Rookie

Jordan’s POV
“You messed up, little brother,” Marc said coming over to me.

“Nah, she’s just stuck up.”

“You don’t know anything about her, Jor. She is the girl the Hawks spent all that time looking for two Christmas’ ago.”

“That’s the one?” I mumbled. “Shit.”

“Yeah, see you later, brother,” Marc disappeared with my knowledge of messing up big time with Sophie.

Sophie’s POV
“That’s Marc Staal heading this way,” Corey whispered in my ear.

“Sophie, I’d like to apologize for my brother. He doesn’t think before he talks.”

“He is a big boy, Marc, but thanks.” I said untangling myself from Corey.

“You’re welcome and I have someone who is eager to meet you.” I waved bye to Corey and followed Marc.

“Sophie this is Sidney, Sidney, this is Sophie, the new Blackhawks forward. And now I’ve got to go and catch my flight back home.”

“Bye Marc. Hi, Sidney,” he shook my hand.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you,” he said.

“You too, I’ve met your teammates, I hope you have better manners.”

“So you’ve met Jordan?” he joked with a smile. I laughed. “You have a cute laugh.”

“Thanks, Sid,” I blushed.

“You’re welcome. Would you like to get out of here? These parties always get too stuffy.”

“I’d love to; I don’t really care to meet anyone else. Let me get my coat?” I motioned towards the Blackhawks table and we started that direction.

“I’ll come with seeing as I’m parked that direction.” Corey and KK were there by my chair.

“Hey guys, Sid and I are going for a drive. It’s too stuffy, I’ll see you at breakfast?” they nodded and let Sid and I go.

“Where would you like to go?” he asked as we got to his Land Rover.

“Do you know a good ice cream parlor?”

“Of course, we are in Pittsburgh,” he chuckled and started the car. He drove with the radio on for about ten minutes until he was parking in front of a small store front. He got out and opened my door for me before we headed inside.

“Can I help you?” a woman appeared behind the counter.

“Order whatever you like,” Sidney expressed. I looked down the menu and decided on a cookie dough mixer with chocolate ice cream while Sid got M&M’s in his chocolate ice cream.

“You know you are supposed to have vanilla ice cream with M&M’s right?”

“Is that right?”

“Yes, because it looks cooler.”

“It looks disgusting.”

“But it’s cooler because it doesn’t matter.”

‘I’m not surprised you made friends with the Hawks. They would like vanilla and M&M’s.”

“Don’t pick on my family like that, Crosby,” we received our ice cream and went to sit down.

“Family?” he asked.

“I’ve known most of them since Christmas 2010 and so they are really close to me. I consider them my big brothers. They’ve been there when I need them most. I don’t know what I’d do without them.”

“I say the same thing about my teammates too.”

“Glad we agree on something, Crosby.”

“I think we could agree on the fact that you are beautiful.”

“I guess,” I nonchalantly replied.

“You guess? You are gorgeous, how can you even try to deny that?”

“Thank you, Sidney.”

“You’re welcome,” he said as he finished his ice cream and I finished a moment later. We left and went to his car where he asked me a question. “Did you want to go back or do you have time for a walk?”

I looked at my watch and saw it was only nine thirty. “A short walk will be okay,” I said. He smiled and drove a few more minutes until we reached a park. He pulled to the curb and came to open my door again.

“So, tell me about yourself,” he requested as we walked down the park’s path.

“I’m 19 years old, I never played hockey until I was 17, and now I’m a professional for the Chicago Blackhawks just over two years later.”

“You never played before that?” he was shocked.

“Nope, only floor hockey in gym class. That was the extent of my hockey playing. Sure, I watched it on TV and in the stands, just never played.”

“You are the first person I’ve ever known to gain so much in so little time.”

“Thanks, I guess. Tell me about the Sidney that only your teammates know.”

“I hate to drink; I think it’s terrible to just go out to drink. I have a little sister who is actually coming to live with me when she goes to the University of Pittsburgh and I’m very close with the Lemieux family. And I’m currently single.”

“Another thing we have in common.”

“Do you want to try and change that?” he asked as he took my hand in his.

“Is that your way of asking me out, Mr. Crosby?”

“Yes, yes it is.”

“Than alright. But it’ll be hard, you know. You’ll be here and I’ll be there. We only play each other twice.”

“That’s why there are phones and computers.”

“I’m glad you thought this out,” we shared a laugh.

“I sure did.”

“It’s getting a bit late. We got in really early this morning. Would you mind driving me to my hotel?”

“Sure, where are you staying?”

“The Hilton,” we walked back to the car, hands still entangled. He drove with my hand in his the whole way, silently.

“Here we are,” he said, looking like he didn’t want to say goodbye.

“Walk me to my room? I have a fear of walking alone in hotels.”

“I understand,” he replied since he knew about the kidnapping. We walked through the lobby to the elevators where we went to my floor.

“I would invite you in, but I’m sharing with my cousin who is Jon’s girlfriend, so he might be in there too.”

“I understand. How about you make it up to me by getting lunch with me tomorrow?”

“I’d love to.”

“I’ll pick you up downstairs at eleven?”

“Okay.” He kissed my cheek but didn’t move away.

“Would it be okay if I kissed you right now?” I just nodded and we shared a kiss. It lasted until he pulled away with a smile. “I’ll see you in the morning?”

“Yes, thank you for tonight. See you tomorrow,” and I entered my hotel room. “Hi, Manda. How much do I owe you?”

“Whatever you’d like to give me, Miss Sophie.”

“Is thirty dollars alright?”

“Its fine,” I gave my baby sitter money and she scurried back to her own room. I saw my baby asleep in her portable crib and knew that I had to tell Sidney about Ava if I wanted him to be my boyfriend.
I went to bed after hearing Jon and Jackie come in.