Science World

“I thought this was where we’re supposed to meet them,” Peyton mumbled, taking a drink of her coffee.

I sighed, pushing my sunglasses onto my face. Despite the cool weather in Vancouver, the sun was still sending down blinding rays, just to melt away any traces of snow that had managed to fall the night before. It was early January, which was generally the coldest time of year for Vancouver, and Peyton and I were both bundled up in thick jeans, two t-shirts under out hoodies and a winter jacket over top. Peyton had, once again, taken a lot of time to make sure her hair and make-up looked fantastic. I was wearing a toque. She would definitely be getting more attention.“They’ll be here, whichever ones are coming,” I assured her, checking my cell phone to see the time as I took a sip of my hot chocolate. “We’re a couple of minutes early, anyways.”

She nodded, looking around or any signs of approaching hockey players. “Do you think it’s weird that you and I met the Pittsburgh penguins, but not the Canucks?” She asked. “I told my dad about all of this last night and he was livid that I didn’t get him a Mitchell autograph.”

I laughed, “Well, maybe we can work our charm and get an in to the Canucks. I’m sure Crosby knows Luongo, because of the Olympics. Maybe we can befriend him and get him to put a good word in.” I scratched the top of my head through my toque, remembering that any kind of hat always seemed to irritate my head. “Man, what I would give to meet Alex Edler. That guy is such a stud.”

Peyton shrugged, drinking her coffee. “I don’t know who any of them are. Maybe you can show me pictures later,” She said with a small laugh. She straightened herself up and peered forward before resting back in her chair. “I think our posse is here,” she told me, nodding off somewhere behind me.

I turned around in my seat to see a group of six guys making their way over, all of them laughing. I frowned, trying to figure out who was who but having a hard time since they were all in hats and sunglasses. Staal was easy to notice, as he towered over the rest of them. I was assuming that the guy in a very bright red jacket with an orange toque and tight fitting jeans was Talbot. Other than that, I had no idea.Jordan sat down next to me in one of the plastic chairs outside of the tiny restaurant we had been told to meet them at. It was a place I had never even heard of before called “Murphy’s Lunch,” with a wide selection of pies, coffees and sandwiches, but that was about it. Apparently we needed to meet somewhere fans wouldn’t expect to find the players so they could actually enjoy some time off.

“Hi ladies, sorry we’re a little late. Fleury spent half an hour on his hair, and then put a hat on,” Max Talbot apologized.

“It was not half an hour,” Marc-Andre Fleury argued, looking at Peyton and I, “Maybe ten minutes.”

“No, it was definitely twenty minutes, I timed you,” Max told him.

“I thought it took him half an hour,” someone said, making me squint up at them so I could try and figure out who they were.“Well, it was a long time, and in French, time is different…that’s why we’re a little late,” Max decided.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” I said, turning my chair around so I was facing the remaining 3 guys. “I have no idea who you are with the hats and glasses.”

All three of them laughed, removing their glasses and smiling at me so I could see their faces; Tyler Kennedy, Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby. I nodded, “Okay, you can put your disguises back on.”

“So, what do you guys feel like doing?” Peyton asked them, removing her glasses, despite the fact that the sun was shining directly in her eyes and they immediately started watering. She blinked back the tears, determined to remain smiling.

“Well, we were only here once bore,” Tyler began, “So, whatever’s fun to do in Vancouver, I guess.”

Peyton and I looked at one another, both of us grinning. “Science World?” I asked her.

She nodded, “Definitely Science World,” She agreed, standing up and tossing her empty cup into the garbage. “Come on boys, your coach gave us a really pretty van to drive you around you in and we are not wasting it!”

I gulped the last of my hot chocolate, tossing my own cup out and turning to follow Peyton.“This isn’t going to cost you guys a lot of money, is it?” Sidney asked, surprising me as I hadn’t noticed he was beside me. “Because, we can pay your way in if it’s expensive.”

“Whoa, speak for yourself buddy,” Max interrupted. “I do not pay for the ladies unless they are my ladies.”

“That’s weird because you paid for my movie ticket last week,” Kris Letang spoke.

Max leaned around Sidney to grin at Kris. “I sure did, sugar,” he winked.

I shook my head, completely disturbed by what had just happened, and looked back at Sidney. “No, Dan also gave us a credit card. So technically, this is costing you a lot of money.”

Sidney laughed, “Oh, well then it’s fine.”

I nodded, breaking into a faster walk as a wind chill picked up, making my already cold bones yearn for the warmth of the van.

“So, what is Science World?” Tyler asked, climbing into the back of the van.

“It’s this museum of awesome,” Peyton answered, sitting behind the wheel. “They have a Lego exhibit, a dead people exhibit-”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up,” Jordan cut her off from his seat beside her up front. “They have a funeral?”

I laughed, seeing the unimpressed expression on Peyton’s face from the reflection in the rear-view mirror.“Yes, that’s what they have,” She said, shaking her head as she started to drive, making sure everyone else was buckled in.

“Seriously, what do they have? I’m curious,” Tyler asked again.

I turned around to look at him. “They have this really cool booth that takes your picture, but freezes your shadow behind you. And there’s a music room where you make music by playing with different contraptions. There’s also games, like a wheel chair race, a grip test…it’s basically fantastic.”

Tyler nodded, seeming impressed enough.I glanced beside me where Kris Letang sat in all his handsome glory, his adorable face smirking at me. “You’re a big fan of it, I see?”

I nodded, smiling excitedly. “I haven’t been there in a few years, but I love that place. Everyone else is all about Granville island, but Science World is the place to be.”

Sidney, who was sitting at the back with Tyler and Max, leaned forward with a brochure of some kind in his hands. “Is it actually called Science World, or something different? I don’t see it on here.”

“Oh, yeah. TELUS bought the place a few years ago and renamed it TELUS world of Science, but no one calls it that,” Peyton explained.

Sidney nodded. “Well, it was a good try on their part, I guess,” he mumbled.

“Do they have food? Because I am hungry,” Marc-Andre asked from beside me, letting out a long sigh.

I glanced at him, “So, what do I call you?” He gave me a confused look, making me try to explain what I meant, “Well, I mean, you’re name is kind of long, and I don’t know you, so I don’t want to call you by a nickname. But, if I say your full name, I run out of breath.”

He laughed, “Oh, you can call Marc. Or Flower, whichever one is better.”

“I will not call you flower, just because the thought of it makes me uncomfortable,” I decided. “I will call you Marc.”

He nodded, letting out a small chuckle as he turned his attention to look out the window.
---------------------

“Oh, it’s like everything I love!” Max exclaimed as soon as we had made our way past the pay desk and into the beginning of Science World. “Well, except that no one is speaking French, and I can’t dance here.”

“You can dance,” Peyton assured him, taking off her jacket and tossing it over one arm, “People will just judge you.”

“I don’t even know where to look, there’s so many things to be distracted by,” Kris said, holding both of his hands against his face. “I feel dizzy.”

I twitched my mouth to the side as I looked over at Kris. “He should be very thankful that he is so gosh darn gorgeous.”

“We often tell him that,” Tyler informed me. “He’s not actually stupid, just-”

“French?” Peyton interrupted.“What do you have against the French?” Max asked. “What did we do to you?”

“You made it so that I have to take French from grades 4 to 8.” She snarled.

“I liked taking French,” I piped up.

Max nodded, shooting Peyton a look and then turning to smile at me, “That is why you and I will be friends. She and I will fight.” He turned to glare at Peyton once more, “With our fists.”

I frowned, glancing back and forth between Peyton and Max. “I don’t want to be stuck with either of you.”

“You can come with me,” Marc spoke up. “Tyler and Kris want to go try out that music room, but Sid and I want to see the Lego.”

“Oh, I am all for the Lego,” I agreed.

“Oh, awesome, so I’ll just be here with barely speaks English guy and stylish but sassy girl,” Jordan mumbled, crossing both of his arms and shaking his head at me. “I thought you and I could be friends. I dried my hair in front of you!”

“Why do people think I don’t speak English?” Max whined.

Jordan smirked at him, “Say extraordinary.”

Max frowned, “That is not fair.”

I laughed, turning to look at Marc and Sidney. “Well, if you guys don’t want to stay and watch this, I can show you where the Lego room is?”

“Yeah, we see this all the time,” Sidney began, “So we’re good for not watching this.”

I nodded, glancing back at Jordan, Max and Peyton before nodding my head off in the direction we needed to head, leading the two of them up the stairs and towards the giant Lego room.

“Oh wow, I wasn’t actually expecting a room full of Lego,” Sidney said, looking around the room and all of it’s displays of Lego. “I have to admit, I’m a little bumbed out that there aren’t any hockey lego figurines.”

“You should tell them that,” I suggested, “Who would say no to Sid the Kid?”

There was a flash of something across Sidney’s face, but as fast as it was there, it was gone. He grinned once more, a little less convincing then the ones I had seen earlier, and let out an awkward chuckle, “Nah, I just play hockey. I don’t need to go around telling people what to do.” He let out a big sigh, turning and walking over to one of the giant Lego displays of a pirate ship.

I chewed on my lip for a second before I looked at Marc, “Did I make him upset?”

Marc hummed, seeming to have not heard what I said. He followed my curious gaze at Sidney and let out a small laugh, “No, no. Sid just, well, I think he has a hard time with people putting him on a pedestal. He‘s just a normal guy, not some hockey god, and I don‘t think he gets treated normal…ever.”

I nodded, pretending that I completely understood what he said. “Well, if you guys don’t want to just stay in this room, there’s a whole bunch of games downstairs,” I suggested.

Marc smiled, “Yeah. We’ll just check out this room, let Sid get mauled by that group of girls over there,” he pointed off to a group of five girls, all of them gaping at Sidney as he peered over at a Star Wars display, “and then we’ll head downstairs.”

I nodded, glancing over as the group of girls finally made their way over to where Sidney was, interrupting him from his peering. He smiled at them all, greeting each one of them with a handshake and agreeing to take some photos. I watched for a moment as he posed with the third girl, the way she practically pulled him into her, how all five of the girls were fawning over him like he was some sort of god. I knew that just about every male in the entire world wishes that girls would practically swoon when they simply heard their name, and yet, as I watched Sidney sign autographs and politely answer the questions the girls asked, I couldn’t help but notice that he almost seemed pained by the way they spoke of him, as if he was the most amazing being they had ever laid eyes on. I was beginning to see that Sidney Crosby wasn’t the same guy I always saw in after game interviews. There was something more to him, and I was wondering if he had ever let anybody see just who he really was.