Part 5 - Pure Gold

The next day, around noon, someone was pounding on my door. I grumbled and rolled over. This was my vacation, I didn’t want to get up if I didn’t have to. “What?” I grumbled loudly.
“Open the door Drew.” Dion’s voice replied.

Grumbling, I climbed from bed and answered the door, wearing only a tank top and a pair of boy cut panties. I pulled the door open. To my intense surprise, D wasn’t alone. Sidney was with him. “DION!” I shrieked as he made his way into the room and I reached for the pants I been wearing the night before. “You could have warned me.”

Dion shrugged. “I figured you’d be up.”

I glanced at Sidney, who was looking at me appreciatively to say the very least. “Well even if I was up that doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m going to be dressed.” I snapped, wandering into the bathroom. “D grab me something to wear and give me ten minutes to shower.”

“Underwear too?” He asked matter of factly.

“Umm not while the kid’s in the room.” I replied, hoping into the shower.

Ten minutes later I was throwing my dirty blond hair into a ponytail, when the door to the bathroom opened a crack. “I picked a skirt.” Dion said. “You are shaved right?”

“Waxed.” I replied. “So it’ll work.”

“Good.” Dion said, putting the clothes on the counter. “Go easy on the make up and I’ll pick your shoes.”

I emerged fully dressed, and Dion handed me a pair of shoes. Sidney had apparently been watching confused. With me in the room he asked. “Are you two always like this?”

“Like what?” I asked.

“Like something out of a Will & Grace episode.” He said.

“Are you implying that I’m gay?” Dion said menacingly.

I hit him playfully on the shoulder. “Come on D, you know what he means.” I laughed. “Yes, D picks out my clothes a lot. But I return the favour.”

“Oh.”

“Don’t looked so shocked Darryl.” Dion said. “I mean you know how you like to see girls dressed right?”

“Well yeah.” He said.

“And girls are always telling us how to dress right?”

“Well yeah.” He admitted.

“So Drew and I just, well take it a little farther.”

“Yeah.” I said with a laugh. “We actually listen to each other.”

“It’s still weird.” Sidney said, looking me over appreciatively.

“If its so weird.” Dion said gruffly. “Then stop checking her out.”

Sidney, again, had the good grace to blush and I couldn’t help but grin. “Aw D.” I said. “Leave the kid alone. If it makes you feel better, then just give him the lecture later.”

“The lecture?” Sidney asked, eyebrows raised.

“Yeah.” I said, rolling my eyes. “Dion here.” I hit him playfully in the stomach. “Gives a lecture to every one of the guys on the Rebels who ends up in my class. Since I had to fail five of them last year, I’m not really sure it helps.”

“You only had to fail one in the second semester.” Dion pointed out. “And they all treated you with the outmost respect.”

I laughed. “Only because they’re scared of you. Had nothing to do with me deserving it.”

“You deserve it because I say so.” Dion said firmly.

I rolled my eyes. “Sure. So why did you guys come to wake me up?” I asked.

“Lunch.” Sidney said. “Dion thought it would be a good idea to come get you and have you join us.”

“Dion should learn to use the phone.” I mumbled blushing at the look in Sidney’s eyes.

“Dion is standing right here, and Dion had a hard practice this morning. Dion is hungry, and Dion gets cranky when he’s hungry.”

“Where are we going? Just the restaurant downstairs?” I asked.

“Naw.” Dion said. “I think we’ve all had enough of that. We’re meeting everyone at the Olive Garden.”

“So basically I just made you guys really late?” I said, immediately feeling anxious.

“No, not everyone was showered.” Sid said. “D and I were the first two out.”

“Oh good.” I said immediately feeling relieved.

“But they’re going over on the bus, and we’ll take a cab.” D said. “So if we hurry, we can beat them, and we can eat first.”

I shook my head. “If you were that hungry why’d you bother to come get me at all?” I asked.

“Because Darryl told me you had a little problem with a couple of drunk fans when you headed back to your room last night.” D said. “You should have let Reggie go get me.”

“It was nothing D.” I said, peaking at Sidney below lowered lashes. I hadn’t thought that he’d tell D. “Sidney handled it really well.”

“And you wanted to hit them.” D said matter of factly.

“Which is precisely what you would have done.” I pointed out, with a smile at Sidney. “Sidney handled it better then either of us would have.”

“Thanks.” He said, smiling back at me, his eyes soft as they met mine.

D shook his head. “Well next time, I want you to come get me.” He said firmly. “Now lets go.”

So we went. We caught a cab, and managed to arrive at the restaurant at the same time as the rest of the team. Most of the guys had their parents there as well. It would be the last time that they would get to see their parents for awhile because of the tournament. I looked at D and
Sidney. “Where are your guys’ parents?” I asked.

“Mom and Dad know that you’re here. Mom said you talked to them last night.” Dion said. “So they’re meeting us here.”

I glanced at Sid. “And you?”

He shrugged. “I told them where we were going and that I wanted to go with Dion to make sure you were okay after last night. They said they’d meet us here.”

Dion could tell that I wasn’t completely cool with this. “Don’t get your panties in a bunch here Drew. You’re my family in Red Deer as much as anyone. My parents love you.”

“Drew.” Mrs. Phaneuf said coming up to me and kissing me on the cheek. “How nice to see you.”

“You too Mrs. Phaneuf.” I said. “Thanks for letting D come get me.” I added.

She smiled. “My son told us about your parents. I’m sorry.”

I shrugged. I hate it when people pity me because of my parents. “They’re making a bigger deal out of it then it is.” I said. “I just happen to be caught in the middle. D’s been great though Mrs. P. You have an amazing son.”

D glanced at me over his mother’s head and grinned. He knew exactly what I was doing. I was changing the subject so I didn’t have to talk about my parents’ divorce. Mrs. Phaneuf, however, was rather oblivious (in the nicest possible way of course) and she smiled, pleased at the compliment to D. “Well Dion said that all the boys were happy to meet you last night, and that they’ve all promised to take good care of you.”

I raised my eyebrows at Dion and Sidney, who by now was standing next to us with his parents. “Oh really….” I said.

D just shrugged and pulled my hair. “Gotta take care of my girl.” He said.

“Mom, Dad,” Sidney said, pulling me over. “I’d like you to meet Drew Whitney.” He said. “Drew, this is my Mom and Dad.”

“Nice to meet you Mr. & Mrs. Crosby.” I said, shaking their hands in turn.

“Nice to meet you Drew.” Mr. Crosby said with a small, somewhat forced smile. “We were a little surprised to find out that one of the boys was bringing his girlfriend along like this.”

I must have looked shocked. I know Dion did. “Oh, she’s not my girlfriend Mr. Crosby.” Dion said. “Drew is a good friend of mine… she’s ah, having some family difficulties, and I thought it would be good for her to get away from Red Deer for awhile. She’s a teacher at the High School, so Coach knows her, and he said that if she’s not a distraction it wasn’t a big deal.”

Dion’s parents raised their eyebrows at that. I didn’t think that they knew that Coach had helped Dion deal with the hotel situation in Grand Forks for me. About this time however, the hostess came to show us to our table, and we followed. I personally was glad for the distraction. Sidney’s Dad had made me feel a little uncomfortable.

I mean, you could tell the guy was thinking that I was a distraction that these boys didn’t need, and that only rattled me so much because deep down, I was worried about the same thing. As soon as we sat however, the Crosby’s questions continued.

“So you’re a teacher Drew?” Mrs. Crosby asked, looking at Mrs. Phaneuf meaningfully. “That would make you what? At least 23?”

I nodded. “Yes ma’am.” I said nervously.

“Drew’s birthday was in November.” Dion said, not looking too pleased at where he thought this was going. “We’ve known each other since I moved to Red Deer.”

“We met when I came home from the University of Calgary for a break, at a game. We got to be friends.” I explained. “We even lived together for a little while one summer, when Dion stayed in town.” I turned to Sidney. “Are you billeted in Rimouski?” I asked.

“Umm no.” He said, looking decidedly uncomfortable. “I was last year, but this year I live with one of the other guys on the team, Eric Neilson.”

Mrs. Crosby nodded. “We felt Sidney was mature enough for that this year.” She said. “And so far he’s proving us right.”

Sid rolled his eyes at me when his Mom wasn’t looking, and I struggled not to giggle. Clearly he was more mature then most kids his age. You could tell by how he carried himself. How he spoke. He hardly even looked 17. “So what do you think of Finland boys?” Mr. Crosby asked, clearly having decided that I was not that important. “Remember you’ll have to face them again. They are in your pool.”

“They’ve got some talent.” Dion said. “But I think we can beat them again without too much trouble.”

Sidney nodded, swallowing a bite of the bread sticks they’d brought us. “It might be a little tougher the second time around, because they know how we play, but I still think we should be able to pull it out.”

“What about this Glass kid?” Mr. Crosby asked. “How is he?”

“Steady.” Dion said. “He’s used to not facing a lot of shots, and that’s what our D’s done so far, and we should be able to continue.” He turned to me. “What do you think Drew?”

Mr. Crosby shot Mr. Phaneuf a look that clearly was meant as “What the hell does she know?” “Well….” I said slowly thinking. “We’ve got a rock solid ‘Dub style defense with Brent in the line up. Danny Syvret’s really the only question mark for me, not having seen a lot of OHL hockey, but the Knights still have that winning streak going, so they are doing something right in London.” I paused. “Most ‘Dub goalies don’t face a ton of shots, except the ones on shitty southern Saskatchewan teams. He shouldn’t need a lot of shots to stay warm the way a Q goalie might, because they face more shots a night. Glass’ numbers with the Ice are good, and better still, he’s performed really well in camp.”

Dion grinned at the surprised look on Mr. & Mrs. Crosby, and Sidney’s faces. He glanced at Sid with a grin. “What Darryl? You didn’t think I kept her around just ‘cause she’s pretty did you?”

I laughed as Sidney blushed and his parents looked decidedly upset. “I don’t think Dion can handle anyone who doesn’t get hockey for too long. It bores him.”

Mr. Phaneuf smiled. “I knew she knew hockey when she yelled at Dion one night after a game for pinching up and letting the other team get a two on one. They didn’t even score, but she was about as angry with him for it as Coach was.”

I shrugged. “You have to play smart to win.” I said. “And that means making good hockey decisions, not necessarily trying to make the big play. It’s kind of like that in figure skating… you do the most consistent routine… not necessarily the flashy one. The flashy one might work great 1 time out of 10, but it isn’t worth it the other 9. So it’s better to go with the less flashy, more consistent routine. If you don’t pinch, you’re far less likely to give up a two on one then if you do.”

“You were a figure skater?” Mrs. Crosby asked.

“Well yes.” I said. “I still coach, but I wasn’t the best competitor in the world. My Mom would get nervous before meets because I was nervous and that just made me more nervous, and it never turned out well.”

“Are your parents going to be joining you for Christmas?” She asked.

“Umm no Mom. I told you about that already.” Sidney said, giving me a glance that was clearly apologetic.

I smiled. “Personally I can’t think of a better way to spend Christmas then watching Canada play Slovakia live and in person.” I said, trying to make Sidney feel better. “I mean, I’ve been watching this tournament every year at Christmas since I was in Grade 10. I drove my family insane.”

“You’ve never been before?” Mr. Crosby asked. “We took Sidney back in 2003 when it was in Halifax.”

“We went out east to visit family the year it was in Red Deer.” I said with a shrug. “It was rather ironic that way.”