We Found Love

I had always been careful not to let the paparazzi (if you could call them that) near me, and had usually been pretty good at hiding my face in public when I was in Pittsburgh. But when I went to other cities, I usually let my guard down. I figured nobody would recognize me, or at least nobody would bother me. I had no idea how wrong I could be.

Emily and I were strolling down a small side street in Boston when we heard a strange crunching sound behind us. I spun around, and Emily raised her eyebrows, but we didn’t see anything so we kept moving along. Emily’s fingers slowly wound through mine and a smile crossed her face and lit up her eyes as we walked towards a large park not too far from the Boston Garden. The stars were shining brightly above us, and the crescent moon illuminated the small street better than the old style street lamps did.

“This is nice…not being in the ‘Burgh, not having to hide,” Emily sighed contentedly, and I nodded in agreement.

“It’s perfect,” I smiled, and she blushed lightly. As we got to the park, I spun her around so that I had both of her hands in mine, and stared into her huge, honey brown eyes for a long time.

“I love you,” I whispered.

“I love you too,” she said quietly, and I bent down to kiss her. Just as our lips met we heard a click, and a flash lit up the night behind my closed eyes. I broke away immediately and my eyes snapped open to spot a guy with a camera sprinting as quickly as he could away from us.

“Stay here,” I said angrily before taking off after the guy.

Emily’s Point of View

Tears welled up in my eyes as I sat on the park bench, waiting for Sidney to come back. I had been so stupid. We had been so stupid. How could we let our guard down like that? We should have known someone was following us when we heard that twig snap on the street. But we were too wrapped up in our own relationship to realize that anyone could see us. And it just had to be the guy with the camera that caught us kissing. I prayed silently that Sidney would catch up to him; if he did, maybe he could pay off the photographer to delete the photo. Something bitter rose up in my throat as I wondered what would happen if the photo wasn’t deleted. It could be sent to any number of newspapers or magazines, or worse. It could be posted online. Of course, Pittsburgh fans would immediately retaliate, claiming that it was a photoshop, but other hockey fans would know. They would know I was with Sidney. I would lose any of the respect I had gained, and suddenly the joy I had felt nights before over being selected for the Olympics, or the pride I had felt earlier today when I beat Sidney for the top scorer in the NHL was replaced by dread. Sickening, heart stopping, gut wrenching dread.

I let a few tears drop onto my hands as I sat there and stared at my sneakers. Someone sat down next to me, and I didn’t even look up to see who it was.

“Why you crying Emily?” a man with a thick Russian accent asked.

“Evgeni!” I gasped, looking up to see the Russian superstar’s huge brown eyes locked onto me.

“You are upset. Why?” Evgeni asked, but I shook my head.

“Problem with Sidney? I kick his ass for you if you like,” Evgeni said, and I chuckled tearfully.

“No…somebody took a picture of us kissing…we were so dumb. We got caught Geno,” I squeaked.

“Why are you worried? Picture is not problem. You are top scorer now in NHL, better than Sid even. You play good, nobody think bad about you,” Evgeni said, and I felt my shoulders start quaking.

Sidney’s Point of View

I headed back to the park, my breath catching in my chest, a camera clutched in my hands, and my wallet significantly lighter than it had been before. The photographer had been a Boston fan who had simply seen Emily and I and decided to ask for a photo. He realized that something was up, and thought that he could make a lot of money selling a convincing picture to a magazine. He wasn’t entirely wrong either; I had paid him over $700 for the digital camera with the SD card inside. He had paid $400 for it he said, so I insisted that we stop at an ATM so that I could withdraw some money to make the loss of his camera more than worth it. He agreed, and even swore that he would keep quiet about what he had seen.

When I got to the park I saw someone sitting next to Emily, rubbing her arm consolingly. I felt anger flare up, but it died just as quickly as it had risen up when I noticed the familiar slouch of the shoulders, or heard the deep Russian purr coming from the man.

“Emily, I got the camera back,” I said quietly as I walked over. She looked up, her eyes puffy and bloodshot.

“You did?” she squeaked, and I held it up.

“Yep. It cost me an arm and a leg, but I convinced the guy to give it to me,” I said, pocketing the small, bright yellow camera. Emily smiled in relief and flung her arms around my waist, hugging me tightly.

“See? Told you it would not be problem. Sid would do anything to keep you happy,” Evgeni said from the bench, and Emily blushed.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Thanks Geno,” she smiled, and Evgeni nodded.

“Not problem. Let’s go to hotel. I am hungry. Can we get cheeseburger there?” Evgeni asked. Emily began to chuckle, and I shrugged.

“We can get whatever the hell you feel like Geno,” I said.

That night, Emily climbed into bed with me and curled up against my chest.

“I’m glad you got that camera back Sid,” she whispered, and I hugged her tightly.

“Me too,” I said, staring up at the ceiling.

“Lemme see it,” she said, and I reached over and took the camera off of the nightstand.

“Sid…this is actually a really cute picture,” Emily blushed, looking at the screen. I took the camera and almost blushed myself as I nodded in agreement.

“I’m framing this,” I said after a few minutes.

“No!” Emily cried, scrambling for the camera.

“Hey, I paid over seven hundred bucks for this picture, I might as well!” I teased, holding it out of her reach. After a while she just slapped my chest and curled up again, falling asleep before I even turned the light out.