050

We were a month into the season and the brewery was becoming the hot spot to watch the Penguins games, home and away. I couldn't be more happy with all the business the place was pulling in, and there wasn't a single night where the bar wasn't full. Sidney and I were going through a rough patch, but I figured that would happen with the season. He was going through a slump early in the season, not a whole lot of goals, but he sure was racking up the assists. In Sidney Crosby's eyes though, that's not enough. I couldn't believe how hard he would be on himself after a loss. "One inch, I just had to move my stick up one inch and the puck would have gone in," I heard time and time again. The team wasn't really losing though, that was the thing that stumped me. Okay so four loses and two overtime loses wasn't THAT bad, they had won six games though. I gave Sidney his space when I knew he needed it, even though he would say he was fine. Most nights he would come home and go to bed, then when I would wake up in the morning I would find him in the sauna, dripping with sweat. I wouldn't say he had a negative attitude, but the aura in the house after a loss would bring me down with him. I was finding myself back in a depressed mood, but there was nothing for me to be depressed over.

Our one year anniversary was fast approaching, whatever that exact date was. He counts from the day we met, for me, I never really thought about it before. I'm not the sappy type, so anniversaries to me were just another day. Sidney on the other hand, thought differently. "So what are we doing for our anniversary?" Sidney asked as we lounged on the couch one afternoon a few days before the anniversary he declared was ours. "Well you have practice, I have to work. Did you want to do something?" "Well yeah, it's kind of a big deal to me Av, sure you have had your fair share of anniversaries with guys, but this is the first time a girl has stuck with me for longer than four months." "If it's that big of a deal to you, then we will do something," I kind of shouted with a tone of voice that was trying to find peace. I was in no mood to get into an argument over something so stupid. "It's not a big deal to you?" he asked just above a whisper. I turned on the couch to look at him straight on. "I'm sorry Sid, I've just never been the one for anniversaries or anything of the sort. I don't even do Valentine's day, you know that." "Are you okay Av, you seem off?" Not this conversation again. I lowered my eyes, and began to play with my fingers. "Are you still on your meds?" he asked sternly and I looked up at him as a tear rolled down my cheek. Just the thought of what was going on in my head scared me and I couldn't help but cry. "You're not are you? Babe, you need to take those meds, they even you out. You feel better when you're on them." "I feel numb when I'm on them. I would rather have my emotions all over the place then have none at all." He pulled me into a hug and ran his fingers through my hair. "I'll plan our anniversary okay? Can you please just go along with it, I won't do anything over the top, I just want it to be special," he whispered into my ear. "Okay, I'm sorry Sid." "Don't be sorry Avery, I just want you to be happy." "I am happy," I sobbed onto his shoulder. I'm pathetic is what I am.

I knew Sidney wouldn't do anything over the top considering the next day they had a home game against the Oilers. When I woke up that morning I rolled over to find my bed, once again, empty. I gripped the sheets in my fist and yelled a little bit into the pillow. I hated mornings when I woke up alone. I looked over to the clock and wanted to shot myself in the foot. "SEVEN AM!?" I crawled out of bed, slipped into my slippers, threw on my robe and headed downstairs to the sauna, but he wasn't there. I looked out the front window, car was still there. Where is he? It was times like this I missed having a smaller house, it was shorter of a hunt to find him. I headed downstairs and found him in the room with our very small wine collection. "Morning babe," he smiled looking through our wine. "For once, can I wake up, roll over and give you a kiss in the morning?" I asked a little irritated as I sat down on the built-in bench. "I'm sorry, but once I'm up, I'm up," he smiled then leaned down and kiss me. "Happy anniversary," he smiled after he pulled away. "Well I'm going back to bed, wake me before you leave for practice," I yawned before heading back upstairs.

I headed to work and was somewhat confused to see that I was the only one there. Did everyone take today off and not tell me? I peaked out into the warehouse and all the workers were there, but there wasn't anyone else. I unlocked my office and walked in to find a beautiful bouquet of stargazer lilies on my desk. How did those get there? I plucked the card off and read it out loud, "Happy Anniversary mo anam cara, there's no work for you to do today, so you should come watch practice if you get bored. I'm sure you will. Love, Sidney." I sat down behind my desk and could only laugh. Why is no one here? I looked around my desk and there really wasn't anything for me to do. I sat there and thought for about ten minutes, there had to be something I needed to do. I finally gave up, locked up and headed to Starbucks down the street. I sipped on my Americano as I walked back to my car. Alright Sid, you win!

"Hi baby!" Sidney shouted to me from the ice. I smiled and waved to him as the rest of the guys began to whistle. I took a seat about fifteen rows up from the penalty box to watch practice. "Hi Avery, what brings you to practice today?" Mario asked taking the seat next to me. "Well I got to my office to find no one was working, and there were flowers and a note on my desk saying if I got bored to come to practice. So I'm here, only because I got bored though," I smiled watching the guys skate laps around the rink. "How's the brewery doing now that it's been open for a few months?" "It's going really, really well. I'm doing a lot better than my dad's and my brother's, which was kind of a shock to us all. I have to say though, I think my personal life is the best marketing Red Hook has ever come up with," I laughed. "Why do you say that?" "People know it's my brewery, and people know who I'm dating. We have the regulars that are cool but then we get the tourists and the puck bunnies who come around in hopes of just meeting a player. As long as they are buying drinks and keeping the peace, I'm cool with it," I continued to laugh and Mario joined in. Mid-way through practice Mario disappeared into the emptiness of the arena, I said my goodbye and turned my attention back to the ice. The Sidney I saw on the ice that day was a fun, energetic one, nothing like the one that comes home at night after a loss. It was refreshing to see him having a good time.

After a small talk on the ice the boys skated around a bit and I got up to walk down to the locker room to meet up with Sidney. "Avery, where you go?" I heard Geno yell to me from the ice. "I was heading downstairs," I shouted down to him. "Practice no over yet!" Man I love that guy. I laughed at his still broken English and walked down a few rows to get a little closer to the ice. "Looks like it's over to me," I yelled pointing to some of the vets skating off the ice. Geno just starred at me shaking his head. "Okay fine, continue practice!" I yelled and watched as him and Sidney took a few shots on Flower. "Avery go put some skates on!" Sidney yelled up to me after a few shots. "No Crosby, remember the last time I was wearing skates?" I thought back to that night in Seattle that resulted in Sidney with three stitches. "Oh come on you loser!" Oh no you didn't. "Sidney Crosby, I am not a loser!" "I think Sid is right Avery, you are a loser," Max yelled. Why are they picking on me? I just laughed and shook my head, I was getting ready to walk away but Sidney flipped a puck up over the glass to me. I caught it out of the air and looked at him with a confused look on my face. "La-who-sa-her!" he yelled up to me and I chucked the puck down at him, missing Max only by a few inches. Yeah, my aim sucks! "Oh come on baby, just go put some skates on," he shouted up to me with a few of the guys standing around him. "No Crosby, I came to watch, not to participate." "You're scared aren't you? You're a big chicken," his laughter nearly filled the arena. "Bak! Bak! Baaaak!!" Max, Geno and Flower all started yelling acting like chickens skating around the rink. "Hey how did you get into my office? I have the only key!" I shouted holding my keys up in the air trying desperately to change the subject. "I have my ways, come on Avery get your ass down here and put some skates on!" Excuse me? "I'll be at the brewery if you wanted to swing by on the way home, and just go ahead and come up to my office since you have your ways!" I turned on my heels and stomped up the steps. I made it up five steps when Sidney yelled up at me. I spun around and looked down at him. WHA . . . ?? Did I just hear him right? "Sidney Patrick Crosby, what did you just say!!"