The Girl Next Door Chapter 7

“Look at them!” Allison said, pointing to the two players that were fighting for no reason. “It’s just training camp!”
“They’re trying to get jobs, but seriously,” Kate said with a smile, “if they don’t watch it, they’ll end up in Wilkes-Barre…again.”
It was the first day of training camp that was open to the public, a Thursday in mid-September, at Mellon Arena. There were a lot of people there, all of them decked out in Penguins shirts and jerseys, all excited for the NHL to be back. After practice was done, the three of them were going to go down to the locker room to see some of the guys, but first they had to get past the security guard.
“We’re on the list,” Neal said to the guard, pointing to the paper on the man’s clipboard.
“Even people on the list aren’t getting down today,” the guard said. “It’s training camp.”
“We want to see our neighbors,” Kate said, getting a little impatient.
“And who would that be?” the guard asked, obviously annoyed.
“Mario and Sidney,” Allison said, also very annoyed. “Now, check the list before we call them and then there will be trouble.”
“Fine,” he said, giving up. “Hansons and guest…Go ahead down. I’m assuming you know where to go?”
“Of course we do,” Kate said, already starting to walk to the steps.
“And we’ll be going down after games all season,” Neal added. “So, let us down or there will be trouble.”
The security guard glared at them, and then turned his back. The three of them kept walking towards the locker room, where they saw some of the guys walking by, and they stopped to talk for a minute. They were introduced to some of the guys they didn’t know, and they talked to them for a second, but they had to get to the locker room. After a long time, no one was standing around the locker room except for the three of them and another man, but they didn’t know who he was. Eventually, Sidney came, after doing some interviews, and he waved to the three of them and walked over to the man, and after talking for a few seconds, they walked over to the three of them.
“Dad,” Sidney began, “these are Kate and Neal Hanson, my neighbors. And this is Neal’s girlfriend, Allison Roberts. You guys, this is my dad, Troy.””Nice to meet you,” the three of them said, shaking Troy’s hand one by one.
“So, you are the ones that Sidney’s been talking about,” Troy said, and Sidney blushed, which made Kate just about melt.
“I guess so,” Neal replied, laughing.
“He’s loved going to those Pirates games,” Troy said. “As well as the Steeler game.”
“We’re turning him into a Pittsburgh fan, Mr. Crosby,” Kate said.
“Please, call me Troy,” he said.
“The Steelers are going to win the Super Bowl this year, Troy,” Kate said, laughing, because that obviously wasn’t going to happen. “Wait and see.”
All of them laughed, and then talked for another minute until Sidney had to go and change. They talked to Troy for a minute longer, who said they’d meet Trina and Taylor on Saturday. Troy then had to see Sidney’s agent, who was in town, so he left, and so did Kate, Neal, and Allison. They went back home, where Kate did her homework (she didn’t have much, it was senior year after all). She just hung around the rest of the night, and after taking a quick run, she jumped in their small pool in their yard, which, after this weekend, the Hansons were going to close up, because it was cooling down. But, for all Kate knew, things were slowly heating up between Sidney and her. She liked him a lot, but she didn’t know if he liked her. After this weekend though, she would know.
*****
Saturday came, and the practices went really well. Afterwards, the three of them walked down to the locker room again (the security guard let them by without saying a word, he just waved them down the steps), and saw Sidney right away, since they had waited awhile. He waved to them, and told them to come over.
“Mom, Taylor,” he began, “these are Kate and Neal Hanson, and Neal’s girlfriend, Allison Roberts. You guys, this is my mom Trina, and my sister Taylor.”
“Great to meet you,” Trina started, smiling and shaking their hands, and they all returned the greeting.
“Nice to meet you Taylor,” Kate said, bending down a little bit to shake her hand, which Neal and Allison also did.
“You too,” Taylor said with a smile on her face, already taking a liking to Kate.
They talked for a minute, and Sidney had to go into the locker room to change, because Taylor told him to, she said he smelled horrible.
“Kate?” Taylor asked.
“Ya, Taylor?” Kate replied.
“Come here,” she said. “I wanna tell you something.”
“Sure,” Kate said, walking a couple of feet away from the group.
“What is it, Taylor?” Kate asked.
“It’s about my brother,” she started. ”What about him?” Kate asked, wondering what she was about to hear.
“He really likes you,” Taylor said.
Kate stood there for a second, not believing what she just heard.
“He what?” Kate asked, not believing her ears.
“He really likes you,” she said. “He talks about you all the time. And he told me that he really, really likes you.”
“Whoa,” Kate said, smiling, not believing her luck, and not believing that a ten year old was telling her this, but Taylor, as she figured out, was very smart.
“He wants to ask you out,” Taylor said, “but he isn’t sure if you like him back.”
Kate smiled to herself, not believing this. She liked him back alright, but didn’t realize how much until right then. She had been denying her feelings towards him a little bit, not showing him that she was really interested, and it was pretty evident he had been doing the same thing. Kate had always been shy, but not super-shy. She had figured out that Sidney was a little shy, too.
“I think he’s a really nice guy, Taylor,” Kate said. “I like him.”
“Good,” Taylor said, crossing her arms over her chest, and turning back towards her parents. “You’re nice, Kate.”
Kate smiled, and added as an after thought: “But Taylor, don’t tell you brother. Let him sweat it out a little bit. Tell him after you go home, in a few days or so. And don’t tell him I told you!”
“Okay,” Taylor said, shrugging her shoulders, and they both walked back to the others.
*****
The next day, Neal and Allison went back to school, very early, around 6am. They each left in their own cars, and Tom and Sarah in the Suburban (packed with Neal and Allison’s things), which had a trailer, filled with Neal’s things for his house. Kate got up to say good-bye to them, and then went back to bed for a little while, and then got back up, because training camp started at 8am. She drove her parents’ other car (she would be getting her own in a month or two), and went to watch the last day of camp.
The games at camp were a lot of fun; she sat with the Crosbys, up in a box, and they all had fun. There, Kate met Sidney’s agent, Pat Brisson, who was a nice guy, but very intense. Kate and Taylor talked a lot while they were watching, and they got along really well. Taylor told Kate she hadn’t said anything to her brother, and that she wouldn’t for awhile. Afterwards, all of them went down to the locker room, where Kate talked with a lot of the guys. She figured she was saying good-bye to a lot of them (for awhile, at least). The Crosbys and Pat were going right to the airport, so they waited to talk to Sidney, and said their good-byes (all of the Crosbys hugged Kate), and Pat shook her hand, saying they’d see her at the home opener. Kate stayed, since she was giving Sidney a ride home, since Mario had things to do. As she waited around, the players slowly left the locker room, many of them with saddened faces after they learned they weren’t staying. The ones Kate was friends with, she hugged them and talked to them, telling them they’d get up here at some point this season. Sidney was the last one out of the locker room, and they walked to Kate’s car, which was parked on the edge of the player’s lot.