My Arranged Marriage to Sidney Crosby

Disclaimer: I only own my characters, Sidney and the Pittsburgh Penguins belong to Mario Lemieux.

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Chapter Fifteen
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I was sitting in a room on a black couch waiting for Sidney and the other boys to finish up their interviews with some other girls. Some were wives and some were the girl of the night. I was still dressed in Sid’s shirt and felt out of place. All the other women were wearing really nice clothing. I wasn’t intimidated by the trashy girls though. They just disgusted me, with their boobs hanging out and their skirts that were five feet too short…okay so maybe that was a little dramatic, but not much.

I got bored just sitting on the couch, I hadn’t really introduced myself to anyone and didn’t feel like starting a conversation with any them either. I got out my phone and decided to check if I had any calls or anything that I missed. I didn’t have a few, but many missed calls and text messages from my friend Eric. Most of his text messages read ‘where are you’ and ‘answer my calls- I need to talk to you’. I sighed and texted him back saying sorry, I had been busy the past few days.

In less than two seconds I got a text message saying he was calling me and I had just opened it when my phone started going off. I stood up from the couch, just as a few of the players were coming out. I didn’t see Sidney so I answered the call and walked out.

“Jessica! Where have you been? You missed my game the other day!” Eric said. At first he sounded concerned and then he sounded disappointed.

“Eric! I’m so sorry I missed your game. Did you guys win?”

“Do you realize this is the first game you’ve ever missed of mine? And of course we won.” He told me sounding happy, “But you still didn’t answer my question.”

I sighed. I could never leave something unanswered or lie without him knowing. At times it got on my nerves, but he had been my best friend ever since we met at my sister’s volleyball game. He always had my back and I was his support system.

“Well, you see...” I paused, “I’m in Pittsburgh.” I said really fast.

“You’re where?” he asked, disbelief in his voice.

I had to tell him everything, but I didn’t think this was exactly the right time to do so. “Eric, I can’t explain now. I’ll call you later tonight and tell you everything that’s happened since I got home from your game.”

“Why can’t you just tell me now?” he asked. Did I mention he was also impatient?

“Because I’m out in public and I don’t want everyone to hear.”

“Jess?” I heard Sid ask from next to me.

I looked up and saw him standing there, watching me curiously. “Hey I gotta go. But I promise I’ll call you later.” I told Eric and hung up.

“Yes?”

He was about to say something, but some chick with blond hair (which you could tell was dyed) wrapped her arms around Sid’s stomach and peeked her head out from behind him. As soon as she saw me she glared. I rolled my eyes. Bitch please. I looked back up at Sid, who seemed uncomfortable but didn’t say anything.

“All the guys and everyone were gonna go out and hang and what not.” He said.

“Oh OK, then. Sounds like fun.” I followed Sidney out to his ride, the slut still coming with us. She had a fake tan, her shirt cut really low, and she was wearing shorts. For hell’s sake! It wasn’t exactly warm out.

“Jess!” I heard someone call out my name. I recognized the accent almost immediately. I turned around and saw Max coming towards me. He engulfed me in a hug and then kissed my cheek.

I laughed at him, “Bonjour!”

He raised his eyebrow at me and I shrugged. I used to be able to speak it fluently. A lot of my friends spoke French and if you wanted to know what they were saying you had to learn it fast. But I couldn’t speak it as well as I used to.

I heard the door to Sidney’s black expedition close and looked up to see Sidney in the driver’s seat and the mystery chick in the passenger’s.

“Wanna come with me?” Max asked.

I simply nodded my head and started to walk with Max to his car. He opened the door for me and I heard Sidney asking me what I was doing.

“I’m gonna go with Max. He doesn’t have anyone to keep him company.” I told him, seeing that he had pulled his car up next to Max’s and rolled down the window. I saw Ms. Slutty mutter something under her breath but ignored her.

“Oh OK then. I’ll see ya when you guys arrive.”

“Sid, you drive like an old lady- most likely I’ll beat you there.” Max told him.

I laughed, Sid wasn’t as bad as an old lady, but he could drive pretty slow.

“I do not drive like an old lady, so whatever you want to tell yourself to make yourself feel better.” Sidney said. He then waved and rolled up his window as he pulled out.

“We’ll beat him there, don’t worry about it.” Max told me.

“Trust me, I won’t.” I told him. He laughed at me and then turned the radio on. He started to sing and dance and I was quite amused. I couldn’t help but sing along with him when I knew the songs. We had quite a ball.

Max finally pulled into an already packed parking lot and somehow managed to find a parking spot. We got out and made our way to the bar. Max held the door to me and bowed, trying to be funny but also an ass at the same time. I walked in and immediately felt out of place. Everyone else seemed either more dressed up than I was or more, well, presentable.
Max came in behind me and saw where everyone was sitting and led me to them. They were taking up three booths, which had chairs pulled up to them and were talking and laughing. I smiled at everyone and bit my lip. I didn’t feel very comfortable, especially when I saw that most of the guys had some girl with them. Even Crosby boy.

“Max, who’s your friend?” one of the girls asked. She was sitting next to Marc-Andre.

“I’m Jess.” I told her, smiling. She seemed really nice.

“It’s nice to meet you!” she smiled back at me, “I’m Veronique.”

“Nice to meet you too.” I told her and sat down when Max had pulled a chair up for me.

I meet the guys’ wives and girlfriends and after sharing a couple drinks together something came up about playing a round of pool. I was immediately in. I loved to play pool, it took me some time to get good, but practice makes perfect.

I got up with Max, Kris and his girl and we walked over. Max and I were playing together against Kris and Megan. Megan was pretty nice. She wasn’t dressed as slutty as the rest of the girls, well not counting the wives. She was actually wearing decent clothes.

I ordered another beer and felt more relaxed then I had in days. I decided to let Kris break first, giving him a head start. I looked up to see Sid leaving with his girl and couldn’t help but get mad. I quickly finished up my beer before it was my turn. We were solids. Perfect.

“Well, Max- sorry if I completely blow this.” I told him. The only way I had a chance of getting one of ours in without getting any of Kris and Megan’s in was by hitting the side of the pool table and then hoping that would hit the ball. And I had to be careful because it was super close to the eight ball as well. I took my time and hit the white ball. It went in, while the eight ball stood untouched.

“Damn.” I heard Kris say.

Max high-fived me and I smiled and grabbed another beer that was offered. It was sixth of the night and I was just starting to feel a buzz come on. I could drink quite a bit without worrying about how I would act.

After another two hours or so and a few more drinks, Max was practically carrying me out of the bar and to his car. I was laughing, about what I have no idea. Everything was making me laugh.

“Oh come on! Just one more game.” I asked.

I heard him sigh, “Get in the car Jess, I’m going to take you home.”

That’s when I became serious. I didn’t want to go to Sid’s place, he had left with slut-face and I didn’t want to hear all those nasty sounding things coming from his room. I would be scarred for life. “Can you take me to a hotel?” I asked.

He started the car and looked at me, giving me a strange look, “Why?”

“Because Crosby has a friend over. And I think I could do without hearing those two fuck all night long.” Again I started to laugh. Fuck was such a funny word.

Max rolled his eyes at me, but agreed about being able to live without hearing that, “I’m not taking you to a hotel like this though. God knows what you would do once you were left alone. But you can stay at my place I guess.”

I nodded my head and turned on the radio, dancing and singing all the way to Max’s house.