The Girl Next Door Chapter 45

The next morning, Kate awoke to Sidney pushing a piece of hair off her face. Kate opened her eyes, and smiled as she saw Sidney looking straight into her eyes.
“Hey,” he quietly said, kissing her cheek.
“Hey yourself,” she responded back, giving him a kiss on the lips.
“Come over here,” he said, placing his hand on the small of her back, and gently bringing her towards him.
They lay with each other, and Sidney kissed her on her cheek, then on her lips, and on her neck. He rolled over on top of her, and they kept on kissing. Sidney began to pull up the shirt Kate had put on in the middle of the night, and as he did this, Kate’s cell phone rang.
“Shit,” Kate said, bringing her head up from the pillow. “I should answer that.”
“Do you have to?” Sidney sighed, rolling off Kate and putting his head on the pillow.
“Yeah,” Kate sighed, pulling her shirt down and getting out of bed. She reached for her purse and pulled her phone out.
“Hello?”
“Hi Kate,” her mom said.
“Mom! Hey, what’s up?”
At the mention of Kate’s mom, Sidney looked up, wide-eyed, as Kate sat back down on the bed.
“Oh, not much, just got up. How ‘bout you? Did I wake you up?”
“Nah, I woke up a few minutes ago.”
“Oh, how was last night?”
Kate looked over at Sidney, smiled, and said, “Fun. We hung out with Max and the rest of the guys at dinner. We were out until about midnight, and now I’m camped out on the couch at Lauren’s place.”
At this, Sidney mouthed, “Liar, liar!” and Kate playfully hit him.
“Sounds like you’re having a good time.”
“I am, Mom, lots of fun. Mom, I’ve gotta go, I have to get ready, cause we’re about to go out to breakfast.”
“Okay, sweetie, talk to you later! And be careful.”
“I will Mom, bye.”
She shut her phone, put it on the nightstand, and rolled back over towards Sidney.
“We really should get ready,” Kate said as Sidney picked up right where they had left off.
“And we will,” he whispered in her ear. “One more minute?”
Kate laughed, and said, “How about five?”
*****
An hour later, Kate and Sidney got to Perkins, which was where they were eating breakfast. They pulled a few tables together, and waited for the team to show up.
A few minutes later, in walked Colby and his girlfriend, Max, Noah, Fleury, Dany Sabourin, Ryan Whitney, and Erik Christensen. They placed their drink orders, and all of them talked and laughed, just like they had a few months before up at training camp. Kate thought about that, and couldn’t believe how fast the time had gone by. Eight months before, she had just met Sidney and the rest of the guys; now she was dating Sidney, the Penguins season was over, and now she was in Wilkes-Barre, watching the guys, who were now her friends, play for the Calder. She didn’t know what she would do without Sidney and his teammates during the next few months. She had become good friends with all of them, especially Colby, Fleury, and Max. She shoved the thoughts out of her mind, and concentrated on the moment, and had fun.
For the rest of the day, up until a couple hours before the game, Sidney and Kate hung out with Max and Erik, since they hadn’t seen much of them in the past couple months. They just relaxed at Erik’s apartment, and talked and watched television. A couple hours before game time, Sidney and Kate left, because Erik and Max had to go to the game. So, Kate and Sidney went back to the hotel, and just relaxed in their room before it was time to go to the game.
When they reached Wachovia Arena, the place was already packed. Max had given them tickets earlier in the day, and they were in a box with the others that had made it down from Pittsburgh to watch.
“Ryan! I didn’t know you were coming!” Kate said to Ryan Malone when they entered the box.
“I just decided to a few hours ago,” he explained, giving Kate a hug and giving Sidney a handshake.
“Long time, no see,” Sidney joked when he saw Ryan.
All of them sat down and began to talk about what was lying ahead for the next few months. Ryan and Sidney were going to the world championships in a few days, so they would see each other there. Colby’s girlfriend was graduating from college the next weekend, so Colby would be staying there for a few weeks, and then heading back to Saskatoon to see his family for part of the summer.
“Um, wow, I feel so young right now,” Kate laughed uncomfortably, and the others laughed too. “I’m graduating from high school in the beginning of June, and then it’s college in the fall.”
“Well, Katie, you may be young, but we still love you,” Colby laughed.
While they watched the game, all of them made plans to get together a couple times during the summer, and they joked about everything, with Colby supplying the right sarcastic comment at the right time, each time.
The Baby Pens lost the game, 2-3, which put them into a 0-2 hole against the Bridgeport Sound Tigers.