This Love

The rest of the week had flown by, and it was one day till graduation. My dorm room was packed up and everything was already shipped back to Ottawa this morning. I’d be staying in a hotel with my Dad tonight and we were flying home right after the ceremony. It was a weird feeling to know I’d never be back in my dorm room again. Vancouver was so gorgeous and I wasn’t ready to leave it just yet. If it weren’t for everything that’s going on right now, I’d stay. But it wasn’t in the cards for me.

I finished my last shift at Sephora and was on my way to the airport to pick up my dad. Well, more like I was taking the sky train to the airport and getting into my Dad’s rental. Purchasing a car was my top priority when I got back to Ottawa. 4 years of constant public transit was more than enough for me. I put my headphones on and closed my eyes as the train began to move. My thoughts wondered to Sidney as usual and that flutter in my heart came back.

It was still taking some time to get adjusted to all of this. Sidney and I have been talking all week and I’ve been watching all of his games as well. The playoffs were in two weeks and I’m finding it hard to root for another team besides Toronto, but hey, at least they have Kessel. I really did miss Sidney though, and I felt like I had an empty pit in my stomach all the time. It’s a good thing we have video calling cause I don’t think I would be satisfied with just hearing his voice at the end of the line. Each day away from him gets a little easier, but his absence was definitely felt.

“So, I just got us enough make up to endure world war three, the perks of working at sephora,” I quickly texted Julia as I got off the skytrain and towards the arrival gate. I never was a huge girly girl, but the job just kind of happened my first year of school so I stuck with it. I had good hours and plus, I got a ton of free stuff.

“Dad!”

I ran up to my Dad and gave him a huge hug. Tears were welling up in my eyes from being so overjoyed. My dad is my best friend, there is no one like him and we had such a great relationship. I haven’t seen him since summer and to be honest that was way too long. We retrieved his bags, and grabbed his rental before we headed towards our hotel.

“So proud of you, Abby. I can’t believe you’re already graduating.”

“Thanks Dad,” I reply half smiling. I wanted to tell him about Sidney already cause I hated hiding anything from him. Maybe I should wait, he’s only been here for under an hour. Besides, Sidney and I have only been back in each other’s lives for a week and meeting parents is serious stuff. Ugh, I’m getting way too ahead of myself…

The next morning, my alarm went off way too early. I was meeting up with some of the girls for brunch before they headed to a local salon to get dolled up for graduation. I decided I’d put some of that free stuff I got some work to good use. The water from the shower surged some energy into me, as I got ready for the day.

I wrapped myself in a housecoat as I exited the bathroom and walked over towards the coffee machine. My dad was watching sportscentre as he drank his own coffee. We exchanged smiles as we talked about the itinerary for the day. I felt overwhelmed; it felt more like my wedding day than anything else.

“Dad, I already told you, I cancelled my beauty appointments. I don’t need them.”

“Are you sure? Everyone from your class is going.”

“I’m fine. I’ll be back here for 2 to get ready … Hey, can you turn the TV up?” I asked as I heard the announcer mention something about the Penguins. He just nods as I give the TV my full attention.

“The penguins are set to take on the Capitals tonight, but will be without a familiar face. Sidney Crosby is out with concussion precautions and will return against the Senators on Sunday.”

“WHAT!” I spat out, forgetting that my Dad was sitting beside me. He raised his eyebrow at me before I scurried back into the bathroom. Shit.

Was Sidney coming to see me? Or was it just a crazy coincidence? He wouldn’t miss a game for a girl, not even for me. I wouldn’t let him. Ignoring the war in my mind, I pulled out my phone and quickly texted him to set the record straight.

“Saw you’re not playing tonight, everything ok?”

“Yeah, I just got hit a little hard in practice. Coaches choice.”

My stomach dropped, I was hoping he was coming out to see me, “Ok. I’ll call you when I land in Ottawa tonight.”

Since I was planning on curling my hair later on, I let my hair dry naturally as I applied moisturizer to my face before I picked out my outfit for brunch. I cursed at myself for having such a limited wardrobe with me; all I had was my grad outfit and casual clothes to travel in. Shrugging my shoulders as I closed up my suitcase, I put on the black skinny jeans and my white v-neck tee shirt before heading out to brunch…

“You almost ready?”

I looked up from the mirror and nodded to my Dad. We had to be on campus in about an hour, and time sure felt like it was dragging on. I had settled on a black romper since we were told to keep it classy but casual. My typical pair of converse got traded in for a pair of gold strappy sandals. I applied red lipstick to my lips before fluffing up my jet black curled hair. I hardly recognized myself in the mirror anymore.

The drive up to school was totally bitter sweet. It was so hard to believe this was the last time I’d have to go back to this school. I didn’t have to spend one more minute in that library cramming for tests, nor did I have to attend another class again. I was done and I was never looking back. I’ll never regret the time I had here, but, it wouldn’t be missed.

“I’ll park the car, you go find your spot.”

I got out of the car and the heat from the sun grazed my body. It was only April, but it was getting pretty warm already. Nothing compared to summers in Ottawa though. Everyone always said it was too hot there, but I loved the heat. I couldn’t wait for lake days, thunderstorms at night and camping trips.

After grabbing my grad cap and gown, I found my seat with the rest of the girls as we waited for the ceremony to start. The sun was beating down on us, I regretted wearing foundation as my skin began to sweat. The crowds were coming in and I was secretly waiting for Sidney to coming in with them. But, he was nowhere to be found. I pulled my phone out and there was nothing from him. That sinking feeling got worse…

“Congrats sweetheart!”

My dad pulled me into a hug as the ceremony ended and we all got reunited with our families. My dad passed me a bouquet of roses as he took my framed diploma to the car. I sighed as I watched him walk away with it. My diploma did not feel real at all. I kept starting at it through the entire ceremony, but it was real. All of it was real.

“You ok? You don’t seem happy about graduating?” Julie asks me as we headed inside for class photos.

“I was just hoping Sid was gonna be here. He said he wasn’t playing tonight and he won’t answer any of my texts either.”

“Maybe he’s really hurt, Ab’s. He is a pretty busy guy.”

I sighed as I walked over to the refreshment table, “I know. It’s probably nothing to worry about.”

She smiles as she leaves me at the table. Why am I so obsessed over this? This is my graduation day, a day I’ve been waiting for since my freshmen year. Now I’m obsessing over a stupid boy who’s probably just busy with his career. Too busy to even send his supposed girlfriend a 5 second text.

“Congratulations Abby.”

Another bouquet of roses gets put in front of my face, and before I could process anything else, my heart jumped into my throat. I knew that voice from anywhere. My eyes looked up and I was met with the warmest, most beautiful brown eyes I had ever seen. Sidney.

“Oh my god!” I squealed as I jumped right into his arms, “you really weren’t hurt.”

He just laughs, as he puts me down, not before kissing my forehead gently. We were getting stares as he got recognized. But he didn’t seem to care and neither did I. As far as I was concerned, we were the only ones here. That was one thing I always adored about him, he made me forget the world around me.

“I figured I’d have to really play along with it to get here. I wasn’t going to miss this day.”

“You had me there for a minute. But how did you even pull it off?”

He shrugged, “It didn’t really take much. We’ve been doing really well and it’s almost playoff time. Coach was more than happy to give me a couple days off to recharge. I usually get the last game of the season off, but I made an exception”

I couldn’t wipe the stupid smile off my face. He brought his lips down to mine for a mere second. I really missed this. He pulled me in closer as he kissed me harder. My mind shot back to reality as I remembered whom I came here with.

Oh right. My dad.

“So, you want meet someone very important to me?”

Sidney raises his eyebrow at me, “Who is that?”

“That would be my dad, who is walking over here right now. May I also remind you he was a military drill officer turned fighter jet pilot turned recruitment officer. This should be fun.”

I don’t think fun is in my dads vocab when it came to boys.