Fantasy Reality

I leaned back against the headboard and turned on the TV, I was exhausted, the last full day of camp had been jam packed but thankfully my team pulled off the win. It was great to see some of the guys and compete. Even Talbo joined us for the week and it was great to be reunited with him, I missed the big personality he brought to the locker room.

I had kept in constant contact with Carly and couldn’t wait to get back to Pittsburgh and convince her to come back to town. Mike had reassured me that we would get along so well and he was right, although I wasn’t sure how I would classify our relationship. I would be lying if I said I didn’t have some feeling towards her, how could you not? But Mike had warned me about falling for her, this was after all, just a business arrangement.

My mind kept searching for her face, there was just something so comforting about her. I could open up to her like I never had before, I didn’t have to put on an act, I could just be me. The same Sidney I was when I was at home with my family. To find someone, a female at that, who could make me feel that way… it was different. This was uncharted territory for me.

As much as I would love to wrap Carly up in my arms and never let her go and just kiss her all over, Mike’s words kept replying. That was why when we hugged that day in her room, I was stupid and said those words. How could I tell her that she was a good friend while I had her wrapped up in my arms? She instantly let me go and I knew I hit a nerve.

For as long as I could remember, I was never great with the opposite sex. I would always say the wrong thing or do something stupid. I never grew out of that awkward stage when dealing with females.

There were only a few things that I was extremely good at, one was hockey, another was being there for my family and friends and the last was keeping my personal life personal. I could live a relatively private life by avoiding social media and making sure everyone I was close with knew when to talk and when to keep their mouths shut. Now, here I was, after spending years of perfecting this, I was going to bring Carly out into the public and try to convince everyone she was my girlfriend. The entire time I was doing that, I was also going to be battling with myself trying to keep Carly just far enough away from my heart so I didn’t let myself fall for her. That would just complicate things even more.

I could not fall for her, I just couldn’t….

God, the NHL needs to end the lockout right now because it’s giving me entirely way too much time to think. What I needed was to talk to Max, who better to talk to than one guy who has no problem hooking up with girls and leaving feelings at the door. Didn’t matter that he had just gone public with his girlfriend, I knew he would never change and to finish this arrangement with Carly, I was going to have to think like Max.

That was one thing I never thought I would ever say, taking advice from Max. God help me.