All I'll Ever Need

“Sidney Patrick Crosby, I swear, if I didn’t love you so damn much, I’d probably kill you.”

I could hear his boyish laughter the moment I said his full name, but despite my angry façade, I was already in love with this car sitting in front of me.

Sidney kept his word that I forced him to make . . . he got me a Jetta. It wasn’t exactly what I meant, though. When I told him it had to be a Jetta, I hadn’t really thought too much into it. Most people would’ve gotten a similar year at least.

Most people weren’t Sidney, however. This was a brand fucking new Jetta, and from the looks of it, it wasn’t just a stock brand new Jetta either.

My eyes narrowed as I took a tiny step towards it. “I’m terrified to open the door.”

Sidney continued to laugh. “What? Why?”

I gave him a skeptical stare before looking back to the Jetta. “I mean, it . . . it looks so fancy . . . . Is it safe to use?”

For some reason, that made Sidney laugh much harder than I expected. Sure, it was a joke because as much work and money as I’m sure Sidney had put into this car, it was gonna be a fucking safe vehicle.

But Sidney sounded like he might die because he was laughing so hard. It wasn’t unusual for Sidney to laugh a lot, but this was something else entirely. In all our time we had spent together—wow, it had barely even been a month—I had never heard him laugh quite this hard.

“Holy shit, Mika, I just . . . wow,” he breathed, and he had to take a few deep breaths before he could go on. “I’ll explain later.”

My only response to that was a simple cock of my eyebrow, which he ignored, so I carried on. “Sidney . . . you did this on purpose.”

He nodded. “Of course I did. I want you to have the best.”

“But I already have the best if I have you,” I insisted. “Come on, Sid. This is a bit much.”

I caught him off guard, but he recovered faster than he usually did. Still, with furrowed eyebrows and a huge smile, he looked to the car. “I mean, it’s a Jetta. I could’ve gone a lot worse.”

I glared at him. “Yeah, but you also could’ve done better. I had a 2002, ya know.”

He shrugged. “Now you have a 2014.”

My eyes narrowed. “That’s too fucking new.”

With a smirk, he shrugged his shoulders again. “It’s got XM radio.”

It irritated me how happy that made me because with the mention of “XM radio,” I was suddenly okay with this car being newer than my old one.

No, Mika! Fight his temptations . . . this car is evil!

I shot him another glare. “That’s beside the point. I’ll be cursing your name as I’m jamming out to the station that I will swear they made just for me.”

Sidney laughed again as I began to pout. “Oh, whatever. You love it. It’s blacked out and everything.”

That didn’t make me feel any better about it, though he was right. The glossy black paint, those sexy black rims . . . it went perfectly with the blacked out Volkswagen symbol.

“Turn it on,” Matty suggested. “You’re really gonna get mad.”

Sidney frowned. “Come on, dude, I was totally hoping to live to see the game tonight.”

I scoffed. “Well, dear, I plan to drive to the game tonight, so you wouldn’t.”

“I have to be there before you, so I would, too,” he said, and he stuck his tongue out at me. “Oh! That does remind me. We’re all getting there earlier than we normally would, as are the rest of the wives and girlfriends. Can you do that too?”

I think my eyes must’ve lit up because Sidney’s did too, but really, I couldn’t help it. The wives and girlfriends were coming early, and Sidney wanted me there, too. Maybe we weren’t official, but in his mind, that was how he saw me.

Maybe girlfriend wasn’t such a lie after all.

The smile that pulled across my lips was much bigger than I expected, but I embraced it. “Sure. Sounds like fun. Just curious. Why are we getting there early?”

Sidney shrugged. “We do it sometimes to just hang out before a game.”

I didn’t question it after that because Sidney handed me the key to the car. It was a switch blade key, just like my other key had been, but it was much newer and far less scratched than my other one.

The charcoal soft leather seats were comfortable, and I easily settled into it. The rest of the interior was black, except for the bright blue on the throttle. Truth be told, if I had the money, this was exactly how I would’ve gotten the car.

When I turned it on, the blue lights that came on both at my feet and on the radio made me jump, but holy shit, it looked awesome. The floor lights were on both sides, and while I stared at them, Sidney reached in and pushed a button.

I was far too easily amused . . . the lights changed colors, and I swore I would be distracted with it while driving down the road.

This car was gonna kill me, but it would be one hell of a way to die.

The XM radio was on, but with the volume at a normal place, it was hard to tell if the speakers were stock or not. One good thing about Jettas—or maybe all German cars in general—was the stock radio. It was actually pretty damn good.

I decided to test that out later. First, I had to kill myself a hockey player for spending money on pointless additions to a car that would end up getting me killed.

Sidney had a very adorable and innocent smile as I glared up at him again. “I mean, in all fairness, I’m trying to make up for being an idiot and hitting you in the first place.”

“If you hadn’t hit me, I wouldn’t have to drive this far too expensive car around!” I exclaimed.

“Yes, but we also wouldn’t have met,” he reminded me. “So, am I worth having to drive an expensive car around?”

I frowned. “Well, of course you are. I just wish you wouldn’t waste your money. It was supposed to be the same thing except a different color.”

“You just said a Jetta, and you would prefer a different color,” he pointed out. “Never said it had to be the same make and model. Besides, how the hell was I supposed to know what year it was? We never talked about it, really.”

“The year wasn’t necessarily important, but it wasn’t supposed to be brand new!” I exclaimed. “You knew this wasn’t the car I had.”

While I continued to glare at him, he brushed it off and placed his hands on my shoulders. “Hey, beautiful, it’s okay. This is something you’re gonna have to get used to with me. I like to spoil you, and I will continue to do that. You can either make a huge deal every time or learn to deal with it.”

“I’ll eventually learn, maybe,” I sighed. “But you better expect a huge fit to be thrown for the first few times. I'd even go so far as to say the first year.”

Sidney just laughed. “I would expect nothing less.”

After getting over the fact he had spent too much money getting me a brand new Jetta, a beyond stock brand new Jetta at that, I went inside and made Sidney his game day peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He hadn’t really expected it, but when he came to make it himself, I was finishing it up.

From then, it was mostly just a day spent getting ready for the game. Suzie and Matty were gonna ride with Sidney so they could get in their seats, and I think they figured I would be running late, so they didn’t wanna slow me down.

It irritated me that they were right about that. I was running late, and traffic was horrible. Too many people were trying to get to the game for my liking.

I made it before the game started, but I was late. Sidney had told me to be there at six thirty, but I was walking through security and towards the locker room at seven. I hadn’t expected Sidney to be outside of the locker room, fully dressed and waiting on me.

But he was.

A huge smile came to his face when he saw me. “Hey there. Come on, this way.”

I took his hand when he held it out for me to grab, and the two of us headed right into the locker room. What I saw inside the room wasn’t a bunch of wives and girlfriends, however. The only people in there were the guys, all just as ready for the game as Sidney, and Suzie.

My eyebrows rose. “Wait a second . . . I’m confused. What’s going on?”

Beau gave me a small smile. “Well, we all just wanted you to know that we think you’re awesome, Mika. You just lost your dad, and you’re still pushing through with a smile.”

“You make Sid happy,” Geno told me, giving me a smile much bigger than Beau’s. “You no date yet, I know, but Sid happier than we ever thought Sid be.”

I knew the waterworks were about to start again as Geno held his arms open for a hug, which I gladly accepted. “Sidney makes me happy, too.”

“They’re lying, by the way,” Sidney informed me. “They think you're awesome and all, but that's not why we have you here. I lied, too . . . to get you here. I know you’ve had a huge surprise today already, and I know I’m already not gonna live that one down, but there’s something else I’ve been dying to show you, something . . . something that’s gonna change your life.”

The breath left my lungs as I gawked back at Sidney, who looked both sheepish and beyond excited as Suzie very eagerly bounced out of the room. I couldn’t even think straight to try and get an idea what was going on, what was so big that it would be life changing.

But then Matty walked into the locker room.

Without crutches.

Without help.

He walked right in.