Chapter 9

Because I can do whatever I want I've decided that Colby will not be traded and will remain with the Penguins. He's just too funny for me to lose.





Time seemed to fly by since then and before I knew it, it was March. The playoffs were less than a month away and the Penguins were battling for first place in the Eastern Conference. Sidney had completely stopped flirting with me and we had actually become really good friends. Because of how close we had become every one of my friends still accused me of dating him but I just blew it off.

I went to just about every home game and Sidney and I always grabbed dinner with the guys and girls after. Since I sat with the girls during the game we had begun to hang out more and they were also becoming good friends. If Sidney had one of the weekend days open I cooked for the two of us since the weekend was the only time I wasn't too busy. It had almost become a weekly tradition. Honestly, I saw more of him than I did my other friends.

Things with Thomas were also still going well. I flew up one weekend a month to see him. Even though I was technically with Thomas I always made sure it was the one weekend that Sidney and I couldn't have our weekly dinner. I wasn't sure exactly why I did that, but I tried not to put too much thought into it. I also still hadn't told a single person about Thomas. He'd told me that he'd broken things off with Ashley, but for some reason I was still keeping us a secret. I wasn't sure why I was doing that either.

I sat in an arena seat clapping with the rest of the girls after the Penguins pulled out a hard fought victory over the Flyers. I walked downstairs with the rest of the girls to wait for Sidney. He'd played well with a goal and an assist so I knew he'd be in a great mood. I hated when they lost because he always took it so hard and he wasn't any fun to be around.

My phone rang while I was waiting in the wives' room and stepped out into the hallway to answer it. It was a technician from work giving me updates on a dog we were keeping overnight for observation. The news was good and I was confident the dog would be able to go home the next day. Just before I walked back into the room I felt someone touch my arm.

"Excuse me," a woman said and I turned around to see a smiling reporter and cameraman standing there.

"Can I help you?" I asked confused. Were they lost?

"Hi, I was just wondering if I could ask you a question?" she asked. I looked back and forth between her and the cameraman immediately suspicious.

"You can, but I can't guarantee that I'll answer," I told her.

"Well, we were actually just curious what you're name was," she said. Where the hell was this going?

"Can I ask why you want to know?" She kept the smile on her face.

"I've just noticed you leaving all the games with Sidney Crosby the past few months and was wondering if the two of you were dating," she said innocently. I clenched my jaw and took a breath to calm myself down before responding.

"Sidney and I are simply friends and that's as far as it goes. I'm actually seeing someone else," I told her. I immediately wanted to slap myself for the last thing I said. What was I thinking? No one knew, and if she said anything my cover could be blown.

"Oh, okay. Who are you dating?" she asked.

"It's really not your concern," I said knowing the my voice shook just a little. I could tell by the look in her eyes that she'd caught it too and she didn't believe a word I had said.

"Hey, Loralei, Sid is going to be a while so he said you should just come with Colby and I to dinner tonight and he'll meet us there when he gets out!" I heard Mel call to me. Oh, that might be the worst timing ever.

"Loralei? Is this a double date?" the woman asked. I groaned and turned my back on her choosing to just walk away instead of respond.

The three of us drove to our normal place and ordered food and drinks. I couldn't get the whole conversation with the reporter out of my head. I was both angry and worried. I was angry that I had to be a part of that whole situation at all. I was also worried about what they might find out. Could they find out who my father was or that I was secretly dating Thomas? I shook the thoughts away when I saw Sid walk in the door. After we ate Sid and I got into his car and began the drive home.

"A reporter approached me tonight," I told him. He glanced over at me confused.

"What the hell about?" he asked.

"She wanted to know if we were dating because I've been leaving the games with you for the past few months," I explained. He groaned.

"Fucking leeches. I'm so sorry about that. What did you say?" he asked glancing over at me again. My stomach churned.

"I told them the truth, that we were just friends," I said. He smiled.

"They'll believe what they want no matter what you say," he said apologetically. I shrugged.

"I also told them I was seeing someone else," I confessed figuring he should hear it from me instead of reading about it. To my surprise he laughed.

"Clever. Did they believe you?" he asked. He didn't believe I was seeing someone else, but then again why would he? I felt relief sweep over me.

"I don't think so, but at least I put that out there. I was really just trying to keep them out of my business," I lied.

"Look, we don't have any games this weekend so on Saturday I'm throwing a party for the team and the girls. You should come," he invited me. I thought about it for a minute.

"I don't know if I should. It's for the team and the girls and I'm not in either category. You guys should just all have fun," I responded. I could see him roll his eyes.

"Come on, we're all your friends. You don't need to be dating someone to come." I thought about it again. We pulled into my driveway and I hesitated before getting out.

"Thanks for the invite, but I think I'm just going to stay home." I shut the door before he could respond and walked inside. Almost as soon as I closed the door my phone rang.

"Hello?" I asked thinking it was the technician from work.

"Loralei, what the hell is wrong with you? If you're not at Sid's on Saturday I will go over to your house and drag you down with me!" I heard Mel yell at me. I laughed.

"Sid called to have you threaten me, didn't he?" I asked. She laughed too.

"Yeah, he did. It doesn't matter though, we all want you there. You're our friend too." I thought about it and finally gave in. I promised to see here there on Saturday and hung up the phone.

A few days later I stood in front of the mirror debating how to dress. I eventually settled on just a pair of jeans and a nice shirt since we were just going to be hanging out at Sid's. I left my hair down and walked out of my house. As I walked up to Sid's house I saw that most of the team had to already be there. Cars were parked all over the street. I walked inside and was immediately greeted by Shooter. God, I loved that dog.

"You came!" Vero squealed running down the hall to hug me. She'd obviously been drinking. I hugged her back and greeted everyone. I found Sidney sitting at the island in the kitchen with Colby and Ryan Whitney.

"Hey, guys," I said walking over.

"Loralei, here, have a drink," Colby said grabbing a cup and filling it with some kind of punch. I took the cup from his hands and took a sip. Not bad.

"You're just in time for the flip cup tournament," Sidney said. "You'll be on my team with Colby and Mel."

"Are you serious? I haven't played that in years," I said. They laughed.

"You better practice then, because we'll kick your ass," Ryan Malone said coming over with Abby.

I shook my head and laughed when I saw brackets set up on posters hung on the wall. They were taking this very seriously. I filled my cup up with the punch since I didn't drink beer when it was my teams turn to play. We dominated each game to get out of the bracket seeded first. It was time for the semis and a loss meant you were out. We got past the next team of Max, Bri, Geno, and Staalsy to get to the finals. Our opponents would be none other than Malone, Abby, Marc, and Vero. After some trash talking the game started. I went first and landed my cup on the second try, just one ahead of Vero. It was up to the rest and I cheered them on until it came down to Sid and Ryan. Sid landed his cup first and we all began to cheer and jump up and down hugging each other.

After the game was over I grabbed another cup of punch and headed into the living room with the rest of the group to watch a guitar hero tournament that had begun. I sat down next to Sidney and we laughed at Erik Christensen's terrible attempt. It was then that I suddenly realized that I was pretty drunk. Doing all those shots of the punch was getting to me, not to mention I'd been drinking from another cup during the down time. I didn't care though, I was having fun.





Sidney looked over at Loralei as she tapped her glass to his. He smiled and laughed at her and continued to watch the guys make fools of themselves playing guitar hero. At some point Loralei got up to go hang out with the girls. He was glad they got along so well. After Whitney was determined the winner of guitar hero the party started to break up a bit. A few guys began to leave saying they were headed out to the bars. Just then Loralei came over and plopped down right on his lap. He looked at her in surprise, but not really minding.

"Hey, what's up?" he asked. She shrugged and smiled.

"Some of the girls are leaving to go out so I came back in here to hang out with you," she said cuddling into him. Okay, she had to be drunk but what the hell, so was he. He put his arm around her and they joined in the conversation.

It got late and most of the guys had a left. Loralei had only moved from his side to get a drink. When the last stragglers announced they were heading home he got up to see them out leaving Loralei sitting on the couch in the living room. When he came back in he saw her standing up.

"I think it's time I went to bed too," she said to him. She grabbed her coat but he took it out of her hand.

"Don't even bother walking. I have an extra bedroom, just stay here tonight." He expected her to argue and put up a fight.

"Okay," she said simply and headed for the stairs. He followed her up. Although she knew his house she walked straight into his bedroom instead of one of the guest rooms. When he followed her in she spun around to him.

"I've been meaning to tell you something for a while," she told him.

"Oh yeah? What is it?" he asked.

"I like you. I mean I really like you. Ever since you talked to me at the bar that night. I've been trying to fight it because my dad just wouldn't understand," she said. Her dad? What did he have to do with anything? He decided to let it go. Loralei had just told him she liked him.

"If you're just making fun of me, I don't think it's funny," he told her. She smiled and walked closer to him.

"I'm not making fun of you. I'm going to do something I've been meaning to do for a long time," she announced. Then she slid her arms around him and put her lips to his. He hesitated for just a moment before kissing her back.

This was everything he'd been hoping would happen for months and it actually was. He wrapped his arms around her back pulling her as close to him as he could. She began to move backwards without breaking the kiss until she was pulling him down to the bed on top of her. He willingly went.

She finally broke the kiss and smiled up at him. She bit her lower lip as she reached down to grab the bottom of his shirt and pulled it off. Then she did the same to herself. This was really happening to him. He couldn't believe it. He kissed her again as she felt his chest and abs. He began to trail kisses along her jawline and down her neck. When he reached her collarbone she giggled.

What the hell? Loralei didn't giggle. He looked down at her again and saw that her eyes were barely open. Fuck, Loralei was shitfaced. He took a deep breath as he realized there was no way this should happen tonight. He moved off of her to her confusion, kicking himself the entire time.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Lor, I really want to do this. I've wanted this since I met you but tonight is not the night. When it happens, and if it happens I want us both to be sober so we can really enjoy it. I respect you too much to do this right now."

He looked for her shirt and picked it up when he found it. When he turned back to give it to her he saw that she was out. He closed his eyes and clenched his jaw. He put her shirt back on her and she never stirred. He tucked her into the blankets and changed his own clothes. Then he curled up in a chair in the room and watched her sleep before passing out himself.





I woke up and felt the headache before even opening my eyes. I groaned as I covered my face in my hands. How much had I had to drink? I reached over to grab my phone off my nightstand only to feel a lamp. That was strange, I didn't have a lamp there. I opened my eyes and saw that I wasn't in my bedroom, I was in Sidney's. I struggled to sit up. Just as I did, Sid walked into the room.

"Hey, I thought you could use some water," he said handing me a giant glass. I took it and chugged about half of it down.

"Thank you," I said to him.

I tried to count all that I'd had to drink but couldn't remember after playing flip cup. Okay, Loralei, you can't remember how many drinks you had, no big deal. Then I realized that I couldn't remember anything after flip cup. I began to freak out trying to remember anything but couldn't. How the hell did I end up in Sidney's bed?

"What happened last night after flip cup?" I asked him. Surprise registered in his eyes and he glanced away before responding.

"We just hung out with everyone watching a guitar hero tournament and talking," he said. I nodded and took another sip of water.

"How did I end up in bed?" I asked.

"You don't remember anything?" I struggled to remember anything but still nothing came to mind.

"It's all a blank after winning flip cup. Did I do anything embarrassing?" I asked panicked.

"No, you didn't do anything embarrassing. You wanted to get some sleep but some of the guys stayed over and took the guest bedrooms so I let you sleep in here. I took a couch," he explained. I gave him an apologetic look.

"I am so sorry. I didn't mean to kick you out of your own room," I told him. He smiled and ran a hand through his hair.

"Don't worry about it. It's not a big deal."

"Well, I should probably get home. Thank you for everything. I'm sure I had a great time," I joked. I got out of bed and he walked me to the door. We said our goodbyes and I walked home. For some reason, even though I had no idea why, I couldn't shake the feeling that something had gone on last night I wouldn't be proud of.