026

Sidney walked into the bedroom door and I could tell by the look on his face that he had been crying a little bit himself. "You know this happens, it happens. They had to do what was best for the team," he said before crawling into bed next to me. "I didn't even get to say goodbye. They just trade him like that, call him in, tell him he's leaving, and he's on a plane that night. It's not going to be the same around here without him," I sniffled taking the coffee he had made. "Well Colby will still come around, he plans on living here this summer, but after that, I'm sure he will set up camp in Atlanta. He will be back up here on Sunday though, the Thrashers are coming to town, so you will get to see him." He pulled me into him arms and I just continued to cry. It didn't make sense to me. The one Armstrong I wanted to stick around, and now he's in Atlanta? Why? "Players come and go, that's how the NHL works, you have to deal guys to get someone that can help you win the cup, and Hossa is that guy for us. I knew they were trying to get Hossa, but I had no idea who they were willing to give up to get him." "Do you know if you're going to stay in Pittsburgh? My brewery is here, I can't follow you." "Yes, I'm staying here, I just signed on for another five years after this year. I can't leave this city, after all it has done for me, I'm not going anywhere."

I spent most of the week tucked away in the brewery keeping busy. There were still a ton of things that needed to get done before my father came to do his walk-through. We had a projected opening date of June 15th, which only gave us three and a half months, and only two weeks for my dad to come take a look. It was stressful for me, but I couldn't bring that stress home, Sidney already had enough on his plate. The city was a buzz with talks of bringing the Stanley Cup back to Pittsburgh, it had been over fifteen years since Mario won the cup. That of course, wasn't allowed to be discussed in the house. Sidney truly played game by game, never thinking about upcoming games, just focusing on the game at hand, as if it was game seven of the finals.

Emotions were high for me, I knew it would be only a matter of hours before I could see Colby. I just wanted to see him and see how he was doing and what was going on with him and Mel now that he moved. I got out of the shower and heard a very familiar voice in the living room. I quickly threw on some sweats and ran out to leap into his arms. "Colby, I didn't think I would see you until later, when did you get to Pittsburgh?" "We got in late last night, I came to kidnap you for a few hours, if that's alright with Sid of course," he smiled looking over at Sidney. "Of course Colby, you're her girlfriend, why would I come between that?" He laughed. I went back into the bedroom and quickly got ready.

"I'm sorry I didn't call you before I left, everything happened so fast, and I knew how stressed out you were," Colby said with his head hanging as he gripped onto his coffee. "It did happen fast didn't it? So what's going to happen with you and Mel?" "Well Andrew, her roommate, is moving in with his boyfriend at the end of May, so Mel is going to move into my apartment and then I will come back. I'm going to ask her to move to Atlanta with me though, Andrew was all she had here and she rarely sees him anymore." "That's awesome Colby, I am so happy that you two are as close as you are, you guys are so cute together." For the first time ever it felt awkward between Colby and I, I didn't know what to do. I sipped on my coffee and looked around the cafe, this was unlike us, something was up. "So, Riley is going to be here in June, I didn't want to tell you, but well I kind of have to. June is going to be a big month for you, so I don't want him to just show up somewhere and well you know," his head hung a little bit again. Riley? Riley... oh yeah. Riley. I began to bite on my top lip and looked down at my coffee. "Avery, he's my brother, we can't just get rid of him, you have to get over him." "That's the thing, I know I'm over him. He's in the past, I have Sidney now, something so much better. But, when I hear his name or see his face, I'm not over it. Damnit Colby, it's been almost five years, you would think I would be over it." "Well he was your first love, even though he doesn't know that." I could feel tears forming in my eyes but I fought them back. "I want to see him, better yet I want him to see me. I think that if I see him I could really see how good things are for me right now, and to have him see me with Sidney. Bring him to the brewery opening, please Colby." He reached over and grabbed my hand, "you have to promise me, that if you see him you remind yourself that he is an asshole and you are meant for Sidney. Don't break Sid's heart Avery, I see the look in your eyes whenever you hear Riley's name. Don't do it. Sidney loves you very much." Run back to Riley? Why in the world would I do that? "I love him too Colby."

I had somehow lost the time and noticed it was already 6 PM and I wasn't even ready for the game yet. It had been an odd day for me, after sitting at the cafe with Colby for three hours, I went to the brewery just to check out the construction of the offices. I really wasn't in the mood to get all dressed up like I usually did for games, so I just slipped on some jeans, black rain boots and a black zip up hoodie. Comfy! I walked into the owner's suite and Mario gave me a sad smile. "Did you talk to him today?" "I did, we went and grabbed coffee and talked for about three hours. I think I overreacted, but it's still sad to see my best friend move away. Whatever is best for the team right," I smiled taking the beer from our hostess. I love how she knows to have my beer poured the minute I walk in, even if it's not Red Hook. Mario smiled at me and we took our seats just in time to watch the puck be dropped.

Before I could really even settle into my seat, Bugsy got the Pens up one goal not even a minute into the first. It was Flower's first game back after being out for nearly three months and he was making some amazing saves. The boys made it two to nothing at the end of the first. During the intermission I went on a hunt to find Mel, hoping she would be there. Sure enough she was in her seat, slumped down thumbing through her phone. "Hey!" I shouted taking the empty seat next to her. "Avery!" she wrapped her arms around me. "How are you doing?" I asked her after she let me go. "It's hard, it's been really hard. I don't want to push anything on him, but I want to move to Atlanta with him. I know he's the one for me, it just makes sense." I could tell that she badly wanted to cry. "Tell him you want to go with him then." "No, I couldn't do that, I don't know. I don't want to pressure him, either way we have a few months, he's coming back to Pittsburgh when the season is over." Oh if she only knew. "It will work out just fine," I looked up at the clock and saw there were only three minutes left til the intermission was over. "Well I am going to head back up, call me if you need to talk or need anything okay? Have fun with him tonight," I gave her one more hug and headed back up to the suite.

The game went to a shootout, and the Pens managed to sneak away with the two points. With the win the Penguins captured first place in the Eastern division and I knew Sidney was going to be in a very good mood. I headed down to the locker rooms and waited outside of the visitors locker room with Mel, I knew Sidney would be awhile, so I wanted to say bye to Colby. He came out and quickly gave Mel a kiss before dragging me into a hug. "Hey, I will see you in June okay, email me pictures of the brewery as it comes along," he whispered. I nodded my head and allowed Colby and Mel to be together. As I walked backed to the Pens locker I saw Sidney walk out and begin to look around. I shouted for him and a huge grin came over his face. "Let's go home," he said before giving me a kiss. He was in a very calm mood and I thought for sure that he would want to go out and celebrate, but he wanted to go home, I found that odd.