I'll Be Right Beside You

Becka

“So… it’s all official now and everything?” I asked. Cam stuttered and everything on the other end before telling me that they were taking it slow, and to keep it to myself if I could because she was still a little unsure about the whole thing. I understood that, because I’d never once thought that she’d actually try to sever ties to the blonde giant, but I was happy for her. Claude was a good guy, all of the guys on the team had assured me so when I asked, even Steve, who was extremely on edge about the whole thing. He’d really trusted Jordan, even though it had taken him a while originally to warm to the whole idea of her being with him, so for this to all blow up was hard on him, just like it was for Cam’s mom and uncle.

“All right, well I better go – Sidney texted that he just picked up Taylor and they’re on their way, talk to you soon, all right?” I asked.

“Yeah, will do Becks – I miss you,” she said, and I heard mumbling from near the receiver, but whether it was Claude or Jared I didn’t know. Jared and Cam’s game was tonight, and I think Claude was going to stick around to watch, before he had to go back to Philly.

“I miss you too – we’ll have to get together tomorrow or something, all right? We have a lot of catching up to do,” I agreed. We hadn’t seen much of each other lately – she was wrapped up in her life and I was wrapped up in mine. Sidney’s schedule was so hectic it was unbelievable, and then adding my school schedule on top of that made it hard for us to even have dinner together most days, let alone spend real time together, so we tried to make time. That had unfortunately meant seeing less of my other friends, like Cam, whose schedule was also ridiculous.

“Hey babe! We’re home!” I grinned when I heard Sidney’s loud voice boom through his house.

“Hey!” I walked out and was enveloped in a hug, before stealing a quick kiss.

“Hi Becks,” I grinned, letting Sid go as I pulled Taylor in for a hug.

“Hi Tay! How was your flight?” I asked, and she shrugged.

“Same as usual, I guess. So… Sidney told me you’re best friends with Cam Bates?” she asked, and Sidney immediately groaned, even as he picked up Taylor’s bag to carry to her room.

“What’d I just finish telling you about that?”

“Yeah, we’ve known each other for years, why?” I asked, and she let out an excited squeal.

“D’you think you could introduce me? She’s my favorite hockey player – it would be so cool! To meet the first ever girl to play in the NHL… maybe she can put in a good word for me and I can play when I’m old enough!” Taylor began excitedly speculating, and I resisted the urge to laugh as Sidney’s embarrassment showed. Taylor hadn’t been out to visit much lately, and hadn’t been here since Cam’s announcement of being a girl.

“Well I’ll see what I can do all right – she’s going through a bit of a tough time right now,” I allowed, and she raised an eyebrow at me.

“What do you mean?”

“Her and her boyfriend split up a while ago, and it’s still a little raw, you know?” I told her, and she grimaced.

“Ouch, but who in their right mind would want to break up with someone as cool as her? I mean seriously?” she asked, and I had to laugh; even Sidney chuckled.

“Well, he’s a bit of an idiot,” he allowed, and Taylor rolled her eyes.

“Someone needs to tell her that she can probably do a hell of a lot better – all of the guys at Shattucks all talk about how they’d kill to go out with her – even some of their older brothers who are in college and stuff,” she explained as we sat down in the kitchen. Sidney had called and ordered pizza, something he usually saved for when Taylor came to visit.

“It’s hard though – they were together for a little over a year and they had a really serious relationship… like probably would have got married serious,” I told her, and her eyes widened.

“Then why would they have broke up if they thought they were going to get married?”

“Things happen,” I allowed, not wanting to tell her everything. “Sometimes things just don’t work out. So she’s freaking out because there’s this really awesome guy who likes her but she isn’t sure if she should give it a shot because she’s still kind of hung up on her ex.”

“Is this guy seriously awesome? Like do you approve?” she asked, turning towards her older brother. He ran a hand through his hair before giving me a slightly sorry expression.

“I do, yeah. He’s a really great guy, and he cares a lot about her… even though her ex is a good friend of mine, I think this guy would be really good for her if she gave him a real chance,” he told her, and she nodded thoughtfully.

“Well then maybe you should tell her. I mean, if she knows that her friends support her on this and that he’s a really good guy it might make it a little easier, you know?”

“Damn Tay, when did you get so grown-up about this stuff?” Sid asked, and she turned a little red. It only took a few moments for realization to dawn on his face, and I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head.

“Why didn’t you tell me! Do mom and dad know?” he demanded, and she shook her head.

“Look, it wasn’t a big deal – we only went on some like casual dates – nothing too serious or anything. Mostly I just had to help Leah out when she and Dave broke up,” she defended herself, and I tried not to laugh as Sidney struggled to keep his cool. Even though Taylor was sixteen turning seventeen the fact she was his baby sister wasn’t lost on him.

“Dear God…” he grumbled, and I patted his arm softly.

“Ease up Sid – Tay’s a smart girl, and you know she’d come to us if something was up,” I soothed, and he let out a growl. Taylor nodded and mouthed a ‘thank you’ to me. She was the little sister I’d never had, but sometimes she was so like Sidney it was almost frightening.

“Does he know about this whole thing?” Sidney suddenly asked, confusing me at his sudden change of topic. He normally didn’t jump from one thing to another.

“What do you mean… oh. I have no idea,” I answered, and he ran his fingers through his hair again.

“It’ll kill him, you know,” he whispered, and I nodded. I felt bad because Jordan and Sidney were still quite close, but in my opinion Jordan deserved whatever the hell he had coming. If he could upset and hurt Cam that much then he could damn well deal with her moving on – Cam never let people get to her like that, so for him to take advantage of her ate away at me.

“Well he can deal with it – you have no idea what he put her through Sid,” I sighed, trying to keep my tone civil. I was bad for lashing out when I was angry, even at people who it didn’t concern, unfortunately.

“It’s hard for him too Becks, he loves her, and he’s never cared about someone the way he cares about her,” he argued, but I wasn’t having any of it. Jordan Staal was dead to me in all ways.

“I don’t want to get into this Sid – even just talking about him makes me want to punch his face in,” I told him, standing up to answer the door as our pizza had finally arrived. There was no sound coming from the two Crosby’s in the kitchen, as I returned, something that worried me a lot.

“Tay? You all right? Sorry you got stuck in the middle of all of this mess,” I apologized, and she shrugged.

“It’s okay. Can I ask you something though?”

“Sure,” I nodded, opening the box and walking to the cupboard to get out plates. Taylor hesitated for a moment, which I noticed had Sidney looking a little concerned.

“It was Jordan Staal that she was dating, wasn’t it?” we both stared at her, eyes wide and Sidney’s mouth hung open a little bit.

“Wh-wha… how did you guess that?” he asked, and she shrugged.

“They both started playing like shit at the same time, and now she’s playing more like her old self and he isn’t… and they don’t play on the same line anymore,” she responded as if it were obvious. Sidney sighed and leaned back in his chair, obviously feeling a little overwhelmed right now. I set the plates down on the table before moving to the fridge and pulling out a soda for Taylor and I, and a beer for him.

“Thanks babe,” he managed a smile for me.

“So… change of topic? How’s your season going Taylor?” I asked, and sensing that Sidney was a bit upset by this whole thing Taylor eagerly launched into a detailed account of her hockey year. Sid offered me a thankful smile, and we began eating dinner.