Always Something There to Remind Me
Chapter Nine
That night, the Penguins played their last home game of the regular season against the Islanders. Sid had gotten Aiden and me the seats right next to Geno’s parents. Since this was Aiden’s first live game, he wanted to go all out—his Crosby jersey, face-paint, foam finger, Penguins hat, towel, the works. He was in awe the whole game, loving the energy in the arena. He booed when the Islanders scored first, clapped when the Penguins scored, and cheered the loudest when Sid finally scored by re-directing Gonchar’s shot into the net. He chanted “MVP” with the crowd every time Geno was on the ice. He was loving it, especially when the final buzzer sounded and the Pens ended up beating that Islanders 6-1. When the game was over, Aiden even managed to catch a shirt that Sid threw to him. After the on-ice festivities, we followed Mr. and Mrs. Malkin down to the family lounge.
“Hey,” Sid said as he came out of the locker room forty-five minutes later. “Mario’s having a party at his house, and wanted to know if you want to come?”
“Um, I don’t know,” I answered.
“It’s not a huge party,” Sid said, trying to convince me to come. “It’s just the guys and their families, since some of the kids don’t have school tomorrow because it’s a long weekend. A way to celebrate a better ending to the regular season than how it looked like it would end three months ago.”
“Please mommy,” Aiden pleaded, giving me the puppy dog eyes that I couldn’t say no to, even if I tried. “Pretty please?”
“I guess,” I sighed. “But only for an hour,” I added as he yawned.
“Yay! Thank you mommy!” Aiden yelled and hugged me.
_______________________________♥♥♥♥♥
By midnight, the party was in full swing. Sidney had taken Aiden around and personally introduced him to everyone on the team, including their families, before Aiden ran off to play with all the kids. It still amazed me how Sid was around Aiden. I didn’t think he would never want to see him again, but I didn’t think he would latch on so quick either. To a random person on the street, it would look like Sid’s known Aiden his whole life, not a mere couple of days.
“Hey!” Mel said, bringing me out of my thoughts. “I thought I saw you earlier. This is Vero,” she continued, introducing me to the girl that showed up with Marc-Andre. “What are you doing off to the sides?”
“I don’t know. I just feel out of place I guess.”
“Nonsense,” Mel said. “You fit right in. Now come on, the rest of the girls want to talk with you.”
I followed Mel and Vero into the living room where the rest of the players’ significant others were talking, taking a seat next to Trina, easily getting immersed in the conversation. I kept noticing that Sidney was staring at me pretty much the whole time, only to quickly look away every time I caught him. After a while, I got up to go check on Aiden. As I was leaving the room, I heard Ksenia Gonchar asking Trina about me.
“She seems really nice, a lot better than Carissa anyways.”
“Definitely better than Carissa,” the rest of the girls agreed.
“Yeah,” Trina sighed. “I’m actually hoping that Sid will dump Carissa for good and get back with Nicole now that she’s in his life again. She’s all he talked about that summer. He spent more time with her than with us. I thought Carissa was just his rebound, especially since she’s the complete opposite of Nicole. Apparently my genius of a son can’t see how horrible Carissa is for him. Either that or he’s too nice to break up with her. As much as I don’t like her, I do feel a bit sorry for her.”
They quickly changed topics when I walked back into the room. We all sat there and talked about their kids for a while, all of them giving me advice on which schools, doctors, etc. in the area they thought would be the best.
Aiden crawled on my lap and ended up falling asleep around one. An hour later, the party wound down, and Sid got up to take us back home after everyone else left.
“Shit!” I exclaimed, digging frantically through my purse while trying not to wake Aiden up.
“What’s wrong?” Sid asked.
“I must have left my keys at the arena.”
“Oh,” Sid said. “Well, it’s too late to go back and get them, everything will be locked up and everyone will have left by now. You can just stay here tonight, come with me to practice tomorrow, and then I’ll drop you guys off afterwards.”
“Okay,” I answered, turning around and heading back towards Sid’s wing as he followed.
“Here, you guys can wear some of my clothes,” he said, getting Aiden a t-shirt and me some shorts and a shirt.
“Thanks,” I said. “Can I use your shower?”
“Yeah, go ahead,” Sid answered. “I’ll get him changed.”
I took a quick shower. When I finished, I walked out of the bathroom to find id sitting on the edge of the bed. He looked at me and opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but thought better of it. Instead, he just got up and went into his bathroom to change. I sat on Sid’s bed while I waited for him to finish so I could find out where I was sleeping, and hopefully find out why he was being so weird. The next thing I knew, the light came on and someone was screeching “what the fuck?”
“Hey,” Sid said as he came out of the locker room forty-five minutes later. “Mario’s having a party at his house, and wanted to know if you want to come?”
“Um, I don’t know,” I answered.
“It’s not a huge party,” Sid said, trying to convince me to come. “It’s just the guys and their families, since some of the kids don’t have school tomorrow because it’s a long weekend. A way to celebrate a better ending to the regular season than how it looked like it would end three months ago.”
“Please mommy,” Aiden pleaded, giving me the puppy dog eyes that I couldn’t say no to, even if I tried. “Pretty please?”
“I guess,” I sighed. “But only for an hour,” I added as he yawned.
“Yay! Thank you mommy!” Aiden yelled and hugged me.
_______________________________♥♥♥♥♥
By midnight, the party was in full swing. Sidney had taken Aiden around and personally introduced him to everyone on the team, including their families, before Aiden ran off to play with all the kids. It still amazed me how Sid was around Aiden. I didn’t think he would never want to see him again, but I didn’t think he would latch on so quick either. To a random person on the street, it would look like Sid’s known Aiden his whole life, not a mere couple of days.
“Hey!” Mel said, bringing me out of my thoughts. “I thought I saw you earlier. This is Vero,” she continued, introducing me to the girl that showed up with Marc-Andre. “What are you doing off to the sides?”
“I don’t know. I just feel out of place I guess.”
“Nonsense,” Mel said. “You fit right in. Now come on, the rest of the girls want to talk with you.”
I followed Mel and Vero into the living room where the rest of the players’ significant others were talking, taking a seat next to Trina, easily getting immersed in the conversation. I kept noticing that Sidney was staring at me pretty much the whole time, only to quickly look away every time I caught him. After a while, I got up to go check on Aiden. As I was leaving the room, I heard Ksenia Gonchar asking Trina about me.
“She seems really nice, a lot better than Carissa anyways.”
“Definitely better than Carissa,” the rest of the girls agreed.
“Yeah,” Trina sighed. “I’m actually hoping that Sid will dump Carissa for good and get back with Nicole now that she’s in his life again. She’s all he talked about that summer. He spent more time with her than with us. I thought Carissa was just his rebound, especially since she’s the complete opposite of Nicole. Apparently my genius of a son can’t see how horrible Carissa is for him. Either that or he’s too nice to break up with her. As much as I don’t like her, I do feel a bit sorry for her.”
They quickly changed topics when I walked back into the room. We all sat there and talked about their kids for a while, all of them giving me advice on which schools, doctors, etc. in the area they thought would be the best.
Aiden crawled on my lap and ended up falling asleep around one. An hour later, the party wound down, and Sid got up to take us back home after everyone else left.
“Shit!” I exclaimed, digging frantically through my purse while trying not to wake Aiden up.
“What’s wrong?” Sid asked.
“I must have left my keys at the arena.”
“Oh,” Sid said. “Well, it’s too late to go back and get them, everything will be locked up and everyone will have left by now. You can just stay here tonight, come with me to practice tomorrow, and then I’ll drop you guys off afterwards.”
“Okay,” I answered, turning around and heading back towards Sid’s wing as he followed.
“Here, you guys can wear some of my clothes,” he said, getting Aiden a t-shirt and me some shorts and a shirt.
“Thanks,” I said. “Can I use your shower?”
“Yeah, go ahead,” Sid answered. “I’ll get him changed.”
I took a quick shower. When I finished, I walked out of the bathroom to find id sitting on the edge of the bed. He looked at me and opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but thought better of it. Instead, he just got up and went into his bathroom to change. I sat on Sid’s bed while I waited for him to finish so I could find out where I was sleeping, and hopefully find out why he was being so weird. The next thing I knew, the light came on and someone was screeching “what the fuck?”