Cold As You

By the time I had to leave for the dinner, my hair was done, my nails were painted, and a new outfit was on. I was anxious to get there, I didn't know what Sidney would have to say about my new look. Because Addie, Sarah, and Vero were all accompanying their boyfriends to the dinner and Sidney hadn't answered my calls or texts, I was forced to go alone.

After getting the address from Addie, I hailed a taxi and arrived at the banquet hall at precisely seven o'clock. I caught both Sarah and Addie walking in with Max and Kris and I stopped them before they could get inside.

"Hey!" I called, making them all turn around. Sarah and Addie smiled at me, tilting their heads to the side with a dreamy look on their faces. This was their way of telling me I looked good. I earned a smile and a quick up and down from Kris and Max, letting me know the same thing Addie and Sarah were thinking just in a slightly different way.

"You look amazing," Addie gushed.

"Seriously," Sarah nodded. "Did you get your hair cut?"

"And curled," I added. I decided to spoil myself today.

"I'm sure a certain superstar will like what he seems," Addie said as she nudged me lightly. I rolled my eyes and smiled, tucking my bangs behind my ear securely as we all walked into the large building together. Most of the team was already there, accompanied by their families or girlfriends. I felt a little out of place once again but as soon as I saw Sidney staring holes into me I smiled and felt completely welcome. I shuffled over to him quickly, letting his arms wrap their way around my waist when I was close enough.

"You look beautiful," he whispered into my hair, making my heart absolutely soar.

"Thank you," I blushed, hoping the hug would last long enough so he wouldn't see. Luckily for me, the hug last just long enough for my cheeks to go back to their normal color. When he pulled away from me he held me at arm’s length looking me up and down and smiling widely. He then grabbed my hand and we walked over to the table we would be sitting at, which thankfully was with my best friends.

"So why exactly are we here?" Sarah asked after we had all ordered our drinks.

"It's a dinner thrown by the Penguins organization and the owners. Kinda like a thank you," Sidney explained after taking a short sip of his drink. As he spoke his hand found its way to my thigh and I found myself choking on the drink. I wiped up the liquid that had rolled down my chin as I received weird looks from everyone else sitting around the table.

"Went down the wrong pipe," I laughed awkwardly. They continued to give me weird looks before Max began a conversation getting everyone's attention off of me and onto him. I turned around, giving Sidney a pointed look and earning a smile from him.

"What're you doing?" I hissed silently.

"I didn't think you'd choke," he smiled cutely, making any anger I had towards him melt away.
I was never the type of person to get walked all over. I was usually very strong willed and never let anyone take advantage of me. However, when it came to Sidney Crosby that was a much different story. As of late I was letting him walk all over me without so much as an explanation as to why he was playing games with me.

The more I thought about it the more I realized that maybe this wasn't the first time I let him walk all over me, maybe this was just the first time that it was this extreme. My biggest concern was always making him happy (i.e. me going to the parade even though I felt out of place and uncomfortable), and now that we had slept together twice, I just didn't know what else I could do. Even worse, I had let my word vomit get the best of me when I told him I loved him. He hadn't responded, but he also didn't shut me down so a small spark of hope was still buried inside my chest.

After Sidney's attempt at feeling me up under the table, dinner went well. It was nice to get together with all of my friends. During the season it was rare to have everyone together, so this dinner was our chance to catch up. After Mario gave an adorable speech, he called up Sidney to make one of his own. Although I didn't except to hear him give a speech, I wasn't surprised. His speech was cute, as he threw in a few inside jokes from the team and told a few stories from the locker room.

"-But there's someone I couldn't do this without. Someone who was always there for me," Sidney paused to smile his charming smile and Sarah took his time to nudge me and wiggle her eyebrows.

"A.k.a you," she grinned. I couldn't suppress my smile as I turned my attention back to Sidney.

"Mario I really can't thank you enough," he finished. Everyone around us clapped loudly, some of the guys even whistling and laughing as their Captain shook hands with Mario and their coaches. I tried not to look visibly upset as I grabbed my water and took a long sip. The girls all sent me a sad smile and I just smiled and shrugged it off.

Sidney walked back over to the table and sat down, throwing his arm over my shoulder. "How'd I do?" He asked. I struggled to smile as I nodded at him.

"It was great," I said. He grinned and kissed the top of my head as he started up a chat with Marc-Andre who was sitting next to him.

There I was once again making him happy when I was crying inside. I let him smile when I just wanted to scream. I made a promise to myself to make it stop.