Part 13 - Pure Gold

Sidney and Dion put me in my cab before going to climb onto the bus, where I am sure, they were surrounded by more fans asking for autographs. I got back to the hotel shortly after eleven, and headed strait up to my room. I knew instinctively that Sidney would tell D what I’d said and head straight up here when they managed to get back to the hotel.

Meanwhile, I wanted nothing more then to have a quick shower and to change into my sweats so that I could pack. Emotionally I was already exhausted and the worst was probably still to come. I had packed about half of my stuff when he knocked at the door. I opened it quickly and glanced up and down the hall. There was no one there. I grabbed his hand. “Get in here quick before anyone sees.” I said.

His arms went around my waist as soon as the door was shut behind him. This was a huge chance I was taking. I could seriously lose my teaching license for this. Especially if there were any inappropriate contact. He pulled me into him. “Is this way you wanted to be alone Drew?”
He asked, his lips inches away from mine.

“Sidney….” I said warningly in my teacher voice, causing him to let me go immediately. “No I didn’t want to be alone with you so that we could, I don’t know, give into our lustful urges.”

“Couldn’t you just say make out?” He asked.

“No.” I said. “Now don’t interrupt me please. This is hard enough for me as it is.” I took a deep breath. “Sid I was watching you sign autographs tonight. And I watched you with girls.”

“Are you jealous?” He demanded, looking a little angry. “I mean, I sign tons of autographs every day. It’s not a big deal. I let some of them hug me, because they won’t shut up until I do, but that doesn’t mean anything… they don’t mean anything.”

“No that’s not what this is about.” I replied, shaking my head, and sitting on the bed opposite from him. “Sid you are only 17. I’m 23. You’ll be 18 in August, and in November I’ll be 24. I am nearly 6 full years older then you are.”

“So?” He said. “What’s the problem? Is it my parents? You’re amazing Drew. All they really want is for me to be happy, and when they see that you aren’t after me because I’m the phenom they’ll be fine with it. Not to mention the fact that you totally make me happy, which is what they really want anyway. They are just scared that you’ll hurt me. But I know you won’t.”

“Sid you deserve better then that!” I said exasperated as he kept interrupting me. “You deserve someone your own age. You deserve someone who your friends are going to be comfortable around. And yeah, I mean the guys on Team Canada are comfortable around me, but how comfortable would your teammates in Rimouski be around a teacher?”

“I still don’t see why this matters Drew.” Sidney said. “I may play pro next year, then it really doesn’t matter, because I’ll be playing with guys up to 20 years older then I am, with wives who are equally old. You’ll be accepted. It isn’t a big deal.”

“To me it is Sid.” I said with a sigh. “I want what’s best for you sweetie, and I’m not sure that I’m what’s best for you.”

“Why do you leave the decisions about what’s best for me to me?” He snapped, now a little irritated. “Drew I have liked you from the moment you walked into that hotel room with Dion. Everything you’ve said to me since then has only made me like you more. Every time I see you I like you more. Every time we talk I like you more. And I know that you feel the same way about me, and the fact that I just know it, the fact that I don’t have to ask, or I don’t question what you feel about me a hundred times a day… at least not seriously, makes me want to be 18 more then you can even imagine.”

I sighed. “But sweetie… Sid… Ashley, and her friends, they are your age. You should be with someone who is going through the same kind of teenage stuff you are.”

Sidney laughed. “Drew the minute Rimouski chose me in that entry draft and the media attention started getting so intense, I stopped being able to live a normal teenage life. I stopped being able to do things that normal teenagers do, and I had to grow up, like right now.”

He paused, taking a deep breath as he did so. “And I did it Drew. I grew up in a matter of months, when most kids my age get a few years. No girl my age could possibly understand what I face every single day. Heck, most people in general can’t understand the pressure I’m under and what I face every single day. But somehow, someway, you do. You understand that I am different from other guys my age.”

I smiled sadly. “Not that different Sid. Most of the guys back in Red Deer play Madden obsessively too.”

He smiled too. “Fine then, different but the same. But when it comes down to the most important things, you know, the things that really make me who I am, I’m very different form most guys my age. Look at me Drew.” He commanded.

I did. I stopped looking at the bedspread, or the wall and I looked into those eyes of his. “What?” I asked.

“You know its there.” He said, his hands reaching out and taking mine in his. “I know that your job means that we can’t do anything about it right now, but in August I won’t be 17 anymore, and you, well you’ll still be the person that, in the moment I know that you are. A few months aren’t going to change who we are as people Drew, or what we mean to each other baby.”

“No, but it could change what we want.” I said. “Or what one of us wants.”

“What I want right now is for you to come to Cole Harbour on the 7th of August 2005, so that I can spend my 18th birthday with you.” He said. “And that isn’t going to change Drew, you have to believe me.”

“I believe that you believe that now.” I said. “But what happens when you go back to Rimouski and I go back to Red Deer? Will you still think that way? I don’t know. And honestly Sidney, I’m scared.”

“Scared of what?” He asked.

“Of giving someone my heart and my trust and getting burned.” I said. “The only person I really trust is D.” I admitted.

“Sounds like you trust me too Drew.” Sidney said softly. “Or you wouldn’t tell me that Neufy is the only person you trust.”

I smiled slightly. “I guess you’re right.” I said shoving his knee playfully with mine. “I guess I must trust you a little bit.” I paused and took a deep breath, feeling serious again. “But that doesn’t mean that I trust you as much as I trust Dion.”

“You’ve known Dion for over three years Drew, I get that. You’ve only known me for three days.” He said with infuriating logic. “Of course you don’t trust me as much or in the same way that you trust Neufy. I don’t expect you too yet.”

“But you are asking me to believe you.” I replied, my logic probably infuriating him as much as his was infuriating me. “Isn’t that the same thing?”

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Drew, you’re asking me to explain something that I don’t even understand. We met and you just knew and I just knew.” He said. “So I can’t explain what’s going on here… I don’t get it. But I do know that I am going to do everything in my power to be with you when I turn 18. Even if that means refusing to play for an Eastern Conference or American team.”

“Sidney….” I said in exasperation. “I don’t want you to do that ever sweetie. No woman is worth your future.”

He grinned arrogantly at me. “I know you don’t baby. I know that you’ll come with me wherever I go if that’s what I want.”

I cuffed him lightly on the back of the head. “Ass.” I said. “You don’t know that for sure.”

“Sure I do.” He said, still grinning pulling me into his lap, since I’d had to stand to cuff him over the back of the head. “I see it when you look in my eyes and can’t look away. I hear it in your voice every time we talk about the future.”

I jumped off his lap and just stuck my tongue out at him. “Ass.” I repeated.

He stuck his tongue out at me. “Don’t stick it out unless you’re prepared to use it Drew.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Does that mean that you’re prepared to use it?” I asked grinning wickedly.

He grinned at me. “All over your body Drew…” He whispered hotly. “All over your body baby.”

I blushed. He threw me off completely. I mean, I was just teasing and he always managed to tease me right back and in a way that made completely uncomfortable, knowing full well that our line of conversation was completely inappropriate. Not that I’d never had inappropriate conversations with a student before or anything like that, but never THAT inappropriate.

“Sid….” I said slowly.

“I know, I know.” He said rolling his eyes. “We have to pretend that we don’t want to get naked and fuck like rabbits every second that we’re in each others presence because you’re a teacher and I’m underage.”

I grinned. “Well I wouldn’t exactly put it that way, but I guess that’s pretty much it.” I shrugged.

Sidney smiled down at me. “You’re stuck with me now Drew, because whether you like it or not, we’re meant for each other baby.”

“You really shouldn’t call me that.” I said.

He rolled his eyes again. “I know, I know, I have to keep things on the DL for you.”

I grinned at him wickedly. “That’s not what I meant Sid. I can’t be your baby and your Mom at the same time now can I?”