Chapter Three - Aquatic Adventures

I’m not quite sure how I drove back to the hotel after that because I was positively delirious with happiness. But, by some miracle of the Gods, I made it in one piece and back into bed without even waking Ally. When I opened my eyes a few hours later, it was of my own accord and not because someone was opening the curtains and blinding me to death. The room was empty besides myself and I got up and walked over to the desk where Ally had left a note. ‘Spence, I went out to get some breakfast for us and you’ll never guess who asked me to hang out with him?! Well, I’ll keep you on your toes because you wouldn’t believe it if I put it in this note. Anyway, now we can do our own thing today! Maybe meet up for dinner? I’ll text! Love ya, Ally.’ I put down the note, not really giving it a second thought. I was glad she found someone to keep her occupied for the day. I tossed the paper aside, grabbed some clothes, and hit the shower. About twenty minutes later, I was out the door and looking for something to do. I set out on foot in a quest to find the nearest Tim Horton’s. No sooner than when I sat down, my cell phone started ringing. I cringed at the fact that I forgot to change it from the “Gimme That Fillet O’ Fish” song that Ally had set it as. I opened it quickly to silence the ringing and didn’t even check the name.

“Hello?” I asked, trying to avoid the stares of those who had heard that awful ringtone.

“Hey, can you get away from whatever you’re doing?” Sid asked on the other end. I felt the heat rise to my cheeks. I had completely forgotten that we exchanged numbers.

“Hmm, I have to think about it. You know I’m an extremely busy person,” I said playfully into the phone.

“I’ll take that as a ‘I’m not doing anything because I have no life’,” he retorted.

“Okay, you got me. Why what’s up?”

“Come hang out with me today.”

“Hang out with you? Didn’t we discuss this last night? The press, Sidney, the press.”

“Exactly, that’s why I want you to come over. To my house. It’s gated so it’s hard for the press to catch me there unless I let them in.”

“But won’t they see me pulling up or whatever?”

“Yeah, but you could be anyone. My cleaning lady for all they know.” I couldn’t help but laugh. The stuff he comes up with.

“A twenty year old cleaning lady? Very believable.”

“Okay, I’ll take that as a ‘yes’ you’re coming.” He proceeded to give me directions which I wrote down on a napkin and he ended with, “bring aquatic essentials.”

“Aquatic essentials? Really? You couldn’t just say bathing suit?”

“I like to be different. You should know that by now, Spencer. See ya in a bit!” And with that he hung up. I rolled my eyes, but the smile couldn’t be removed from my face. I basically sprinted back to the hotel, shoved a bathing suit into my purse, grabbed the keys, and hopped into the car. It wasn’t long before I was arriving at the gates and to my surprise, Sid was standing there, ready to let me in.

“Hey,” he said smiling as he hopped into the passenger’s seat.

“Hey,” I replied, not sure what the proper greeting was. We only had one kiss last night so it would probably be way too forward to expect anything in greeting. Thankfully I didn’t have to make the decision because in the middle of my pondering, Sid picked up my hand and kissed it.

“Completely lame,” I laughed as he joined in.

“Well, I didn’t know what the proper greeting was! So I figured I’d go classic. You can’t go wrong with classic.”

“Well that one’s a swing and a miss. Keep trying.” I continued to laugh all the way along the drive up to his house. Once I finally pulled up, we got out and made our way inside. It was the cutest summer house I’d ever seen. “What, no masses of people? I thought your life was a constant party, Mr. Crosby.”

“I like to make time for the VIPs every now and then. How was that?”

“You’re so lucky that you’re not trying to pick me up. That was rough.” He playfully shoved me and led me down a long hallway.

“Here’s the bathroom. You can change in there.” The bathroom was adorably decorated and the soap smelled like heaven. I had to remember to ask where he got it. I changed my clothes in twenty seconds flat, replaced my t-shirt, and stuffed my shorts into my purse. When I got out, I walked into the living room where Sid was sitting on the couch.

“So what exactly are we doing today?”

“You’ll see.” He led me out the back door and down onto the dock where his Sea-doo was waiting in all of its aquatic glory.

“I am not getting on that thing!” I said, refusing to go any further.

“What? Why not?! It doesn’t bite, I promise,” he said, taking my hand.

“It can’t possibly be safe,” I responded looking from it, to him, and back again.

“Can you swim?” he asked. I nodded and he continued. “Then it’s perfectly safe. Plus you’ll be wearing a life jacket. Plus, I’ll save you if anything happens.” At that last statement I could help but smile. I agreed to go on it and I followed him down to the end of the dock where he handed me a life jacket and put on one of his own. I took off my shirt, neatly folding it, and placed it next to Sid’s which was in a wrinkled heap. After I adjusted my bathing suit top and put on my life jacket, I turned back to him and had to remind myself to breath. His perfect physique almost knocked me off my feet. He smiled back at me, not noticing me drooling all over myself. “Ready?” He got on first and then held out his hand for me. I said a silent ‘Our Father’ before hopping on the back and clinging to his waist. We started off slowly, just meandering around. “See it’s not so bad.” I was beginning to agree until he picked up speed and we were flying across the water. At first I absolutely hated him, but then I couldn’t get enough. The combined rush of speeding on that thing and holding on to the actual Sidney Crosby was enough to give a person a heart attack. At one point Sid even let me drive his precious Sea-doo, until he claimed I was an awful driver and made me switch back. By the time we finally docked, the sun was starting to set. We both climbed up onto the dock continuing our debate about who was the better driver. It ended in Sid throwing me into the water after I had already put my shirt back on so, needless to say, I was a little irritated. However, I soon forgot my irritation when we got back to the house and he gave me one of his to wear. It was ten times better than wearing anything I owned.

“So what’s the game plan?” I asked sitting next to him on the couch. I was tugging at a string sticking out from my shorts and he was fiddling with his cell phone.

“Actually, one of the guys is coming over for dinner. I’d love it if you’d stay. He’s even bringing a girl along.”

“Of course I’d love to meet one of your teammates when I’m wearing absolutely no make-up and my hair looks like a disaster area. How did you know that’s my dream come true?!”

“Oh please. You look gorgeous. And believe me, if you look gorgeous like that, they’ll think you’re absolutely stunning when they see you all dolled up.”

“Um, people haven’t used the expression ‘dolled up’ since 1922.” Just as he was about to come back with a snarky remark, my phone started to ring. That hideous ringtone once again taunted me. I really had to change that. It was a text from Ally.

“you’ll never guess what! we’re going to dinner at some hockey player’s house! i’ll explain later!!! love ya!”

And at that moment, it all fell into place.