The Girl Next Door Chapter 8

“You did a great job today,” Kate told him as they reached the car. They were both glad no fans were around; all of the girls screaming for Sidney had already started to get to her.
“Thanks,” he said. “I just wish some of those guys were staying up here.”
“Me too,” Kate replied, as they got into the car, and Kate started the engine.
They sat in silence for a few seconds, just listening to one of Kate’s CDs.
“You ready to go home yet?” Kate asked Sidney.
“No,” he replied, and then he smiled the smile that drove Kate crazy.
“Where do you wanna go?” she asked.
“Can we go get some lunch?” he asked. “I’m starving.”
“Me too,” Kate said. “Where do you want to go?”
“How about the Cheesecake Factory?” he questioned Kate. They had gone there with some of the other rookies earlier in the month, and he had loved it.
“Sounds good,” she said, changing lanes so she could go over to the South Side.
So, they had a late lunch over at the Cheesecake Factory. Sidney was recognized by a lot of people, but it didn’t bother him very much since he was used to it. When people asked who Kate was, he just told them that she was a friend who lived next to him up in Sewickley, which is what she was. Nobody questioned him, but Kate couldn’t help wishing she was something more than just the girl next door.
When she dropped him off at Mario’s late in the afternoon, he said he’d see her later. It seemed like he was going to ask her a question, but he held back. Kate went home, finished up her last homework assignment, and waited for her parents to get back. She still could not stop thinking about Sidney, no matter how hard she tried. She had never fallen that hard for a guy before, but her and Sidney had something she had never felt with any other guy before.
*****
Kate did not see Sidney before the team went into the preseason, because they played their home games for it in Wilkes-Barre. She was in school, and getting things ready for her upcoming hockey season, like getting back into hockey shape. She was going to Neville Island to work out on the ice, and she was working occasionally. She had her birthday while he was gone, on September 27th, and he called her on her birthday to talk to her, and he had given her a present before he left. Kate didn’t have a big party or anything (she wasn’t a big fan of huge parties), but she got a lot of things for her birthday, like the new iPod, since her old one had broken. She also got some new Penguins shirts and some other clothes. She talked to Sidney almost every day though, she was checking in to see how he was doing. When he came back to Pittsburgh, it was obvious that Taylor had told him that Kate did like him back, and he acted a little more shyly than usual. They got together at Mario’s house to hang out the day before the team went up to New Jersey, and it was obvious that Sidney was really nervous about things.
“Sidney,” Kate began, “are you nervous about everything this week?”
“That obvious, huh?” he questioned, and his nervousness really came out.
“No, not at all,” Kate exaggerated, trying to make him laugh, but it didn’t help that much.
“Sorry, Kate,” he said, “I’ve just got a lot on my mind.”
“Understandable,” she said.
“Kate,” Sidney began, “I heard Mario saying you don’t have school on the 17th, that Monday, right?”
“Ya, no school,” she said, wondering what he was about to say.
“Well,” he began, then paused.
“Ya?” she questioned.
“Never mind,” he said.
They sat in silence for awhile, then Kate had to head home. She wished him luck, and headed home, realizing on the way that Sidney had tried to ask her out, and she wished he had.