Chapter 25

All right, all right, all right!

Who's ready for a new chapter? I had to have some real life inspiration hit me before I could finish this chapter, but you, it worked. :)
We're nearing the end, are you ready?

-----

Sidney and I had been running around, stealing moments together in secluded corners of my dorm or the arena for the past few weeks. The Penguins had beaten the Capitals in 7 games, and now, they were playing Carolina. They pummeled them the first two games, and I had no doubt in my mind that they would sweep and with that sweep, be well on their way to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second year in a row.

Don’t tell Sidney this though. As soon as I brought up the possibility of a sweep, he silenced me and told me to not talk about it. He told me it was bad luck and that I shouldn’t even think about it. Sometimes I wanted to drop kick him across the house.

While Sidney was flourishing in the playoffs, I was working out and getting myself back into shape. My whole right leg seemed like a useless limb covered in flabby skin. Cellulite seemed to have taken residence there and refused to move, no matter how much I ran and how much I lifted. Sidney didn’t seem to mind as much as I did.

“Guess what,” I said to Sidney, lying on the hotel bed after game three of the Eastern Conference Finals. I was drawing cute little circles on his chest, my head on his arm, which acted as a pillow

“What?” he questioned softly, twirling a curl around his finger. I could tell he was tired, but I wanted to tell him what I had to say before he fell asleep.

“I’m playing in a tournament with the school at the end of June,” I said, craning myself around in his arms to look at his face. I wanted him to be ecstatic, but because of when I chose to tell him, I knew I couldn’t expect much more than a half-hearted nod and a smile. He was lying there, eyes closed looking almost like a perfect wax figure; so serene and at peace, while my mind was whirring like an overheated car. I settled back down into the crook of his arm, wishing he would show some more emotion, just to make me happy.

“Just thought you should know,” I whispered, draping my arm over his stomach. His hand found mine and he began to draw little figure eights in my palm. I knew he was excited, but just completely drained. I understood, so I lay there, as the figure eights in my palm came less and less until I heard a soft steady breathing under me.

“I love you,” I murmured, kissing his ear and lying down beside him.

“I love you too,” he suddenly said, rolling over towards me and pulling me as close as he possibly could. I loved the feel of his body against mine and I never wanted him to go. I wanted to stay like this forever. I slowly fell asleep in his arms, loving the place I was at.

-

I told him they’d sweep. I told Sid the Penguins would dominate the Hurricanes. Who was right? Oh, that’s right, me. You can only imagine how we celebrated together. They rest of the team went out and got drunk while Sidney and I shut ourselves up in his hotel room.

I could hear the guys coming back around 1 in the morning by the muffled yells coming from the hallway. I listened to them for about half an hour, looking at Sidney sleeping peacefully beside me the entire time. I kept running my hand through his hair, damp with sweat, expecting him to wake up at any second, but he never did.

I wanted to freeze time and step away. I wanted to look at what was happening at this exact point in time. As I thought, the voices outside our room shrank to the murmur of friendly conversation. The Penguins had just made it to the Stanley Cup Finals for the second year in a row. I was waiting for someone to come along and tell me it was all a dream; that I had been living in a dream the past month. That my knee wasn’t getting better, that the Penguins were still 1-8-1 in their last ten games and that Sidney was still a grouch and I was still scared to talk to him.

That never happened. I stayed where I was, firmly planted in the bed beside the one person I couldn’t care more about. I didn’t float away, and the lines of his face didn’t smudge and dissipate, disintegrating into the wind; that moment right before you wake up. Everything was tangible and I could touch him. Everything was tangible, and the Penguins were going to the Stanley Cup Finals. Everything was tangible and I was going to play basketball again. Everything seemed right, almost too good to be true.

-

The day after Game Four of the Conference Finals, the team and I flew back to Pittsburgh. They went back to practice while I went back to the athletic center, which also included the training room, where I’d make little stops in to talk to Todd about whatever was happening at the time whether it be about the Penguins or basketball; there was always something to talk about.

Life has little ways of always giving you reality checks, when everything seems too good. I walked into the training room, seemingly walking on clouds, only to see bare walls and Todd cleaning out the cabinets. My clouds instantly disappeared as what was happening hit me. Todd was leaving.

“You can’t leave,” I said, my mouth hanging open, my gym bag falling to the ground. “You just can’t…” I felt like part of my heart was being ripped out; he was my best friend, and he helped get me through my surgery. He was the one constant through it all, and now he was leaving.

“It’s a better job,” he said, shrugging his shoulders and continuing to pile up his things. “And it’s closer to my house. I never get to see my family, and this will let me do that.”

“I’ll miss you,” I said, trying not to cry. I really would miss him. He helped me so much. I felt tears spring to my eyes and I quickly wiped them away before he saw.

“Don’t worry,” he stated flatly. I could tell this was ripping him up as much as it was me. “You have my number, right? Call me if you need anything. Let me know if your knee bothers you.”

“Okay,” I stated. I felt numb to the world, and numb to what was happening. This wasn’t real. I walked over and gave him a hug; nothing special, just a hug. I smiled weakly at him before turning around and backing out of the door.

“I’m playing in a tournament with the team at the end of June,” I said leaning against the doorframe. “You should come,” I said, picking up my bags.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Todd said, with one last attempt at a smile.

I smiled in return and backed out of the little room, waving with the hand that wasn’t holding my keys. I started down the hallway, considering all of what just transpired. Todd was leaving. I would be on my own when it came to basketball.

The gym and its big solid glass wall came into view with its treadmills and ellipticals on the other side; overweight college students running at speeds far too fast for them, huffing and puffing. I put my things in a locker and walked out to the treadmills. Everything seemed surreal as I set my speed to 5 and began to run. It hit me hard when I thought about it; between Sidney being one win away from another chance at the cup and Todd leaving, I had a mixture of devastation and joy. I put those thoughts to the back of my head, concentrating on the lop-siding pounding of my feet as I ran.

The more I ran, the more the thoughts creeped back into my head. I couldn't keep them at bay. I thought about Todd leaving, and my feeling of abandonment. Then I thought about Sidney and how happy he made me. His face popped into my head and I immediately smiled. Hell, the thought of him winning the Stanley Cup made me want to skip on the treadmill instead of run. His happiness was my happiness; we were one, and he won out over Todd any day.

Chapter 24

Into Another World Chapter 24

“So, Pitt’s finest, you can start playing again,” Dr. Carr stated before continuing on. “Now, ‘play’, is a very general word. What I mean by play, is go out to practice, run, do a few drills, but don’t sprint. You can jump and all that fun stuff, but no sprinting for a few more weeks,” my doctor concluded, writing me a note with all the information he just threw at me.

Apparently my knee was the best thing Dr. Carr’s seen since… well he couldn’t remember. I thought that was pretty miraculous, seeing as I have an extremely low pain tolerance, but Sidney says he almost expected it from me. He says I’m a fighter; I’d like to think I am, and if he thinks so, then I must be, seeing as he’s always right.

“So just go see your physical therapist once more to have him check you out and make sure he’s done with you, and if you have any questions, I’m sure Todd’ll know,” he finished, opening the door to walk out. “And Mr. Crosby, I’ll be watching you play Washington tonight,” he said with a wink before walking out of the room completely.

I looked over at Sidney and his scruffy playoff beard that was beginning to get a little greasy, and jumped onto his lap before he could get out of his seat. I straddled his torso, something I hadn’t done in a long time, and kissed his neck, trying my best to avoid his beard.

The feeling I had was indescribable. I felt like running down the hallway screaming at the top of my lungs. I felt like skipping through a field of daisies, and most of all, I felt like going home with Sidney and doing some pre-game warm-ups.

“Did you hear that? I can run, I can play, and I can jump. I can do anything,” I said, smiling what seemed like the biggest smile ever.

“I see that,” he said with a slight smile and a hint of sarcasm to his voice, but I ignored it and pulled him out of the chair after I stood up, leading him down the hall to the checkout counter where I paid my co-pay and bound into the elevator all within five minutes.

Once the elevator doors were shut, I kissed Sidney with the most passion I’ve felt for anything in a long time. I separated myself from him when the elevator came to a stop, and he had a completely bewildered look sketched across his face.

“There’s more where that came from,” I said with a wink and a tap on his huge ass before walking out of the elevator with some swing to my hips. I never quite realized how much I swung my hips until I couldn’t do it with my brace and now that it was gone, I was going to be back to normal.

“I have an appointment with Ken in about an hour,” I stated once we got out to his car. “Drive me?” I asked with a cute little smile and a kiss on his lips. I knew he wouldn’t say no to me either way, but I figured I’d give him some sort of incentive. He looked at me with burning eyes and I could tell he was willing to do anything for me at that given moment. Love.

“Do you have time to, oh, I don’t know,” he started, shrugging his shoulders and glancing at the ground before looking back at me with those same burning eyes. “Maybe do some extracurricular things before your appointment?”

“Ohh, what do you have in mind?” I asked, catching his drift and drawing closer to him, placing my arms around his neck. I could feel his hands slide across my ass and give it a quick squeeze before he looped his fingers through my belt loops and pulled my hips closer to him.

“Use that creative mind of yours,” he said, kissing my neck. I craned my head away from his lips, relishing the feeling his lips created on my skin.

“I might possibly have time… if we hurry on back to your place,” I said, letting out a small moan of contentment, feeling his hands run across the bare skin above my jeans and below my shirt.

“Who said anything about going back home?” he asked with a devilish grin, backing me into the side of his Range Rover and running his hands up and down my sides under my shirt.

As much as my mind was telling me, ‘Abort abort! Bad idea!’, I really, really, wanted to have hot sex with him in the back of his car for the second time, but this time I wouldn’t have a big brace hindering me. This time with a purpose, not just because he was in a good mood. This time because I wanted him, and he wanted me. This time, because I’ve never felt more for someone in my life.

He opened the door to the Range Rover while I wasn’t paying attention and began to back me inside. I was sitting on the seat with my legs still dangling out the door when he began to pull at my shirt, but before he could get it off, I pulled him into the Range Rover with me and shut the door.

-

“You have a certain… glow about you today…” Ken said when I walked, yes walked, into physical therapy on that breezy May day.

“Uh, yeah…” I sat down on my usual table and rolled my pant leg up for him to look at my knee for my final physical therapy, hopefully, ever.

“Why are you so sweaty?” he suddenly asked, pulling on my leg to make sure the ligament healed the way it was supposed to.

“I’m just super excited that I get to play…?” I said it almost like a question, and Ken, with his super senses, picked up on the fact that I was lying almost immediately

“Whatever you say Mrs. Crosby…” he stated, smiling his impish little smile that I had seen way too much of in the past three months.

“We’re not married, Ken,” I snapped at him, losing my patience with his childish little games.

“Alright. Let me know when you two DO get married. I want to see proof of this.”

“Oh you’ll get proof. I’ll send you our wedding picture, SIGNED by one Sidney Crosby,” I stated with a smirk. “And I’ll be back, with the Stanley Cup in tow, when they win.”

“Whatever you say. Anyway, your knee. This is the best post-op knee I’ve ever seen. Ever. Let me emphasize that. EVER. You can thank your genes for that,” Ken said with slight shock to his voice. It’s kind of ironic, seeing as all I ever did when I was younger was complain about how I got all the bad genes in the family, and now, these bad genes, were coming in handy.

“Thanks?” I said it almost like a question, wondering if there was some hidden insult behind what he was saying.

“No I’m serious,” he stated, stepping away from the table and looking at me with that look that made me blush no matter how much I looked away. I wanted to slap him across the face when he did that. He’s married for God’s sake and hello, I’m dating Sidney Crosby.

“Well, thanks. Sid’s waiting for me in the car, so I’ll see you around,” I said, sliding off the table and walking out the door, for the last time, pulling on my jacket as I went. I was finally rid of that place for good. I never had to go back in there again. I never had to do leg lifts or calf raises ever again. I was free of my knee. I felt like flying.

Chapter 23

Without further ado, Chapter 23. :)

By March, my crutches were completely gone and I was walking only with the help of a big brace. I had been wearing sweatpants for the past 3 months, but once March rolled around, I started getting a little crazy and wore jeans for the first time in months. Oh and I shaved, which was slightly miraculous. My leg hair had started to look like man-hair. You try shaving with a big brace. It’s just easier to ignore it.

“You look cute,” Sid said to me as I hobbled down the stairs one at a time. We were going out to a movie, an actual date.

“Thanks.” I replied, giving him a peck on the cheek once I reached the bottom of the stairs a few moments later. “I hate this stupid brace. I hate my knee.” I said, looking down at it.

“Oh hush. I will not have you ruining my night,” he said with an impish grin before kissing me again. “Now hurry up, we’re going to miss our movie.”

“You’re asking me to hurry? I can only go so fast Crosby.”

“Well by all means, take your time,” he stated with a giggle before opening the door so I could hobble out and down the stairs, once again, one at a time. “I’m pretty positive a snail could beat you.”

“Shut up!” I yelled at him, smiling, still making my way down the stairs. “Just because it could doesn’t mean you have to point it out. Asshole.”

“You know, you’re moving way too slow.”

Before I knew it, I was being picked up off the ground and thrown over his shoulder. My knee honestly never entered my mind. I just didn’t want to fall and bust my head open.

“Sidney Crosby! Put me down!” I shrieked, wrapping my arms around his torso so he couldn’t drop me and digging my hands into his shirt.

“Jess, be quiet, people will think I’m murdering you,” he said, trying to suppress one of his girly giggles.

“Help help!” I screamed as loud as I could before he shoved me into the SUV and closed the door behind me. I was laughing uncontrollably now and he was turning a shade of pink as he opened the driver’s side door. I just smiled at him when he looked at me.

“I hate you,” he stated with a slight smile as he put the car into reverse and headed towards the theater. I kept looking at him even as he drove. Whenever there was a traffic jam or he wasn’t going to make a light, he bit his lower lip and glanced in the rearview mirror. I wanted to reach over and run my hand down his jaw line, to feel the stubble that was beginning to grow for the playoffs, still a week away.

“Sidney,” I started, reaching over to fulfill my wish. “You’re so cute.” I smiled at him as he took his chocolate eyes off the road for a split second to look at me.

“That’s it? All I get is a ‘You’re cute?’” he asked me, playfully hitting my good knee.

“After you dragged me across your yard, you’re lucky I didn’t just drop your ass,” I said, laughing at his facial expression. He looked slightly surprised that I would ever say something like that. Evidence that I was getting to be myself again. This surgery took so much out of me. I didn’t even feel like myself the past 3 months.

“Well-I,” he stammered, trying to come up with the words.

“That’s right, be afraid,” I said growling a little and making a face at him before turning in my seat to face straight ahead again. I could feel his eyes darting back and forth from the road to me and I could feel him smiling at me, willing me to turn and look at him. I wasn’t going to give in to his little mind game, so I kept my eyes straight ahead, like I didn’t even notice that he was looking at me. Once we got to a red light, his hand made its way onto my thigh and up my leg. Only then did I turn to face him, and when I did, his lips were suddenly on mine.

The car horn behind brought us out of what he had just created, and honestly, I didn’t want it to end.

Sidney!” I scolded, hitting him across the arm. “Eyes on the road. What’s wrong with you?” I mocked, laughing at the expression on his face when the car honked. I’m sure they could probably see our silhouettes going at it, which is slightly embarrassing on all accounts.

“You’re what’s wrong with me Jess! You drive me crazy!” he said, taking his eyes off the road again and smiling at me. I grinned at him before pecking him on the cheek when he turned his head forward again.

“Thanks,” was all I could think of. I love you didn’t quite fit, and kissing him would be a little too much, so I just sat back in my seat and waited until we got to the movie theater.

We ended up seeing I Love You, Man, a movie Sidney insisted upon. I was not so sure about it, but he convinced me that I’d love it, and miracle of all miracles, I did. Sometimes it surprised me how often he was right, not just about me, but about everything. He practically knew me inside and out… literally. I wanted to be with him forever, but I knew that wasn’t likely. I always had a tendency to get bored with people, but so far, he was doing fine. I wasn’t bored. Maybe it was the fact that I went through such a life shaking experience with him that he’s just become my crutch, metaphorically and physically. I can’t even say how many times he carried me to the bathroom and up the stairs to my room. I wouldn’t have made it anywhere without him. Maybe we would be together forever, as lame as that sounds. It's what I wanted.

Chapter 22

This is a pretty fluffy chapter, but I figured I'd update it before I leave for Maine. I know I've been totally neglecting this story, so I'd feel really bad if when I leave for a week and half, I hadn't updated it. Anyway, enjoy! (:
-Jenna


On February 15th, 2009, a few days after my worrisome physical therapy, the Pittsburgh Penguins fired Michel Therrien and hired, in his place, Dan Bylsma, as Interim Head Coach. All of the guys, Sidney included, thought he was exactly what the team needed. I had started to go to their games again, dragging my brace with me. Mario and Nathalie were always happy to see me, saying that if I wasn’t there for Sidney during the losing streak, they didn’t know what he would have done. I always smiled and thanked them graciously.

The first game I went back to, I watched them lose to New York in a shootout, the first game Byslma coached. Compared to how they had been playing, like students from a school for the blind, they looked amazing.

I hobbled down to the locker room after the game, expecting the worst from him, but I got a happy, smiling, Sidney. Not grumpy, I-hate-the-world, Sidney.

“You look beautiful,” he said, wrapping me up in a hug.

“Thanks. You do know you lost, right?” I questioned, slightly confused.

“Yeah, but you did see how we played, didn’t you!?” he exclaimed, holding me away from him. “What’d I tell you about us turning it around?” he asked excitedly. I thought for a minute he was going to pick me up off the ground, and then I’d have to start screaming.

“You’re right, you guys did play amazing,” I said. He pulled me back to him again, burying his face in my hair.

“Let’s go back to my place,” he whispered in my ear, nipping at it a little.

“Sidney, I don’t know…” I trailed off, looking at his pleading face. I knew all too well what would go down at his house, and I wasn’t too sure I wanted to take part in it, but then again, he was in a good mood. I guess I had to take advantage of it. “Fine.”

“I need a little more enthusiasm than that once we get home,” he said, kissing my neck. I figured I’d play along.

“Oh Sidney! I’ve never wanted you more!” I practically yelled in the hallway, causing it to echo and reverberate off the walls. I even threw in a moan for effect. Everyone in the hallway looked at us and whistled. Sidney flushed a shade of pink and I just laughed at him. “You set yourself up for that one.”


“Shut up,” he growled in my ear, dragging me down the hallway and out to his car. “You’ll pay for that.”

“Oh, I’m so scared,” I joked, hopping up into the Range Rover.

“You should be,” he said, starting the car.

“I am,” I said with mock seriousness, as he leaned over to kiss me, burning a fire on my lips. “Oh God, you haven’t kissed me like that in a long time,” I whispered, taking his face in my hands once he pulled away. “Where have you been all this time?”

“Vacation,” he uttered quickly before kissing me again with even more fire. “Forget going home,” he said against my neck, and before I knew it, we were in the trunk of his car, getting undressed. I wanted to say that someone could and would walk by, someone would see us, but this passion? I hadn’t felt this in at least 2 months. Maybe it was the fact that I was on crutches for 6 weeks, or the fact that the Penguins lost almost every game they played, but now I had my Sidney back, and I didn’t intend to let him go.
-
I was curled up against Sidney, my eyes closed, after the best sex of my life, when I heard a tap on the glass. I couldn’t exactly see who it was; the windows were fogged up like in those sappy love movies. I never actually thought that that would happen, but apparently it happens. Sidney sat up and looked at the blurry figure illuminated by the harsh street lights standing outside the car.

“Hold on,” he murmured to me, sitting up and pulling his shirt and pants on. He crawled up to the front seat and turned the key once in the ignition before rolling the window down, letting the cold February air rush through the car, and revealing one Kris Letang.

“Dude. Why are you so sweaty?” was the first thing out of his mouth when he saw Sidney.

“Duh, we just played a hockey game…” Sidney said, blushing and trailing off.

“Jess’s in there isn’t she?” he asked, sticking his head through the window and looking back in my direction. I ducked behind the last row of seats and listened.

“No,” Sidney said a little too quickly.

“She is. I hope you used our gifts,” Kris said with a snigger. His gifts? What gifts?

I heard a sigh and assumed it was Sidney’s. “Yeah man, I did.”

“I knew it,” he exclaimed, like in those detective games when they find out Ms. Scarlett killed someone in the ballroom with a revolver.

“What’d you want?” Sidney asked, exasperated.

“Just to see if you were in here,” he said. “I thought you’d left and I saw your car and didn’t know if you had.”

“I haven’t left yet, thanks for asking. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Sidney said, rolling up the window with Kris’s head still inside.

“Bye Jess!” he called into the car. I forgot I was hiding for a second and answered.

“Bye Kris.” Dumb.

“Ha! You think I’m dumb. See you later man,” Kris said, pulling his head out of the window and walking away.

Sidney crawled back into the backseat with me and wrapped me up in his arms, burying his face in my hair.

“Mmm, I love you,” he mumbled. “I know I haven’t said that enough lately, but I really do. Don’t ever doubt it.”

“I know,” I replied, snuggling closer to him. “I love you too.”

Chapter 19

“Todd!” I moaned from the training table as I did one of my most dreaded exercises. Leg lifts. “This hurts!”

“Then don’t do it,” he stated matter-of-factly, reading something on his computer. I was sitting in the training room at school doing my exercises. I was spending more time at my dorm than at Sid’s house now that school had started back up a few weeks ago, but I only went all the way down to the Fitness Center because I hated doing the exercises in my room on the gross carpet where at least thirty drunk kids have thrown up in the course of this building’s existence.

“Todd!” I whined. “If I don’t do them, then I can’t get cleared!” My crutches were propped against the wall and my knee brace was occupying a whole other table entirely.

“Well then, I guess you should do them,” was all he said, still reading his computer screen. I grumbled a little about them before settling in to push through the rest. I always saved the worst for last, and I was near the end, so they were getting increasingly more painful. Out of nowhere, Todd suddenly spoke. “I didn’t know Sid hurt his knee,” he said quizzically, turning around to look at me. I just sat there. This was the first I heard about it.

“I, uh, didn’t know he hurt himself,” I stated blankly. For some reason, him not telling me about his injury stung. “I have to go,” I said, and numbly grabbed my brace and crutches. I had the brace on in record time and was out the door before Todd could think twice about what had just occurred. I ripped my phone out of the big bag I had started to drag around with me, punched the numbers 87 and pushed send. It rang a few times before he picked up.

“Hey,” he said into my ear. He sounded tired, but I didn’t care. I was mad and hurt.

“When were you going to tell me you hurt your knee?” I practically screamed into the phone, causing people to look at me like I had just escaped from the looney bin. There was a deep sigh on his end that caused the sound to crackle in my ear.

“I was looking out for your safety,” he stated. “You have your own knee to worry about. I can handle this myself.”

Despite the fact that he meant well, I was still angry. “I’m upset now Sidney! I had to find out from Todd. Did you really think you could keep this from me?” The only response I got was a slight sigh. “Did you?” The tone in my voice softened. I just wanted him to talk to me now. I wanted to hear his voice say he’s alright.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I didn’t want you to worry about me. You have your own issues.”

“Don’t feel like you can’t tell me these things,” I said softly. “Just because I have my own knee to worry about doesn’t mean I don’t care about yours.”

“I’m sorry I was trying to do what I think is best for us,” he said huffily. I was totally taken aback by his sudden defensiveness.

“Sidney-“ I started, but he cut me off.

“I can take care of us,” he said quickly.

“I never said you couldn’t,” I said, trying to placate him.

“Then let me handle this.”

“Fine,” I said slowly. I took a chance on my next words. “I’m coming over. I need to see your knee myself.”

“I’m fine,” he said sharply.

“I’m still coming over,” I insisted.

“Fine. Do whatever the hell you want,” he spat into the phone.

“I’ll be there in ten!” I said as cheerily as possible.

“I love you,” he said grumpily. I returned the words and hung up my phone, throwing it back in my bag where it would probably take 30 minutes to find next time I needed it.
-
I showed up at his house some 20 minutes later, having had to convince Melissa that taking me to Sidney’s house was a good idea, and when I rang the doorbell, it took him quite some time to answer it. I just stood there waiting, inspecting his storm door that was calling out to me, “WASH ME!” He finally opened it, and I noticed he had an ice-pack on his right knee. He opened the door for me and I hobbled over the threshold down the hallway and into the living room where I had spent at least a month of my life. I plopped down on the couch that doubled as my bed, and patted the spot next to me.

“Sit. Show me your knee,” I said. He gave me a look that said, “I’m too tired to care.” He sat and rolled up the sweats to his muscular thigh. He proceeded to unwrap the ace bandage that was keeping the ice pack in place. It revealed a big ugly bruise encompassing his whole knee, the color of an angry plum, if plums could be angry. I lightly brushed my fingertips over it and he winced. “What’d you do?!” I asked, astounded.

“I got jammed into the boards in my last game. I didn’t think much of it, but now it’s killing me.”

“Did you show the trainer?” I asked. Hockey players have a tendency to hide their injuries and play them off as less severe than they actually are. I wanted him to be OK. I didn’t want him to end up like me, on crutches for months.

“Yes. They took an MRI, but all the knee checks came out find. My knee’s still tight. They say all the ligaments are intact.” I mulled this over, thinking about my own knee. The thought of him having to go through what I did killed me.

“I really hope you’re OK,” I said, melting into him. “I’m just worried you’ll have to go through what I did. It all seems so similar.” I was starting to get upset, actually upset, and he picked up on it. Despite his crappy mood, he was still the Sidney I knew, and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and brought me to his chest.

“I’ll be alright,” he said gruffly. “This is why I didn’t want to tell you,” he said, kissing my temple. I looked down and all I could see was the huge brace on my knee and the ice pack on his.

“Look at us,” I said with a laugh. “We’re like broken toys. Like Woody and Jessie from Toy Story.” I didn’t think he’d get the reference, but he laughed a genuine laugh, not that fake tin-y laugh he does, but his actual girlish laugh. That alone made me feel better. Just hearing his laugh made me laugh, and before I knew it, we were both laughing uncontrollably. Our laughter slowly died away, and I somehow ended up in his lap.

“Oh, I like you,” he suddenly said, catching me off guard.

“Well, I love you.”

Chapter 18

“Bye Geno! Thanks for helping Sid out,” I said as he got his coat and was walking out the door.

“You welcome,” he said with his signature chipped-tooth grin before shutting the door. I turned my attention to Sid who was busying himself over the stove getting everything ready.

“I’m not really dressed for a nice dinner…” I said, looking down at my hoodie and sweatpants.

“I took care of that,” he said with a smile as he turned around, roast in hand. It looked absolutely delicious and I wanted to eat it right then and there.

“You know, I don’t think I actually need to look too nice,” I said, crutching myself closer to the plate of food, and trying to grab some before Sid pulled it out of my reach and glared at me.

“Upstairs, in my room. Go,” he barked at me.

“Fine… What’s in your room?” I asked as I headed up the stairs one at a time on my crutches.

“You’ll see,” was all I heard him say. I got myself up the stairs, grumbling about how he was making me go all the way up the stairs for some stupid surprise. I didn’t realize how beautiful his stupid surprise was until I got myself in his room where a cream dress was waiting for me on his bed. It was a strapless, knee length, form fitting dress with cream flowers embroidered around the bust area. It was absolutely gorgeous and I couldn’t believe he would go to such lengths to make me happy. I sat on the side of his bed and proceeded to wrestle with the dress to get it on. Once I did, I stood up and looked at myself in the mirror. Even with my hair pulled back in a greasy ponytail, and a huge knee brace occupying my right leg, I thought I looked gorgeous. I got myself down the stairs as quickly as possible by sliding down on my butt, causing the dress to ride up. I crutched myself into the kitchen where Sid was still standing over the stove with something in his hand. I didn’t care what he was doing, I needed to say this.“I love you.” He turned around to look at me, and I thought he was about to say something, but I had to get this out before I thought better of it. “You go out and buy me this dress while I’m a lump on the couch. You feed me everyday and make sure I get to the bathroom OK. You held my puke bags for me and I can never re-pay you for what you’ve done,” I gasped, on the verge of tears. I legitimately hate Mother Nature and hormones.

“You just did,” he said, before coming over to me. “Why do you think I’ve done all this for you?” he asked, looking me in the eyes. “I love you. Just hearing you say those words makes everything I’ve done worth it.”

“Thank you,” I whispered into his chest as he pulled me into a hug, being careful of my leg.“Now, I helped make the roast, and I made the mashed potatoes and corn all by myself,” he said like a little kid, and led me into the dining room. I was still a sniffling mess and I had to stop for a second to wipe my eyes. I always thought saying I love you would be cute and romantic. At least that’s how it was when I said it to Steven, but thanks to my period, I could no longer control my emotions.

“This is so nice Sid!” I gushed when I saw his dining room done up with candles and roses.

“All for you,” he said in my ear and kissed me on the cheek.

“Thank you,” I whispered for the second time in five minutes. I could feel the tears coming on again. I stifled them and sat in the chair he indicated.

“To us,” he said when he had poured both of us a flute of champagne.

“To us,” I echoed before digging into what looked like a delicious meal.

After dinner, I laid out on the couch, Sid right next to me for the first time in a week. We were lying face to face, his arms around me, making sure I wouldn’t topple off the couch at any given moment. It wasn’t one of those make-out moments, it was more like a moment of understanding, just lying on the couch. Words weren’t needed for the understanding we had. Despite the fact that I had known him for a little more than a month, there was no doubt that I loved him. He’s the cheese to my macaroni, and without his help, I would be nowhere. Behind me on the TV, I heard “FIVE! FOUR! THREE! TWO! ONE!” By the time I craned my neck around to look, the ball had already dropped. I looked back at Sid, inches from me.

“Happy New Year,” he whispered before he kissed me sweetly.

Chapter 16

Jess's Point of View
The first thing I did when I got to Sid’s house from the hospital was open the door of his Range Rover and puke. “Oh God,” I moaned to myself. Sid got out of the car and stepped over my puke to rub my back.
“Dr. Carr said that you’d be nauseous.”
“He could have warned me beforehand,” I said, anger and frustration filling my voice.
“Don’t worry,” Sid said, his voice washing over me and soothing my rigid body. “Now come on, sit up, let’s get you inside eh?”
“Can’t I just sit here?” I whined, sitting back in the seat.
“We have the couch all set up and everything inside, come on.”
“Fine.” I ran my hand over my mouth to wipe up any excess vomit on my face as Sid handed me my crutches. I grabbed my leg and swung it out the door to leg it clunk against the side of the Range Rover. Sidney grimaced as I stepped down with one foot onto the pavement. I got the crutches in place and attempted to get up his front walk, but couldn’t. My right leg just dragged along the ground, making it difficult to move forward. “Sid, I can’t do this,” I said, defeated.
“I can carry you,” he offered. I thought about it for a second, but that seemed too hard.
“Do you have like, a roll-y desk chair or something?” I asked, slightly dizzy from my attempts at movement, grabbing his mailbox for stability.
“Yeah, hold on.” He ran in the house and returned seconds later with a huge office chair. “Here, sit down and hold your leg up, I’ll push you inside.” He got me all the way up the walk to the stairs, where he had to stop for a break. “You know, you’re not light,” he said, and sat down on the steps.
“Imagine carrying me. Now get me in the house. I’m getting woozy,” I snapped. These meds did not have a nice side effect on my attitude. He seemed to be sympathetic to my needs because he picked himself up off of the steps and proceeded to drag me up them in the chair. We must have been a sight. Him pushing me in one of the biggest chairs I’ve ever seen in my life, and me holding my right leg out straight in front of me. Attractive. He managed to get me to the couch where I promptly collapsed and fell asleep courtesy of the medications that were still wearing off.
When I woke up it was around 7:00, there was a blanket draped on top of me and a note taped to my forehead. I pulled it off, dazed and confused. In a quick scrawl, it read:
Hey baby, I hope you’re OK. I had to leave for my game. The remote’s on your lap. I’m on FSN. I talked to Melissa and she agreed to be on call in case you need anything. I’ll be home around 11. Your pain meds are on the table near your head and your crutches are lying on the ground in front of the couch. There’s bottled water next to the pills.
-Sid
I looked around. Everything was exactly where he said it would be. The water and pills were on the end table. The crutches were on the floor, and the remote was in fact, in my lap. I taped the note onto the closest wall I could reach, to remind me that someone would always be looking out for me. My next move was to grab the remote and switch on the TV to FSN. The game was just starting. I made it through the first period before dozing off again to be woken up by Sid slamming the door.
“We lost,” he said upon throwing down his bag.
“How do you know I didn’t watch it?” I asked groggily.
“You look like you just woke up,” he said, coming over and sitting in the desk chair used as my means of transportation.
“Yeah, that could be a clue,” I managed before letting my head fall back onto the pillow. “I’m hungry…” I started, but he cut me off.
“Should you be eating? You threw up as soon as I got you home…”
“I feel fine. I’m really hungry!” I complained, putting as much emphasis on really as possible.
“Fine. Do you want apple sauce?” he asked, walking over to the kitchen and rummaging through the pantry.
“YES! That sounds amazing!” I said, rearranging my leg on the pillow it was propped up on. He grabbed the apple sauce and a spoon and brought it over to me. “Thanks,” I said, ripping the top off and shoveling it into my mouth.
“Slow down,” he said, leaning back in the desk chair. He looked extremely tired.
“So, how was your game,” I asked warily.
“Horrible,” he said, eyes closed, head back in the chair. I left it at that, not wanting him to blow up at me. For the past few days, he’s been blunt and to the point. There hasn’t been any joking or having fun, but then again, it was Sid. His lack of participation in extra curricular activities annoyed me sometimes and I found myself pressing him to go out and have fun.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” I said suddenly, staring at him, and more importantly the chair. He opened his eyes and brought his head forward, but it took him a second to process what I needed him to do.
“Oh, OK, here, sit. I’ll push you,” he said, scrambling out of the chair. I butt-hopped my way into the chair with the help of my arms and he pushed me through the kitchen to the bathroom. About halfway there, I started to get extremely hot, my skin got clammy and my head began to spin, and I don’t think it was due to the medications.
“Sid,” I said, panic filling my voice.
“What?! What is it?” he asked, stopping my forward motion and coming around to look at my face which I could imagine was like a ghost. I had that horrible gut feeling and my lips began to tingle.
“Get me a bag,” I said, trying to keep my mouth closed.
“What?” he asked, clearly confused.
“A plastic bag. I need a bag,” I said as quickly as possible. He whipped one out of what seemed to me, his back pocket, and the second my hands opened it, I had my head in it and I was throwing up all the apple sauce I had just eaten. I hunched over myself, right leg straight out on the floor in front of me. I groaned and sat up. Sid was there with a wet paper towel to wipe my face. “Thanks,” I mumbled into the towel. He didn’t say anything about the fact that he told me not to eat the applesauce; he just took the towel out of my hands and pushed me the rest of the way to the bathroom.
“Can you do it yourself?” he asked, hovering beside me as I hopped on one foot into the bathroom using the doorframe and the bathroom counter as support.
“I think I’ve got it,” I said as I plopped myself down on the toilet, with my sweatpants still on. “I just need to figure out how to get these off…” I said, looking down at my legs before looking back up at Sid. His eyes were gleaming and I realized why he was so mopey the past few days.
“You’re mad because we won’t have sex for awhile,” I said matter-of-factly. His face burned a bright red and he looked at the floor.
“That’s not why…” he said, clearly embarrassed.
“Yes it is. We can’t do anything physical until I can walk,” I stated as I began to shimmy the sweatpants off.
“No! Well, that is playing a part,” he admitted. “We’ve been losing, and you and I can’t do anything, you know, fun, for awhile.” I had the sweatpants to mid-thigh by the time he was done talking and looked up at him for help. I decided to ignore the “fun” comment for now. “But I can always help you undress,” he said, his normal tone coming back.
“You’re so horrible. Just get my sweatpants off.”
“You got it,” he said and leaned in to kiss me. I pulled away from him and he stopped, puzzled.
“Are you forgetting I just puked in a trash bag?” I asked, slightly amused.
“Oh, I well… I’m tired,” he stated as he yanked my sweats down to my ankles, revealing a huge knee brace with a water bag underneath it to ice my knee.
“Oh God,” I moaned, taking in the contraption for the first time. “This doesn’t even look good! I look like I just had my whole leg repaired!”
“Don’t worry,” he said, repeating a phrase of mine I had been telling him lately. “You’ll get through this. I’m here for you.” He placed a kiss on my cheek before backing out of the bathroom and leaving me alone.
How was I going to manage this? I asked myself, still staring at the huge ominous brace that now resided on my leg.

Chapter 15

*I'm so sorry it took me so long to post an update. I had a basketball camp and work to take care of first. Sorry, but that's priority. Now, I feel like I'm on a role. Here's another chapter. :)

Jess's Point of View
The day of my surgery, I awoke to the smell of waffles and an empty, hungry stomach, but because I had to have general anesthesia, I couldn’t eat anything. All I could have was water, which didn’t really do much to ease the hunger pangs that were coming every few minutes. I rolled over in bed to see that Sid wasn’t there. I didn’t really want to go downstairs and be tempted by the food I could smell all the way up here, so I just laid there, wrapped up tightly in the blankets until around 10:00 when Sid came upstairs. He had cleared it with Therrien to miss their morning skate today so he could take me to the hospital. I watched him walk down the hallway towards his room, and I realized I wouldn’t be walking for quite some time. He wandered into the room, probably to see if I was awake yet, and upon discovering that I was, he crawled back into bed with me without a word. I felt his arms encompass my waist and pull me to him, creating one of the safest places I could ever be.
“It’s really happening today,” I whispered into his chest, the gravity of the situation finally hitting me. All his stress, everything he was worried about, suddenly made sense to me.
He didn’t say anything, but just stroked my back and placed kisses along my neck and shoulder to soothe me. I was still anxious and nervous, but just having him there created an altogether better atmosphere.
At 11:00, we left for the hospital. I held his hand the whole way there, my knuckles turning white from the pressure I was exerting. Words weren’t exchanged on the ride there; all he did was draw soothing circles on the back of my hand with his thumb. I had a blanket wrapped around me, longing for the feeling of Sid’s arms in its place. When we got to the hospital, I got out of the car and just stood there, looking at the building, a knot building in the pit of my stomach.
“Jess?” Sid asked, coming around the front of the car to me.
“I can’t do it,” I said, anxiety ripping through my voice. I ran my hands through my already tangled hair and paced in a circle. “This-this is way too hard,” I stuttered. I began to feel light-headed and I had to lean against the Range Rover to steady myself. I bet it was from the lack of food. Sid took me in his arms, creating the feeling I wanted most, and said, “Jess, listen, we’ve been over this. You have to do this. You can do it. I promise you’ll be OK. I’ll be here with you every step of the way.” My head was buried in the crook of his shoulder and I could feel the tears coming on, running off the material of his windbreaker.
“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” I sniffled. “I can do this. I’ve got this.” I pulled myself together and wiped my eyes off, tightening the blanket around me, and walked into the hospital, with Sid’s arm around my waist. Once inside, I couldn’t sit still. I was walking around all the chairs they had set up in the waiting area, biting my nails, a habit I had long since stopped. Sid was at the reception desk talking to the women about how long my surgery would take and all the other essential details.
“Jess Spade?” A woman called when I was on my 5th lap around the chairs, a smile on her face. How the fuck could she be smiling? I asked myself. My stomach dropped and Sid led me through the door the woman was holding open for me, his right arm around my waist, and his left hand holding my own left hand out in front of me. I stood there in a daze until she directed me to the left, to a curtained-off room where she then told me to change into a hospital gown before leaving us there in the confines of this little room.
“Come on baby,” Sid said, picking up the bag that held the gown while I sat on the bed. I let him pull my shirt over my head and unclasp my bra as my hands deftly pulled my sweats off. I felt like I was undressing myself for my own funeral. There was such a sickly feeling in the air; I could feel it closing in on me, like it was trying to suffocate me. I finally got the gown on myself and was lying on the bed with Sid hovering over me, holding my hand, when the nurse came back. The first thing she did when she walked back into the room was hook up the heart monitor. To my surprise, my heart wasn’t racing like I thought it would be, it seemed to be beating pretty calmly.
“Now, I have to put the IV in,” she said, unwrapping what looked to be a very large needle.
“Oh God,” I said, trying to stay calm, but by looking at the heart monitor, anyone could tell I wasn’t. It looked like I was seizing, but really, I was just extremely scared.
“I need you to make a fist with your hand so I can find a vein,” the nurse, whose nametag read Julie, said. I squeezed my eyes shut, and made the fist, tears leaking out of my tightly shut eyes. I felt Sid’s hands on my face, wiping the tears away, and willing me to be brave. My breathing was coming quickly now as Julie pushed into the crook of my arm with the needle. I shuddered and opened my eyes, but as I did, I began to feel woozy.
“I’m going to give you the drugs now so you can relax,” she said.
“But, no. I want. Sidney, stay,” was all I could manage before my stomach dropped like I was on a roller coaster and everything went black.
-
Sidney’s Point of View
I sat by her until it was time for her surgery and the nurses threw me out. My stomach was doing flips in the waiting room, and I was making the same rounds she had before she went back. I was walking around those same chairs, biting my own nails. What if something goes wrong? What if they can’t fix her knee? All theses questions were flashing through my mind, and I couldn’t control them. They kept coming. What if she can’t walk again? What if she can’t play basketball anymore? I had to sit. I knew those weren't going to happen, but I couldn't keep myself from thinking them. I leaned over in the chair, my face in my hands, trying to calm myself down. I looked at the clock. 1:00; her surgery started at 12:00. The women had said the surgery took about 2 hours. Only one hour left.
-
Jess’s Point of View
When I came to, my doctor was standing over me.
“Did you fix my meniscus?” I asked, barely conscious. If he fixed it, that meant I was on crutches for 3 weeks, if not, only 1.
“I was able to fix your meniscus and your ACL,” he said, sympathy in his voice. I couldn’t keep myself awake any longer, and I succumbed to the blackness of morphine once again.
-
“Can you help her put her clothes and everything back on?” I heard a nurse ask when I resurfaced from the blackness.
“Yeah, I can do it,” I heard Sidney say. He sounded tired. I opened my eyes, and he was right there. I wanted to cry, sob, knowing that now was the hardest part of this whole ordeal.
“I can’t feel my leg. I can’t move it,” I said, the panic rising up my throat, constricting what voice I had left.
“They blocked your leg completely when you were out. They said the feeling would return in a few days,” he said as he took my clothes out of the bag the hospital gown was in hours ago. My stomach felt like someone was squeezing it, not a queasy feeling, but the feeling you get right before you cry. I squeezed my eyes as tight as possible, trying to keep myself from crying, and laid there as Sid got all of my clothes out. At one point, I had to help get the sweats on over the huge brace that was now occupying my right knee by actually, physically lifting my right leg myself; just grabbing it and pulling up to move it. I slipped the gown over my head and grabbed for my bra and T-shirt. Sid handed me the bra and slid the shirt over my head after I had the bra on. “Are you ready?” he asked, holding my hand for the first time in what seemed like ages. I nodded, even though I was still dizzy. I just wanted to go back to his house and relax. We planned that I wouldn’t stay in the dorm with Melissa because I would be too much trouble to have there in that small space.
How they got me out of the bed is still a mystery to me. I must have sat up and dragged my leg off the side of the bed because the next thing I knew I was being wheeled outside to Sid’s Range Rover that was conveniently parked right outside the door, and on my way to Sidney’s house, where, little did know, the worst was yet to come.

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.