004

'I'm at the arena if you wanted to swing by and have the doc check out your nose'. I chuckled a little bit. "Who is it?" Colby asked. "Sidney," I smiled wiping away the last of my tears. Colby got a huge grin on his face and leaned in. "Well... what did he say?" His eyebrows were raised so high it looked like botox gone wrong. "He wants the team doctor to check out my nose, why is he so worried about me?" I laughed feeling the pain shoot to my eyes. "I'm sure Sid knows you're okay, it's Mario who wants to make sure you're okay. He's probably scared you'll sue for Sid's money." We looked at each other and busted out into laughter. I wanted to stop laughing so hard so that my face would stop throbbing but it was too funny. I wouldn't sue for money, if anything I would sue for lifetime season tickets right next to the visitors penalty box. "You should go down there, want me to come with?" he asked. I looked up and smiled. "Nah, it's just nice to know Sidney is already there and not driving."

I drove around Mellon Arena a few times not knowing where to go, so I called Sidney. "Umm, where do I park?" I asked laughing. "Same place as last night," he replied and I could sense a smile on his face. I drove around the arena one more time before pulling into the players parking lot. Standing there in just mesh shorts was Sidney. Holy shit. Close your mouth he can see you idiot!! I parked my car and swallowed really hard before getting out. "How are you?" he asked as he opened the door for me. "Pretty good, work sent me home, which I figured would happen. It's all about appearance there," I laughed and his eye's widen. "Are you at risk in losing your job?" he asked with fear in his voice. "I don't think so, but if I do then they are assholes, and maybe I will finally get a real job," I laughed. He led me down to their locker room where the doctor was anxiously waiting for us, as well as Mario. "Nice to see you again Avery," he smiled at me. After a few minutes of examination from the doctor he wrapped my nose once again, "it's looking good, swelling is down, everything is staying aligned, I think this will heal nicely," he smiled before walking away. I sighed in relief. "Avery, may I have a word," Mario smiled walking away from Sidney. I looked at Sid before I followed Mario and I could see him rolling his eyes. "Is there anything we can do for you? We really do feel terrible about what happened. We just don't want any of this getting out to the press or something," he smiled trying to sound sympathetic. I wasn't falling for it. "As terrible as this sounds, a broken nose was worth meeting up with Colby again. As far as Sidney goes, he's an old friend to me now. So I think we're going to be okay," I smiled tapping my hand on his arm. I could sense some relief coming from Mario but not a flinch in his face.

I walked back up to Sidney, who unforunately put a shirt on and smiled at him. "I'm not going to sue you for your money," I laughed as I could tell he became very irritated starring down Mario. "Woah cowboy, back down here. Focus. It's his job, chill out. I just want my baby back," I smiled dragging his eyesight down to me. "Your baby?" "My Jeep. She's been through a lot, I've had her since high school. Had my parents ship her out here when I moved here. Whatever though, I won't be completely heart broken if I have to put her to rest, she is ten years old after all." Damnit why did you put a shirt on? Wait, did I just age myself? Crap. He laughed a little bit and I could feel his arm brushing against mine. "So when will you go back to work?" he asked. "Oh I don't know. I was thinking about becoming a crash test dummy, I've got the experience." I chuckled and noticed he hung his head again. I wrapped my fingers around his ears, placing my thumbs in his temples. I brought his face up to look at me. "Learn to take a joke kid. It's totally okay, just know you're going to be hearing about it from me for a very long time, and it's no hard feelings at all. We're cool. Are we cool?" "For a long time eh? I like the sound of that." Those damn eyes. I want to kiss you. I want to kiss your eyes. I let go of his head and he had this smirk. And those lips. I want to kiss your eyes and your lips. I feel like a craddle robber. Stop it. "Call me later," I smiled before walking away.

I thumbed through my iPod, what did I want to listen to? Oh Van Morrison sounds fantastic. No one would think I had a broken nose the way I was singing in my car, as much as it hurt I loved to sing and I was proud to say I was terrible at it. "Can I just have one more moondance with you, my love?!" Oh I love this song. I drove home and figured I should call my mom, it had been a few days since we last talk, and I'm sure she will get very excited when I tell her I ran into Colby.

I kicked my feet up on the coffee table and called my mom. "Avery darling, I was wondering if you had forgotten about me," she laughed answering the phone. "Hey momma, how are you?"
"I'm doing good, staying busy you know how it goes. How are you?"
"Well it's been an interesting 48 hours. I got rear ended and broke my nose pretty bad, I will have to email you pictures. Well the car that rear ended me was being driven by Sidney Crosby, dad will know who he is. And guess who was in the passenger seat?"
"You broke your nose? Oh my, well there must be some humor in this, who was in the passenger seat?"
"Colby Armstrong."
"We meant to tell you he was playing in Pittsburgh, but we weren't too sure of how you were going to take it, but it sounds like old times again. Is it?"
"It feels like I never left." I could hold back my laughter. Just the memories of Colby and I, him coming out for the summer or me heading to his house for the summer, it was all too short lived. Two years didn't feel that long. "Well mom, I better get going, I want to clean up the house a bit, maybe look for some new furniture, I hate this crap I bought." I laughed.
"Okay dear, please call more often, we miss you."
"I miss you too, make sure to tell dad Sidney Crosby is a friend of mine now." I laughed. I could tell my mom was rolling her eyes. Hockey meant nothing to her, but to my dad, it was his life, outside of the beer business of course.