Chapter 18 - An American Flavour

I woke up the next day slowly, groggy. It probably wasn’t even morning. It was probably closer to early afternoon. I had had quite a bit to drink the night before after all. I smiled to myself as I rolled over. It had been a very successful first party in Rimouski if I did say so myself. As I rolled over, I expected to roll into Sidney and cuddle in his arms. To my surprise however, he wasn’t there. I sat up startled. His clothing, which should have been carelessly draped around the room (where it had been thrown the night before as we’d made our way to bed) was no where to be seen.
Getting up, I threw on my pink silk robe and wandered the house. It was eerily quiet. I looked in every room. No one was anywhere to be found. I folded my arms across my chest and rubbed my arms with my hands. This was NOT how I pictured waking up. I wanted Sidney to be there, so we could see each other first thing in the morning.
It wasn’t just that the house was empty, I realized as I continued to wander. It was also CLEAN. The empty bottles were stacked neatly in their boxes in the back porch off the kitchen, and the cabinets had been wiped clean. True, Sidney and I had been doing some putting away before we’d crawled into bed the night before, but nothing like this.
I glanced at the clock on the microwave. It was nearly 3 in the afternoon. I sighed. Sidney must have left, since Eric was gone and so was everyone else. I must have been sleeping like the dead if I hadn’t even heard them leave.
Sighing with disappointment, I headed into the master bathroom to take a shower. I wasn’t just disappointed that Sidney had left… if Eric had decided to leave, then yeah, Sidney had to go with him. I got that. Eric had driven and they did live together. But he could have at least left me a note or something.
On the other hand, he’d clearly cleaned the place up and cleared it out, because when we got to sleep there were still a couple of Ocèanics and a couple of the girls from school in the guestrooms.
I sighed as the hot water sliced over my body. The shower was definitely reminiscent of Shattuck’s, in the sense that it was something of a prison style shower. It actually made me kind of uncomfortable. I decided then and there to make a few phone calls on Monday and try to find someone to come renovate the bathroom.
The fact that the shower reminded me of the ones at Shattuck’s didn’t stop me from taking nearly an hour-long shower. I hate the morning after drinking feeling… you just feel dirty. At least I’d gotten more then enough sleep, so I wasn’t feeling tired on top of that icky hung over feeling. To top it off, I was in no mood to go study or hang out in my empty house.
Exiting the shower I headed, wearing only a couple of towels, to the kitchen, so that I could get a drink. It was well past 4, and since my Grandparents were infamous for having their first drink at 10 in the morning (as is most of New York’s Upper East Side Elite) I didn’t think it was all that strange.
However, the boys who I discovered in my living room, apparently did find something odd about it. I squealed in surprised and pulled my towel tighter to me, seeing Danny and a tall ruggedly handsome guy that I vaguely remembered being introduced to the night before.
Danny grinned and laughed. “Sorry Kally.” He said, not sounding or looking, very sorry at all. “Alex left his wallet here last night, and when we knocked, you didn’t answer, but since the door was opened we figured someone was here.”
I took a long sip of the bottle of Absolut I’d just opened. “Fuck you scared the shit out of me.” I said. “Give me a minute okay?” I said, pulling my towel tighter to my body again. “I’d like to, like be, dressed."
“Why are you drinking?” Alex asked in heavily accented, yet understandable English. “Absolut Vodka.” I replied. “A hair from the tail of the dog that bit me and all.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Isn’t it a little early?”
I shrugged. “If it were before dix-heures le matin, yes, oui.” I said with a smile. “Since it’s not, non.”
I hurried back to my bedroom to get dressed. I’d never planned for ANY of Sidney’s teammates to get to see me in a towel. And it wasn’t as if the towel was very long or anything like that. One wrong move and those two could have seen everything.
That thought sobered me and I immediately decided that I definitely needed to be drunk. So I took a long swig of my drink. I grabbed a pair of jeans and a cute t-shirt and threw them on, not bothering with socks or shoes. Heading out into the living room I grinned, the guys had found the PS2. “So what did you guys do today?” I asked.
Danny shrugged. “Paintball.” He said, concentrating on the game.
“Everyone?” I asked, half-shyly. “Or just the two of you?”
“All of us.” He answered. “Why?”
I shrugged. “Just curious.” I said.
“Liar.” Danny replied with a grin. “You haven’t talked to your boyfriend today.” He teased.
I shrugged. “Well he cleaned up and cleared out my house before he left.” I said. “So I do have to give him points for that.”
“Didn’t leave a note or anything?” Alex asked.
“Not that I could find.” I said. “And he apparently left one of my doors unlocked.”
Danny laughed. “He’s only barely 16 Kally.” He pointed out, not that I hadn’t been thinking about it. “He’s not that bright and you’re probably his first girlfriend.”
“Well we’re even then.” I said, taking another swig of his drink. “Because he’s my first boyfriend.”
Danny and Alex raised their eyebrows at that, but didn’t say anything. “You guys want a drink?” I asked, after a couple of moments of silence.
“Only if you have like, some kind of normal beer.” Danny said. “And I am totally going to blame you for the fact that the kid doesn’t really like beer.”
I shrugged and smiled, tossing my still damp hair over my shoulder. “Darling all I did was instill some taste in the boy last year. If he’s here long enough then maybe, if you’re lucky, some of it will rub off on you.”
Danny laughed and I headed into the kitchen to grab them each a domestic beer when my cell rang. I ran around quickly looking for it. “Hello?” I said breathlessly when I finally found it, in one of the guestrooms, praying that the person on the other end hadn’t hung up.
“Hey baby.” Sidney’s voice replied.
“Hey Sidney.” I replied.
“How was your day?” He asked.
“I just got up like an hour and a half ago.” I said, wandering back to the kitchen to grab the beers for the guys. “How was yours?”
“Played paintball with the guys and cleaned up for you.” He said and I could almost see the grin that was on his face. “I figured Eric and I should do that for you or the house would be a disaster until you could get someone in there to clean it for you.”
I laughed. “You’re probably right.” I said.
Just then, Alex, who apparently beat Danny, yelled something at him in French. “Who’s there?” Sidney asked.
“Danny and Alex.” I told him. “Danny Stewart.” I said, remembering that there were two of them. "Alex left his wallet here last night and you didn’t lock the door on your way out.” I teased him. “So when they knocked and I didn’t answer, they let themselves in, and got to see me in nothing but a towel.” I teased him.
I just KNEW he was shrugging and grinning. “Well I got to sleep with you naked.” He said. “So I think I win.”
“So it’s a competition now kid?” I asked teasingly.
“Baby we’re a bunch of semi-pro athletes.” He said. “Of course everything is a competition with us.” He paused. “You should have been at paintball this afternoon.” He said. “It was brutal. All us rookies are going to be bruised for weeks.”
“Poor baby….” I said teasingly. “Do you need me to kiss it better?”
“Yes.” He replied seriously. “Kick Danny and Alex out and come get me.” He said.
“I can’t do that kid.” I said, taking a sip of my drink. “I just gave them each a beer and they’re playing video games.”
“So you’re going to hang out with them instead of me?” He said petulantly.
“Of course not silly.” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’ll leave them here, and come get you. Eric can come too if he wants.”
“I guess.” He said. “But only if you promise we can send them away eventually.”
“Deal.” I said. “I’ll be there in 10.” I told him, now that I knew where on earth I was going I was able to get there a lot faster.
I let Danny and Alex know where I was going and told them that I’d be back in like, 20 minutes with Eric and Sid. They just took long swigs of their beers and nodded, continuing to play their game. I drove over to the Bèlangers and knocked on the door. Eric, not Sidney, answered. “Hey.” I said, a little surprised.
“He’s on the phone with his Mom.” Eric said, seeing the question in my eyes and rolling his eyes. “She called last night and he wasn’t home….”
I shrugged. I didn’t feel guilty about that, I mean, he would have been at my house until like, 3:30 even if he hadn’t spent the night. It’s not like it was my fault. “Is he in the living room with the Bèlangers?” I asked. “Or in his room?”
“His room.” Eric said. “You gonna drag him out of there?” He asked.
I shrugged and grinned wickedly. “Either that or I’m going to make him really, really, really WANT to leave….” I told him.
Eric grinned. I wandered into the house and waved at the Bèlangers, who were sitting in their living room and they waved back. I’d been around the house in the last couple of weeks, so they were getting used to me just wandering in to see Sid. I wasn’t sure what they thought about it, nor was I sure that I cared.
“Mom, Kally’s here to get me.” Sidney was saying. “I have to go.” He paused, and I wrapped my arms around his waist and kissed him softly on the neck. He smiled and kissed my forehead. “Yes Mom, I have already started with my school work. School doesn’t even start until Monday Mom. Kally and I are already studying together, just like we did at Shattuck’s.” Sidney rolled his eyes.
I stretched up and started kissing his neck, my arms tightening around his waist, fiddling with his belt. “Kally stop.” He hissed quietly moving the phone away from his mouth.
“Do you want to talk to her Mom? She’s right here.” He paused. “Look I’m sorry, Eric and I went to a party last night with the rest of the team. I am not an idiot Mom. I am not going to be an idiot. The Bèlangers didn’t know when Eric and I were going to come home.”
Sidney shook his head and moved away from me, plopping himself down in the chair in his room, pulling me down onto his lap. “They are taking perfectly good care of me Mom. Kally is still taking good care of me, and she’s just as new here as I am.” Sidney sighed with irritation. “No that doesn’t mean she’s buying me expensive things.” He thrust the phone at me. “Here.” He said. “You talk to her.”
“Umm hi Mrs. Crosby.” I said nervously.
“Hello Kallista.” She said. “I’m sorry you’re waiting for my son.”
“Umm I’m sorry I interrupted your phone call.” I lied. “I didn’t know that Sid was on the phone when I got here.”
“That’s alright Kallista.” She said. “My son is studying enough right? He’s going to be very busy once the season gets started and may not have as much time as he does right now.”
“Definitely.” I said. “He usually comes over after super and we read together for a couple of hours Mrs. Crosby. Last night, well it was like a night off for the guys.”
“You were there?” She asked.
“Umm yeah, Sid invited me… he worries that I’m not going to know anyone but him.” I winked at him. “And then he’ll be stuck amusing me all the time.”
Mrs. Crosby laughed. “You’ll keep an eye on him Kally?” She asked. “He’s my baby for all he’s 16 years old.”
“Of course I will Mrs. Crosby.” I said with a look up at Sidney, who was massaging my shoulders with gentle hands. “In fact, I’ll keep both of them on him.”
She laughed. “Well tell my son that we’ll see both of you soon.” She said. “We’re coming up for the season opener on the 12th, So he needs to be on his best behaviour.”