009

As Sidney and I walked through the airport, he grabbed my hand and are fingers linked up perfectly. Oh, I am such a cougar right now. He took my bag and followed me onto the plane. When I turned the corner Colby's head shot up and his eyes grew very wide. "Avery, what are you doing here?" he asked a little shaky in his voice. "Sidney invited me, and I had so much fun in Toronto I couldn't pass up another game," I smiled as Sidney took the seat across from Colby next to Flower. "See you in a few," Sidney winked as I headed to the back of the plane to take my seat next to Nathalie. "Hello Avery, we noticed Sidney didn't come home last night, did you two have fun?" she asked with a big smile on her face. "I made him watch Fraggle Rock," I laughed looking over at her. She couldn't help but chuckle herself. When we were in the air I could hear hear Sidney yelling, "Flower, where are you?!" Those boys and their games, I could only laugh. Nathalie got up from her seat and sat in the empty chair across from me. "So Avery, we've heard bits and pieces about you from Sidney, but I want to hear more. He said you went to school in South Africa, what made you go there?" It was very, very far away from Riley Armstrong. "I had gone once before when I was a freshman in high school and fell in love with the place, so when I was looking to get my masters, it felt like the perfect match for me. Probably the best four years of my life by far," I smiled thinking back to the surf. "Wow, so you're originally from Seattle right?" "I am, grew up in a pretty cool town northeast of Seattle called Woodinville. Beautiful vineyards and a very cool downtown. My dad started a brewery there and the town kind of formed into this beer and wine heaven of the northwest," I laughed. "A brewery really? Is it something I would recognize?" A big smile grew on my face, this beer was the love of my life, "Red Hook." Her eyes grew wide, "I've heard Colby talking about that beer before, he said he can't stand it." 'He doesn't know what good beer is, the poor thing, I mean he grew up in Saskatoon."

I could see Sidney making his way down toward us. "May I?" he asked pointing to the seat next to me. I smiled and went to get up to move, but he climbed right over me, nearly sticking his ass in Nathalie's face. Sidney grabbed my hand under the table and squeezed all while smiling at me. "Sidney you didn't tell me Avery's dad found a brewery," Nathalie smiled and I hung my head a little. I still hadn't told Sid about the brewery. "He did? This is the first I've heard of this," he chuckled a little, "which brewery?" I couldn't hold back my laughter. "Red Hook." We both began to laugh. "That explains why your fridge is stocked with Red Hook and not a whole lot of anything else." Nathalie excused herself and went to find Mario at the front of the plane. We began to hit some turbulence and my grip on Sidney's hand tightened. "I hate flying," I winced as my heart began to race, my hands were getting sweaty and I was trying not to think about it, but there really was nothing else. "Hey, hey," I could hear Sidney trying to get my attention but I didn't want to open my eyes. I opened one eye a little to see the buckle your seat belt sign come on. Well hey if I die, I get to die with Sidney Crosby. Sidney let go of my hand and I could feel one hand on each side of my face. I opened my eyes and he turned my head to look into his eyes. "It's just turbulence babe, it's going to be okay." He just called me babe. If I stare into his eyes long enough maybe everything will be okay. "Hey," he whispered and I could feel the plane bouncing a little bit more. I grabbed onto his thigh and squeezed. He inched closer to me and my grip on his leg was loosening. "Shh," he whispered seconds before his lips finally met mine. Touchdown Avery Winters!! My mind was completely drained, I wasn't on a plane, I didn't have a broke nose, there was absolutely no worry in the world, I was kissing Sid. We only pulled away when we did to breath, short breaths in between long kisses. We finally pulled apart and I laid my forehead on his, "thank you." When I opened my eyes I saw the seat belt sign wasn't on anymore and the ride was once again smooth. "Finally!" Colby yelled from the aisle a few feet in front of us. I turned a very bright shade of red and Sidney did as well. "I knew it was bound to happen soon," he laughed before high-fiving Sid.

I followed Nathalie to the suite we would cozily watch the game from. It was like any other game, but this time Sidney wasn't the hero, Colby was and I couldn't be happier. The clock ticked down and our boys beat the Bruins three to two, Colby getting the game winning goal. I couldn't wait to head downstairs to congratulate everyone, especially Colby. I slipped my way into the locker room with the reporters and spotted Colby first. "Colby!!" I shouted opening my arms open for him. That huge goofy smile of his came over his face and he lifted me up into his arms. "You've been drinking haven't you?" he asked laughing. "I've been having fun, I've missed hockey so much, you know that," I continued smiling when I noticed Colby look over my shoulder and his smile disappeared. I went to look over my shoulder at what he was looking at but Sidney came up to me and pulled me into a hug. "Did you like the game?" he asked looking down at me, in his skates he was a giant. "I did, very much, can I kiss you with all these people around?" I asked blushing a little bit. He leaned down and gave me the perfect kiss on the lips, I smiled at him before he walked away. I turned around to see Colby talking to someone who was just about his height, Colby had taken his skates off already, and had very, very curly brown hair. No it's can't be. It looked as if Colby was arguing with this person, placing his hands firmly on this guys arms. I just stood there and watched, when finally this guy turned around. I need help my heart just fell to the ground. There he stood. We starred at each other for what seemed like an eternity. "Avery..." the whole room felt like it went silent and I could only hear him. I didn't know what to do, do I say something, do I run, where do I go? I was frozen. Colby was by my side talking to me but I couldn't hear anything he was saying. All of my energy was focused on Riley. I opened my mouth to say something but nothing came out. He walked up to me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders. He was saying something but I couldn't understand him. He pulled away and out of the corner of my eye I could see Colby now talking to Sid. "What are you doing here?" he asked me. "I'm friends with your brother and his best friend Sidney. That's why I'm here," I explained to him with no expression whatsoever in my voice. "When did you get back to the states?" "Five months ago or so, I live in Pittsburgh now." We continued to stare one another down. "Why?" "Why what?" "Why did you do what you did to me? I ran Riley, I ran very far away after that." He hung his head. "I was young and stupid and in love, and I didn't know how to control rejection." "I wasn't rejecting you, I came back to tell you I was in love with you and I had been in love with you the whole time. I was going to tell you I wanted a future with you." I felt numb all over but I could feel very cold tears creep down my cheeks. "Avery, I haven't been able to stop thinking about you for the past four years. You never returned any of my calls or my letters, emails, care packages, nothing." "You called three times," the anger was present in my voice now and the tears were flowing even faster. "I called five times a day, everyday for six months."I felt a hand on my shoulder and heard a very soothing voice, "Avery honey, calm down. Why don't you and Riley go talk outside the locker room, maybe find somewhere private," Sidney whispered into my ear. I turned around, looked up at him and smiled. I gave him a small kiss before leaving the locker room, "well are you coming with?" I yelled back to Riley.

"So you're dating the kid now?" he asked. "It's still very new and I'm still very careful about it because someone put this impression of how hockey players are in my mind," I snapped at him. Stop crying Avery! Riley stepped closer to me placing his hands on my shoulders. "How can I make this right? You don't know how happy I am to be talking to you right now, what can I do? I am still very much in love with you." My tears began to flow faster and after a few seconds I was numb, I couldn't feel his grip on my shoulders or the tears on my face. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Colby and Sidney come out of the dressing room. They stopped and stood where they were to watch. Riley tried pulling me into a hug but I resisted. "It took me a long time to get over what you did, and obviously I'm still not over it, but Riley I've moved on. We fell in love at a young age, but I'm not going to sugar-coat it. You fucked up, we could of had something so great but you really fucked it up. I'm going to go." I slipped out from his grip and started walking towards Sid. "Avery! Avery! Please stop, please come back and talk to me!" He yelled still standing where we were. I fell into Sid's arms and my body immediately warmed and I could feel his arms wrap tightly around my shoulders. "I'm so sorry Avery, I'm going to talk to him," Colby whispered rubbing his hand on my back.

I curled up in the bed and continued to cry. Sidney walked over and laid down next to me. "He must have really hurt you, I'm so sorry, is there anything I can do?" he asked whispering into my ear. I wipped my tears away to look at him. "I just don't want to be hurt like he hurt me every again," I couldn't control my crying. Sidney dragged me into his arms and I fell asleep still with tears in my eyes.