Take Me Anywhere

The second they walked into Tim Hortons, even though it was at eleven o'clock at night, everyone in the restaurant gasped.

"No way!" a few teenage girls squealed. "Sidney Crosby and Mia Masterson in the same place. Oh my God!"

Mia assumed them to be fans of hers, since they were wearing merchandise with her name and face plastered all over them. It was something she wasn't sure she'd ever completely get used to, but it was flattering nonetheless.

Jordan and Alice stood back while the fans crowded Mia and Sidney. Even though Jordan was fairly famous and a key player for the Pittsburgh Penguins, he was glad that his amount of fame wasn't nearly as high as Sidney's. He still maintained a private life and the paparazzi never tried to interfere.

"Your show was great!" one of the girls said after receiving Mia's autograph. "How'd you get into the music business?"

"Oh," she shrugged. "I knew some people, I guess. I worked at a radio station after I graduated from high school, and some of the jockeys knew some recording artists. Everyone knew that I played guitar and loved to sing, and one thing just led to another. That's probably why I got so much radio airplay right away."

"That's amazing," the girl nodded. "And what are you two doing here together? Are you, like, dating?"

Mia eyed Sidney curiously as he blushed. "I don't think so," she grinned, though she was speaking with uncertainty. "Ignore the colour of his face. He's just shy."

"Am not!" he defended. The girl giggled and snapped a photo of the two of them play-bickering.

"Well, I think you'd be cute together," she smiled. "Thanks for the autographs and everything!"

"Anything for a fan," Mia told her, genuinely happy. She loved conversing with her fans and she was adamant about letting them know that she was just a regular person too. Being moderately famous never got to her head.

"You know," Alice called from where she and Jordan sat. "That photo is going straight onto the Internet."

"Let it happen," Mia shrugged. "It's not like we were doing anything wrong. We're just friends. Right, kid?"

Sidney scrunched up his face and pouted. "We just determined that I am the oldest one here."

"By eight days."

"Regardless."

"Anyway," Alice interrupted, changing the topic. "Sid, I hear you've been chosen to be on Canada's Olympic hockey team!"

"Yeah," he nodded, looking kind of embarrassed. "Jordy's brother, Eric, got chosen too. We've got some pretty stiff competition coming up though, definitely from the Americans and the Russians. Geno and Sergei are playing for them this time around...not to mention Ovechkin."

Mia chuckled. "I don't know a lot about hockey...so, my apologies if I look a little out of it. You're just throwing names at me now."

Jordan explained, "Geno's real name is Evgeni Malkin. He and Sergei Gonchar have the letter "A" sewn on their jerseys, meaning that they're Sid's right-hand men. It's only understandable that they be part of the Russian Olympic team."

"Oh," Mia nodded. "Are you excited?"

"Well, duh," Sid grinned. "I'm excited, but at the same time, I'm really nervous...there's a lot of pressure on me. I mean, you can't turn on sports television without people talking about how I'm Canada's one and only hope. I don't think it's fair to neglect the rest of the team when I'm obviously not going to be the only one playing out there."

Mia nodded. "I'm going to go buy some coffees. Are double-doubles okay with you guys?" Everyone nodded, and she headed to the front counter.

"No pressure, Sid," Alice remarked, reaching over the table and patting him on the shoulder. "Besides, your face isn't everywhere."

Mia returned with a plastic tray in her hand with four large double-doubles. She passed everyone a coffee and laid the tray down on the table. Looking down at it, Alice snorted. The tray's paper lining was a photo of Sidney doing a face-off for two Timbits players in a hockey arena.

"Well," she chortled, "maybe I spoke too soon."