Days of Black and Gold

Dresses were never really my thing. I wore them when I had too, but felt much more comfortable in a something with legs. My usual outfit included a pair of leggings and an oversized shirt, but for work it was beige slacks and the black shirt they had supplied me with.

This time, however, I felt comfortable in the floral midi dress I had chosen. The three quarter sleeves and longer skirt were perfect for hiding any ink that I was worried about. Accented with simple waves and a pair black heels, I thought I looked great.

Slipping my gold engagement band onto my right hand, I looked in the mirror and decided that a small amount of makeup was probably better than none. I applied a thin layer of eyeliner and mascara, before pulling out a tube of reddish-taupe lipstick. I wasn’t quite sure why or when I had bought the neutral colour, but was happy that it was something within my makeup bag.

Slipping on a few golden bangles and grabbing my black clutch, I left the spare room and made my way to the living room, where Sidney was waiting for me.

“You ready to go?” I asked, startling him.

His lips curled up as he took in my appearance. “You look gorgeous.”

“Thank you,” I grinned, suddenly feeling very shy. I watched him get up from the couch and saunter over to me. “Should we go?”

“Give me a minute to just take you in,” Sidney muttered, placing a hand on my cheek and staring into my eyes. “You really do look amazing.”

I felt a rush of heat to my cheeks, and did everything within my power not to pull away from his hand in an attempt to hide it.

Before I could register, he leaned in and captured my lips with his. My hands wrapped around his neck, almost too instinctively, and my fingers tangled themselves in his hair.

He didn’t bother disconnecting our lips as he pushed me into the hall and up against the wall. The hand from my cheek hit the surface behind my head, while the other landed on my hip.

My leg hooked around his waist, pulling him closer. I could feel the heat between us rise, and knew I should pull away before we got too carried away, but the thought disappeared as the hand from my hip grazed my knee and continued to push up the skirt of my dress.

Without warning, Sidney’s body shot away from me, leaving me in a strange chill.

“We should go before we’re late.”

I blinked a few times, not able to comprehend what had just occurred. Shuffling after Sidney, I wracked my brain for any thing I might have done to change the mood of the evening. I slide into the passenger seat of his Range Rover, and buckled the seat belt. “Did I do something wrong?” I whispered as he pulled away.

“What?” He glanced over to me before returning his eyes to the road.

“Just now. Why did you stop? Was it something I did?”

“Oh,” Sidney mumbled. “It had nothing to do with you. I really wanted to continue. Pick you up and take you to my bed.”

“So, what happened?”

“I remembered why you were looking so good.”

“I don’t understand.”

“This event is important for the team, and it looks bad if the captain is late. I feel awful about stopping so abruptly, and if we were going to supper or something, I never would have.”

“I get it,” I told him, turning to stare out the window at the city passing by.

“I’m really sorry, Margot.”

“It’s fine, Sid. I’m just glad it wasn’t because of me.” It wasn’t a total lie, but I didn’t want him thinking that I was angry and then worrying throughout the night.

The rest of the drive was silent. The tension was thick, but I did my best to ignore it, and prepare for a night of socializing.

“Are we okay?” Sidney asked, dropping the vehicle into park.

I let out a sigh, and nodded. “I’m sorry. I’m being stupid. I get that this is important, and I want to be here with you. I just felt a bit put out.”

“It won’t always be like that,” he offered, taking my hand. “Trust me, if I hadn’t given tonight a second thought, we would not be here right now.”

I smiled, knowing that his words were sincere. “Let’s get inside.”

Sidney got out and hurried over to the passenger side to open the door and help me out. He took my hand, and led me into the building.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Kris and Catherine chatting with an older couple. “Is that Pascal Dupuis?”

“It is,” Sidney chuckled. “There will be a lot of familiar faces here, if you’ve been following the Pens.”

“I don’t know what I was expecting, but this was not it.”

“You’ll get used to it,” he smiled. “Do you want something to drink?”

“I think that would be a good idea,” I agreed, feeling overwhelmed.

“Wait right here,” he instructed, before disappearing into a crowd of people.

I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm my nerves.

“Hey, Margot,” Catherine’s voice came from next to me. “I saw you come in. You look horrified.”

“I think I’m a little out of my league, Cath.”

“Sid didn’t prepare you well enough,” she laughed. “Just have fun. Sid will have to say hello to a lot of people. Don’t worry about remembering why they are important, or even what their names are. Let him introduce you. The most you will have to do is smile and shake hands with people.”

“I sure hope you’re right,” I gulped. “I forget how respected and influential his is in everything related to the franchise.”

“It’ll get easier,” she promised, touching my shoulder lightly. “You look really nice. Your hair is a bit of a mess, but if you just run your fingers through it, you’ll be fine.”

“Shit,” I muttered, brushing my hair. “I didn’t even think to check my hair and makeup after…”

“After?” Catherine raised a brow.

“I’ll tell you later,” I dismissed, noticing that Sidney was on his way back.

Noticing my eye line, Catherine gave me a nod. “I’ll see you later.”

As she made her way back to Kris, Sidney stopped in front of me. “Cath looks nice.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, taking the bottle of beer he was handing me. “She found the dress yesterday and fell in love.”

“Sid?”

We both turned to find a man holding a camera.

“Do you mind a picture?”

Sidney raised a brow at me, and shrugged. “That’s alright with me.” He took the bottle from me, placed it on the table next to us and wrapped an arm around my waist. “Smile,” he whispered into my ear before looking at the camera.

I followed suit and threw on my best grin.

The camera flashed a couple times before the man was satisfied, and left us to ourselves.

“Come with me,” Sidney said, arm still around my waist. “I want you to meet a few people.”

Grabbing the beer from the table, I allowed Sidney to lead me through the crowd to another older couple. I held the beer to my side, slightly embarrassed that I was drinking a less classy drink than the wine in the other woman’s hand.

“Sidney,” the man said, shaking his hand. “I was starting to think you weren’t going to make it.”

“I’ll just say it was car troubles,” Sidney joked. “I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Margot. Margot, this is Mario Lemieux, and his wife, Nathalie.”

“It’s a pleasure,” I grinned, extending a hand for them to shake.

“Like wise,” Mario smiled, shaking my hand.

“With her on your arm, I don’t think you’ll convince anyone that you were having car troubles,” Nathalie spoke up. “We are happy to see you with someone, though.”

I looked down, feeling awkward that they had figured out why it had taken us so long to arrive.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” a French accent said from behind me.

“Pascal,” Sidney warned, as if he knew what was going to happen.

“I just wanted to come over and say how nice your date looks. I’m Pascal, by the way.”

“Margot,” I offered, shaking his hand.

“You’re the Capitals fan, right?”

“Not a fan,” I chuckled.

“She works for them,” Sidney explained.

“Are you here to watch them play tomorrow night?” Mario asked.

“I’m here to visit Sid,” I explained. “The fact that the Caps are here is irrelevant. I should probably go talk to them tomorrow, considering the amount of publicity that is here tonight.”

“Oh,” Pascal smirked. “You haven’t told them about Sidder.”

“Sidder?” I raised a brow, and glanced at Sidney.

“Please don’t start calling me that,” he groaned.

“I won’t,” I laughed. “And you’re right. I never told the boys, but I know that Ovi will be catching up on all of the gossip tomorrow. My secret will be out.”

“Why don’t I take you to the game early?” Sidney suggested. “You can head down to the locker room and wish the Caps good luck.”

“That would be nice, but I don’t think I’m allowed down there.”

“We can make an exception,” Mario proposed.

“Thank you, but that’s not necessary.”

“I don’t mind,” Sidney shrugged, earning a nod from Mario. “I think they would enjoy seeing you.”

“Maybe not,” Pascal piped up. “After finding out you two are together, they might shun you.”

“Naw,” I shook my head. “Ovi’s got my back.”

“Should I be concerned about how close you are to Alexander Ovechkin?”

“Please, don’t be. He acts like a big brother.”

Dropping the subject, the men started talking about the hockey season, and the fast approaching playoffs, leaving me to think about just how the Caps were going to take the news of my dating the league’s “Golden Boy”.

I quietly excused myself, and weaved my way through the crowds to the front door.

“Where are you going?” Catherine asked, catching me just outside the door.

“I just need some air,” I stated, walking over to the side of the building.

“Are you okay?”

“Anxiety,” I explained, pulled a pack of cigarettes out of my clutch and placed one to my lips.

“Smoking?”

“Sometimes they help,” I shrugged. “Yet another thing I have to disclose to Sidney.”

“He might have a tougher time with this one than with the lesbian fiancée.”

“I’m trying not to think about it,” I muttered, blowing smoke away from us. “I just think we need more time before I drop these bombs.”

“Tell me about earlier.”

“Earlier?”

“When you two arrived, your hair was messy.”

“Oh, right,” I mentally slapped myself for forgetting. “Things got a bit heated before we left the house.”

“You two didn’t,” she gasped, a smile spreading across her face.

“We didn’t,” I murmured. “Out of nowhere, he had me up against the wall, and I thought for sure we were going to skip the event. Then he just stopped, and walked away like we hadn’t been making out at all.”

“He did what?”

“Yeah,” I insisted. “He implied that we couldn’t be late, and took me to the car.”

“I would be livid!”

“I was, but I cooled down by the time we got here.”

“I can’t imagine how.”

“He told me that if we didn’t need to be here, we would be up in his bed.”

“Oh, Crosby has a naughty side.”

I laughed loudly, and dropped the rest of my cigarette on the ground. “I certainly hope you are right.”