Sammy Boy

“Whadryudoinherrre?” Mackenzie asked, her mouth stuffed full with mini weenies. She swallowed, wiped her mouth with a napkin and repeated the question: “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here for the event of course,” Sid smiled. She’d been on his mind all week and while he enjoyed bumping into her randomly – it brightened his mood considerably – they needed to stop running into each other like this. He wanted to take her out on an old-fashion proper date.

“You two know each other?” Gladys asked.

“He’s the man whose dog I returned. Remember me telling you that story?”

“Ahh, yes. The one who made you dog sit for the day?” – Sidney raised his eye brows playfully and color slowly crept into Mackenzie’s cheek – “You forgot to mention, however, that the dog belonged to the one and only Sidney Crosby!” Gladys exclaimed, squeezing the superstar’s shoulders with her bony hands.

The one and only Sidney Crosby? Mackenzie thought. What does that mean?

Fuck, Sid thought. This was not how I wanted this to happen.

“Oh, my little Chicago cannoli, you don’t even realize who this man is, do you? This is Sidney Crosby, our beloved captain of our Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team! He won the Stanley Cup three years ago for our city! He’s our champion and we just love him here!” Gladys pecked him on his cheek.

Sidney tried to smile through clenched teeth as the woman’s lips made contact with his face, but this wasn’t how he wanted Mackenzie to find out about his career. He had wanted to take her out to dinner that week, but his time and energy got away from him.

Now, here he was in an incredibly awkward threesome, and he wished Gladys was replaced with Sam.

“Well then, my little chickadees, I must mingle so I’ll leave you be. Enjoy the party, kiss kiss,” Gladys draped her shawl over an exposed shoulder and cantered away to make small talk with the party goers.

The pair was left to themselves at the food table and the uncomfortable silence that fell between them was palpable. Neither really knew what to say.

Sure, they were strangers, but Mackenzie felt blindsided by the discovery.

Mackenzie knew about the Stanley Cup – the Chicago Blackhawks had won it two years ago – but she wasn’t an avid hockey fan. She was excited when they became Champions – any twenty year old college kid loved a legitimate excuse to party – but other than that, her knowledge of the sport was minimal: puck, ice, Chelsea Dagger. End of story.

She looked up at “the one and only Sidney Crosby” and expected to see someone different than they guy she met two weeks ago, Sammy’s owner; maybe the reveal would make him look larger, more intimidating…or maybe it would make him look like a coward, someone who didn’t tell the truth even when given an ample amount of opportunities.

But, instead, Mackenzie saw the same man that walked beside her five days earlier, minus the sweatshirt and dog, plus a suit and hair gel.

And boy, did he look good in that suit. It was tailored to fit his body perfectly, and Sidney filled it out nicely. Mackenzie called guys like that “dense.” They weren’t the biggest, but they were solid; she figured if you tried to push him over, Sidney wouldn’t even budge half a centimeter.

“Listen, I know this is kind of awkward,” Sidney began making headway into the unavoidable, “but I can explain…”

A slender arm then landed around his shoulders.

“Sidney Crosby,” Lucy cooed. Her hot pink dress was form fitting and had a plunging neckline; it was just long enough to not be called a shirt, and if you continued down the legs that looked a mile long, you’d see a pair of lethal black stilettos. Her long blonde hair was curled and teased so much that if Mackenzie was being honest, it looked as if she’d been electrocuted a tiny bit. She made Mackenzie want to gag; this was a work event – for cancer none the less – and Lucy looked like she was making the walk of shame twelve hours too soon.

“I am so happy to see you,” the blonde purred in his ear, arm still draped around his shoulders. “I was ecstatic when you agreed to come tonight.”

Sidney squirmed uncomfortably under the weight of her arm, but she didn’t notice.

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s no problem.” His chocolatey brown eyes looked down at Mackenzie, searching for a hint of understanding from her, even though he didn’t deserve it. He wished all these people would go away, that he could talk to her the way he did five days earlier: peacefully and effortlessly.

“I mean, I knew you were a great guy,” Lucy continued. “But, you just give so much of yourself to the people. That’s what I love about you…and I think we have that in common.” – her perfectly glossed lips smacked together before her ridiculous soliloquy raged on – “You’re a go-getter, Sidney, and I’m a go-getter. Making a difference is what it’s all about. I planned the majority of this event, you know?” – Mackenzie’s head snapped up, her brow furrowed – “I worked my ass off to make sure everything was perfect…for the children. They are my number one priority and I said to myself, ‘These kids deserve something great…they deserve Sidney Crosby.’ And I put my mind to it, and here you are.”

Now, Mackenzie had not been exposed to Sidney for very long, but she knew immediately that the laugh he produced for Lucy was one hundred and ten percent fake and contrived. It was not the easy giggle Mackenzie had heard in the time she’d spent with him; this one sounded throaty and bottomless.

“Here I am,” Sidney said when the fake laugh settled.

“There you are!” the familiar voice of James Neal floated into the ears of Sidney, but to him it sounded more like a godsend.

“Hey, Nealer! Good to see you! This is my teammate James Neal. This is Mackenzie” – they shook hands – “and this is…I’m so sorry, I don’t recall your name.”

The bombshell pursed her lips: “Lucy.”

“Right, right, my bad, this is Lucy.”

James shook her hand and gave the usual “nice to meet you.”

“Listen, I think I’m going to head home. Big day tomorrow, eh?” James nudged Sid. The team was excited to have their captain back on the plane with them, even if he wasn’t yet ready to join them on the ice.

“I think I’m going to head out, too,” Sidney quickly latched onto the getaway train. “Cool event, Lucy.”

Lucy clearly was not used to a man leaving her without an invitation to join. “Thanks for coming,” she snuffed before her stilettos clicked away from the group.

“Holy shit, is she always like that? I was here for twenty seconds and I felt like she was going to eat me,” James Neal shook his head. Mackenzie noticed he had a great head of hair; she wondered what kind of shampoo he used.

“Oh no,” Mac laughed. “She doesn’t eat.”

“Haha, alright then, I’m out. See you on the plane tomorrow, Sidney.”

James then turned and retraced his path to the exit.

Sidney turned to Mackenzie.

“Look, I know this is so crazy and I didn’t want you to find out I was a hockey player like this. I wanted to take you out to dinner and explain everything, but I can’t really do that at this moment in time. So, when the party is over, please meet me by the Franktuary Fountain and let me tell you the truth.” His eyes pleaded for the brunette to agree.

Damn puppy dog eyes, Mackenzie thought. Between him and Sam, the pair’s eyes had a power over her that she couldn’t explain.

“The party won’t end until late…”

“I will wait. I will be at that fountain until you get there.”

Mackenzie wasn’t sure if she wanted to hear what he had to say. He had enough time the previous weekend to say something and he didn’t. What was a three in the morning confessional going to prove?

“I’ll meet you there at midnight.”