Oh Captain, My Captain

Chapter Seven
The week went by fast and it was time for me to head home. My Dad and I ended up going back to the dinner yesterday for some breakfast, this time without my Mother. I went out with Mel, Sam and Steph again, and spent time with some other friends. Jake and I had gone out to get a drink one night and then I spent another night walking in the local dog park with Sarabi.

I packed the car and then called Sarabi to jump into the backseat on her big pillow. I started the car and then headed back to Pittsburgh. It took me a little longer to get back because I got stuck in traffic.

As I entered Pittsburgh, you could see the practice rink from the highway and saw that there were some cars there. Even though Sarabi was in the car, I decided that I was going to stop in and see what was going on. I parked the car and got out. I opened the door for Sarabi to get out and then the two of us walked towards the rink. I could hear someone skating on the ice and walked over towards the bleachers to see that Sidney was there.

“Of course he is,” I muttered and shook my head, “Come on, girl,” I called and then Sarabi followed me as I walked across the bleachers and climbed under the gates to get to the benches. Sarabi followed and then sat next to me as I watched as Sidney skated, “And they say I’m a workaholic.”

“Alex? What are you doing here? And what is that?” Sidney asked as he skated over here.

“I just got back, thought I would stop by to see if you were here and I’m not surprised at all to see that you are,” I said and Sidney laughed, “This is Sarabi, my dog.”

“She’s beautiful.”

“Yeah well, I raised her well,” I teased and Sidney laughed and climbed over the wall and sat next to me, “How do you feel?”

“Tired.”

“Maybe you should get some rest,” I said and he snorted.

“Me? Rest? That’ll hurt my reputation.”

“Oh well, excuse me!” I laughed and Sarabi walked around me and stood in front of Sidney and placed her head on his lap. He was petting her head and then I started to laugh as she slimed him.

“Ah! Ew! She slimed me! I’ve been slimed!!!” he cried, which only made me laugh harder.

“She likes you,” I said while trying to control my laughter.

“Well that’s great, but couldn’t she show me by like, I don’t know, shaking my hand, or like wagging her tail!” he said and had to hold my ribs because I was laughing so hard, “So how did your trip go?”

“It was ok, I’m happy to be back here, though.”

“A better response than I thought I was going to get,” Sidney said and I shook my head and watched as Sarabi cuddled up to him.

“It’s not like I spent the whole time with my parents.”

“Are they really that bad? I mean, I thought time away from them might like make you miss them.”

“I miss my Dad, but my Mom’s caused too much pain for any sort of bonding to go on,” I confessed and I heard Sidney sigh.

“Well that’s too bad,” he said and I nodded my head and looked at him to see that Sarabi was staring at him. She then reached up and licked his face and he backed away, making me laugh, “Aw, come on!”

“She really likes you,” I said and then pulled her away, “We better head home, I think she misses the freedom to run around the backyard.”

“Yeah and I need to clean up,” he said and I nodded my head.

“Come on, Sarabi,” I called and then stood up and walked over towards the gate. I gave Sarabi a boost up and then climbed under.

“Hey,” I turned around to look at Sidney, “You wanna get something to eat later? I think I still owe you a tour around the city.”

I smiled towards him and then nodded my head, “I’d like that.”

“All right, I’ll call you later,” he said and I smiled.

“All right.”

“Cool,” he said and then started to walk back into the locker room and I walked out of the rink and headed over towards my car.

“A night with Sidney Crosby, this should be interesting,” I said to myself as I got into my car, “But it’s not like it’s a date. He just wants to show me around the city.”

I made my way home and then unpacked my car. After I started the laundry, I decided that I was going to text Mel and let her know that I was going to be going out with Sidney tonight, I wanted to hear her reaction to that. As I walked upstairs to my room, I heard the landline phone ringing and I ran to grab it.

“Hello?”

“Hey, cuz!”

“Who is this?”

“Wow I’m hurt! It’s Brandon!”

“Oh, wow, I’m sorry! You know we have a huge family!” I yelled into the phone teasing my older cousin, Brandon.

“Yeah I know.”

“And besides, ya’ll sound alike!”

“Shut up! Don’t remind me!”

I laughed and then walked into my room. Brandon was my older cousin, by two years, on my Mother’s side and was a fellow NHL player. He lived in Texas with the rest of my family on my Mother’s side, and played for the Dallas Stars. I’ve played against him before while on the Kings, and it was an interesting game, but we won. Brandon and I were the only people on out family to enjoy the sport of hockey, the rest of our family only watches for our sakes, well, some do. My Mother came from seven, six girls and one boy, and my Father came from three, two boys and one girl. I have so many cousins that it’s hard to remember who is who.

“So what’s up, Brandon?”

“I just heard that you got traded!”

“Yeah, to the Pittsburgh Penguins.”

“Pittsburgh? It’s that in Pennsylvania?”

“Yup, I’m back in Pennsylvania,” I grumbled and heard Brandon laugh.

“You sound so thrilled.”

“I hadn’t realized. So, how did you find out?”

“It was announced on the NHL channel, and you know I live off of that channel.”

“Oh, honestly, I haven’t had any time to watch TV lately.”

“Yeah, I got traded too!”

“Really?! Where?”

“To the Boston Bruins.”

I was kind of surprised that he was traded to the Bruins, but I was happy for him, “Wow, I know they were interested in me, but the Penguins out bided them.”

“Wow, they just sold you away,” Brandon teased and I laughed.

“Yup, apparently I’m not priceless.”

“Neither of us are,” he said and then sighed into the phone.

“Yeah, trust me, I know what you mean,” I said and then something just hit me, “Hey, how did you get this number? I don’t remember giving my home number out.”

“Your Dad gave it to me. I called your parents and I was lucky to get your Dad. I’m assuming you never gave your Mom your number?”

“You assume correctly.”

“How heartless,” he teased and I shook my head as I walked into my walk-in closet.

“So when are you heading up to Boston?” I asked changing the subject.

“I’ll be leaving in about three weeks. What about you?”

“I’m already here. You called my house, Einstein!”

“Oh, right,” he said and then laughed it off, “So you should come up and visit me.”

“Or you can come down and visit me.”

“That too, I’m probably going to be in an apartment.”

“I’m in a house.”

“Who are you with this time?”

“Myself. I bought my own house,” I explained and then started to go through my closet.

“Cool, is that because of Sarabi?”

“Yeah, my Coach said I could bring her, but we were going to be living in a small apartment and that would be too much on her, so I just decided to by my own place.”

“Cool. So did you meet your team yet?”

“I just met my Coach and Captain.”

“Who’s the Captain?”

“Sidney Crosby.”

“Ah, the Golden Boy! That should be interesting.”

“Yeah well, you have the Lucic guy on your team.”

“Milan Lucic?”

“Yeah, that guy scares the shit out of me.”

“Yeah, I’ve never had to play against him, and now I’m on the same team as him.”

“Well that’s the same with me. I’ve never played against any of these teams on the East other than the Devils.”