Love Never Felt So Good

Bailey touched down in Pitt at 4:30 in the afternoon, completely and utterly exhausted. It was a long, arduous week, her ankle was killing her, she had been dancing and teaching on a sprain, and the paparazzi always followed her more closely in LA than in New York. Slowly making her way from the terminal to the pick up area, she wanted to cry when she saw the familiar black SUV, and Sidney leaning up against with a red Starbucks cup in hand – so she did.

“Hey you.” Sidney wrapped her in a hug, surprised as he heard a little sniffle come out and a shake of her shoulders. “What’s the matter, huh?” He asked, quick to shuffle her into the car when he noticed a few photographers that had yet to take their photo.

“I just missed you a lot, and my ankle is fucking killing me, my flight sucked, and I don’t want to have to go back in three weeks.” She listed off. “I’m just being dramatic.” She said, wiping her eyes as he pulled away from the pickup area, feeling confident no one had taken their photo. “Where’s the baby?” She asked, knowing that Sidney almost always brought Belle with him to the airport when he would come to pick her up.

“She was asleep when I left the house, I took her to the dog park yesterday and she ran for like four hours straight, so I thought I’d just leave her be.” He said with a grin, causing a new flood of tears to stream down Bailey’s cheeks. “What? You don’t want me to do that?” He asked, unsure of what was going on with his girlfriend.

“No, you’re just so sweet and I can’t believe you take Belle to the park when I’m gone.” She nearly choked through her tears.

“Can I ask you something without you getting offended?” He asked, causing her big brown eyes to snap in his direction. “Would you happen to be coming up on…” He wasn’t sure how to word it.

“Yes, Sid, I’m on my period.” She rolled her eyes, “but that doesn’t actually make me any crazier than normal. I just missed you and I think it’s cute you take Belle on walks without me.” Bailey swallowed, setting her untouched drink in the cup holder, pulling her knees up to her chest and looking out the window for the remainder of the drive home.

Sidney was embarrassed, knowing he probably shouldn’t have asked her that when she was obviously already having a tough time. He tried to lighten the mood with a little music, but it was apparent after about two minutes she wasn’t interested.

Pulling into the garage, Bailey grabbed her backpack and tote before Sidney could even try to grab them, bringing them up to the bedroom and tossing them in the corner closest to her night stand, not feeling like unpacking at the moment. She had been slowly moving in with Sidney for about two weeks, bringing things over a carload at a time.

“Babe?” Sidney poked his head into the bedroom to see Bailey curled up on the bed with Belle snuggled up to her back, acting as her own little heating pad.

“No.” She replied, causing his lips to purse together and his eyebrows to shoot up. He knew better than to mess with a cranky woman and backed away, closing the door behind him. He headed downstairs, opening up the fridge to see what he had to make dinner. He pulled some chicken out of the fridge, and grabbed two zucchinis from the vegetable drawer before reaching for a box of pasta.

Sidney crept back upstairs, cursing himself for not leaving his phone charger in the kitchen earlier. He glanced over to see that Bailey was lightly snoozing, but Belle was eyeing him wearily as he plugged his phone in on the nightstand. As Sidney snuck back downstairs and cooked dinner, Bailey drifted in and out of a fitful sleep. When she finally decided she couldn’t lay in bed any longer, she grabbed her cell to check the time only to see that it was dead.

She rolled across the bed, reaching for Sidney’s and pressing the home button on the iPhone. While it flashed the time, it also showed a text from Dad Cell.

“Glad I could come visit this weekend with your schedule, I know how busy you are. Text me when…” She trailed off as she read the short preview on the screen. Was Sidney’s dad in town that weekend when she was in LA? She had asked him a few times when they spoke on the phone, he never mentioned seeing his dad. But it said right here that they saw each other this weekend – so either Sidney’s dad came to Pittsburgh or Sidney went home.

Bailey tried to shake the feeling as she took a quick shower, putting her hair up in milkmaid braids across the top of her head and dressing in a pair of skinny jeans and an old Fall Out Boy band tee she had cut up, but no matter what, her mind drifted back to the text. She applied a thin line of eyeliner and a light coat of mascara along with her usual red lips. She grabbed his cell, plugging hers in instead and head downstairs where she could smell dinner cooking.

“Hey.” Sidney smiled, it sometimes devastated her how handsome he truly was.

“Hi.” She replied, reaching into the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water, snarling a bit at the site of the Powerade. She had so much Powerade since she met Sidney, just the sight of it now made her cringe. Cracking open the bottle, she waited for Sidney to face her as she set his phone on the counter top. “Phone’s at 100 percent. I checked it before I unplugged it.” She said, wrapping her lips around the water bottle and watching as he gulped.

Sidney meant to click the lock button, see if he had any missed calls from Pat, and stick the Apple device in his pocket. However, when he clicked the lock button and saw the text from Troy, he paused. He looked up and made eye contact with Bailey again as she took a drink of her water, not blinking as she stared him down.

“Have fun this weekend?” She asked, raising an eyebrow. Sidney collected his thoughts, knowing each passing moment of silence was another scoop of the shovel digging the hole he was in.

“Uh, yeah, my Dad came down for two days, we spent some time with Pat and Mario.” He nodded, rubbing the back of his neck.

“That must have been nice of him to be able to come down on such short notice.” She baited the hook. Sidney knew if he nodded, it would look like he was agreeing, but he was sure they both knew that wasn’t the truth.

“He talked about coming down this weekend for a few weeks,” he nodded, feeling like an ass.

“So did you guys go out, buy some hookers and do some blow?” She asked casually, catching his attention. “I mean, obviously if you didn’t want me to know he was in the city, you must have been doing some pretty awful shit you didn’t want me to find out about.” She said, as though it was the only logical answer.

“Bailey.” He sighed, knowing this was not going to end in his favor.

“I know I’m not Sidney Crosby, savior to Pittsburgh, but I didn’t know I was so embarrassing that after nine months and moving in together, you still don’t want me to meet your parents.” She slammed the water bottle down on to the countertop, turning to leave the kitchen. She changed her mind, turning on her heel to face him again. “What do you even tell them when they ask about me? That I’m always unavailable? Do you always wait until I’m gone to speak to them or have them come visit when I’m out of town? Did your Dad not see my pictures, or tampons obviously girly stuff around the house? Does he even know I moved in?” She asked, gesturing with her hands.

The longer Sidney struggled for words, the worse she began to feel.

“Unless… they don’t know about me.” She looked up at him. “You have nothing to explain to them because they have nothing to wonder about.” His face said it all. She shook her head, turning again and storming out of the kitchen, up the stairs and to the bedroom, grabbing her same bags from her LA trip as well as another from the closet, grabbing her gadgets and chargers.

“Bailey, stop it, let me explain.” Sidney said as he appeared in the doorway. “Come on, cut it out.” He frowned.

“Leave me alone, Sidney.” She put her hands up in front of her.

“Look, I didn’t tell my parents about you because my dad is… he doesn’t want anything but success for me.” He began.

“And dating me means failure?” She asked with a rhetorical laugh, shaking her head.

“No! But, he wouldn’t approve of me being so serious with someone during the season…” Sidney didn’t know how to word what he wanted to say.

“Are you fucking kidding me? My dad was a huge asshole to you, I know it, you know it, my brother and mom knew it, but I never – not once – thought of hiding you from them.” She brandished her phone at him before tossing it in her backpack. “Because you’re important to me and they’re important to me, and I wanted them to like you! And guess what, my dad still doesn’t like you, and here we are four months later, living together.”

“You’re important to me, too, Bailey, you know that.” Sidney felt helpless.

“Yes, I can tell I’m so important to you, that’s why after nine fucking months you’ve failed to mention me to your family.” She shook her head. “Real asshole move, Crosby.” She spit. “You know that you make absolutely no sense, right? Talking to me about marrying me, our future, our kids, all that… and you haven’t even told your parents you’re dating someone – much less living together?” She counted off on her fingers.

“Bailey, I love you,” Sidney urged, but she cut him off at the bit.

“Well, if it’s more convenient for you to love me in the summer, you can try giving me a call then.” She said sarcastically, throwing her bags over her shoulder and leaving the bedroom, breezing right past him. “Belle!” She called, summoning the pug, who was already hot on her heels.

“Bailey, don’t just walk out, we can talk about this.” Sidney followed her down the stairs.

Bailey threw open the garage door, one foot in the house and one foot out.

“You know what a girl thinks when she finds out her boyfriend lies to her about seeing his own parents?” She asked, her heart breaking at sight of his gorgeous face. “She begins to wonder who else he’s seeing without telling her.” She finished, watching as his face went from sad to angry.

“You know I would never – ”

“Save it, Sid.” She put her hand up, “I don’t want to hear it.” Sidney watched as she threw her bags into her car, Belle jumping in the backseat as she drove out of the garage. After she closed the door with her opener, she tossed that out onto the snow-covered lawn. She wasn’t going to need that any time soon.

“FUCK!” Sidney shouted as he slammed the garage door shut. He stormed through the house swiftly, grabbing a plate from the kitchen counter, where their dinner was now cold, and slammed it down against the marble, watching it shatter into big, clunky pieces – and also effectively cutting his palm open.

He knew he fucked up. He just wasn’t sure how to fix it – or if he could.