Chapter Four - Originality Is Key

“You know what, Sidney? It’s been absolutely wonderful and I’d love to stay for dinner, it’s just that Ally’s gotta be waiting for me, so I really should get going,” I said, basically sprinting towards the front door. If I had been in my right mind, I would have known to use to back door instead because as soon as I reached for the knob, the door swung open. Standing before me was a very cheerful Ally and a very handsome Maxime Talbot. Ally stood there like a deer caught in the headlights for a good two minutes before either moving to enter the house or slapping me across the face. Thankfully she did the former, rather than the latter.

“Spencer! What are you doing here? You know Sid?!” she asked. I tried to detect if there was any hint of anger in her voice, but all I heard was shock.

“Um, actually we met the other day,” I said, bracing myself for the worst. Here we go. She’s gonna call me a bitch and end our friendship right now.

“Wow, that’s so awesome! You go girl!” she chirped, winking at me. I looked down to notice that her hand was intertwined with Max’s. So that’s why she wasn’t mad at me! Max had swept her off her feet. Thank God. I guess she was happy being with any member of the Penguins. I smiled and turned to Sid to explain, but he had the guiltiest grin on his face.

“Well, this is quite shocking! Such a small world we live in isn’t it?” Sid asked before ushering Max and Ally into the house.

“How did you do this?!” I whispered in his ear as we walked into the living room.

“Do what? I have absolutely no idea what in the world you’re talking about,” he said easily, taking a seat next to me on the couch. Ally and Max took the loveseat.

“Sid, care to introduce me to that beautiful girl on your arm?” Max asked.

“Of course I wouldn’t mind. This is Spencer. Spencer this is Max. And…did I catch your name correctly, was it Ally?” Sid asked in false uncertainty. I watched as Ally began to turn a shade of red. I guess she was still star struck.

“Yes, Ally. It’s so nice to meet you…again,” she gushed. “You’re like my hero!”

“Oh please. Heroes are people like…oh I don’t know, Abraham Lincoln and…Beyonce. I’m just a hockey player. And a Canadian. Two very good qualities, but not hero material,” Sid responded lightly. I couldn’t help but laugh hysterically at his insane remark.

“Beyonce?!” I choked out in between laughing fits. “Beyonce is hero material?”

“Um, have you seen her? Not to mention her amazing music, acting skills, and fashion sense,” he responded with the most serious expression I’d ever seen.

“Okay, are you for real?” I asked.

“’If you liked it then you should have put a ring on it’,” Max chimed in, high-fiving Sid.

“See, Max gets it! Classic line. Classic,” Sid said, with a self satisfied smile.

“You guys are insane,” I said, rolling my eyes. “And as much as I’d love to sit here and go over what qualities make Beyonce a ‘hero’, I thought we were gonna have dinner.”

“Oh right!” Sid hopped up, took my hand, and led me into the kitchen. Once I heard Max and Ally begin their own conversation, I started my interrogation of Sid.

“How on earth did you pull this off?!” I asked, watching him lean against the counter top, the epitome of cool.

“Hmm, well, I wanted you all to myself and I knew you’d never come with me if Ally was on your tail all day. So, my plan was to find out what hotel you were staying in and then just come and get you myself. But thankfully Max was just dying of hunger so he made us stop at Tim Horton’s. And low and behold, when we pulled into the parking lot, your friend Ally was coming out of the store. So then a new idea formulated. I told Max to go distract Ally for the day. And Max loves a good challenge, so, here we are now. I’m pretty brilliant, eh?”

“More like ridiculously scary and borderline stalker. But it’s the thought that counts I guess.” I smiled at him from across the kitchen. “So, ‘Man with the Plan’, what’s for dinner?”

“To tell you the truth, I didn’t think this far into the future. No idea! Do you cook?”

“You’re in luck! I can handle pasta and maybe some chicken if you have it. Other than that, we’re screwed.” He laughed and reached into the pantry, throwing a box of spaghetti at me.

“Do your ‘thang’.”

“Oh God, never again, Sidney.” I pushed him out of the kitchen and indeed did my ‘thang’, whipping up some spaghetti and a nice salad. I was so impressed with myself and the fact that I was able to think that up on the spot. After dinner, Max offered to drive Ally back to the hotel, since I had the car. I had to admit, they looked pretty cute together. I hoped Max would stick around. I’d heard stories about him and from what I’ve heard, he seemed like a pretty big partier and he also seemed to love the ladies. It would be nice if they dated though. She’d have someone and I would too. If you could even consider that what Sid and I were doing was actually dating. It was more like hanging out. Although we did kiss that one time. But that wasn’t even a legit first kiss. It was more like a peck. I walked back from the front door after letting Max and Ally out to find Sid heading out the back door. “Where are you going?”

“You know, you ask too many questions.” I followed Sid back down to the dock where he perched himself on the edge and patted the space next to him, indicating where he wanted me to sit.

“Aw, this is so pretty,” I said, noting the stars above us. “I love the sound of crickets too. It makes everything seem so summery.”

“Yeah, I love the outdoors too, it’s relaxing. You can forget about your responsibilities for a little bit.” It hit me just then that all Sid does is eat, sleep, and breathe hockey. Even on his vacation, he’s signing autographs and giving interviews. This was probably the one place he could relax and actually be himself.

“Yeah, I totally get that. It must be so hard for you, Sidney---”

“You know, you can call me Sid.” He turned to smile at me and he looked absolutely breathtaking in the moonlight.

“I…um…yeah. You can call Spence. No need for formalities, huh?”

“Exactly. By the way, that makes you sound so American.”

“What does?”

“’Huh’. It’s classic American.”

“Oh yeah, and ‘eh’ isn’t?”

“When did I say ‘eh’?”

“See! You say it so much you don’t even realize you’re saying it!” He started laughing and then he placed his hand on top of mine.

“Relax, Spence. I wasn’t saying it in a bad way. It’s cute. Just li---”

“Please don’t say ‘just like you’. Must you be every cliché known to man?” I shoved him lightly.

“Good point. How about I---”

“And please don’t say ‘how about I do this instead?’. Originality, Sid.”

“Why must you ruin all of my plans? These clichés have worked for me every time in the past.”

“Well, not on me. You’ll just have to try something new!” I smiled at him and he rolled his eyes. And this time, instead of prefacing it with any corny line, he leaned over and kissed me. With the sounds of summer, the water below, and the stars above, it definitely counted as our first official kiss.