Last Chance

We pulled into the parking lot of my building and I sleepily opened my eyes and searched my bag for my keys. I got out and opened the door to the building, Sid right behind me, his hand on my back. I opened the door to my place and started packing a bag of overnight stuff. Randmonly throwing clothes into a bag before heading to the bathroom to grab my toothbrush and a few other things. I walked back to the kitchen to find Sid sitting at my breakfast bar eating a granola bar. He stopped eating and looked at me like he got caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "What? I was hungry." He said with his mouth full. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Hey, can you grab me ay hoodie? I think there's a few in my closet." He swallowed the rest of the granolda bar and nodded his head as he headed towards my bedroom. I grabbed my runners from the hall closet and zipped up my bag as I waited for Sid to come back. I opened a bottle of water and skimmed through my mail while I waited for him. When he didn't come back I figured he didn't know which hoodie to choose. I could picture him standing there in my closet trying to figure out which on to pick. I walked towards the bedroom and was surprised when I found him sitting on the floor of my closet, staring at the box that said "I Hate You Sidney Crosby" written on it in black sharpie. He didn't open it, he just sat there and stared at it. I leaned against the doorway of the closet "I had a different way of dealing with it Sid. You wrote everything down, I threw it all in a box and refused to look at it." He nodded. I could tell he was upset. I walked over to him and kneeled down beside him, grabbing his hands. "Hey, look at me." He looked up and frowned. "Look, I need to get over this as much as you do. We can go through it if you want. Maybe it will be good for me actually know what you have been doing the last five years. Sid, this wasn't ever meant to hurt you, it was just me not wanting to face the pain." I grabbed the box and pulled the top open. I pulled out the first item without even looking. It was the copy of the National Post from the Olympics, his smiling face all over the front.

"I get goosebumps when I think of that day." He whispered.

"You know I've never watched the game or the goal. I hurt too much to be cut from the team and then to see you play, it was too much. So I became a hermit for seventeen days and refused to turn on the tv."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, and stop pouting. If we both can't get over this we minus well stop before this goes any further." I crossed my arms and stared at him until he looked me in the eye.

"Okay. Will you at watch the game with me sometime?"

"I'd love to." He grabbed me and pulled me down so we were both sitting cross legged on the floor. We spent the next hour going through everything. He would tell me which magazine articles were not completely true and which reporters would fudge his words. He raised his eyebrow at me when he pulled the Tim Horton's poster out and he laughed when I told him I stole it from the restaurant. As we got closer to the bottom of the box the items became more personal. They were actually things that he had given me or pictures of the two of us. He picked up the framed photo from our prom, the last photo we had taken together before today. "I love this picture. It sits on my dresser at home." I dug into the box and pulled out a birthday card, from my sixteenth birthday.

-----May 2003-----

"Happy Birthday to Me." I pouted as I slouched onto the couch. I was furious, my sixteenth birthday and he didn't even have time to call me or email me or anyhthing. What a douche. It wasn't the same without him here to celebrate with me, and sixteen is a pretty big deal. I got up and grabbed the phone off the counter, I didn't care that my mom's long distance plan didn't include US daytime minutes. I dailed his number, knowing he would probably not pick up because he knew how mad I was going to be. When his voicemail message came on, I waited for the beep before speaking.
"Hello Sidney Crosby, the is Kelly Nelson speaking. You know, you're best friend from the small town of Cole Harbour Nova Scotia. Anyways, I know you are a big time jock now, but I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to Me. It's my sixteenth birthday and you forgot to call. Thanks for ruining my day. Have a good night." He emailed me later that night, apologizing over and over again and promising to make it up to me. I went to bed doubtful that he would follow through on his words.

I arrived home from school the next week to see a package on the counter for me. I knew as soon as I saw his messy writing that it was from him. I ripped it open and opened the card.

Happy Sixteenth Birthday Kelly.
I'm sorry for being late with this, I hope it makes it up to you.
Sid

I smiled, I knew he cared. I just liked teasing him, although I was a little pissed he forgot. I opened the box to find a hard cover copy of The History of the Montreal Canadiens. Only Sid would know how much I would love that. How many other girls want books on hockey for presents? At the bottom of the box there was also his Championship Ring he got when they won nationals, laced in a silver chain. I took it out of the box and put it around my neck, where it stayed for the next few years.

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I touched my neck expecting the necklace to still be there, and was disappointed when all I felt was bare skin. I dug further into the box looking for it, I know I had thrown it in there when I cleansed my life of him. I began to lose my composure when I couldn't find it. "Kelly, what are you looking for? Maybe I can help?" Sid grabbed my hands from the box and made me stop and take a breath. I was shaking I was so upset and I was trying to fight his grip.
"The necklace, the one with your ring, the one you gave me for my birthday. I can't find it. I know it's in here."
"Okay, hold on. Relax Kel, it's in here somewhere." He pulled the box closer to himself and pulled stuff out one by one until he stopped and smiled at me. "Here it is." It was hanging around the neck of the moose he had given me. How appropriate. I snatched it off the moose and held it in my hands. He grabbed my hands gently "Do you want to wear it?" He had already undone the clasp. I nodded as he put it around my neck. I knew as soon as he put it on me that this was it. The final bit of hurt, the last bit of doubt, was all now completely gone. For both of us, we could move on and finally forget about the past, well the bad part of the past at least. We would always have our childhood memories to hang on to to bring us back together.