Take Me Anywhere

"So, you guys have a week before you have to go back to Pittsburgh?" Mia asked as she collected the dirty dishes and loaded them in the dishwasher.

"Yeah," Sidney answered, helping her bring the utensils back to the sink. "And then I have to head over to Vancouver so I can start getting ready for the Olympic games."

She patted him on the back and smiled. "You'll be fine. Don't look so nervous."

He smiled and combed his fingers through his thick brown hair. "I'm not nervous," he mumbled. "I've just...uh...got my mind on other things."

Mia tilted her head to the side. "Sid, I'm not a sports reporter. You don't have to talk to me like I'm interviewing you."

"Sorry," he said with a weak smile. "But it's true. I've got a lot on my mind."

She just nodded and kept on cleaning up the mess from dinner. Sidney stayed relatively quiet, apologizing every now and then if their arms would bump when putting things away or if he came close to awkwardly knocking something over.

This behaviour did not go unnoticed.

"Sidney, what's wrong?" she asked, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. "You've been acting weird since we got here."

He shook his head and sighed. "Really, it's nothing, I promise."

She eyed him carefully. "Alice told you what happened between me and Nate, didn't she?"

He stole a glance at her and quickly averted his gaze. "No, she didn't."

"She did," Mia smiled. "It's okay, Sidney. I just...I didn't want to tell you because I haven't known you for that long. It takes me a while to open up to people, and I'm sorry that I didn't tell you that sooner. I figured you'd understand the whole privacy issue..."

He frowned slightly and turned to face her. "I didn't mean to pry, really. It's just that when he came up to us at the arena, you seemed so upset..."

She shrugged. "I guess...maybe I'm not over it yet. Three years of my life, Sidney. Three whole years of being known as 'Mia and Nate'...taken away in thirty seconds. It's not something you get used to in a few months. It was like I had to figure out how to be me again without my other half."

Sidney's shoulders slumped a bit and he exhaled slowly. "You know..." he started, "if you ever need to talk, I'm always there. We're friends, right, Mia?"

Mia grinned at him and caught him in a tight hug. "You bet, kid."

"I'm older than you by eight days!" he whined, leaning his chin against her shoulder, his arms going limp in defeat.

She let him go and covered her mouth as she giggled at the pout on his face. "Oh, come on, you know I'm kidding."

"Yeah," he blushed. "I just wanted to see you smile."

"Bedtime!" Alice hollered from the living room. "Unless you want to watch a movie first."

"I vote movie," Jordan piped up. "It's only nine-thirty. I refuse to abide by a bedtime."

Sidney chuckled. "Of course, the Gronk doesn't have a bedtime."

"The Gronk doesn't have a bedtime," Jordan agreed. "What kind of movies do you have?"

"Ask Alice," Mia shrugged. "She's here more than I am."

Alice cleared her throat. "If you came into the living room, I wouldn't have to yell and disturb the neighbours." Mia and Sidney shuffled into the living room together and sat next to each other on the long couch while Alice placed herself next to Jordan on the loveseat. She held the DVD binder in her hands and listed off names of movies.

Most of them were horror films.

"I'm not in the mood for blood and gore," Mia cringed. "Not after we just ate a whole thing of spaghetti."

"I'm with her," Sidney agreed. "I don't like scary movies."

"Then we'll watch Whip It," Alice compromised. "It's not super girly, it's funny, and there's girl-on-girl fighting, which I know you boys will enjoy."

Jordan wiggled his eyebrows as he placed his arm around Alice's shoulders. Mia got up and took the DVD from Alice's hands and placed it in the DVD player before turning off all the lights in the apartment. She went back and sat next to Sidney as the movie started to play.

Sidney eyed Jordan and Alice together, and he was hit with a pang of jealousy. The couple had just met, but they were already acting as if they were a newly married couple enjoying their honeymoon. He and Mia had just met, and Mia had made it clear that she just wanted to be friends.

Sid's attraction to Mia had been strong from the moment he'd met her back in Pittsburgh, but he never expected for it to become this out of hand. Just sitting next to her on the couch, he could feel his heart racing and his palms started to sweat.

Mia must have been more tired than she thought she was, because three-quarters of the way into the movie, she started to lull off to sleep, leaning her head against Sidney's arm. Sidney held in his breath for a moment and swallowed the lump in his throat. Looking down at her, he shook her gently so that her eyes opened.

When she lifted herself off of his arm, he said, "Do you want to go to sleep? It's okay if you're tired."

Mia nodded. She was caught slightly off guard when Sidney lifted her up in his arms and carried her down the hall to where the bedrooms were. "Put me down," she mumbled. "I'm too fat. You'll break your arms."

"I could bench press five of you," he laughed. "Which one's your room, the red one or the blue one?"

"Red," she sighed, leaning her head against Sidney's chest. "Thanks." As her ear pressed against his shirt, she could hear the faint beating of his heart within his ribcage. It was rapid. He laid her down on her bed, tucking the duvet up to her chin. He was about to leave when Mia called his name. "Sidney?"

"Yes?" he asked, sitting at the edge of her bed.

"You and Jordan are staying here for the night, right?"

"I guess so, since we didn't really think of looking at any hotels."

"You can sleep here if you want," she yawned, nuzzling into her pillow. "It's a queen sized bed. There's plenty of space...and plus, I don't know if you want to sleep on the couch because I don't know what Alice and Jordan have done on it."

Sidney laughed. "Um...alright." He shed his sweater so that he was only wearing his Pittsburgh Penguins t-shirt and slid into the bed next to her.

As her eyes started to droop, Mia snuggled more into the sheets and whispered to him, "Goodnight, Sidney."

He smiled back at her, his heart still thumping in his chest. "Goodnight, Mia."