Sunday, April 27, 2008

Chapter 16 - Some Kind of Wonderful

The next day I was sitting with Sidney and his family as his name was called and he stepped onstage and put on that Pittsburgh Penguins jersey for the very first time. I was the first person he hugged, not that I was on camera. Pat stood strategically in front of us. I would have actually been amused if I hadn’t been so damned proud of him.

Trina and Troy were proud too… we all were. Even Taylor couldn’t stop grinning. Sidney was whisked away pretty quickly though. He had to take a ton of pictures and give a lot of interviews. The NHL Network had cameras everywhere, apparently they were shooting some kind of documentary on the draft.

I just sat back and watched it all. When Sid was done with the pictures and the press, he still had to go and meet all of the Penguins executives… though he’d spoken to most of them since the lottery. I went back to my room when he was doing this. There was no point in my waiting around.

I was napping (it had been an emotionally draining day and I had been up late the night before) when the door to my room opened and someone flopped down on the other bed. I rolled over and opened my eyes. “How the fuck did you get a key?” I asked, not surprised to see Sidney laying on the other bed, loosening his tie.

Sid shrugged. “I lied to the front desk. Told them this was my parent’s room. It is booked under our name after all.”

I rolled my eyes. “Pathetic Crosby.” I said, rolling over again, so my back was to him.

“You know you love me.” He replied lightheartedly.

I didn’t say anything, I just closed my eyes and pretended to go back to sleep. Sid didn’t say anything for awhile. I knew he was just watching me, which was totally cute. I knew that unlike me, Sid was still totally excited about everything that had gone on today. He was probably itching to do something… anything, and I wasn’t having that by sleeping.

After awhile Sidney spoke up, whispering softly in my ear, having crawled onto the bed to join me. “Hey. So Dare, are you naked under those covers?” He asked.

I giggled. “You want to find out?” I asked.

“Of course.” He replied with a small grin.

I shook my head. “Well too bad.” I said. “What are you guys doing for dinner? Am I invited or am I fending for myself tonight?” I asked.

“I think you’re going to be stuck fending for yourself tonight Dare.” Sidney replied apologetically.

“Well then you definitely don’t get to find out whether or not I’m naked.” I said I teased him, sticking my tongue out at him.

“It’s not my fault…..” He whined.

“And who’s fault is it Crosby?” I asked, teasing him still. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I would have really enjoyed having dinner with him and spending time with him. But I knew that he stuff that he had to do.

“I’ll make it up to you….” He replied in the same whiny voice, clearly having decided to change tactics.

“And how precisely are you going to do that Crosby?” I asked him slyly.

“Well first….” Sidney replied, realizing where I was going with this. “I’m going to make sure that if you aren’t naked under there, that you are soon.”

“Don’t think so Crosby.” I said shaking my head and rolling my eyes. “You’re not 18 yet honey.”

“A fact that you are never going to let me forget huh?”

“Probably not.” I said with a grin and a shrug. “But look at it this way Crosby…. You’re going to be 18 in a week.”

“And its going to be the longest week of my life.” He grumbled. “All I want to do right now is get you naked and make you scream.”

I rolled my eyes again. “That’s all you’ve wanted to do since you met me Crosby.”

Sidney shrugged. “But it keeps getting closer and closer and I keep getting more and more impatient.” He whined.

I shook my head. “You are such a baby Crosby.” I said. “I mean, look at me, I’m handling this whole situation just fine. I’m not about to go insane just because I can’t get you naked and make you scream.”

Sidney snorted. “Dare, don’t get me wrong, you’re dead sexy and all, but I’ve been with tons of girls. I sincerely doubt that there is a girl left who has the skills to make me scream. You’ll definitely get me to moan though.” He added as though he were trying to appease me.

It was my turn to snort and shake my head. “Crosby I’ve got skills honey.” I told him. “You need to have a little more faith darling….” I added, turning over and licking and kissing his ears gently.

Sidney stifled a groan. “I can’t wait to see what else you can do.” He told me softly, his arms wrapping around me.

I shook my head. “Sometimes Crosby, the way you talk, its almost like you’re only with me to get into my pants.”

“Yes, but you know that isn’t true Dare.” He replied, his eyes burning into mine. “So really isn’t that all that matters?”

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. “I get what you’re doing Crosby.” I told him.

“Oh really?” He replied, eyebrows raised.

“Yes.” I said, rolling my eyes again. “You’re trying to maintain your stupid player too cool for school image.”

Sidney snorted and burst out laughing. “Too cool for school?”

I made a face. “You know what I mean.” I snapped.

“I know.” He said with a grin, rolling over and pinning me under him. Leaning forward he kissed me slowly. “Dare you’re like, the coolest girl I’ve ever met.” He told me softly.

“Oh really?” I replied, stretching up and kissing him again.

“Yeah.” He answered. “Today and the lottery would have been, like, hell for anyone else. I mean, can you imagine how Erin would have been? She would have wanted to be on camera. She would have wanted me to make our relationship public and she would have been pestering me all day about it.” Sidney paused, and looked down at me. “Why didn’t you?”

“Why didn’t I what?” I asked.

“Pester me all day about making our relationship public?” He asked, suddenly looking very confused and very young.

I shrugged. “I trust you Crosby.” I told him softly. “You’ve given me no reason not to, so I figure that you’re a pretty safe bet.”

Sidney laughed. “Thanks Dare.” He replied. “Actually, I can’t thank you enough for trusting me… I know how hard it is for you.”

I shrugged again. “Sometimes its too easy.” I told him honestly. “That’s when I get burned Crosby… it took me awhile to trust you… no offense or anything. It just took awhile, so I guess I feel okay about it.”

Sidney pressed a soft kiss on my shoulder. “And I just want you to know that I appreciate your faith in me, and I’m going to do whatever it takes to make sure that you can always trust me… always.”

“So much that you’re going to leave me to have dinner all by myself.” I teased him… the conversation was getting much to serious for me.

“I could lie and tell everyone that I’m not feeling well.” Sidney replied. “Then we could order room service and hang out here.”

I snorted. “Tell the media you’re sick?” I replied, my eyebrows raised. “Why not tell them that the NHL and the PA were just kidding and the lockout isn’t over after all?”

Sidney chuckled. “Okay, I get your point Dare, but I’d still rather just hang out with you here then go out for supper.”

“While I appreciate the sentiment Sid, maybe you should like, I don’t know, go.” I told him. “I mean, not that I want you to go… but why on earth would you rather have room service?”

“Because then I’d get to spend time with you.” He told me. “I like spending time with you Dare, and I’m going to be moving to Pittsburgh soon.”

I nodded slowly. Clearly I had so known that, but well, its just one of those things that you kind of push out of your mind when you’re worried about other things. I’d been so wrapped up in the excitement of the draft and Sid’s eagerness to get to the NHL that I hadn’t really thought about what would happen afterwards. Yet I knew what was going to happen. I mean there was really no way around it.

I took a slow deep breath. “I know.” I said, struggling to control my emotions. I didn’t want Sidney to know that I was upset. “Do you know when?” I asked.

Sidney shook his head. “Not yet.” He said. “Pretty sure it will be in early August though. Mario said that we’d talk about it at dinner.”

“Oh.” I said in a small voice.

“You’ll come with Pat right?” Sidney asked, his voice and eyes filled with uncertainty.

“Do you want me to?” I asked quietly, somewhat surprised.

“Of course I do!” Sidney replied vehemently. “I need you to come with Pat.” He added in a gentle voice. “I mean, if you don’t come with him, then I won’t be able to see you for a long time, and well that would suck.”

I so didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to have this conversation. Sidney and I had just been having fun. We hadn’t talked about the future. It was all about having a good time with us. That’s probably why we were enjoying each other so much, because there was no pressure.

And I was about to put a whole shit load of pressure on him. I had to. For both of us. I’ve always believed in honesty and I guess that was kind of my Achilles’ heel. Some people can’t handle the kind of honesty that I dish out. I don’t pussyfoot around things and just because I was already half in love with this kid from Cole Harbour wasn’t a reason for me to start now.

“So what does that mean?” I heard my voice ask, even as my heart was cringing. “What do you want to happen with us Crosby?”

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