Harbour Lights and Lonely Nights

The best place to have that many people, it was agreed, was the backyard. The light had been fixed earlier that day and the extra chairs were put out. Emily had taken some time to get herself put together because despite how stupid she knew it was, she was nervous about meeting so many new people, not to mention ones she had watched play hockey.

Downstairs Sidney waited for her as he sat on the couch flipping through a sports magazine. The page flipped frequently because Sidney’s mind was somewhere else. It seemed to him that since Emily had returned he often found himself digging up memories he had tried to forget. His aim to reconcile that Emily with this one wasn’t a hard one. She was just as fun and gregarious as she had always been.

Lost in thought he barely noticed when she entered the room and stood watching him. To get his attention she started to hum until he looked up at her. She was wearing a navy and white striped shirt with a shallow neckline that ran the length of her shoulders and a pair of black shorts. It was an outfit that made her look beautiful in a casual way. As if it were her making the outfit beautiful and not the other way around.

“You look nice.”
“Thanks.” She plopped down on the couch beside him and peeked over at his magazine. “Whatcha reading?”
“Nothing really,” he tossed it onto the table and turned to look at Emily. Her cheek was resting on the fabric of the couch so she was facing him, her knees gathered in front of her as she held them close. She even sat with a youthfulness that he found quite attractive.
“I know it’s kind of an unsaid rule that I don’t ask this, but why are you so reluctant to let me meet your friends?”
The question made his heart sink a little. Had he hurt her? Did she feel inadequate? Because that was the last thing he wanted. His mind thought of making up a reason but he decided to go with the truth. Perhaps, edited a bit. “I didn’t want things to change. I wanted them to be like high school. The past few days I’ve felt like I was a teenager, even at practice, but I know that once I introduce you to everyone I’ll have to come back to reality.”
“Things can still be that way. It wouldn’t kill you to let your team mates get to know the Sid I know.”
“I’m not even sure I know that Sid.” He joked making Emily roll her eyes.
“Don’t be such a drama queen. You worry too much. It’ll be fun.”
“I know.”
Again Emily rolled her eyes before she removed herself from the couch. “Don’t be such a negative Nancy.”

---

Jordan was the first to arrive, then came Kris Letang with a case of beer and Evgeni Malkin and Tyler Kennedy. A few other familiar names arrived and she was introduced to each one as Sidney’s ‘old friend Emily’ and after the initial surprise of meeting the pretty brunette everyone fell into comfortable conversation around the large table. Among the table there was only one other girl, Marc-andre’s girlfriend Vero who sat with him at the opposite side of the gathering. Most of the guys were drinking beers although a few opted for water. The last face to arrive was Max, holding a large bottle of pinot gros. Sidney was talking intently to Jordan about the upcoming season on one side of her and Kris was speaking to Marc in French on the other. She felt a bit overwhelmed until she saw Max. She had never met him before but he seemed to have a teddy bear quality to him.

“Want me to grab you some glasses for that?” She asked leaving the group before Max could reach it.
“I would love some.”
She led him inside. Her disappearance was hardly noticed.
“So, you are the infamous Emily?” French inflections and soft syllables coated his words.
“I don’t think I like the sound of that,” She laughed walking into the kitchen. She knew one of the cupboards held wine glasses in them.
“I embellish. I only mean that your name has come up before. Captain doesn’t talk about women very often so you’re a bit of a rarity.”
“Well it’s a little different when you go back as long as Sidney and I do. I was getting a little overwhelmed out there though.’
“Don’t mind them, they’re just curious.”
“I feel like they all had expectations of me.”
“We didn’t have much information about you so people tried to fill in the blanks before meeting you but I’m sure you’re doing just fine.”
Emily had managed to find regular glasses, mugs, plates, spices but still wine glasses eluded her.
“Is that an acoustic guitar?” Max asked pointing across the open hall to the guitar on the armchair. It had stayed out after Emily played it the other day.
“It is.”
The cupboard beside the fridge revealed never-before-used glass baking dishes beside which were a collection of simple white wine glasses. Bingo.
“Do you play? I know Sidney doesn’t.”
“Not really. I found it the other day. I know a few songs but I can only do chords.”
She ran the glasses under the taps while Max stood watching her.
“You should play something tonight.”
“The only way you’ll find me playing in front of people I’ve just met is if you manage to get me really drunk.”
She set the dried glasses on the counter and Max poured wine into one for himself, and another for her. “and what is the likelihood of that happening?”
“not very likely, so don’t even try.” Then she took a sip and Max found himself laughing. It didn’t seem like it would be too hard a task by the way she seemed pleasantly surprised by the wine she ingested.
“So Sidney tells me you spent the last while travelling?”
“I did.”
“And finished school in England?”
Emily took another sip of the wine but felt comfortable talking to the French man in front of her, “actually I dropped out after three years. I just never told Sidney.”
Max looked surprised and Emily realized they should probably return to the backyard. She grabbed some spare glasses in case anyone wanted some of the wine and started to head outside with Max in step.
“Where did you travel?”
“Well I learnt to play guitar in England, cook in France, I saw a bit of Austria, Germany, Australia.”
When they reached the table they sat beside each other and placed everything down on the table. Their conversation didn’t falter over the actions.
“Merde…”
“Yeah, it was a lot of fun.”
“You went to Australia? I’ve always wanted to go there,” Jordan pitched in to the conversation. Max and Emily hadn’t noticed the table go quiet when they arrived.
“Yeah, it was probably one of my favourite places to go. It reminded me a lot of Canada. Not the climate obviously but the attitude there. It’s probably a common wealth thing or something.”
“So what are your plans now?” Vero asked from beside Marc. Emily got the feeling she meant it in a friendly way but Emily didn’t like the question so she sipped at her wine some more and smiled.
“I don’t know. Haven’t gotten that far yet. Eventually I’ll go back to Cole Harbour and hopefully have a better idea of what I want to do.”
A flash of disappointment came across Sidney’s features beside her but she didn’t notice.

As the evening wore on more and more alcohol was consumed and the overall mood got lighter and lighter. Emily was starting to feel comfortable around all the hockey players and Vero. They all seemed like regular, nice people. Characters like the ones she had met before in Canada and France and Australia. The more that was revealed to the group about Emily, the more confused they became as they watched her and Sidney. The two would get lost in different conversations—mostly Emily with Max and Sidney with Jordan or Geno—but still manage to be very aware of the other’s presence and acknowledge it. When they weren’t in separate conversations he would ask how she was feeling, he’d look at her affectionately. Few words between them seemed to mean more. Eventually a very tipsy Geno mentioned something.

“You make no sense.”
“What?” Emily looked at the Russian hockey player unsure of who or what he was referring to.
“You and Sidney. How are, friends?”
Emily looked over at Sidney unsure of how to answer, “why wouldn’t we be?”
Marc-andre, intrigued by the conversation joined in to help the Russian articulate. “You guys seem very different.”
“Yeah, you are so laid back and Crosby is so… serious.” Tyler joined in.
“I’m not always serious.” With laughter in his eyes almost as if to prove it.
“You guys just seem a bit like opposites,” Max shrugged. He had been getting on quite well with Emily but he feared she was out of bounds due to some obvious tension between her and Sidney.
“Well, Sidney used to be a lot of fun.”
Amber eyes looked at her in surprise, “used to be?”
“fun?!” Jordan mumbled under his breath.
“Yup. I’m sure your friends don’t even know of your truancy days or how masterful you used to be at getting us drinks with fake ids that looked nothing like us.”
Sidney rolled his eyes but his friends were genuinely surprised by the new information.
“Oh, the good old days.” She reminisced.
“Sidney Crosby was a normal teenager?” Max feigned shock, “I can’t picture it.”
“Screw you Max. I was a kid.”
“And life did not always revolve around hockey. Although when my dad made that little ice rink in our front yard I would randomly see you practice shooting in my little brother’s net when you had to wait for me.”
“Why waste time?” He laughed. His friends were noticing that around Emily a smile was never far from his lips.
Emily looked over his dark hair and bright eyes. She didn’t notice Max stand up and leave from his spot beside her.
“Do you have any crazy stories?” Tyler asked, having not said anything for a while.
“Not really. Not ones I can tell anyways.”
Sidney thanked her with a smile as Max returned with the acoustic guitar from inside.
“Now that you have everyone’s attention and have consumed most of the wine you should play something.” He suggested gesturing towards the guitar.
“No.”
“aww, come on Jambes.”
“Did you just call me legs?” instead of offense Emily laughed. Even in French Sidney didn’t like the name but he was too buzzed to care. Eventually Emily conceded and took the guitar, positioning it to play as she sat crossed legged on the chair.
“Since you asked so nicely, I’ll play a song a Quebecker like you should know. Sidney, will you sing with me?” She knew he’d know the song.
“Not happening.”
Emily pouted but Sidney still refused.
“I’ll sing with you if I know it when you start playing.” Max suggested.
The Cole Harbour native didn’t like that either and in combination with her pout he caved “I’ll sing”
The strumming started softly as both Emily and Sidney got ready for the familiar words.

“Un Canadien errant, banni de ses foyers…”
Max and Marc both immediately knew the song and began to sing along. “Parcourait en pleurant des pays étrangers...”
As they joined in she got more confidence and sang more feverently. Max and Marc were entranced by the song they had sung so many times before. She couldn’t have made a better choice. The song lifted them and carried them away. With each word happiness swelled more and more inside them. There was definitely something fun about the brunette they had just met. By the last lines of the song all four drunk singers were smiling. “Mon regard languissant vers toi se portera...”
Everyone clapped although Geno and Jordan hadn’t understood the words, it sounded nice and it looked as though the chorus had enjoyed themselves.
“I learnt to play that song when I was travelling. I guess that's what I always felt like—un Canadien Errant, a wandering Canadian. Whenever I got homesick I’d sing it.”
“We had to sing it in school when I was growing up,” Max smiled.
“You have a really good French accent for an anglo.” Kris added, even though he hadn’t recognized the song.
“Thanks.”
Sidney watched as she interacted with his friends and he couldn’t be happier at how easy she fit in with them. It almost made her too perfect.

“You need to come watch us play some time,” Max said as he was at the door, the last one to leave.
“I will for sure, if I’m still in town.” She smiled holding the door open for him. Sidney was out back collecting bottles.
“I hope you choose to stick around Jambes. There are a lot of options for you here in Pittsburgh. It’s an amazing city.”
And with that the French man left in his taxi leaving Emily feeling somewhat at home and settled like she hadn’t anywhere else. It would really suck when she had to leave.