I Will Remember You

“Are you sure you want to do this?” my aunt Lara asked me for what had to be the hundredth time in the two hours I had been at their penthouse. Well, I guess this was my home now.

“Yes,” I told her again, “this is something I need to do,” I said as I packed up my suitcase. When Malkin told me he’d take me to Chicago I didn’t realize that he meant I’d be going with the team. So instead of the one day trip I was expecting, we would be there for two and a half. The boys wanted to spend a day in the city after a morning skate, so that meant I’d either have to put up with them or find a way to entertain myself.

“I’m going to fix breakfast, let me know if you need any help,” she stood up, patted my shoulder and left the room. I was thankful that she was giving me my space.

Since leaving the hospital earlier this morning, I had learned a few things. I knew that I worked as an usher at Mellon Arena and that I lived with my aunt, uncle, and three cousins in the city of Pittsburgh. I had been living here since May 27th, 2007. I was seventeen and turning eighteen in May. A boy named Ross kept calling me and texting me, apologizing to me for something he did. The date was February 25th, 2009. I got hit in the head by Malkin’s stray shot on the 22nd at a home game against the Washington Capitals so I was in the hospital for three nights and two days. Malkin was coming to pick me up in thirty minutes.

I sighed in frustration at my lack of decent clothes. Mostly everything in my closet was nice but plain. This was not my style at all. Well, it wasn’t my style when I was fifteen, anyways. I turned on the iPod that I found in the purse I had to shuffle and hoped some of the music would at least be familiar. A band called Day By Day began playing through the room. I was positive I had never heard of them before, but I found myself singing along. Perhaps there was hope for my memory returning after all. Every once in awhile, images or conversations would flit through my mind. It was kind of like watching a movie. Everything would stop and all I could see or hear was the memory. But the harder I tried to concentrate on it, the faster it faded.

I hopelessly threw in a few pairs of jeans and plain colored v-necks, hoping that I could find a few vintage stores to shop at in Chicago. Next I threw in the essentials and was satisfied with my packing job. I was only going to be gone for two and a half days after all.

“You want to eat before you go?” my aunt asked as I walked into the room, carrying my suitcase and purse. I shook my head and sat down at the island chair to wait for Malkin. “You want to talk about anything?” she asked, her back to me. I could tell it took her a lot of courage to ask that simple question. I sighed before answering.

“It’s just really frustrating,” I explained and she turned around to face me. Surprise flitted across her face but it was quickly replaced with pain. “I’m so confused about everything. So much has changed in two years. I don’t recognize anything and I feel so out of place. I’m just really impatient waiting for some of my memory to come back,” I stopped talking before my voice cracked from trying to hold back my tears. My aunt must have sensed it because she came over and wrapped me up in a hug. I hugged her back and let a few tears go.

“Just give it some time, Rae,” she whispered in my ear, fighting back tears of her own. “Everything’s going to be okay.” I nodded my head and pulled away, wiping my face free of tears. A knock at the door snapped us back to reality.

“I’ll see you in a few days,” I said, standing up while I gathered my things. We hugged again and she saw me to the door. I opened the door and screamed. Okay, more like squealed.

Standing in front of me was not the man I expected. This one was much, much more attractive. A grin broke out on his face as he extended his hand.

“You must be Raya,” he said as I blushed, extremely embarrassed. “I’m Sidney Crosby.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I mumbled, shaking his hand, practically melting at his touch. Sidney Crosby was my biggest hockey crush. “You weren’t the person I was expecting,” I said as we walked to the elevator together, trying to explain the scream.

“Yeah, sorry about that, Geno had some, er, stuff to take care of before we left so he asked me to come and get you instead,” Sidney said, hitting the button to take us down to the lobby.

“What kind of stuff?” I asked, strangely comfortable with Sidney. He looked down at me and gave me a half smile that sent butterflies through my stomach.

“Don’t worry about it,” he said easily, but something flashed through his eyes. It looked like disapproval. I nodded my head and waited patiently for the elevator to reach the ground floor. “So, why are you coming to Chicago with us?” he asked after a few seconds of silence. I turned to look up at him. Even though he was only about 5’11”, he towered over my slender 5’3” body.

“It’s kind of a long story,” I said, shrugging as if it wasn’t a big deal.

“I’ve got time,” he smiled at me as the bell dinged, signaling that we had arrived at the lobby. He took my suitcase for me and led the way outside. “We’ve got a bit of a wait until we actually leave for Chicago. Geno thought it would be nice for you to meet some of the guys on the team before we left and I got here a little early so we’ve got about forty five minutes before they show up at our apartment,” he explained as he held open the door of a black Range Rover for me. It took me a few seconds to recover from his explanation. That was awfully sweet and considerate of Malkin to do that for me.

“Okay, well,” I started when he got into the car and started it up, the engine roaring to life, “I’m going to warn you now, it’s not a happy story.”

“Okay,” he nodded, eyes fixed on the road.

“You see, I got hit in the head with a hockey puck at your game Sunday,” I started and he cut me off.

“Oh my God, that was YOU!” he exclaimed, slamming on the brakes. “I am so sorry!”

“You didn’t do it, don’t worry. Weren’t you curious as to why I look like I got into a fight, though?” I joked, pointing at the stitched up gash above my eye.

“Yeah, I guess,” he laughed, blushing. I raised my eyebrows at him before continuing.

“Well, anyways,” I continued, “I obviously got knocked out and went to the hospital. I lost some of my memory. According to my brain it’s still 2007,” I explained and he simply nodded. “So, I missed something really important and I’m hoping that Chicago will bring it back,” I said vaguely.

“How do we come into this?” Sidney asked.

“Well, Malkin and his parents were in the room when it was being explained to me and he offered to take me to Chicago since you guys were going there soon anyways,” I explained, again, leaving out some very important details.

“Why were they there?” he asked. “Are you friends or something?” I could hear a bit of jealousy in his voice as he asked this and it surprised me.

“Well, I speak Russian. And when I started working at Mellon Arena I guess I talked to his parents. Plus, he’s the one who hit me with the puck,” I replied.

“Oh, right,” he mumbled, his face turning red. I grinned to myself. I was making Sidney Crosby blush!... “Well, here we are. That wasn’t such a long story after all,” he said, smiling at me.

“That’s because I didn’t tell you the most important part,” I mumbled.

“What was that?” he asked, looking at me curiously.

“Don’t worry about it,” I sighed and flashed him a smile. He shrugged his shoulders, seemingly unfazed, and rushed over to help me get out of the car and then got my bag out of the trunk.

“Thanks,” I smiled at him. “I can get my stuff, though. I’m a big girl.”

“Now, what kind of guy would I be if I didn’t get a girl’s stuff for her?” he asked with an irresistible smirk. Now it was my turn to blush.

“Well, thanks,” I muttered, looking at my feet as we walked into the apartment building where he lived.

“My pleasure,” he smiled down at me as a man held open the door for us. The trip up to his apartment was silent but not awkward. When we approached the door, we could hear loud noises and a systematic ‘thud’ from the other side. Sidney shot me an embarrassed look which only confused me more.

“Please wait out here for a few minutes, Raya, I’ll be right back,” he said and slipped into the apartment, barely giving me a glance of the inside.

“Sure, no problem,” I mumbled to myself and took a seat on the ground, arms crossed over my chest in annoyance. “Just leave me sitting in the middle of a hallway all by myself while someone gets it on inside and you go watch,” I grumbled. I continued in this fashion until the door flew open and a half dressed blonde walked out of it, pulling on her shoes and shirt as she walked right past me. I rolled my eyes and took this as my cue to enter.

“Sorry about that, Raya,” Sidney said before I had stepped through the door completely, rushing forward to take my bag from me.

“I’m not a child, Sidney,” I replied, raising my eyebrows at him, causing him to blush yet again. The red soon faded and was replaced with a smile in a flash.

“You’re right, now let me give you a quick tour before the rest of the guys get here,” he said, grabbing my hand to whisk me out of the narrow hall we were standing in. I couldn’t stop the butterflies from shooting through my stomach from the contact of our hands. I was extremely disappointed when he let go a few seconds later. “Okay, so this is what we call our living room,” he explained as we entered an open area with a huge wrap around couch, gigantic TV and entertainment system, a glass coffee table, some over stuffed arm chairs, and several gaming systems. “That’s the kitchen,” he said pointing to the left of the living room showing a simple kitchen with island seating. “This is the main bathroom,” he said as we entered another hallway, pointing to the first door on the left. “Geno’s room is the one right next to it and then mine is the last one on the right,” he finished and looked down, waiting for my reaction. “It’s kind of small but we’re looking at houses,” he shrugged when I still didn’t say anything.

“It’s cool,” I said dumbly. “I mean, living on your own and everything,” I tried to redeem myself and failed miserably. He seemed to appreciate my effort and smiled.

“Let’s go check out my room,” he said and took my hand again, sending another wave of butterflies through me. He led me into his room and I didn’t really know what to expect. At first glance, I thought I had stepped into my cousin Jeffrey’s room. There were clothes thrown everywhere, the bed was unmade, and you couldn’t see the floor from all the magazines, CDs, shoes, and other junk.

“It’s really messy,” I commented, saying the first thing that came to my mind. Sidney just laughed.

“I know, had I realized I was going to have a beautiful girl in my room, I might’ve cleaned up a little,” he whispered in my ear, suddenly very close. A shiver ran through my body, his breath tickling the skin on my neck. I turned around to face him, a smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.

“Maybe she likes the mess better,” I whispered back, our faces inching closer together. He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me closer, while mine found a place on his chest. As our faces made their way closer and closer, the door burst open, sending both of us jumping back about a foot.

“Geno, what the HELL!” Sidney yelled, turning around to glare at the Russian who had just burst through the door unexpectedly, angry expression etched on his face. When his gaze met mine, I averted my eyes to the floor, a blush creeping up my face.

“We need to talk,” he snapped and my gaze flew back up to his face but did not remain there. He had clearly just gotten out of the shower. If his dripping wet hair wasn’t enough to give it away, the fact that he had a towel tied around his waist and the water droplets on his chest confirmed it. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from his glorious body.

“Whatever,” Sid rolled his eyes and turned to face me, causing my attention to turn back to him. “Raya, will you excuse us and go wait for the team to get here? We’ve got some business to discuss.”

I just nodded my head and tried to slip past them, but not without accidentally brushing up against Malkin. Even though we barely touched, it felt as though something had just hit me head on and left me breathless. His dark brown eyes bore into my own golden brown ones, confusion clear in both our expressions. I knew he felt it, too.

We continued to stare at each other until someone cleared their throat. I tore my eyes away from his and walked out of the room. I had completely forgotten Sidney was in the room. I practically flew back to the main room, heart racing so fast it hurt. What is going on!...

I flopped down on to one of the comfy chairs but was on the floor a second later when the front door banged open, causing me to jump in surprise. I could hear a few guys arguing.

“She definitely liked me better,” one of them boasted.

“I don’t know,” another disagreed. “She seemed more into Letang.”

I rolled my eyes as I hopped back in the chair. I was just adjusting my black, long sleeved v-neck when a group of three guys entered the room.

“Whoa, sorry, Geno told us to be here at 10,” one of them said, turning away. “Our bad, we’ll just go wait outside.”

I just looked at him strangely.

“Dude, Staal, you idiot!” the one in the middle, Max Talbot, said, smacking Jordan Staal upside the head. “That’s not her.”

“Sorry for these two idiots,” the third said, extending his hand to me. “Kris Letang, you must be Raya.”

“Yeah, hi,” I replied, still a little confused.

“They thought you were Geno’s new, er, girlfriend,” he said, answering my expression. Apparently Sid’s not the only one who has a problem with Malkin’s dating habits…

“Oh, yeah, definitely not me,” I laughed awkwardly but Kris cracked a smile. Why did all of these guys have to be so cute!...

“Jordan Staal, lovely to meet you,” Jordan said suddenly, shaking my hand with exaggerated enthusiasm causing me to laugh.

“Maxime Talbot,” Max said, shoving Jordan out of the way, making me laugh harder. Then he grabbed my hand and kissed it while muttering something in French, causing me to blush.

“It’s nice to meet you all,” I mumbled when Max dropped my hand.

“Where’s Sid and Geno?” Jordan asked, taking a seat on the couch while he propped his feet up on the coffee table.

“Sidney’s room,” I answered while Max sat down next to Jordan and turned on the TV. “Malkin seemed mad about something.”

“Food’s here!” a voice called from the door suddenly. The four of us turned our heads to see Tyler Kennedy and Marc-Andre Fleury walking into the room with four boxes of pizza each.

“Wow, how many more people are coming?” I asked Kris. He laughed.

“This is it,” he replied then shot up to greet his teammates.

“Hey, Rae,” Max called to me.

“Why did you call me Rae?” I asked when I was standing in front of him.

“I like it,” he shrugged and smirked. “You should get us some pizza.”

I rolled my eyes. “Seriously?” I asked. Jordan answered by shooting me a smile so dazzling that I felt light headed. “I just met you two and already I don’t like you,” I sighed before going to get them pizza.

“Love you, too, Rae!” they yelled to my back.

“Here, let me help you with that,” someone said as I tried to balance three over flowing plates of pizza and three drinks. I looked up to see Tyler Kennedy and gave him a grateful smile. “Tyler Kennedy, you’re Raya, right?” he asked as he took the drinks and I nodded as we walked back to the couch.

“Rae!” Jordan and Max exclaimed when I handed them their pizza and drinks. Tyler laughed beside me.

“Are they always like this?” I asked as we took a seat next to each other on the couch.

“Yep,” he nodded at my grimace. “Welcome to the family, Raya.”

Within five minutes, I felt as if I’d known the guys my entire life.

“Awe, where you going, Rae, we were going to start the interrogation!” Jordan whined when I got up from the couch.

“Nature calls,” I sighed dramatically, pointing to my bladder. All the guys made faces and I started laughing. “I’ll be back in a minute then you can bombard me with all of your questions,” I rolled my eyes and walked out of the room in the direction of the bathroom. I was about to walk in when I heard shouting down the hall. I decided to ignore it until I heard my name. I tiptoed closer to hear what they were arguing about.

“I don’t care, Geno!” I heard Sidney yell. Malkin muttered something in Russian that I couldn’t understand.

“You don’t even know her,” he said in English. I really shouldn’t be doing this right now…

“And you do?” Sidney challenged. Malkin muttered again, too low for me to even recognize what language he was speaking. “Yes, Geno, your parents know her but she never even met you until you went to see her in the hospital,” he sighed.

“I want to get to know her,” he mumbled, causing me to blush. I really wanted to ask why.

“So do I, Geno,” Sidney said.

“You don’t understand,” Malkin muttered so low I barely caught it.

“What don’t I understand, Geno, please tell me,” Sidney spat, his anger rising up again. This is so wrong…

“She doesn’t remember anything from past two years,” he whispered.

“Yes, I understand that,” Sidney replied quickly. I could hear footsteps; someone was pacing.

“No, no,” Malkin said, “You miss point. She cannot remember something important.”

“What is it, Geno?” Sidney asked. I held my breath.

“Cannot say,” he answered and I let out a sigh of relief. “She tell you when she ready. But you need to know she is not as happy as she seems,” he warned and I felt my heart sink. I had almost forgotten why I was in this situation in the first place.

“I just met her, but I can’t stop thinking about her,” Sidney sighed and I heard something squeak. He must’ve sat down on something. “She’s absolutely beautiful and she’s different. Kind of intriguing.”

“Don’t get too attached, she may never want to see us again after this all over,” Malkin said and I turned. I had had enough.

-----------------------------

“What took so long?” Tyler asked me when I took my seat beside him. I shrugged and turned my attention to the TV. They were watching reruns of the Fresh Prince of Belair.

“Hey guys, sorry it took so long,” Sidney called, emerging a second later. He received several greetings from the guys then went to grab some pizza and took a seat on my other side. “Hi,” he grinned at me, a faint red rising in his cheeks.

“Hi,” I said shortly, keeping my eyes fixed on the TV. I could feel his eyes on me and chose to ignore it. Malkin huffed in a minute later and took a seat on one of the chairs.

“So, you’ve met all the guys, then?” Sidney asked after a minute or so. I nodded my head, eyes still focused on the screen. “Did I do something?” he asked quietly in my ear. I turned to look at him and rolled my eyes then looked at the TV again. “Raya, please talk to me,” he pleaded in my ear. I couldn’t play along anymore and cracked a smile. He glared at me playfully then pulled me to his side in a hug.

“You’re going to fit right in with us,” he laughed and I pushed him away.

“Yeah, yeah, it’s only two days,” I said and got up to throw away my trash.

“You’re going to miss us,” he boasted. I rolled my eyes even though I knew he couldn’t see.

“Whatever,” I said back and turned around to see hurt expressions on all the guys’ faces. “I’m kidding, of course I’m going to miss you guys!” I cried and ran to jump on Max. He laughed and pulled me into an awkward hug.

“It’s go time!” Jordan exclaimed, jumping up from the couch, knocking me over since my feet were in his lap.

“Carry me!” I yelled and jumped into his arms. He easily picked me up bridal style and carried me out of the apartment and down the hall. “Thanks Jordan,” I smiled up at him and tried to break free of his grasp. “You can put me down now,” I laughed and he dropped me. Luckily, I caught myself and landed on my feet.

“Yeah, I’ll get your stuff for you, Raya, whatever,” Max complained walking through the door behind us, dragging my stuff with him. I laughed and ran over to him.

“You’re the best, Maxime,” I cooed and ran back to Jordan and jumped on his back. “So, where are we headed to?” I asked Jordan.

“A bus is picking all of us up here, then we’ve got to pick the rest of the team up at the Arena then we go to the airport,” he explained and I nodded my head.

“You wear this,” Malkin said, appearing suddenly at my side. He was holding out a jacket, baseball cap, and sunglasses. “The glasses were in your purse.”

“Why do I have to wear them?” I asked, taking them from him.

“Disguise,” he shrugged. I let out a chuckle.

“I have to wear a disguise?” I scoffed.

“I don’t want you drawing any unwanted attention to yourself,” he said, shrugging again. “Don’t wear if you don’t care.”

“You rhymed!” I laughed. “Jordan, let me down,” I commanded once the four of us were in the elevator. Malkin was rolling his eyes at me. When my feet were planted firmed on the ground I slipped on the hat (Penguins) and aviator style sunglasses. Next I put on the jacket (also Penguins), thankful Malkin had given it to me because I had forgotten a winter jacket at my aunt’s. “It’s a little big,” I complained, holding up my arms to show that the sleeves were several inches too long.

“It’s mine,” Malkin answered, shrugging again. I glared at him.

“That’s getting annoying,” I snapped. He finally looked me in the eye.

“What is?” he asked, a genuine glow in his eyes. It took me a second to remember what we were talking about.

“You shrugging at everything I say!” I exclaimed. “It’s like nothing bothers you.”

“Your nagging bothers me much,” he grinned as my face turned into an angry pout.

“You’re annoying!” I snapped immaturely. He started laughing, otherwise ignoring my lame comeback. Jordan and Max were snickering quietly behind us. I crossed my arms as we waited for the elevator to reach the ground floor. I practically ran to the bus waiting outside in my eagerness to get away from Malkin. Something about him just irked me.

“Geese, Raya,” Jordan laughed, catching up to me a few seconds after I got on the bus. “Why the rush?”

“I wanted to get away from him,” I pouted, crossing my arms like an angry toddler. Jordan laughed and took a seat next to me.

“Okay, I never got to start my interrogation,” he smirked as a blush made its way on to my face.

“Whatever,” I rolled my eyes and took off the sunglasses. “Start,” I commanded, waving my hand in the air while he laughed.

“What’s your favorite number?”

“Twenty one.”

“What’s your favorite sport?”

“Easy, hockey.”

“I love you, by the way,” he said and I laughed. “Anyways, favorite band?”

“Well, I don’t remember, next.”

“Right. Where are you from?”

“Chicago originally. Now I live in Pittsburgh.”

“How old are you?”

“I’ll be eighteen in May.”

“Boyfriend?”

“Nope.”

“Favorite type of food?”

“Italian. Jordan, these are boring questions,” I whined.

“Okay,” he laughed. “Let me think,” he said, tapping a finger to his chin causing me to giggle. “Okay, how about what’s the craziest dream you’ve ever had?”

“Well, I was with my friends and we were in the woods. We found this house and a guy was there. Well, he was like, a combination of Jason and Michael Myers. So, he was trying to bring his brother back to life but he needed this key to do it. Me and my friends had the key and you could only use it to get into this one bunk bed on the top floor of this house. I had the key and I locked myself in the bunk bed. Then my one good friend kicked the stairs out somehow. He got real pissed and we all had to jump out the windows to run away from him. We all hid in different places and these bullies from our school told him where I was. So when he went to try and kill me I poked out his eyes with two sticks,” Jordan made a face. “Then he got really pissed at me and started chasing me. I tripped and he was about to slash me with his machete when I woke up,” I finished and he looked at me with a ‘you’re insane’ look on his face. I laughed. “You wanted the craziest one! That’s the scariest one I can remember off the top of my head!” I lied quickly. The scariest one was my most recent.

“You’re insane,” he shook his head.

“Next question,” I smiled. He rolled his eyes and started thinking again.

“What’s one thing you really want to do that you’ve never done before?” he asked and I thought hard.

“I really want to go ice skating,” I replied. His jaw dropped.

“You’ve never been ice skating?” he half yelled. All the attention of everyone on the bus snapped to us. I blushed like mad and shook my head. “Well, we’re going to have to change that,” he said matter of factly then began firing off questions again. I paid little attention, though, because I felt two pairs of eyes on me the entire way to Mellon Arena. One belonged to someone I wanted to get closer with. The other belonged to him.