Stories Left Untold

I was in the room next door, sitting on the bed with my head in my hands. I just wanted to be like everybody else and have an unforgettable time while in Vegas. But I guess it turned out to be forgettable. I kind of felt terrible for probably ruining a girl’s relationship with her boyfriend. The guys tried to tell me not to worry about it, but I just couldn’t. I felt some sort of connection between the two of us. Lizzie didn’t realize how upset Kim was but she somehow got unknown information out of her. One thing Kim didn’t tell me, was that she had a boyfriend... Actually, she sent me a text message. She obviously didn’t know what she was doing.

“He knew, didn’t he?” Katey asked her. “He knew you had a boyfriend.”
“I don’t even remember what I said to him,” I heard Kim say to her.

Then I sprung up and ran to room next door, shoving the guys out of my way.

“You didn’t tell me. After I got up off the barstool and walked away you sent me a picture of you and your boyfriend with a message that said, ‘I don’t care anymore. Sweep me off my feet and take me away from all of this.’”

She looked at what she had sent me and started to cry. I felt like a complete asshole.

“Fuck...” I said as I turned back around to return to the other room.

“Wait... what else did I send you?” I could barely make out what she just asked.

“I only skimmed through them, but this is the only one that caught my eye.”

“Of course it was the only one you woud notice,” Lizze said. “Because she was leading you on. You wanted her and she wasn’t stopping herself from realizing what she was doing.”

Then I went back in to the other room and just sat there. I needed to do something to fix what I did. But in a special way.

It must have been a few hours before I thought of something. I was so silent that Jordan mentioned that this was the quietest I’ve been... ever. I somehow thought that this plan might not work, but I had to do something to fix this. This girl was different, different in a good way.

“Dude, you gotta give it a shot,” Jordan said trying to convince me.

“But what if it doesn’t work?”

“You never know til you try.”

He was right, I had to give it a shot. Here goes nothing...
I walked to the door and knocked.

I heard Kim yell, “Go away!” but I wasn’t just going to give up right then. Because after all, ‘quitters never win.’ So I knocked again.

“Seriously, go away,” she yelled again.

Instead of knocking again, this time I said, “Let me in, Burke!”

She then let me in and we sat down on the edge of the bed. I knew she wouldn’t refuse me. After all, I am Sidney Crosby, Captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“Let me take you to dinner,” I said, not even letting her take a chance to say anything to me.

It took her a minute to register what I just said.
“But I’m a mess right now,” she finally said.
“Burke, seriously. Don’t make me pick you up and carry you out of this room.”
“Crosby, you woul--” Yup, I picked her up. Just like I said I would.
“Whoa, you were serious.”
“I don’t care what you look like right now, just let me take you out and try and make you happy again.”
I then saw a huge smile grow across her face; she was happy with me.
“You really do know how to sweep a girl off her feet.”
“Literally.. I mean, Duuuh! I am Sidney fucking Crosby.”
Now she was probably thinking that I was a cocky little bastard, but I was only doing this to hear her laugh.

I carried her all the way out to the curb where I waved for a taxi.

The entire ride to the restaurant she kept on asking me where we were going.

“It’s a surprise,” I told her.

Once our taxi pulled up in front of the restaurant, I could see her face light up. She turned to me and asked, “who told you that this was kind of like my favorite restaurant back home in Pittsburgh?”

“No one,” I said with a smile.

“But how did you know?”

“I’ve seen you at the LeMont multiple times with your boyfriend.”

“So, you basically knew who I was so you went--”
“For you. Yes, but only because I wanted to get to know you. So can we just start fresh and forget about what might have happened last night?”

“But what about my boyfriend?” she asked me.

“What about him? This is about you and me right now.”

She just looked at me, so surprised that I knew what her favorite restaurant was. Heck, I probably knew a whole lot more about her, and I knew right now, she wanted to be happy again.

“C’mon Burke, you know you want to have a great time.”

She then told me that she was going to try her best and try to have a good time. I honestly didn’t care what she looked like right now. Wearing jeans or a dress, she would always look perfect in my eyes.

We walked inside and I told the hostess, “Reservations for Crosby.”

She seemed to be surprised by the fact that I had reservations, but what can I say, I’m a go ahead guy.

She was quiet for the first twenty minutes of dinner. Then I really wanted to know something.

“So tell me,” I started.

“Tell you what?”

“How you and your boyfriend met.”

I was curious, I needed to know if I could top this guy. I guess you could say that I was trying to charm her, but whatever.

“Well, he’s Katey’s brother...” she started.

“What?” I didn’t know if I should be surprised by this, but I just went along with it.

“Yeah, her brother, so I knew him for a few years before we got together and Katey knew that I was falling pretty hard for him. She told me that he was all I would talk about whenever I was over her house. So she asked him if he would go on a date with me.”

“So she hooked you two up? Hmm...”, I started to think. I can probably top this guy. I didn’t care if I was going to be considered as a self-centered prick.

“Rude! Let me finish, Kanye!”

“Sorry,” I laughed.

“Whatever, rude boy!” I joked.

“I see what you did there!”

“Shut up and--”

“Imma let you finish but...” I only said this because I loved to hear her laugh.

“Crosby! Shut up!”

“Sorry,” I laughed again. I just knew she was enjoying my snooty little comments.

“But anyway,. At the time he was finishing up medical school at PCOM in Philadelphia...”

“Ew, Philly.” I said with disgust.

“Exactly what I said,” she laughed.

“Anyway,” he was actually going to let me finish. Then she finished telling her story and I was just so intrigued with the whole thing that I lost my train of thought while staring into her eyes.

“Sounds kind of awkward,” I said to her.

“Not really. I mean, Katey’s my best friend and she knew we made each other happy.”

“Then maybe it was awkward for her?”

“If it made her feel awkward, then she didn’t show it.”

“Continue please.”

I could tell she felt as if she were talking too much. And she really was, but I just wanted her to continue to talk. It seemed to have lifted a lot of weight off of her shoulders for some unparticular reason.

After another like ten minutes, she finally finished the story about how her and her boyfriend met. I don’t know why I was so curious. I think it was just because I was really into her. But I wasn’t done, I had questions and I think I made her feel even more awkward. I felt bad.

“Hmm, did you guys have any problems?” I wanted to find out.

“Yeah, just like every relationship. Ups and downs.”

“But like, what kinds of problems?”

“Seriously Crosby, what do you want out of this?”

“Burke, why do you think I want something out of this?”

“Crosby, you know I don’t see us as anything more than just friends, right?” she asked me as serious as can be. But I didn’t want to be just friends, I wanted more than that. I didn’t respond to her question right away.

“Crosby,” I waved my hand in front of his face.

“...yeah, yeah. I know that.”

“Then why are you trying to impress me?”

“I’m not, I just like to see people happy. That’s why I brought you here.”
But I knew that clearly wasn’t the reason at all.

“Crosby, you and me both know why you brought me here.”

“Then why did I?”

“Because you want me to forget about everything...” she said.

Before she even finished her sentence, I had her pulled up against me. And then that’s when it happened.

I kissed her.