Of Icings, Halfpipes, and Pterodactyls

“YESSS!!!!” we all screamed when Jarome Iginla scored his second goal of the night bringing the game to a whopping 7 to 2 with the Penguins leading. Granted, there was a long ten minutes of the game left, but from how the game had turned, it was clear that Taylor, Jen, and I were quite hopeful for a positive outcome.

It was just Taylor, Jen, and I at Sidney’s house watching Game 4 of the series. Taylor and I had taken Troy and Trina to the airport the day before, leaving the three of us to have a rather ridiculous time of it since. Though, I had set ground rules with Jen that a ridiculous time meant keeping it G rated with Taylor around. But the three of us meshed rather well; more importantly Taylor and I seemed to just be getting closer. So we had elected to watch this game at the house with just us versus going over to one of the other player’s houses for a big viewing party.

It had been a rough first period. Ottawa had been up by 2 goals though James had cut that lead in half with a beautiful wrister. It was fun to have Taylor and Jen to watch the game with because they were analyzing the game so completely yet at the same time, were explaining everything to me. I felt like I could ask the two of them questions about plays and moves without feeling stupid or have them answer me with condescending replies for I was still learning some of the more intricate details of the game. Even though we were down, it was good that we ended up having more shots on goal than Ottawa.

Whatever was said in the locker room during the first intermission would have been rather interesting to bare witness to because within the second minute of play during the second period, the Penguins scored 2 goals. It was probably a very good thing that Sidney’s house had quite a large amount of land between it and the neighbor’s house because we three girls went nuts.

But if I thought we went nuts then, that was nothing to what came during the third period. 3 goals-well, 4 now by James, Pascal, Sid, and Jarome had us on our feet, screaming, and dancing.

“FUCK!” Jen and I both yelled at the same time as Daniel Alfredsson scored.

“Why would he do that?” Jen whined looking over at me, “Why wouldn’t you call Alfredsson and ask him to let your boyfriend’s team win?”

The beer I was drinking came right out of my nose in an instant.

“Jesus Christ JENNIFER!” I shrieked hunting for napkins with one hand while covering my nose with the other.

Taylor was rolling around on the couch laughing

“Taylor,” Jen sat straight up from her slouched position on one of the chairs, “You were witnessed to the day that Lily Rivers did not refute the fact that your brother, Sidney Crosby is her boyfriend.”

Though my hand-eye coordination reflexes were not as fast as Sidney’s, they were definitely faster than Jen’s. This much was very obvious as the throw pillow I chucked at her hit her perfectly in the head.

This interaction sent Taylor into an even bigger fit of giggles.

“Don’t be that wayyy,” Jen complained, “It would be so much easier if you would just accept the fact. It’s perfectly normal. And you two make a ridiculously cute couple.”

“Game’s back on!” I barked at her trying to get Jen to stop talking.

The rest of the game was quite difficult to focus on. That word was one word I did not want to think about. Sidney and I were back to talking more normally now that we were apart again. But what did that mean? That we were functional when we were apart but not together?

‘That’s not a very fair assessment Lily,’ my more reasonable brain chirped, ‘You were thrown into the Mariana Trench of areas of a relationship; last minute into staying in his house, with his family, and the Murray incident, and he didn’t know about Geno, and on top of all of that his stress of playoffs.’

‘But isn’t that stress always going to be around? Maybe you two are just never going to be functional when you are around each other.‘ I bit my lip at this last thought.

“Don’t worry, only a minute left,” I felt a hand pushing at my shoulder.

I glanced over at a beaming Taylor. Apparently my worry had spilled out onto my face and the teen had thought it related to the game.

Forcing a smile, I looked at the TV and saw the short amount of time left and the still 7 to 3 score. I felt a surge of warmth towards the younger woman. The time ticked down and soon the three of us were highfiving.

My phone seemed to go off mere seconds after the final buzzer.

“Hello?” I answered in Russian.

“Wasn’t that a great game?” Mama Malkin chatted happily on the other end.

“Of course,” I sighed.

“I still wish you would have come over here with the girls for the game,” she slightly scowled into the phone, “I would have liked to get to know Jen better.”

That brought a deep laugh from my stomach. It took me a moment to be able to finally answer, “She absolutely not okay for Geno.”

I could feel her disappointment from here. But she changed the subject faster than any one of Geno’s goals ever.

“I think Vlad is picking up Geno.”

“No, no,” I objected, “I drive for Sidney, Marc, and I think Kris Letang. I get Geno too.”

“Are you sure? Isn’t it in the wrong direction?”

“I’m positive.”

“Okay. Well, will we see you tomorrow for lunch?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for world.”

We bade each other goodbye and hung up. I glanced around and realized that Jen had disappeared while I was on the phone. Taylor though, was still on the couch, herself talking on the phone, to whom I could only assume were her parents.

I heard who I assumed was Jen trudging back up the stairs. Despite Sidney’s house having ample amounts of empty guest rooms, since Jen’s arrival, she’d been staying in the room with me.

Quietly she padded back into the room, her arms filled with movies which she promptly dumped on my lap.

I didn’t even bother look at them, instead, I sent a text to Sidney. ‘Great game! Text with approximate time for pick up at airport.’ I hit the send button to Sidney.

“Alright Mom. Yeah. Yeah. Love you too. Bye.” Taylor hung up her phone and looked over at us, “Now what?”

“Movie time until you have to leave to pick up the guys!” Jen said enthusiastically, motioning to the movies on my lap.

I glanced down, “Dawn of the Dead, The Shining, The Orphan, The Descent? Are you planning on having us never sleep again?”

“Exactly! There is always a method to my madness,” Jen answered wriggling her eyebrows.

_________________________________________________________________________________

“Why the hell would you do that? The zombies are going to come out” I cried at the tv as I wriggled deeper into the couch between Taylor and Jen. The characters had to go into the parking garage to reset the power or something, and it was obvious that something bad was about to happen.
“So stupid. Idiots. Idiots. Idiots.” Jen’s voice was muffled because her head was buried in a pillow.

Taylor was silent, but I could see out of the corner of my eye that her hands were cupped on either side of her face as she was completely absorbed with the zombie flick.

There was an odd thumping sound. Sidney’s surround sound was really good, I’d have to get him to help me set something like this up in my basement. I heard the sound again, but something clicked in my brain, it didn’t quite fit with the scene in the movie. Something moved in the outskirts of my vision.

“AHHHHHHH!!! ZOMBIE!!!” I screamed at the very highest and loudest pitch that I possibly could emit.

My scream was echoed by Jen and Taylor’s as they saw the zombie the same time I did. We all leapt to our feet. Instinctually, I grabbed Taylor, pushing her behind me while with my other hand I grabbed one of the hockey sticks that was hung decoratively up on the wall.

“It’s me! It’s me!” it yelled at us as it lunged not towards us but away, toward the far wall.

I shut my eyes and winced as the room lit up brightly. Wait, a zombie wouldn’t turn on the light...nor could zombies talk... could they?

It took me several blinks to focus on the not zombie who was now laughing a very familiar, very high pitched laugh. Pretty soon all of us were joining in on Sidney’s infectious laugh.

“It seems like you can’t help but threaten everyone in my family with hockey sticks,” Sid said between laughs.

“I thought you were a zombie!” I whined letting go of my death grip on Taylor’s arm.

“Cause that is totally rational,” Jen made fun of me.

I turned my head to glare at her and started laughing, “Oh, cause you know, look who is also holding a hockey stick.”

Jen was also still clutching a stick like she was ready to decapitate a zombie head.

“What are you doing here?” Taylor angrily yelled at her brother.

Sidney’s mouth opened as he looked surprised at this hostile reception and he blinked several times over.

“It’s my house?”

“You know what I meant!” she responded fierily at her brother.

“We got in early, so Paul ended up driving me back. I texted Lily about it.”

I leaned over to grab my cell, which had been sitting face down on the coffee table. Sure enough, there was an unopened text from Sidney waiting.

“Oops,” I muttered.

We all stood there awkwardly for a couple of seconds.

“Congratulations!” Jen yelled, startling us all once again.
_________________________________________________________________________________

“Do it.”
“But-”

“Do. It.”

“But what if”

“No buts. Just do it.”

“You sound like the commercial I was in.”

“Stop changing the damn subject, and go up there.”

“What if it bothers Taylor?”
“Oh please. It won’t. She adores you.”

“But what if he doesn’t want to be dist--”

“Oh puh-lease. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of you since you almost took his head off with the hockey stick.”

I scrunched up my face trying to come up with something else.

“Now,” Jen continued smugly, “I am going to bed. I want to spend it alone in this giant king here all by myself. So you need to scoot.”

And with that she flicked her thumb at the door, gesturing me to leave.

“Thanks Jen.” I rolled my eyes as I grabbed my phone and headed out of the room I had stayed in for so many days.

I quietly padded through the basement, up to the main floor and up to the second floor. I was very careful not to trip as I headed to Sidney’s room.

I froze a couple steps outside the door to his room. Should I really? I could just as easily go into one of the empty guest rooms and none would be the wiser.

My phone buzzed once. I stifled a laugh when I saw the message was from Crosby.

‘Are you still up?’

That made my mind up.

My knock was very soft on the door, and I bit my lip while I watched the hallway to make sure I hadn’t bothered Taylor.

The door opened a little revealing a wide eyed, surprised, and shirtless Sidney.

“Hi, can I come in?” I asked with a small nervous smile.

He opened the door wide enough for me to slip in, and heard it click shut as I softly padded into his room.

“How did you-” he started

“I was already-” I said at the same time.

We both grinned at each other like the idiots we were.

I wrapped my arms around my body slightly nervously trying to look anywhere but his solid chest.

“Already heading up here?” he answered, “Is everything okay?”

I blushed looking down feeling silly, “Course. I just wanted to see you.”

‘Yeah, leave out the forced march bit,’ the little voice in my head decided to let itself be known.

“Just wanted to see me?” he asked with a playful smile teasing around his incredible lips.

I felt my heart racing as he approached me.

“Yeah, I missed you and hadn’t gotten to say hello properly,” I said in an attempt to be seductive as I took a step toward him, “And then I got your bootycall text.”

Sidney’s face turned a lovely shade of pink, “My intentions weren’t to summon you up here like that,” He muttered softly looking anywhere but at me.

“Sidney,” I was firm, “Stop.”

I took a step towards him, placing each of my hands on his incredibly solid chest. Gently I pushed, indicating my desire for him to continue taking steps backwards. He obeyed my directional indications until the back of his legs hit his bed.

He turned his head to look at the bed, as if surprised that this piece of furniture was actually there. Now that he was slightly distracted, I pushed harder. He fell onto his back on the bed with a soft thump. Once again, he seemed surprised; whether at my forwardness or because of the bed I was not sure. Though, considering the continued closet incidents, he shouldn’t be. Sidney scooted his body so his body was further, more securely and more comfortably on the bed. I followed him onto the bed without pausing and quickly straddled his hips, my lips quickly finding his.

Unlike my complete willingness, I couldn’t help but notice his hesitancy. He wasn’t rejecting me, but he wasn’t exactly engaging as he did in the past.

“I can’t.” his voice had changed to Captain Crosby versus Sidney.

I stiffened. Was it me?

“I can’t--I shouldn’t,” he repeated himself. It seemed almost as if he was trying to convince himself as he rolled over and sat up, “I can’t alter my routine this far into playoffs. It could--It wouldn’t be fair to the guys.”
“Okay,” I sighed, from my back. It wasn’t me, just his hockey and quirks.

I looked over at Sidney.

He was sitting there so solidly built of a lifetime of working and developing those muscles. His skin so smooth, so beautiful.

I gulped.

“Okay,” I attempted a little more firmly, sitting up as well, “Not until playoffs are over. But then you, me, a house, lock down, no phones, no one allowed to bother us for a lengthy period of time.”

“Deal. Absolutely, 100 percent deal,” Sidney his tired eyes looked relieved.

“Good,” I reaffirmed. A tiny part of me I didn’t quite want to acknowledge felt slightly relieved at putting off the moment I knew was coming after they won all of the games.

I flopped back down on the bed on my side, facing him with my hand propping up my head. Sidney followed suit, but with much more grace. He began to play with some of the ends my hair.

“So tell me about the trip,” I softly uttered, reopening the lines of communication between us again.

_________________________________________________________________________________

“Are you ready!?” I excitedly shook Taylor’s arm as we waited in the elevator which was headed to the box levels of CONSOL.

“Are you?!” she laughed back at me.

“No,” I replied straight faced.

She started laughing harder and we received some strange looks from some men dressed in business suits in the small space with us.

Tonight we were over in the family box instead of the owner’s box. I was excited with the change in scenery.

It had been an interesting previous day and a half. At the house, Sidney and I could be, well, normal. I think it was normal, I’d never really been around couples before to see relationships. But it was the first time in a while we didn’t have to have any false pretense or distance between us. Like, this morning before we took Jen to the airport.

“What is it.” Sidney’s voice was not happy.

“What’s what?” I turned around from the eggs and veggies I was finishing cooking for Taylor and myself.

Sidney was holding up the jar of almond butter I’d bought the other day.

I raised an eyebrow, and stated the obvious, “Almond butter.”

“But where is the peanut butter?” He asked, clearly upset.

“The peanut butter got used up. So I picked up almond butter when we were last at the store,” I shrugged.

“But why almond butter and not my peanut butter?”

“Because almond butter is better for you.”

“But I like peanut butter.”

“But almond butter is much healthier than peanut butter.”

“But peanut butter is my thing.”

“But almond better is a better choice.”

“But I don’t like almond butter.”

“Have you ever tried it?”

“No.”

“And you don’t like it?”

“Correct.”

“Right. Next time we go to the store we’ll pick up some peanut butter, alright?” I sighed frustratedly.

“That sounds good,” his half smile kicked up the flippy things in my stomach. Sidney leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.

I fought to keep my a stern expression on my face as his kisses slowly started to trail towards my mouth.

“You know, I’ll eventually convert you to almond butter, right?” I muttered crossly.

“Nope, never.” he with great sincerity before he found my lips and gave me one of those kisses that promised millions more like it.

“Oh my god I can’t handle this!” Jen shrieked.

“You two are too ridiculous. It’s like watching mom and dad but a billion times more adorable.” Taylor giggled.

We both turned to face the two females. I guess the two of us had forgotten about our audience.

It was pretty apparent from the grins plastered upon both of their faces that they had been sitting on the stools watching us going back and forth like a tennis match until we finished with that kiss.

Jen wasn’t going to let me live that moment down. Not for the rest of breakfast. Not for rest of the morning while she packed. Not on the car ride to drop her off at the airport. Taylor wasn’t much better; she kept making big eyes and sighing at the two of us. So eventually when it was time to get into game mode and head to CONSOL, I was pretty damn excited that at the game the topic of Sidney and I would be off limits for a couple of hours.

So Taylor and I made our way around the family box, her in her Crosby jersey while I wore my Malkin one, greeting different family members of the team.

At one point she and I split up; Taylor was off to hunt for water and popcorn.

It was after I had had a brief conversation with the defenseman Kris Letang’s beautiful girlfriend that a certain blonde popped her head out on the other side of one of the women in the box and my heart dropped.

“Sabina.” I said coarsely. My hope that she wouldn’t be here tonight seemed to have gone unnoticed by the hockey gods. I guess they had bigger hockey problems to worry about.

“You’re still here? Thought you had gone back to, what, Canada? Or are you still too busy trying to steal other people’s boyfriends again?” Sabina said with fake innocence. Her Russian was fast and hard for me to catch all of it. But she knew it, which is why she spoke as such.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I smiled sweetly, “But did hear I there some major sale at Barney’s New York? Maybe you meet that, what he a football man? Oh, baseball man was New York. Football was California.”

The broken Russian words were out of my mouth before I could stop them and I deeply regretted them the instant after they came out.

Sabina’s normally emotionless masked face broke and she was furious as she stormed off.

“Fuck,” I swore in Russian.

That’s when I noticed a tiny brunette standing off slightly to the side looking rather startled at me.

I felt even more sick to my stomach realizing she must not be a family member or a wife or something for a player. No, she could understand every word Sabina and I had said back and forth.

“Hi,” I tentatively held out my hand before continuing in Russian, “I so sorry that you heard had all of that. I’m Lily Rivers.”

“I’m Yulia Koltunova,” she answered nervously, as if talking to me could turn her into something nasty.

“You came with,” I tilted my head to the direction Sabina stormed out.

Yulia nodded, “She is my, my friend.”

“Oh,” I said lamely unsure what else I could say to that.

“Yulia!” I heard a sharp shriek from the other side of the box.

“I should go,” the tiny Russian frowned.

“Uh, pleasure to meet you,” I attempted as she wandered away.

A few moments later, Taylor came back with popcorn and waters for the two of us.

“What did I miss?”

“Not a thing.” I replied as the refs got ready for puck drop.

_________________________________________________________________________________

“So do you forgive me noooooow?” James Neal drunkenly exaggerated the last word making it longer than the rest of the entire sentence.

I shook my head at the drunken forward.

“But, but I scored a hattie for you!” he pouted as he tugged the bottom of my jersey trying to pull me in closer to him.

“You did get that pretty hat-trick tonight. But the team would have still won without it,” I teased, but took a step away from the large flirt.

The team dominated the game; the final score was 6 to 2. The Penguins were moving on to the Easter Conference Finals but after the win tonight, they had a couple of days before all of that started. First thing on the to do list was a party at the party boy’s house.

“Do you know how hard it is to score a hattie? And during the playoffs? For the end of a series?” James cried over the loud music.

“Alright, but one thing first,” I coyly smiled as I took a step towards him. I slipped my hand down and reached into his front pocket taking out his phone.

“What are you--” James started.

I held up a finger silencing and continued what I was doing. I first went to his messages from Steven Stamkos and found the picture. I deleted that. Next I went to his saved images. I deleted the picture there as well. FInally, I went to his whatsapp messages and found the picture there as well. After deleting the picture there, I handed James back his phone with a big smile.

“Now, I forgive you.” I smirked at the much taller person.

James was pouting, but accepting, “You’re lucky I like you so much.”

Over his shoulder, I saw Sidney talking to one of his teammates, Chris Kunitz, and his wife. James kept talking about something, but I wasn’t paying any attention at all. Sidney was slowly drinking from a cup conversing with the couple. He was in crisp light white dress shirt and a pair of dark gray dress pants that did incredible justice to him. I felt eyes on me, and my own eyes flicked back upwards. We made eye contact and I knew.

“James, I’m cold.” I said instantly.

“Whaat?” James looked at me, assessing my jeans and my Malkin jersey.

“I know where your sweatshirts are. Thanks babe,” I yelled over my shoulder as I was already brushing past drunk teammates celebrating and soon was on my way up the stairs.

We didn’t even make it as far as the closest. Sidney and I found ourselves in some bathroom off the hall landing with the door barely shut before my lips were on his. His mouth tasted like whiskey and his usual own personal flavor.

“Nice game Captain,” I teased when we both came up for air.

“Can we go home?” he growled, “I am tired of not being able to talk to you or touch you. And you are driving me insane in--” He tugged my jersey.
“Hey, this jersey was around before you were,” I defended it grinning, “But really, anytime you are, I am.”

He took a step away from me and cracked open the door to check if the coast was clear.

“I’ll find Taylor and then find you again.”

“Okay. I’ll start with the goodbyes.” I replied before I leaned up and pecked him on the lips quickly before I headed out of the door first and quickly down the stairs to begin the rounds.

It was after I’d said goodbye to Beau Bennett and Robert Bortuzzo when I saw Russian woman I had met earlier in the evening standing by herself watching me with a frown.
“Hi!” I said as I approached the small Russian woman.

“Hello,” Yulia replied more tentatively.

“So what do you do?” I asked. She might be Sabina’s friend, but I was going to be polite.

“I’m a” she replied.

I blinked several times at the Russian word she used; I had never heard it, “I am really sorry, what is the English?”

“Diver. I am in the sport of diving.” she said in English.

“Oh,” My eyes widened. There was an awkward silence between us. I returned to speaking Russian and asked, “And how did you meet Sabina?”

“Mutual friends,” was all she said as she glanced around the room.

I glanced around the room as well. I felt my phone burning a hole in my pocket. I had texted Alex Ovechkin earlier to see if he knew anything about this Yulia but I still hadn’t heard back from him. Alex knew and had partied a lot with Sabina over the years, so I had hoped that my friend would have some insight.

“Ms. Rivers,” Yulia’s voice was slightly unsure as she said my name.

“Lily,” I corrected her.

“Ms. Rivers,” she repeated herself, “I know we do not know each other. But I feel the need to address you on a matter.”

There was something in her voice that raised the hairs on the back of my neck. I turned to look at her.

“I do not think it is very appropriate what you are doing,” she wasn’t looking at me as she said this.

“What isn’t appropriate?” My tone was as neutral as I could make it.

“Going after a man who is in a serious relationship while all along sleeping with his teammates.”

My mouth popped open as I stared at her. I couldn’t think let along speak. Yulia’s coldness seemed to falter slightly as she took in my expression.

She said something in Russian, but I couldn’t understand because my brain had apparently turned off.

“What. Are. You. On. About.” I finally managed to sputter in my native tongue.

“This is not true?” she seemed hesitant and quite unsure of herself. I stared her down, and she looked very abashed at her brazen comment.

“Who--who,” Apparently monosyllable was as best as I was going to get at the moment.

But I didn’t need to ask who. I knew.

“Please excuse me.” I walked away to find the woman who had caused so many headaches for years.

It was easy to find Sabina.

“Talk. Now. Outside.” I spoke between clenched teeth as I grabbed her arm and dragged her to the backyard.

Even though I was furious, I didn’t want to make a scene in front of everyone. This was the Penguins’ night. But it had to be dealt with now before this woman spread whatever other lies around further.

It was slightly chilly in James’s backyard, but nothing unbearable.

“What d’you want?” her normally perfect Russian was slurred as she turned to face me.

I stood open mouth staring at the Russian. It was clear she had too much to drink; not in the many times we had been forced to spend time together had I seen her like this.

“What hell is your problem?” even though we were outside, I kept my voice down even though I wanted to scream.

“I don’t have a problem. You do. You can’t keep away from him. And you keep trying to turn his family against me.”

I snorted, “You do that on own. But you lie about me sleeping around? Who else you say to?”

She smirked, “Please, you spread your legs for everyone.”

“Why is it,” I switched to English, “That sexuality is the first thing people insult? So what if I did sleep around? Who gives a fuck?”

Sabina stopped, clearly off put that I wasn’t affected by her choice of insult. She paused before changing her tactics in Russian.

“Well, you will never be part of his family. As soon as he puts a ring,” she held up her ring finger, “You will be gone. He only pities you. He feels bad you have no one in this world. That is why--”

“Lily. Sabina.”

Both of us whipped around.

Geno.

Well, Geno, Sidney, and half of the people at the party were all standing watching the two of us. Apparently someone had opened the glass doors to the back yard and our voices had traveled. I slowly blinked my eyes, mortified of how I ruined this night for the team and for Geno. It wasn’t about me and Sabina. That’s why I pushed for us to come outside. I hadn’t planned on people coming outside to look for us or hear us.

But Geno.

After now having seen him play hockey in many, many games. After all of the instances of the Russian Bear in my life, I had never been afraid of him. Now I was terrified.

He had never seemed so tall or so intimidating at his 6’3 stature. His normally so easy to sparkly and laughter lined eyes were now blazing in fury. I felt my entire body start trembling. Could a human’s heart stop like a rabbit’s if they panicked too much? Cause I was pretty sure mine was about to. I couldn’t lose Geno.

“Sabina.” Geno repeated, I jerked at the harshness of his voice.

“Yes my love?” Sabina answered sickly sweet to Geno.

“You need to leave.” his answer was short and concise and I thought I misheard him.

“What?” her answer was flat, “I swear you just said I had to leave.”

“I did. And you need to,” he said as he walked over to me sliding an arm around my waist pulling me in tight.

I heard some curses and shrieks, but I didn’t pay too much attention to them. My attention was solely on my Russian Bear.

“You know that what she said, none of it is true,” Geno said as he turned me to face him. All of the anger had seeped out of him, and now he looked exhausted.

“I know,” I sighed before finishing the rest in English, “And you know that you can’t get rid of me that easily. You’re stuck mister, forever.”

Geno pulled me in for a tight hug, and then whispered in my ear, “You check boyfriend. He worried.”

“He’s not my boyfriend,” I pulled back and tweaked his nose.

“I not believe you,” Geno mumbled as he let me go.

Sidney had disappeared as the group had broken up and headed back into the house. I wandered around for a bit hopelessly trying to find him. I received awkward smiles from people who didn’t really know what had gone on outside, but understood that Sabina was gone and I was here.

I finally found Sid in a bathroom holding the hair back of a puking Taylor.

“Someone might’ve had a little too much,” Sid sighed as Taylor began to empty her guts again. I’d seen the younger Crosby drinking throughout the night, but I hadn’t realized quite how much.

I crouched down next to the siblings, “I think that went around tonight.”

Sid nodded sympathetically, “We’ll head back when she’s done.”

“I think I am okay now,” Taylor muttered standing up cautiously, “What happened outside?”

“Let’s rinse out your mouth first,” I said ignoring the second part of her question as I grabbed a little dixie cup off the counter and filling it with water before handing it to her.

Soon we were saying our goodbyes again and heading out to the car.

“I drive!” I called out as we reached the Range Rover. I looked over at Sidney, who was frowning slightly, “You had several drinks tonight, and I had zero!”

Thus Sid surrendered his keys and I was driving while about 20 seconds into the ride, Taylor had passed out sprawled in the back.

“What happened?” Sid asked softly not wanting to disturb his slumbering sister.

I quickly recounted what had transpired between Sabina and I, followed by what Geno had confirmed to me.

“You know that he loves you, right?” Sidney quietly said after listening to me.

“I know,” I answered, “He’s my family.”

“You also know that--”

“You and me baby ain’t nothin’ but mammals”
I wanted to do a faceplant into the steering wheel.

“Can you see who that is?” I asked indicating my phone that was going off in the cup holder.

Sid picked up my phone and I could see him stiffen slightly, “It’s Alex Ovechkin.”

“Oh,” I paused, “Could you maybe answer that? Just put it on speaker?”

Sidney answered the phone and hit the speaker button.

“Baby!” my caveman yelled into the phone.

“Alex,” I answered keeping my eyes on the road.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t really talk earlier. I was busy.” Alex had switched into Russian.

I shook my head knowing exactly what that meant, “I’m sure.”

“I know Yulia, are you with her now? She is very nice.”

“No.”

“Did everything turn out okay?” He inquired.

“Sorta,” I admitted.

“Are you with a man?” the interest in his voice peaked.

I glanced over at Sidney and I couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face, “Maybe.”

“Nice game tonight Geno.”

“Not Geno,” I answered.

There was silence on his end, “It better not be James Neal.”

“It’s not.” I returned my focus to the road.

“Who?”

“I go back Colorado two days, I call you back then. I got go. Bye” I said to Alex.

“Thanks,” I directed that at Sidney, waiting for the inquisition and the frustration to seep out of him.

“I uh, you have a lot of texts with him,” Sidney stated as a fact versus as a question.

Luckily we were at a stop sign because I turned my full head to look at Sid. He was going through my phone?

Even in the dim street lighting, I could see the blush on his face.

“I didn’t mean to be looking through your phone. I accidentally hit something when I was hanging up and it took me to the messages and I saw it. And I had to say something because I saw,” he finished lamely.

“Okay.” I answered returning the car to motion as I waited for the confrontation to start.

There was silence.

“You know he and I are just friends, right?” I pushed.

“I know.” he replied comfortably.

“Seriously, Alex is such a--,” I trailed off, “Oh.”

Sidney reached over the console and took one of my hands. He brought it up to his mouth and kissed the palm of my hand.

“I know.”
_________________________________________________________________________________

“Well, this is not low key at all.” I growled at my escort.

I didn’t know what was wrong with these people. The night before, I had told Sid to just drop me off at the airport; it was no fuss and it was easy on every level of the damn spectrum.

But no. These ridiculous penguins couldn’t do anything easy.

There was Mama and Papa Malkin, Geno, Taylor, Paul, James, Vero and Marc, and of course Sidney. And were we getting looks. I scowled as Paul lifted my luggage for check in as we waited for it to be weighed and sent off.

At least they all agreed to have enough commonsense to not all come with me to check in for my flight. It was elected for Paul to come with me as he could do the heavy lifting for my luggage. That and he was a bit more low key than the other men in the group.

“Are you sure you can’t stay longer? I know there are certain people that would much prefer it if you would hang around,” Paul teased as the woman behind the counter fumbled for my ticket.

“Aw, I think I feel the same way about you too,” I smiled up at the handsome blond.

“You think or you know?” he teased back at me as we made our way back towards the group standing off to the side.

I nudged him as we returned to the group with a futile attempt; I had not altered the path of the solidly built hockey player in the least. Checking my phone, it was time to go through security.

“I should probably head,” I didn’t finish my sentence, and I wasn’t exactly sure how obvious it was that I was pointedly avoiding one member of the group.

I felt familiar arms scoop me up first.

“I’m glad you found a good one,” Mama Malkin whispered in my ear. I stiffened and jerked back wide eyed.

I whipped my head back to Sidney before whipping it to Geno. Geno looked as shocked as I felt.

“I swear I didn’t say a thing,” Geno was looking as confused as I did.

“Please, you think you can hide something like that from me?” she had a stern Mama Bear look on her face.

“Natalia, you should just stay out of young love.” Papa Malkin as shaking his head, as he pulled me into a hug, “Lily, we will see you back in Pittsburgh for the finals and expect you home sometime this summer.”

“I think I need to learn more than how to pick up a girl and swear words in Russian,” James complained loudly clearly peeved that he didn’t know what we had just said.

There was a loud thump followed by a squeal.

“Jesus!”

“I’d prefer if you’d call me Taylor.”

I shook with laughter in Geno’s arms before I reluctantly was let go and found myself in James’s arms then Paul’s then a goodbye to Marc and Vero.

“And next time you come, we can take her to a game!” Vero said excitedly.

“Absolutely.” I agreed albeit nervous to be around the baby.

“You,” I grinned at Taylor. I hugged the teen fiercely, “You know you are absolutely always welcome to come crash at my place when you want a break, right?”
“Of course!” Taylor replied.

I looked over at Sidney. We had said our real goodbye already at the house, knowing full well we couldn’t here at the airport.

“I’ll see you later or something,” I shrugged trying to hide a grin.

“Yeah, I guess.” he answered also trying to hide his own grin.

I held up a hand for a high five.

“You two can’t be serious,” James groaned behind us.

We both turned to look at him.

“Look, I know you two haven’t really ever gotten on, and you both are probably at the point of wanting to throttle each other, but really? A high five?” he complained, “Who cares if someone snaps a picture of THE Sidney Crosby hugging THE Lily Rivers, or whatever. You two can just be friends for five seconds for the benefit of the rest of us and hug it out.”

Everyone but Marc and James started cracking up laughing. I realized that Vero must have figured out as well that something was going on between Sidney and I.

“High fives are good,” Sidney answered, while I nodded reaffirming this.

There was an awkward silence in the group.

“Hugs are better,” Sidney admitted.

I rolled my eyes at the Canadian Golden boy. So much for agreeing on not having anything that could be remotely construed as pda. Not that I was arguing, I wanted to be back in his arms and stay there for as long as I could.

Taking a step forward, I found myself in his arms so easily once more. His arms tightened around me as I buried my head in the crook of his neck. Inhaling one last time, I tried to take in as much as him as I could.

All too soon, he was releasing me once again. I looked up giving him a small bittersweet smile.

“See? No one died and the world didn’t explode,” James stressed.

“Not yet,” I turned my head to him smiling. Taylor wordlessly handed me my purse, which I had apparently dropped on my way to Sidney.

“Well, go beat the next team and give me a reason to come back,” I gave an awkward little wave and started to make my way towards security.