Long Live

“Emma had came home that summer after the World Championships were done. She had heard about the results while traveling in Europe and wanted to congratulate me. The newspapers had a field day when they saw her land at the airport.” Sidney said pulling out an article with the headline GOLDEN GIRL IS BACK IN TOWN!!

“Hey, golden boy.” Emma said walking into the Crosby’s home. They were practically her family so she had an extra key to the house. Everyone was sitting on the dinning table mouths wide open, gaping at her. Soon the choking of Sidney Crosby could be heard.

“Are you back for good?” Mrs. Crosby asked walking up to Emma to give her a hug. Everyone would come up and give her a hug, the last person was Sidney Crosby. His best friend was back in town and he had no idea why. He knew Emma better than herself sometimes and he knew it wasn’t going to be for good.

That summer Emma and Sidney lived in his backyard and basement. They were either playing field hockey in the backyard or shooting into the washer. They seemed to talk about everything but about Emma leaving again. Sidney didn’t know when it was going to happen but it was. That was something Emma was good at, being spontaneous. She was the free spirit that Sidney had secretly always envied. He envied how carefree she was, how much of a free spirit she was and how she had no responsibilities.

A part of Sidney was scared to ask Emma when she was leaving, he didn’t want to believe that she was. For the first time in his life he wanted to be wrong, he wanted to be completely wrong that she was leaving.

It was a night in the middle of July when Sidney and Emma were lying in his backyard looking up at the stars. It was a peaceful silence between them as they cuddled and star gazed. From far away it would look as if they were a couple but they weren’t. But that night Sidney lifted Emma’s chin a little higher and kissed her. Well of course a couple minutes before that Sidney was hyper ventilating.

“Sidney.” Emma whispered not knowing if she should kiss him again, this was her best friend. She didn’t want to ruin this friendship because of one night but a part of her didn’t want to stop.

Well one thing led to another and Emma woke up in Sidney’s room. She woke up just in time to catch her plane. She felt horrible, it was the day after her and Sidney had just ___ and now she had to leave.

“Wake up, I need a ride to the airport.” Emma said shaking Sidney as she was getting dress and packing her backs. Sidney was too tired to string everything together so he got dressed and waited in his car for Emma.
The ride to the airport was extremely quiet with just the radio playing some Michael Buble song. Emma knew that it didn’t really hit Sidney yet, he was too tired to comprehend what was going on. He was too tired to realize that his friend was leaving once again.

“Don’t leave.” Was the words that Sidney had whispered to Emma as she was giving him one last hug. He didn’t want to let his friend go, not after last night he realized that he loved her more than friends.

“Remember this feeling Sidney.” Emma whispered back to her friend. A part of her didn’t want to get on the plane, she didn’t want to leave her best friend again.

“What do you mean Em?” Sidney asked looking confused.

“Just remember this feeling, Sid.” Emma said before kissing him on the cheek and walking down to the plane. Sidney didn’t chase after her or do anything he just stood there watching his friend walk away from him.

The room was silent as everyone had their eyes on Sidney. This was the first time the boys heard that Sidney had let Emma walk away. He didn’t even try to stop her, he didn’t try to convince her to stay, he just simply let her walk away.

“What did she mean?” Mario asked his father, to be honest everyone was confused. Why the hell would she say something like ‘Remember this feeling’ before she left Sidney. Why didn’t she say something more meaningful or funny at least.

“She wanted me to remember what its like to lose something so important. I know it sounds deranged but after I learned that I wasn’t called for the 2006 Olympic team it all made sense. Instead of sulking like I would’ve, I trained that much harder, that much longer and that much more for the next Olympics. I already knew that pain and so it didn’t slow me down, it motivated me.” Sidney explained to his children.

“Well that’s just dumb.” Lauren stated looking in the box again. She pulled out the 2010 Olympic gold medal but it was different from her fathers hanging up in the living room. This one was for women’s hockey with Emma Hill engraved on the back.