My alarm the next day seemed like an atomic bomb going off on my head. With every beep of my alarm, my head throbbed with pain equivalent to that of ripping a ligament or breaking a bone. It didn’t help that my phone was beeping and vibrating incessantly on my side table. Just as I went to grab it, it fell off the table and onto the ground. I groaned inwardly and rolled out of bed and onto the floor where I laid, as I answered my phone with a slight moan.
“Hello?” I grumbled into the receiver. I hadn’t bothered, more like remembered, to look at the caller I.D.
“Hey,” I heard Sidney say. “Did I wake you up?”
“No, no,” I said, sitting up too quickly which caused my head to spin. “What’d you need?” I asked.
“Well, I painted all the colors where you said, and I’ve got to say, I really like all of them. I just can’t decide on what to paint the family room…” he trailed off. I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t think of anything to say to that. I couldn’t even see straight, so how was I going to deal with a client? “Maybe pink?” he tried, making me laugh.
“You want pink in your family room?” I asked playfully. “I think I could arrange that.” I finally picked myself up off the floor and made it to the door, but I had to stop and lean against it for support.
“Are you okay?” he suddenly asked. I guess my lack of suggestions and design ideas was a dead giveaway. I usually only talked about that.
“Yeah,” I said quickly, making my way out to my kitchen table. “Well, no. Emma convinced me that I needed to go to Diesel last night. I had too much to drink. I’m pulling out the aspirin right now.”
“Do you want to go get a coffee?” he asked as I was about to start the pot. Was he asking me out? Whatever, I’m sure Starbucks would be better than anything I make.
“Sure. I’ll meet you at Starbucks in thirty minutes,” I stated, dumping the water out of the pot. I was about to say I’d bring some more color choices, but he cut me off.
“We’re not going to Starbucks. Come by my house and we’ll go from there,” he said, somewhat mysteriously.
“Oh, is this a secret coffee shop?” I joked.
“Sort of,” he said with a laugh. “See you in a bit.” And with that, he hung up. I stood there and looked at my phone for a good five minutes before I actually realized what had happened. I ran back into my room, throwing a pillow at Emma, who was asleep on the couch, on the way.
“GET UP!” I shrieked at her like the world was about to end. “We’re going out!”
“Whaaa?” she managed from her spot, facedown on the couch.
“Get your ass up. We’re going out for coffee with your favorite hockey player,” I yelled back out at her from my room. I heard a thud and knew that she had fallen off the couch. Sure enough, when I peeked around the door frame, there she was, lying on the floor cursing. I pulled out a sweater and pulled a pair of jeans on. In the time it took to get myself looking decent, Emma had picked herself up off the floor. I grabbed her wrist and dragged her down to my car, telling her she needed to fix her hair and makeup along the way.
-
We made it to Sidney’s house a little over thirty minutes later. Emma still looked like a mess when we pulled up to his house. Once she realized we were there, she couldn’t stop looking. I seriously thought a waterfall of drool would start pouring out of her mouth any second.
“Come on, let’s go,” I said, getting out of the car and making my way up the front path, making sure to avoid the boulder. Emma didn’t. She walked right into it and proceeded to fall on the ground and scream. I was horrified. I just stood there like a statue, and I’m pretty sure that if his neighbors looked out their windows right at that second, they would have thought I shot her. That’s how big of a scene she was making. I turned on my heel and walked up his front steps and rang the bell.
“Hey,” he said when he opened the door. His face went from a smile to a frown in mere seconds when he noticed Emma on his lawn. “Who is that?” he asked me. I wanted to crawl under a rock from embarrassment. I should have just dropped her off back at her house. I shouldn’t have brought her.
“That, is my friend Emma. She was out drinking with me last night and I figured she could use the coffee,” I said before looking up at him. “Or, we could drop her off at home,” I added upon seeing his facial expression. “I’d just figured…” I trailed off. “She really likes you, as like, a hockey player?” I offered.
“We’ll drop her off,” he said. “I was hoping to go out with just you. I have to talk to you about some… colors,” he finished. I just shrugged and went to pick up Emma.
“Hey Em, I’m going to drop you off at your house on the way to the coffee shop,” I said as gently as possible. She just sort of looked at me with a confused look on her face.
“But Sidney Crosby?” she asked like a little kid who was told they couldn’t have desert. At that moment, Sidney came walking down the steps towards us. Emma was standing now and was gaping at him.
“Hi,” he said as nicely as possible. I know how hard it is to be nice to Emma sometimes, but so far he was doing a good job. “Avery’s told me you’re a fan?” Emma just nodded, speechless. She couldn’t even ask for her autograph and picture like she wanted. “Well, it’s nice to meet you then. So what do you say we get you home?” he asked, still being polite. She just nodded again. I’m pretty sure she didn’t know what she was agreeing to, but to her, anything Sidney said was like God speaking to her.
-
We finally made it to the coffees shop, which, I have to say, was extremely secret, after dropping Emma off. It was on this little back alley and when we walked in, no one made a big deal about seeing Sidney Crosby in their presence. We just walked straight up to the counter and placed our orders. No staring, no glaring.
“So how’d you find this place?” I asked him, curious, as we sat down with our coffees.
“I’m not really sure. But my first year here I would just drive around. I had nowhere to be and I didn’t really know anyone, so I’d just drive and explore,” he said, looking me directly in the eyes. I had to look away; I could feel myself blushing, so I began to talk about the only think I really know about.
“So for your family room,” I started as I rummaged through my bag for the paint colors I had picked out.
“Avery, can you stop talking about work for five minutes? I’ve literally known you for a week and that’s all you talk about,” Sidney said, slightly annoyed. “Did it ever occur to you that maybe I just wanted to go out for a coffee because I just like you?” No. That had really never crossed my mind. I just sat there staring at him. I had never had someone go out of their way to be nice to me. I had Emma, and that’s all I needed. I shook my head as these thoughts went through my mind. “Well I do like you, even if all you do is work. You need to have some fun, and I know I’m not the most fun person around, but when I’m more happy-go-lucky than someone, you know there’s a problem,” he said, now with a laugh. I cracked a smile at this. “So when I ask you to go to dinner with me, like I’m about to, please don’t talk about paint colors or what wallpaper I need, or how beautiful my granite countertops are. Okay?” I was actually smiling now, almost laughing at him. He grabbed my hand, all dramatic, and said, “Avery, would you like to go to dinner with me?” I was giggling by now.
“Of course,” I said with a slight laugh. He stood up and I never would have been able to predict what he was going to do next.
“SHE SAID YES!” he yelled to the whole shop, and naturally, they all thought he was talking about getting married. Everyone was clapping and cheering and I knew I was turning a bright fuchsia. “I’ll come get you at 7 tonight,” he said to me now, finally letting go of my hand. I could feel all the places his hand had been. “No paint colors.”
school/summer
14 years ago
hahhaha
ReplyDelete"SHE SAID YES!!!!"
hahahhahaha
that was hilarious!
can't wait for their dinner date!
=]
Oh my goodness! That was SOOOO cute! I loved how everyone thought he was proposing! HAHAHAHA!!!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for their date.
oh wow...poor Emma. Talk about a third wheel. Man he wanted to get rid of her!
ReplyDeletethat was hilarious "she said yes"...
ReplyDeleteEmma was a third wheel, I don't know why she even brought her in the first place, shoulda let her sleep it off!