Part 30 - Pure Gold

I took D’s idea (which had actually come from Patrice Bergeron who did it every afternoon) and ran with it, going down for a nap after I was done talking to Dane. I needed both water and sleep. So I grabbed a glass of water, drank it down, and laid down to go to sleep. I was exhausted. Not that I hadn’t slept or anything, but I had that disgustingly icky hung over feeling. So I took a nap. I set the alarm for 5:30 so I could get up, have some dinner, and then go hang with the boys. I slept like a rock until the alarm went off.

I was still feeling a little groggy when I woke up. I mean, sure I’d gotten more sleep, but in getting more sleep I’d fucked with my sleep patterns. I nearly crawled into the shower. I wasn’t sure that I wanted anything to eat. All I really wanted was to go back to bed, but I knew that a shower would make me feel better. So I dragged my ass to the bathroom and got under the hot water. It felt as good if not better then I’d expected it too.

I dressed in a pair of gray capris and a black t-shirt that said “Red Deer Girls Rock” on the front and “Rebels for Life” on the back… I had a bad habit of having special t-shirts and tank-tops made for myself. I towel dried my hair for awhile and then sprayed some hair spray in my hair, before carefully reapplying my make-up. I was tired but I hadn’t really seen Sidney for a couple of days. I wanted to talk to him.

So I headed down to the boys rooms. Dane and Chris were already downstairs in the room with their brothers, playing a game of poker. D and Dane put down their cards. Dane got to me first and he picked me up and swung me around. “Hey sexy. How you doin’?” He asked.

I laughed and kissed him on the cheek. “I’m fine baby boy. How are you?”

“I’m great.” He said with a smile. “Better now that I’ve seen you.”

“Thanks baby.” I said smiling as he set me down.

“Feeling better Drew?” D asked.

I stuck my tongue out at him. “Now that I was able to get back to sleep, yes, as a matter of fact I am feeling better.”

“Up puking Drew?” Chris asked with a wicked grin.

“God no.” I replied, rolling my eyes as I hit D gently in the abdomen. “This moron decided to pound on my door and wake me from my comatose state for lunch.”

D shrugged. “I was hungry.”

Everyone (which included Mikey, Fraz, Patrice and Reggie) laughed. “You’re always hungry.” I replied. “In fact, I think all of y’all are always hungry.” I paused. “Well maybe not right now.” I said. “Since y’all just ate, but I give it maybe four hours.”

Getter grinned. “That sounds about right.” He said.

I watched the boys play poker and make stupid jokes about pucks and each other and talk about sports and other crap for nearly an hour before complete and total boredom set in. To top it off I still hadn’t seen Sidney. “I’ll be right back.” I said, getting up and wandering up and down the hall, poking my head in all the open doors to see if Sidney was there. Room after room I checked, stopping to say “hi” to everyone in all of them. However, time went by and finally there were no unlocked open rooms left on the floor. And Sidney was no where to be found. Finally I returned to the room where Dion and the guys were.

I’d left the boys in Dion’s room about a half an hour before, but when I went back I just sat quietly on the bed, worried about Sidney and what was going on with the two of us. Despite my worries, I sat around watching them play for a little bit longer. But the fact of the matter was, I was starting to get anxious. Sidney had to know that I was coming to hang out tonight. Yet he hadn’t shown up. He was showing no signs of showing up. Why on earth hadn’t he come? Was he really angry with me? Had I done something wrong?

“So umm, has anyone seen Sidney?” I asked nervously, hoping that they wouldn’t see how anxious they were. “I poked my head in the other rooms before I got here and he wasn’t where anyone else was.”

Patrice shrugged. “He has been in a bad mood.” He said. “I think he is in the room. Here,” he said, handing me his key card. “Go and see.”

“Thanks.” I replied, knowing full well that I was totally blushing since EVERYONE was so looking at me. “I’ll be back in a bit.”

“No problem.” Patrice said with a shrug, immediately going back to his cards.

No one seemed to notice that I was nervous or anxious. At least no one said anything. In fact, no one, not even Reggie, made a back handed comment as I left to go find Sidney. I wandered down the hall to Patrice and Sid’s room. I knocked once, and no one answered, so I let myself in.
To my surprise, Sidney was actually in there. He was sitting propped up on the bed, his shirt off, a bag of ice wrapped in a towel on his lower back. “What are you doing here?” He demanded.

His tone made me completely and totally nervous. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to say. I mean he didn’t sound very happy to see me. In fact, he hadn’t sound very happy after the game against Germany when I went out with Chris. Part of me wanted to make things better for him, and part of me wanted to make things better for me. But all of me knew that I couldn’t just fix this. Especially since I didn’t know what ‘this’ was.

“Umm Patrice gave me the key because he said that the last time he saw you was in here.” I paused. “I umm, I didn’t mean to disturb you or anything. I’m sorry Sidney. I didn’t mean to bother you.” I rambled.

He shifted uncomfortably on the bed. I could tell how uncomfortable he really was because he winced as he moved. I winced with him. I didn’t want him to hurt like this or in any other way. Not now, not ever… I cared too much about him for that one. He shrugged. “S’ok I guess.” He said, turning slightly.

As he turned slightly I caught sight of what can only be described as a horrific bruise on his lower back. “Oh my God Sidney, sweetie are you okay?” I asked, moving forward, away from my safety position by the door (where I could easily make my escape should things get ugly) towards the bed where he lay. “What happened?”

To my surprised, instead of telling me that it would be okay, or what hit had actually caused the injury, Sidney just glared at me. “What they fuck do you think happened?” He snapped. “Every team in this tournament has been doing the same fucking thing every fucking game. They go gunning for the phenom. I’ve taken more dirty shots then anyone else in this thing.”

I took a step backwards. I hadn’t been expecting him to snap at me like that. Of course, I did know that what he was saying was true. The other teams were gunning for our phenom. “Well it looks nasty sweetie.” I said softly, forcing myself to move forward again and sit on the bed opposite him.

“It feels nasty.” He agreed, shifting again.

We all know that I accept that Sidney is completely underage, and as such it is completely wrong of me to want a relationship with him, however, that hadn’t stopped my heart thus far. And the same thing that wasn’t stopping my heart from feeling for him wasn’t stopping me from admiring his torso as he sat on the bed, starring at the TV instead of looking at me.

I know a lot of hockey players. And I’ve seen a lot of them without their shirts on. Most of them have nice bodies. But Sidney, well damn. I mean he was absolutely stacked. I should have been able to tell that just seeing him standing next to D and Getter and some of the other guys out of uniform. Sidney was definitely shorter then they were, but he was just as wide. It made for very nice proportions, if you catch my drift.

So I admired his body as I sat on bed, cross-legged across from him as he continued to stare at the TV. “Can I get you anything?” I asked softly, realizing just how nervous I was by how low and quiet my voice was.

“No.” He said.

“Sidney are you mad at me?” I asked. “Did I do something wrong?”

Sidney, my Sidney, who had only ever been kind and considerate to me turned to me and snapped. “Drew can we just fucking drop this already?”

If I didn’t know hope deeply I was in it with this guy before, my reaction to this told me. Because under normal circumstances with a guy I only kind of liked, I would have snapped right back at him and basically told him exactly how and where he could shove it. Instead, Sidney’s tone of voice had me feeling totally crushed. “I’m sorry sweetie.” I whispered softly, brushing a couple of tears that had managed to leak out, off my cheeks in complete and total irritation.

I sat there watching him watch TV in silence for a few more minutes. I watched how he winced as he moved and caught sight of the huge, nasty looking red and purple bruise on his back, which made me wince because I could only imagine how much it actually hurt. I tried not to enjoy the view too much as every movement he made caused another muscle to ripple. I realized as I watched him just how beautiful he was to me. Not just his body, but his heart, mind and soul too.
I guess I frustrated him somehow, with my quiet acceptance of his anger. Maybe he wanted to fight with me, I still don’t know. What I do know is that all of sudden he turned to look at me for the first time since I’d come into the room. “Drew do you mind?” He demanded.

“Mind what?” I asked, suddenly completely cold and uncomfortable.

“I just want to be alone.” He snapped.

“Okay, okay.” I said, raising, fighting tears as I did so. “I’m sorry, we just haven’t had much time for each other over the past couple of days and I missed you. I thought maybe you’d missed me too.”

“I’m fucking busy here Drew.” Sidney snapped. “In case you’d forgotten I’m here to win a gold medal.”

“How could any of us forget?” I said with a small smile. “We’re Canadian after all. It’s what we do. Win gold medals in hockey and sportsmanship awards in everything else.” I joked.

Sidney however did not seem to appreciate the joke. “Can you just go?” He asked. “I want to be alone.”

“Yeah sure, sorry sweetie.” I said, tears threatening to spill over any second. “Umm I’m just going to leave Patrice’s key card here.” I told him. “I’m going to go upstairs and go to bed.” I paused. “So umm, thank him for me later okay? And umm, feel better sweetie.”

“Whatever.” Sidney said, his hand on the remote control, flipping channels.

With a muffled sob I left the room. I couldn’t imagine what I’d done to make him so angry, so cold towards me. I was tempted to do what I normally would have done, and that was to go and find some guy and make Sidney insanely jealous. Reggie would have been hot to trot and he is a hottie after all.

But the calmer, more reasonable part of me prevailed. I think. I can’t entirely be sure. All I know is that instead of cutting off my nose to spite my face (which is what I would normally have done), I wandered away from any temptation and headed straight up to my hotel room.
With what I can only describe as a half-sob, half-sigh I flopped myself down on the bed, now allowing the tears to flow down my face. I didn’t know what I’d done to piss him off . I didn’t know how to make it better. The only thing that I was able to think about was how much I was hurting. How much I wanted to be with him, cuddled in his arms as he stroked my hair softly and told me that I was going to be okay.

I didn’t want to be here alone. I didn’t want to be alone period. I wanted to be with Sidney. I wanted to know again, that he cared about me as much as I cared about him. So I lay there on my hotel room bed and cried myself to sleep. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do over the next couple of days, but I had a feeling that they weren’t going to be a lot of fun.