The Girl Next Door Chapter 43

“Sidney, I can go!” she excitedly said into the phone.
“Your parents said you could? I didn’t think you’d have a shot!”
“I know! I still can’t believe it!”
“That’s great.”
“I told them I was staying at Lauren’s.”
“Liar, liar.”
“Shut up, Sidney. Keep it up, and I will stay at Lauren’s.”
“Fine,” he said, exaggerating his sighing. “I’m at the airport, I’ll talk to you later, okay? Love you.”
“Love you too, talk to you later.”
*****
The next day, Kate went over to the Lemieuxs, and spent a couple of hours with Sidney and his family, after Sidney got back from morning skate. Everyone could tell how nervous he was for the game; he had three points to go to make it to one hundred, which would tie Mario’s record from his rookie season. He would also be the youngest player to ever reach one hundred points, so that added to the pressure. So, they talked about everything but hockey. Sidney went down to the game early, so his family came over to Kate’s house, waiting until it was time for them to go down to the game.
So, when it was time, Kate drove Trina, Troy, and Taylor down to Mellon Arena in her car, and Allison, Neal, and her parents in the other. They were excited for the game, but all of them were nervous for Sidney, hoping he would get one hundred here, at home. The Crosbys sat with Kate’s family, all eight of them together. They watched the team warm up, and Sidney looked up to them and waved, a nervous smile across his face.
Sidney quickly got point number ninety eight, and the arena slowly started getting louder. When he got number ninety nine, the arena got even louder. Then, towards the end of the second period, when Ryan Malone scored a goal off of a pass from Sidney, he reached his one hundredth point. Everyone jumped onto their feet and screamed at the top of their lungs. Kate was jumping up and down, screaming at the top of her lungs, and hugging Taylor, who had been sitting next to her. She then leaned over to hug Trina and Troy, who were beaming from ear to ear, and cheering. Sidney looked up at them when he reached the bench, and he was also smiling from ear to ear, beaming up at his family. He pointed his stick at all of them, and gave a wink to Kate. The arena did not quiet down for several minutes, and then when play finally resumed, the arena was still going crazy.
The Penguins ended up winning the game in a landslide, and Kate figured she wouldn’t even get to see Sidney after the game, since she knew the media would be after him for a long time. She went down to the area outside the locker room with the Crosbys and her family after the game, after everything on the ice was over. After waiting for a long time, until after eleven-thirty, Sidney finally got away from the media, and came into the room, and Kate stepped aside, and talked to Marc-Andre and Veronique, Marc-Andre’s girlfriend. All of the members on the team were waiting for all the interviews to be over with, because they had a flight to catch up to Canada for their last game.
“Sidney, go over and talk to Kate,” Trina told him. “Go, go. Spend a few minutes with your girlfriend. I know you want to.”
“We’ll leave you two alone for a few minutes,” Troy said, smiling.
So, Sidney walked over to Kate, who, when he reached her, wrapped his arms around her waist, leaned down, and gave her a huge kiss. Kate wrapped her arms around him, and kissed him back.
“Amazing game tonight,” she told him after their kiss ended.
“Thanks,” he said, smiling, and he gave her another kiss.
The two of them talked for a couple of minutes, but then it was time for Sidney to go. At this point, it was almost midnight, so Kate’s family, who had been waiting in the hall, came into the room, and congratulated Sidney. Kate’s and Sidney’s families then said goodbye, and then left to go back home. She dropped the Crosbys off, and she hugged all of them goodbye. Then, when it was almost one in the morning, Kate finally got home, and fell asleep instantly when she got into bed.