I heard them walking down the hallway towards my room. I sat up in bed, pretending to have just woken up. My mom poked her head in and said, “Good morning! Daddy’s going to make waffles this morning.” I just nodded, my eyes half-closed, knowing that once Sid and I got downstairs, we’d have questions to face. Her cheerfulness was just an act; I knew it. She walked downstairs and I was close behind her. “So I was thinking I’d show Sid my high school and everything today,” I said quickly as soon as we reached the bottom of the stairs. Surprisingly enough, my dad answered, “Sure, that sounds like a great idea!” He was in full-on chef mode by now. Making waffles was no easy task in our family. My mom on the other hand said, “Well, I don’t know if you spending so much time with him is a good thing.
“Mommy, we came down here together. He has nothing else to do but be with me,” I said over-defensively.
“That’s what I mean Jess! I can see it! You’re going to get hurt again. You’re devoting yourself to him. What about you? You’re throwing-“ I cut her off there. I knew what she was going to say, and I didn’t want to hear it.
“Did I tell you guys that instead of you two going up there to Pittsburgh and helping me through my surgery, Sid’s going to take care of me? Since you two couldn’t take time out to help me with one of the hardest things I will ever have to do, I needed someone else. Happy?,” It felt like venom on my tongue as I said it, and I knew my parents wouldn’t be happy with it. I was purposefully trying to make them feel bad. Their reaction was totally different than what I expected.
“Sweetie, you have Melissa,” my dad said, struggling to come up with an excuse for why he wasn’t there for me.
“You think that’s enough? You think having Melissa, who isn’t even home half the time, is the equivalent to having your parents with you? I don’t think so. I need more than that, I deserve more than that.” With that, my final blow, I stalked out of the kitchen and up the stairs to the guest room where Sid was still in bed.
“Were you yelling?” he asked sleepily as he sat up in the bed.
“Yes. Get dressed. We’re going out for breakfast,” I snapped.
“But I heard your mom say we’re having waffles,” he whined, now fully awake.
“Do you want her to spit in your food? I just completely blew up at her. She says I’m spending too much time with you. Then I accused them of not being there for me during this surgery.” Sid’s mouth was hanging open as he listened to me jump from one thing to the next.
“Let’s go to out,” he said quickly, clearly not comfortable with the situation I had just put him in. He jumped off of the bed and started getting dressed. I walked back into my room after kissing him quickly and pulled on a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt. I walked out of my room to see him ready, keys in hand, wearing a Reebok zip up sweatshirt, Reebok hat and a decent pair of jeans. I stomped down the stairs, Sid behind me, and walked out the front door and into the biting cold without a word to my or from my parents.
-
Sid’s Point of View
“Maybe we should get our own place to stay for the next few days,” I offered as soon as we got in the SUV. I could tell Jess was thinking it over, but her answer surprised me.
“No. My dad really likes you, it’s my mom that’s being a bitch about us. I think we’ll be alright. Mitch is there and so is my dad. They’ll placate her.”
“OK. I’ll trust your judgment on this one. You know them better than me,” I said and leaned over to kiss her before pulling out onto the main street near her neighborhood.
We ended up at an iHop not 10 minutes away. “So I’m thinking I’ll show you my old high school and you can meet my coaches and everything today. Sound good?” Jess asked over our pancakes and waffles, her bad mood gone.
“Yeah, I’d love to meet them. I want to know where you came from Jess, and so far, I can see you growing up here. I can picture you here.”
“It’s OK. It’s definitely not the best place to be. I mean, go down the street that way,” she gestured out the window, “10 minutes and you’re in the ghetto.”
“This part is nice. I like it,” I said. Jess glanced up at the clock resting on the wall; it read 11:30.
“So, do you want to meet my old coaches or what? They’re probably having practice right now,” she said beaming at me.
“Anything you want,” I said and leaned across the table to kiss her.
We got up out of our chairs and headed in the direction of her high school. About half way there, she grew quiet, and I had to ask. “What’s wrong?” I thought that it would have something to do with her knee, and I was right.
“What will they say? My coach expected me to dominate in college. How am I going to tell her I’m done this season?” she looked at me, worry filling her face.
“She should understand. You had no control over what happened,” I said reassuringly, and squeezed her knee.
“You’re right, you’re right, but I feel like I’m letting her down,” she said, biting her lower lip.
“You’ll be fine; don’t worry about it, eh? Promise me that? You’re already stressed out about enough things. You don’t need one more.”
“OK, I’ll try. Help me out if I start stressing,” she said.
“And how might I go about doing that?” I asked, a smile growing on my face. I had a feeling I knew where this was going. We had pulled into the parking lot of her high school by now and I had just parked before she leaned over the console towards me.
“Oh, I don’t know. Use your imagination,” she said as she kissed me deeply. I kissed her back, hard.
“I think I have an idea of how to do that,” I said, breaking one of the only kisses we had shared in the past few days.
-
Jess’s Point of View
“To the gym?” he asked expectantly after pulling away from one of the best kisses I had experienced in days.
“Of course,” I answered, hopping down out of the SUV and leading him to a door on the side of the school. A huge “Tabb High School” was written on the side of the school, in case anyone forgot where they were. We entered through the doors and walked down a hallway lined with trophies of all shapes and sizes. Some for basketball, some for track, some for baseball; there was a huge variety. Right before the trophies, there were pictures of athletes who had made All-District.
“The best of the Bay Rivers District,” I explained to him as I led him by the hand down the hall.
Sid spotted me up there amongst all of the other elite athletes. My hair was long then, and I had this big silly grin on my face. I looked ridiculous. I dragged him further down the hallway, away from my picture. I led him past all of the trophies and to a pair of double doors which I proceeded to open to a group of girls practicing.
“Jess!” one girl screamed when I walked through the doors. I waved, smiled and proceeded to walk over to my old coach and give her a hug.
“Jess! What a surprise!” she exclaimed. I realized Sid was hanging around the doors and I motioned for him to come over.
“Sid, this is my former coach, Kay Aultman,” I said, beaming for the second time in an hour. “Coach, this is Sidney Crosby.”
Coach raised her eyebrows at him and said, “Well, I always knew Jess would do well for herself, but this is good work on her part.” She was smiling and he laughed good-naturedly as I grabbed his hand.
“So I take it you know who I am?” he asked. He didn’t sound conceited or anything, just curious.
“Of course I know who you are!” she said. “Anyone who follows any sport has heard your name before. So what brings you two back down here to Yorktown? How’s basketball going Jess?”
I shifted my weight back and forth between my feet, favoring my right and said, “Well Coach, I came back down here before I had surgery for my knee.”
Coach’s smile was gone instantaneously and she said, “What happened?”
“I tore my ACL,” I said. Coach didn’t really seem to know how to handle this, so she said, “When’s surgery?”
“The 23rd” I replied.
“Oh, well that’s too bad. I really hope you do well Jess. Do you want to say hi to the girls?”
I felt numb as I nodded my head yes. She was acting like she didn’t care. I wanted at least some sympathy. I was worried she’d be disappointed, not indifferent. I figured she’d at least care that I couldn’t play at all this season, but it seemed like it wasn’t even a concern. Of course it isn’t a concern. You’re not her player anymore. I was pulled out of my thoughts by all of the girls running over and giving me hugs. The ones I didn’t know hung back and waited until everyone else was done. “Rachel, how have you been?!” I asked a little point guard who was now a senior. She was a freshman when I was a junior, and this was basically her team now.
“Good. We’re pretty amazing this year. And you?” she said, with a sideways look at Sid.
“I’ve been good!” I laughed. All of the girls were staring at Sid by now, and I had to admit, he was looking extra good today. “Everyone, this is Sidney, my boyfriend.” Every girl chimed back with a ‘Hi!’ or ‘Hey!’ and a coy smile.
“Where’d you find him?” Rachel whispered in my ear.
“Pittsburgh,” I giggled back. I felt like I was right back here again, practicing and goofing off.
“Wait… Are you Sidney Crosby!?” one girl yelled, dropping the ball she was holding.
“Yes, I am,” Sid answered humbly.
“OH MY GOD! I FREAKING LOVE YOU!” she screamed and ran over to me, still screaming, and asked, “CAN I TOUCH HIM!?”
“Sure, I guess,” I answered, smirking at Sid as this girl clung to him. Rachel informed me her name was Brooke and all she talked about was Sidney Crosby. I was rolling with laughter as Sid, looking uncomfortable, tried to pry her off unsuccessfully. I went over to him and gently peeled the girl’s arms away. I pulled him towards me and he slung his arm around me.
“Well, it was great to see you all! I hope you ladies finish the year out strong! I’ll see you guys around.” And with that, and a wave to Rachel and the rest of the girls, Sid and I walked back out the doors we entered through, back down the hallway and out to the car.
“Why didn’t you tell them you were having surgery?” Sid asked as soon as we got in the car.
“I don’t know. I guess I didn’t want to be disappointed by their reactions,” I said, a little embarrassed.
“That’s perfectly fine, I understand,” he said, picking up on my embarrassment. “Whereto now?” he asked after a slight pause.
I thought about it for a second before saying, “Well, it’s already 12:30, why don’t we go home and brave my mom for lunch?” Sid looked a little unsure of this idea.
“Do we really have to go back home to your mom?” “We’ve got to go home eventually,” I said.
“Or we could get a hotel for a few days,” Sid offered again.
“It’s free to stay with my parents. My mom will come around eventually.”
“Money’s not the issue. I don’t want you to get stressed about nothing before your surgery.”
“It’s not nothing Sid! We’re talking about my mom hating my boyfriend! She has to like you,” I was pleading now. I needed my mom to like him, to reassure me that I was doing the right thing by being with him. A few hours earlier, I didn’t care what she had to say, but now something in my mind told me that without her behind us, this would never work. She’d keep it from working. Sid pulled up to a red light and looked over at me. He leaned over and kissed me quickly before saying, “OK, I’ll trust you.” I smiled at him as he pulled away from the light when it turned green.
“Thank you,” I said to him, my hand now resting in his.