The Pink Hat Girl

Max Talbot looked at the phone number in his hand. The replay of NYC flashed into his head. The next time you’re headed down South Side back home give me a call. He recalled. He and a bunch of the guys were going tonight.
“Thinking about that girl?” Sidney Crosby, team captain, asked him.
“Yea I am.” He replied.”
“You should call her.”
“Call or text?”
“I’d call. It’d be nicer.” Max picked up the phone and dialed the number on the piece of paper.
“Hello is this Alyssa?...Hi this is Max Talbot…I’m fine how are you?...that’s good. Hey listen the guys and I were going to head out tonight and I was wondering if you’d like to join us. You can bring couple of friends if you like…Mario’s at eight? Or is that too early?...great text me when you get there and I’ll come down to get you…great see you then bye.” He hung up the phone.
“See was that hard?” he gave Sid that “look.” “Kidding, well you better get ready.”
“Why? I have time.” Sid pointed to the clock. “Shit! I gave her less than three hours.”

The guys showed up around 7:30 and ordered some food. Max’s phone went off about ten to eight. It was that Alyssa girl.
“Hey I’ll be right back.” He bounded down a couple flights of stairs before he saw her waiting by the door. She looked cuter than he remembered. “Hey”
“Hey!” he hugged her.
“No friends?”
“No sorry they couldn’t make it.”
“It’s okay. Let’s get you upstairs.” Max took Alyssa’s hand and lead her up the stairs. “Hey guys this is Alyssa. I’m sure you know the guys but there’s Jordan, Sidney, Tyler, Kris and Marc-Andre.” He introduced them. Alyssa shook each hand.
“Nice to meet all of you.” She smiled.
“What would you like to drink?” asked Max
“A water is fine.”
“No alcohol?”
“Nope, I drove.”
“Aww why did you drive?” he joked with her. “Kidding. Well next time I’m picking you up!” She laughed.
“Sounds like a plan.” Max and Alyssa started to get into a conversation. Then it turned a little physical. The two started kissing. Lys shifted her weight and her cell phone fell out of her pocket. Sid picked it up and closed the phone. He set it on the table. But the picture on the phone caught his eye. He stared at it until the screen went dark. The girl had a picture of him and her as her background. It was her! Sid grabbed the phone and nudge Jordan. He whispered in his ear.
“Max is making out with my girl.”
“You sure?” Sid showed him her phone. “Oh shit.”
“What do I do?”
“She has to go to the bathroom sometime…how many waters has she drank?” he laughed. “Mention it to him then.” Sidney put the phone back on the table and waited. It seemed like an eternity before Alyssa excused herself to restroom.
“Isn’t she great?” asked Max. Jordan and Sid glanced at each other. “What?”
“Max you’re making out with my girl.” Max was offended.
“Your girl? How is she your girl?” he demanded.
“She’s the girl I’ve been searching for.”
“Prove it.” Sidney picked up her phone to show him the picture. “Oh shit.”
“Oh shit what-hey that’s my phone. And a picture of when we met Sidney.”
“I’ve seen that.”
“Not now but sometime in the furture do you think you can sign a puck? It’s for my uncle. He has the whole team- I think except for yours.” She laughed.
“Sure I would.” Lys now felt the tension.
“Did I do or say anything wrong?”
“Wanna take this one Jordan?” asked Max. Jordan sighed.
“Well Sid was really into you when he met that time in his car. He kept looking for you at home games after that. Then he saw you in NYC briefly but you had given your number to Max earlier that day. Now we just realized you’re the same girl.”
“Oh shit.” She stated. “I had no idea you were “searching” for me.” Lys said.
“Of course not, how could you?”
“But why didn’t you post it online or something?”
“Oh I don’t know. I didn’t want to make a big fuss. But If I met you again then I knew it would be fate taking a hand,” Sid explained.
“And I didn’t realize you were pink hat girl when you gave me your number.” Max said.
“No I wasn’t wearing it then.” She laughed. “But wow this is crazy.”
“What is?” Jordan asked.
“This whole situation. It’s flattering when one boy is interested but two, whoa.”
“So who do you choose?” Marc-Andre asked. He and other guys saw the whole scene unfold.
“I can’t choose right this second. I hardly know either of them.”
“Get to know them. Go on a date with each of them.” Tyler suggested.
“Yea that’s what I was thinking. Then whichever I have the best chemistry with I will choose.” She smiled.

Max picked Lys up on Monday and took her to a restaurant in the North Hills.
“I hope you like seafood.” He stated and to be honest she hated seafood.
“I love shrimp!” she pretended to be happy about it.
“Well they have good shrimp cocktails” he smiled at her. They entered the restaurant.
“Hello do you have a reservation?”
“Yes, Talbot.”
“Right this way Mr. Talbot. By the way great game the other night.”
“Why thank you.” He winked at the greeter.
“Enjoy your meal.” She smiled at him. The waiter came with a bottle of wine. “Good evening Mr. Talbot, here is your wine choice for this evening.”
“Thank you.” He poured each of them a glass of wine. “Now we can have a drink together.” They smiled. Max was a great guy but Lys felt like he was trying to impress her. “What would you like to order?”
“I’ll get the shrimp.” She told him. And he ordered for her when the waiter came.
“So, what do you like to do for fun?”
“I love to go to concerts.”
“Really? What was your best show?”
“Okay, that’s a tie. It’s between the Bigger Lighters on Nov 16th and Panic! At the Disco at the Honda Civic Show in Columbus.”
“I have never heard of either, why those two?”
“TBL because it was such a small intimate show and P!ATD is one of my favorite bands and we were front row.”
“Very nice.” He didn’t know what else to say nor did she. Their conversation wasn’t flowing well but she admired his effort. “Hey I don’t want this to end just yet let’s go on a walk.” He took her to the local park. There he held her hand as they talked about life and what Max would be doing if he didn’t go pro. It was a nice way to end the date. Max took Lys home and gently kisser her on the lips- well after they hit heads. Then they made out a little on her back porch.
“Thanks for an awesome night.” She told him.
“You’re welcome.” He smiled at her and walked away.

A couple days later Sidney picked Lys up in his Land Rover. He brought her flowers and met her parents before they left.
“The flowers were gorgeous. Thank you.” They were a dozen of lilies.”
“You’re welcome they match the girl.” Lys blushed. “Where would you like to eat?”
“Oh anywhere is fine. What are you in the mood for?”
“Actually, Olive Garden. I saw a commercial for it before I left.”
“Haha, that’s crazy I was going to suggest that.”
“Great minds think alike.” He smiled as he drove to the nearest restaurant on RT 51. The conversation started to flow. Lys didn’t feel like anything was neither forced nor trying to impress her. They arrived and he went to help her out of the car. Once inside there was a wait. He went up to the greeter.
“Hi how many?”
“2”
“Can I have a name?”
“Crosby.” The girl looked up and realized whom he was. Sid noticed. “No rush.” Then smiled. “Would you like a drink?” he asked Lys.
“Sure.” And they both ordered frozen margaritas.
“So what’s it feel like to be almost done with school?”
“Crazy!” she smiled. “I can’t even describe it to be honest. It’s a mix of excitement and fright.”
“That’s how I felt going into game 7 last year.”
“Oh my I can’t even begin to imagine what that feels like.” Just then a young girl approached the couple.
“Excuse me, can I have you autograph please?”
“Sure!” Sid signed her piece of paper. Lys just stared at him. “Do I have something on my face?” she focused on his chin.
“What? No!” she blushed. “I was thinking about my date with Max.” She saw his expression sadden. “And how it seemed to be forced. I know he was trying to treat me right but I just wasn’t feeling it. But this night so far has been magical.” Sid’s eyes lit up.
“I feel the same way,” he leaned over to kiss her.
“Crosby party of two.” Was heard they picked up their drinks and were seated at a small table. Lys knew what she was getting – same thing she always got.
“Want to split something like spaghetti?” asked Sid.
“Don’t you think its lady and the tramp like?”
“Too cheesy?”
“I like cheesy to a point but let’s try it on date like 5.” Sid’s eyes lit up.
“There’s going to be a date 5?”
“You don’t want there to be one?”
“No I do.” He immediately reached across the table for her hand. The waiter came by and took their order. The conversation continued to flow. They talked about a bunch of different things.
“Hey we have a game tomorrow, would you like to come?”
“Can I bring someone?”
“Who?”
“My roommate.”
“Of course!” He smiled. “I’ll have a car come get you and her tomorrow at 4.”
“Can we make it 430? Alex student teaches until four.”
“Sure no problem” Their food arrived and neither one would shut up about anything. “Hey I really like your company.” Sidney told her in the car.
“Does this date have to end?”
“Not yet, I have an idea.” He smiled as he pulled out of the parking spot.

As he drove into Pittsburgh he had the radio on.
“I love this song!” Lys turned the stereo up a bit. “Hey…You’re lipstick stains…”
“You like Train?”
“Yep! My mom and I are going to see them and John Mayer in August.”
“Oh how awesome is that!” he smiled at her.
“What are we doing here?” she asked as they pulled into the Mellon Arena.
“Skating!”

“Ah! Sidney!” She screamed as he pulled her backward. He was teaching her how to skate backwards.
“Don’t worry I won’t-” Lys lost her balane and fell to the ice. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” She just turned around and kissed him on the lips. They sat there as their butts froze just kissing. Then all of a sudden more lights flashed on.
“Sidney?”
“Hi Sam.”
“I just got a call that someone was in here so I just needed to know who.”
“Oh it’s just my girlfriend and I.”
“Alright” he said and walked away.
“Girlfriend?” Lys asked.
“Would you like to be?”
“Yes!” They kissed. “I need to tell Max.” He kissed her again but she pulled away. “Catch me!” She dashed toward the other side of the rink. Sidney quickly reached her and spun her around for a kiss. The kiss became more passionate. Lys almost went weak in the knees and they landed in the benches. Sidney layed her down and got on top of her and started kissing her. They made out for a bit longer until he tried to take her “My feet hurt because of these skates.” He looked down and her feet were dangling off the bench.
“Then let’s get you out of them.” They took them off and headed back out to his car.
“I guess you have to take me back.”
“I guess I do.” He hung his head as he opened her door.
“I don’t want to go.”
“I don’t want you to go either.”
“But I will see you for the game tomorrow.”
“This is true.”
“And I’ll talk to Max then.”
“Sounds like a plan.