Always Something There to Remind Me

I tossed and turned all night. I knew it was pointless to go to bed. There was no way I was going to be able to sleep. Sidney had stopped back later that day after he got done with practice and I had agreed to meet him after his morning skate for some lunch.

My mind kept racing with different scenarios that could happen during lunch, none of which seemed favorable to me. I guess would just have to bite the bullet and come right out and tell him. Sighing, I finally got out of bed at 2 a.m. and went to work unpacking some boxes. If I couldn’t sleep I might as well be productive.

Before I knew it, it was 9 a.m. Looking around the house, I discovered that I had almost everything unpacked and put away. It was amazing what I could do when I was trying to get my mind off of something. I decided to call it a day, and headed into the kitchen to get breakfast. After I ate, I laid down on my couch to watch to news, eventually dozing off only to be awakened by my doorbell ringing.

“Hey,” I said, opening the door for him. “Come on in.”

“Thanks,” he said, giving me a quick hug and a smile.

“Please, make yourself at home. I need to get a quick shower…I fell asleep on the couch, sorry.”

“No problem, take as long as you want.”

After getting ready in record time, he drove us to China Palace. Instead of talking on the way there, we opted to sit in a comfortable silence. Neither of us knew where to start, so we just listened to the radio. After we ordered our Chinese, Sid finally spoke up.

“So, what have you been up to?”

“Well, I actually just graduated from Saint Mary’s University with a business degree.”

“I thought you wanted to be a lawyer?”

“I did but…I didn’t have the money or the time to devote to getting a law degree, so I settled for business school. I got an internship with Paul House. He was looking for someone to open up a new Tim Hortons in Pennsylvania and thought I would be the perfect fit. Since I would be starting out at the top it was an offer I couldn’t refuse.”

“Well, I’m glad,” he laughed. “So, how long have you been in Pittsburgh then?”

“Just a couple of weeks. After I came to help pick out a property, there wasn’t anything else I could do until I had to come back and help set up for the opening, so I decided to go back and enjoy Canada for a little bit longer.”

“Like it here so far?”

“I haven’t really seen much of the city yet. I only just finished unpacking all my stuff. I figure next week I’ll actually have time to explore a bit.”

“Well, if you ever need a tour guide, you know where to find me,” he smiled. “So…anybody special in your life?” he asked, wincing a little, like he was trying to be nice but didn’t want to hear the answer.

“Well, my love life is a bit complicated,” I started, which got me a raised eyebrow from Sid. Okay girl, you can do it. Just come out and tell him. Taking a deep breath, I started “remember that…” I didn’t get a chance to finish though. Some girl walked over to him with an outfit and attitude that just screamed puck bunny and plopped herself down next to him.

“Sidney,” she said, caressing his face. “You didn’t tell me you were having lunch here today with another girl.” As she said the last part, she sent a glare my way. “Aren’t you going to introduce us?”

“Carissa, this is Nicole, Nicole this is Carissa,” Sid said.

“His fiancée,” Carissa added, emphasizing the word. “Wait,” she continued. “Nicole. Thee Nicole?” she shot Sid a look.

Fiancée? This was not good. Sensing that she was about to make a scene, I decided to try and diffuse the situation. “Yeah, Sid helped me change my flat tire yesterday and ruined hit suit in the process, so I made him let me take him out to lunch as a way to try and repay him,” I rambled off the first lie I could think of that made sense, praying that she would believe me. “In fact,” I continued. “We were just talking about you.”Sid shot me a relieved look.

“You were? That’s so sweet of you baby,” she said, planting a kiss on Sid’s lips.

“So, when’s the wedding?” I asked, trying to be nice.

“During the summer. We’re going to get married in my hometown in Kentucky,” she replied. Sid looked like he wanted to argue but thought better of it.

“That sounds cool. Are you guys going to start a family right away then?”

“Oh no,” she looked at me like I was crazy. “I don’t want kids. If we do, then we’ll adopt, and they’ll be toddlers or older.”

“Oh,” I was suddenly at a loss for words. As I was searching for something to say, I felt someone sit down next to me. I turned my head only to be met my Colby’s smiling face.

“Hey, Nic. Fancy meeting you here.”

“Hey Colby,” I laughed in response. “Why are you here? Stalking me?” I teased.

“Well, I was here with Geno, Jordan, Kris, Marc, and TK, but we’re done eating now, so they left. I was actually about to go to the mall to get a gift for my girlfriend Mel, and I could really use a woman’s opinion.”

“Okay, sure.” I said gathering up my stuff. “I’ll see you later Sid. Nice meeting you Carissa.”

“Bye Nic. Hey, come down to the locker room after the game,” Sid told me as Colby and I were leaving.

“Um, I’ll see what I can do. My friends all have to work tomorrow, so I don’t know if I’ll have a lot of time.” He looked dejected. “I’ll try and see what I can do though.”

As we were walking out Colby turned to look at me and just laughed.

“What? Is something wrong? Do I have something in my teeth?” I asked, confused.

“No, sorry. I see your survived your run-in with Carissa,” he smiled. “No, I don’t have to go shopping, but you looked like you needed to be rescued.”

“Oh God,” was all I could say. “How did he end up with someone like her? She is, like, the complete opposite of the type of girl he always said he wanted.”

“You mean she’s the complete opposite of you.”

I stopped walking and just stared at Colby.

“What? It’s true. When he got here all he talked about was you and how amazing you were. He was crushed when you never called him again.”

“Well, sometimes things happen that you can’t control.”

“Yeah, don’t I know. So, what happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Well…” Should I tell him? “Okay, but you can’t say a word to him.”

He nodded, waiting for me to continue.

“The summer he got drafted, I moved to Nova Scotia to take care of my sick aunt. He was one of my neighbors, and we hung out practically every day. If we weren’t hanging out, we would talk on the phone for at least an hour. I guess you could say things heated up really fast, and we both fell for each other without really realizing it. And then…well, the night before he left for Pittsburgh, we hooked up.”

“Yeah, he told me that,” Colby said, my eyes widening in shock. “Oh, don’t worry, not the details, just that you two were together and that he wished he would have told you sooner how he felt. He told me he felt like an ass because he had to leave you.”

“Yeah, well…I was going to call him and see if he was serious or if he was just looking to get laid before he left. If he was serious I was going to try to transfer to the University of Pittsburgh.”

“What happened to change your mind?”

“I found out I was pregnant,” I told him, looking down at my feet.

“Does he know?” Colby asked quietly.

“No. I was about to tell him at lunch, but then Carissa showed up.”

“What did you do?”

“With the baby? I kept it. He’s back in Nova Scotia with one of my friends right now until I get things settled here.”

“If you need anything, anything at all, you can call me,” Colby offered. “I know we don’t know each other very well, but Sid’s my best friend, which makes you one of my friends.”

“Thanks Colby, I appreciate it.”

“No problem. I’ll see you at the game later right? Please come down to the locker rooms afterward, I really want you to meet Mel. You guys will get along great.”

“I’ll try,” I told him. “I’ll see you later. Thanks again.”