Chapter 45 - How I Spent My Summer Vacation

So for the Victoria Day long weekend, Sidney came home with me. We weren’t able to bring anyone with us, but I suppose it was just as well. His parents and his agent weren’t too thrilled about the trip…. Well more specifically, Trina and Pat weren’t that thrilled about the trip. Troy reminded them that Sidney was spending a large chunk of his summer at the LA Kings Training Camp, and he deserved the chance to be a kid for a little while.

With just the two of us we flew commercial, and Dad sent a car to meet us at the airport. Dad of course, was staying at this apartment in the city for the weekend, and God only knows where Mom was. When we asked him, well, Dad certainly didn’t know where she was.
So Sid and I headed out to Airdrie. It had been a long time since I’d been home, and it felt like even longer. I’d spread the word about my return via text message and the plan was to have a party at my place that night.

I knew that everyone would be there. Word of a wild party does NOT take long to spread in Airdrie, and if I did anything well, well, it was throw a party. As we pulled up to my place Sidney reached over and squeezed my hand in his. “Nervous brat?” He asked.

“A little.” I admitted. “Its weird being back here with you, but its weird in a good way.”

Sidney nodded. “When I came home from Shattuck’s everything was weird.” He admitted. “I mean I missed my friends while I was gone, but I missed a lot of stuff too… and I just wasn’t the same person I was when I left. I’d grown a lot.”

“Did your friends see it that way?” I asked, feeling worried about this.

“Some of them did.” Sidney said with a shrug. “And some of them didn’t.” He hugged me quickly. “You’ll just have to deal with them one at a time.”

I sighed. My friends are never exactly EASY to deal with. They never have been, we’re all fairly spoiled, fairly rich and, well fairly bitchy. How they were going to deal with the fact that I didn’t come home with my tail between my legs… which is probably what they wanted, and was instead coming home with a boyfriend on my arm… well that was anyone’s guess.

I certainly didn’t have a clue and I wasn’t about to start guessing, because if I did, I’d drive myself insane. So I sat back and enjoyed the ride. It was nice not having to drive, especially after my long, tiring drive to Cole Harbour. “You okay?” Sidney’s voice interrupted my thoughts as we pulled up to my house.

“Yeah I guess.” I said shrugging. “This is it.”

Now I’m not trying to sound conceited or anything like that, but compared to the Crosby’s modest one story house my place is a mansion. It’s a huge two story house complete with a turret, that was actually a story higher than the rest of the house. Sidney stared hard out the window of the car.

“You live THERE?” He asked.

I shrugged. “Since my parents had the place built when I was like, five or six.” I told him. “Dad had the turret built because I wanted one and he told the architect that whatever his little princess wanted, his little princess got.”

Sidney reached over and gave me a quick hug. “Remember the good times Nickie.” He said softly, kissing my forehead. “There were good times and it isn’t your fault that things aren’t good now. That’s on your parents.”

I smiled up at him. “Thanks Sid.” I said, kissing him softly on the lips. “I needed to hear that.”

“I know.” He replied with a cocky grin.

I shook my head with a grin as we go out of the car. “So did Getter give you a call?” I asked. “He asked me for your number since he just had your email. He and Dion are coming for the party tonight.”

“He left a message.” Sidney replied. “Said that he and Neufy were coming, but that was about it.”

“Were you guys good friends?” I asked, interested, realizing suddenly that though Sid and I had told stories about Getter and Neufy, neither of us had ever really talked about our relationships with either of them.

Sidney shrugged. “The first selection camp in the summer is so big that you don’t really get to know people that you don’t play with. Then, at the selection camp, Dion and Ryan were on Team Red and I was on Team White. So I didn’t actually get to know them until we headed over to Finland.” He explained, then he asked. “How do you know them?”

“Dion’s Grandpa and my Grandpa are friends.” I said with a shrug. “I’ve known Dion for a long time. We hang out from time to time.” I paused. “As for Getter, he plays for the Hitmen.” I shrugged. “I may live in Airdrie, but my friends and I spend most of our time in Calgary.”

Sidney nodded as I unlocked the front door to the house. “Are we going to go to Calgary this weekend?” He asked.

“If you want to.” I said as the door swung open. “We could go shopping.”

“What about like, actually doing something fun?” He asked.

“You mean shopping with me isn’t fun?” I asked, raising my eyebrows, pretending to be hurt.
Sid shoved me playfully with his shoulder. “It’s fun… or it would be if I had a lobotomy.”

“Haha.” I replied. “So what do you suggest we do?” I asked.

“Go watch the Flames play.” He said, with an excited little boy grin on his face.

I shook my head and laughed. “I’ll call my Dad. He’ll make it happen.”

“Good.” Sid replied.

“Admit it Crosby, you couldn’t keep up with me in a mall.” I teased him.

“You mean there are people who can?” He replied, pretending to be surprised.

“Mich and B did an admirable job in Chicoutimi.” I said with a smile.

“In shifts.” He pointed out. “B did the first shift and Michelle did the second.”

I shrugged. “I thought that that was more of a money issue then anything else.” I told him honestly. “It’s not like most people have my parents kind of money.”

“True.” Sidney replied, gazing appreciatively around my house.

“Sorry.” I said, feeling embarrassed.

“You’ve got nothing to be sorry about Nickie.” Sidney said with a shrug. “This is how you grew up.”

I shrugged. “Somehow I think I should be embarrassed about it.” I said.

Sid yawned broadly. It was only about 3 in the afternoon Alberta time, but we’d flown out from Nova Scotia at 6 am… meaning we’d been up since about 4 am Halifax time… which meant it felt like we’d been up for like 12 hours or something. (So math has never been my strong suit. Sue me.)

“We should have a nap.” I said decidedly.

“A nap?” Sid replied, raising his eyebrows suggestively.

“Yep.” I said, with a teasing grin.

“Sounds good to me….” Sidney said with a smile, wrapping his arms around my waist and burying his face in my neck.

“We do need to get some rest if we’re going to party with my friends all night.” I pointed out teasingly as we made our way up the stairs to my room.

“Party pooper.” Sidney muttered, his lips still working on my neck.

In the end we did end up napping, but not until after Sidney had his way with me. Not that I minded or anything like that. My cell started ringing around 7:30, so Sid and I got up and ordered a pizza. When Getter called at 8:00 to say that he and Neufy were in Airdrie, although slightly lost I squealed. I was so excited.

“Calm down Nickie.” Sidney said, with an indulgent smile.

“But I’m at home phenom.” I said, spinning around the living room happily. “And I’m going to see my friends… I’m excited.”

Sidney grinned and shook his head. “I haven’t seen Getter and Neufy since the World Junior Championships, but you don’t see me acting all crazy.” He pointed out. “Where the hell is the pizza?”

Just then the doorbell ring. I ran to answer it. “Getter!” I cried, flinging my arms around Ryan’s neck and kissing him enthusiastically on the cheek.

“We brought the Pizza guy with us.” Ryan said laughed as he set me down.

“Great.” Sidney said, coming up behind me with the money. “I’m starving.”

“So am I.” Neufy and Getter said at the same time.

I chuckled. “See I told you that it was a good idea to order extra phenom.” I said sticking my tongue out at Sidney.

Sid shrugged good-naturedly. “You barely eat anything and we are only going to be here for a couple of days.”

“And between the three of you, you’ll eat all of this and then some.” I said with a shrug as we all grabbed plates and pizza.

We hung out and ate and the boys caught up. I felt almost like an intruder when they were talking about hockey, when the truth was, I’d known these guys individually much longer then they'd really known each other. Dion especially, since we’d known each other since we were little kids.

After they were done eating I forced them to get to work, getting all the alcohol out of the basement and helping me to set things up for the party. So basically, I made them move things and hide things that might get stolen or broken.

I’ve always loved to throw wild parties Ms. Kulak, but more then that, I like having all of my things intact at the end of them. So the boys worked at clearing things out of the way and putting them in the turret.

Sidney grabbed me and kissed me firmly as I was telling Ryan to take my Mom’s Ming vases and put them carefully in the turret. The kiss was firm and reassuring. When he let me go I asked. “What was that for?”

Sidney shrugged. “You’re nervous Nickie.” He said, taking a sip of the beer he’d opened. “You need to relax.”

“I haven’t seen any of these people since Christmas, and Getter has been, like the only person to keep in touch with me.” I pointed out. “Of course I’m nervous. I’m not going to not be nervous until everyone’s left and you and I are fucking like rabbits somewhere in the house.”

Getter made a face. “Do us all a favour and keep it down.” He said.

I rolled my eyes. “Only if you will.” I told him with a grin. “Because we all know that you’re here trying to get a piece of ass.”

“The thought had crossed my mind….” Ryan admitted slowly.

“Along with many other, equally dirty thoughts I’m sure.” Sidney said with a chuckle. “Just do Nickie and I a favour and stay out of her bed ‘kay? We’ve already had to deal with that once.”

I shuddered. “Yeah and it was like, gross people who fucked in my bed. Then Sid and I made Mark change the sheets for us so we could go back and do our thing.”

“Go back?” Dion asked.

“Umm yeah, Sid wasn’t at the party ‘cause his parents were in town.” I said, with a small smile at Sid. “And I kind of snuck over to his place for awhile, and then we decided we had to… well you know, so we went back to my place.”

“And then my Mom came looking for me in the morning.” Sidney added to the story, rolling his eyes. “And she got to meet Nickie, who was wearing more of my clothes then her own.”

“Oh yeah it was great fun.” I added.

Getter burst out laughing. “That sounds like exactly the kind of first impression that you’d try to avoid Nickie.” He pointed out. “So you have to tell the whole story. What really happened?”

“Well it’s a long story….” I said slowly.

“And we’ve got plently of time.” Dion said, folding his arms across his chest stubbornly. “So spill.”