Status: On Hiatus

I'll Be Right Beside You

Seventy Three

“So… you think that won’t be too much?” Sid worried. I shook my head, leaning back in my chair and taking another drink of my soda.

“No, Sid she’ll love it. Hell, if you just asked her out of the blue with nothing to show for it she’d love it. She loves you, and that’s what matters. All of this? Icing on the cake,” I insisted, and he gave me a nervous smile. All of this romantic stuff wasn’t really his forte.

“I just want to do it right, you know? I mean, I’m not going to ever do this again, so it’s gotta be perfect,” I nodded, knowing exactly what he meant. Sid was a perfectionist to the tenth degree, and proposing to his girlfriend was no different.

“I know, and it will be,” I assured him, before leaning back in my seat. We’d met at a little pub and grill fairly close to the rink to talk out his plans for proposing while Becka was at work and wouldn’t be able to walk in or overhear anything.

Twenty minutes later Sid was satisfied that the ‘plan’ was completely fool-proof, and we went our separate ways; me back to my apartment to do some cleaning, and he was going home to make reservations at the restaurant and probably to order the flowers he’d asked me to help him pick out. Becka was one lucky girl, that’s for sure.

“Cam!” I turned around to see Vero heading toward me on the street, and waved before changing direction to meet her. I pulled her into a tight hug, before she ushered me into a coffee shop. I groaned, wondering how long of a workout I would need to pull off to work off the planning with Sid as well as a coffee date with Vero, but I kept my mouth shut as I ordered a hot chocolate and sat down with her.

“So, I saw you and Sidney leaving the grill together… did ‘e get it all planned?” she asked, keeping her voice low. She was well aware of Sidney wanting to propose, and I was able to grin and nod. She hardly kept her composure inside the coffee shop, and instead squirmed in her seat rather than screaming as she probably wanted to.

“Oh I am so excited! Becka will be swept off ‘er feet, no?”

“Oh yeah – he’s pulling out all the stops on this one. Fancy dinner, wine, dessert, flowers, everything,” I dished, and she sighed before taking a sip of her coffee.

“’E should video tape it so all us girls can see ‘ow sweet it is. Any money ‘e knocks any of t’e boys proposals out of t’e water,” she giggled, and I couldn’t help but laugh along with her. Vero was just too cute for her own good sometimes.

“No doubt,”

“So, ‘ave you talked to Jordan lately?” she asked, and I raised an eyebrow, not quite sure where she was going with this. Becka had nearly torn a strip off me after I’d admitted to spending a few weeks with the Staals this summer, and that things had really looked up. I got where she was coming from, I mean, after everything that had happened I really shouldn’t be even toying with the idea of getting back together with him – if he’d asked. So her concern was relevant, it just made it difficult to be excited about it or to talk about it with her.

“Not since he moved, no,” I shook my head. Vero cocked her head at me, and I realized maybe she didn’t know about his move down to Raleigh at all. I’d thought for sure Jordan would have told some of the guys about it.

“Move?”

“Yeah. He moved down to Raleigh with Eric and Tanya and the boys. He’s coaching Parker’s little league team,” I explained, and while she smiled her eyes darkened a little, telling me she was sympathetic for him. It was hard to have to tell everybody that Jordan was actually excited about the prospect, even though it wasn’t a big return to the NHL.

“Well, t’at will be lovely for ‘im. ‘E can be around ‘is nephews all t’e time, and see ‘is brot’ers… ‘e is excited?”

“Yeah, he is. I mean, it’s not coming back to the NHL or anything, but getting to be with Park and Levi all the time is a huge plus for him. And then he can go watch Eric and Jared’s games too, so he won’t feel as cut off from everything,” I answered, but saw the look she gave me.

“You don’t sound like you are so excited for ‘im?”

“I am, I really am Vero, it’s just…”

“’E’s not back ‘ere, right?” she asked softly, and I nodded. I’d hoped so hard and so long that his memory would come back and he’d get right back into the swing of things and come back to Pittsburgh. Now, just the way he and Jared had accused me of avoiding Thunder Bay, he seemed to avoid the city he’d once called home.

“Yeah. It’s silly, but,”

“No it is not! Cam, you silly girl, you love ‘im. You do. Of course you wanted ‘im to get better and remember everyt’ing and come back. You wouldn’t ‘ave wanted t’e best for ‘im if you didn’t,” she insisted, making me feel a little better. “But now, maybe t’is is what is best for ‘im. And you ‘ave to be okay wit’ t’at, or let ‘im know.”

“You’re right, as usual,” I rolled my eyes a little, getting a small smile out of my friend. “But it doesn’t make it any easier. We still haven’t talked it all out.”

She sighed as she stirred her coffee. “You two are more drama t’an a TV show, you know t’at?” she pointed her spoon at me in an accusatory fashion before she couldn’t resist a grin any longer.

“Sorry? What would you girls have to talk about if it weren’t for the two of us?” I played along, and soon she was trying very hard to keep her laughter to a level appropriate for being in a coffee shop.

“’Ow do you always come up wit’ somet’ing like t’at to say? I can never do t’at wit’ Marc,” she grumped good-naturedly.

“Because Marc happens to be ridiculously good at witty remarks. I usually have nothing when it comes to him,” I allowed. She finally nodded and dished the latest news on the wedding planning; she’d picked colors for the bridesmaid dresses, and now it was basically just needing to find a wedding dress and the bridesmaid dresses, then everything would be as organized as it could be until the actual wedding day. She was under no illusions that the day itself wouldn’t be hectic, so being Vero, had every little detail down to a T even though it was only the beginning of November and the wedding wasn’t until the end of June.

“And I ‘ave one last question for you,” she said as we were just about ready to leave. I nodded, staying in my seat and waiting for her to come out with it.

“Will you be a bridesmaid?” I’m sure my eyes were the size of saucers before I nodded and, even though it probably wasn’t proper for being out in public, let out a little squeal before pulling her in for a hug.

“Yes! Oh my God Vero I can’t believe you want me in your wedding!” I gushed, and saw she was just as excited.

“Of course I do! Did you ‘it your ‘ead or somet’ing? Why wouldn’t I want you in my wedding?” she asked, and I shrugged before hugging her again.

“This is so exciting! I’ve never been in a wedding before!” I told her, and she just laughed as she wrapped an arm around me while we exited the shop and started to walk down the street.

“I can’t wait to get you in a pretty dress!” she sing-songed, obviously more than pleased with the outcome of our impromptu coffee date. We kept chatting until we reached our vehicles, and then after a long goodbye managed to go our separate ways.
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Sorry for taking a little longer than expected to update! I just started a new job that I can work while going back to school in like... 3 weeks. Holy cow that's coming up fast!

Anyways... kind of filler-ish, but it lets everyone see how life is kind of moving on around them... and a little insight into how Cam feels about all of that.

What do you think? Let me know!

Hayley