Speeches

I was so caught up with the Olympics, I forgot to update on here. Then, today, I logged in and saw that I had 10 followers! Wow, thank you so much! Here's an update that I should have out up last week. My apologies.

I let out a sigh as I made my way over to the table set up with fruit punch and tiny little desserts, completely bored from the numerous speeches and countless Penguins montages that had been played repeatedly for the last two hours. I scooped a ladle full of juice into my cup, glancing to smile at the man waiting next to me as I took another scoop, filling my cup, before I moved to the side of the bowl and took a sip.

“So, you come here often?”

I shook my head, turning around to shake my head at a grinning Kris Letang as he giggled. “Enjoying your evening, Kris?” I asked, taking another sip from my cup.

He shrugged, grabbing a brownie from the table beside me and taking a bite out of it. “It’s kind of a typical Friday night for me.”

I frowned. “It’s Tuesday.”

“Is it? I think I missed a doctors appointment,” He said, shoving the rest of the brownie into his mouth, eyeing up the other desserts as he chewed it. “Hey! Which players haven’t you met yet?” He asked.

I shrugged, debating on whether I had room for one of the desserts after eating the biggest steak I’d ever seen in my entire life. “I don’t know. I’ve been introduced to all of them, I just haven’t had a bonding experience with them all,” I answered, deciding to grab a tiny cheesecake from the table.

“You should meet Pascal Dupuis,” He decided, grabbing my wrist, which caused me to drop the cheesecake. “Oh, I’m sorry. Here, I’ll grab you another one,” He apologized, snagging another one off of the table and handing it to me before grabbing my free hand and tugging me through the crowd that was forming around us. “He’s one of my closest friends on the team,” Kris explained to me as we headed off in search of Pascal. “He’s also Sidney’s roommate, so he’s probably anxious to meet you.” He winked at me.

I eyed the tiny square of cheesecake sitting on the napkin in my hand, deciding that yes, I could fit the entire thing in my mouth and have chewed it before Kris would have found Pascal and I would be forced to talk to him. Chewing on the cheesecake also prohibited me from saying anything about his Sidney comment or the wink.

“Speaking of Sidney,” Kris began, looking around the room. Now that the presentations were over, most of the people were roaming about the room, stretching their legs before the silent auction and remainder of speeches would begin. “How was sitting with that handsome man?”

I was almost done chewing, but purposely postponed the process a little more, buying me enough time to think up an answer besides the one that immediately popped into my brain, which involved describing what the smell of Sidney was doing to my head. I finally swallowed the cheesecake and gave an uneasy glance at Kris, who was waiting, eyebrows raised, for an answer. “Good. I mean, no offence, but out of all of you guys, I get along with him the best, so it makes being at this really fancy event much easier.”

Kris was smirking at me, but he didn’t say anything about my answer. Instead he turned back around, standing up on the tips of his toes, and continued looking for Pascal. “Oh, he’s over here!” He said, reaching back to grab my wrist once more and tug me along with him. “Pascal!” He shouted, causing the tall man to turn around and look around for the source of sound.

“Holy lips,” I said aloud, making Kris look back at me and laugh.

Pascal had obviously noticed Kris, as he was grinning and heading towards the two of us, his big bushy eyebrows raised up in excitement as he came over, grinning down at me. “Are you Hanna?”

I nodded, accepting the gigantic hand he was holding out. “I am. And you’re Pascal?”

He laughed, nodding his head. “I am. I’ve heard so much about you from these boys, I’m glad to finally meet you.”

I smiled, not really sure what more to say. Kris was standing to the side of me, urging me to say something more with his eyebrows. “Uhm…so, Kris tells me your Sidney’s roommate?”

Pascal nodding. “Yes. I was a bit worried, at first, because everyone that he has roomed with has been traded within that season. But so far, I am safe.”

I had to laugh a little bit at the comment. “Well, I’m glad you haven’t been shipped off somewhere. Who else could you play for?”

He smirked at me, well aware of the answer I was looking for. “Well, I would love to play for the Canucks.”

I grinned, turning to look at Kris. “I like this guy.”

Kris and Pascal both laughed, Kris saying something to Pascal in French that I couldn’t understand. The conversation carried on for a moment, ending with both of them turning and grinning at me. I frowned. “I don’t like that look. It always means you’ve planned something.”
“What? Hanna, I don’t plan things. Look at my hair,” Kris said, pointing at his hair, which looked as wonderful as usual and made me jealous to think that no effort had gone into it and still looked better than mine.

“Hey, you know what would be fun?” Pascal began, already walking past me. “If we went over here.”

I made a face, having no intention of following him, but Kris placed both of his hands on my back and began to push me forwards, forcing me to follow after Pascal, and also try to ignore the odd glances being sent my way. “What are you making me do?” I asked, looking over my shoulder at Kris.

He shot me an innocent look. “Nothing. He just likes to be a leader.”

I turned back around, surprised to find Pascal had stopped and was waiting for me. “Oh good, you followed,” He said, nodding to Kris. “How do you feel about being photographed?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “What are you up to?”

“We just want pictures!” He said, waving me over to him. “Craig! Craig, come take a picture of me with my new friend, Hanna.”

Craig, I’m assuming, came walking over, his camera in hand and told Pascal and I to stand closer. Pascal reached out and wrapped an arm around me, grinning wide as Craig backed up and lifted his camera.

“Oh, wait!” Pascal yelled, causing Craig to pause, his finger resting on the shutter button. “I just have to grab something that I wanted in the picture. Hanna, get ready. It’ll make it more spontaneous.” He dropped his arm from around me and disappeared from my view for a moment.

“You should fix your dress,” Craig said, taking my attention away from Pascal. “The bottom of it, it’s crinkled a little bit. It’ll widen your frame in the picture if you leave it.”

“Oh, yeah I’ll fix that, then,” I said, reaching down and smoothing out the material.

Craig nodded to someone behind me. “Okay, count of three,” Craig said.

I turned around, just in time to see Kris and Pascal shove Sidney towards me, who seemed just as confused as I did when he noticed me standing there.

“One, “ Craig began, “Sidney, get in closer,” He instructed.

Sidney still seemed unsure of why he was over here, but he moved in a step closer to me and, obviously realizing that a picture was about to be taken, he smiled towards the camera, reminding me that I should do the same.

“Two,” Craig counted, moving his head back a bit and looking at us. “Sid, put your arm around her. You two look like you don’t even know each other.”

There was a hesitation from Sidney as he glanced down at me and must have noticed the mix of anxiety and blatant anger at the fact that I had, once again, been set up by one of his team mates. It didn’t take too long, though, before I felt the weight of his arm draped across my shoulders and he leaned down a bit more, causing me to instinctively move in more and grin towards Craig.

“And three,” Craig said, a blinding flash following the number, causing both Sidney and I to pull away from each other and blink rapidly, seeing splotches of lights still despite the darkness of the room.

“That’ll be a nice one to put up,” Craig said, walking away with his camera before I could ask where he was putting the picture and what it looked like.

“I’m sorry about that. It was all Dupuis,” I said to Sidney as he rubbed his eyes.

Sidney laughed, still blinking a few times. He gave his head a shake before he looked back at me. “Nah, it’s fine. I would have made you take a picture with me later, anyways,” He said with a grin. “How are you holding up? I know these charity dinners can be a lot to take.”

I nodded, only then noticing that I had lost my glass of punch somewhere. “It’s a little boring, but I’m still really excited to be here. I mean, two weeks ago I was getting all excited to see you guys playing the Canucks on TV, and now I’m sitting next to you at a charity dinner. And we match.”

Sidney laughed again, rubbing his chin as he let his eyes make a quick scan of the room. “I’m so thirsty. You want to head over to the drink table with me?” He asked, pointing to where I had just been moments before.

“Sure. I had just gotten myself a glass of punch when Kris came and dragged me over to meet Pascal,” I told him as we both began to head that way. “Bastard owes me a drink.”

Sidney grinned, smoothing out his suit jacket as he walked, waving to the fans that had gotten invited to the event, stopping to sign a few autographs and pose for a couple of pictures. I waited a few feet behind me, trying not to be bothered a few of the looks I was receiving from the female guests. Sidney said a quick thank you to the fans before he turned to smile at me once more and we continued the small journey back to the punch bowl.

“Ah, there’s my cup!” I exclaimed, grabbing it off of the table. “Or, at least I think it’s my cup.” I lifted it up to the light and looked at it, as if it would somehow show me whether or not it was my cup.

“Just take a new one,” Sidney said, handing me a cup that he had just filled.

“Oh, thank you,” I said, smiling to him and taking a drink from the cup, looking around at all of the decorations hanging up. “Are you a decorations guy?” I asked Sidney, looking over at him as he took a drink from his own cup.

He raised his eyebrows up. “What does that even mean?”

I laughed, pointing towards the fancy lamps set up in the corners of the room and the pictures of hockey players adorning every wall in the room. “Do you have a house full of useless decorations and creepy pictures, or are you a classy guy?”

He made a face. “Well, if I was a decorations guy I’d lie and say I was classy now.”

I grinned, taking another drink of my punch. “So you’re a tasteful kind of guy?”

He shrugged. “I’m a basics guy. If I have any weird pictures or glass sculptures, someone bought them for me. I don’t generally notice those kinds of things on my own.”

“That’s good. Unnecessary decorations are just..” I frowned, trying to think of the right word.

“Unnecessary?” Sidney suggested with a grin, making me chuckle at him a little bit. Sidney leaned back against the wall behind us, his eyes moving at the same time as the movement of the room, watching the guests and the other players as they mingled around. After a moment of silence, without moving his gaze from the rest of the room, he asked, “What about you?”

“What about me?” I asked. “I already told you I don’t approve of all the decorations.”

He shifted a bit, taking a drink from his cup, still not looking at me. “What about dating.”

I choked on the juice I was drinking, grabbing a napkin off of the table and wiping my chin free of the juice that dribbled down it. I placed my cup down on the table, still surprised by the question but desperately reaching for an answer now. “Oh, you’re talking about our earlier conversation,” I realized, gnawing on my lip for a moment. “I’ve only had one boyfriend. Tenth grade. It lasted three months. He dumped me for Peyton’s sister.”

That statement seemed to catch Sidney’s attention completely as he turned his head to look at me. “He dumped you for another girl? For a mini Peyton?”

I shrugged. “We were fifteen. Well, I was fifteen, he was sixteen, but that doesn’t matter. It was a crappy three months, and I basically devoted the rest of my time in high school to studying and keeping my grades up. And there aren’t a lot of opportunities out where I live, so..” I shrugged.

Sidney shook his head. “I’m so sorry that someone treated you like that. Leaving you for another girl.”

I gave a half shrug, taking a second to sip from my cup again before placing it back on the table. “It was high school. Guys are just looking for the hottest girl to walk around with most of the time, and that was Jenna.”

Sidney shook his head again. “It’s still not right to make someone feel that way,” He said, looking back over at the crowd of people walking around writing down their bids for the silent auction. “So you’ve just given up on dating?”

I laughed, a reaction which clearly surprised him. “No. I’ve just become more careful. I’m not just going to date some guy because he’s good looking or because he likes me. I need more then that. I guess having these standards makes it really hard to find someone who fits them, or is willing to try and fit them. I think I’m okay with the idea of being one of those crazy old ladies with a dog that she treats like a baby to replace the emptiness in her life, so it’s not a big deal,” I joked.

Sidney didn’t laugh. “Someone will fit them. There’s no way that someone like you is supposed to spend their life without someone by their side.”

I stared up at him for a moment, feeling my eyebrows begin to sink down. There was a feeling of anger stirring up in my stomach once more, just as there was a few short hours before. The charm of Sidney’s character no longer appealing to me for some reason. I stared up at him as he was busy looking off towards something else. I took in a deep breath, letting it out before saying, “You have to stop saying things like that to me.”

Sidney looked back to me, confusion spilling into his eyes and onto his face as he sort of crinkled his nose up a bit. “I’m sorry?”

“You can’t keep telling me these things, it’s not fair, Sidney. You must know that saying that to a girl makes her head swim with pictures of you being that guy that fits the standards, and you can’t let me think that. Not when you spent half of our walk from the arena telling me all the reasons why you don’t date. It’s not fair to let those ideas come into my head. It’s just going to end up making me resent you, and I don’t want that,” I said to him, mildly embarrassed by my speech.

Sidney still had that same look of confusion. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before he let his eyes fall to the floor, not submitting any form of reply.

“Sidney,” Someone called, walking up behind Sidney and giving me a head nod of acknowledgment as he tapped Sidney on the shoulder. “I’m sorry to interrupt,” He apologized, “But the auction is about to end, which means it’s time for your speech.”

Sidney nodded, glancing at the man over his shoulder. He looked back at me for a second before he simply turned and followed the guy towards the backstage area.

I let out the breath I hadn’t noticed I was holding, picking up my cup and taking it with me as I made my way back towards my table, sitting down by myself and watching the rest of the guests as they walked around.

-----------------------

Jordan eyed me from his spot just two seats away from me. He leaned around Amanda, a lucky fan who had won the chance to sit with her favourite player, who happened to be Jordan, and asked, “What’s wrong?”

I shrugged, “Nothing. I’m just tired,” I told him, picking up my glass of water and taking a drink from it, feeling my stomach grow uneasy as Mike Yeo announced that Sidney was coming out to give a speech about the past year and what not.

“I could really use a drink,” I mumbled.

“You have a glass of water in your hand,” Max reminded me. Noticing the look I sent him he nodded, “You don’t mean that kind of drink. I see.”

I sighed, patting my hair with my hand as I watched Sidney walk out onto the stage, waving to the applause that greeted him. He stopped at the podium set up on the stage, placing both of his hands on either side of it as he smiled at the audience, waiting for the applause to die down before he would attempt talking.

“Thank you guys so much for being here tonight, first off. It’s great to see so many of you coming to help out an amazing cause,” He had to pause as more applause broke out, smiling politely at the crowd. “Obviously, we as a team need to extend another thank you to all of you. Your loyalty and dedication to the Penguins organization never fails to astound us all, and I know I speak for everyone on the team when I say that we genuinely appreciate it, and that we couldn’t have won the Stanley Cup without you guys.”

At the mention of the cup, the entire room burst into cheer and applause, including the other players. I clapped politely.

“If it weren’t for the people that supported my own dreams as a child, I know that I would not be where I am today, nor would I be the person I am. We all need someone there beside us to let us know that they believe in us, and to let us know that they’ll always be there to pick us up when we’re down. I had that with my coaches, my parents and with my team mates, which is why I’m always more than glad to help out with charities like this one. Its truly amazing to see a group dedicated to bettering a child’s dreams, whether it be sports, music or dance, or anything else. These kids need all the help they can get when it comes to the finances, and I personally feel that you can never put a price on a child’s dream. These kids are only around seven years old, but their dedication to their dreams, the willingness to sacrifice free time and sleeping in so they can get in a few extra hours of practice in, that’s enough to show all of us that they already know what they want, and that they’re willing to go after that.”

Sidney stopped, rubbing his lips together for a moment as he moved his head just a tiny bit so he was looking at me, letting his gaze stare there for a few seconds before he looked back out at the centre of the room. “These kids are willing to go after what they want, even if they know that there’s a chance it can’t happen the way they want it to. They are willing to let anything stand between them and what they want. They’re seven, some of them just a little bit older, and they know exactly what they want,” He paused again, letting out a soft laugh. “I’m 22, and I’m not even sure what I want,” he said, earning a chuckle from the crowd. “I think we can all learn about passion from these kids,” He said. “I know I’ve learned something. I’ve learned that when you really do want something, you have to go for it no matter what. And that we all need to know how much we mean to each other.” He didn’t add anything more to his brief speech, thanking the crowd as he turned and headed off of the stage, leaving Mike Yeo to remind the crowd about who to write their cheques out too if they wanted to make a donation.

“Man, he knows how to tug at your heartstrings,” Jordan said, pretending to wipe away a tear.

I laughed at him, taking another drink from my water. “Are we allowed to get up and move around now?” I asked the table.

Max shrugged, not looking up from his napkin as he tried to twist into…something. “I think so. I don’t know what else you could do.”

I waited until I saw a few other people standing up and moving around before I left the table, trying to remember exactly where Peyton had been sitting.


“Hanna!”

I frowned, turning around and trying to see who was calling my name.

“I’m over here,” Sidney said from behind me, scaring me as I whipped around to look at him, placing a hand over my heart and making him give me a half smile. “Sorry.”

I shrugged, “It’s okay. I just didn’t see you.” I looked at him for a moment. “That was a great speech.”
He nodded, “I’m glad you liked it.” He seemed to debate saying something for a moment before he sighed. “How much of Pittsburgh have you seen since you’ve been here?”

I shrugged again. “I’ve seen the mall, the arena and a bookstore.”

Sidney chewed on his lip for a second. “I think that tomorrow, before I have to head off for the game, you and I should go look around Pittsburgh, let you see more of it before you leave.”

“Oh…yeah, that would be cool,” I agreed, surprised by the offer. “Do you want Peyton to come, too?”

“No,” Sidney answered quickly. “I mean, Peyton can go with Jordan and Max or something.”

I only nodded again, still surprised by the invitation since just about a half hour earlier I had been telling him he couldn’t continue to be charming. “Uhm..okay. Let me know when, I guess.”

He nodded, his name being called by someone. “I’ll make sure to tell you what time,” He promised, pausing once more. “And I’m really sorry if I’ve ever made you feel like you weren’t worth my time, or that you weren’t as amazing as you are,” He said quietly, leaning in a little bit so no one else could hear what he was saying. “I just think you deserve more.”

I grabbed his arm before he turned and headed off. “No offence, Sidney. But I don’t think it’s you who gets to decide what I deserve or what I want.”

Sidney eyed me for a moment before he smiled. “I’ll pick you up around eleven, okay?” He nodded, seeing me agreeing with him, and then turned to go find whoever had called him.

Seating Arrangements

“Peyton?” I called as I walked back into the hotel room, surprised by the quietness.

“Hanna?” She called back from somewhere.

I frowned, slipping off my shoes and walking across the room, looking around to try and figure out where she was. “Are you in your room?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you going to come out?” I asked, turning so I was facing her closed bedroom door.

“I don’t know.”

I sighed, walking towards her door and placing my hand on the doorknob. “Peyton?”

“Hanna? Don’t come in.”

“Are you having sex with someone?” I asked through the door.

“What?! No. Who would I be having sex with?” She yelled, clearly moving away from something as I could hear a loud “thud” in the background.

I pressed my ear against the door, straining to try and hear anything that would give away why she was refusing to come out. I groaned, pulling away from the door. “Peyton, come on! I’ve barely even seen you today, and now you’re ignoring me. I feel neglected.”

There was a pause on the other side of the door before I heard her feet padding across the floor to open the door. The doorknob twisted about halfway before it stopped. “You have to promise not to say anything.” She said.

I took a step back from the door and made a face. “Uhm..how long am I forbidden to speak?”

“Hanna, just…you’ll see, okay?”

I laughed, “Okay, okay. I won’t say anything until the time feels right.”

“I’m going to act like you aren’t mocking me and try to believe that you won’t be a jerk,” She said back.

The doorknob twisted once more before the door was finally pulled open a crack. Peyton peeked one eye out at me, making me raise my eyebrows at her. She disappeared behind the door for a second. Finally, after she muttered to herself for a moment, she pulled the door back fully and stepped out so I could see her.

I felt my eyes widen immediately as I took in her overall appearance, and both of my hands flew to cover my mouth before any laughter or snide remarks could seep out.

Peyton sighed, trying to pat down her hair. “I should have stayed in my room.”

I dropped my hands from my mouth, still struggling to hold back the laughter. “What happened?”

“Jordan. That’s what happened,” She told me, crossing her arms.

“I don’t understand,” I admitted, still looking her over. I gasped, “Oh my God, you had sex with Jordan?”

“What?!” She yelled, her face melting into a frown of disgust. “No! God, Hanna, why would you even..I can’t…I don’t even…” She shook her head, sighing. “He and Max came over about an hour ago and I was styling my hair-”

“Oh, now I get it,” I said, laughing. “Max offered to style your hair?”

She pouted. “His hair always looks pretty nice, so I figured it would be okay. But then…but then, I guess he gave Jordan all the products and-”

“How did you not notice that?” I asked.

“Well, they were styling my hair out here, so there was no mirror and I couldn’t see him and they put on the TV, which had Hockey Night In Canada on it, and they were interviewing that Bieksa guy,” She stopped to take a breath. “I was defenceless is basically what I’m trying to say.”

I nodded. “Okay, so I get the hair. But, the makeup and outfit?”

“They offered to do my makeup, as well.” She explained. “They told me that there’s some charity event tonight and that they were trying to pull some strings so you and I could go with them, and Jordan said that they had a friend they wanted to set me up with.”

“Peyton, Jordan arranged to have Sidney’s dad greet with a sign that had ‘Hanna and Traffic Violation.’ You should know he’s not a good person by now,” I told her. “Plus, you still haven’t explained the outfit.”

She frowned, looking down at the yellow miniskirt and baggy floral print shirt she was wearing. “What’s wrong with my outfit?”

My eyes widened once more as I realized that Peyton legitimately thought her current outfit looked good. “Nothing. I just assumed they must have helped with everything, do you want to borrow a face cloth or something?”

She nodded, still trying to pat down her wildly styled hair. One half looked mildly okay, but the other half was almost completely poofed out, with the curls hanging in one giant clump and the rest of her hair on that side resembling a freshly blow-dried poodle.

“Were they lying about the charity event?” She asked me as I dug through my still unpacked washroom bag for a spare face cloth.

I finally found one, pulling it out of the bag and walking back over to her with it. “I think so. I haven’t heard anything about it yet. And I spent the whole afternoon with them.”

She nodded, taking the cloth from me and nodding her head for me to follow her into her washroom so we could continue talking while she tried to wash her face. “Are you sure? I mean, I believe there is an event, I just don’t believe we could actually go. Maybe that’s why they didn’t tell you?”

I shrugged, sitting on top of the bathroom counter. “Maybe. I don’t see why it matters. I’d be good with taking a night to just look around Pittsburgh. We’ve been here a couple of days, tomorrow is our last full day, and the only thing I’ve seen is a bookstore and Mellon Area.”

Peyton had to take a second to answer as she was scrubbing her face. “Yeah, I guess having a night without those assholes would be nice.”

“They aren’t assholes,” I argued.

She smirked, looking at me. “They’re nice to you because of Sidney. They’re mean to me because I’m ruining everything.”

I frowned, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Peyton sighed, putting the cloth down and looking at me, which was hard for me to handle since only half of her face was scrubbed free of the orange foundation and bright pink blush. “Are you kidding me, Hanna?” When I didn’t answer she shut off the running water and sat down on the other side of the counter, crossing her legs and turning herself so she was facing me. “Look, I left out a few details on Sidney and I’s ‘cofee date’.” She admitted, earning curiosity from me. “Sidney left before Jordan did, he said he had an interview to do or something, so I spent almost an hour with Jordan.”

“Oh, you are sleeping with him,” I gasped.

She made a face. “No, I am really, really not.” She shook her head, giving a small shudder. “I was informed that my asking Sidney out probably ruined the chances of Sidney asking you out.”

I laughed, which seemed to completely surprise Peyton. “Sidney won’t ask me out. He just spent three blocks telling me about why he doesn’t date and why he doesn’t plan on dating.”

Peyton frowned, scratching the still caked side of her face. “Maybe he’s just confused?” She suggested. When I merely shrugged she tried a different approach. “Maybe he was saying all of that more for himself than for you,” She began, catching my attention once more. “From what I’ve been told by Max and Jordan, Sidney is a really private guy. He doesn’t let people in because he doesn’t usually have the chance to shut them out. There’s very few aspects of his life that he can manage to keep to himself, right?” She had to take a second to readjust herself. “But look at how much he’s talked to you already. And he goes out of his way to talk to you, to make sure he’s around you, and the rest of the team does it, too, they go out of their way to make sure you and Sidney are left alone.” She grinned to me, “I mean, look at today?”

I scratched the back of my neck, eyeing up Peyton’s smirking face. “I can see some of that, I guess,” I admitted “But you have to look at this in a logical way, Peyton. I’ve known him for about a week. I leave after tomorrow. We spent the entire walk back from the arena discussing why he won’t date. There’s no point in me putting in an effort into something that can’t happen.”

Peyton’s smirk had disappeared, and for a long moment she just stared at me. Eventually, she slid off of the counter and turned the water back on, picking up the face cloth and returning to washing her face.

When she didn’t say anything more, I took the hint and hopped off of the counter, awkwardly heading out of the washroom. Just as I was about to leave Peyton spoke.

“I always thought of you as the girl who believed anything was possible,” She said, looking at me in the mirror. “It’s too bad you left that girl in Vancouver.”

I frowned, choosing not say anything as I headed out to my own room.

--------------------------

I’m not sure when I fell asleep, but when Marc banged on my bedroom door and startled me out of my sleep, I flipped right off of the bed and onto the floor.

“Did you just die?” He asked, laughter lacing his voice.

I groaned, tiredly picking myself off of the floor and rubbing my now sore back. “Almost,” I called back, slowly making my way towards the door, which was only a few feet away but seemed to be miles out of reach.

I tugged the door open, rubbing one of my eyes with my free hand as I stared up at Marc. “What do you want now?”

He laughed. “Well, I came to tell you and Peyton to get ready.”

I frowned, only then noticing the suit he was in, the absence of his usual hat and the scent of expensive cologne. “What’s happening?”

“The charity dinner. I thought Sidney told you?”

I stared at him. “Do you think I would look like this if I had any clue I was going to have to be at a fancy dinner?”

He shrugged, “I don’t question the ways of females. Do you have a nice dress to wear?” I shook my head, no. “That’s okay, Max and I bought you one,” He grinned, presenting a dress bag from behind him. “I hope you like blue.”

“I love blue,” I said, taking the bag from him and unzipping it a bit so I could peer in at the silky dress.

“We figured it would match your eyes well,” He told me.

I looked back up at Marc. “My eyes are green.”

“Oh. Then they’ll match your…well, hopefully a pair of shoes or something,” He said. “Anyways, hurry up. We have to be downstairs in twenty minutes.”

“Twenty minutes!” I yelled, startling him. “Get out of my room!” I yelled again, shoving him away from the door as I raced around, changing at the same time, to find all of my makeup and hair pins.

When I emerged, a surprisingly speedy fifteen minutes later, Peyton was sitting on the couch talking to Marc and Max, who were both dressed up as nice as hockey players who own a limited number of suits can be dressed. Max noticed me first, grinning at me. “Ah, see? You look fantastic for only taking fifteen minutes!”

Peyton looked me over, her face free of the makeup she had previously been wearing and replaced a modest amount now. “Your dress is way nicer than mine.”

“That’s because she is way nicer than you,” Max said, standing up from the couch. “Alright, ladies. Out we go!”

Peyton and I followed behind the two of them, me looking over Peyton’s dark purple cocktail dress and envying the way she could walk in her heels with no struggle whereas I was bobbling with every step.

“What’s this event for, anyways?” I asked, placing a hand on the wall to steady me as I tried to get used to the heels I was wearing.

“It’s for Children’s Hospital,” Marc answered me. “I’m sorry we didn’t give you two more notice. We didn’t know we could bring guests until this afternoon. Bylsma pulled a few strings and got you on the list.”

“Hey, I appreciate it,” I assured him, looking nervously at the few steps I would have to walk down. “Is Vero coming?”

Marc nodded. “She’s in the lobby with the rest of the team and a few of the wives and girlfriends,” He told me.

I nodded, slowing down my walking pace drastically as I tried to make it down the five stairs without falling down and completely embarrassing myself.

“I’m so proud of you,” Peyton cooed when I finally made it to the last step, letting out a sigh of relief as I managed to not die.

I shot her a sarcastic grin, reaching a hand up to check and make sure that the five minutes I had taken to try and throw my hair up into some sort of an impressive up do. Marc had already headed off to find Vero, leaving Peyton, Max and I to stand at the bottom of the stairs and stare at the massive mob in front of us.

“I don’t remember there being this many people before,” I said, suddenly nervous.

Max grinned, looking at me over his shoulder. “Well, this is everyone involved with the team. From coaches and trainers to PR guys and the people in charge of the site. I’m pretty sure that guy over there did my laundry once,” He joked, pointing at some random man on a cell phone.

“How long is this dinner going to be?” Peyton asked, looking around the crowd.

“You’re worried your hair won’t stay fantastic for the duration of it, aren’t you?” I asked, smirking at her.

Peyton frowned at me. “Hair is a very important thing for me, Hanna. When I was in high school, and fat, all I had was my hair.”

I laughed, “You were not fat in high school! I have seen pictures.”

“Ladies ladies, please,” Max interrupted, turning around to place a hand on each of our shoulders. “Let’s just focus on finding someone that doesn’t have a problem understanding me and figure out what’s happening.”

“Oh, so you can make fun of your accent, but I can’t?” Peyton asked.

“I meant understanding me emotionally,” Max said. “But it’s nice of you to make fun of my heritage. Again.”

I stifled a laugh as he raised his eyebrows up at Peyton, as if challenging her to say something more. When Peyton merely let out a small chuckle at him, he nodded and told us to follow him as he headed off into the mob, greeting all of the familiar faces who grinned at him and then sent Peyton and I a confused look.

“These people totally think we’re your escorts,” Peyton told Max.

He laughed, then threw a serious face on. “Wouldn’t be the first time I brought some as my date.”

I laughed, then, noticing his lack of amusement, made a face. “Are you kidding?”
Max merely shrugged at me, turning back around and speeding up a bit as he spotted whoever he was looking for. Peyton and I struggled to keep up, as each of us were in heels and dresses that weren’t too long, but had enough of a so-called train that we could easily trip on the fabric. He finally came to a halt, turning around with an apologetic look. “Sorry, ladies. I forgot about your lack of pants.”

“Haha, that’s what she said!” Kris laughed, looking over at Peyton and I. “You two look lovely. I’m glad disco Dan decided to let you two in on the party.”

“I’m sorry, did you say Disco Dan?” I asked.

“You are so out of the loop.” Kris sighed.

“Is everybody here now?” Some guy that I had never seen before asked, appearing next to Max and startling both Peyton and I. When the other guys nodded he made some sort of note on his clipboard. “Good. Start heading out to the taxis that are waiting,” He said, heading off to repeat the message to the rest of the group.

“If we snag a taxi van we can all go together,” Tyler suggested, taking a second to count those of us standing in the circle and nodding, now sure that he hadn’t lied.

“Well, let’s do that then,” Max said, pointing towards the hotel doors and then making an ushering movement so someone would head towards them.

Kris was the first to head off, holding the door open for the rest of us as Jordan, whom I hadn’t noticed was there until that moment, looked around for a taxi van. “There’s one at the end of line-up, but I think Malkin and Gonchar’s group are eyeing it up,” He told us.

“Then we run,” Max said. “Don’t worry girls, you don’t have to. We’ll run and claim the van. You take your time,” He assured us, breaking into a sprint as he and Jordan took off towards the van. Three seconds later I was almost knocked over by a racing Evgeni Malkin, who was yelling something at them in Russian.

“This is a weird moment for me,” Peyton admitted.

I chuckled, shivering in the coolness of the night as she and I made our way towards the van, where Max and Jordan were standing in the open door taunting Geno and Sergei Gonchar, who were standing outside panting. Tyler and Kris were a few steps ahead, whispering to one another and occasionally glancing back at the two of us with a suspicious grin. “After you two,” Tyler said, grinning at the two of us.

Peyton and I eyed him for a minute but eventually thanked him and climbed into the van.

“It will be a good night, girls.” Jordan said from the row behind us. “Free food. What more could you ask more?” He challenged, pursing his lips for a moment and glancing at me. I was expecting some sort of odd joke, but he merely smiled at me before looking out the window and leaving me to send a questionable look at Max, who merely shrugged, clearing his throat and looking out his own window.

-----------------------------------

“Oh, there is a camera crew,” I said as we made our into the giant auditorium. The amount of tables, decorations and servers just abut made my head spin. “This is like how prom is supposed to be.”

“Prom,” Peyton muttered. “Hopefully it’s nothing like prom. If it is, I’ll be crying in the bathroom at the end of the night.”

I sighed, looking at the tiny cards set at each seat with a name written across it. “So, which table are Peyton and I at?” I asked Max.

He and Jordan exchanged a look before Max smiled. “Well, Peyton, you’re right here,” He said, pointing to the table right beside him. “And Hanna, you’re not.”

I frowned. “Am I not on the list?”

“No, you’re allowed to be here,” Max said. “You’re just not sitting with Peyton.”

“Oh, there wasn’t enough room?” Peyton asked, already sitting down at the table and leaning around to read the other names, glancing up as more and more people filed in. “I’m sitting with Tyler, Kris, Ruslan Fedotenko, Brooks Orpik and Brent Johnson,” She read. “Awww, Hanna, I’m going to be so bored.”

“Where am I sitting?” I asked again, completely ignoring Peyton and she said something to Kris when he sat down at the table.

“You’re over here,” Jordan said, nodding over his shoulder and walking me over to a table on the other side of the room. He glanced around before stopping me. “Look, I’m sorry that I changed the seating so you’re not with Peyton-”

“You did what now?” I asked, shaking my head a little bit.

He let out an awkward laugh. “Yeah, Max and I might have snuck into Bylsma’s office and rearranged a few things. But it had to happen, because if Peyton is there, Peyton will distract you.”

I eyed him for a moment, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. I peered around him to see the table we were standing a few feet from, straining my eyes to try and read the name cards.

Bill Guerin, Jordan Staal, Amanda Cummings, Maxime Talbot, Hanna Ashton, Sidney Crosby

“Oh, you assholes,” I muttered, reaching out and smacking Jordan’s arm. “Would you guys stop playing cupid?”

“Cupid? Do I look like a tiny baby who is mysteriously good at archery?” He asked. “I just think you and Sidney-”

“Stop thinking about me and Sidney,” I interrupted. “Nothing will happen. I’m only here tomorrow, then I leave early in the next morning. And Sidney doesn’t date. Drop it.”

Jordan stared at me for a long time before he walked over to the table, picking up my name card, and switched it with one at the table behind it. “There. No worries.”
He pulled out his chair and took a seat, leaving me to stare at the back of his head in confusion.

Max, who was standing behind me, let out a sigh, coming to stand next to me. “I don’t think you realize what’s happening, Hanna,” Max said, pausing so he could pick my name card back up. “We’re not doing this just because we want you two to date or whatever,” He paused again so he could put my card back where it was before, saying something to Jordan as he placed the other person’s name back on the other table. “It’s not about all of that fluffy stuff. It’s about Sidney needing someone to talk too. And he has that with you.”

He stopped, glancing behind me and nodding at someone before looking back at me. “Stop thinking about whether you ‘like’ him or if there’s a need to bother with him if he already told you he generally doesn’t date, and just talk to the guy.”

Max stepped away from me to greet one of the photographers at the event, leaving me to awkwardly head over to the table and sit down, looking over at Jordan. He was staring down at the table, his jaw clenched and his face lined with annoyance.

I played with the fabric of my dress for a moment before letting out a loud sigh. “I’m sorry, Jordan,” I said, making him glance up at me. “The truth is, I appreciate the effort you guys are putting in. Even if it makes me wildly uncomfortable most of the time.”

He sat up in his chair, placing his elbows on the table and leaning forward. “Good. Because whether you believe it or not,” He said, glancing around quickly, “Sid’s just as bothered by the idea of you two having no chance as you are. He’s just not going to say anything about it.” He watched as my expression flashed between shock, embarrassment and disbelief in a matter of seconds before he simply laughed, taking a sip from the glass of the water set before him.

I felt my eyes widen, as I was still trying to wrap my head around everything Max and Jordan had told me, when the chair next to me was pulled out.
“Hey guys,” Sidney greeted, glancing over at me when I snapped my head up, making Jordan laugh. Sidney chuckled, “Sorry, did I startle you?” He asked, looking at me.

I had to take a second to answer after I turned my head to look at him, taking in the still wet hair, the scent of the cologne he had on and the way the dark coal colour of his suit set off his eyes. I forced a small smile. “A little bit, yeah.” I turned my attention straight ahead once more, reaching out for my own glass of water and taking an unlady like gulp, ignoring the way that Jordan was watching with an amused expression.

Sidney, thankfully, had turned his own attention away from me briefly as Bill Guerin had patted his shoulder as he walked around him to get to his chair, causing Sidney to tip his head back and look at him. He turned to look at me again, taking in my dress before he looked up once more, catching my eye. “You look beautiful, Hanna.”

I felt my face growing warm as I quietly thanked him, catching the first pump Jordan did from two seats over. “I told you it would be a good night!” He said, making me shoot him a look while Sidney glanced over at him in confusion before becoming distracted by Bill Guerin asking him something. Jordan gave me a thumbs up, laughing as I completely ignored the gesture and tried to distract myself with another drink of my water.

Max took a seat across from me, glancing quickly between Sidney and I before he grinned. “Hey, you know what’s really weird?” He asked, earning both Sidney and I’s attention. “Sidney’s tie matches your dress.”

I glanced down at my dress before I turned and looked at Sidney’s tie, noticing that they were, indeed, the exact same colour.

Jordan made a shocked face. “Well, that is certainly a coincidence.”

Bill Guerin laughed, “It’s like you two are a couple. That’s adorable.”

I was still staring over at Max and Jordan, who were both trying as hard as they could to not fall over in a fit of laughter, as they had clearly arranged this whole thing, from the seating to the outfits.

Sidney let out a laugh from beside, holding his tie out so he could look at it and then looking at me. “I guess we just both have amazing taste,” He grinned, his eyes moving to Max. “Or friends with connections.”

Max began whistling, looking away from Sidney and I as if he had no idea what was being implied.

“Whichever it is,” Sidney continued, smirking at Max for another brief second before returning his gaze to me, “You still look really pretty.”

I the lights hadn’t dimmed at that exact moment to signal the start of the event, I just might have fallen out of my chair .

Introductions and Explanations

“You alright up there, Hanna?” Dan Bylsma called to me, knocking me out my semi-unconscious state. I gave him a thumbs up, trying my best to smile as I urged my body to stay awake.

The practice had only been happening for about ten minutes, but for some reason, a wave of extreme fatigue had captured me, and despite my inner hockey fan’s ecstatic glow towards being invited to a private practice by one the NHL’s best teams, I just couldn’t seem to keep my eyes open. Sidney had bought me a cup of coffee when we first arrived at Mellon arena, which, coincidentally, was when my first stretch of yawns came on. The coffee was now cold, as I had placed it down on the floor just shortly before I began to weave in and out of sleep, and I was debating on whether or not I wanted to walk up the stairs and out to where the coffee station had been set up for visitors.

“Do you want another cup?” The girl sitting just behind me asked, causing me to twist around in my seat and look at her. “I’m heading up to get myself one, and I can see that you’re pretty tired. If you want, I can grab you one, too.”

I smiled, “That would be so great, thank you.”

She smiled back, standing up in her seat. “Do you take cream or sugar?”

“Yes Two sugars. Enough cream that I can drink it fairly fast,” I told her. “Thank you so much, again.”

“Oh, it’s no problem. I was getting up anyways,” She assured me, reaching down to grab the cold cup in my hands. “I’ll toss this one while I’m up, too.”

I let out another yawn as the girl headed out of the seats and up the stairs, stretching my arms above my head. I adjusted my sweater, which had become twisted at some point, before looking back down at the ice.

There was a pause in the scrimmage, and Bylsma was talking quietly to Kris and Brooks Orpik as the rest of the guys on the ice stood around chatting, waiting for Bylsma to finish.

Marc skated out from the net, lifting his mask up so that I could see his face as he stopped right in front of me. I was in the front row, just to the side of the penalty box, since that was where Marc had told me to sit. He waved to me. “Staying awake?”

I sighed, “Trying to.”

“I appreciate the effort,” He joked. “I see you’ve met my girlfriend?”

I frowned, turning to glance around me, spotting two more girls sitting a good hundred feet away from me, talking to each other. I turned back to him with a confused expression. “Is she invisible?”

He laughed. “She went to get you your coffee.”

I smacked a hand to my forehead. “Oh! Right, I forgot about that girl. She seems very sweet.”

Marc only grinned again, his eyes moving past me as his girlfriend made her way back down the stairs towards me. I turned around to glance at her, accepting the fresh Styrofoam cup of coffee from her with a small smile. She was very slim, with almost olive coloured skin and dark straight hair, warm brown eyes and a soft smile. If marc wasn’t such a sweet guy, I would say she was out of his league.

Marc made some sort of motion towards her, smiling once more at me before he turned and skated back to the bench, just a half second before Bylsma blew the whistle to call the game back into play. She tapped my shoulder, earning my attention once more. “Sorry. Would you mind holding my coffee for a second?” She asked.

“Oh, yeah. No problem,” I said, taking the cup from her. It wasn’t until that sentence that I picked up the faint French accident, making me feel even sillier over not catching on to her being Marc’s girlfriend.

She tugged down the sweatshirt she was wearing before lifting one leg up and draping it over the seat next to me, doing the same with the other leg, and the slid down into the seat, taking her cup of coffee back from me. “Thanks. I’m Veronique, by the way. You can just call me Vero, if that’s easier for you.”

I smiled. “I’m Hanna. And I probably will refer to you as Vero, only because your name won’t sound nearly as French, or elegant, when I say it in it’s full.”

She laughed. “I like the reasoning. How are you looking Pittsburgh so far?”

I took a sip of my coffee before answering. “It’s nice. It reminds me a little bit of Vancouver. Only, you know, no mountains or Canadian flags. And there’s more bridges. And buildings, like tall ones? And there’s restaurants that Vancouver doesn’t have. But other than that, same place.”

Vero laughed. “Yes, it is a nice city. It still overwhelms me whenever I am here, though.” She admitted, tucking a strand of her long hair behind her ear. “Have you gone out and looked around?”

I shook my head. “Not really. Some of the guys took my friend and I shopping at the mall, and yesterday Max and Marc took me to buy a book, but that’s about it. It’s okay, though. I was just excited to see these guys again,” I told her.

She took a drink from her cup and nodded. “Well, I still think you should see more of the city. Have you been to any of the clubs?”

“No. I’m not really a club person. But Peyton is, she’d probably love to go,” I said.

Vero nodded once more, glancing around. “Where is Peyton?”

“Oh, she’s napping at the hotel,” I answered. “She woke up super early to prepare for a date that ended up not being a date.” I let out a small giggle at the end, which I tried to cover up with a cough before I took a sip from my coffee.

Vero had a knowing smile on her face, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she and I both turned our attention towards the ice where all of the players were lining up for the shoot out drill. Whoever scored last had to grow a moustache and keep it for the months entirety. “What would you do if Marc lost?” I asked Vero before remembering Marc was the goalie and turning to see her amused face. “Never mind.”

I watched as each player nervously made their way down the ice, one at a time, trying to shoot one past Fleury. Jordan attempted a more skilled attempt, scooping the puck up onto the blade of his hockey stick and twisting himself around as he shot the puck. It would have been more impressive had he not missed the net by three feet. Both Vero and I felt the need to stand up and applaud him as he skated past, earning an embarrassed chuckle out of him.

Evgeni Malkin was next, and I was still hoping he would lose just so I could see what he would look like with a moustache. I leaned forward in my seat, anxiously anticipating the outcome of his shot. He came down the centre of the ice at full speed, his head up the entire time. Marc skated out of the net, challenging Geno as he fastly approached. Just about ten feet away from the crease, suddenly slowed down, causing Marc to panic and quickly decide on whether he should stay out to challenge or back up a bit. He had clearly assumed Geno would be taking a hard shot from farther out, so now that Geno was almost directly in front of him, he was a little screwed.

Geno did a few stick handling moves, exaggerating the movement of his entire body so Marc couldn’t be sure which way he was going to shoot. Finally, Geno jerked his entire body to the right, twitching up his arms just a tad, causing Marc to commit to that side of the net. In one swift movement, he switched to shooting on his back hand, gently tucking the puck past Fleury on the left side of the net. Marc let his head tip backwards, an aggravated noise escaping from his mouth, which both Vero and I could pick up from our seats, as Geno let out a loud, and very much Russian, laugh as he headed to the bench to sit and watch the other players go.

“Damn it. I wanted to see what he looked like with a moustache,” I muttered, watching as Mark Eaton tried his shot, which Fleury steered off with his blocker.

Vero laughed. “Geno very rarely misses in these shoot out practices. He’s a very skilled shooter.” She took another drink from her coffee. “Sidney is nervous for this one,” She told me.

I moved my attention from Max, who fell before he had reached the puck and was sitting on the ice with his head tipped back, laughing at himself, to see Sidney. He was almost hidden in the line-up, looking so small standing in between Bill Guerin and Eric Godard, with his chin resting on the butt-end of his stick. He was staring down at the net with an intensity I don’t think I had ever seen on his face before.

“Doesn’t he hate facial hair? I read somewhere that he’s always embarrassed by his playoff ‘beard’.” I made sure to say beard in quotations, making Vero smirk.

“Well, yes. But I think something else might be bothering him.” She glanced at me, the smirk still in place as she took another drink from her cup.

I shook the oncoming thoughts from my head before they could really make an imprint in my brain and returned my full attention to the ice, managing to catch Sidney’s eye as he moved a few steps forward, slowly moving up in the line. I gave him a thumbs up, a gesture that caused a small smile to make it’s way onto his face as he nodded to me before looking back to Kris as he waited for Bylsma to give him the single to go.

---------------------------

Vero and I were waiting just outside of the player’s room, talking to one another about how we should make an effort to exchange some form of contact, as a few of the guys made their way out.

Evgeni Malkin was the first, stopping when he saw the two of us and giving us a crooked grin. He stopped in front of me, extending his hand. “Hello,” He greeted, using his other hand to point at himself. “Evgeni.”

I grinned, completely charmed by his intense Russian-ness, accepting his hand and pointing to myself. “Hanna,” I mimicked, making him laugh.

“I have not met you yet,” He told me. “You friend of Sid’s, yes?”

I nodded. “Yes. Sidney and a few of the others.”

He grinned again, turning to nod at Vero, who waved at him. “You like practice? You at game last night, too, yes? You like game?”

I was torn between laughing at his mildly broken English or squealing over the cute factor of it. “Yes, I was at the game, and I loved it. You played very well,” I said, making him wave a hand as if it was no big deal. “And your goal in the shoot out practice was amazing! I wish I could do that.”

“Oh, one day maybe I teach you.” He joked, half turning around as someone called his name from the other end of the hallway. “Okay, I go now. Bye, Hanna. Is nice meeting you,” He said kindly, looking to Vero. “Vero.”

I watched him head off, letting out a long sigh. “I have such a thing for Russians, it’s almost frightening.”

Vero only laughed, clapping her hands together when Marc emerged. I was relieved to see Sidney and Max just behind him, allowing me to move out behind the now embraced couple so Max and Sidney could see me.

“Nice fall you had out there, Max,” I greeted.

“Ah, I know!” He laughed. “I lost an edge. How embarrassing.”

“Are you disappointed that Geno won’t be sporting a moustache?” Sidney asked, half grinning at me.

“A little. But I guess seeing Jordan try to grow one will be amusing, since I’m convinced he’s Amish,” I replied.

Max and Marc seemed to have disappeared somewhere between Sidney asking the question and me answering. I frowned as I realized it, but Sidney didn’t seem to have notice. Or he didn’t care, I wasn’t sure. “What are your plans for the afternoon?” He asked me, taking a step forward, a hint for me to follow alongside.

I accepted the hint, walking next to him. “I don’t know. I guess I have to hang out with Peyton,” I said. “Speaking of which,” I could already see him clenching his jaw, “I thought you guys had a coffee date this morning?”

He sighed, tucking his hands into his pockets as his pace slowed down a step. “I guess she thought it was a date and I misunderstood.”

I smirked at him. “You don’t have to lie to me, Sidney. If you didn’t want to go on a date with her, you should have just said no.”

“I know that. But Peyton seems like a very emotional person,” He explained. “She seems to feel the most extreme of emotions. I didn’t want to turn her down when we were sitting in the middle of a fancy restaurant and have her overreact and end up embarrassing herself.”

I raised my eyebrows up at him. “Wow. Do you ever do things to benefit yourself?” I asked with a small laugh.

Sidney shrugged, holding open the one of the heavy metal doors that would lead us upstairs. “I think Max and Jordan will dedicate their time to amusing Peyton. You need a break from her, don’t you?” He glanced down at me as I passed by him to head up the stairs.

“I guess. I do find the urge to strangle her becoming an increasingly hard battle,” I confessed, earning a laugh from Sidney.

He seemed to take the steps two at a time, as in seconds he was leading me once more. “Well, how do you feel about going for a walk?” He asked, stopping at the top of the stairs and waiting for me to arrive there. “It doesn’t really matter, actually. Marc left and he was our ride.”

I was going to ask how he knew that until I spotted the window that overlooked the parking lot. “I guess I could use the exercise,” I said with a shrug, thanking Sidney as he held open the door for me once more and we made our way outside.

“Can I ask you something?” I asked Sidney as he pulled the door shut behind him and turned to look at me. “Do you like Peyton?”

His eyes widened and he lifted up a hand to nervously rub the bottom of his chin. “Uhhh, haha. Well-”

“It’s not a big deal if you do, Sidney,” I told him, forcing out a small laugh. “I was just wondering, since you and her always sit next to each other.”

“She sits next to me,” Sidney said, already beginning to walk across the parking lot. “And it doesn’t really matter whether I do or don’t,” He said, pausing a moment to twist his mouth to the side, casting a quick glance at me. “There’s not a lot of time for dating with my schedule.”

I frowned. “So you don’t date?”
He sighed. “I don’t want to put a girl through that. The media attention, the travelling, the early mornings. We could date for a full year, and by the end of it we’ve had only spent three months together. I just don’t think it’s fair to a girl.”

The wind had picked up a bit, blowing my hair into my face and causing me to try and push it back into place. “So you’ll just be alone forever? That’s pretty drastic.”

He let out a sigh, glancing down at me and noticing my struggle with my hair, tugging his hat off of his head and handing it to me. “My hairs too short to get messy,” He explained when I sent him a quizzical look. “It’s not like I want to be alone,” He began, his tone softer. “Obviously I look at Marc and Vero, or Jordan and his girlfriend, and I feel queasy with envy. But I know things are different for them. The expectations set for me, by me and the media, are higher then the ones they have. And dragging some unsuspecting girl into that and having to force her to make sacrifices I can’t reciprocate, that’s just not something I can do.”

“What if you meet the one?” I asked him, looking up at him as he seemed more interested in the sidewalk in front of us. “I mean, you know that even when you retire all this attention will still be there, right?”

“Maybe I’m just supposed to be alone,” He said. “It’s just not right to make somebody sacrifice their lives just to make me happy.”

I rolled my eyes. “First off, that’s what relationship are, Sidney. It’s compromise, sacrifice. Plus, you’ve given up almost your entire life to hockey. If I googled your name, I could see your entire life chronicled through you tube videos and photo bucket accounts. You can’t even leave your hotel on road trips until it’s been planned out weeks in advance because you’ll be mobbed otherwise. How do you not see all of this and long for a little selfishness?”

Sidney was a quiet for a long moment. Long enough that I was starting to wonder if I had upset him somehow. We probably walked an entire block before he finally spoke again. “To me, all of those sacrifices are made up for when I see a kid in the stands wearing my jersey. Or when I get a letter from a fan, or the opportunity to meet people I could have only imagined meeting. And if all of that wasn’t enough, winning a game, just one game, with the rest of my team, that makes up for it.”

I would have normally been completely charmed by this response. Once again, Sidney was showing me that he never once looked at the lack of privacy, the assumptions made about him, the hate from fans of other teams. He was grateful for it, and to top that off, he didn’t want to make someone else have to go through all of it because he was well aware of the fact that most people couldn’t handle it.

Instead, I was enraged. How dare he assume that there wasn’t a single person in the world who would be willing to stand next to him through all of this. He wasn’t even offering a chance to anyone, not even looking to see if there was someone who wouldn’t view it as a sacrifice as much as they’d take it as a lifestyle.

“Are you okay?” He asked me, his voice breaking me out of my angry thoughts.

I had balled my hands up into fists without even noticing, and by the way I could feel my pulse echoing in my head I had no doubts that I was a ravishing shade of red. I unclenched my fists and took a deep breath before looking up at Sidney’s concerned face. “I’m fine.”

He seemed confused, which I couldn’t really blame him for, but he didn’t push the subject any farther. Instead he quietly told me that we were approaching the hotel and he would be heading off back to his own place, since getting into the hotel without any guards to help him was out of the question. I nodded, taking his hat off and handing it to him before I began to make my way around the building.

“Hanna!” Sidney called out, causing me to stop and look at him. He jogged over to me, stopping a couple of feet in front of me and holding out the hat. “You should keep it.”

I looked down at the hat, only then noticing that it wasn’t the so called “lucky” hat he was always wearing in post game interviews, but a newer one. “Did you steal this?” I asked, taking the hat from him.

He ignored the question all together, seeming to debate on whether or not to say something as he looked down at me. Finally, he licked his lips and spoke. “I don’t want to be alone forever. No one does.”

I hardly had time to catch what he was hinting at before he was already climbing into his car.

Before The Update...

I just wanted to say thank you for reading, following and commenting. I really appreciate it.

Apologies...Kind Of

I let out a groan as I heard loud knocks outside of the hotel room door, forcing me to push myself off of the couch and make my way towards the door, mumbling to myself the entire way.

I pulled the door open tiredly, glancing briefly at Max and Marc before I turned and headed back towards the couch, leaving the door open. “What do you two want?”

“We’re here to apologize,” Marc explained, shutting the door before he and Max made their way over to the couch, Marc choosing to sit on the chair next to it and Max perching himself on the arm rest.

“Even though none of this is actually our fault,” Max added, shooting Marc a look.

I rolled my eyes. “It’s fine, guys. If Sidney likes Peyton, and she likes him, then good for them. I need to just accept these things.”

“That is very mature of you,” Marc admired.

“But also very stupid,” Max said, earning my attention as I craned my neck to look at him. “Look, I probably know Sid better then the rest of the guys, believe it or not,” he began, moving off of the arm rest and pushing me until I gave in and sat up, making room for him on the couch. “Sidney doesn’t like Peyton. I think he’s just too nice to say no to her.”

“That would make him a pansy,” I decided.

“No, it makes him nice!” Marc corrected. “Look, I’m sorry that I meddled and tried to have girl talk with Sidney. And Max is sorry that he lied and told Sidney that you had a thing for Jordan.”

“I don’t see why that is so bad,” Max began, “The Jordan thing, I mean. Not that my lying is okay, but I think you and Staal would be a fabulous couple.”

“He has a girlfriend,” I reminded him.

Max made a face. “Does he? I guess I forgot that. My bad.”

“Well, you two have certainly made me feel better,” I told them sarcastically.

“No, we can make you feel better!” Max yelled, startling me. “Come on, no more sulking in here. Let’s go out somewhere.”

“I don’t want to change out of my pyjamas,” I whined, pointing down to my very stylish green flannel pants with moose heads hiding in every other square.

“Those are certainly something,” Marc mumbled.

“You don’t have to change,” Max decided, earning a quizzical look from me. “Marc and I will go put on our pyjamas, and we will run up down the streets together.”

I frowned. “I don’t like that idea.”

“That’s too bad, because now it’s in my head and I am excited,” Max grinned, leaping off of the couch and heading back towards the door, turning to signal for Marc to follow him as he tugged the door open and began to awkwardly dance his way back into the hallway.

Marc let out a sigh, standing up from the chair eh was sitting in. “Well, I’ll see you in a few minutes. And we’ll both be hating our lives.”

I laughed, watching him begrudgingly follow Max’s lead.

-------------------------------

“You know, now that I’m standing next to you, I’m not as embarrassed,” I told Max as he and I waited in the breakfast line downstairs in the hotel dining room.

He grinned, moving his hips a bit in a way that made me all kinds of uncomfortable. “These are great. I thought about just wearing my boxers, but I don’t like it when people can see my knees-”

“Really? I never look at people’s knees,” I mumbled.

“Well, I do, and I’m very insecure about it,” Max said. “Anyways, I went to the gift shop and bought this sexy number. But the lady behind the counter laughed at me.”

“That’s probably because those are made for ladies,” Marc told him.

Max frowned, looking down at his pyjama pants, which were a dark purple, almost a plumb, and made of a very comfortable looking silk material. The fabric shone in the bright lights of the dining room, and with the way Max was continuously dancing in them, the pants were swishing around his legs in an almost disturbing matter. “I don’t think these are for girls. They’re far too masculine.” Max decided.

I laughed, grabbing a scoopful of scrambled eggs and flopping them unto my plate. “There are so many moments where you scare me, Max.”

Max only wagged his eyebrows at me, grabbing a handful of bacon and popping two strips into his mouth before moving on to the sausage. “See? You’re feeling better already.”

I rolled my eyes, grabbing a few strips of bacon for myself. “I wasn’t depressed or anything. You two are acting like my entire world had ended.”

“Well, Sidney Crosby is on a date with your best friend. That has to be hard to take,” Marc said, smiling shyly at me as I shot him a look.

“I just met Sidney,” I reminded them. “I wasn’t even entirely sure that I liked him in that way, anyways. If anything, you two are more disappointed. You’ve been trying to set something up since we were in Vancouver.”

Max chewed on a piece of sausage, a little loudly, before speaking. “Well, considering the way you huffed into the bus after Peyton told you about her date with Sid, I’d say you might like him a little.”

“Huffed my way?” I repeated. “That sounds like a hooker term.”

Again, he wagged his eyebrows.

I made my way over to an empty table, grabbing a glass of juice on my way, and tried to ignore the mass amount of media hanging just outside of the dining hall, probably waiting for Sidney’s return. Max and Marc soon joined me, both of them pretending not to notice the odd looks being shot their way. While Max had raced into the gift shop to buy himself some “Sexy” pants, Marc had merely put on his normal PJ pants; A very unflattering baby blue number with different characters from the Mario Brother’s games splattered around. It made me feel pretty smug about my moose pants.

“So, what would you like to do after this?” Max asked me, shovelling a heap of eggs into his mouth.

I shrugged, pushing around the pancake I had grabbed, even though I don’t like pancakes. “I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind grabbing a book to read or something.”

Marc nodded, chewing whatever was in his mouth before talking. “We could do that. There’s a bookstore about a block from here. We could walk, or we could drive, whichever you would prefer.”

“I’d rather be driven,” I admitted. “Just because these pants aren’t that warm, so I’d be really cold walking down the street.”

“Understandable,” Fleury said, glancing down at his watch and then over to the lobby. “Uhm, maybe we should get going soon?”

Max looked up from his plate of food, a piece of bacon half chewed and hanging from his mouth as he cut up the pancakes on his plate. He tugged the bacon out of his mouth. “Are you crazy? We just started to eat!” He wiped his mouth with his napkin before he looked at me, “Hey, did you see what Peyton wore on her date with Sidney?”

I sighed, “No. She was already gone when I woke up. I guess they had to go early so Sidney could avoid the flood of fans.”

Max nodded. “Well, I know Sid was very casual, so this date must not have meant much to him.”

“It was coffee date, of course he dressed casually,” I pointed out. “I don’t want to talk about what they wore anymore. I just hope they had a nice time.”

Marc smirked at me. “That’s a lie.”

I ignored the comment, stuffing a forkful of eggs into my mouth.

------------------------

Even though I knew that at some point Peyton would be returning to our hotel room, I was still surprised to see her waltz in the door, a bag in her hand and a small smile on her face. I was still in my pyjamas, attempting to get into the book Max had convinced me to buy(it was Guy Lafleur’s autobiography, and I didn’t even know who that guy was when he handed it to me), sitting on the couch, completely shocked to find her back.

Peyton kicked off her shoes and walked over to me, sitting in the chair and giving me a cautious smile. “Hi.”

I eyed her outfit for a moment, a dress/casual look that consisted of dark skinny jeans and a flowy, flowery top with a questionably stylish leather jacket over top. “Hi. How was the date.”

Peyton ignored the question, instead reaching into the bag she had with her and pulling out a wrapped box. “I bought you something.”

I eyed the present, setting the book down and carefully taking it from her hands. “Thanks, I guess.” I rolled the present around a few times, still unsure as to why Peyton bought me this. “Is this your way of telling me that you had a really great date?”
She sighed, “Hanna, just open the damn thing, will you?”

“Fine, fine.” I set the box down on my lap, ripping the paper off of it at an impressively fast pace, paying more attention to Peyton’s face then the actual present. She kept a vacant look on her face, probably aware of the fact that I was watching for any indication of why she bought me this. I finally gave in and glanced down at the now unwrapped box, bursting into a fit of laughter as I did so. “You bought me a snuggie?”

Peyton grinned, relieved by my reaction. “Not just any Snuggie, a leopard print one. It’s the wild addition.”

I read the front of the box. “And it’s a deluxe version! What does that even mean?”

“It means I paid an extra ten dollars so you could have a pocket on your backwards bath robe,” She informed me, settling back into the chair. “It’s an apology present. I shouldn’t have gone after Sidney.”

I set the Snuggie down beside me, letting out a small sigh. “Look, I shouldn’t have been so bothered by it. If you like him-”

“I don’t like him,” She said, earning a completely confused reaction from me. “I thought I might, which is why I asked him out. I wanted to get to know him away from everyone,” she tried to explain. “But once I was alone with him he was just so…” she pursed her lips, trying to find the right word before shrugging, “Logical.”

I had to laugh. “You say that as if it’s a bad thing.”

“Well, it kind of is, when you’re as logical as him,” She replied. “I thought hockey players would be wild and unpredictable. I mean, I barely spent anytime with Sidney, so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I just saw how fun he was when you and Jordan and him crammed into that photo booth, and then when we went bowling, and I figured I’d give it a shot. But he’s all smart and rational, doesn’t go out partying, doesn’t really drink, he doesn’t even have a favourite movie! And I can’t handle it.”

I eyed her for a moment before smirking. “You’re lying. You loved it.”

She sighed, “I did. I don’t think I could date him, but I’m very impressed by him,” She explained. She licked her lips. “I wasn’t a fan of him bringing Jordan along today, though.”

I had to bit the inside of my lip to hold back the laughter that wanted to escape, taking a moment to make sure my amusement was well hidden before I asked. “He brought Jordan to your date?”

Peyton glared at me, my attempt at hiding the amusement clearly having failed. “Yes. I guess he either didn’t know it was a date, or wanted me to know that he wasn’t considering it a date.”

“So, you dressed up to meet him, and then he walked in with Jordan?” I asked.

“Yes. He told me that Jordan always goes out for a cup of coffee in the morning anyways, so he figured he could join us,” She told me.

I was still trying not to laugh. “Well, that was considerate of him.”

“Oh, could you at least pretend you’re not enjoying this so much?” Peyton whined, letting her head fall back. “I can’t believe that guy. Why would you agree to go on a date with a girl if you don’t want to date her?”

“Because Sidney’s too nice to say no?” I suggested, earning a glare from Peyton.

The door to our hotel room burst open, causing both Peyton and I to jump in our seats and turn around to see Marc come running in through the door.

“Hanna! Sidney doesn’t want to date Peyton! He brought Jordan just to make sure she-” He stopped, noticing Peyton’s unimpressed look being sent his way. “Oh. Hi Peyton, how are you?”

Peyton groaned, standing up from the chair and grabbing the wrapping paper that was littering the floor. “I’m going to have a nap. I woke up really early to get ready for the date that wasn’t actually a date.” She made sure to punch Marc in the arm as she passed him, making him pout.

Marc scurried over to sit next to me. “Is that a snuggie? Can I wear it?”

“How much do you make a year? Go buy your own!” I grabbed the box and held it protectively in my hands.

He laughed. “Anyways, Sidney brought Jordan with him to make sure Peyton knew that he didn’t want this to be considered a date, and that he wasn’t looking at her that way.”

“Why didn’t he just tell her that himself?” I questioned.

“Because he’s Sidney and he has a hard time saying not to people or telling them what they don’t like to hear. Unless they are a Flyers fan,” He grinned at me. “So there was no need to worry! Sidney is not interested in Peyton.”

“You’re acting like now he and I are going to run off and get married,” I laughed.

“Well, no. That would be silly,” He said. “You have to get married here, so we can all come and I can be a Brides Maid.”

I rolled my eyes at him. “Don’t you guys have a practice to go to?”

“Yes. Actually, Sidney is waiting downstairs for me since I am his ride, so I should probably get going,” He said standing up. He only took two steps before he turned to grin at me. “You know what? You should go change and come to the practice.”

I made a face at him. “Are you serious? I haven’t showered yet and I’m not wearing any make up.”

“Then wear a hat and put some make-up on. Come on!” He reached out to grab my arm, pulling me to my feet. “You’ve never been to an NHL practice before. And it’ll just be you and the girlfriends that are here. Which are none. So it will just be you!”

I laughed. “Fine. How much time do I have.”

His cell phone started to ring, causing him to look down at the Caller ID. “Well, since Sid is calling me right now, none. Hurry! I’ll distract him with my charm.”

I raced out of the living room and into my own room, changing as fast as I could before racing into the bathroom, pulling my hair up into a ponytail and putting on a but of mascara before I bolted back out into the living room. “Wait!” I yelled as Marc opened his mouth, “I have to put on some body spray.”

He sighed. “How about you just meet Sid and I downstairs within five minutes?”

I nodded, thanking him before I headed back into the bathroom.

------------------

When I finally made my way downstairs, I couldn’t even see Marc and Sidney. The swarm of media in the lobby made me just about have a panic attack. I stepped out of the elevator and stood there, basically frozen, looking for any sign of the two.

“Hanna!”

I twisted to the side, seeing Marc standing by one of the side doors, waving to me. I let out a sigh of relief, heading over to where he was and making sure no one was following me. Clearly, this was how Sidney avoided the media.

“Is it always this bad?” I asked.

“No. It’s just because our next game is against New Jersey, and for some reason, that’s a big deal, so they all want to try and interview Sid on his thoughts about the upcoming game,” He explained, leading me out the side door and out to where his car, a very sleek black sports car of some sort, was waiting. “Sidney is letting you have the front,” He told me, walking around the car to get to the driver’s side.

I opened the passenger door, climbing in before I turned in my seat to look back at Sidney, who was texting someone on his blackberry. He glanced up at the sound of me pulling the door shut and smiled. “Hey, Hanna. Excited to see a practice?”

I shrugged. “I guess. I’m more excited to see who loses in the shoot out contest. I’m hoping for Malkin.”

“He can’t grow a moustache,” Marc reminded me.

I grinned, strapping in my seatbelt. “I know. I’d like to see him try.”

Sidney laughed from behind me, making me turn around to glance at him once more. He gave me one more small smile before returning his attention to his blackberry.

Marc was smirking, clearly watching me out of the corner of his eye and Sidney in the rear-view mirror. He cleared his throat. “Hey, Sid? Did you know that Hanna is single?”

I could already feel my face heat up as Sidney let out a small chuckle. “I had no idea, Flower.”

Marc nodded. “I just wasn’t sure if you knew that or not.”

I shook my head, sinking down in my seat with embarrassment.

“Hey, how was your date?” Marc asked.

I could see half of Sidney’s face in the side mirror, allowing me to see the way he kind of made a face at the question, since he had probably already told Marc about it. “It wasn’t a date.”

“Oh, that’s odd. Peyton told Hanna you two were dating,” Marc told him.

“No, she said you were going on a date. Just one,” I corrected.

Sidney sort of smirked. “Oh. Well…no. I don’t think Peyton and I would be able to date.”

“No. She’s too in your face and probably couldn’t handle all your traveling,” Marc agreed. “Hey, Hanna? How needy are you?”

I turned to look at Marc, letting out a sigh. “I’m going to hit you. Seriously, I will bash your face into that steering wheel.”
Marc grinned. “Okay, I’ll stop. I’m just bugging you two.”

The car fell into a brief lapse of silence before Marc spoke again. “Your babies would be so cute.”

I let my head fall against the window as both he and Sidney burst into a fit of laughter.