Worth The Wait

CH. 3

It’d been a long time since Sidney had been so nervous before seeing a girl, and the funny thing was he didn’t even think he could consider this a date. She was engaged to someone he hated, he had no chance, and they were just friends. The more he repeated that over and over to himself the more he thought he’d actually believe it.

Phoebe still couldn’t wrap her mind around the idea that she had said yes to going out with Sidney Crosby. She knew Mike wouldn’t take to the information too kindly and that he would absolutely freak out on her if he found out. She hadn’t heard from him since yesterday afternoon and figured that if he could go all night without calling his fiancée, then she could innocently go to a party with Sidney Crosby—they were only going to be on friend terms anyway. Deep down she knew she was partially convincing herself as well, and that this was probably something she shouldn’t be doing.

When she caught herself putting more effort into her appearance than she usually did, Phoebe realized she might have gotten herself in over her head. She knew who Sid was when he first bumped into her, she didn’t say anything, and she invited him into her life. He was much better looking in real life than she thought he would be and when he asked her to go to the party with him, almost pleading with her to say yes, she just couldn’t say no. When she heard her door buzzer she took a deep breath and made her way to the handsome man on the other side. As she grazed passed her dresser she saw the ring that the boy from Philly had given to her and briefly thought about putting it on her finger, but opted against it in case anyone questioned her.

Sid stood restless on the other end of the door. When it finally opened he felt his mouth drop the slightest bit due to how stunning she looked. Her long hair was down and she had on dark jeans and a dressy black, relatively low cut shirt that clung to her in all the right places. He quickly flickered his eyes down to her hand and noticed it was still bare.

“Come in,” she bellowed, “I just have to grab my shoes and I’ll be ready to be out the door.” She ran down the hallway, back to her room and disappeared.

Sid stood in her living room; he looked down to the little glass table next to her sofa and saw the only picture that interested him. It was of her and Richards, they were at some type of lake and he was picking her up, his hands perched under her ass and her legs somewhat wrapped around him. They were both laughing really hard and she looked happy. For some reason, it stung him in the heart and he immediately put it down, angered that the biggest scumbag in Pennsylvania got to hold her in his arms that way.

Just as he slammed the frame back on the table, and took note that there were no other photos of the two of them, Phoebe fluttered back into the living room, all set and ready to leave.

“Whatcha looking at?” she asked with a large smile. When her eyes trickered down from his hand to the frame she swallowed and let her eyes fall to the floor. Sid didn’t say anything; he just took a mental note of how miserable she looked whenever anything about Richards came up.

“You aren’t going to wear your ring?” he asked flabbergasted, putting her on the spot.

“Oh, yeah, um….I wasn’t exactly planning on it…”

“What? I don’t understand why,” he asked quietly, he couldn’t believe the words that just stumbled out of her mouth.

“Well, I don’t want any of your Penguin friends to see the ring on my finger and question it and then I’d have to explain who I was marrying…”

Sid could slightly see her point, but knew that it was still a bullshit excuse. “I see. Well, just stick close to me tonight and no one will bother you,” his voice was raspy. He wanted to wrap his arms around her waist and pull her to him, he wanted to touch her and feel her close to him, but he had to keep his distance. She was the most beautiful girl he’d ever met- inside and outside- yet she was unattainable…or at least was supposed to be.

They walked outside to his car and to her surprise Sidney opened the passenger door for her to get in. She let out a sigh, which was more like a laugh.

“What?” Sid whipped his head around to look at her.

“Nothing, it’s nothing,” she tried to brush it off.

“It’s obviously something, so you might as well spill.”

“Well, it’s just that you opened my door for me…”

“Yeah…” he trailed off, confused.

“Mike hasn’t done that for me since our first date,” she said with sadness dripping from her mouth. That revelation sent Sid’s heart freefalling into his stomach and he shook his head at how stupid Richards was.

When they got to Jordan’s, Sidney could tell by the look on her face as they stepped out of the car that she hadn’t been to a party in a long time.

“What’s the matter,” he nudged her, “been locked away for so long you forget what a crowd looks like?”

“No,” she said meekly. “It’s not that. Well, maybe it is a little. I’m not comfortable with lots of people around. I tend to get lost in the busyness.”

“You? Blend in? I can’t see how that’s possible…you’re too gorgeous.”
She snapped her head to look at him, her mouth agape. He didn’t acknowledge it, he just grabbed her hand, “come on,” and with those words he was dragging her into the house.

She would be lying if she said that there were no butterflies when his hand touched hers. She didn’t pull away, in fact, she wrapped her fingers around his hand too, and when he felt that it gave him a glimmer of hope that she might not go through with this pending marriage.

She was dragged into Jordan’s and immediately darted her eyes about the room. There were guys she’d seen on TV, maybe once or twice on the ice, and guys her fiancé would hate. She pushed Mike out of her mind, as she didn’t know what he was doing, and let Sidney guide her to meet Jordan.

Sidney did a lovely job at introducing them and Jordan greeted her politely.

“How do you know Sid, you guys sleep together, or is that what you’re planning on tonight?” Jordan joked. Phoebe was taken aback and Sidney was mortified.

Phoebe looked up at Sidney, shocked by the words that his friend just spit out.

“Nah, man, she’s uh, actually engaged…” Sid rubbed the back of his neck and felt the blood rush to his cheeks.

“No way!”

Phoebe slowly nodded her head yes. “Who’s the lucky fella?” Jordan asked surprised.

Sid gave him a dirty look as he let out a nervous laugh. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“We know him?”

“Uh, yeah…it’s Mike Richards.”

“Are you shitting me?” Jordan’s face exploded in shock as he bent over to compose himself from laughter.

She didn’t say anything, she just felt like running out of there. She turned and looked up at Sid, who looked embarrassed for his friends’ behavior.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have come…” she said sincerely. She looked up at him with puppy dog eyes and he could see the hurt behind them as she turned to leave.

“No, no, please,” he protectively placed his hand on the small of her back and pulled her closer to him, “stay,” he whispered.

She started to let her head drop in frustration but Sid placed his free hand under her chin and lifted it up softly with the back of his index finger to reunite her eyes with his. “I’m sorry I said anything, just don’t go. I promise I won’t leave you.”

There was something about the way his touch sent fire through her veins and the genuine words he spoke to her, but slowly she nodded her head. “Okay.”

“I promise you’ll have fun,” he said with a crooked grin and she felt herself crack a smile.

Sid kept his word- he didn’t leave her the rest of the night. They stuck close together which had everyone’s heads spinning. They wanted to know more about this girl. Sid wasn’t parading her around like she was his latest conquest. No, he was protectively guiding her through the crowd. Though they just met prior in the day, something between them clicked. Jordan could see the way his friend’s eyes sparkled when he looked at the girl he couldn’t keep away from, and when she went to the bathroom, and Sid was alone, Jord jumped on the opportunity to talk to him.

“Don’t do it man,” his tone was almost harmonious.

“What?” Sid looked at him innocently.

“Don’t try to get in the pants of Richards’ girl.”

Sid looked at him and rolled his eyes. “It’s not like that. I just like being around her.”

“Right, and I just like looking at the women I end up sleeping with…” this time it was Jordan rolling his eyes on Sid.

“Look, I don’t care what you think. This isn’t some revenge thing.”

“Oh, I never said it was, though it would make sense. You just met this chick this morning and your eyes light up like the friggin’ Fourth of July when you look at her.”

Sid stiffly shook his head no. “Just drop it.”

“Fine, but when you end up getting screwed over instead of screwed, don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Sidney couldn’t tell if this was his friend talking or all the alcohol that was in his system.

At that moment Phoebe emerged from the bathroom, her face lighting up when she found Sid. He met her halfway, “You ready to go?” he asked, getting as close to her as he deemed appropriate.

She looked at him slightly surprised. “You’re really ready to go?”

“Yeah,” he looked around the room and back at her. “It just lost its appeal.”

She leaned into him very lightly. “I am tired, I wouldn’t mind going home.”

Feeling the warmth of her body pressed against him made him feel alive for the first time in months. He knew he couldn’t let her go. “Sure, I’ll take you,” he grabbed her hand yet again and led her through the crowd and out to the car.

When he pulled up to her apartment, he got out and walked her up to her door. “Thanks for coming tonight—I told you that you’d be the one keeping me out of trouble,” he flashed her his famous smile.

“No! Thanks for inviting me, I had a really nice time.”

“Don’t worry,” he was flirting with her, he wanted to grab her hand into his and toy with it, but he refrained. “I won’t tell Richards.”

She forced a smile and looked to the ground before looking up at him again. “I’ll deal with him. I really did have a great time though, thanks for forcing me to come out.”

There was nothing else for him to say, he didn’t want to leave but he knew he couldn’t stay. She turned to walk through the threshold of her apartment but he suddenly grabbed her waist and gently spun her around. “Wait,” he panted. “Do you want to get lunch tomorrow?”

She looked at him wide-eyed. “Um, I don’t…” she let out a frustrated sigh. “I don’t think tomorrow would be good.”

Sid felt her slipping through his fingers. “Okay, well, what about the day after?”

She took a long pause and internally conflicted with herself. “Alright,” she sighed. “I just- Mike-“

“I know,” Sid shushed her. “Don’t worry, I won’t do anything to get you in trouble.”

She nodded up at him with a graceful smile and turned to walk into her apartment as he turned to go home. Sid didn’t sleep a wink that night, and it wasn’t because he was with a girl or because he was drinking the night away. Jordan’s words echoed through his ears, and it bothered him. He’d only met this girl not even twenty-four hours ago, yet he felt as if he’d known her his entire life. He could feel things shifting. It may have been imperceptible to the outside world, but secretly he knew she was getting to him in more ways than one and suddenly, waiting an extra day for lunch was longer than he could handle.