“How’d you meet Sidney!?” one reporter screamed, shoving a microphone in my face. I wanted nothing more than to shove it up his ass, but I controlled myself and answered the question like a civilized human being.
“Well,” I started, but Sidney cut me off. I looked at him with questioning eyes, but he just smiled.
“By chance; we met by chance,” he said, kissing my forehead and pulling me even closer than I already was. I was never one for public displays of affection, and this was way more than I could handle. I took a step back, smile still plastered to my face, and quickly kissed his cheek, hoping to relay the message that I was uncomfortable. He seemed to understand, because the next thing I knew, he was whisking me back out into the hall and apologizing to the reporters profusely. Thankfully, none of them followed us.
“I’ll go get dressed,” he said quickly as what seemed like half of his teammates filtered out through the doors behind them. I could still hear muffled yelling and cringed at the idea. For some reason, whenever I think about athletes with a ton of reporters crowded around them, it makes my heart ache.
“Hurry back,” I said softly, letting my arms fall from his torso and sitting down on the bench we were standing in front of. I thought about what had just happened and suddenly remembered I had left Emma asleep in the stands. I hurried back out and saw she was just as I had left her: sprawled out and unconscious.
I didn’t want to wake her up; I knew she’d be pissed and start screaming, so I let her go and walked back to my bench across from the locker room to continue my watch of the door.
Letang, Talbot, and Staal all walked out and flashed me the thumbs up within five minutes of sitting on the bench. Kennedy was out next. I got up off my bench to talk to him for a minute.
“Hey Tyler,” I said, taking a step towards him. I couldn’t help but think that Emma would die if she got to talk to him, but I didn’t go wake her up. If she continues to accompany me on these road trips, she’ll eventually get her chance.
“Hey Avery,” he said, stopping his forward movement and taking a step back to be equal with me. He had a big grin on his face and I could only imagine he had been giving Sidney shit about me/us.
“So, tell me truthfully,” I started, fiddling with a hangnail on my finger. He looked a little taken aback and his grin began to fade. He must know what I’m about to ask.
“What are the reporters asking Sidney?”
“It’s not about his game, that’s for sure… They just keep asking about you and how long you two have known each other and why you haven’t been at any of the games before this and it goes on and on…” he trailed off, his goofy smile spreading once again across his face. I forced a weak smile on my lips and grinned back.
Too many people occupied with me at once made me anxious. I was always that girl in high school that kept to the shadows and never really stole the spotlight. I was inconspicuous and guys didn’t look twice at me. Now, to have a guy like Sidney proclaim his undying love for me in front of what seemed like a million reporters, half of whom had video cameras, I was a little overwhelmed. Not overwhelmed enough to run away, but overwhelmed enough to where I had to sit down on the bench I had just occupied.
I put my face in my hands and took a deep breath to calm myself. I could handle this. It wasn’t a big deal. I kept telling myself this, as Tyler, who seemed to not know what to do, sat next to me. I watched as more people walked out of the locker room, reporters among them, but not Sidney. I was calm by now and had realized that this wasn’t as big of a deal as I was making it.
It was just Sidney. I could be myself around him. He’d protect me from whatever happened. This, I felt confident of.
“You think he’s still in there?” I asked Tyler after a few minutes had passed of silent thought.
“Probably. He’s always the last one out. It’s safe to say you could go in there and get him. Everyone else is out,” he told me almost sympathetically, his eyebrows raising just a bit to go along with his sappy half-smile. He had no idea how happy I was and how much I just wanted to see Sidney, even if I was just, you know, a tad bit overwhelmed.
“Thanks Tyler,” I said, patting him on the back quickly before making my way through the door and seeing Sidney standing with his back to me rummaging through his bag, a towel around his waist.
I snuck up behind him and placed my cold hands just above the towel wrapped around his waist. He jumped what seemed like six inches in the air before turning around to look at me.
“I didn’t expect you to come in here,” he said to me, a smile spreading across his bee-stung lips that I wanted so badly to kiss.
“I was worried you got confused taking a shower, and thought that, I don’t know, maybe I could help?” I asked, batting my eyelashes and wrapping my arms around the back of his neck. I could see the internal struggle happening with the thought of us having it off in the locker room.
“The hotel’s five minutes away,” he whispered in my ear, pulling my hands from around his neck and placing them by my side, where I proceeded to cross them almost angrily across my chest. I liked my plan much better.
“What’ll we do with Emma?” I asked, hoping she wouldn’t be in the same room as us. “And your roommate?” I asked again, now panicking, thinking this wasn’t such a good idea after all. I felt heat rush to my face and I began to freak.
“Calm down,” he said, buttoning up a blue plaid dress shirt. “We’ll get Emma her own room. It won’t be hard, I am Sidney Crosby after all,” he said, placing a peck on my lips, instantly calming me. “And I’ll take care of Tanger. He can go stay with someone else. He’ll understand,” he said knowingly with a wink.
“Okay…” I said, reluctance filling my voice. I wanted him so bad, and all this planning was just putting a damper on my mood. “I’ll go wake Emma up.”
“I’ll be right out,” he whispered in my ear before placing a kiss on my neck, bringing the mood right back. “I love you.” Those three words seemed to be the sweetest words in the world.
I walked back out to where Emma was passed out. Drool was spilling from her mouth and she was crinkled up into an awkward position with her head at a 90-degree angle resting on her shoulder. I giggled a little to myself and nudged her shoulder. Her eyes sprung open and she sat up in her chair with a start.
“What happened? Does he love you?” she slurred, wiping the drool off her chin with the sleeve of her sweatshirt. I couldn’t help but smile. She looked like a little kid.
“Yes, he loves me,” I said, sitting down next to her.
“So sitting in a car with me for however many painful hours was worth it?” she asked with a yawn, resting her head on my shoulder.
“Yes, it was worth it. Thanks for forcing me to come,” I said with a laugh.
“So where is he?” she asked closing her eyes again and snuggling into me.
“Getting dressed. He said he’d meet me out here when he was done. We’re going back to the hotel,” I said, and before she could say anything, I continued. “We’ll get you your own room where you can pass out at awkward angles and drool however much you want.” I giggled a little, and she shook with laughter.
Within minutes her breathing was steady and I could tell she’d fallen asleep again. For fear of getting drooled on, I eased myself out from under, letting her head fall on her shoulder. She didn’t seem to notice and went right on sleeping with her mouth gaping open.
“Thank you Emma,” I said to her unconscious body. “I owe you.”
