Part 14 - Pure Gold

Sid left not long after. He invited me to go downstairs and hang out with everyone, but I had a ton of packing left to do and I had a feeling that the mood downstairs would be a lot more serious then I would typically have liked. I mean, the exhibition stuff was over now, and it was time for the show. I wasn’t about to interrupt those important bonding moments.

Not only that, but I had packing to do. I wanted to decide what to wear the next day on the plane, and I wanted to just spend some time alone thinking about what had happened. I figure that D knew this, because he didn’t show up to bug me until about an hour and a half later. He pounded on the door, the way he always does, regardless of the time. “Drew open up!”

I opened the door. “Geeze D, make a little more noise can you?”

He grinned. “Only if you help me Drew.”

“What are you grinning about?” I asked. “You do know that the tournament starts in a couple of days right?”

Dion shook his head. “Drew, we won both our exhibition games. We travel tomorrow. Then we have a day off, then we play Slovakia on Christmas. We have the right to relax a little.”

I shrugged. “I guess I just figured things would be a little more serious now that the show is about to start.” I said. “Sid wanted me to go down to hang out with y’all but I didn’t want to interrupt.”

“That kid is so hung up on you Drew.” D said shaking his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen any of the young guys who’ve had crushes on you get that hung up on you.”

I shrugged. “Truth is D, I’m pretty hung up on him too.”

D shook his head. “You better be careful Drew. His Dad will be out for your blood if he thinks that you’re causing Darryl to mess up his game. This tournament is a huge deal for the kid.”

“I know.” I said. “That’s why I wanted to talk to him tonight. I wanted to tell him to stop wanting me, and damnit Dion, I tried, but there was no reasoning with him.”

D just laughed. “I told you that you’d met your match… for sheer stubbornness at the very, very least.”

I sighed. “D, I’m tired. I just finished packing and I want to go to bed. We have to be on the plane at a God awful early hour.”

D laughed and grinned. “And so you and Sidney can cuddle and sleep the whole trip.”

“Has anyone ever told you that you’re an ass?” I demanded.

“You.” He replied. “Several times.”

I shrugged. “True. But apparently it hasn’t sunk in enough to make you change your ways, so I apparently need to tell you more often. D, you’re an ass.”

He laughed. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again Drew… you know you love me.” He paused.
“So have you called your parents yet?”

“Do I have to?” I whined, flopping on my bed.

“Drew we fly out for Grand Forks tomorrow.” He said firmly. “You need to tell your parents that that’s what you’ve decided to do.”

“But they’ll just bitch and moan about how you’re a bad influence on me.” I whined. “And you know I hate that.”

“You’re tired and whinny Drew. But if you don’t call your parents now, when are you going to call them?” D asked.

“When we get to the hotel in Grand Forks?” I replied in question form.

“Drew….” He replied shaking his head.

“It’s too late to call now.” I said quickly.

“Is your cell phone turned off still?” He demanded.

“Well yeah.” I admitted. “I was busy talking to Sid, and well, I didn’t want my parents to interrupt that, mainly because I was petrified that Sidney’s parents we’re going to interrupt us.”
I said. “So I left it off.”

“Where is it?” He demanded.

“My purse.” I mumbled.

He went over and pulled it out of my purse (unlike most guys, D is definitely not afraid of what he might find in my purse) and turned it back on. It buzzed immediately. “You have fourteen messages from your parents.” He said, only to be interrupted by the ringing of the phone. I raised my hands and signaled that I didn’t want to talk to them, but D ignored me, answering the phone. “Hello? Hi Mrs. Whitney. Yeah Drew is right here. Hold on.” He handed me the phone and hissed. “Tell her now. I can hear your Dad in the background and I bet they’ve been arguing about this again.”

I sighed. “Hi Mom.” I said weakly, glaring at D.

“Hi Honey. Why is Dion in your hotel room? You two weren’t um, busy were you?” She asked.

“D came up to my room to say goodnight.” I replied, rolling my eyes. “And Mom if you want to know if I’ve been having sex, just ask. I haven’t been a virgin since I was 17.” D looked at me oddly. I covered the phone with my hand and whispered. “She wanted to know if we were having sex.”

D laughed. “You should tell her that we were and she interrupted.” He replied.

I rolled my eyes. “And we wonder WHY my parents think that YOU’RE the bad influence.”

He laughed. “Honey are you still there?” My Mom’s voice said.

“Yeah Mom.” I replied.

“Good.” She snapped. “There is no need for you to be so indelicate.”

“Why am I indelicate?” I demanded. “Because I can talk about sex and actually say words like vagina and penis without turning bright red?”

“Delreinne Rochelle Esmèe Whitney!” She said firmly, and I knew her well enough to know that she was completely red in the face, blushing because of the words I’d just used. “That is enough.”
“Fine.” I said, rolling my eyes at D. “So what do you want? You left like 14 messages.”

“Well your Dad and I have been worried about you. We haven’t heard from you in a few days.”

“You mean that you haven’t heard from me since Dad tried to convince me to come home for Christmas, despite the fact that I means that I would miss the Canada-Slovakia game on Christmas Day.” I reminded her.

“Well you did tell your Father that you would let us know.” She said. “So are you coming home tomorrow?” She asked. “You’re Dad and I are really hoping that we get to see you this
Christmas.”

“No you and Dad are using me as a pawn in your little pissing match.” I replied. “So no, I’m not flying home tomorrow. Tomorrow I am getting on a plane headed to Grand Forks with Coach and Team Canada and their parents. That’s what I’m doing tomorrow. And on Christmas Day I am going to be drunk off my ass in the stands just to piss you and Dad off. Hell I may even make a sign. ‘Divorce Attourneys – 20,000$; Settlement Allowance - 15,000$; Spending Christmas with friends instead of being a pawn in your parents game – Priceless; There are some things that money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s Master Card.”

“Delreinne!” My mother said shocked. “You don’t mean that!”

“Right now, in this moment, I do Mom. You and Dad are so angry at each other that NEITHER of you bothered to realize that I’m angry with BOTH of you. I need some time away from both of you and unfortunately, your arguing means its come at Christmas.” I said with an exasperated sigh.

“Fine.” My Mom snapped. “Ruin Christmas. Be that way. And you may say that you’re angry with us and that we’re in a pissing match, but really you’re just a spoiled brat.” With that she hung up.

I shook my head. “She called me a spoiled brat.” I said, setting down the phone with a sigh. “They are never going to be happy.”

Dion gave me a hug and dropped a quick kiss on my forehead. “Sweetheart, they are never going to be happy again, because they still love each other, they just can’t live together anymore.” He said. “That means that they don’t want each other to be happy, so they argue and get into stupid little pissing matches.”

“It’s annoying D.” I said, hugging him tightly as he gently stroked my hair.

“I know Drew.” He said. “And I’m sorry. I love you Drew, and I know you know that. My parents love you. Sidney definitely loves you. We’ll have a good Christmas.”

I kissed him on the cheek. “Of course we will Dion. You guys are going to open the tournament with a win.”

“So what did you get Sidney for Christmas?” He asked.

“Who says I got Sidney anything?” I said blushing.

“So what did you get Darryl for Christmas?” He repeated.

“I don’t want to say.” I said. “But, I ahh, dipped into Grandma Whitney’s money for the gifts I got the both of you. I got Brent and Colin something too, and I got Getter a gift that will make him laugh, and I got a little somethin’ somethin’ for all the guys.”

“I take it you had fun.” He replied, with a grin.

“D, I was shopping.” I said. “Of course I had fun.”

He laughed. “I’m not surprised.” He said. “But I really need to go to bed, and so do you Drew, so Sid or I will come to get you in the morning.”

I kissed his cheek. “I’ll see one of you then.” I replied. “Good night D.”

“Night Drew.” He replied, gently closing the door behind me.

I sighed at was just about to lie down and go to bed when someone knocked gently on the door. I sighed again. I was exhausted. I wanted to go to bed. I pulled the door open. “Sidney!” I cried, surprised. “I thought you went to bed.”

“I tried.” He replied, his arms closing around me. “But I couldn’t sleep without saying goodnight.”

I wiggled out of his grip. “Sid….” I said.

He sighed, clearly frustrated. “Do you have any idea how hard this is for me?” He demanded. “Do you have any idea how absolutely gorgeous you are?”

“Sidney.” I said, unsure of what else to say.

“I just want to kiss you goodnight Drew.” He whispered leaning close to me. “One little kiss baby….” He said, his lips inches from mine. He reeled back as I slapped him. “Drew!” He cried. “What the fuck was that for?”

I swallowed hard before ranting at him. I reached for a pillow and launched it at him angrily. “If you can’t respect the fact that I can’t do this now… if you can’t respect me then all you’re showing me is that you are a spoiled little boy, and I’m just a treat that you’re being denied. You want me to fucking trust you, but damnit Sidney, how the fuck can I trust you if you can’t respect me?”

His eyes widened as he realized what he was doing. Plopping himself down on the bed with a defeated sigh, he said. “Sorry Drew.” He muttered.

I smiled softly at him, because at that moment he looked every inch a 17-year old boy caught in some kind of misstep. I put a hand on his cheek, raising his eyes to mine and stroking his cheek softly. “It’s not easy for me either sweetie.” I said truthfully. “But we need to respect each other and our positions so that we can trust each other.”

He looked deeply into my eyes. “I need you to trust me Drew.” He said firmly standing. “I need you, period, and I’ll do anything to keep you in my life forever.”

I looked up at him and wrapped my arms around his waist, hugging him tightly. He dropped a kiss on the top of my head. “Sometimes you meet people at an inconvenient time Sid. This just happens to be one of them. We can deal with this… if we respect and trust each other enough.”

“This summer will be convenient Drew.” He said fiercely. “Because I already respect and trust you more then anyone else that I’ve ever met.”