Fantasy Reality

“Make it go away”, I said out loud to the pounding in my head. Wait a minute, why did my headache sound like knocking? I struggled to open my eyes, where was I? As I glanced around the room, all the details of the night before came flooding back to me. Climbing out of bed, my head pounded even more as the room started to spin. I didn’t know which was worse, the pounding headache or the annoying knocking noise that had to be coming from the door.

With my eyes half opened and half closed, I tried to feel my way to the door rather than actually looking. “Damn!” I yelled as I banged my toe off one of the chairs. “Fuck, fuck, fuck”, I shouted as I half hobbled and half walked to the door.

“What the hell do you want?” I asked as I threw open the door without bothering to see who it was.

“Aren’t you delightful this morning”, Mike said as he pushed past me and came in. I was getting ready to close the door when I heard, “I’m guessing you’re not a morning person”. I slowly looked up saw Sid standing in the doorway. “I didn’t take you as the type to drop f bombs like that”, he added with a grin.

I groaned. “It’s too early for this”, I said as I walked over to the couch Mike was sitting on and sat down next to him. I glanced over at Sid who was sitting in a chair, black hat pulled down over his eyes and with an amused look on his face, “Don’t tell me you’re one of those annoying morning people”, I muttered as I brought my knees up to my chest and rested my head on my knees.

“I’ve been up for hours, did my workouts and am all packed”, Sid informed me with a grin.

“Do you want a medal?” I snapped. Sid’s smile disappeared from his face. “Way to go Carly”, Mike said, “And to think, you thought you couldn’t be a hotshot girlfriend, you got the bitch part down pat”. Ignoring my urge to throw something at Mike, I turned my attention to Sid.

“Sorry Sid, I’m not usually this bitchy in the morning”, Sid accepted my apology with a smile and leaned back in the chair propping his feet on the coffee table, crossing them at his ankles.

I barely listened as they continued to tell me how things would work the next few days. If anyone asked how we met, Mike introduced us just after the Penguins were eliminated from the playoffs and we had hung out all summer. Sid was just rambling off things about what he did in the months of June and July; I felt like I was in school and should be taking notes. Mentally I would make a note that he spent a lot of time with his trainer Andy and Matt, another NHL player, or that he did this or that he did that.

Never in a million years did I imagine that googling Sidney Crosby and finding out the names of his parents and sister and reading about his life would come in handy, at least those facts I didn’t have to worry about forgetting. Whenever Sid would take a break from telling me his entire life story, Mike would add something else that I should know. “Don’t forget he’s building a house, maybe we should swing by before you head to the airport”, Mike suggested. “If she was your girlfriend you would have shown her the new house”.

Sid agreed and then took out his iPhone and started typing feverishly. “What else do we have to show her before we leave?” he asked.

I held up my hand. “Hold on here. You guys have been dishing out information for the past hour, I feel like my head is going to explode. How about you guys figure out what we need to do while I get a shower and pack?”

The guys nodded and I quickly retreated into the bedroom, closed the door and sat on the bed. ‘You can do this Carly’, I told myself as I lay back and stared at the ceiling. ‘It’s only a few days, you can do anything for a few days and before you know it you’ll be back at work.’ Work…why was that word causing this horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach? Then it hit me, I was only approved to have Monday off and was due back to work on Tuesday. How can I be in Moncton at work 8am on Tuesday if I’m off on a private island on the West Coast? “Shit, shit, shit”, I yelled as I sat up and hopped off the bed. Throwing open the door, the guys looked up in surprise.

“What is up with you saying things 3 times?” Mike asked at the same time that I yelled “I can’t do this, I have to work!”

We all looked at each other, eyes flicking from one face to another. I could tell that they didn’t think about this issue either. “I was only approved for Monday”, I said softly as I walked back into the bedroom.

“Call in sick”, Mike yelled to me. “You now want me to lie to my boss?” I yelled back.

“Fuck!” Sid shouted as I heard a bang. I went to the doorway and saw that the chair Sid had occupied was now tipped over. “This is getting just as complicated as me going alone”, he muttered as he walked over to the window and stared out at the Pittsburgh skyline.

Furious, I stomped out to the living room, “Well sorrrry!! It’s not like I had any idea that I would be jet setting off to wherever and pretending to be your girlfriend”, I yelled.

“I didn’t know you worked”, Sid yelled back.

“What the fuck did you think I did all day long? Sit around and do ‘charity’ work?” I shot back making sure I put the emphasis on charity, complete with using my fingers for quotation marks.

“Are you insinuating that my charity work is a joke?” Sid spit out as his hazel eyes flashed with anger.

“Did I say it was? I was talking about all the girlfriends who sit around all day getting their nails done and living off their boyfriends money”, I shot back as my green eyes glared into his.

“Can we stop yelling and fighting?” Mike yelled. Sid and I both turned to look at him. “Okay, it’s my fault, just an oversight. Carly, can’t we just email your manager or whoever and say that you caught food poisoning and can’t leave the States?”

“Want to run me over with your car too and really make it a good story?” This was crazy; things had gotten so out of hand in such a short period of time. I plopped on the couch and looked at the guys; Sid still standing by the window and Mike standing in the middle of the room, both looking completely lost.

Sid was the first one to break the silence. “What would happen if you just called and said there was a change in your plans and ask to extend your holiday?”

“I have all my annual leave used up, they would probably give me the days but it would be unpaid leave”, I mumbled.

Sid clapped his hands together, “So what’s the issue, you do that and we’re good”. I’ve been described as a feisty person so my first instinct was to yell something at him, but I counted to 10 before I opened my mouth to speak. “Sid”, I said as sweetly as I could, “that might be great for you, but unlike you, I don’t have tons of money in the bank to rely on. I have rent to pay, car payments, bills… I can’t afford to have unpaid leave”.

“Is that you’re only problem?” he asked.

“That’s a pretty big problem”, I shot back. Who did this guy think he was? Sure he was good looking and looked so good in his dark jeans and dark grey sweater, but what was with the attitude. Before I could say anything else, Mike came over to me and put a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t worry about it Carly, just tell us the amount that you would have made if you worked and we’ll take care of it. Right, Sid?”

Sid nodded and I groaned. So much for not being paid for this, but I really had to pay rent. I wasn’t willing to be homeless in the process of helping them out. Not having any other option, I threw out a “fine” and went back into the bedroom to finish getting ready and packed for our flight.

I was just sitting on my suitcase to zipper it close when Sid yelled “Are you almost ready? We have to be at Mario’s in less than an hour and we need to do a walk-through of the house first”. With those words, everything hit me; I was going to meet Mario Lemieux. Not only that but I was going to get on a flight with Sidney Crosby for my first trip to LA and pretend to be his girlfriend. Oh. My. God.

The tour of his house was a complete blur; I kept repeating the number of fireplaces over in my head and making sure to remember that there wasn’t a pool. As we crossed the street to the Lemieux’s, I watched as Sidney pushed in the code and the gates opened for us to enter onto the property. Mario and Nathalie were standing next to their Escalade loading suitcases into the back. Introductions were made and we were quickly seated into the SUV and heading towards the airport. It was game time.