Take Me Anywhere

Mia had never expected a week to go by so quickly. Before she knew what was happening, Sidney and Jordan were packing their bags, Jordan heading back out to Pittsburgh and Sidney flying out to Vancouver for the Olympics.

"I have to get there early," Sidney had explained. "I haven't practiced in a while. I don't want to get rusty. Even a week off the ice can throw off your game."

Mia sat on her bed and watched as Sidney folded his clothes and placed them in his suitcase. She picked up her acoustic guitar and played a simple tune as Sidney kept on packing. After a few minutes, she stopped. "I'll miss you, you know."

He looked up at her from his belongings and smiled. "I'll miss you too." After a few seconds, a lightbulb went off in his head. "Hey...I have an idea."

"Oh no," Mia joked. "We can't have that."

Sidney laughed and swatted her on the arm. "What if you, Alice and Jordan all came to Vancouver with me? I can pay for your airfare and your hotel stay."

Mia sat there with her mouth slightly agape, putting her guitar aside. "Sid, I can't ask you to pay for all three of us. That wouldn't be right. Besides, I have money, I can pay for myself."

"I want to treat you," he smiled. "It'd be a big confidence booster for me, you know? To have my friends come and watch my games. I think you guys should come."

Mia bit her lip and grinned. "Well, I don't have to start touring again until the very end of February..."

Sidney scooped her up in a hug. "So it's settled. Let me call my agent and have him deal with all the logistics."

"You're too nice for your own good, do you know that?" Mia mused.

He shrugged. "I do my best." Taking out his Blackberry, he dialed his agent's number and held the phone up to his ear. He left the room so that he could get better reception and returned about fifteen minutes later with a huge smile plastered on his face. "Guess what?"

Mia eyed him curiously. "What?"

"How soon can you pack your bags?"

Mia's eyes narrowed. "Pretty quickly...why?"

"Because you, Alice and Jordy are all coming on my flight to Vancouver," he said with a cheeky grin. "Which leaves in about...five hours."

Mia yelped and sprang up from her bed. "The issue here is not me, but Alice. And I have to call my parents...and--"

Sidney just laughed as Mia rushed around in a frenzied panic. She was shouting things to Alice and Alice kept on yelling back. The apartment was crazy with the two sisters running around trying to pack enough things for the next two and a half weeks.

Jordan walked into Mia's room where Sid was still calmly putting his things back in his suitcase. "You're crazy, you know that?" he stated.

"Crazy?" Sidney repeated. "How?"

"You're bringing us all to Vancouver?" he asked, baffled. "Do you know how much that's going to cost?"

Sidney shrugged. "I don't mind. It's not like I do anything with my money anyway."

Jordan nodded and sighed. "At least I can bug Eric. I don't think he's expecting to see me there."

Sid laughed and zipped up his suitcase. "Can I ask you something, Jordan?"

He nodded. "I guess so."

Sidney cleared his throat. "How did you know that you and Alice would work out so well as a couple?"

Jordan smirked and ran a hand through his hair. "Um...well, I don't know. From the moment I saw her, and from the first time we talked, we just had this connection, you know? Not to mention the fact that she's completely crazy and is willing to actually put up with me and my schedule. She's not super clingy like the other girls I've dated, she's funny, down-to-earth, and it was like we'd known each other for years before we even started talking. It just felt...I don't know, natural."

Sidney nodded, poking his head out into the hallway to see Alice and Mia throwing things into suitcases at warp speed.

"Why?" Jordan asked, bringing Sidney back to the conversation. "Are you still bummed that Mia doesn't want to date you?"

"It's not that...exactly," Sidney shrugged. "I don't know. I was just wondering why you and Alice could work out when Mia and I can't."

"Because no matter how you slice it, buddy, Alice isn't travelling around the world as much or even more than you are," he stated. "You keep forgetting that your schedules make it almost impossible for you two to be together for more than a few days. I get that you like her, man. We all do...but how would you make it work?"

"I don't know," Sid sighed. "I guess...I would find a way."

"When you figure it out, let me know," Jordan muttered. "The sexual tension between the two of you is borderline unbearable."

Mia and Alice bounded into the room. "We're ready to go," Mia panted. "Make sure you go to the bathroom before we leave. I don't want people peeing in my car on the way to Pearson Airport."

* * * * *

"Alice."

"Mia."

"Alice."

"What, Mia?"

"We're on a plane."

"You speak as if you've never been on a plane before."

"We're on a plane on the way to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics."

"Shut up. I know."

Mia stared at her sister from across the aisle. "Aren't you excited? We get to see all the famous athletes perform, like Patrick Chan, Scott Moir, Tessa Virtue, Clara Hughes, Charles Hamelin--"

Alice stared at her sister. "It baffles me that you know all of these athletes that compete in winter sports but you know nothing about hockey."

"I'm learning," she countered. "And I only know about them because of all those video montages that CTV has been playing over the last few weeks."

"A true dedicated Canadian," Alice grinned. "Now, take a nap or something. When you wake up, you will be surrounded by a sea of red and white."

Mia smiled and looked over her left shoulder at Sidney, who was sitting next to her, already sleeping soundly. Settling into her seat as well, she could feel her heart beating faster. She had never been more excited.