Part 10 - Nobody's Perfect

As it turned out, I did in fact, hold out the longest. Sidney ended up having to go to the bathroom, as I expected he would. So he promised that he would come to visit me for part of the summer, and that he would move heaven and earth to keep that promise.

The minute he made that I promise, I knew that he would do anything that he could to keep it. This is why I flew out to London with Dion a couple of weeks later, feeling ecstatic at the thought of seeing Sidney again. Sidney had this way of making me feel safe, and I appreciated it, if only because I needed it.

I mean, a girl can be as independent as she wants to be, but deep down inside, all of us, male and female, want the person that we’re with to make us feel safe. Sidney did that for me. Sidney was a safe harbour for me. He was someone who I knew loved me because of and in spite of, everything that I am.

He was far from perfect himself, but I knew that together, he and I could conquer anything. At least, that’s how I felt whenever I talked to him or spent any time with him. So I couldn’t wait to be with him again.

Not that D would leave it at that. D-fense enjoyed giving me a rough time about it the entire flight to London. I was too excited to care, which just made Dion laugh harder, the loser.
When we arrived in London, I immediately turned on my cell. I didn’t think that Sidney would be able to meet us at the airport – he’d told me earlier that he was going to be pretty busy with the media over the next little while.

I got off the plane with rather low expectations. I assumed that D and Coach would be met by some of the CHL brass and they’d be shuttled off to the hotel while Dion would grumble about me being left behind. So I was incredibly surprised when I made my way through the gate with D and Coach, only to see Troy Crosby standing there waiting for me.

No, he wasn’t Sidney, but it was incredibly sweet to see Troy. I’d actually come to like him, especially since he was always calling with updates about Sid’s games and stuff. “Troy!” I cried happily.

“How are you Drew?” He asked, giving me a fatherly hug, a big smile on his face.

“Anxious.” I told him honestly. “I’ve missed Sid a lot.”

Troy rolled his eyes, a grin still on his face. “Not more than he’s missed you Drew, I promise.” He grinned conspiratorially at me. “Just don’t tell Sid that I told you.”

“Deal.” I said. “So what’s the plan?” I asked as I followed Troy out to a rental car.

“Well, as you can see, Dion and Coach Sutter have been snatched up by PR people, which is actually where Sidney is right now. He’s doing an interview with Sportsnet.” He explained. “So we’re going to go meet him there.”

“Good.” I said, trying as hard as I could not to betray to Troy just how excited I was. “Are Trina and Taylor around?”

“They’re at the hotel. They’ll meet you and me after the interview.” Troy told me.

“Sid’s with the team?” I asked.

“Yeah, and he’ll have to spend most of the time with the team.” He replied. “I hope you’re prepared for that.”

I nodded. “Of course I am. I made it through isolation during the World Juniors, I’ll use my time hanging out with Dion and the other guys whose teams didn’t make the show who are up for individual awards.” I told him. “Not that I don’t want to spend time with Sid, because I do.” I added quickly. “But I know that he’s not going to have a ton of time for me.”

Troy smiled at me. “Knowing my son, he’ll make as much time as he can for you.”

I smiled back at him. “I know that he will.”

We made small talk the rest of the way to the venue where the London Knights play their hockey. There were a bunch of barricades set up around the Ocèanic bus, which was parked in this open space next to the rink. Sidney was sitting on a stool as he spoke to a woman from Sportsnet.

“He should just be a few more minutes.” Troy said, looking with his watch and then fiddling with it.

“Okay.” I said, unable to keep the grin from my face.

Troy continued to fiddle with his watch, looking uncomfortable as I watched Sidney eagerly. I glanced over at him after a few moments and he was still fiddling with his watch. “Is something wrong Troy?” I asked. “Because you seem a little uncomfortable if you ask me.”

Troy blushed. “You got me.” He told me.

“So what is it?” I asked.

“Well for interviews like this, Pat has to approve the questions.” Troy said awkwardly.

“I know.” I said nodding. “Sid and I’ve talked about it.”

“Well one of the questions that Pat approved… umm you might be a little uncomfortable with it.” Troy said. “Especially when you hear Sidney’s answer.”

“She’s asking the girlfriend question isn’t she?” I replied with a bit of a grin.

“Umm yes.” Troy said, sounding as uncomfortable.

“And he’s answering no isn’t he?” I said, shaking my head.

“Umm yes.” Troy answered looking as uncomfortable as he sounded.

I rolled my eyes. “It’s not a big deal Troy.” I told him. “They ask the girlfriend question all of the time. I’m used to hearing that he doesn’t have one by now.” I paused. “Besides.” I added. “Sid isn’t 18 yet, so I’m technically not his girlfriend yet.”

Troy grinned and gave me a bit of a one armed hug. “I should have known that we could count on you to understand this situation.”

“So I guess no running and jumping on him when the interview is done huh?” I teased with a smile.

“Probably not the best idea.” Troy answered with a quick grin. “But we’ve arranged to take Sidney back to the hotel for a little while and you two can have some time alone then.”

“Thanks Troy.” I told him. “I appreciate it.”

Troy shook his head. “I keep forgetting that you aren’t a sixteen or seventeen year old girl.” He said. “Because any of them would have freaked out on the idea that they couldn’t kiss their boyfriend as he came off the set.”

I shrugged. “I never kiss him Troy.” I said firmly, a teasing grin on my face. “Sidney kisses me.”

Troy grinned and shook his head. “Whatever you say Drew.” He replied. “Whatever you say.”

I smiled back at him and watched, a smile on my face, as Sidney made his way over to his Dad and I. “Drew!” He called with a wave.

“Hey Sid.” I answered, opening my arms to hug him, but then I remembered what Troy had said, and I put my arms down.

He walked over to us, a smile on his face. He didn’t hug me, or touch me or kiss me. He just leaned into me and whispered in my ear, his voice deliciously low and smooth. “God I missed you baby.”

Troy smiled at Sidney indulgently. “Let’s get you two to the hotel before you make yourself look like a liar please, Sidney.”

Sidney just smiled at me as we made our way to the rental car. Sidney held the passenger side door open for me and leaned in to whisper in my ear. “I love you baby.”

His voice was always low and sensuous when he said things like that. It was enough to make me melt there and then. “I love you too Crosby.” I replied.

“Good.” He answered, his small smile meant for me alone.

I smiled back at him. There was something about the way that he smiled at me that made me feel so incredibly special. I’d missed that. “I want you to kiss me Sidney.” I whispered softly, my breath hot in his ear.

Sidney moaned slightly. “You are going to drive me insane Drew.”

“Of course.” I said.

Troy cleared his throat. “You two do realize that you aren’t alone yet right?”

I blushed a deep shade of red, but Sidney just grinned and squeezed my hand in his from the back seat of the car. “We know.” Sidney said with a big grin. “I just want to be alone with her now.”

“So I gathered.” Troy said gruffly, as he chuckled.

Sid shrugged. “I’m fairly transparent where Drew’s concerned.”

“You’ll have to work on that.” Troy said seriously, as he pulled out of the parking lot. “Because you know the marketing plan for next year as well as I do.”

Sid just shrugged again, his fingers twined in mine. “And I’ll worry about it AFTER we’ve won the Memorial Cup Dad.”

“Don’t get ahead of yourself.” Troy warned him. “You boys need to take it one game at a time.”

Sid rolled his eyes as he squeezed my hand in his. “I know Dad. You’ve been telling me that since I was what? Five?”

“I just don’t want you to be disappointed.” Troy replied. “London has a strong team. Kelowna’s defense is going to be tough to beat. They’ve got some big tough Dub defensemen on the team.”

Sidney grinned at his Dad. “You forgot Ottawa.”

“Kitchener could have beaten Ottawa.” Troy said dismissively. “In fact, I think you would have had more trouble with Kitchener then you will with Ottawa.”

“Mikey feels the same way.” I told Troy. “I talked to him a couple of days ago.”

Sidney shrugged. “Well they aren’t here.” He said with a wink for me. “So that’s one less team for us to worry about. We just have to get through London and Kelowna.”

“Don’t sit back too much on Ottawa.” Troy warned. “They might surprise you if you take that kind of attitude.”

Sidney rolled his eyes. “We know Dad. Trust me. The team is ready for this. Cèdrick is ready for this. Dany, Marc-Antoine, Mario, Patrick and I are ready. Mark, Danny and Zbynek are ready. We’re all ready to play and we know that every single game is going to be a battle. We’ve lost one game in our last thirty something.” He said, making me smile since he couldn’t remember the exact length of his own win streak.

“We’ve been battling since I got back from the World Juniors Dad. We’re going to keep battling and we’re going to keep winning.” Sidney said firmly. “But to do that we need to believe that we can. We’re here, we’ve made it and we’re focused and we’re ready.”

Troy nodded his approval as he pulled up to the hotel. “Good.” He said. “Because it only gets harder from here on out.”