Got It Bad

Ever since they kissed after the early December game, Clara and Sid became even closer than ever. All their free time was spent together, either out around Pittsburgh or in one of their places. Whenever they went out in public, they were always surrounded by people within minutes, so it wasn’t often that they went out. In the four months they had been dating, they had been lucky that they didn’t have to deal with a true test of their relationship.

And then came the beginning of March and with it the dwelling end of the regular season. And the Penguins still had two games to play against the Flyers, in late March and early April. Clara was not looking forward to the series, and frankly neither was Sid. Neither knew how the other would act and it was like an unspoken taboo with them. Clara knew that she would be supporting the team she loved since she was just a girl of eight. Sid was hoping that she wouldn’t hate him after the Penguins swept the team.

“Please come to the game,” Sid begged Clara, staring at her with wide eyes. Clara just looked away, crossing her arms over her chest and trying not to smile. He was too damned adorable and Clara wanted to stay strong. But when his wide brown puppy dog gaze was presented in front of her face, she just sighed.

“I give, I give,” she said, putting up her hands. “I’ll come, but I’m not promising anything.”

Sid just smiled, pecking her on the lips before standing up and stretching. “Do you want to come over for pre-game nap with me?” he asked, even though he already knew her answer.

“No, I need to get to class, and then get ready.” She paused, then looked back up at him. “Can I come over after class so we can ride to CONSOL together?

Sid smiled. “Of course.” He hesitated for a moment, biting his plump bottom lip. “Will you stay the night?”

They both stared at each other. They hadn’t stayed the night at each other’s places yet. Clara thought it was too soon, and everything was too new. She had just started to like him, and now she was starting to like him too much. She didn’t want to put all her eggs in one basket. Sid knew he was falling hard for her, and knew the day he first bumped into her and she brushed him off. He just didn’t want to push her; it was already too much to ask of her to date him to begin with. He had even been debating telling Clara he loved her, but he was desperately afraid of her walking out on him.

Clara swallowed hard, taking a deep breath, and beginning to answer, her eyes never leaving Sid’s. “Yeah,” she said softly, before reaching up. Sid grasped her hands and pulled her right into his chest. She giggled and he smiled brightly before kissing her, really kissing her this time. Clara gave a little sigh as he pulled back. “I’ll see you then,” she whispered with a half-smile. Sid just nodded, stepping back and letting Clara go.

Once Sid left, Clara ran crazy around her apartment trying to get things together so she could just hop into her car after classes and drive straight to Sid’s house. When it came time for her to pick a jersey, Clara stopped short. She was going to wear just a plain black shirt underneath the jersey, neutral for both teams, but she couldn’t pick the jersey. She desperately wanted to wear her Flyers jersey and support her home team; she’d never been afraid to wear it before.

But on the other hand, she wanted to wear her new Penguins Winter Classic jersey from 2011. She loved the colors and design of it, but she loved the name on the back even more: Crosby. She had gotten it as a spur of the moment decision sometime the previous week. She knew if she wore it, she would be taking the ultimate step in their relationship; for other people, who would wear his jersey no question. But that wasn’t Clara; she only wore her team’s colors, no one else’s. It was a giant step for her, and she just had no idea if she was ready for it or not.

With only a few minutes to spare to get to her class on time, Clara closed her eyes, grabbed a jersey and stuffed it carefully into her bag, before running down to her car to get to class. It was going to be a long day to get through.



The thirty minute drive to Sid’s house in Sewickley seemed to take twice as long as usual. Even though they had only been dating for four months, Clara had memorized the pre-game routine that Sid kept. He would go to the morning skate and call her around noon, right before he would go down for his pregame nap. He would nap from twelve-thirty to two o’clock usually, and the rest depended on whether or not Clara would be going to that particular game. When she did go, Clara would usually arrive around two thirty or three o’clock, depending on traffic and the classes she had that day.

Today was an early day for her, and she got to his house by two thirty-seven. Her thoughts weighed her down, and she was nervous when she shut off the ignition for the car. She had only been nervous the first time she went to his house. She knew that this night would change everything about their relationship, one way or another.

Sid was waiting for her outside his house, in nothing but sweatpants and socks. “Aren’t you cold?” Clara asked, bringing her bag with her into the house. Sid just leaned down to pull her to his body, kissing her gently.

“Not anymore,” he said with a smirk, before leading her into the house. Just like every other time she’d been over his house for games, she dropped her bag by his hockey bag just inside the doorway and put her boots right next to his, her jacket hung up in the closet.

Today, though, unlike all the other days, there was an unmistakable tension in the air, caused by both the fact that it was a Flyers-Penguins game being played and the request of Clara staying the night. Clara wanted nothing more than to forget about both things and to just relax; all she wanted was to relax.

She was just about to walk into the kitchen, where they usually ate Sid’s pregame meal together, when he grabbed her wrist and brought her back to his chest. Clara was afraid to look up into his eyes; she was afraid of what she would see. His touch was gentle on her chin, bringing her gaze to his. Sid’s eyes were calm and gentle, just like he had been their whole relationship. It amazed Clara how much patience a hockey player could show.

“Tonight isn’t going to change anything, right?” he asked quietly, tucking a piece of her honey colored hair behind her ear. She swallowed hard.

“I can’t be sure about that,” she said softly, coyly, and the fact of the matter was her answer was right. She thought things would change one way or another. She was sure he was talking about the game, and the answer was still the same. She didn’t know how she would react to the game. After all, it was her boyfriend’s team against her favorite team; who knows what kind of reaction she would give?

Sid just stared at her for a moment, something flashing in the depths of his chocolate eyes, before he pulled her even closer to his body and kissing her as if he was never going to do so again. She gasped for air when he finally pulled away from her, still staring at him.

“You just wanted an excuse to kiss me like that,” Clara stated breathlessly. Sid just flashed a boyish grin.

“You loved it,” he stated cheekily, and Clara grinned.

“You’re right, I did.” And she kissed him again, pushing him against the wall. He groaned into her mouth.

“Feisty,” he replied after she let him go, and she grinned up at him.

“You love it.” And with that she stepped away from him completely, turning around and going into the kitchen. They ate a simple pre-game meal of Italian pasta salad, and cuddled together on the couch afterwards.

“Are you going to be wearing a jersey?” Sid asked, running a hand through her hair. Clara sighed deeply.

“Yeah,” she said, feeling Sid tense behind her. She sighed deeply again. She didn’t want to tell him that she had a Penguins jersey because she had no idea what jersey she had grabbed. She desperately wanted to say something to make him feel better, because she could tell she upset him, but she just didn’t know what to say. So she just put her head down with a frown, wrapping her arms tightly around Sid’s.

The amount Clara felt with Sid was unbelievable. She never wanted to fall in love; she was young and still in school, and had her whole life ahead of her. She didn’t know where she wanted to settle, if anywhere. Not yet. But she was falling for Sid hard and she didn’t know what to do about it. She had only loved one other guy before and that had ended in complete disaster. She wasn’t eager for a repeat.

She felt Sid’s loosen one of his arms from around her middle, pushing her hair to the side and nuzzling his nose and mouth into her neck. She sat up a little straighter, her head even tilting a little bit subconsciously. She wasn’t even aware of the sounds she was making until Sid bit her neck gently, making her jerk in his lap at the suddenness of it, bucking back into him.

“Oh my God, I was not expecting that from you,” she said breathlessly as Sid pulled her even more snugly into his lap. He just raked his teeth over the sensitive skin again, knowing he was getting into very dangerous territory. Especially when she made those sounds; they were not very good sounds for him to be hearing.

As much as he didn’t want to, Sid gently moved her hair back into place and moved her onto the seat of the couch. She pouted up at him, seemingly oblivious to his very obvious problem as he got up and strode around the back of the couch. He leaned over the back, giving her a kiss on the top of the head.

“Pre-game shower. I’ll be done in ten okay?” Clara just smiled up at him, though her eyes were clouded. Sid didn’t give himself time to wonder about her clouded eyes and instead kissed her quickly before bounding up the steps. This was going to be a particularly fun night, and it hadn’t even started.