Chapter 21 - An American Flavour

About 10 minutes later (Rimouski is not exactly New York it doesn’t really take more then 10 minutes to get anywhere), Sidney and I were back at my place and I was giggling. “Your Dad totally knew why we wanted to leave.”
Sidney shrugged with a grin. “Dad’s perceptive that way.” He said leaning in to kiss me.
I kissed him back. I was feeling euphoric. I’d never been introduced as a girlfriend before. As I told Danny and Alex, I’d never been a girlfriend before. It was an incredible feeling of respectability. I liked it, I liked knowing that Sidney wasn’t just going to disappear from my life at any moment, and I liked that a lot.
“So what are we going to do sexy?” I whispered huskily as the kiss broke. “It’s already 9:30 Sidney, so we only have time for a quicky before I have to get you back to the Bèlangers.”
He kissed softly before holding me close. “Kally, baby when I make love to you for the first time it is not going to be rushed." He told me. “I am going to explore every part of your body… find out what makes you scream baby….”
I pressed a line of open-mouthed kisses down his throat. “I already know what makes you scream.” I teased him softly. “Or at least moan very, very loudly.”
Sidney blushed but still smiled. “Well you are probably very much better at it then that girl was.” He said with a shudder. “She used her teeth.”
I giggled. “Definitely no teeth baby.” I told him confidently.
“And I can ask Parisé if I don’t believe you?” He teased me.
“If you really want to.” I told him with a grin. “But knowing Zachie he will try to torment you in any and every way possible.”
“True.” He replied, his eyes burning in to mine.
“So you guys play Friday and Sunday right?” I asked.
“Yep.” He replied. “Rouyn-Noranda tomorrow and Val D’or Sunday.”
“Uh sure whatever.” I said, no clue where the hell either of those places were. “Everyone should come over after the game for a little while tomorrow.”
“If we win.” Sid told me. “The guys will not want to hang out if we lose.”
“Well if you lose…” I said my hand trailing teasingly up his shirt. “I’ll definitely have to make everything better for you sexy… put the loss out of your mind.”
Sidney chuckled and caught my hand pressing a hot kiss on the palm. “Come on Kally, I need to get home and I’m nervous enough as it is. I do not need to be up half the night thinking about having you naked in my bed.”
I pouted. “You mean you don’t think about that every night when I’m not naked in your bed?” I asked him.
Sidney’s eyes burned into mine. “Kally I think about you naked nearly every 6 seconds.” He joked. “I think about it every night before I go to bed, but if you keep taunting me, I’m going to be up all night.”
"I suppose.” I said, kissing him softly on the lips.
“Good.” He replied, squeezing my hands in his.
With that I drove him to the Bèlangers. We sat in my car for about 15 minutes, kissing and trying to decide whether or not he needed to leave. Of course, when his cell phone started to ring, he kissed me one last time, told his parents he was on his way in the door. I giggled and told him that I’d see him after the game the next night.
It was something that had actually started unintentionally the year before at Shattuck’s when I had just never seen him on game days. We’d talked about it over the last couple of weeks and decided that we should keep that going, because well, he’s a superstitious boy.
The next night, I was sitting in my set at le Colisée in Rimouski and watching nervously as Sidney warmed up. I’d never been nervous watching him before. Of course before I had usually been drunk, so I guess that was part of the difference. Plus this was a much bigger deal then regular high school sports.
I didn’t really know anyone in the seats around me, but I could see the Crosby’s, they weren’t very far away. Taylor was the first of them to see me and she waved. Trina saw me next and waved me over.
I moved as quickly as I could over to them, relieved to see someone I knew, since everyone I knew pretty much was out on the ice. “You look wonderful Kally.” Trina said when I got over there. “Do you always dress like this?” She asked, not critically, but just a little surprised I guess that I was once again, dressed up by comparison to everyone else around me.
“Five and a half years of uniforms will do that to a girl.” I said. “Plus jeans are like a dirty word to my Grandmama. I guess she’s rubbed off on me more then I thought.”
“Sidney’s told us a lot about your Grandmama.” Trina said with an amused smile. “I would love to meet her someday.”
I smiled. “Grandmama is, well, an Upper East Side WASP. In fact, she probably helped write the book on how Upper East Side WASPs do things. I’m not a very good Upper East Side WASP.” I told her with a smile down at Sidney who was on the ice. “I keep breaking rules and doing silly things like moving to Canada because of a boy.”
“Have you watched a lot of hockey?” Troy asked me.
I shrugged. “Enough that I understand the game, not that I’m sure that I get it’s appeal. I’m more of a football fan myself.” I paused. “I’m a good friend of Zach Parisé, so I am not totally uneducated when it comes to the game.”
Troy nodded with a smile. “I had to check.” He told me. “I couldn’t handle it if my son were dating a girl who didn’t know the difference between a two-line pass and icing.”
I giggled. “Honestly, if it weren’t for Zachie and Sidney I probably wouldn’t.” I said. “I went to a couple of Rangers games with my Grandpapa when I was in New York over Christmas, but well, for a team that spends more then I’m going to get when I come into my trust fund per year the Rangers totally stink.”
Troy laughed. “There’s a bit of a lesson in there Kally.” He said. “Money can’t buy chemistry.”
I nodded. “Money definitely can’t buy everything.” I said. “Oh and I just wanted to say, when Sid wasn’t around to tell me not to, I’m sorry about the watch, I didn’t know it would be a big deal.”
“That’s exactly what Sidney said when we were discussing it.” Trina said. “He told us that you wouldn’t know that it was a big deal.”
I shrugged. “I’ve spent most of my life around people who got their first Cartier watch in kindergarten.” I said. “I just wanted to congratulate him for being picked number one.”
“Well you don’t need to buy him expensive things Kally.” Trina said. “He likes you for who you are, not for what you have.”
I nodded and smiled, but the truth was, when I’m going to get a gift for someone I care about, it’s going to be expensive. I am not going to skimp when it comes to the people I care about. “Well I bought him clothes and cologne for his birthday Mrs. Crosby.”
“I know you did. He showed me what you bought him today. You certainly have good taste.” She said.
I smiled. “Thanks.” I said. “That’s one of the things that Grandmama is always reminding me that money can’t buy.”
Trina smiled. “Your Grandmama is probably right. I’ve seen some celebrities who dress in, well, less then fashionable ways.”
I wrinkled my nose. “New money.” Was all I said. “No offense or anything, but some of the professional athletes are just as bad. I mean, I’ll go to Diddy’s White Party on Labour Day… this is the first time I’ve missed it since I was 14, and you see some NBA and NFL guys and you seriously wonder what they were thinking when they got dressed that morning.”
I could tell that Trina and Troy weren’t entirely sure what to say. After an awkward silence I smiled as charmingly as I could. “Sidney dresses very well though.” I said. “Well it looks like the game is about to start. I should get back to my seat.”
“We’ll see you after the game Kally.” Troy said with a smile. “And Sidney probably only dresses well because of you.”
I giggled. “Thanks Troy.” I said. “I take that as a total compliment.”
I headed back to my seat and sat back to watch the game. I was sober for a change which was, well, really weird for me. I was almost always drunk when I went to hockey games. Oh hell, who the fuck am I trying to kid? I was always drunk when I went to hockey games. Being sober for one of these things was definitely going to be an experience.
The game didn’t start well for the Nics. In fact, the first two periods were fairly lackluster. You could tell that the other team was gunning for Sidney. It was one of the things he’d spent a lot of time talking to me about when we were studying together. He knew that he was going to have to adjust to the physical pressure.
And in the third, it looked like he did. He came out and scored a hat trick in the third, so basically, he got his first, second and third ever QMJHL goals in one period. It was absolutely adorable, because after the first goal, he scooped the puck out of the net after the whistle had blown.
Either way, between the three goals that Sidney scored, and the 3rd period marker by , the Ocèanic won their season opener against Rouyn-Noranda 4-3. I couldn’t help but grin, I was proud of him. He’d had a tough couple of periods in the early going but he didn’t give up. He came out and stepped up in the third, proving that he was everything that he’d been drafted to be for the team.
I met up with the Crosby’s on their way down to the locker room area. I was nervous. The whole atmosphere of the game told me that this league was a big deal. This game was a big deal, and what’s more, my Sidney was a big deal. Oh, he’d been a big deal back in Faribault with Shattuck’s but there was a big difference between Shattuck’s and Rimouski.
For one thing, the media rarely showed up at Shattuck’s. In fact, Stoney and the board of governors did their best to keep the media off the campus. Here however, the three national sports channels all had reporters and camera crews. There were crews from the local stations as well as from the local Halifax stations. That was a lot of press, and all for a 16-year-old.
I caught snatches of conversation as I stood around waiting for Sidney. A lot of high school girls were standing around, waiting for autographs. A lot of the conversation was focused on who was cute. I quickly realized that most of my regulars were consider to be highly attractive. Especially Danny, Patrick and Mark, oh and Sidney.
Especially Sidney. I shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other as I listened to their conversation. Most of the girls weren’t sure who I was, and so there was some whispers about that. “Are you alright Kally?” Trina asked.
“I’m fine thanks.” I said, shaking my head.
“You’re just a little quiet.” She said.
“I’m just listening to what people are saying about the team.” I said with a shrug.
"Oh that’s right you speak French don’t you?” Trina said shaking her head this time. “I can’t believe that I forgot about that.”
I laughed. “C’est necessaire qu’un d’entre nous parlons francais.” I said.
She laughed. “Well in that case I think we’ll have to make use of that talent over the next little while.”
“It’s not much of a talent.” I said with a shrug. “In fact, coming here has made me realize that my French is awful.”
“Well if you can understand your professors and classmates and they can understand you, then it can’t be that bad.” She said.
“Well most of the time….” I said slowly, smiling at Sidney as he winked at me, reaching for my hand and squeezing it quickly on his way into the locker room when he was done with the media.
“Sidney!” The girls around me screamed. “Nous t’aimons!”
I winked at him and shook my head. The girls in Rimouski were going to be just like the girls in Shattuck’s had been. I was going to be hated by the girls here. There was really no way around it. I’d already managed to “score” the phenom. There was no way that these girls were going to forgive me for that. Now I just had to deal with the consequences of that.