Thursday, April 24, 2008

Chapter 36 - How I Spent My Summer Vacation

Of course I didn’t actually sleep completely through the night. That would have been far too good. Around 1 I heard Mich and B come in and wake Sidney. He kissed me on the forehead, mumbled that he loved me and left.

I managed to doze off until around 3 when I woke up in panic. Something wasn’t right and I didn’t know exactly what it was. I reached for my cell phone and sent Sid a quick text message. I knew he’d be asleep, but he always kept his phone on and nearby. He replied quickly telling me he had been asleep and was fine, so I was to go back to sleep.

I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong though. So I sent a couple of text messages to friends in Alberta (who would still be up because of the 2 hour time difference). No one except Getter replied, and he said that he was absolutely fine.

I was tempted to go downstairs to the lobby and call my Mom and Dad, but I just couldn’t bring myself to. If something seriously wrong had happened, someone would let me know eventually. I sighed. I was wide-awake now. There was no way that I was going back to sleep anytime soon.

I was tempted to turn on the TV, but I didn’t want to wake Mich and B, so I grabbed a book and my Ipod and headed into the bathroom. I propped myself on the floor and read until around 8, when I heard B stirring in the other room. She knocked softly on the door. “Neecole?” She asked.

I opened the door. “Go ahead B, sorry, I’ve been up for hours.”

“Tu es fou.” She replied rubbing her eyes tired. “Tu peux avoir la douche première d’abor.”

I shrugged. “Okay. Is Mich still completely dead?”

“Oui.” B replied. “Elle serai come sa jusqu’a midi je crois.”

“Okay.” I said. “Well after you and I are ready we can go hit up the breakfast buffet cool?”

“Oui.” She said tiredly.

We showered and got dressed and did our makeup as quickly and quietly as we could. We didn’t want to wake Michelle after all, because if we woke her this time who knew what she’d do to us next time we were unconscious? Neither of us really wanted to find out. After we were ready to go we headed downstairs to the restaurant in the hotel.

“’Suis faim.” I mumbled in French as I eyed the buffet.

“Je ne suis pas surpris.” B said with a laugh. “You were up most of the night.”

I shrugged. “Couldn’t sleep.”

“How long did you sleep?” Sidney’s voice asked as he came up to our table (the guys were eating together at a couple of tables a little ways off and Sid had seen us come in obviously.)

“Well I heard Mich and B wake you up.” I told him as I stood to give him a quick hug. “And then I managed to fall back asleep for a couple of hours because I smelt like you, but around 3 I was up for good.”

Sidney sighed and shook his head. “Tonight you are going to get a very, very goodnight’s sleep Nickie. I promise.”

I giggled. “And here I thought you wanted to interrupt my sleep in the most pleasant way possible.”

“No way.” He said seriously. “I am just going to make you good and tired before I let you go to sleep.” He finished with a wink.

B and I giggled. “Promise or threat phenom?” I asked.

“A little of both.” He replied with a wicked grin that totally turned me on. “So get a nap this afternoon Nickie. You’re going to need it.”

I giggled. “If you say so Crosby.” I said. “But I’d put money on you being out like a light before I’ll be.”

He chuckled. “Doubtful Nickie, but here’s to hoping.”

I laughed and B and I sat down to the serious business of having breakfast. We grabbed the buffet, headed back upstairs where Mich was still totally asleep and then we went shopping. I did some serious damage on my credit card (which, as predicted was still totally being paid for by my Dad) before we headed back to the hotel around 2.

Michelle was just getting up and she wanted to go shopping, but B was totally shopped out. So after grabbing a late lunch, Mich and I headed to another mall, where I did some more damage to my credit card. In total that day, I bought four new outfits and shoes and accessories to go with all of them.

The night when we got ready to go to the game of course, I wore one of the new outfits. It was a pair of black dress pants that had a slight flair with a pair of sling backs a silky slinky with a silky Nics blue top with big silver hoop earrings. I looked awesome if I did say so myself. We headed over to the arena early to watch the boys warm up.

We all looked good, and we had to flaunt it a little bit as we walked into the arena we swayed our hips a little more then we had to and we openly appraised the local girls. None of them could even hold a candle to us, which was definitely a confidence booster. We had Rimouski tattoos on our faces, surrounded by glitter. We were clearly Nics fans.

That didn’t stop a couple of local guys from approaching us the minute that we walked into the arena. They spoke in rapid French to Michelle and B, and I kind of stood there like a moron until B said slowly, so that I could understand. “Vous devrez excusé notre ami. Neecole ne parle pas Francais. Si tu parles très lentement elle peut te comprendre le plupart de temps.”

“Elle est Anglophone?” One of the guys, cute, tall and blonde, asked.

“Oui.” I said. “De l’Alberta.”

“I speak a little English.” He replied. “I am Charles.”

“Nicole.” I said, shaking his hand.

“Nice to meet you.” He replied. “You are not from Rimouski then?”

“No.” I said. “I have an Aunt living there and I moved to live with her in January.”

He nodded. I wasn’t entirely sure if he understood what I was saying, but it didn’t really matter that much. It wasn’t like I cared one way or the other. “Why do you cheer for Rimouski?” He asked. “You are not cheering because of the phenom are you?”

I giggled as just then Sidney and the boys got on the ice and Danny and Sid skated by, clearly having seen Mich and I talking to these boys. They banged their sticks aggressively against the glass. “The phenom is mon chum.” I explained. “And I think you made him angry.”

“Il est ton chum?” He asked clearly totally shocked.

“Oui.” I said with a smile. “And Danny Stewart, number eight… huit, is Michelle’s chum.”

“Est elle?” He asked, indicating B.

“Elle est la petite amie de Marc-André Fleury de les Screaming Eagles de Cape Breton.” I said. “Well maybe not his girlfriend, but they’re tight.”

“Umm I think we need to get back to our seats.” He said nervously as Sidney and Danny skated past again and banged on the glass.

I giggled again. “Nice meeting you.”

“Toi aussi.” He said glancing from me to Sidney quickly.

I giggled as he and his friends basically ran away. “Did you have to scare them away so quickly?” B asked.

I shrugged and looked at Sidney. “Well Sidney and Danny looked like they wanted to scare them away. So I did it before they broke the glass.”

Michelle giggled and we both waved at our boys on their way by. “Ils sont fou.” She said simply with a shrug.

“Ils t’aiment.” B said, a little sadly.

“Marc-André adores you Sidney says.” I told her. “Don’t worry about it. You should go visit him when you have a chance.”

Bianca shrugged. “Peut-etre.” She said.

Either way, the three of us sat down to enjoy the game. B and Mich were drinking, which meant that I would have to drive the entire way home to Rimouski, which I wasn’t exactly looking forward too, but I figured that they could return the favour sometime. Probably when we were all in Alberta. Because I clearly intended on being drunk the entire fricking time.

The game wasn’t quite as penalty filled as the last one. Sidney scored from Zbynek and Michal about 13 minutes into the first and just over a minute later someone (like I can remember who) answered for Shawinigan on the power play. Toward the end of the first, Sidney was on the receiving end of a nasty cross check from Jonathon Jolette, and then he and Dany Roussin took penalties for the retaliation. “What the fuck is that?” I jumped up from my seat. “Mother fucking god damned idiot!”

“Nickie calm down.” Michelle said. “He will be fine.”

I grumbled but sat. “I know.” I said. “I just, fuck I hate it when people hit him like that.”

“We’ve noticed.” B said dryly.

“Haha.” I replied, folding my arms across my chest.

The period ended with the score tied at one a side. I was not happy though and Michelle and B were too busy drinking my Jamaican Rum to notice. “I’m going to visit Troy.” I announced. “You two behave yourselves.”

They snorted and commented in rapid French. I hated when they did that, because I never really got it, especially when they were drunk. So I headed over to Troy’s seat. “Hey kiddo.” He said when he spotted me. “What do you think of the game?”

I shrugged. “Truthfully or the sugar coated no-foul language version that I would give Trina?” I asked.

Troy laughed. “Truthfully.” He said.

“The mother fucking refs need to get their heads out of their asses and start protecting Sidney. ‘Cause if he gets hurt there will be no protecting those fucking idiots from me.” I said angrily. “Can’t they fucking see that you have to protect super stars no matter what league they’re in?”

Troy chuckled at my anger. “I can’t say that I’m particularly impressed with the officiating, but I believe that you’ve put it well.”

I shrugged. “Well between the officials and Mich and B who are already drunk I can’t say that I’m particularly enjoying myself.”

Troy nodded. “Well maybe you should take away the alcohol.” He said.

I shrugged. “Naw. They deserve a chance to drink.” I said. “I got my chance and Michelle, well she’s doesn’t like to drive, so she’s always drunk.”

“I have to ask.” He said. “Do you guys drink all of the time?”

I shrugged. “Not all of the time.” I said. “If you’re worried about Sidney, don’t be. That boy can nurse a beer longer then my Grandad.” I told him. “I mean, you have to know that boys in the Q party. You were one. They’re will probably be a pretty big party if the guys win the series. Probably not until tomorrow night because they won’t get back until early morning. At least Sidney will get to sleep on the way.” I yawned.

“Still not sleeping kiddo?” Troy asked.

I shrugged again. “Not really.”

“Will you be okay to drive?” He asked.

“I got four hours last night.” I said. “That’s the most sleep I’ve gotten in weeks. I was cool to drive four hours here, I’m sure I’ll manage on the way home.” Troy looked concerned. “If you’d like you can follow us.” I told him. “You’re coming back to Rimouski tonight right?”

“That’s a pretty good idea Nicole.” He said. “You’ll have to wait for me though.”

“No problem.” I said. “But I should get back to Mich and B or they’ll be flirting with some guys we met before and Danny will get cranky.”

“So that’s what the banging the sticks against the glass was about earlier.” He said as I giggled. “I knew there was more to it then just some kind of pre-game tradition, because, well they’ve never done it before.”

“We were flirting.” I told him. “It wasn’t a big deal. The guys were asking us why on earth we would cheer for Rimouski and they hoped that it wasn’t about the phenom. I giggled and told the guy that the phenom was my boyfriend. Pretty soon they ran away.”

Troy chuckled. “Well that would have made the boys happy.”

“The boys yes.” I said. “Bianca not quite so much. Not that I think that matters to Danny or Sidney that much.”

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