Status: updates will slow down

Harbour Lights and Lonely Nights

Breaking Routine

The day started with a frantic panic to get Sid to the arena after sleeping in at Emily’s. The extra couple of hours of sleep meant his gameday eating schedule was thrown off by an entire meal and his inability to take his usual nap, and finally arriving late to the rink. His team mates were surprised upon arriving at CONSOL, not to see their dedicated captain. But in the end even this large disruption in his schedule did not phase him. He felt on top of his game. Ready to win one for the dark haired girl who would be watching from the seats and for his teammates who had been working so hard this season. With the feeling of the recent loss to the Bruins fresh in his memory, the Nova Scotia native felt even more driven to beat Tampa.

Emily’s day had been no less thrown off from the late start. She had almost been late for her shift at work and the whole time she only wished to be sitting at the CEC watching the puck drop. She wondered what it would have been like to see a game at the Mellon. What it would have been like to be there when the Pens hoisted the cup. Even her attachment to a certain French team could no longer rival that sadness she knew she would have felt watching the Penguins play their last game in the old arena. Exiting the playoffs with a disappointing loss she knew still drove the team to be that much better this season.

Before the game something very unusual was happening to Sidney. He could not concentrate on the game that lay before him. Something told him that this was going to be another two points in the bag. The same thing that kept his mind on the brunette waves and perfectly shaped birthmark of his girlfriend. That was her label now, probably. Although that word seemed like such a cop out. After all those years of friendship, did girlfriend really fit her role in his life? Teammates had known girls mere weeks and after a couple of dates called them their ‘girlfriend’. How could that ever do justice to the bond they shared? But he shrugged it off as he made his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The term would have to do for know, as awkward a fit as it was.

Sidney spread a large portion of jam on the bread, the same jam he always used, even the same knife.

The music of Foo Fighters drifted down over the room. From his spot on his bed Sidney watched Emily sitting at his computer. His new friend clicking away on his computer.

“I don’t want to go back to class.” She sighed, without taking her eyes of the luminescent screen.
“We can’t just skip classes.”
“Well actually, we could…” her blue eyes glanced over at Sidney quickly before turning back to the screen, “but I know you don’t have the stomach for it.”
“I could skip if I wanted to! It’s just that it’s math. You know how bad I am in that class.”
In the short few months the two had known each other she had learned his math ineptitude. Emily had never skipped a class before but she knew that with her new found friend it might be fun.

“Sidney!” A call from downstairs interrupted the music, “I made you and your friend some lunch! You two have to get going soon!”

Emily signed off the computer and followed Sidney down to the kitchen where his mother had placed two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches on the table. Beside the counter Sidney’s mother was putting away the jars.

“You two better hurry up and eat. Don’t want to be late back from lunch.”
“I know.” Sidney said tiredly as he took a seat at the table. Emily sat in the chair beside him. The mid day sun filtering through the glass doors that lead into their backyard. The familiar combination of peanut butter and jam. Sidney noticed his mother waiting by the table. She had yet to be introduced to Emily.
“Mom this is Emily.” He said before taking a large bite of the sandwich.
“Nice to meet you Emily. Thanks for helping Sidney out with his math work. His father and I appreciate it.”
Emily smiled into her sandwich, “No problem Mrs. Crosby. It helps me get my homework done anyway.”


---

As Emily settled into her seat the anticipation grew. She had always found St. Louis’s story an interesting one to watch unfold. Despite his small stature he was easily one of her favourite players in the league. Perhaps it was because of what he was able to accomplish with that small stature that made him such a relatable player. But as Tampa and Pittsburgh played, she barely paid attention. Her focus was on Sidney as she marvelled and swelled with pride at how he was easily one of the best players in the world and yet he was the same person she has spent days at the harbour wasting away with the ocean’s breeze.

She jumped slightly when he got checked into the boards, clenched her fists in anticipation when he got control of the puck. When he scored she stood with the whole arena cheering his name. Take-away after take-away, she smiled at how easy he made it look. And after each period he’d smile at her before he left to the locker room.

When the game was finally over and the Penguins had got the win, she waited near the locker room. Impatience made her itch as the reporters went in. She just wanted to see him. And she hated that still no one was to know. Why did it matter anyways?

She knew, she knew. It was for her good. Invasion of her privacy and his. But time after time they would be together and these things wouldn’t matter. Keeping this from those around them had become a chore, one much more difficult than she had imagined.

By the time the reporters had gone and Max had come out and found her, the impatience had her counting spots on the wall.

“Hey Jambes. There you are!” He wrapped her up in a warm hug, “Want to come in?”

But he didn’t let her answer, just pulled her into the locker room where everyone was in various states of undress but thankfully no one was naked. She gazed around the large oval room looking for Sidney when she noticed he wasn’t in his spot.

“He’s right there,” the French voice whispered as he pointed to Sidney sitting on the bench with Jordan. He was bare chested with a big smile as he spoke to the blonde.

“Hey Captain!” Max called, gesturing to Emily when he got Sidney’s attention.

The smile grew bigger on the Nova Scotia boy as Emily walked to him. His eyes drank up her appearance as she got closer. He could see Max watching her but that didn’t bother him. She was his. And as the scent of her lavender cut through the smell of the room he pulled her into a side hug from his spot sitting, wanting nothing more than her warm contour against him.

“How’d you like the win?” He asked quietly as he looked up at her.
“You were great.”
The urge tugged at his mind. Just pull her in and kiss her. She’s right there, she’s your girlfriend and these guys are your teammates. Who cares if they see you kiss her? You were friends and now you’re more, it’s not that complicated. But that wasn’t true. It was at the very least slightly more complicated.
But thoughts generally don’t line up with actions, and they didn’t as he gently pulled her onto his lap, her blue eyes looking back at him with surprise. An action like that was certainly more than friends would do, she thought.

Was he finally going to let them know? Probably not, she thought, this was more than friends would normally do but Sidney and Emily had always been weird and surely the guys had noticed that. They wouldn’t think anything.

But for Sidney, there was no turning back now as he looped his arms around her, holding her in place. Fear, surprise, confusion all flashed across her pretty features. But eventually she smiled. It was obvious to him that she had read his message loud and clear. Her small hands found his jaw, her rosy lips found his large ones in the gentlest of kisses.
A few of the guys noticed. Max hadn’t taken his eyes off the woman long enough to not notice, and Jordan had the misfortune of being right there. The French man felt slight displeasure at the girl’s unavailability but it was impossible not to be happy that the tension between the two had finally come to some sort of fruition.
Beside them Jordan looked on with a cocky smirk but the two barely noticed him. Emily’s attention was on the honey orbs in front of her, while Sidney focussed back on her sapphire ones.
Neither Jordan nor Max made a big deal about it, not mentioning it until later that night as a few of team and had ended up at Sidney’s place.

---

Emily sat at Sidney’s kitchen table talking to Vero, while leaning against the counter Sid stood with Jordan, Max, Marc, and Evgeni watching her. All five men sipped their beer unable to hear the females’ conversation as they laughed.

“So you two…” Max brought it up.
But Marc and Geno had no idea what he was talking about as their captain just looked over at Emily.
“How long have you been hiding this from us?” Jordan asked. “My guess is since she came to Pittsburgh. Before preseason.”
The guess almost made Sidney laugh. “It hasn’t been that long. You guys know the attention I get, I don’t want her being bothered with that.”
“She never received attention before? She went through high school being Sidney Crosby’s friend and never got any unwanted attention?”
Sidney had never thought about it. When he had left their school, had she ever been bothered by others for being his friend? Had he made her deal with that alone?
“She never said anything.”
“Ahh, mon amis, that’s because she’s a keeper.” Max harboured no bad feelings. The two were too perfectly entwined for him to ever imagine coming between them.
But with the thought Sidney could not stop wondering. He would have to ask her later. At least, for now, his friends knew and he didn't have to hide it.

With a smile he walked over to the table and planted the smallest kiss on her temple before sliding into the two women's conversation and the chair beside her. Surprisingly perfectly, as he rested his beer on the table, her arm slipped around his without her even looking and to him it felt good finally knowing with certainty that beyond just the two of them they were Sid and Em.
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Sorry this took so long. Hopefully I'll be able to get a few chapters out in the next little while.
Also, thank you so much for any comments. It is always what makes me feel obliged to post a new chapter.