Last Chance

I swallowed, trying to find my voice. "Why are you here Sid?" I asked, letting my anger brew while he tried to talk himself out of this one.
"I wanted to congratulate you in person!" He said with a smile on his face.
"Why?" I asked dully
"What do you mean 'Why'? Kelly I know this has been your dream since you were a kid."
"And you care why?" My temper was bubbling now, almost boiling. Who does he think he is? Stops all contact from me and cuts our frienship off like I was nothing to waltz back into my life right now? This is supposed to be the happiest day of my life and seeing him has brought back memories of the worst day of my life.

-----Fall 2005-------

"What do you mean you just can't?" I asked, trying to hold back the tears.
"Kel, I just can't. My schedule is so busy and I don't want to hold you back from anything."
"You've been my best friend for ten years and you're just going to say friendship off, just like that? Because now you are going to be some big hotshot and don't want me messing your life up? Sid, it's not like that."
"You could never mess with my life Kelly, it's more like I don't want to mess up yours. I won't have time for you, you deserve better than that out of a friend."
"Oh my god Sid, it's not like I'm asking you to ask me to move to Pittsburgh with you! You know what Crosby, you can go fuck yourself! Taking away our friendship is one hundred and ten times worse than when Carl broke up with me and broke my heart. Shame on you Sid, I thought you were better than that. Get out of my house! I hate you! I don't want to ever see you again!" I put my head in my hands and cried.

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"Sidney Crosby, how dare you! I don't want to talk to you now, or ever!" I opened my car door and before he could try to change my mind I slammed it shut and started the ignition. He held his hands up, trying to stop me. I reved the engine, pushed on the clutch, and put my car into reverse. I sped out of the parking lot and headed towards home. I felt the tears coming as I gripped the steering wheel, I completely missed my turn off. I didn't care, I just kept driving. I drove until I ended up outside the Max Bell Arena. I turned the car off, grabbed my gear and walked in the side door. I was lucky that the ice was unoccupied and I would pay the fee later. I needed to skate out my frustrations. I should be celebrating tonight, not having a near mental breakdown. I laced up my skates and glided onto the ice. I worked my legs hard, skating around the rink before grabbing some pucks. I shot them one after the other into the net until I had no more pucks left to shoot. I didn't realize how worked up I was until I had stopped shooting, the tears had returned and I was a mess. I wiped my nose with my glove and skated over to the bench. I remembered the first time Sid had asked me to play with him.

-----Winter 1995-----

Nearly every day during the season I was at the rink. If I wasn't skating, I was just hanging out with my dad and riding the Zamboni. Sometimse I would see him. The boy, I didn't know his name. He always watched me skate. Sometimes he would talk to me, and sometimes he wouldn't. I liked him though, he was nice to me and he liked the fact that I could skate. I had just finished up with my dad and was about to take a quick skate when I saw him. He was smiling when he came up to me.
"I'm Sidney." He held his hand out. I didn't want to touch him, to me boys were gross.
"I'm Kelly."
"Kelly, I was wondering if you wanted to come skate on the pond with me and my friends. We could play shinny or something? I know you are a good skater. It will be fun."
"I don't want to play against boys. No thank you. Thanks for asking."
"I promise it will be okay." He tried to reassure me.
"Boys think girls can't play and they will be mean to me. Thank you for asking but maybe another time. I'm going to go skate for a few minutes before we leave." I told him.
"Can I come too?" He asked, with a smile on his face.
"I guess so." I said shyly.
"Oh, and here, I brought you my old stick incase you wanted to come play with us. Yours is too long, this one will be better." He grabbed it out of his bag and handed it to me.
"Th-thank you" I mumbled as I took it from him. The only stick I ever owned was my dad's old one.
We put on our skates and headed onto the ice. I grabbed the bucket of pucks that was sitting on the side and lined them up on the blueline. "My shot isn't very good, I'd rather defend." I whispered.
"Okay, you defend on me. I like to score."
"I don't want to you let me stop you though. I need to get practice."
"Deal." He nodded as he lined up to the first puck. I strategically placed myself infront of him and started skated backwards and jabbing at his stick. He moved easily around me and flung the puck into the net.
"No fair!" I cried. "Do it again!" We did this for what seemed like forever. Always he would get around me. I finally gave up and was happy when my dad told me it was time to go.
"My dad's here, I'm going. Maybe I'll see you again Sidney Crosby. Thanks for beating me." I stuck my tongue out at him as I grabbed my dad's hand and left he arena.

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"Hey Kelly? Are you okay?" I looked up to see Jeff, the Arena manager.
"No, not really. I made the team." I said between my sobs.
"Congratulations! That's awesome news. You should be so happy! Why are you crying hun?"
"Because the one person who I hate more than anyone in this world just walked back into my life and I don't know what to do!" I put my head back in my hands.
"Do you want to talk about it? Who is this person?" He asked.
"I can't talk about it. I gotta go. Sorry Jeff." I started to unlace my skates feverishly. I couldn't get them off fast enough. I slid my flip flops back on and headed towards the parking lot.

Pull yourself together Kelly! I told myself as I drove home. As soon as I drove around the corner I saw his SUV sitting parked on the street. Go figure, the bastard knew where I lived. I took a deep breath and pulled into my parking lot, trying to string together the curse words that would hurt him the most. The words that would make him feel like he made me feel the day he left me behind forever.