Chapter 34 - How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Thankfully, Sidney didn’t take too long to get there. Which was good, because we were all kind of just sitting there. No one could think of a comfortable way to change the subject. I probably could have… I mean I could have talked more about the party I was going to throw, or bugged mark about his parents or something, but I wanted someone else to do the work for a change.

I was always changing the subject when someone said something stupid. So I drank my cooler and let the fact that my family was far from perfect sink in. If they really did want to come with me to Alberta this was something that they had to accept, because they probably weren’t going to meet my parents. And if they did run into Mom, she’d probably be drunk.

“I thought this was supposed to be a celebration.” Sidney said, walking in and coming over to kiss me.

I shrugged and kissed him back. “Love you.” I whispered softly as he pulled away.

He smiled looking surprised and pleased. “Love you too brat.” He said softly, hugging me. He pulled away and asked. “So where’s the beer?”

“Kitchen.” I said leaning into his chest, indicating that I didn’t want him to leave for the moment.

He kissed me on the forehead. “I’ll be a second Nick.” He said.

I sighed, and hugged a pillow to my chest. “Kay.” I said, taking a sip of my drink.

Sidney cracked a beer and came and sat down next to me. “You okay brat?” He asked softly, his breath hot on my neck.

“Tired I guess.” I said fiddling with the label of my nearly empty cooler. “I think I’m going to go to bed soon.”

“Don’t go to bed Nickie.” Mark said. “We still haven’t talked about the trip to Shawinigan.”

I shrugged. “What’s to talk about?” I asked. “Mich, B and I will drive down on Tuesday after lunch, so they can go to school in the morning, then we watch the game, go to the hotel. Go shopping Wednesday morning, watch the game, and drive home.”

“Where we will hopefully have a big party oui?” Michelle asked with a smile at Danny who had just wandered in with Marc-Antoine, Cèdrick, and Zbynek.

“Here’s to hoping.” Mark said with a grin, downing his beer in one chug.

“Don’t get drunk tonight Tobin.” Marc-Antoine cautioned. “We still have to win ten more.”

Mark shrugged. “I know.” He said. “It’s only my first.”

I sighed and stood. “Well you all have to win ten more.” I said. “But I don’t. I’m getting another drink.”

Everyone chuckled. “Grab me one too doucette.” Mark said.

“Me too.” B said from her place on the floor.

“Me three.” Michelle said.

“Anyone else?” I asked, raising my eyebrows.

No one said anything, so I went quickly and grabbed the drinks. When I got back to the living room, Sidney, Patrick, and Michal were sitting on the couch. Sid motioned for me to join him, but I shook my head and went and sat on the floor by the TV. “So is anyone else coming?” I asked looking around, there were only about 15 people here.

Patrick shrugged. “Peut-etre.” He said. “The Guillames were talking about their chums before we left.”

I nodded. “Cool.” I said, taking a swig of my drink and refusing to look at Sidney.

Sidney, however, was looking at me. “Come here Nickie.” He said.

I shrugged. “Not now.” I said, taking another swig of my beer.

Sidney looked at me oddly and shrugged. “Fine.”

It wasn’t much of a party. The guys were happy that they’d won two at home, but they knew that Shawinigan could just as easily win two in their rink. They still had two more to win before this series was over and they need ten more wins to be the Q league champs. They were busy thinking, and not in much of a mood to party.

B was the first person to take off. She still feels kind of out of place with the guys still, I mean, after her thing with Sidney and all, she just isn’t really comfortable with the guys. I can understand that, and I even respect it. It hadn’t been an easy year for her, but I think Marc-Andrè was making it easier for her. I was happy for her, because the more I got to know her, the more I really liked her.

We sat around watching TV, Mark drank more then he probably should have, and Marc-Antoine got pissed and left. Pretty soon, the crowd had dwindled to the usuals, me, Mich, Danny, Sid, Mark, Eric, and Alex and Patrick. Alex and Patrick weren’t part of the usual crew, but well, they were cool to have around, and they did stick around.

“Hey Nickie I’m going to get another beer brat. You want anything?” Sidney asked, rising from his place on the couch.

I shrugged. “No thanks.” I replied. “I think I’m good. In fact, I think I need to take Marky to bed.”

“Only if you join me!” Mark joked drunkenly.

I shook my head and rolled my eyes. “In your dreams honey, only in your dreams.”

“Aw come on.” He said. “You’re no fun. It’s not like you and Darryl have been getting it on lately.”

Sidney and I both blushed deep red. “Mark….” I said warningly. “Come on. You need to drink a couple of glasses of water and go to bed, or you are really going to be hurting tomorrow and Marc-Antoine and Dany R. are going to be super pissed at you. Not to mention the coaching staff.”

“But water will destroy my drunk.” He whined.

“Exactly.” I glanced hesitantly at Sidney, who was standing in the kitchen. “Sid can you bring a glass of water back with you?”

“Yeah sure.” He said, popping the top on his beer.

He came back into the living room and handed Mark the glass. “Just drink it Tobin. You know full well that Nickie won’t shut up until you do.”

I stuck my tongue out at him and he just grinned. “Don’t stick it out unless you intend on using it sexy.”

I leaned over and licked his neck teasingly. “There, I used it. Happy now?”

“Not nearly.” He replied with a laugh, kissing my palm softly. “But you can make it up to me when the series ends.”

“I think phenom….” I said teasingly flipping my hair over my shoulder. “That you are going to be the one making it up to me.”

Sidney grinned and laughed. “You’re probably right Nickie… you’re probably right.”

*

A couple of days later, Michelle, B and I were in Shawinigan. Mark had recovered from his Saturday night fun in time for practice Sunday, thanks in large part, I maintain to me force feeding him water over and over again all night. In fact, I woke him up once or twice in order to get more water into him. I didn’t need Mark getting in trouble over one stupid night.

Either way, Sidney and I hadn’t spent a lot of time together since that night. He’d kissed me goodnight around 2 in the morning and I really hadn’t seen him since. Michelle, B and I drove up to Shawinigan Tuesday after lunch and got there just in time to check into the hotel and then to have a quick supper before we headed over to the rink for the game.

Of course, this meant that we didn’t really get a chance to see the guys before the game either, they were warming up when we got to the rink. Sid and Danny winked at Mich and I when they say us, but that was about all they had time to do before they had to be back in the dressing room and we had to go sit in the shitty visiting fans section.

The Crosby’s weren’t there… well Troy was, he’d taken a couple of days off, but Taylor had to go to school, so Trina and Taylor were back in Cole Harbour. I wasn’t sure if I should go visit Troy, so I figured I’d leave it for an intermission or something. I took a sip from the flask I’d managed (somehow) to sneak into the arena. “You want?” I asked Michelle and B.

Michelle took it and took a long swig. “Merci Nicole.” She said. “I am so nervous, I needed that.”

I offered it to B. “Non merci.” She replied. “One of us needs to be able to drive.”

“Suit yourself.” I replied taking another long swig.

“Prends soins Nicole.” B said. “You don’t want to be too ivre. You still need to talk to Mr. Crosby tonight.”

I shrugged. “And Troy will laugh at me if I’m drunk. It’s not like he’s got any illusions about what Sidney and I are to each other or what we do together.” I paused. “In fact, I have a feeling he knows exactly what Sidney and I are too each other.”

B looked at me oddly, but she didn’t say anything, for which I was grateful. I’d had a lot to drink in the past couple of hours. I’d been sneaking sips from the flask every chance I got. The fact was, I was starting to get really, really nervous about what was going to happen to Sidney and I when the playoffs ended.

Coby hadn’t even bothered to say goodbye to me. What was going to make Sidney any different? Besides, I’d known Coby pretty much my whole life. Sidney and I had only known each other for a few months. For all I knew, the minute we were apart, he would fall out of love with me. I was scared.

So I did what my Mom had taught me to do when I was scared or hurt. I drank. I knew that it was a temporary solution at best, and at worst it was putting me well on my way to the rampant alcoholism that my Mom suffered from. However, when it hurt as bad as it did, I just didn’t care.

Either way, the game started as a penalty filled affair. The guys scored 3 power play goals in the first period. Dany Roussin from Marc-Antoine and Jean-Michel Bolduc opened the scoring, then Danny bagged one from Sid and Patrick, then with like, 13 seconds left in the first Danny scored his second of game from Sid and Marc-Antoine. By the end of the first I was feeling pretty tipsy.

“I’m going to go see Troy.” I announced, handing my flask to Michelle. “Don’t drink it all.” I told her firmly.

“Are you sure you want to go see him like this?” B asked, concern on her face. “You are ivre Nicole.”

I shrugged. “No big B. It’s not like I’ve never been drunk before.”

She sighed. “Faire ce que tu veux.” She said.

So I wandered over to where Troy was sitting. “Hi Nickie.” He said, turning away from whoever he was talking to so he could greet me. “Enjoying the game?”

“Not really.” I said with a shrug. “I never like watching Sidney take a pounding.”

He nodded. “I can’t say that it’s my favourite thing in the world.” He replied. “Have you seen the bruise on his back?”

I thought for a second. “No I haven’t. I have seen the ones on his wrists though. They’re pretty brutal.” I said. “Is the bruise bad?”

“About as bad as the wrist bruises.” Troy said. “Only bigger and uglier. I’m surprised you haven’t seen it.” He said with a teasing smile.

“Sidney decreed that he’s not having sex until the end of the series.” I informed him, loose lipped because I was drunk. “Which means I am not having sex, and since we have issues keeping our hands off of each other for long periods of time, I haven’t seen very much of his body lately sadly.”

Troy chuckled. “Sidney isn’t seriously trying to keep to this is he? I doubt any of the other guys are denying themselves.”

“He changed his mind after the last game, but since I’d already been put through like, a long time without getting laid, so I figured it was his turn to suffer.” I told Troy honestly, again in large part due to the Jamaican Rum I’d been consuming. “So he has to wait until the end of the series. Maybe that’ll learn him.”

Troy chuckled again. “You’re drunk aren’t you Nicole?”

“You mean the smell alone didn’t give me away?” I asked. “Sorry Troy.”

He shook his head. “Don’t be sorry Nicole, just promise me you won’t drink anymore tonight. There’s going to be a lot of media around and I have a feeling that you’re going to want to see Sidney.”

“But I made Mich promise to leave me kill.” I said. “I won’t drink anymore after that?” I asked tentatively.

He nodded. “Okay then.” He said. “But you have to promise.”

“Done and done.” I said. “You just have to promise not to tell Trina how fucked up I am.”

Troy laughed again. “Consider it done.”