Bringing the Devil Out of Me

"Alice, are those articles done?" Diane asked, her voice echoing in my cubicle. I pressed the speaker phone button on the phone on my desk with a sigh.

"Yes, I just sent them to you and Jack," I said, clicking the send button on the email I had just attached said articles to.

"Great, thanks. I know that people have been clamoring for another Penguins article after that last interview you did," Diane said before hanging up. I smiled happily before leaning back in my chair. My cubicle had quickly become...well, my cubicle. There were pictures of my friends and family, as well as tons of red, black and white. My Devils calendar hung right next to my computer, Danius Zubrus occupying the month of July.

"I can't believe it's July already," I muttered, turning to my computer.

"I can't believe how ugly your choice in office decor is," I heard Sidney sigh. I immediately spun around to the doorway of my cubicle.

"Sidney, what are you doing here?!" I cried, jumping up and pushing him out of my cubicle.

"Hey, the damage has been done, don't try hiding it! Does Flowers know yet?" Sidney chuckled, resisting my efforts to get him as far away from the cubicle as possible.

"No, and you better not tell him!" I said, running a hand through my hair.

"I think he should know that he's living with the enemy..." Sidney teased, pulling out his phone. I immediately leapt for the phone, but he yanked it up into the air and held it above his head.

"So not fair!" I growled before slouching back into my cubicle and plopping into my chair. Sidney walked back into the cubicle and picked up the puck that was sitting beside my computer.

"So...you're a Devils fan huh?" He asked, turning the puck over in his hand. I nodded.

"Obviously," I said.
"Hey, at least your office isn't black and orange," Sidney laughed, placing the puck back where it had been. I stuck my tongue out, grimacing at his mention of the Flyers.

"I hate the Flyers," I said, still grimacing.

"Don't we all?" He laughed, perching himself on the edge of my desk. One of my coworkers, Lily, walked by and her jaw dropped slightly as Sidney waved to her happily.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"Well, I was in the neighborhood and I saw it was getting close to lunch time, so I was wondering if you wanted to go get some lunch," Sidney said, smiling slightly.

"Really? Sure, that'd be great. My break starts in ten minutes," I said, glancing at the clock on my computer screen.

"What am I supposed to do for ten minutes?" He whined. I rolled my eyes.

"I don't know, find something to occupy yourself. Draw a picture or something," I laughed, pointing to the printer.

"That's a great idea actually!" Sidney cried, hopping up happily and removing a piece of paper from the printer tray. He yanked a pencil from my Devils pencil holder and then began to draw. I glanced at the paper, but he immediately covered up his drawing with his arms. No wonder they call him Sid the Kid I thought, shaking my head at his antics.

"You can't see until I'm finished! Don't you have some work to do?" Sidney said defensively. I spun back around and checked my email. Jack sent me a response, telling me that my article on the Penguins pre-season was terrific, and that it would be on the front of the Sports section the next day. It didn't help to have a few ins with the team, especially when you were looking for something else to write about them. I shot off a few emails of my own, one to my parents telling them that things were going well, one to my best friend Eva, who had been wondering what I was up to, and one to my cousin Eric, who would be super excited to hear that Sidney Crosby was sitting in my cubicle. By the time I was done, I checked the clock and saw that 15 minutes had gone by.

"You all done Picasso? I can leave now," I joked, turning back around. Sidney laughed and hid the picture behind his back.

"Do you have tape?" he asked. I opened my desk drawer, handed him a roll of tape, and raised my eyebrows.

"You have to promise that you won't take it down!" he said firmly.

"I promise," I sighed, laughing silently. He taped a poorly drawn picture of the Penguins logo to my desk with the words "DEVILS SUCK, LOVE SID" next to it.

"Alright, let's go!" Sidney said, obviously proud of himself.

"That is the worst drawing of a penguin I have ever seen," I laughed, standing up and picking my purse up.

"Hey, I'm a hockey player, not an artist. Haters gonna hate," Sidney said, folding his arms across his chest.

"Well right now I'm hungry, so let's go!" I said, my stomach growling.

I marveled at how fast Sidney could eat as he wolfed down the Ceasar salad he had ordered.

"Holy crap dude...I thought it was just Flowers that ate that fast," I laughed. Sidney laughed and put down his fork.

"We're athletes, we have big appetites," Sidney said with a shrug.

"I've notice. Do you know how many times a week Marc goes food shopping?" I asked.

"Probably at least twice. That's normal," Sidney said before wolfing down some more salad.

"You guys are animals. I swear," I said before taking a few bites of my own salad. A girl, who was rather wide eyed, suddenly walked up to our table.

"Um...are you Sidney Crosby?" She asked. Sidney put down his fork, licked his lips and then nodded nervously. She let out an extremely high pitched squeal.

"OhmyGod I love you so much! Can I have your autograph?" She cried, pulling a piece of paper out of her purse.

"Sure thing," Sidney said with a smile, although his voice was hardly happy. He patted his pockets and then looked at me. I immediately whipped a pen out of my purse.

"Reporter's habit," I whispered, handing him the pen. He immediately signed the paper and handed it to the girl, who looked like she was about to cry.

"Thank you so much!" she squeaked before dashing off.

"I hate that," he muttered, slumping forward and running his hands through his curly hair.

"You do?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah. I mean...I can't go out to lunch and not have some crazy chick run up to me unless I wear a hat, sunglasses and a fake mustache!" he sighed irritably. I glanced at the counter where we had ordered our salads, saw some lids and stood up. I took two, placed them on top of our salads, and looked at Sidney.

"Come on," I said. He looked up at me, confused.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"I know a place where we can eat where no crazy girls will bother you," I said. He smiled at me appreciatively, his big white teeth parting his lips.