Two days later I was standing at baggage claim when I felt someone wrap his arms around my waist.
“I thought you had a morning practice?”
“It was earlier,” Sidney replied.
I watched for my cheetah bags. When I finally found one. I turned to look at Sidney, “That one is mine,” and I point to the cheetah bag
He frowned and went over and picked up the bag like it was nothing, was I too cool towards him? I really didn’t know how to act. He waited closer to the baggage and got the duffle that matched my bigger bag. “Let’s go,” he said too coolly and I followed, like I did when I was a teenager. We got to his truck, and he unlocked the door and threw my bags into the back, then got in on the drivers side, and slammed the door, he then started up the Rover and drove. We both sat in silence for ten minutes when he finally spoke. “You know what your problem is Addison?” I looked toward him. This was going to get ugly. He took hat gesture as a motive for him to move on. “ I swear to god there is something wrong with you,” good one Crosby, I thought. And I knew that this was going to turn into a screaming match. “You fly to Pittsburgh, break up my fucking wedding, leave me. ME to clean up everything, then come back with a stick so far up your ass.” I stayed silent and let him carry on. “This always happens when you go home, then come back. It’s like it’s a disease up there. How the hell did grow up so miserable.”
Now it was my turn to fight back. “You have no idea what the hell is going on in my life.” He kept driving, and rolled his eyes
“What is going on, because you’re not the Addison that I knew,”
“That girl left a long time ago Sidney,” At that point he grabbed my hand.
“Sorry,” he apologized, “I’ve been a little stressed lately,”
“I figured,” and with that I sighed “Sidney, I am truly sorry for breaking up your wedding, but Sid, were you that happy?”
He look towards me and smiled. “No, do you know why?” I shook my head no, even though I did know “Because she wasn’t you,”
“You’re too damn cheesy” I shot back
“Take a complement” he replied pulling up his driveway and getting out his the Rover.
We walked into Mario’s Sidney may never change I laughed in my head while Sidney must have known what I was thinking, “I’m giving Summer a week to get everything out.” Wow, I thought, that was nice of him, a whole week? I would have given her a day, and would have watched her every move because I don’t trust anyone, but that’s Sidney’s fault anyways. I followed Sidney to his part of the house. Something’s never change, he still had the same pictures in the same places since I had visited the last time, almost three years ago. “We really do need to talk Addie”
“I know Sid, I know,” I agree
“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME REFF?!?” Sidney and Mario yelled into the television. Ovie had just put an elbow into St. Louis and you could tell that the two hockey prodigies were pissed.
“Don’t you love hockey season?” Nat whispered to me. “Some nights everyone will be here, even the ones with wives, and it’s not just one game, it’s every game. I’m surprised that they don’t hook up multiple TV’s!” I was smushed between Nat and Sid, Sid’s arm rapped around me protectively, like Ovie is going to crawl out of the television and take me away from him.
The game ended, and St. Louis kept the game going for the Lightning scoring 2 and assisting 2.
Sidney and I said our good nights to Mario and Nat and padded our way to Sidney’s wing. I pealed off my airport clothes, put my hair in a messy bun, and matched it with my over sized UNH sweatpants and a shirt that say’s “Give Blood Play” hockey was missing, and stains made the shirt have character. I crawled into Sidney’s bed, waiting for him to come in, I was a step before him, turning on the NHL network so that he could watch hockey on the fly. When he came in with pajama pants on I didn’t see the 17 year old that I was used to, I saw a 23 year old with scars across his mid section with matching bruises that varied from black, blue, and yellow. I didn’t ask, nor did I want an explanation. Sidney crawled into his bed and started intensely listening to the commentators when the commercials started, so did I.
“When I was about 18 I started riding horses, again. I now go to two shows, one in Placid, and WEF, down in Florida. I went to UNH, never played there, too much to do. I don’t listen to rap only like Coffee House you know? I think it’s stupid that someone talks fast about how they did their woman last night, yo.” I said making the peace sign plus my thumbs, which got a chuckle. “I am not friends with anyone from my high school, except Nikki. Indie one day stopped talking to me one day. She said she didn’t want to stop hanging out but didn’t want to get ride of her new friends, and if I wanted to hang out with my new friends, that was good as-well. She just didn’t like the fact that I was laughing with the well-known stoners of our grade, and she was with the closet stoners that will some day blow up the earth, just because they can. I cried the whole day of my graduation. I realized that my best friend would never see me graduate, which as you know was my grandmother, and her and her husband would never be able to see neither Lauren and I graduate, I cried and cried and cried. I also was worried that my own parents would be late because of their jobs. They were on time, which was shocking. I managed in business at UNH went into an internship with the Bruins, then was offered a job there, I declined and started planning an Europe trip, which never happened because that’s not on my top ten things I have to get done. So I moved to a small town right outside of Boston and trained my ass off. Then one day I got an invitation sealed in gold. And you know the rest”
“What about hockey?” he replied.
“Funny story,” I followed, “I was training and jogging up a hill, got a sharp pain in my knee, sat down. Called my dad, he took me to see the trainer. Turns out I screwed up my knee so much that they had to reconstruct my whole damn knee. I haven’t skated since my junior year in high school. And after the operation they did an MRI turned out I had appendicitis, another week in the hospital. Sick life right?”
“Well you always got your dream to be like Madeline right?”
“Guess so, but never got the dog named Genevieve.” I laughed. “Truthfully I guess what I am trying to say is I’m scared. No not scared, mortified. I don’t trust people. I go to a therapist twice a week, I was depressed at age 16, still in the grieving process of losing my grandparents. And I push people away.” Sidney pulled me closer. And wrapped both arms around me, and turned off the television.
“I won’t let you push me away because I don’t think I can go another year without you.” And with that he filled me in on the things I already knew, because I checked his girlfriend forum every day since he was drafted.
