Chapter 1

Dear Miss Addison Slolfus,

You are cordially invited to the celebration of unity of Miss Summer Janet Brown and Mr. Sidney Patrick Crosby on the 25 of October of the year 2010.

             “Wow, just wow. That’s all I can say.”  Blair, Addison’s old History teacher who became a friend after she graduated says stunned.

            “ I can remember when you sent pictures of the two of you when you were in Cole Harbor being a foreign exchange student!”  Holly, another old teacher who is now a friend exclaims.

            “Do you remember her senior prom?! The two of them were so in love, adorable. What the hell happened?” Blair screams through the walls of her brightly decorated classroom.

            “Don’t you still have that” Holly points to a filing cabinet  “Right there! The picture of the two of them.” Blair pulls it out, and I slump back into Blair’s old comfy chair and listen to the round of awe’s that now fill the air.

            “So what are you going to do?” Blair asks.

            Sidney and I were over, it was high school, and when we dated then it was too much. When I was in Cole Harbor, he was in St. Mary’s, when I was home in Lake Placid he was either in Canada or Pittsburgh. Long distance relationships never work, and I learned that the hard way. “Go I guess,” I say.

            “But you still love him!” Blair explains, “The only reason why the two of you broke it off was because you were in Cortland and he was in Pittsburgh, and I mean you two were still friends then, you have been to a hand full of his hockey games. WAIT, have you met this woman?”

            I cringed, no I hadn’t met Summer. Sidney’s sister, Taylor called me three days before I received the fancy invitation, sealed in gold, and hand written in what looked like a black felt pen, in a wonderful hand. Taylor didn’t just tell me that she hated Summer, she went into full detail of how Summer hates me, and yet this woman has never even met me. ‘Sid has pictures of the two of you, from high school to college to the Olympics last year. And because of this she despises you!’ Taylor exclaimed. After ranting about her hatred for Summer, Taylor cried, and her crying turned into sobs. I felt for her, Taylor was like a little sister to me, and when she cried it broke my heart, this is her brothers doing, which made me furious, and want to catch a plane and go and beat the shit out of Crosby, but what would that do, nothing. Shaking my head I answer “No, but I hear stories all the time from Marc, Vero, and Max, and now Hilary and Mike. Summer is a handful, and Sidney has his work cut out for him. She is rich snot who doesn’t love, and hates kids, and Sid wants four children. “

            “Sounds like you should go dressed up to the tens and speak now.” Blair winks, “LET’S GO SHOPPING!” she yells.

            “I feel like I should wear black.” I respond grabbing a tissue and blowing my nose, which has been running ever since I got back to Placid. “God hates me,” I say softly, and blew harder. “And so does this town, and my immune system, and my joints, AND SIDNEY CROSBY!”  With that the two women grow into a fit laughter and a bell rings.

            “Crap, my class starts soon,” Blair says in between laughter, “What are you going to do today Addie?”

            “Go home, watch The Notebook and cry my ass off, with my soft blanket and I am going to steal my parents dog so we can snuggle.” I say, “Oh and find a hott ass dress that shows off boob-ige and Jimmy Chou’s so I can knock a hockey player back to reality.

            “Make sure the heals are sophisticated Hun,” Holly winks.

            Sidney tried calling his sister again, for what he thought the 20^th time today. “Fuck Taylor, answer at least one call, or even a text would do.” His teenage sister hadn’t answered any of his calls, texts, e-mails, i.m.’s, ichats, or Skype messages since she found out that he was marring Summer, who had been begging for Sidney to move up the date of the wedding. Why would he want to do that, he wants to be a free man for as long as he could. Walking into the arena he gave up, and turned off his phone, no use to keep it on, Taylor wasn’t going to call him back, hell if she had her way she wouldn’t even go to the wedding.

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There wasn’t practice today but Sidney needed to get away from Summer. She was head over heals for him, but he wasn’t head over heals for her, when he looked at her he saw the curly chestnut hair that Addison had, with her tan skin she got from her Native American blood, and her piercing brown eyes. When Summer laughed Sidney swore it was fake, no one could ever have a better laugh then Addison. He also didn’t know why he even proposed to Summer, it was more expected, she was the jealous kind, telling Sidney that if he didn’t get ride of his pictures with Addison that she would leave him, but Summer never will leave Sidney, this is her reputation on the line, not Sidney’s.  Changing into work out clothes Sidney wished he never said the things to Addison to screw everything up in their romantic relationship, he was a dick back then, and now all he wanted was to run away and listen to her. But it was too late, and in a month his life was now with Summer, his less then half committed relationship, which he wished he could get out of.  

             Sidney put in his earphones, hopped on the elliptical and started, and wasn’t going to finish until he couldn’t walk, or until he decided his punishment for hurting Addison was over, which would be never.