Walk in the Sun

I was so happy for Kaitlyn. She everything was on back on track. After Kris arrived, I’d never seen her more happy. I talked to her, but I hadn’t seen her since I dropped her off at the hotel with Kris. It was a little hard to keep an alibi up for her, but I went to stay at my dad’s for the weekend, so after sending Kaitlyn a few texts, the new story was that we were staying there.

I picked up Kaitlyn from her house on Monday morning for school in her car, finally about to give it back to her. She came out of her house with the biggest grin on her face. When she got in the car, she turned to me, that goofy smile still intact.

“Good morning.”

I raised my eyebrow at her.

“Well, clearly your weekend went well.”

She sighed and leaned back into her seat. “It was amazing. I’ve been dying to tell you.”

My eyes widened, and while trying to keep my eyes on the road, I looked at her out of the corner of my eye.

“Well? Are you going to tell me?”

Her smile beamed. “He said it! He told me he loved me.”

I smiled and squealed a little bit. “Really?! That’s awesome. It’s about time, actually.”

You couldn’t have taken the smile off of her face. It stayed that way through the whole school day. It seemed like the day went by so fast. Next thing we knew, we were leaving. I got into the passenger’s side of Kaitlyn’s car and buckled myself in. We discussed our plans for the night.

“I’m going to call Kris. He’ll be happy to know that Trent didn’t bother me at all today.”

I smiled at her. “Well, while you’re doing that, I’ll be at my house calling Sid.”

Kaitlyn chuckled. “Listen to us, we sound like love-sick teenagers.”

I rolled my eyes and laughed along with her. We turned up the volume on the radio and sang along at the top of our lungs.

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Sid’s POV

Leaving the arena after morning skate, I met up with Kris in the parking lot. He had just got back from his weekend away. I was a little miffed that he went up to Ontario without me. I would’ve loved to see Steph, but I had a feeling that there was something more than just seeing Kaitlyn behind his visit. I wasn’t going to push him to tell me why, but it seemed as though, whatever it was, was taken care of. Kris couldn’t get the smile off of his face.

“So, I take it the weekend went well?”

He nodded as he stopped at his car.

“Yeah, it went great, actually.”

I smiled, happy for him. I didn’t like seeing him feeling down and out of sorts the way he was before he had left.

“That’s great. I’m happy for you. So, Kaitlyn’s doing okay, then?”

He nodded with a huge grin. “Yepp, she’s great.” I nodded. “Say, have you told Steph about Christmas, yet?”

I shook my head. “No, I want to make it a surprise. Plus, I want to ask her mom if it’s okay, too. I don’t want to go breaking any plans that they may have, y’know?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, I see your point. So, should I contact Kaitlyn’s mom as well? I mean, I’ve never met her, and I don’t even know if her mom knows about us.”

I shrugged my shoulders as I leaned against his car. We summed up the conversation by me suggesting Kaitlyn just saying she was coming to Pittsburgh with Steph. I left Kris thinking, I just hoped he didn’t make any irrational decisions.

Once I made my way home, I had decided to make a phone call I had been nervous to make. Picking up the phone, I dialed a number I hadn’t dialed for several months. After about three rings, someone came on the other end.

“Hello?”

I pulled the phone away from my ear and looked at it with my eyebrow cocked. Putting the phone back to my ear, I spoke.

“Hello, who am I speaking with?”

“Derrick. May I ask who’s calling?”

Derrick. Steph’s brother.

“Yeah, uh, this is Sidney, Steph’s boyfriend. Is your mom home?”

I heard him let out a dry chuckle.

“Wow. I heard my mom say something, but I didn’t think it was true.” He mumbled for a few seconds. “Uhh.. yea, she’s right here. Hang on.”

I heard some fumbling and some muffled voices before finally hearing the soft voice of Sandy Matthews.

“Hello Sidney. How’s it going?”

I sighed. “It’s going okay. I had something I wanted to run by you. I have the option of bringing a date to my team’s Christmas party. I’d like to bring Stephanie.”

I heard her let out a small sigh. “When is the party? She only has two weeks for winter break.”

I grabbed the pamphlet off of my coffee table and looked at the date.

“It’s the 23rd of December.”

Sandy sighed, but before she could respond, I spoke again.

“I realize this may interfere with any plans you have for the holidays, but I was wondering if you were willing to compromise. Perhaps, you, Derrick and whoever else you’d like to bring could come to Pittsburgh for Christmas. My family is coming as well.”

I heard her let out small huff. “Well, I’ll have to talk it over with Steph…”

“NO! I want it to be a surprise. The last time I saw her, I kinda left her an open-ended answer about when we’d see each other again.”

She sighed once more. “Oh, okay. Well, can I talk it over with my son, then get back to you?”

I shrugged my shoulders, even though she couldn’t see me. “Sure, that sounds fair.”

“Great, I’ll get back to you by the end of the week. As far as I know, we’ll be seeing you in Pittsburgh. Have a nice day, Sidney.”

I gave her my goodbyes and hung up my phone with a smile on my face. I hoped she would phone me back and give me the go-ahead to buy the tickets for the family.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Steph’s POV…

I walked into my house and was greeted warmly by my mom.

“Hey honey, how was your weekend at Dad’s?”

I smiled at her, awkwardly. She had never bothered asking me about my weekends at my Dad’s.

“It was fun. Same as usual. I played with the dog a lot. Helped make dinner, you know.”

She nodded, the grin still on her face. I raised my eyebrow at her.

“Mom, are you okay?”

She shook her head. “Yes, of course. I’m great honey, why’d you ask?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “You just look extra happy today, that’s all.”

She smiled and turned on her heal. I rolled my eyes and walked up the stairs and into my room. I threw my backpack on the floor and plopped on my bed. I pulled my cellphone out of the pocket of my hoodie. I dialed Sid’s number, anxious to hear his voice.

“Well, hello there, oh girlfriend, dear.”

I let out a small chuckle. “You are so corny, it hurts me to talk to you sometimes.”

I heard the laugh I fell in love with before he responded.

“You know you love me. So what’s up?”

I layed back and rested my head on my pillows.

“Oh, you know, same old, same old. Kris and Kaitlyn had a good visit, I guess. Sorry, I didn’t talk to you much this weekend. I went to my Dad’s.”

I heard him try to hold back a yawn.

“Sid, if I’m holding you back from taking a nap, we can talk later.”

“No, it’s fine. I missed talking to you.”

I smiled. “I missed you too. But you’re tired. I can call you tomorrow. What’s your schedule like?”

This time, he didn’t hold back a yawn.

“Game at 7:30.”

We made plans for me to phone him on my spare the next day. I hung up the phone and put in on my bedside table. I smiled to myself.

…I’m getting the hang of this…