Status: Updating frequently :)

Beneath the Surface

Chapter Six

February 8th, 2012
Wednesday
Carmen and Jenny’s Apartment, Sewickley, PA
10:00 P.M.

Carmen was thankful that Jenny was asleep when she got home. Carmen found her lying on the couch asleep with the TV still on. Carmen quietly shut it off and went into her bedroom. She felt exhaustion crash over her as she walked in and threw her purse down onto the bed. She was physically and emotionally drained. She took a shower and then shut off all the lights and crawled into bed. She sighed out and said

“Wow,” to herself. It had been an unbelievable day. Had she just been hallucinating? Had she really just hung out with Sidney Crosby? She lay awake in her dark room for a bit. She like the feeling of solitude, she was alone to sort out her thoughts. Could she tell Jenny who she had met? She’d probably demand that she introduce her to Sidney. She couldn’t tell her. Sidney clearly didn’t want Carmen to know who he was so she’d keep it a secret.

The next morning Carmen had to get up early for classes. When she went in to wake Jenny up she found her already awake and sitting up straight.

“So how was the dinner?” said Jenny.

“Good, met some new people.”

“Any guys?” asked Jenny.

“No,” said Carmen smiling.

“Aw come on you definitely had to meet someone.” said Jenny, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

“Nope,” said Carmen. She went back into her bedroom with a sly smile on her face.

The two classes she had that morning went by quickly and then she went straight to work. Rodney was overloaded with customers so she didn’t get a chance to talk to him and went straight to the front desk. She felt her phone buzzing in her pocket but she had no time to check it like she usually did because of all the customers coming up to her. She went for a quick bathroom break and quickly checked her phone. There was a text from Mindy that said

‘Hey do you wanna come out with me and Sid tonight?’ She quickly texted back

‘Sure, I get out of work at 6:00. I’ll drive over to your place.’ She went back out to the front desk and couldn’t wait to see Sidney again.

When she left at 6:00 she drove home to quickly change into some better clothes and then over to the huge house Mindy was staying at. When she pulled into the driveway she saw Sidney and Mindy waiting for her by the Land Rover. She got out and said

“Hey you guys, where are we going?” Sidney stepped forward before Mindy and said

“A place in the city that I like,” If they were going out into the city Carmen wondered how Sidney was going to keep up the façade that he was a normal guy when fans would approach him.

“Sounds good,” said Carmen. They all got into the Land Rover and Carmen began to feel star struck again.

“So is this a restaurant we’re going too?” asked Carmen from the backseat.

“Ya,” said Sidney, “You’ll like it.”

The ride into the city wasn’t very long and when they reached the restaurant Sidney parked around back. When they walked out front Carmen saw Sidney keep his head down and put his sweater hood over his head. Nobody seemed to notice who he was as he moved through the crowd. When they finally went inside Mindy requested the back room. It was much smaller and there much less people there then the front room.

“Why so hidden?” asked Carmen. They sat down at a booth and Mindy turned to Sidney.

“Just tell her, we can’t lie to her for forever.” Sidney sighed and looked up at her and said

“Since you’re not a hockey fan I suppose it’s safe to tell you that I am not a college student. I’m a hockey player for Pittsburgh’s NHL team.” Carmen was surprised he’d told her the truth.

“Oh,” she said. She suddenly felt guilty, keeping the truth from them. “I knew who you were,” said Carmen. “The hockey craze is king of hard to miss in this city.” She felt awkward and said “But I’m not a hockey fan, I don’t follow it at all.” She half expected them to get up and leave but instead Sidney smiled and said

“I’m just afraid of crazy fan girls,” He laughed. “I’m used to girls going nuts when they see me so it was weird when you didn’t.” Carmen laughed and said

“You get stalked?”

“Oh ya, all the time,” he said. “I’ve had to change my phone number at least three times in the past year because of random phone calls from people.”

Sidney looked at Carmen’s face. The dim lighting in the room made her dark brown eyes twinkle. She was smiling at him.

“Well you don’t have to worry about me,” she said. “I’m not a rabid fan girl.” For once he’d found one person who didn’t care about his money or hockey career.

“Thank god,” he said, feeling he uncontrollable grin spread wider on his face. Mindy broke their connection and said

“What do you guys want to eat?” Sidney looked through his menu and settled on one of the main dishes.

“Sid?” he heard someone say his name. He knew who it was right away from the heavy Russian accent.

“Hey Gino,” said Sidney. “What are you doing here?” Evgeni came over to their table.

“With Oksana,” he said. “Dinner,” Mindy knew who Evgeni was but Carmen was looking up at him with a curious gaze.

“Carmen this is my teammate Evgeni, also known as Gino. Gino this is my friend Carmen.” Evgeni put his bear paw hand out for Carmen to shake. She shook his hand and said

“Nice to meet you,”

“You also,” said Evgeni.

“Pull up a table and join us,” said Sidney. As Evgeni moved a small table up to their booth they were sitting in. Carmen whispered to Mindy,

“Where’s he from?”

“Russia,” said Mindy. “He’s a really nice guy but watch out for his girlfriend Oksana, she’s nice to your face but she’s one of the biggest gold digger hockey girlfriends I’ve ever met.” Carmen laughed and said

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Evgeni took a seat next to Sidney and said

“My parents come visit tomorrow, for game.”

“Your parents are awesome,” said Sidney. He remembered the first time he met Evgeni’s parents. It was when they won the Stanley cup. He hadn’t understood a word they had said. They didn’t speak a word of English and had nearly jumped on him in a hug before they got on the parade floats.”

Carmen was talking to Mindy about college when she spotted a bright platinum blonde women walking towards them.

“Is that Oksana?” asked Carmen.

“Ya,” said Mindy. The woman smiled and said in an even more broken Russian accent
“Sid you here?” She sat down next to Mindy.

“Ya for dinner,” he said. “Oksana you know my cousin Mindy. This is her friend Carmen. Carmen this is Evgeni’s girlfriend Oksana.” Carmen smiled at Oksana who smiled back.

“Hey,” said Carmen, feeling awkward.

“Hello Carmen,” She pronounced her name funny and spaced out.

“I’m happy the game’s at home tomorrow,” said Sidney.

“Me too,” said Evgeni.

“I almost forgot about that,” said Mindy “Carmen do you wanna come?”

“Ya sure,” said Carmen “What time?”

“7:00, against the Maple Leafs.”

“I can’t wait,” said Carmen. She pulled her purse onto the table “How much are the tickets?”

“You don’t have to pay,” said Mindy. “Sid gets the tickets free for us.” Carmen smiled and said

“Thanks Sid,”

“You’ll love it,” said Sidney “I’ll let you borrow a jersey.”
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