Love Will Keep You Up All Night

****
It was two-thirty and Sidney had been sitting in front of Taylor’s house for about an hour and a half, not knowing what time Amanda normally got home. Just as he was getting antsy as hell, he saw the school bus pull onto the street. Turning in his seat he watched as Amanda stopped and looked around. She was obviously worried about the random car in her driveway. Sidney decided to get out, that way she wouldn’t be completely freaked out.

“Sidney Crosby, is that you?” She asked as she walked up the driveway.

“Um, yeah it’s me.” He said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I was wondering, where is Taylor playing her game today?”

“Why?’ she asked, narrowing her eyes.

“Because I would like to see her play. She has seen me play.”

“Yeah, but you’re a professional. She’s not.”

He was starting to get pissed with her attitude. “Listen I really just want to talk to her. I didn’t get a chance to after the game.”

“She doesn’t want to talk to you.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I’m a nosey sister and I read her texts. She has been so upset these past few days and we don’t know why.” She eyed him suspiciously. “What did you do to her?”

“Nothing!”

She shrugged and let it go. “She was in a wonderful mood on game day according to my dad and he said that the next day she wasn’t talking and looked upset.”

“What? Why?” She couldn’t be going through the same things as me could she? he wondered.

“I have no idea. What I do know is that when you sent her those texts the other day, she couldn’t even open them. She had her friend open them and then delete them. Later that night she cried herself to sleep. I have no idea what happened with her, but it is starting to scare us. So please do me a favor and don’t go see her. I don’t understand what is going through her head at the moment and I think actually seeing you would be a very bad thing.”

She actually cried herself to sleep over me? He wondered to himself. What has he gotten himself into? He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

“Amanda, can I come in so I can explain why I am here and why I want to see your sister?”

“Yeah, I guess. Come on.”

Sidney followed her into the house and sat on the couch. Once Amanda was done doing her chores she came and sat on the couch.

“All right tell me.” Was all she said.

“I’m just going to get straight to the point.” He took a deep breath. “I think I might like your sister.”

“Thank you Captain Obvious.”

“Well I have been trying to convince myself that I didn’t like her because it would be wrong.”

“Like what would be wrong with it?”

“She’s only eighteen and she has a whole life in front if her. I am a professional hockey player and twenty-two. I shouldn’t be having feelings for her.”

“Why? Just because of the age difference and your career? Those are really lame reasons. Now what I’m going to say is just my thought, I haven’t talked to her about this at all because any mention of your name and she kinda goes into her own world and doesn’t come out for a few days. She hasn’t watched one of your games since she got back from Philly. She did actually watch a Caps game, but then they mentioned your name and she turned off the TV. She’s acting like you broke up with her and broke her heart and I don’t know why.” She took a deep breath. “I think she may like you too, but I’m not sure. So I will tell you where she is playing. She’s at our school right down the road, the game starts in about half an hour. Do me a favor though and don’t sit where she can see you, this is a big game for our school.”

“Thank you so much Amanda, I really appreciate it.” Sidney got up and headed out the door. He decided to go back to his hotel and wait for the game to start. Taylor may have the same feelings for him! That made him so happy that all he could do was smile.

****

The other team finally showed up and started their warm-ups and I said my silent hellos to my friends on the team. When the game started about fifteen minutes later, mom and Mandy had just shown up. I focused only on the game and what was going on around me. Since I was too busy paying attention there was no room for a certain hockey player.

My first play of the game ended up actually being a double play. I silently cheered for myself and smiled as my team congratulated me. I could tell from that point on this was going to be a good game. We ended our turn on the field without the other team scoring, it was now our turn to hit. I was in my normal lineup position and happily waiting for my turn. I have this tradition that when I am in the batter’s circle warming up, I face the crowd and look for my parents. When I did that at my third time at bat, dad was missing and Mandy was glaring at something in the parking lot. I just shrugged it off and walked to the batter’s box.

****

Sidney was close enough that he could see her but far enough away that she couldn’t see him sitting on the hood of the car. She was on top of her game today, or at least he thought she was. In the beginning of the game she had a double play and she hit a triple. As the game continued Sidney watched Taylor play her game. He leaned back against the window and sighed, he was so nervous now that the game was almost over. He really wanted to talk to her, but he didn’t know how she was going to react. A shadow cast over him and Sidney sat up. Amanda was standing there with her arms crossed.

“I thought I said make sure she doesn’t see you.”

“She hasn’t looked over in this direction at all, so chill.”

“Mandy, who are you talking to?” Taylor’s dad came up behind her. When he noticed who it was he smiled. “Well hello there Sidney. What are you doing here?”

“I came to surprise Taylor. I thought she would like to see me.” He lied

“Oh, she’ll be so happy. Come sit with us, the game’s almost over.”

“Um, okay. Sure.”

Sidney looked over at Amanda in time to see her roll her eyes. She clearly didn’t like that idea. Sidney smiled, he was going to be close enough to Taylor where he could hear her voice.

****

Okay this was it, there were two outs and the bases were loaded in the seventh inning. We were only down by one. All I had to do was hit a base hit, nothing big. I stepped into the batter’s box after receiving my sign to hit away. Before the pitch was thrown I glanced over to the stands and swore I saw Sidney Crosby standing behind the stands watching me. I was so caught up in wondering if that was him, that I didn’t realize that the pitcher threw the ball.

“Strike!” the umpire called

Shit, I shook my head and stepped out of the box. I took a few practice swings and got my sign. Stepping back in, I kept my eyes on the pitcher and blocked out all the cheering around me. I only had two more shots at this. When the pitch was released it was in the perfect spot, my sweet spot. High and inside, without thinking I threw my hands out and connected with the ball with a satisfying ‘whack!’ I didn’t think I hit until my coaches were yelling for me to run. As I rounded first to second, I glanced out into the field and had the amazing experience of watching my ball sore over the fence. Not only was it the winning hit, but it was a grand slam. A grand-freakin’-slam! Rounding third, my coach high fived me and I was greeted at home plate by the entire team. We beat Courtland and I had the winning runs. This was an amazing game.

****

Shit, she saw him and he was sure of it. She had a look of pure shock on her face when she looked out here. At first Sidney thought she didn’t see him, but then the strike was called and she was still looking in the crowd. He watched as she shook her head and settled down. He held his breath when the next pitch was thrown. He waited for the call, but never heard one called. Instead what he heard was the sound of aluminum connecting with a hard object and then cheers erupted. She hit it! Her parents were going nuts and then the ball did the unexpected, it went over the fence. She hit a grand slam. All he could do was cheer along with the crowd and smile.