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Harbour Lights and Lonely Nights

The Pros of Alcohol

The address Mischa gave Emily wasn’t hard to find. A sign was lit up on the front with the name of the place in elegant font. Inside it was dimly lit and the furniture sleek. There was a bar in the middle and various tables around the room. She was wearing a blue dress that made her blue eyes pop. She had left before Sidney was home to see it. And she could feel the lengthening mascara when she blinked. The place wasn’t crowded but it certainly wasn’t empty. The music wasn’t intrusive but some of the conversations were rather loud. Tables full of people and tables with no one were all in view as she looked to find the familiar head of red hair.

“Emily!” the familiar voice called, “Over here.”
The words came from a table in the distance. Mischa sat with a dirty blond man that she realized must be Alex.
“Hey Mischa.” She greeted as she approached the table.
“Alex this is Emily, Emily this is Alex.”
Emily nodded as she took a seat. “This place is really nice.”
“Mischa used to bartend here a long time ago.” Alex’s voice was husky when he spoke, taking Emily a little by surprise.
“Is that how you two met?” She guessed.
“Yeah, Alex came in here on his 21st birthday and his friends partied a little too hard and left him to fend for himself.” The way to two spoke of each other made it seem like they were quite close.
“I was 21, cut a guy some slack.”
“Up in Nova Scotia we can drink at 19 so that’s pretty sad.”
“Fuck, why isn’t it like that here?” Emily laughed when Alex said this.
She could remember when she started university, “When I was in England the drinking age was 16.”

Talking to Alex and Mischa came easily. Alex was drinking a vodka based drink and Mischa and Emily had Pittsburgh Iced Tea cocktails which Emily became quite fond of as she wasn’t a huge fan of tequila. It was the most relaxed night she had on her trip at that point, except maybe the night her and Sidney had gone to Mellon arena. Drink after drink she became in a better and better mood as she laughed with her two new friends. They were either really funny or she was too drunk to notice otherwise. But the night took a surprising turn just after she described Australia to the table.

“I want to go back some day, I really liked it.”
Alex and Mischa had enjoyed the story but they weren’t looking at her. They were looking behind her as a man approached slowly. It looked as though he was about to interrupt.
“Emily?”
She recognized the French Canadian accent immediately. “Hey Max, what are you doing here?”
He smiled warmly at her, “I could ask you the same thing, what are you doing ear?”
“I’m hanging out with my new friends. Max this is Alex and Mischa. Guys this is Max.”
Mishca and Alex both recognized the hockey player but didn’t see any reason to treat him any differently. The two nodded at him before Emily continued, “Shouldn’t you be resting though?”
“Nah. Gotta let off some steam before the game next week. You can not work all the time. Where is Sid?”
“Resting. That’s why I assumed you would be too. Who are you here with?”
Max looked around, “I came ear with Gronk but I have no idea where he went.”
Mischa happily offered, “come sit with us.”
“I do not want to intrude.”
Emily smiled, happy the French man was there, “not at all. Come sit.”
Max obliged and sat down at the table before noticing Emily’s empty glass, “and what did you have there?”
“Pittsburgh Iced Tea.”
He noticed Alex’s glass was also empty. “May I suggest some shots to get the night going?”
Emily looked over at Mischa and Alex who both seemed fine with the idea. “Okay, you’re on frenchie.”

He got two shots of vodka for each of the people around the table. For the first one they toasted “To fun” before downing the clear liquid and the second they quickly downed after that. It didn’t take very long before Mischa was getting a little sloppy as was Alex but Max and Emily remained relatively composed. By the time they felt it time to go Alex was helping Mischa into a cab and Max got into another with Emily since she was apparently on the way.

“That was fun,” Emily said as her eyes dropped closed with the effects of the alcohol.
“It was. You are pretty good at holding your liquor. You surprise me.”
She peeked one eye open to examine the expression on his face but she was too riddled with vodka to process. “why?”
“I am not sure. Probably because you’re Crosby’s friend.”
“He can hold his liquor really well actually,” She mumbled with her head resting back so the words were directed at the roof of the cab.
Max looked over her features and the way the light fell on her bone structure. It made no sense to him that Sidney could be friends with someone like her so long and not do anything to change it.
“I have never seen him try. I don’t usually stick with the guys very long when we go out.”
“I’m sure you don’t.”
A silence lived between them briefly before Max spoke again.
“Did you figure out what you want to do?”
Ready to fall into a slumber at any moment she answered without thinking. Most of the things Emily found herself doing around Max she did without thought. It was like there didn’t need to be a guard up with him like there did with Sid. Max wasn’t perfect so she felt he could relate, not like the golden boy. “I think I’m going to continue school in January.” She hiccupped, making Max chuckle and the driver look at her in the rear view.
“In Pittsburgh?”
With her eyes closed she shook her head and hiccupped again, “Nova Scotia. I was going to leave after the game.”
“Aww. You will be missed.”
The taxi slowly pulled up to Sidney’s house. “I’ll visit.”
“Okay Emily, we’re here.”
Her eyes opened to a blurry cab and she looked out of the window to see that they were in fact already at the house. “That was fast.”
Max watched as she pushed the door open and got out. Standing there she swayed feeling like things were spinning. Worried, Max told the driver he’d be back in a minute so he could help her to the door. They leaned on each other for support as they made their way to the front door. It wasn’t as if Max was managing an unaffected walk either. When they made it to the large white door they were both giggling at their difficulties but before they could search for Emily’s key in her purse the door opened to reveal Sidney with a messy head of hair and dressed in only sweatpants. Max could see the disapproval in Sidney’s eyes but it went unnoticed by Emily.
“Where were you Em, I thought you were just going out with Mischa?” He didn’t look happy at the fact that the French Canadian and her had their bodies leaning on each other. He didn’t like that Max was making her laugh and that she seemed to be having so much fun. Why hadn’t he gone out with her? He wanted to be the one to make he laugh like that.
“I was. We bumped into Max and he helped my drunk ass home.” She stumbled away from Max and passed Sidney into the house.
“Bye ma mignonne.” He called after her. “I shall see you at the game, yes?”
“Yeah Max.” She replied groggily.
“Good night.” Sidney said closing the door sharply. No, he did not like this at all.

When he started into the house he saw Emily dragging her feet up the stairs tiredly. He knew he shouldn’t get mad at her, there was no reason to.

“You okay Em?” He asked as he walked up behind her on the stairs. She smelt like lavender and alcohol.
“I’m fine. Just tired.”
He wanted to shake the annoyance away. To make it disappear, “How was your night?”
“It was fun.”
He followed her to the guest room and watched her sway into the room, surprised when she suddenly stopped and turned to face him. Her features became serious quickly before she pouted.
“I miss you.”
“I’m right here.”
For the first time that night he took in her whole appearance. She was wearing a blue dress that fit her frame perfectly. The blue against her smooth silky skin made ideas flash through Sidney’s head but they made him feel guilty. She looked so helpless standing in the middle of the room, her hair a tousled mess and her perfect blue eyes of sapphire staring sadly at him. Even standing in one spot she swayed gently like a leaf in a light breeze.
“I know but you’re going to bed and then in the morning you’ll leave for practice and I might get to talk to you for five minutes if I’m lucky.” The end of her sentence was punctuated with a hiccup.
Sidney shifted his weight to lean on the door frame. “I’m really sorry Emily. You know I have to work.”
Right there in the middle of the room, in her drunken state, Emily unzipped her dress and went over to the dresser to find a shirt. Never would she be so brave in a sober state but all her mind could focus on was that she was tired, she was drunk, and she wanted her friend back.

As hard as he tried he couldn’t stop his gaze from wandering up her legs to her black underwear. From his spot he could see the strawberry birthmark on her lower back he could remember from when she used to wear bathing suits. Her smooth shoulder blades gave way to shoulders faintly dusted with freckles. He found himself disappointed as a t-shirt came over them. Her movements towards the bed were heavy with lethargy.

”No way! I’m driving!” Emily’s voice echoed through the trees as she ran towards the dock. The ties on her bikini bounced around as she ran.

Sidney rolled his eyes, too lazy to try and beat her to the boat. Instead he watched her energetically throw her towel into the boat and start untying it from the dock. By the time he made it to the boat himself she was already standing behind the wheel. He got on and put his towel with hers as she started it.

“Where do you want to go?” She asked pulling away from the dock. The sun beat down on the sparkling surface of the water and the heat hugged the teenagers' skin. Behind her Sidney looked at the curves of her body, his eyes falling on her strawberry birthmark he had grown to love. Even her imperfections were perfect.
“Let’s go to the ice cream shop at the port. You still owe me ice cream from our bet on the football game.”
She grumbled at the reminder of her loss even as Sidney came up behind her and rested his chin on her shoulder. The sound of the boat in the water was a relaxing one even when Emily sped up.
“Cheer up. I let you drive.”
She glared at him playfully, “you let me drive? I beat you to it.”
“You keep telling yourself that.” His contagious laughter in her ear made her smile.


“Do what you want. Go to sleep. Doesn’t matter.” She mumbled into her pillow.
She could hear him sigh near the door. He felt even worse that she was facing away from him. “What do you suggest I do?”
“I feel like shit and everything is spinning and I could very much use a cuddle.”
“a cuddle?” Sidney laughed at the word but moved towards the bed regardless.
Lazily Emily nodded against the fabric and Sidney obliged. He slid his bulky hockey player frame under the sheets and reached out for Emily’s small body.
“I just want to know you’re here.” She felt herself being pulled back into him so his strong chest was against her back. The feeling of his hand on her stomach made everything stop spinning. He remembered that she had always found that comforting when she had been drinking as a teen.
“I’m here. Now sleep.”
And without another word she did exactly that.
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