The Girl Next Door Chapter 9

The day after the opening day of the NHL regular season (Sidney hadn’t gotten a goal, but he got an assist, and the Pens had lost), Rachel came up from Austin. Kate picked her up at the airport after school, and they were both really excited to see each other. Neal and Allison were coming back the next night, a Friday, to come to the home opener. The Hansons had four season tickets in the Igloo Seats (in the center of the lower level seats, theirs were still a few rows up behind the Pens bench), but the two people next to them couldn’t come to the opener, so they gave their tickets to the Hansons, so they could all sit together.
“So,” Rachel began, “anything new with the ‘Next One?’”
“No,” she said. “I talked to him last night after the game, but nothing new. I just have a feeling he’ll never ask me out. I may have to; he’s really shy when he’s not in the public eye.”
“I can see that,” she said. “If he doesn’t soon, you should do it.”
“You excited for the game on Saturday?” Kate asked.
“You have no idea!” Rachel excitedly said. “All we have in Austin are the Ice Bats, it’s just a bunch of bullies who will never get to the NHL.”
They talked about the upcoming season, and school tomorrow, since Kate had to go, and Rachel was coming with. It was fun for her to see her old friends, and they were going to have a little party on Friday and watch the Pens game, because all of their friends were also big fans.
*****
“It is so much fun to be back here!” Rachel yelled over the noise during warm-ups on Saturday night.
“I know!” Kate yelled back. “How did we survive last year?”
“No idea!” Allison yelled.
All of them were wearing their Penguins jerseys: Kate, Rachel and Neal were wearing Lemieux jerseys, and Allison was wearing her Fleury jersey. During warm-ups, as Sidney skated by the bench, he winked up at Kate, and she smiled back. The four of them had hung out with him earlier in the day so he could just relax, but he was very nervous to be playing in front of the home crowd.
The Penguins lost for the 3rd time in a row, but Sidney had his first NHL goal, and everyone went wild. As he reached the bench, he again winked up at Kate and the rest of them. Afterwards, they went down to a room near the locker room (where families went to after games) to congratulate him. He wasn’t out for a long time, because he had a ton of interviews to do, but when he came out, he went over to his parents and sister (who the four of them had been talking to, but when Sidney came out they stepped away), and then Sidney went over to the four of them, who congratulated him on a great game. He talked to all of them for a minute, and then turned back to Kate.
“Kate,” he began. “Can I talk to you for a minute over here?”
“Sure,” she said, wondering what he was about to say.
The other three backed away, and went over to talk to Mr. and Mrs. Crosby.
“So, Kate,” he began.
“Yes?” she said.
“I didn’t want to do this over the phone,” he said. “I wanted to ask you in person.”
“What?” she asked, hoping he was about to ask what she thought he was going to ask.
“Since you don’t have school on the 17th, do you want to go out with me on the 16th?” he said in a hushed tone, because there were a lot of people around.
“I’d love to,” she said with a huge smile on her face.
“Great,” he said, smiling back. “I’ll talk to you before then, obviously, but I’ll call you to see what you want to do.”
“Sounds great,” she said.
“I’ve gotta go change,” he said. He was still in his gear.
“Good idea,” she sarcastically replied.
“Thanks,” he said, sticking his tongue out at her.
“Well, I’ll talk to you later,” she said, laughing.
She walked back over to the others, who said good-bye to the Crosbys, and they asked Kate about what Sidney had to ask her. She told them, and they were all excited. She was too, she was finally going out with him. She would spend the next few days being nervous, but couldn’t wait until next Sunday night.