Chapter 20

"Well?" Jordan, Max, and Logan asked as soon as the door was closed.
"Max you were right the lasagna was really good." I said as I hurried upstairs with a grin on my face knowing the three of them were just itching to know the details of the date.

I figured I would stay upstairs for a while just to torture them for a bit. I changed into a pair of pajamas and packed away some clothes and organized my notes. About twenty minutes later I went downstairs and their three heads shot up when they heard me enter the living room.

"Don't give yourselves whiplash." I said with a grin.
"Alright missy take a seat." Logan said as he turned the tv off.
"Can I help you boys with something?" I asked still smiling and trying to prolong their curiosity.
"No, we've just been sitting here for hours for no good reason." Jordan stated sarcastically.
"You guys are worse than a bunch of girls." I said.
"We don't want all the details just whether or not there's going to be a second date. And if you think this is bad wait until the next time Vero sees you." Max replied.
"Figures." I said. "The date was great, we really got to know each other and yes we're getting together tomorrow night for a movie or something."
"Did he behave?" Logan asked.
"Yes dad." I answered causing everyone to laugh.

"Ok Max now we can go since we have an early skate before the game tomorrow." Jordan said.
"Yeah let's head out. Brooke you stay in bed tomorrow morning. I'll pick Logan up on my way to the rink." Max suggested.
"Are you sure you don't mind?" I asked just to make sure.
"Not at all it's on the way anyway."
"Ok well thanks."
"Yeah thanks man." Logan said.
"No problem."
"See you guys tomorrow." Max and Jordan said on their way out.
"See you and good luck." I responded.
"What she said." Logan called out as Max and Jordan left and closed the door behind them.

"I should go to bed since I have school tomorrow." Logan stated. "We're not all lucky enough to have a week break."
"Hey I have to go full speed on Monday along with work and everything else."
"Well I can't wait until you have to go through this too."
"Thanks a lot Logan."
"Any time. Oh well I'll see you tomorrow. Good night."
"Night. I'll be there to pick you up."
"OK"

Then we both went into our bedrooms and I decided I would get to bed as well. After I had brushed my teeth and gotten ready I crawled into bed and fell asleep within minutes.

The next morning I woke up at ten and hurried out of bed to make sure Logan had went to school. He was gone and I was surprised that I hadn't heard him rooing around and getting ready. I had a shower and then cooked myself some breakfast. After I had cleaned up the kitchen I sat on the couch to watch some tv before the hockey game. I checked my phone and saw I had one missed alert; a text message.

Hey beautiful. I'm stopping by after practise to make plans for tonight.
-Sid

I noticed the text came half an hour ago and right then there was a knock on the door. 'Great' I said to myself. 'That gave me a lot of time to prepare.' I went and opened the door to reveal Sid standing there with a smile on his face.

"Hey there, come on in." I offered.
"Hi." He said on his way in.
"So I just got your text so ignore the mess." I said as we went in the living room and sat down on the couch.
"I'm a guy who plays hockey, I don't notice mess."
"Well good to know. So what's up?"
"Figured I'd stop by to make plans for tonight."
"Have anything in mind?"
"I was hoping to do something relaxing since we're leaving for Philly tomorrow."
"We can reschedule for when you get back here if it would be better for you."
"No, no I'm just saying I don't want to be out doing anything crazy."
"That's fine we can do whatever, it doesn't matter to me."
"Well would you be alright with renting movies and heading to Mario's?"
"Yeah if that's what you want that's fine with me."
"Ok well I have to get going to get ready for the game and have a nap so do you want me to come pick you up after the game?"
"No that's fine I can drive over."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah it's no big deal."
"Ok then well I'll see you tonight. I'll give you a call when I'm home." He said as we walked to the porch.
"Sounds good. Good luck today."
"Thanks." He said and then kissed me on the cheek. "See you."
"See ya."

He then left and I went into the living room to settle in and watch some more tv before the game. I realized I was going to miss the second period when I went to pick Logan up but the first and third periods would be good enough. Soon enough the time had flown by and the puck was about to drop.

After the first period I had to leave to pick Logan up. When I pulled in front of the school he was sitting on a park bench waiting for me.

"I'm so sorry I'm late. How long have you been there waiting?" I asked as he got in the car.
"I've only been there a couple minutes don't worry about it."
"OK I would've been here earlier but I ended up finishing the first period of the game."
"What's the score?"
"One to nothing for Philly."
"Damn, who scored?"
"Scott Hartnell."
"Man that sucks. But I'm pretty sure they'll come back."
"I hope you're right."
"Me too."

The rest of the ride was spent talking about what we did all day. When we got back home we watched more of the game. We began freaking out at the end of the third period after goals were scored by Bill Guerin, Darroll Powe, and Geno tying the game at 2-2 and sending the game into overtime. We were on the edge of our seats as the puck dropped but the suspense was broken about two minutes after the start when Bill Guerin put one in winning the game and sending the guys up 2-0 in the series.

"Holy fuck I love Guerin!" I screamed.
"I think I do too man!" Logan also screamed as we hugged each other and laughed while jumping up and down and celebrating for the guys.

We were talking about the game and I sent Max, Marc, and Jordan a congrats message. About an hour and a half later it was around 8:20 and my phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered.
"Hey beautiful what's up?" Sid replied.
"Oh nothing just packing all my notes up for Monday."
"Back to school then eh."
"Yeah. Congrats on another win."
"Thanks. So are you ready to come over?"
"Yeah just waiting for you to be ready."
"Ok well come on over. Are you sure you don't want me to swing by and pick you up?"
"No that's ok. I'll be there in a bit."
"Alright, see you soon. Bye."
"Bye."

Then I went downstairs and headed out after saying bye to Logan. All the way to Mario's I had the song Afterlife by Avenged Sevenfold on repeat and was singing on top of my lungs. I finally arrived after what seemed like forever. After I had knocked on the door it was like a swarm of butterflies had taken over my stomach. I smiled to myself while I waited over the way he made me feel and hoping that he felt the same way about me.

Chapter 19

I left my bedroom and was going to go answer the door until I heard Logan and Max beat me to it. I decided to stay at the top of the stairs for a few minutes to see what they were going to say to him. Of course if they got to be too intense I would go down and save him.

"Sid come in, have a seat." I heard Logan say.
"Thanks." He replied. "Is Brooke ready?"
"We'll get to that in a little while." Logan answered. "Right now we're going to talk about you."
"Ok." Sid responded slowly.
"So my first question is why are you interested in my cousin?" Logan answered clearly taking his turn first.
"Are you serious?"
"I'm being very serious right now. This is my family here and I've seen her hurt enough. I really like you but picture yourself in my shoes. You can have as many girls as you would like and I want to make sure she doesn't feel used. Especially since I'm the only family she has close to her."
"Fair enough, I can see where you're coming from. I guess first of all she's probably the most beautiful girl I have ever seen but she has the personality to match. She's not one of the girls who likes me because I'm rich and famous but because we get along great. She's funny and mature and I really enjoy talking to her. And we've been through a lot of stuff and we haven't even been technically dating yet but we've still managed to find a way to try to work it out."
"And you're not lying about liking her?"
"I'm not, I promise you don't have to worry about that."
"Ok I'm done, Max it's your turn."

There were a few minutes of silence before Max started up.

"You know how close I've gotten to Brooke." He stated.
"Yes I do know that." Sid replied.
"And you know that I like you, you're one of my best friends."
"I know."
"And if it doesn't work out it's fine unless you or her do something out of line like cheat if you go beyond tonight and then I'll be pissed at whoever does it not just you."
"Yes I know and you should know me enough by now to know that I would never take advantage of anyone. And I would never do anything to intentionally hurt her."
"I know you wouldn't. I think this means our interrogation is over and I do believe that you have passed."
"What a relief." Sid said and they all laughed.
"Sorry man we had to do it, and it was funnier than we thought it would be." Max said.
"Yeah I'll sing out to Brooke now that we've had our fun with you." Logan stated.

He then sang out to me and I waited a few minutes before going downstairs so they wouldn't know I was listening the entire time. When I walked downstairs the three of them stood up from sitting on the couches to greet me. They all signalled for me to go ahead of them when we headed out to the porch. I opened the door and Sid and I headed outside.

"You two behave yourselves!" Max yelled.
"I want her home by eleven!" Logan also yelled.
"Shut up." I hissed at them as I closed the door behind me.

Sid walked around to the passenger side of his SUV and opened the door for me.

"Thanks." I said, then he shut the door and headed to the drivers side and got in. He started up the car and we were on our way.

"You look beautiful tonight." He said causing me to blush.
"Thanks again. You look nice too."
"I would've said it at your house but I figured Max and Logan would've attacked me or something."
"Yeah they are two of a kind."
"Yeah then add Jordy to the mix with Flower every now and then. Those guys together are better than a concert."
"I know what you mean, I love being around all of them together."
"Me too it's a good way to relax after having a stressful day."
"And I bet the famous Sidney Crosby goes through a lot of those days."
"Oh stop." He said with a smile as he pulled into the parking lot of an Italian restaurant. "Here we are."

We both opened our doors and before I had a chance to get out he had his door closed and was around to my side. He grabbed my hand and helped me out and closed my door behind me. He then locked the doors and held my hand as we headed inside. We entered and were seated at a booth in the back and a waitress brought us back our menus.

"I'll be back in a few minutes to take your order Mr. Crosby." She said with a huge smile. Then she turned to me and rolled her eyes before walking away to let us look through our menus.

"I bet she's going to sneeze in my food." I said with a little smile.
"What makes you say that?" He asks with a confused look on his face.
"Did you seriously not just see that?"
"See what?" He asked looking even more confused.
"The waitress totally has a crush on you. She just gave me the hardest look I think I've ever seen before in my life."
"Oh come on."
"Sid it's true, she obviously has eyes for you and I'm now number one on her hit list."
"I guess I just don't pay attention to reactions in public anymore. I'm sorry though if you're uncomfortable we can go somewhere else."
"No no it's fine I just can't believe you don't notice these things."
"There's no way she thinks we're dating, I bet she thinks we're friends or family or something."
"What makes you say that?"
"Come on I'm a goofy looking guy and you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen. You're way out of my league."
"That's incredibly sweet of you but I'm not out of your league and you definitely are not goofy looking."

He just smiled at me as the waitress came back over. We ordered our food and she headed back to the kitchen but not before giving me another nasty look which I chose to ignore since Sid didn't seem to notice it again. We made small talk while waiting for our food.

"So you grew up in Newfoundland, did you like it there?" He asked.
"I loved it there. The only thing I didn't enjoy was the weather. It was always cold and rainy in the part where I'm from."
"So you're a sun girl then?"
"Yeah my dream is to go to California and stretch out on a beach all day."
"It's really nice there. And you're going to school to be a vet but why Pittsburgh? It's pretty far away from home."
"Well there aren't many places in Canada for being a vet so I didn't have many options."
"And if you don't mind me asking why is Logan with you? I mean he's still in high school I can't imagine his parents are thrilled about that."
"Well he grew up in Nova Scotia but last year in school he got tangled up with the wrong crowd and they got really big into drugs. Then they started skipping school and he ended up doing so bad they wouldn't let him go back. And since we were so close they thought maybe he would smarten up with me and he got appoved to go to school here and finish up."
"Wow I didn't picture him going through that kind of stuff, I can't believe that."
"I couldn't either when I heard it but he's come a long way since we moved here. I think you guys have been a big influence on him though and that's making it easier for him."
"I think he's doing it so he doesn't let you down too, that boy thinks the world of you."
"Yeah we've been like brother and sister for as long as I can remember."

Just then the waitress brought our food over and we began to eat. While we ate I asked Sid many questions about his childhood and found a lot of things out about him. About ten minutes after we were done Sid payed and we left. Once again he opened my door for me and then we were heading home again. We made more small talk on the way.

"So I haven't seen much of Colby and Mel lately." I stated causing Sid to laugh.
"You really don't know much about hockey do you?" He replied while still laughing.
"No but I don't get how that's about hockey or how it's so funny." I stated, it being my turn to be confused.
"Army, Bugsy, and Whit don't play with us they were just here for the party and to visit."
"Oh I was wondering why they didn't play much during games."
"And that would be why." He said still laughing at me.

I didn't respond because at this point we were pulling into my driveway again. We both got out and Sid walked me to the door. We stopped on the patio.

"I had a really good time tonight." I stated while we stood there facing each other.
"Me too. Would you like to do it again one night?" He asked while scratching the back of his neck and looking kind of nervous.
"I would love to."
"Great. Well I have a game tomorrow afternoon and we're going to Philadelphia the next day so we can watch a movie or something tomorrow night if you want."
"That sounds perfect."
"Ok I'll call you tomorrow to finalize."
"Sounds like a plan. See you tomorrow."

He then leaned down and kissed me on the cheek causing a huge smile to spread across my face.

"See you tomorrow." He said smiling back at me.
"Good luck tomorrow too."
"Thanks beautiful."

He then walked to his SUV and we wove to each other as he got in. I watched him drive away then went inside. As soon as I went inside I had three lots of eyes on me with expectant looks on their faces.