‹ Prequel: Oh Captain, My Captain

Captain of My Life

Captain of My Life 012:

Chapter Twelve
“No, no, no, throw it Andy!” I laughed and shook my head, “You’re not suppose to run it to ‘em.”

“My son,” Sidney laughed and I nudged my shoulder into his, “This was your idea.”

“No, this was Andrew’s idea. We agreed on this a few years ago that when he was old enough, I would sign him up for t-ball,” I said and Sidney sighed, “Hey, relax, we’re you good at hockey when you first started?”

“No,” he muttered and I smirked.

“There ya go, he needs time,” I said and Sidney nodded his head, “You gunna pick Alicia up from hockey?”

“Yeah,” Sidney said and I nodded my head, “I better get going now. I’ll see you at home?”

“Yeah, can you pick the twins up at dad’s?”

“Sure, how long is this?”

“You mean our son’s t-ball practice? Another half hour,” I said and Sidney nodded his head and then left.

I sighed and then shook my head, ‘…He’ll never get over the fact that Andy doesn’t want to play hockey…’

Three years have passed, Alicia is six and in kindergarten, she’s attends the local peewee hockey camp twice a week after school. She’s too young to be on a team, she’s got at least another year or two.

Andrew’s five and in preschool, he was signed up to play t-ball camp this year, like Alicia, he was too young to be on an actual team, but this camp is to help him get prepared for the team, and today was his second practice. Also like Alicia, the camp is two times a week, right after school, and on the same day as Alicia’s camp. It’s hard because we try to be there for both of them, but sometimes we can’t. Sidney missed Andrew’s first practice because he was with Alicia, and I wanted him to see at least one. So my dad dropped Alicia off at practice and then Sidney was going to pick her up. I’ve tried to work with Andrew over the years, but it was a little hard with the twins and all. Andrew was good at catching the ball, it was his throwing and understanding the rules that he needed to work on. I still loved my little guy though.

The twins were three and had just celebrated their third birthday last month. We had a little party at the house and there were a lot of people there. The whole team and their wives or girlfriends, plus the ones that had kids needed to bring theirs.

The team hasn’t really changed, they had two new guys, but I didn’t know much about them. They were brothers, they were quiet, but they played amazingly. Everyone pretty much gets along, and I was happy about that. Some of the rookies from three years ago were still there; they had finally learned their place. The season was almost over, the Penguins were in the middle of the playoffs and things were getting a little intense. I regret to say that I haven’t really been paying attention, Sidney tells me at night how the teams are, but I’m so busy during the day, taking care of the kids, it’s hard to stay up to listen to him.

His contract ends at the end of next season, Sidney doesn’t talk about it, but I’m curious to know if he’s going to try and renew it, or retire. I wouldn’t mind having him around, but I know he loves his hockey.

“Alex!” I heard and turned my head to see Brandon and Max walking over towards me.

“Hey,” I laughed and then smiled when they came over towards me and sat on each side of me.

“Where’s Sid?” Max asked.

“You just missed him, he had to go and get Alicia from camp.”

“So how is the kid at this?” Brandon asked as he looked at the field.

“He’s uh- he’s,” I laughed a little, “He needs some work, but he’ll be all right, this is just camp, it’s not the actual team.”

“How’s Sid taking the whole, no hockey thing?” Max asked and I scoffed, “Not well.”

“He won’t show it, but I know he’s a little hurt that Andrew doesn’t want to be like him.”

“What made him get into baseball?” Brandon asked.

“My dad, he use to play baseball in college.”

“Oh that’s right, the big Yankee fan,” he said and I shook my head.

“I personally can’t stand the sport, but if Andrew likes it,” I said and then threw my hands in the air, “I’m gunna be there for my son and support him.”

“How’s Alicia with hockey?” Max asked.

“According to Sid, she’s just like her mother,” I smiled brightly and the boys laughed, “I’m not sure what the twins like yet.”

“They like getting into trouble,” Brandon laughed and my eyes widened and I nodded my head.

“That’s definitely true, god, I can’t take my eyes off of those two,” I said and we laughed.

“Uncle Brandon! Uncle Max!” Andrew yelled and I looked to see that he was running over to where we were sitting on the bleachers, dragging his baseball bag behind him.

“Hey kid! What’s up?” Brandon asked as he stood up and picked Brandon up.

“Did you see me out there?!”

“Oh yeah! We saw you!” Max laughed and I smiled.

“Where’s dad?”

“Oh, uh, he ya- he had to go and get Alicia, but he stayed for most of it!” I said and Andrew sighed and nodded his head, “Come on little man, we’re having pizza for dinner tonight.”

“Pizza!” he yelled happily and I laughed.

“You two are welcomed,” I said and Brandon smirked and shook his head.

“Naw, we gotta pick the girls up from the airport, they get back from their trip today,” Brandon said and I nodded my head.

“How’s my Addison, Max? I haven’t seen her in so long,” I said talking about my cousin, Amanda’s daughter, my goddaughter, Addison.

“She’s thirteen, going through her first crush,” Max said and then rolled his eyes, “Like I’ll let that happen.”

I smirked and picked Andrew’s bag up, “She start to call you ‘dad’ yet?”

“Yeah, she just started recently,” he said with a smirk on his face, “Lily finally started to sleep at night too,” Max said talking about his ten month old daughter.

Max and Amanda got married last year and had Lily and adopted Addison, since she was from Amanda’s previous boyfriend. After they got married, Max bought a house, leaving the condo that he and Brandon use to share, all to Brandon and his three year girlfriend, April, who was also Max’s cousin. I was waiting for Brandon to propose to the girl because I liked her very much.

“Mom, what did dad think of me?” Andrew asked as he climbed into the SUV.

“He was proud of you,” I said as I closed the door, “Sit down now.”

‘…Oh boy…’ I thought as I sighed and threw Andrew’s baseball bag into the back of the SUV and walked over towards the driver’s side.

“What did he say?” Andrew asked as I turned the car on.

“He thought you were very good,” I lied and then pulled out of my parking spot, “Why don’t you ask him when we get home?”

“All right.”

When we got home, Sidney was just getting out of his SUV. I smiled when Alicia jumped out of the car and ran over towards me. I bent down and hugged her, “Hey baby!”

“Mommy! You should have seen me! I got a goal!”

“Really? Are you able to get one past Uncle Marc yet?” I laughed and Alicia pouted.

“No, not yet,” she said and I grabbed her chin and made her look at me.

“Don’t worry, it took a while for mommy to score against Uncle Marc too.”

“Really?!” she asked and I nodded my head, “But you’re so good!”

“Uncle Marc is better,” I laughed, “Daddy still has times scoring against Uncle Marc.”

“Really?!”

“What are you telling her now?” Sidney laughed as he walked over towards me.

“Nothing,” I smiled and then kissed his cheek, “Where are the twins?”

“They didn’t want to leave your dad’s; they were playing with the boys across the street.”

“Oh,” I said and then looked towards Andrew, he was getting his bag from the back of the car, “Talk to your son, he thinks that you don’t like him playing baseball.”

“I don’t-“ he stopped because I looked at him sharply, “I just don’t understand why he doesn’t like hockey.”

“Then ask him,” I whispered, “Spend some time with your son, he misses you.”

“Fine,” he said and I shook my head and walked away.

“How ‘bout doing it because you want to!” I yelled as I walked towards the door, grabbing Alicia’s hand and walking into the house with her, “Come on sweetie, let’s go get dinner ready.”

“What’s for dinner?”

“Mommy’s not cooking so pizza,” I laughed.

“PIZZA!!!”