A Ship in Harbor is Safe

“It’s like this place has gotten more boring or something,” Athena whispers to herself as she absentmindedly stares at the ceiling above her bed. Her first day off – and second official day back in Canada – and she’s already bored out of her mind. That’s just great, Athena thinks to herself as she crankily kicks her foot.

Grumbling, Tyson moves away from her newly active limb in his sleep.

“You can leave if you don’t like it, buddy,” Athena glares over her chest at the sleep Rottweiler. “Door’s open.”

Resting with his eyes closed, the dog continues to sleep soundly.

“Great,” Athena groans, “even you’re above talking to me now, Ty.”

A buzzing noise makes both Tyson and Athena look toward the dresser when it begins to sound off.

Lazily, Athena stretches her arm out and grasps the phone. Without looking at the screen, she answers it. “Hello?”

“You sound chipper this morning,”

Athena’s jaw drops and her eyes grow wide. “Yeah,” she finds herself nodding, “you do, too.”

“Well, I just woke up on the right side of the bed this morning.”

The blonde woman chuckles as she shakes her head, “you always wake up on the right side of the bed, Sid.”

“Is that your excuse, too?”

“Nah,” Athena scrunches her nose, “I’m just a good actress.”

Sidney chuckles, “and what plans do you have today, Miss Oscar-worthy?”

“Absolutely nothing,” she replies honestly. “I swear, this godforsaken town has gotten even more boring since the last time I was here.”

“It’s because you left,” the smile is audible in Sidney’s voice. “Don’t you know? You have that effect on everything and everyone.”

Athena smirks, “I didn’t get the memo, Drama Queen. You’ll have to excuse my ignorance.”

“Only this time,” Sidney chuckles, “and it’s King by the way. Not Queen.”

Licking her lips, Athena tries not to laugh. “So, who’s the Queen then? There’s gotta be a Queen.”

“It looks like you’re gonna have to step up,” Sidney says.

Athena gently touches her face and feels the warmth accumulating in her cheeks. “Okay… What are you doing today?”

“I’ve already knocked out my morning workout. I guess Halifax and Thunder Bay have the boring factor in common.”

Giggling, Athena shakes her head. “That’s kinda sad.”

“It’s really sad, actually,” Sidney laughs with her.

“I think I’m just bored because none of my friends really live here anymore.”

Sidney speaks after staying quiet for a moment, “you haven’t talked to Jordan at all?”

“We’ve texted. He hasn’t made any plans with me, though. It’s only my second day back, though…” The more she speaks, the more it sounds as if she’s trying to convince herself that the words are true, so she just stops.

Sidney speaks quietly, “that’s a shame…”

Athena nods, remaining quiet. “Do you have friends in Halifax?”

“A few. My family’s not too far away either, so that’s nice.”

She smiles, “well, you’ve got a leg up on me with that one.”

Sidney’s higher pitched laugh seeps out of the earpiece of Athena’s phone.

Again, she smiles, “what’re you laughing at?”

“I’m sorry.” He slowly stops laughing, “I shouldn’t have laughed at that.”

Athena’s eyes squint as she thinks about why Sidney would laugh at that. After a second, she shakes her head. “You really like winning, don’t you?”

“A little bit,” Sidney chuckles.

Scratching her arm, Athena smirks. “Another key to your success, huh?”

“Something like that.”

“You sure do have a lot of secrets to your success,” Athena chuckles, turning her head to look toward the sunlit window.

A smile is evident in Sidney’s voice, “I wouldn’t call them secrets.”

“What would you call them, then?”

After a moment of silence, he speaks, “explanations?”

“Sidney Crosby, thesaurus.” The blonde woman jokes.

“Athena Fischer, comedian.” Sidney chirps right back.

Picking a tiny piece of lint off of her shirt, Athena flicks the shred of fluff off of her acrylic nails. “If I was a comedian, I wouldn’t be in Thunder Bay right now.”

“And if I was a thesaurus, I’d still be in Cole Harbour, year round.”

“Do you not like Cole Harbour?”

“It’s not that I don’t like it. It’s just… I like Pittsburgh better.”

Athena runs her fingernails up her stomach, “why do you like Pittsburgh so much, Sid?”

“I dunno,” he muses.

She imagines him shrugging his broad shoulders in a rather goofy fashion. It makes her smile.

“It’s not where I’m from, but it’s become home over the years. Ya know?”

Nodding, Athena drapes her forearm over her forehead, where a heat slowly creeps up. She licks her lips and works to keep her voice steady, “yeah, I know what ya mean.”

Silence lingers over the phone line for a number of moments.

Sidney is the first to disrupt it, with two quiet words. “You alright?”

She plasters a smile to her warm, blotchy face as if he can see her and may not believe her if she doesn’t. The act alone causes tears to fall from her stinging eyes. “Yeah.”