Cold As You

I guess being Sidney Crosby's best friend always attracted mostly unwanted attention, but for some reason the most attention I received wasn't from fans, it was from the team. They always made it seem like they were so excited when I went somewhere with Sidney. I mostly attributed this to them for the most part being young and single, but I also knew part of it was because they loved making me the main focus of their jokes. Now don't get me wrong, Sidney was their main target, but that only put me second in their line of fire.

So when I arrived at the Lemieux's house with Sidney's arm around me I knew I was in for it. Especially because someone with a big mouth (cough- Marc-Andre Flurey), told them all about Sidney's pre-parade kiss with me. And almost as soon as Max Talbot saw us, his eyes went wide in a child-like manner and he began to grin widely.

"Well aren't you two just the cutest little things in the world?" He cooed when we got within speaking distance of one another. I rolled my eyes and shrugged Sidney's arm off of my shoulders. Sidney cast me a questioning glance, but I pretended to ignore him. Seemingly unfazed, he walked over to where the bulk of the party was happening leaving Max and I alone. Max smiled and laughed once he was out of earshot. "Well if that wasn't the literal meaning of giving the cold shoulder then I don't know what is," he laughed.

"I don't want him around me like that anymore," I said simply.

"Oh please," he rolled his eyes over-dramatically. Oh Maxime Talbot, always one for theatrics. "We all know you practically worship the ground he walks on."

"That's taking it a little far. I'm not a 15 year old girl who doesn't know him, I'm his best friend," I replied bitchly, though I hadn't intended it to sound that way. "I mean…whatever. You know what I'm trying to say," I sighed.

Max nodded, seeming to understand what I was trying to say without really even saying it. "I know you really love him Evangeline," he said. "I was just joking."

"I know Max," I nodded. "It's just he's been so weird and it's really getting to me," I admitted. Max smiled sadly and then it was his turn to throw his arm over my shoulder.

"Tonight you should just forget about it all," he grinned, walking me towards the party. "Geno brought some Russian Vodka and I swear you'll be plastered from just a sip of it."

"Just what I need, a hangover to add onto my aching heart," I sighed exaggeratedly. Max laughed and pushed me towards the large Russian. Geno greeted me with a short hug before pouring me a shot of this magical Vodka Max spoke of.

"Very strong," he said, his broken English making him hard to understand over the noise.
"Just what I need," I smiled, bringing my shot glass up in a toasting sort of motion before downing it without so much as a second thought.

Now, I was never a big drinker so that could probably explain why my throat felt like it was on fire once I had swallowed the alcohol, but when I did drink I could hold my shit pretty well. Regardless, I could feel tears forming in my eyes when I put the shot glass down, that's how strong that stuff was.

"Fuck," I coughed. "You were right Geno," I told him. He smiled crookedly and nodded.

"Told you," he said knowingly. I laughed at him and walked over to a cooler. Grabbing a can of Pepsi, I decided getting completely drunk and most likely making a fool of myself at Mario Lemieux's house wasn't a very good idea. Drinking wouldn't solve my problems and I would only have a nasty hangover to add onto said problems in the morning.

I spent the rest of the night hanging around and mostly enjoying myself, something I didn't think was possible. Part of me thought it was because seeing everyone else drunk and watching the Cup go into Mario's pool could keep me laughing for weeks, but I knew it was because I didn't see Sidney for most of the night. And yeah I knew I sounded bitchy, but it was true. And that was kind of sad.

I think part of my brain was just really confused by Sidney's actions, while the other was overjoyed. I had waited so long for Sidney to feel the same way towards me as I did towards him and now that he was acting the way he was I thought that he could actually feel that way. And that scared the living shit out of me. I had gone so long in this unrequited love I didn't know how to act now.

As the night began to wind down at around 3 am, all I wanted to do was go home and sleep. I looked around for my best friend and when I spotted him talking to Kris Letang I breathed a sigh of relief and trudged over towards him.

"Can you bring me home now? I feel like my eyes weigh a million pounds," I told him with a frown. Kris smirked at me and then turned around and walked away. Alright, you French-Canadian weirdo. I thought. Sidney looked down at me and tucked a piece of my hair that had been flying around behind my ear and smiled sweetly.

"Alright, let's go," he said. After saying good-bye to mostly everyone Sidney and I were on our way back to my apartment complex. I was so happy to be home and so close to my bed I could have jumped for joy as soon as Sidney found a parking spot. As always he walked me up to my apartment and because I sped walk we got there quickly.

"Thanks for bringing me home," I told him as I unlocked my door. When I finally pushed it open I looked back up at my best friend and smiled. "Goodnight Sidney," I said.

He didn't say a word to me, in fact he did the very last thing on the face of the planet that I thought he would do. He fucking kissed me.