Ours Then....

Ours Then….

Day 17
Sid,
I told you! You and the boys are going to do Pittsburgh proud! You’re heading to Detroit and you can all show Marion Hossa just what he’s missing. Swear to God, if one of you doesn’t kick his ass, I will. Honest. I’m so proud of you, Sidney.

The first day I saw you after all those years; my heart broke all over again. A wound that I hadn’t even known was still there bled again. You were there, Sid. And you were right in front of me.

My cousin, Janine, and I were out running after a particularly bad practice. The injury I had received in the car crash after Beijing was hurting. I was glad to have Janine, who was a physical therapist, around.

She had said something about my coach (who was and still is a douche bag). I had giggled, something that was extremely rare for the time.

She gave me a bewildered look as we ran closer towards you. “Whoa! Did Roarin’ Rory just laugh!?”

I turned red as I saw your head turn towards us. I pulled my hair down and out of its ponytail, hoping to shield my face. It didn’t work.

“Rory?” you asked as we ran past.

Janine’s head whipped around, but I kept running, faster now.

“Rory! Stop! You’ll hurt your hip!” she called after me.

I could hear all sorts of footsteps behind me, heavy and light. I stopped at the base of a hill and saw you, Janine, and several of your teammates running towards me.

Putting in my headphones, I called out to Janine. “Hill sprints for me. We’ll see how my hip’s holding up.”

Pressing play, I took off up the hill. Pushing myself forward, I tried to pretend you weren’t really there. If I tried and wished hard enough, maybe this could all be a dream. A horrible, horrible nightmare. It wasn’t.

“Why isn’t she talking to me?” you asked Janine as I came back down the hill. “And why does she have a limp?”

“She’s not talking to you because she’s scared. And she was in a car crash when she got back from Beijing,” Janine explained. “Don’t bother her.”

“I think I should be able to talk to her,” you reasoned.

The moment I heard that, I whipped around and came charging at you. “You think what?!”

“I think I should be able to talk to you,” you said simply.

I pulled my earbuds out of my ears and threw my iPhone to the grass, not caring if the screen broke. “You shouldn’t even be standing in front of me! You should be…off doing something else. Seeing as you made it clear that our relationship was getting in the way of hockey!”

“Whoa, dude,” Jordan said behind you. “You said that?”

“Yes, he did,” I glared. “I loved you, Sidney. And I thought you loved me. But I guess I was wrong.” I shrugged and began walking away. You followed.

“Wait a second,” you said putting a hand on my arm.

“Don’t touch me,” I growled.

“Let me talk. What’s new? No, that’s an awful thing to ask. How’s Ryan?” you and my male cousin had always gotten on well.

I choked on a sob.

“What did I say?” you asked Janine.

“Ryan,” she began. Janine struggle when it came to talking about her brother as well, but she was stronger than me. “Ryan’s dead. He died in the car crash Rory was in.”

“Oh my God,” you gasped. “I’m so incredibly sorry. Are you okay, Rory?”

“You mean other than this?” I asked whipping my t-shirt off. I was pissed. Revealing not only sports bra, but also the nasty scar that went from my lower hip up to my ribs, was a hasty and reckless decision.

“Jesus,” I heard Max mutter. It was in English, surprisingly enough.

“Other than this and the emotional damage of knowing it’s my fault my cousin is dead, then yes. I am just peachy,” I said sarcastically trying to hide the fear and the sadness in me.

“Rory,” you began again.

“No,” I said stepping away. “You have nothing to say.”

“Yes, I do,” you tried to convince me.

And every bone in my body wanted to let you. But somehow, I managed to say no. “No. You said it all a long time ago, Golden Boy.” And with that, I took off running without looking back.

Day 17 Over and Out!
Yours,
Rory