Chapter seven

This one's long-ish to make up for the lack of postage the past few days. I had a basketball camp! :) Enjoy!


True to his words, Sidney showed up at 7 o’clock exactly, at my apartment building. I buzzed him up and he stood in my foyer while I put my dress on and finished my makeup. I’m always late. No surprise there. I walked back out to where he was standing when I had my dress on, and his eyes nearly popped out of their head.

“You look great,” he said, a little breathlessly, before embracing me in a warm hug. I have to admit, I thought I looked good. I had on a form-fitting navy blue, knee length dress, cream peep-toe shoes and a grey plaid blazer to keep warm. With the 3 inch heels, I was just barely his height. He didn’t look too bad himself, the hair even looked decent. “I like this dress… if you can call it a dress,” he said with a half grin as he pulled me out the door. “I’d call it an invitation.”

“Shut up!” I yelled, smacking him across the arm. “I happen to like this dress, thank you very much.”

“I never said I didn’t like it,” he said, pulling me closer to the point where the whole side of my body was pressed against his. I could smell his cologne and almost feel the blood rushing through his body. I’m sure he heard my heartbeat. How could he not? I felt like my heart would come crashing out of my chest at any second. His hand was resting on my hip and I thought it would burn through my dress, and then my flesh. “I think it’s very…nice,” he said eyeing me.

I gave him a look as the elevator doors opened and we got in. “I also like your apartment by the way,” he said, finally stepping away from me. I felt like I could breathe again without him right there. “It feels like you’re at a beach,” he said with a little half-grin that made me smile.

“I’m from California, so when we moved here, I was really depressed. I went out and made it as like California as possible,” I said, fiddling with the clasp on my little clutch I grabbed on the way out the door. For some reason, talking about California unnerved me. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because that’s where my life is.

“You succeeded.” I looked up at him and smiled. His eyes were dancing as the elevator doors opened and we walked out to his car which was, in one word, amazing. It definitely trumped my little Kia. He had a big silver Range Rover with every possible add-on; seat warmers, moon roof, mp3 hookup, everything.

“I like your… car,” I said, and then remembered his little one-liner back in my apartment. “If you can call it a car,” I said with a smirk. I felt myself relaxing around him. I was able to be myself. Emma was the only other person I felt comfortable around and only because she herself was crazy, so I could kind of hide in her shadow. Even when people complimented me on my career, the one thing I was comfortable with, I felt myself blushing and folding inward.

“It is a bit much, eh?” he asked me with that adorable accent I just realized I loved.

“A bit,” I replied, gazing at everything in his car.

The rest of the car ride, which wasn’t long, was silent until we pulled up to a lavish looking restaurant not far from my apartment. It was called Pod. Whatever that means.

“What is this place?” I asked getting out of his “car” and walking with him to the front door.

“It’s a tapas restaurant,” he replied, wrapping his arm around my waist for the second time tonight. Any other guy would have been punched in the face, but for some reason, I let him touch me. When I looked at him with a confused stare he elaborated. “You know, where you order a ton of different things and then share them? Tapas,” he finished with an elaborate hand gesture, almost hitting the person standing behind us. They glared until they realized who he was. Then it turned to a stare. More stares and glares. Joy. Even the waitress who seated us was staring. A part of me wanted to slap her across the face, and another part of me told me to just sit down. As soon as we were seated, the questioning began.

“So,” Sidney began, getting settled in his seat. “What brought you to Pittsburgh?” California again. That topic everyone always seemed so interested in.

“My dad got a job out here when I was going into my senior year of high school. I was devastated. My friends were, and still are, out there. I had no one when I moved here, so I pretty much dedicated myself to going to a good school. I had no friends. I just studied.” When I finished my speech, I looked up to see him smiling. “It’s not funny!” I said defensively.

“It’s not. I just think it’s funny you take yourself so seriously,” he said with a shrug.

“What makes you think I take myself too seriously?”

“That tone,” he said with a smirk. “Always talking about paint colors, which, I might add, you’re doing very well with keeping to a minimum tonight.”

I just blushed. He had the strangest effects on me. Maybe Emma was right. Maybe I am smitten. “Well, tell me about your childhood,” I said, leaning forward on the table towards him. He imitated the movement and in seconds his face was 6 inches from mine.

“I grew up in Nova Scotia. Cole Harbor to be exact. I’ve literally been playing hockey my whole life.” He paused to think. “Can you believe I actually get paid to do something I love? Not everyone gets that.” A thoughtful silence fell as I thought about what he said. Yeah, I liked to paint and create things for people, but did I love it? No, I didn’t. It was a living. It’s my way to pay the bills and keep the phone on, and really, I was just realizing it. I had also just realized how modern this place was.

When you walked in, you went down a few steps, which put everything underground for the most part. There were windows high on the walls, near the ceiling where you could see people’s feet passing by. A little conveyor belt brought sushi around a bar, and everything was in the shape of a cube. Rad. Sidney brought me out of my trance.

“Come to practice with me tomorrow,” he said abruptly, putting his menu down and looking at me with those piercing hazel eyes.

“Can I do that?” I asked, surprised.

“If you’re with me, we can do anything,” he said with a grin. Cute, a double meaning.

“Alright,” I said, feeling a smile creep across my lips as I brought my eyes back down to the menu that was previously holding my attention.

The waitress came and took our orders: chicken and seafood spring rolls for me, and teriyaki salmon for him. 20 minutes of sharing our pasts later, and our food was there. It smelled delicious. We split both of them, him eating my spring rolls and I eating his salmon. Soon enough, we were done, he was paying the bill, and we were getting up to leave. We walked outside, and just as I was heading to his car, he grabbed my hand and pulled me in the opposite direction, towards him. I wobbled a bit on my heels, but managed to stay upright.

“Are we going to your car?” I asked, a bit bewildered by my sudden change in direction.

“Let’s walk,” he said, putting his arm around my shoulders and steering me down the street.

“Where are we going?” I asked a bit breathlessly. He walked much faster than me, and in heels, I was going even slower.

“You’ll see,” he said, as we crossed a street and came to the bottom of one of the many mountains. He guided me into a run down old building where he purchased two tickets to something. A little car came down the mountain and to a stop a few feet in from of us.

“You want me to get in that?” I asked, a little scared. I’ve never been one with heights. We just don’t mix. It usually makes for me throwing up and then no one wins.

“Yeah, it’s safe,” he said, stepping inside, holding out his hand to me. The little man running the car looked annoyed, so I stepped through the doorway and sat down next to Sidney on the little bench. A little ways up the mountain, Sidney spoke. “Now stand up and look out there,” he said, motioning behind us. I shook my head no. This car did not feel stable. “Stand up,” he said, standing himself and taking my arm in his. I gave in to his touch and stood, keeping a low center of gravity in case the unthinkable happened. I turned around in an awkward little circle and looked where he was pointing.

Seeing what he wanted me to see made me forget about my squat, or the fact that I was terrified. I drew in a sharp breath, stood up fully and held onto the railing in front of me, getting as close to the glass as possible. I never thought Pittsburgh was beautiful until that moment. The whole city lit up, everything glowing, it was amazing.

“This is beautiful,” I said breathlessly.

“That’s not the only thing,” he said in my ear. I could feel his lips brush against my ear, provoking me to turn into him. I gave in. His lips were on mine as the skyline passed by outside our old little car.