Chapter Five: The Past It Passed... Right?
The next day flew by like nothing. I woke up a little later than I thought I would and got up out of bed, not bothering to get dressed in my other clothes before heading to the kitchen for something to drink. The clock in my room had only read 5:20 so I hadn’t thought much of walking around the house in my Pjs, my sexy Pjs. I got quite a surprise as I walked into the living room to find almost everyone else awake, dressed for the day, conversing and drinking coffee.
“Morning sleepy hea….” Marc trailed off as he turned to face me. I rubbed my eyes childishly before taking a seat next to Riley and being given a cappuccino by my mom.
“Morning.” I said sleepily taking a sip of my drink. “Why didn’t you guys bother to wake me up?” I asked curiously, looking around at everyone. Jordan just shrugged.
“We thought you might want to get some extra sleep. I heard you up and about at 12 so I didn’t think you’d want to be up at 5.” he explained.
“But you guys are leaving soon for Montreal. I want to be with you guys before then.” I pointed out, taking another drink. Max nodded.
“We were going to wake you before we left, Sherrie.” he told me.
“I was going to come along for the ride, Maxime.” I smiled at him as I patted his head, “All the time in the world isn’t enough to spend with my friends.”
“Hmmm very true. Well if you’re coming with us, you might want to get ready. We’re leaving in five.” Max said, sitting down beside me just as I got up. I walked back down the hall and into my room, almost shutting the door in Marc’s face as he followed me in.
“How’d you s-s-leep last night?” he stammered, trying to avoid looking at me. I turned around to face him and smiled, acting unaware of his strange behavior.
“I slept great. And you?” I asked, walking into the connector that led to my bathroom and closing the door behind me.
“I got some okay sleep. Not much considering that Eric snores like he’s being killed.” he said laughing. I shook my head and put on my Crosby jersey over some light blue jeans. Walking out of the bathroom, I sat my Pjs down on the side of the bed and sat down on Marc’s lap.
“Well at least you got some sleep. Sid woke me up at 12:30 last night. I love him but he’s causing some sleep deprivation issues.” I joked, smiling at him. He seemed more comfortable with me now that I’d changed and he put his arms around my waist, moving me so that I’d be facing him.
“You and sleep deprivation. We know where that gets you.” he said, alluding to the third week we’d gone out. I felt my ears get red and I stood up, walking over to the door and away from him for a moment. He had a way of bringing up the past in such subtle ways to use them for his own sarcastic remarks.
“C’mon. We can’t let them be late getting there or they’re won’t be a good goalie playing against Montreal.” I said, turning the handle on the door and opening it as I turned to see Marc, who still sat on the bed. He was looking down at the floor thoughtfully, as if considering saying something he was thinking but realizing better of it. He stood up, finally, after around three minutes and came forward, walking out the door before me.
We walked back out into the kitchen to find everyone else had gathered around the tv for a five-thirty viewing of Savran before we left. Marc took a seat next to Jordan and I sat down next to Riley as he retch for the remote to turn up the volume. The room hushed as Stan Savran began to speak.
“Hello everybody, I’m Stan Savran and you’re watching Savran on Sportsbeat. Today we’d first like to say we hope you had a wonderful holiday. You know, it is the season for giving and a very special Penguin did just that yesterday afternoon. After flying home to Cole Harbour for Christmas, Sidney Crosby could be seen with his little sister, Taylor, and her entire team playing shinny and practicing on a frozen pond a few miles from the Crosby home. A sports beat affiliate got an interview with Crosby before he departed for lunch….” And then the feed shifted to the interview reel with Sid. I half heartedly wished that I hadn’t been watching, it just made me miss him more.
“Oh great. I wonder what they asked him this time.” Max said, rolling his eyes as the interviewer on tv introduced himself in French as Pierre Lariox. Marc-Andre quickly hushed him as the interview began.
“So, Sidney. First of all, it must be nice coming back home for the holidays, but do you miss Pittsburgh at all? This begins the streak of a game with Montreal tomorrow and then taking on Toronto a day later on the 28th. Do you still get that homesick feeling after all this time?” Pierre asked curiously.
“Yeah, I’d say I get homesick pretty easily but I’m hyped for our games so the excitement dwarfs the homesickness.” Sid answered, voice smooth and proper. I smiled as the interview continued.
“How do you feel about playing Montreal so close to taking on Toronto? Do you think you’re up for the challenge?”
“I definitely think we’re ready for it. We’ve had a lot of hard training lately and we’ve been trying some new things in goal thanks to our new assistant goaltending coach. I think we’ll do really well.” Sid said, smiling at the mention of my new job.
“New assistant goaltending coach? Really? Who’s this new addition to the Pens club?”
“Her name is Bernadette Armstrong, uh, you might know her as Colby Armstrong’s younger sister. She was a back up goalie in college and after helping Gilles Meloche with his techniques, the staff decided we’d need her to get the cup.” Sidney explained, smile widening, though I could tell he struggled to keep our secret in. I felt my ears get red but I kept listening.
“Well that’s wonderful. Best of luck to her and your organization this year. Oh, but just one more question, if you don’t mind?” Pierre said, now more relaxed with Sid.
“Sure.” Sidney said, obviously happy to do anything he could for someone else, especially on Christmas.
“Rumor around is that you’re finally settled down and found a girlfriend. You want to let us in on who that lucky girl might be?” Pierrre had asked the loaded question and dropped a bomb at the same time, and from the look on my face and Sidney’s you could definitely tell. All the movement that could’ve been heard in the room a few seconds before ceases as everyone waited for Sidney to answer.
“Well I’m not going to say too much just yet but she knows who she is and I find myself quite lucky to have her.” Sidney finally answered easily, thoughts clearly in his eyes. Then Pierre thanked Sidney and the interview feed stopped, sending it back to Stan, who took up talking immediately.
“Well, Pens fans, it looks like we’ve finally got conformation of the rumors. Sid the Kid’s growing up and he seems to have found someone special. We’re happy for you, Sid…”
And with that, Stan’s voice fell into the melancholy of announcing sports scores and highlights from the 24th. Everyone in the room moved a little and as soon as Riley turned off the tv, we all headed for the door.
“Quite lucky to have her. Psh. I’m glad someone feels grateful about having to deal with you.” Riley joked. And that began the everlasting torment of me. The only escape I got was when I managed to get in my car and turn it on as I waited for Eric to pull out of the drive behind me and Kris from beside me. Marc-Andre stood in the driveway, half confused. My parents had gotten a ride with Kris, the Staals were all with Eric and Riley had gone along with Max. There was a seat left in every car and Marc seemed to be having trouble picking which group he wanted to go with. Finally, he ran over to my car and jumped in, closing the door to prevent any extra heat from getting out.
“Merci bo cu, Marc. Now we can get moving before you all are late.” I said, shifting into reverse as Eric pulled out in unison with Max and they started towards the airport. Max pulled out next, followed by Kris and I followed them.
“Don’t listen to your brother, Bernadette. I feel happy to have to deal with you too. Most of our team does.” Marc complimented with a smile, completely over looking my sarcasm. I laughed to myself.
“You’ll only be happy to have me around until I start work. Then you’ll be very annoyed and unhappy.” I stated plainly.
“Noo. I won’t. I promise. I’ll be happy to learn from you. Besides, from the sounds of Sid, I’d have to deal with you for a long time anyway. Might as well enjoy your company.” he laughed, looking over at me.
“Haha well let’s just hope that I’m a better teacher to you than Sidney was to me when he tried to teach me how to go backwards or our season’s going in the toilet.” I said, rolling my eyes as we turned to follow everyone to the airport.
“Our season. That’s nice to hear you say.” he commented thoughtfully as he peered out the window and into the frozen tundra that was now downtown Pittsburgh.
“It’s nice to say, Marc, it’s nice to say.” We turned again and the airport came into view. Marc and I sighed in unison, knowing that this would be goodbye for a few days. Turning into the parking lot, I parked the car in silence and we sat there for a moment, thoughtful. Finally, we both opened our doors and climbed out. Marc got his stuff from the trunk and we were off. The Staals, Kris, My parents, Riley and Max all walked over to us and we started towards the main doors.
“Are you going to miss me, Sherrie?” Max asked, voice thick with sarcasm as he threw his arm around my shoulders. I smiled and leaned on him.
“Oh yes. Deary me I don’t know what I’ll do without my Maxy.” I joked, laughing a little.
“And meeeeee?” Kris whined, giving me the puppy face.
“You two Kristopher.” I assured him, patting his head. This seemed to satisfy him and he smiled triumphantly as we kept walking and went inside out of the snow. The warmth of the building was like a slap in the face and we all stopped in our tracks to let it take us in. After a few moments, though, we moved on and walked further in, seeing a group of people, which I assumed to be the rest of the team, waiting near the chairs I’d been near earlier that week.
A smile crossed my face as I saw Geno, Matt, Petr, Eric, Mark, Hal, Rob, Pascal, Ruslan, Sabu, Phillippe, Brooks, Tyler, Sergei, and Ryan all sitting across the various chairs which I guessed had been rearranged by them earlier. Geno and Matt jumped up a few seconds after they realized who was coming and ran over, gang tackling me.
“BERNADETTE!” Geno squealed, hugged me tightly. I smiled wider as he let me go and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
“Hiii Geno! How was your night?” I asked curiously as Matt gave me a hug.
“It was wonderful. My family thanks you for the best marshmallows they’ve had since we left Magnitogorsk.” he said happily, a large crooked smile crossing his face. I mirrored it as I looked to Matt.
“Cookaayss!” I said, laughing as he opened his jacket to show the jersey I’d bought for him.
“Thank you very much for the jersey. It’s keeping me warm.” he joked, nudging me.
“You’re welcome, Matt.” I replied as we joined the rest of the group, who had now merged with the others. First to come forward and greet me was Eric, who almost attacked me like Geno had.
“Hi Godsy.” I laughed as he picked me up and squeezed me.
“Hiiii!” he answered happily, a girlish sing-song tune in his voice.
“How was your Christmas?” I questioned as he sat down, pulling me down onto his lap.
“It was great. Kinda quiet. I just stayed home alone and sat around doing a whole lot of nothing.” he said happily. I sighed and patted his hand.
“Silly goose! If you were going to be alone on Christmas, you should’ve come to my house!” I exclaimed, making him laugh a little. He nodded as someone came on over the loudspeaker.
“Flight 66 to Montreal now boarding.” and then the intercom shut off. I sighed and stood up, a little disappointed that all the Christmasy fun had to end, though I found it a little ironic that the flight’s number was 66.
“C’mon all. Time to go.” Jordan said, walking forward towards the flight gate. Max, Geno, Eric, Kris, Matt, Marc-Andre and himself waited up until everyone else had gone ahead and they gathered around.
“I’m gonna be cheering super loud for you guys.” I promised, giving them a thumbs up.
“We’ll all be calling you on speaker after the game. Have fun here by yourself.” Max joked, laughing. Everyone else giggled a little before quieting again.
“Just you promise us one thing.” Marc-Andre said looking me in the eye.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“That you’re going to be here to greet us when we get back of course!” Geno half-yelled excitedly. I smiled and nodded.
“Why wouldn’t I meet my favorite men after their little rendezvous to Canada? Anyway you guys need to be going.” I said as the intercom lady came on again and warned of the imminent departure of the plane. Matt came forward first and gave me a hug, followed by Geno and Kris. Eric was next and he nearly crushed me before following them. I was left with Jordan, his brothers, Marc-Andre and Max. Jared and Eric came forward first out of the pack of Staals to give me a hug.
“It was really awesome getting to see you again.” Jared complimented, squeezing me. “Thanks for the great Christmas.”
“You’re welcome, Jared. You can come back any time.” I promised, smiling at him as he waved goodbye and walked towards the gate. Eric stepped forward and picked me up to give me a hug.
“Promise you’ll keep in touch this time! Or I’m gonna get Jordy after you.” he joked, putting me down. I nodded and he followed his brother through the gate. Max came forward next and nearly crushed me to death.
“Bijou! I’ll be missing you while I’m in Canada.” he whined, backing up to look me in the eye before kissing both my cheeks and hugging me again.
“I’ll miss you too, Max. Call me.” I told him as he backed up and Jordan came up. Jordan picked me up and hugged me for a super long time before letting me go.
“Jordy, you have to leave. You guys are going to miss your flight if you keep this up.” I said, laughing a little at the mopey look on his face as he backed up and nodded, standing by Max. Marc-Andre came towards me next and he gave me one of his famous hugs.
“I’m going to brag to Sid that we got to hug you before we left. So if he complains, it was just me.” he explained in a hushed whisper. I laughed to myself and shook my head.
“Smart ass.”
“I know. But I’m Marc-Andre Fleury. I can be anything I want to be!” he exclaimed heroically as he backed away and the three of them turned towards the flight gate and walked away, leaving me with a very thoughtful looking Marc Staal. He turned to me and his face brightened. I gave him a huge hug and he squeezed me close before letting me go a little, not completely but just enough to barely be hanging on.
“Come see me if Sidney ever does anything to hurt you. I’ll beat his ass into a wall.” he said solemnly before smiling at me playfully.
“I’ll remember that. And I’ll be up to visit you in Thunder Bay too. So if you get a call from me that’s where I’ll be.” I said laughing as his smile widened to dorky proportions. He nodded and gave me another hug before he too made his leave and I was left to stand with my family.
“C’mon, Bernie. Breakfast time!” Riley squealed, running towards the doors that led out of the airport.
The rest of the day went on pretty quickly. We stopped at Ihop to eat breakfast before heading out to the local ice rink to catch up with our skating. Mom and Dad even got on ice with us and played a game of shinny before we all headed out to the mall for some fun. I got caught up by a few people who wanted to congratulate me on my new job and a few that just wanted to ask how Sidney and Colby were.
Finally, at around two thirty we left the mall and went back to my house to get ready for the three o’clock game. We made it home just in time to catch the end of the pre-game show and in enough time for me to receive a phone call from Gilles Meloche that was lighthearted and hopeful about my goaltending tendencies tell all. We joked for a few minutes before he had to leave for an interview with FSN, which I watched with a smile. He mentioned me and said that I would probably be with them in their next away game, both of which made me a bit happier.
The game went on amazingly, with the Pens leading by three in the first. The second gave them two more points and Montreal was ultimately unable to score even one goal and the game ended in a 5-0 shut out. The Pens were ecstatic as they skated off ice and Sidney’s post game interview showed his appreciativeness towards my calls on the Canadiens. He attributed more than one of the goals to me and I could tell that he was really having a hard time not coming out with the truth now. He managed to keep it in though and he walked off towards the locker room to join a now growing after-game party.
After post game had finished, Riley turned it to Sports Center for the recap of the Sharks game he’d missed. Since he wasn’t playing in the NHL he didn’t need to be present unless they called him up as a replacement. He kept a close watch on the game as Mom and I took control of making supper. We ate around seven and I was out cold in bed before eight.
The phone woke me up around ten though, and I answered, sort of annoyed and tired, without ever looking at the caller ID.
“Hello?” I questioned, still half asleep as I rubbed my eyes and turned on the lamp.
“Bernie? Hey! You sound really super tired.” Max’s voice came through the phone over the sounds of what seemed to be a large meeting of the Pens on the other end.
“Hey, Max. What’s up?” I said, now more awake and alert. It was always wonderful to hear from my friends, no matter what time it was or when they’d woken me up.
“Nothing really. We just thought we’d call you and say hi. Say hello to Bernie!” Max squealed, receiving a roaring hello from many familiar voices, a few of which I knew belong to Eric, Marc, Matt, Jordan and Sid.
“Haha you guys weren’t kidding when you said you’d speaker phone me. How’s the party over there?” I asked, laughing a little to myself as I heard Brooks Orpik fighting with Ryan Whitney in the background. They were so childish. I had to remind myself a few times how old they really were.
“It’s great. We’re so glad you’re one of us now. Thanks for the tips!” Marc yelled over the sounds of Fedotenko and TK making some perverted jokes. Typical TK.
“I’m happy to be part of all the craziness too. And you’re welcome, Marc.” I told him, laughing as I heard Marc screaming for Jordan to get off him. I didn’t bother to ask questions. Lord knows I really didn’t want to know the answer.
“Hold on, Sidney wants to talk to you for a minute.” Max said as the sounds of everyone wolf calling drowned out the noise of the phone moving hands. I heard the click of the speaker going off and the line became very quiet, or at least as quiet as it could be with a party of excited Penguins in the background.
“Bernie?” Sidney’s voice asked excitedly.
“Who else would it be?” I asked sarcastically, smiling as he laughed. So oblivious.
“You never know when Max is the one calling people. Did you see the game today?” he questioned, his tone happy.
“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. You guys did an amazing job. I saw you on post game, too. Nice interview.” I joked, making him laugh; the same laugh that was hardly heard by anyone but his close friends, a real laugh. It made me feel that warm fuzzy feeling that I’d gotten the very first time I’d heard him laugh for real and not just for show. It was a good feeling.
“I had a really hard time talking about you without letting it out. I just want to scream it to anyone that’ll listen but I can’t. It’s very difficult.” he finally managed as his laughter faded back into seriousness. He always had had a problem with keeping things he was happy about from other people.
“Well this will be your test, Mr. Crosby. It’ll teach you strict discipline and give you the ability to hold things in. Should be good training for you.” I said with laughter in my voice. I knew he must be calling me an ass in his head for that one. I couldn’t help it. I was a smart ass, naturally.
“More like mental torture.” he joked making me giggle a little. “I just want to come home and do nothing and watch old reruns of Mighty Ducks on your couch in my sweats.”
“Well after you play Toronto the couch is all yours, Sid. Until then, just wait around and play hard. I’m not going anywhere special in the meantime.” I assured, laying back down in bed. I could almost hear Sidney smiling. It wasn’t one of those normal smiles either. No no, this one was devious, evil, scheming, maniacal, and most of all very very sexy.
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll call you later tomorrow sometime. Sorry for letting Max wake you.” he apologized dorkily. He always did care way to much for other people.
“How did you know I was…?” I asked confusedly.
“You go to sleep early on game days. Colby told me to be quiet when we’d come to your house after games.” he elaborated. I’d never know he’d been in the house after I went to bed. Then again, I’d never known a lot of things about Sidney before we’d met. Colby had kept me pretty well away from him for a long long time before I’d ever met him, let alone when he’d given me time to hang out with Sid by myself.
“You still remember that long ago?” I said, stunned.
“Yep. Now go to sleep or you’ll be mean in the morning.” he told me, before he took a quick breath and hurried himself through the rest of his sentence, obviously sort of embarrassed. I assumed that everyone else was listening to him and I had to stop myself from laughing as he finished. “I love you so much. Can’t wait to get back to Pittsburgh. Goodnight babe.” and then I heard the ribbing begin in the background.
“I love you too. Goodnight, Sidney.” I said, listening to the phone click off on the other end almost as soon as I was finished talking. I sighed and put the phone back down on the stand, closing my eyes and going back to sleep, dreaming about all the things that could be happening at that crazy party in Montreal.
><><>The Next Day<><><><
I woke up what seemed to be a few minutes later but what turned out to be hours. It was now 9:30 in the morning and Riley was pounding on my door.
“Bernie! Wake up sis! We have to go to the movies!! There’s this really awesome movie out! Horror! C’mon! Wake up!!!” he screamed, hitting the door one more time before stopping. I knew that he must think he’d been defeated by my abnormally long sleep cycles. I got up out of bed and opened the door tiredly, smiling at him, though I barely managed to keep my balance as I walked across the room. I wasn’t very good at being well oriented after sleeping for so long. Then again, thirteen hours was a lot of sleep, so it was understandable that I’d lost some of my motor skills.
“Give me five minutes and a cappuccino with my breakfast and we’re so gone.” I said laughing at the happy look on his face.
“DONE AND DONE!” he screamed, running down the hall to the kitchen. I shut the door and went into the bathroom, changing out of my Pjs and into my overly sized sharks jersey. I knew seeing me in his teams colors would make Riley happy and proud, even if I was part of the Pens now. I slipped back into my room and put on my makeup, fixed my hair, grabbed my phone and headed out and down the hallway. I walked into the living room to find Mom and Dad on the couch cuddling, something I’d always tormented them about before. Today, though, I couldn’t really remember why it was that I’d always gotten on their case about it. It seemed cute now, comfy. It didn’t really strike me as odd, but then again, I’d done the same thing a few days ago with Sidney, so that might’ve had something to do with it. Deciding to leave them alone, I bypassed the living room and went into the kitchen, finding Riley perplexed at how to work the cappuccino machine. He’d never really been one for mechanics.
“I’ll do it.” I said, pressing the on button and sitting down on one of the barstools.
“Smart ass.” he mumbled, sitting down on the stool opposite to mine.
“Rather be a smart ass than a dumb ass. Anyways, what’re we going to see?” I asked as the machine beeped done. It was definitely a quick little machine for sure.
“A Haunting In Connecticut. Best looking horror movie I’ve seen previews for in a looonggg time.” he answered as he watched me walk over and drink my cappuccino.
“Mmmm I saw previews for that! It sounded epic. I can’t wait now. C’mon, Riles, get a move on. Breakfast is waiting up!” I cheered, marching out of the kitchen and through the living room towards the door. I slipped on my shoes and watched as Riley nearly ran over my Mom on his way to where I was.
“To breakfast! Away!!!” he squealed, running out the door without his coat before coming back in quickly and putting on his jacket. It had to have been only 25 degrees outside and even in fluffy socks and a jersey, there was no way you weren’t going to freeze your ass off today. Heading back out, I followed him after waving to Dad and pulling the door closed. He hopped over to the passenger side of my car and opened the door, practically throwing himself into the heated seats. I jumped in beside him and shut the door, turning on the heat and basking in it for a minute before actually starting the car and pulling out.
“When’s the movie start?” I questioned curiously, driving down the street towards downtown Pittsburgh.
“11:15.” he answered, shivering as he rubbed his hands together. Riley, ironically enough, had never really liked the cold. I couldn’t wrap my head around how he played hockey in the cold all the time but couldn’t stand to be outside in it. He’d always said it was because of the ice, the smell made it alright. But I still didn’t get it.
“So where’re we going?” I said distractedly as I turned down another street that led to the main road through Pittsburgh.
“Uhhhhmmmm…….. Starbucks?” he asked more than said, still wondering if my pure hatred of that place was there. I’d never liked Starbucks from the minute that Sean Avary had said it was his favorite place in the world, but if Riley wanted to go, I would go.
“Mkay.” I replied simply, turning down another road and heading to Starbucks. It was a short ride since I knew the roads like the back of my head now, and I pulled in and parked a few minutes later.
We got some apple fritters and Riley got some crazy new cappuccino that looked more like dirt in a cup than anything else before we left. Heading out to the car, we took the first road to the movies since it was almost 11. By the time we got parked and I locked up the car it was 11:05 and Riley practically killed himself running to the box office to get us tickets. There were only four left. Lucky us. We headed for the candy counter and Riley loaded himself up with soda, popcorn and more snowcaps than any one man should really have. He handed me his stuff and ran towards the doors that lead to our theatre. There were some seats in the middle open and he threw himself into them happily. We were just in time for the last preview and the beginning of the movie.
And the movie went pretty well after that. Riley jumped so high at one point that half of his popcorn landed on the woman beside him, though she didn’t mind too much and caught some of it in style in her mouth. We laughed quietly to ourselves before finishing out the movie and the snowcaps. As soon as the credits began to play, Riley darted for the bathroom. That large soda had finally hit rock bottom. I laughed at him doing a crazy dance while he waited to get in an I stood outside quietly in wait for his return.
“Bernadette Armstrong?” a strong Canadian-Russian accent greeted me. It was a voice from my past, my very distant past. It was Zachary Borodin.
I felt all the hair stand up on the back of my neck almost as soon as I heard his footsteps coming towards me. There had been a time when I’d liked Zacky, loved him even, but he’d gone too far one day and ruined our relationship. Then again, I suppose I could blame myself somewhat for our separation.
When I’d been goalie for the Bobcats, he’d been on an opposing team and had tried to make a goal on me. I’d saved every shot he’d ever taken on me but this time he decided to get violent with one of our forwards. I didn’t take it well and I took a swing at him to get him out of the blue paint and away from Brian Revels, our top forward that we couldn’t afford to lose. I’d hit him with my stick and he fell back over Brian and hit the ice, snapping one of his vertebra. I’d been by his side when he was in the hospital afterwards, skipping many a practice and game to make sure that he was okay.
Then the news came that he would never be able to plan hockey again due to nerve damage and issues with his reflexes that could never be fixed. From that point on he’d become bitter and mean towards me, eventually breaking our relationship off a few weeks before he moved away with his family to Quebec. I’d never really missed him for his bitterness but he’d always had an adverse effect on me after that. I never knew what he was thinking, what he was going to do, and that was what scared me most about him, the unknown. I tried to shake off the past and smiled at him.
“Hi Zachary. How are you?” I asked as he came forward and hugged me. I felt like I was about to throw up. I hadn’t ever wanted to be near him again, let alone get a hug from him after so long.
“I’ve been good. How about you? I heard about your record breaking season with the cats after I left the league. It’s nice to know you did so well.” he half said, half spat. I just smiled and nodded, not wanting to get into an altercation with him today, nor any other day.
“Thanks. I’ve been pretty good. What brings you back to the ‘burgh?” I asked, curious to see what his motives were. I didn’t want to associate too much with him but knowing he was around now was a plus. He smiled at me with a devious evil smile that made chills run up my spine in fear.
“I’ve just got some business to take care of here before I go back to Quebec. It’s nice seeing you today. You look…. Hot.” he said, extra emphasis on his last word. It made me sick. I nodded as he checked his watch, as he frequently always did, before speaking again. “Well, I have to go now. It was nice to see you again, Bernadette.” he said as he walked away. I felt myself relax and my breathing start to normal out. That was, until Riley pushed open the bathroom door and scared me half to death. I jumped nearly three feet off the ground.
“What? Were you zoning out again?” he asked, a joking tune in his voice until he saw the sort of frightened look on my face as we walked back towards my car. I stopped dead as I saw that Zacky had parked right next to us and was just leaving. My breathing stopped until he was pulled out and down the road and Riley put his hand on my shoulder.
“Please tell me that wasn’t…” Riley started, trailing off as we got into my car. I sat the keys on the dash and put my hands over my eyes, rubbing my tear glands.
“It was.” I replied, still a little freaked that Zacky had found me. Of all the places he could have been in Pittsburgh, he just had to show up at the movies where I was.
“Oh God. What’s he doing around here?” Riley asked, concerned as I turned on the car and pulled out slowly.
“I don’t know. He said it was business. I’m not so sure…” I said, trying to put it out of my mind. Maybe I was just over thinking this whole thing. Maybe he was here on business and I was just making this worse than it really was. Either way he gave me a creepy feeling.
So for the test of the day and the next I contemplated Zacky, telling Sidney about my fears and worries but only getting a laugh and a reassurance that it was probably nothing. I tried to take his words to heart but still something inside me told me something was wrong. I took everything in stride as much as I could and put Zacky out of my mind, thinking instead of the twenty ninth, tomorrow, when Riley would be leaving but the rest of the team would be coming back. My spirits lifted as I went to sleep Thursday to the tune of a 3-2 victory over Toronto. It made me feel great that I was helping my favorite team in their push to get to the playoffs. And I could barely contain myself from jumping into bed as I set my alarm.
