Part 6 - Pure Gold

I won’t bore you with the rest of it. I’m sure that was boring enough, and you just had to read it, I actually had to be there. Basically Sidney’s parents interrogated me on various topics, and the Phaneuf’s and Sid tried to change the subject. It was ever so much fun. The meal was good at least.

I couldn’t bail fast enough on that meal. Sidney’s parents insisted he take the bus with the team back, and D and I took a cab back to the hotel with his parents. In general it was a pretty awkward car ride. D was furious at the way the Crosby’s had interrogated me about, well everything, and when D is furious, he doesn’t say much. He likes to hit things. As for his parents, I think they felt awkward about the whole thing too, to say the least.

To my surprise though, when I got back to the hotel, Sidney was waiting for me at my room. D, who ridden up in the elevator with me (of course) to make sure I got to my room okay, just patted me on the shoulder and turned and walked away saying as he did so. “Talk to Sidney.”

As if I’d intended to brush past him, which I kind of had. Despite D’s words, I barely glanced at Sidney as I opened the door. He just stood there starring until I finally said. “If you have something to say, say it quick. I can’t be alone in a room with a minor.”

He ran a hand nervously through his hair. “I’m sorry about lunch.” He said. “I didn’t know my parents were going to be like that. If I knew I wouldn’t have put you through that. It wasn’t very fair and I’m sorry.”

I glanced up at him now and shrugged. “I’ve been through worse, just so you know, but D is pretty pissed.”

Sid ran a hand through his hair again and sighed. “I know, and it’s all my fault.”

I looked at him oddly. “I thought you said that you didn’t know that your parents were going to interrogate me. Now you’re saying its all your fault. Forgive me if I’m a little confused.”

He ran a hand through his hair again. “I may have mentioned that I thought you were kind of hot.” He said really quickly, blushing in embarrassment.

I shook my head wearily. “Why would you do something stupid like that?” I asked. “Sid, I teach guys your age. A lot of them think I’m hot. I know that, they know it, and they only tell their parents if they have a sense a humour about it.”

“I didn’t mean for them to get like that.” He told me, equally weary. “I thought my Dad WOULD have a sense of humour about it. Usually he does. He’s always cracking jokes about the girls in the stands with signs saying that they’re my future wife or asking me to marry them and stuff. He teases me about it all the time.” He looked down at me seriously, standing so close to me that I could feel the heat of his body. “I figured he’d laugh it off.”

“And your Mom?” I found myself asking.

Sidney shrugged. “She likes to pretend that I’m still just turned 15.” He sighed again. “See I went away to go play hockey at Shattuck’s St. Mary’s right after my 15th birthday, then, as soon as I was home, I was drafted by the Ocèanic. When I’ve been home, its, well different. She babies me.”

I couldn’t help but smile a little at the image. I shrugged. “I guess I can understand it from your Mom. But your Dad? I wasn’t even, like fawning over you or anything like that.”

Sid reached out and took one of my hands in his. His hand was big and warm. I knew I should pull my hand out of his grasp, but I was frozen in place, blushing the whole while. “I guess he just knew how special I think you are.” Sidney said softly.

“You barely know me.” I said. “And I barely know you.”

“That doesn’t really matter does it?” He asked. “Because you feel it too.”

I shook my head. “Sidney….” I said slowly, moving away from him. “It does matter. Dion would kill you if he knew you were doing this.”

Sid shook his head, and let go of my hand. “I’m sorry Drew.” He said. “I didn’t mean to put you in a compromising position. I’m really sorry about my parents. I don’t know what got into them.”

I smiled at him. It was nice of him to come up here and apologize for his parents… most guys his age wouldn’t be mature enough to apologize. “It’s not that big of a deal Sid.” I said, feeling better.
“But it was just uncomfortable. I mean, Dion’s parent’s know me, and they like me, but they don’t know me really well, and D… well he’s my big little brother. He makes sure that no one hurts me. He’s pretty pissed.”

“I know.” Sidney said, his eyes still burning into mine. “But you’re the one they pretty much attacked. So I thought I should apologize to you first.”

“So what was it like?” I asked, curious. “Moving away from home when you were only 14?”

“Hard at first.” He said, relaxing and leaning against the hallway wall. “It was a prep school, so most of the kids had parents who were pretty rich. My parents aren’t really that rich and I was Canadian, so I was a bit of an outsider at first. But as soon as they saw how good I was….”

“They jumped on the phenom bandwagon.” I finished. “Did that bother you?” I asked, knowing full well it bothered me when people just liked you for something you had or could do for them. “I mean, the fact that they didn’t like you until they discovered you had talent and could help them win? I mean, if you hadn’t been so phenomenal would you have had to spend the whole year kind of on the fringe.”

Sid moved over so that he was leaning up against the doorjamb of my hotel room. I was leaning against the open door. He paused to think about it. “I never really thought of it like that before.” He said. “I mean, part of being on a hockey team is proving yourself.”

I shrugged. “I’ve never played real team sports.” I said. “I was a figure skater and I experimented with track when I was in University. It’s a little different.”

“You ran track?” He looked at me funny.

“I was a middle distance runner.” I said. “400’s, 800’s, the occasional 1500.” I made a face. “I hated the 1500. Occasionally I would run the 400 hurdles. That was fun.”

He laughed. “Not a distance runner huh?”

“I didn’t say that.” I said. “I just don’t like sprinting 1500. I’d rather jog a marathon then sprint a 1500.”

He laughed at me again. “We should run together sometime.” He said. “I try to run every day when we’re not playing.”

“I’m slow.” I warned him. “And out of shape. Sprinters aren’t exactly known for their distance running. And I haven’t really worked out that hard since I finished University.”

He looked me up and down. “You don’t look it, if you don’t mind me saying so.” He said, his gaze hot. “And Neufy mentioned that he runs with you in the off season, so you can’t be as out of shape as you think you are.”

I shrugged. “I feel out of shape.” I said. “But I still fit all my clothes, so I guess I can’t really complain.”

He laughed. “Spoken like a girl.” He said elbowing me.

I raised my eyebrows. “I know you’ve noticed that I am a girl Sidney, so of course I’m going to speak like a girl. Do you know how expensive clothes are? And I have to have like, four full different wardrobes.”

“Why?” He asked curious.

“Teaching clothes, casual teacher clothes, for coaching and extra-curricular stuff, casual clothes, and clothes, like, well this.” I said, indicating the outfit that Dion had chosen for me. “If I got fat and had to replace all of it… well I shudder at the thought.”

“So I guess I should count myself lucky then huh?” Sidney said.

“Why’s that?” I asked.

“Well because if I were any 17 year old from Red Deer I wouldn’t get to see you dressed like this.” Sidney said with a grin. “And I personally like it.”

I shook my head. “Naw, you’d still see me dressed like this from time to time when I was with D, but D would glower at you any time you checked me out.” I paused and grinned. “Basically it would be like it was before lunch.”

He laughed. “He acts like he’s your big brother.”

I shrugged. “In a sense he is. I don’t have any brothers or sisters and with my parents fighting the way they do, it’s nice to have D to hang out with. Things weren’t always him taking care of me though.” I said. “When we first met, D was a 16 year old kid, living away from home for the first time. People like to take advantage, and I watched out for him. Then, when he realized how some people treated me, he started watching out for me.”

Sid nodded. “That makes sense. Eric, my roommate in Rimouski watches out for me a bit, but it was a bit different because I didn’t really speak much French when I got to Rimouski, and pretty much everyone there only speaks French.”

“So do you speak much French now?” I asked, curious.

He laughed. “I can cuss.” He said. “And I mean, I know the basics. I can order fast food, ask where the bathroom is, that kind of thing.”

I laughed. “You picked up on the not so nice French words pretty quickly I’m assuming.”

He laughed too and shrugged. “The guys use them a lot.” He said. “The guys who didn’t speak a ton of English picked up pretty quickly on the English cuss words from me and the other guys who speak English.”

I laughed. “That’s how I picked up Swiss German and Finnish. Wicksy and Kuuks taught me. Actually, Wicksy is still teaching me… he’s only been a Rebel since, well the training camp ended and he made the cut. Spanish I learned through a friend at school from Mexico.”

“Yeah, Hrdel, he’s playing with the Czech team here and Sersen, he’s with the Slovak’s, taught me that way.” He said.

“What’s it like playing against your teammates?” I asked curious.

“It’s different.” Sidney said, shrugging with a grin. “You beak at each other a lot more then the other guys on the ice. But that’s because you know each other and you know what gets under their skin and they know what gets under yours.”

I laughed, because I could see D beaking Kuuks or Wicksy more then he’d beak, say Alexander Ovechkin, though I was sure D would do his best to get under the Russian phenom’s skin given the chance. “Makes sense.” I said. “It’s always easier to bug the people you love.”

Sidney looked at me oddly. “I didn’t say anything about love.”

I rolled my eyes. Like D, he’s clearly a total hockey player and clearly totally homophobic. Not that I could blame him or anything, most of the male athletes I know are totally homophobic. Something about constantly being naked around other guys makes you a little self-conscious I guess. “And I said nothing about romantic love. You guys love each other, for the most part, in a totally platonic way. I mean D and Colin are good friends, and D would be lost without Frenchie. You have a friend or two on the Rimouski team like that I’m sure.” I rolled my eyes again. “Hockey players and the word love…” I muttered.

Sid shrugged with a careless grin. “What can I say? It’s not a word I use a lot. At least not when I’m talking about, you know, like feelings.”

“You know you that has got to be one of the first times since I’ve met you that you actually sounded your age.” I said.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“You sound so mature.” I said. “So self-confident and so self-assured most of the time. You don’t make too many mistakes.”

He shrugged. “I spend a lot of time talking to the media.” He pointed out. “You grow up really quickly when people are waiting for you to say the wrong thing. Plus I moved away from home fairly young. I’ve spent a lot more time on my own then most guys my age.”

I nodded. “You’re nothing like the 17 year olds I teach.” I said. “The guys I teach seem so immature when I compare them to you. Even the guys who are playing for the Rebels.” I paused. “But then, none of them have the expectations of an entire country on their shoulders.”

Sidney shrugged again. “It’s not that bad.”

I looked at him critically. “It not that bad?” I repeated in disbelief. “Sidney, I watch Sportscentre. They’re running an add that features you. There is something about you every night. I mean, you might have gotten used to it, but still, it’s not fair to you.”

“Life’s not fair Drew.” He said simply. “Besides, I’m going to have a lot to be thankful for as I get older… things that will make up for the pressure now. And really, I try not to think about it that much. If I spent a lot of time thinking about other people’s expectations then I would probably go a little nuts.”

“So what do you do?” I asked. “I mean, when the media is hounding you and everyone’s talking about you. How do you ignore it?”

“I love to play.” He said. “I love the game. I’m not like Brett Hull or one of those guys who don’t like the game. If I didn’t like the game, and if I didn’t love playing, I wouldn’t. It’s that simple.”

I looked at him critically. “You’d really give it all up?” I asked.

“If I wasn’t having fun anymore, yes, I would.” He said his eyes completely serious. “Nothing is worth doing if you aren’t having fun. But I’m having fun playing, and now I get another chance to represent my country. So I’m going to focus on that. The whole media thing is a distraction, and I deal with it.”

I nodded. “I feel the same way about teaching.” I said. “I know it’s not the same thing, but it’s not something I would do if I wasn’t having fun and enjoying the kids.”

His watched beeped and he looked down. “Damn, I have to run.” He said, his deep brown eyes soft as he gazed down at me, making no move to go. “We’re cool though right? You’re not too mad at me?”

I smiled back at him, and pushed him gently. “Go.” I said. “Coach doesn’t like it when his boys are late.”

He grinned, knowing we were cool without me having to say it. “I’ll come get you for the game tonight Drew.”