Chapter 9

The next morning when I woke up I rubbed my eyes like I always do. As soon as my knuckles touched my right eye a pain shot through it jogging my memory of the little scuffle I had gotten into the night before. I forced myself to get out of bed surprised to be feeling pretty good, and discovered that it was 11a.m. I made my way to the bathroom and saw that I had a pretty nice shiner on my right eye. Then I wandered downstairs to see who was up. As I walked into the living room I saw they were all up but Marc wasn't with them.

"Hey guys", I said as I sat beside Sid on the love seat, "Where's Marc?"
"Right here my love." He said as he handed me a cup of coffee.
"Oh thanks Marc."
"Wow that's a nice shiner you have there." Vero said.
"Yeah the first one I've ever had too." I replied with a small smile.
"Does it hurt," Vero asked, "do you want some aspirin or ice or anything?"
"No it actually doesn't feel too bad, thanks though."
"Well I just have to put this out there," Jordan said with a huge smile, "I think you're rocking that black eye."
"Yeah it makes you look badass." Logan said.
"Umm thanks guys." I said as we all laughed.

We changed the subject and began talking about school, work, and hockey. Hockey dominated for the most part while Vero and I were laughing about how excited the guys got while talking about it. About half an hour later we all decided to go to a cafe just up the street for some breakfast. Logan and I jumped in with Jordan, Sid took his vehicle, and Marc and Vero took one of theirs. We all met up at the cafe and were seated in a booth in the back, which we called in advance and requested. We all ordered and I could not believe how the waitress gave Sid so much special attention and yet I was the only one who seemed to notice. I couldn't help but smile at how clueless everyone seemed to be and at how frustrated the waitress seemed to be getting due to the lack of interest Sid was showing her.

"Hey Brooke, want to run to the bathroom with me?" Vero asked when we were all finished with our food.
"Yeah sure." I answered as I pulled money out of my pocket to pay for my brunch.
"Put your money away I got this."Sid said.
"No I can't make you pay for mine too Sid." I argued.
"Come on it's like 6 bucks I think I can handle that." He insisted with a little chuckle.
"Fine but next time it's on me." I replied while Vero dragged me by the arm and pulled me into the bathroom.

"He's totally into you." She basically yelled as soon as the bathroom door was closed
"Who, Sid," I asked kind of surprised, "I think you're crazy."
"No my dear it is quite clear that he's interested in you. Everything that happened last night he was with you through it all and now he's paying for breakfast."
"So what, he's just being nice."
"Honey you are so clueless, they boy has it bad for you, you'll see."
With that we met up with the guys who were already outside waiting for us.

"O.K. Brooke here's the plan," Logan began, "Jordan and I are going to go back to Marc's and play some more Rockband but we know you have to study. So Sid has some thing with Mario so he said he would give you a ride home. Is that O.K. with you?"
"Yeah if Sid don't care it's fine with me."
"It's no problem at all." Sid replied as he smiled at me.

So we all climbed into our separate vehicles and headed in our own directions. Sid and I made a lot of small talk on the way until he brought up what was said at breakfast.
"So it's on you next time, remember that." He said with a grin.
"What are you talking about?" I asked not remembering our little debate at breakfast.
"You said that the next time it's on you, so does that mean that we're going to be going out again?"
"Well I just figured since Logan has become like your mascot basically we'd be seeing a lot more of each other." At this point I was a pale shade of pink.
"Oh. Well yeah I guess you're right."

I almost thought that I could sense disappointment in his voice but I didn't think Sidney Crosby would be disappointed over me so I just shrugged it off. I was thankful when he dropped me off and we said our byes because the rest of the ride was filled with an awkward silence.

"So how was the ride home?" Logan asked when he walked in through the door.
"Awkward." I answered.
"Yeah Sid called and told us all about it, I thought you guys were hitting it off."
"I know I guess it just kind of caught me by surprise. I mean if a guy from home thinks I'm not good enough what's the chances that I'm good enough for someone like Sid. I don't know I'm just going to bed I'm too tired for this right now."

Finally Christmas holidays came and we were both able to fly home for three weeks. I hadn't hung out with the guys since the night Sid gave me a ride home and Logan eventually stopped keeping on for me to go with them.

When we got back in January I got to be very busy. I started a part time job at a clothing store in the mall and I had to do a work term so between those two things I still didn't have a chance to hang out with Logan and the guys.

"I can't take this anymore Brooke!" Logan basically yelled at me.
"Can't take what?" I asked taken completely off guard.
"It's April and it's your birthday. The guys wants to hang out with us and I told them we would go out for dinner with them. You've been blowing them off for months but it stops now."
"Logan....." I started but he quickly interrupted me.
"No you're going, it's been too long so go get ready and we're meeting them in an hour for dinner."
"Fine but only because I don't have school until next Monday and I don't have work tomorrow."
"Yeah and you'll meet Sid's new girlfriend so it shouldn't feel awkward for you now."

As soon as he mentioned that Sid had a girlfriend I felt sick to my stomach. I knew that I had screwed it up myself but I couldn't help but wonder what if.