Chapter 8

Sidney called me a couple of times after that dinner but I didn't answer or call him back. I was completely thrown by the kiss and I needed time away from him. Instead of worrying about it I thought about my upcoming trip to Buffalo to see Thomas. I had lied and told work that I wouldn’t be home if there was an emergency because I was traveling to see family for the weekend. It wasn’t like me to lie but I told myself that I wouldn’t be doing it for long.

When Friday came I could hardly contain my excitement. I boarded the plane and a short flight later I was stepping off into the airport in Buffalo. I walked towards baggage claim where I knew Thomas would be waiting. When I saw him I ran up to him and jumped into his arms. He swung me around and kissed me.

“It’s great to see you, Lee-lee,” he said giving me a hug. I buried my face in his neck.

“It’s great to see you too.” He grabbed my carry-on and we walked out to his car. We drove to his house where we headed straight to the bedroom. We didn’t leave the bed for hours. There was a lot of talking, laughing, and much more.

“Are you hungry?” he asked around dinner time. It was the first time I realized that I hadn’t eaten all day.

“Actually, yes, I am.” We got up and showered. After getting ready he took me out to dinner. We went to a small Mexican restaurant where he got a chimichanga and I got chicken fajitas. We also had a pitcher of margaritas. I’d stopped eating by the time he finished his dinner.

“Are you going to finish that?” he asked. It was always like Thomas to finish what I didn’t eat.

“No, go right ahead.”

“Thanks.” He grabbed my plate and made the last fajita and ate it.

“So, have you told Ashley yet?” I asked him. I’d wanted to ask him all day but until now it never seemed like a good time.

“Actually, no, I haven’t.” I began to worry as he took the last bite of the fajita. “Her grandmother’s been in the hospital and I didn’t want to add to it. I’ll do it when all of that gets resolved.” This explanation made me feel better and we went back to his house. Not surprisingly we spent the rest of the night in bed.

I groaned when his alarm went off in the morning. He rolled over to kiss me and apologize, then got out of bed. He had a morning skate to go to. I fell back to sleep after he left not waking up until after 10:00. When I got up I looked into his cupboards for something to eat. I found some cereal in a cupboard and laughed when I saw that it was Captain Crunch. Always the boy, I thought. I poured myself a bowl and ate in front of the TV.

When I was done eating I got in the shower and got dressed. I knew Thomas would probably be gone until about 1:00 when he was done with lunch so I made myself comfortable on the couch and relaxed for a bit. When he did come back he picked me right up off the couch and carried me into the bedroom.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have showered,” I said giggling. He bit my ear.

“You’re right, maybe you shouldn’t have.” He pressed his lips to mine. I fell asleep next to him when he took his pregame nap, exhausted from earlier. When he woke up he got ready to go to the game.

“I’d forgotten how hot you looked in a suit,” I told him walking over to put my arms around him and give his butt a squeeze. He leaned down and kissed me.

“If you’re not careful this suit will be off and I’ll be late to the game.”

“We wouldn’t want that.” He kissed me and left.

I wasn’t going to the game because he still didn’t think it was a good idea for anyone to know about me yet. No one knew he was ending things with Ashley yet, and he was afraid one of the girls would tell her before he could. I watched it on the TV and Buffalo won 4-3. It was a little over an hour later when Thomas got home. The rest of the time I was there was spent in bed. I couldn’t get enough of him. I was sad when it was time for me to leave the next day. He kissed me before I walked through security telling me to call him when I got home.

A few days later I met up with Phoebe, Reagan, and Shelia for dinner and drinks. We met outside the sports bar we often frequented and got a table inside. We looked over the menus ordering dinner and a round of drinks.

“So how was the family?” Sheila asked. I looked at her blankly for a second wondering why she was asking about my family. Then it hit me that my excuse for not meeting up with them this past weekend was that I was going to visit my parents.

“They were good. Dad did a little bitching about the defense that he needs to fix with the team and Mom cooked enough food for an army like always.” They all laughed knowingly.

“Hey, Loralei, how are you?” I looked up to Sidney standing there with Colby and Ryan Whitney. We hadn't had any contact since the kiss and I was shocked to see him.

“Sid, what are you doing here?” I asked.

“Just grabbing some dinner with Army and Whitney.” I saw my friends giving me a look and I introduced them all.

“Why don’t you pull up a couple of chairs and join us? We just ordered, but that shouldn’t be a problem,” Phoebe invited them. I glared at her from across the table and she smirked at me.

“Sounds great,” Colby replied. They grabbed a couple chairs and managed to squeeze in at our table. The waitress came over and took their orders. I noticed that Sidney ordered a beer and she didn’t ask for his ID.

"You weren't at the last couple of games. Have you been too busy for us?" Ryan asked. I laughed.

"Work kept me busy last week and I was out of town this past weekend visiting family," I lied.

"Are we ever going to meet the parents?" Colby asked joking around.

"Oh, I think you already-" Reagan started.

"So, how did you guys do this past week anyway?" I asked cutting her off in a panic. She gave me a strange look when I shook my head at her but she didn't finish her sentence. It was then that I noticed Sid caught the entire exchange.

The dinner turned out to be a really fun time with Colby and Ryan cracking us all up. My friends got along well with the guys. We stayed much longer than we’d all expected to just enjoying the conversation. We paid the bills and got up to leave when we felt we'd annoyed the whole place enough.

"Can I talk to you for a second?" Sidney asked grabbing my arm as we walked outside.

"Yeah, sure. What's up?" I asked as we moved away from the laughing group.

"What was up between you and Reagan when we brought up your parents?" I avoided his eyes as I tried to think of some excuse that could possibly make sense.

"It was nothing. Why would you possibly want to talk about parents at dinner?" was all I came up with. He looked suspicious but didn't push me on the subject.

"I also wanted to apologize about what happened at your house. I shouldn't have kissed you like that. I tried to apologize before but you wouldn't take my calls," he said looking hurt.

"It's okay. I'm sorry for not talking to you about it. I just really needed to clear my head after it happened. Can we just forget about it?" He smiled, but only halfheartedly.

"Sounds good." We rejoined the group and I waved as Sidney, Colby, and Ryan got into Sidney's car and drove away.

“You two are so dating,” Sheila said as we watched the car back out of its spot. I turned to look at her.

“Are you talking to me?” I asked in shock.

“Come on, Rory, you guys were sickening to watch,” Phoebe said. They’d called me Rory since they met me. We were all fans of the show Gilmore Girls and they’d decided to start calling me Rory for short.

“I have no idea what you guys are talking about.”

“Honey, the two of you have been on more dates than I have been in the last six months combined,” Reagan chimed in.

“They weren’t dates! We’re just friends and we were just hanging out,” I said denying it.

“Whatever makes you feel better. If it helps, we really like him. He’s a really nice guy and he makes you laugh. Oh, and so cute. So cute,” Sheila said.

“You realize he’s not old enough to drink legally? There’s a four year age difference!”

“Honey, who cares? We can tell that you like him and it’s obvious that he’s in love with you,” Phoebe explained.

“I do not like him! I need to get going. I’ll talk to you guys later.”

I got into my car and drove home. What the hell were they talking about? There was no way I liked Sidney than more than just a friend. A bit of an annoying friend at that. I thought that they knew me better than anyone, but there must have been a little something extra in their drinks tonight if they thought that there was anything going on between Sidney and me.





“She wants you,” Colby said as soon as the three of them were in the car.

"No, she doesn't," Sidney corrected him.

"Come on, Sid, she can't take her eyes off of you. Buck up and kiss her," Ryan told him. Sidney sighed as he thought about that night.

"I did." He didn't elaborate and continued to drive without taking his eyes off of the road.

"What?! How come you didn't tell us? When did this happen?" Colby questioned.

"I went to her place for dinner a little over a week ago. It happened before I left," he responded. Both of the guys started giggling like school children. He didn't join in the laughter and continued to keep his eyes on the road.

"Why didn't you say something?" Ryan asked starting to pick up on the lack of enthusiasm coming from Sidney. He clenched his jaw before answering. The whole situation made him angry and frustrated. She was hiding something from him and it was keeping her from him.

"Because she got mad at me and told me to leave. Then she ignored my phone calls. I hadn't talked to her since the kiss until we saw her today," he explained.

“Someone’s turning down ‘the next one’? How is that possible?” Colby asked sarcastically putting a hand to his heart.

“Fuck off, Army. You’re just jealous because everyone turns you down” Sidney retorted.

“Yeah, right. I don’t even know what the definition of no is since I’ve never heard it before.” Sidney laughed at him feeling a bit better as he dropped him off at his house.

"Something's bothering her," he confided to Ryan when he pulled into his driveway.

"All you can do is be there for her without pushing her. It's obvious she has feelings for you. She's just going to have to deal with whatever is keeping her from acting on them on her own time. Nothing you do is going speed things up. Be there for her in whatever capacity she needs and eventually everything will work itself out." He looked over at Ryan and knew he was right.

On the drive back home Sidney thought about Loralei some more. If a friend was all she could handle right now, then he'd gladly be that friend. He'd stop pushing and hopefully she'd learn to trust him. Maybe then she would tell him what was going on in her life that was scaring her from a relationship and they could work on it together. All he knew was that ever since he'd met Loralei he knew he needed her in his life. If he had to hold out for a relationship, he would.