Like You Wanna Be Loved

“Steff?”

Steff soon appeared in the doorway, a panicked look on her face. “Who are you two,” she asked, staring perplexed at the two hockey players sitting beside me.

“I’m Jordan. This is Geno. We’re friends of Sid’s,” Jordan told her with a friendly smile planted on his face.

“Who’s Sid? Nicole, what’s going on,” Steff asked looking around between the three of us on the bed.

“Nicole, why she not know Sid?”

“Guys, can I talk to Steff alone for a sec?” Jordan and Geno hesitantly stood up and slowly left the room, their eyes never leaving mine. “I’ll be fine. I promise.”

“What is going on,” Steff repeated once the door closed behind the boys.

“This is going to sound completely crazy but here goes: I have amnesia, but it’s not like normal amnesia because I’ve only forgotten select people in my life like the boyfriend that I clearly never told you about who I’d been dating for the past two years…though that seems to have gone down the tubes now,” I told her in one huge, run-on sentence.

“How have you been dating someone for two years without anyone knowing? Tell me all about him!”

“I’m not sure how I managed to keep it a secret, but I don’t think anyone knows. His name is Sidney Crosby and he’s the captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He’s-“

“Wait! You, Nicole Miller, the biggest Red Wings fan ever, have been dating a Pittsburgh Penguin for two years?! That can’t be true.”

“Well apparently it is. I was in the bathroom earlier and Kelsey told me someone was here to see me. Sidney Crosby was just sitting on my bed waiting for me. I’d love to believe that this isn’t real. I’d love to believe that everything is a lie, but why would three hockey players show up at the house looking for me as a prank?”

“I don’t know, Nicole. Did you say that you and Sidney broke up though? You broke up with a guy that you were dating for two years because he isn’t part of the Red Wings? That’s fucked up.”

“I didn’t break up with him because of hockey. He just couldn’t handle everything that’s going on. I mean, I don’t blame him; it’s a lot to handle.”

“Nicole, you dated the guy for two years and you let him walk away because you ran into a rough patch? What the fuck were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that I don’t want to be in a relationship with someone who doesn’t want to be in a relationship with me. Seriously, Steff, he called our relationship a waste of time. That’s not okay, whether I love him or not.”

“Did he actually say ‘waste of time’ or are you paraphrasing?”

“Those are the exact words that came out of his mouth,” I assured her.

“Well, in that case, good riddance. So who are the guys in the hallway?”

“Geno and Jordan. They play on the team with Sidney. They came up here to visit with him.”

“And where is Sidney? I’d sure love to give him a piece of my mind.”

“I don’t know where he went. He stormed out of the room before I called you.”

There was a knock on the door and my head snapped in its direction. The door cracked open and Sidney’s face appeared. “Nicole?” I looked away, refusing to see his face. Instead, I started grabbing my things. “Nicole, please look at me.” He was begging but I wasn’t going to give in.

“Is this him,” Steff questioned, her anger rising by the second.

“Don’t worry about it, Steff. Let’s go.” I pull the door open all the way and push past Sidney.

“Nicole, where are you going? You’re supposed to be staying overnight for testing.”

“I’m going out. I need a drink, so I’m gonna go have a good time.”

“Nicole, you shouldn’t drink. You might have a concussion,” Jordan warned me.

“I’ll be fine, Jordan.”

I walked up to the nurse’s station. “Hi. I’d like to check out now.”

“Okay. I just need you to sign this form and you’ll be free to leave.”