Perfect Storm

Kristen and I are in the kitchen whipping up a few of our childhood favorites, an eclectic and odd combination to everyone else but comfort foods for us, when I hear the door open. “Kaylee?”

“Hey” I say popping my head around the corner, seeing not only Sidney but a couple of his teammates. “Umm hi guys.”

“They heard about last night and followed me here…”

“That’s fine. Although my cousin might hurt you.”

“Who might I hurt?” Kristen asked, walking towards me and the guys. She stops suddenly when she realizes it’s not just Sid. “Umm hi…”

“That’s what Kaylee said.”

“Kaylee you remember Zach right?”

“Sill’s?” I ask, when Sid nods I smile. “Of course, this is Kristen, my cousin/best friend. And Kristen that’s obviously Zach and there’s Kris, Marc, and Geno.”

“Hi, everyone… I don’t think we’ve made enough food Kay.”

“I don’t think so either” I admit. “Especially if they all eat as much as this guy” I add as Sid wraps his arms around my waist.

“I may have called and ordered pizza when I realized they invited themselves.”

“No one mess with our family. You are family” Geno says placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Thank you. You guys didn’t have to come over though” I smile hoping that I don’t start crying. “Sidney, they don’t know where my spare key is, do they?”

“No, thankfully” he smiled before kissing my forehead. “We can talk later if you don’t mind some company.”

“That sounds perfect actually.” Kristen is already in her element, male attention was always fuel for her already wild fire. I stay back with Sidney, watching the guys inspect and devour what we made. “Thanks for coming back” I whisper, tightening my arms around his waist, burying my head in his chest.

“Thanks for wanting me back… I know you said it wasn’t my fault but I feel like I could have prevented it. I’m so sorry Kaylee. If anything had happened to you…”

“Maybe we should talk now… Let’s go to my room” I suggest, catching Kristen’s eye as we walk out of the room. We take a seat on my bed, he takes my hand in his and waits. “I, this is difficult for me to talk about. Only my parents and Kristen know… Last night, was not the first time something like that had happened.” I take a deep breath, and try to calm my nerves. Looking into his eyes I continue telling him about my past. “My freshman year of college, I was on my way home after a late class… and some guy came out of nowhere…”

“You, damn it” he mutters running a hand through his hair. “This is way worse now!” His outburst startles me, is he going to leave? Should I not have told him?

“Sidney, please” I say feeling the tears form in my eyes. He looks into my eyes and his expression softens from anger to concern as he takes my hands in his once again. “I haven’t told anyone else this before and I feel like I needed to. I don’t remember much, I woke up in the hospital the next day. They said that I was knocked unconscious, someone saw me around midnight and called 911. I was terrified, no one was there then to help me like you did last night. You made me feel safe again.”

“I was terrified” he admits.

“I was too but you made me feel better.”

“I hate him, I wanted to hurt him. I would have but your face, you looked terrified and relieved at the same time. I’m so sorry that you had to go through that again.”

“Sid” I whispered wrapping my arms around his neck. He pulls me onto his lap and hold me tight to him.

“I wish I could make it better.”

“You are.”

“If anything would have happened to you…” he says somberly.

“I’m okay, you on the other hand probably have a PR nightmare on your hands now.”

“We’ll figure it out. Don’t worry” he replied giving me a gentle kiss. “I don’t care about the media right now. I care about you, so much. Probably more than I should this soon.”

“I feel the same way” I admit, letting my hand rest on his jaw. “I feel like I’ve known you for much longer than 2 months.”

“You’re gorgeous, and smart, and you make me laugh constantly” he smiles.

“Oh, stop” I giggle. “You’re making me blush.”

“Beautiful.”

“Maybe we should head back downstairs. I think that Kristen might have her hands full with all those boys.”

“Ok but one thing first. Thank you for telling me. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to talk about it again.”

“Well, Kristen helped with that a bit. She encouraged me to tell you, gave me a confidence boost. At least enough to start out. You needed to know why I was so upset and quiet. It wasn’t you, or last night really. Just my past.”

“Still, thank you. I was worried about you all last night I don’t think I slept for more than 15 minutes.”

“Oh, babe. You’ll need a good night sleep tonight then to make up for it.”

“True. Although I don’t know how well I’ll be able to sleep without you lying next to me. These past couple nights have been so nice.”

“Yea, they have been.”

“We should go down, if we stay up here any longer the guys are going to think we’re having sex…”

“Really even after what happened last night?”

“Yea, really.”

“Just for the record Sidney, I want to. Eventually.”

“I know you do, at least the you that is half asleep does.”

“The fully awake me does too.”

“Not with all those people downstairs” he grumbles.

“Are you telling me that or yourself?”

“Myself” he winks.

***

The guys stayed late, until one by one they went back to their homes and families. Kristen took over the guest bedroom and the attached bathroom as her own, while Sidney settled in with me. They’re leaving on a road trip tomorrow and I’m back to teaching, I’m waiting for someone to bring up the picture from the paper but for tonight I choose to enjoy my night with Sidney.

“Are you still awake?” he asks running one of his large hands up and down my back.

“Yea, I’m still awake” I sigh. “Do you have something on your mind?”

“Nothing in particular.”

“A lot of random things then?”

“Yea actually” he smiles, turning his body to face me. “How did you know?”

“Lucky guess. That and I also have a ba-jillion things running around in here too” I admit with a small giggle. “Maybe if we say some out loud we’ll be able to sleep.”

“It’s worth a try. You first.”

“Well there’s the usual Monday school stuff.”

“Usual work stuff, the road trip, I haven’t had someone waiting for me to get back in a while.”

“I’ll be waiting that’s for sure. The newspaper thing makes me nervous.”

“The team is taking care of all that. My parents are coming for Thanksgiving.”

“American thanksgiving?”

“Yea.”

“So are mine. They want to meet you.”

“Mine too.”

“So, should we just do one big thanksgiving dinner? Both our families together?” I suggest.

“Probably would be easier.”

“We can be nervous together.”

“My sister will be here too.”

“Kristen I think will still be here. She just finished school and since I’m here she’s looking for jobs this week.”

“That will be nice. I won’t worry about you as much.”

“You worry about me?”

“Constantly.”

“I worry about you too. I know you were injured pretty badly last season.”

“Yea, but I’m good now.”

“Still. You worry about the people you care for. If you don’t then you probably don’t care about them as much as you think.”

“True” he whispers giving me a light kiss. “I think my mind has quieted enough to actually sleep.”

“Same” I smile. Although there are still a few things my mind can’t quiet. Like the fact that the more time I spend with him the less I can deny that I’m falling head over heels in love with him. There’s no slowing it either, gosh I’m such a girl. Once things start to look good, my girly brain has my thinking about wedding dresses and what our kids would look like!