The Road to the Cup ~ Wattys 2015

Can't Sleep

When we got the the hotel, I was the last one to have to check in since the guys already had before coming to my house. Sidney waited with me, like a gentleman, as the guy at the front desk grabbed my room key. We got some dirty looks from the people milling around the lobby; they knew who Sidney was and they clearly weren't fans, but no one said anything rude. We stepped into the elevator and headed up to our floor. We were staying on floor eight and the lobby was on the ground floor. The doors closed and we started going up. I could feel his gaze on me and I bit my lip, not daring to look at him.

"Are you afraid of elevators?" He asked.

"No, why?" I jumped, startled by his question.

"You're biting your lip, and I thought it might be because you don't like elevators," he replied. 'Oh, honey, I wish it was because I was afraid of elevators,' I thought.

The doors opened and I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding. I walked down the hall to my room with Sidney on my heels. I opened the door and turned back to him, "Do you want to come in?" I wasn't sure what else to say, and I didn't want to be rude and just shut the door in his face.

The sides of his lips curled up in a small smile, "No, I think I should get to bed, I just wanted to walk you to your door."

"Umm, okay." Wow, Erin, real smooth.

He chuckled a little and shook his head, "I'm not exactly sure why I wanted to, but I guess it doesn't matter because here we are."

I looked down at the ugly hotel carpet, "I don't know why you did it either, but it was nice. Thank you."

"You're welcome. I'll be just down the hall if you need anything," he gestured behind him as he started backing away.

"That's usually the coach's line!"

"Beat you to it! Night, Erin."

"Good night, Sidney." I shut the door and locked it. I put my bag down and got ready for bed. After showering and brushing my teeth, I sat in my bed with one of the books my brothers had gotten me. I knew it was an awful idea to read Stephen King books before I went to bed, but I wasn't tired yet.

I had gotten about four chapters in when my phone buzzed. I looked at the clock, it was 11:47. Who was texting me at 11:47? I picked it up off the bedside table and saw that it was Sidney.

'Erin?'

'Sidney?'

'Are you still awake?'

I laughed and the sound bounced back at me off the walls, startling me. I really shouldn't be reading Stephen King novels after 8 PM. I texted him back, 'Yes. Are you?' It was pretty stupid. Obviously, we were both still awake if we were able to text each other.

'Yeah, I can't sleep. And Geno snores like a freight train.'

'I think you've mentioned that before.' I paused and pondered what I was about to say next. Was this a good idea? I had already had an issue being alone with him in the elevator. Screw it. I typed a second message, 'Want to come to my room?'

He replied within 30 seconds, 'Be there in a flash.'

I stood up and walked to the door, ready to open it when he knocked. While "be there in a flash" wasn't completely accurate, it was pretty close. He tapped on my door and I opened it, letting him in.

"Did you sprint down the hallway?" I teased.

He blushed, "No."

"I was just kidding," I relocked the door, then went and sat cross-legged on the bed. Sidney stood awkwardly by the chest of drawers across the room from my bed. I took in his appearance as he decided what he was going to do. He was wearing blue, white, and grey plaid pajama pants and a white T-shirt. His hair was a little mess from lying in bed, but he was still undeniably attractive. He was still standing there, so I patted the space next to me. Sidney didn't hesitate to come sit by me.

"So, you know why I couldn't sleep, but why are you still awake?" He asked.

I help up the book I'd been reading, "I've never learned that I should not read Stephen King after dark."

"Afraid of the dark, Coach?" He smirked.

"No," I gave him a dirty look.

"Ooh, what are you gonna do? Make me skate suicides at practice tomorrow? Oh, right, it's just a morning skate tomorrow. You can't tire me out before a game," I swore there was more than one meaning in his words, and from the look in his eyes, I could tell that he was hoping that I'd pick up on his innuendo.

I decided to play along, "You better watch your tongue, Crosby. Don't think I won't punish you."

"Maybe if you watched it for me..."

"Maybe if you kept your mouth shut..."

"Aw, but you wouldn't want that, would you?" He pouted and it was just so cute that I couldn't help but laugh.

"I can't play along with this anymore," I said.

He was laughing too, "Can you play along with this?" He reached over and started tickling me.

"Stop!" I gasped through my laughter.

"What's the magic word?" He singsonged.

"Please!" I was laughing so hard that I had started crying.

He stopped immediately, "Are you okay? I'm so sorry, Erin!"

"Sorry for what?" I sat up and wiped the tears away.

He was really confused, "I hurt you; you were crying."

"I was crying because you made me laugh so hard, you idiot!" I smacked his arm.

"Oh, well in that case..." He grinned.

"No. No more tickling, please," I held my hands out in front of me to ward off any more attacks.

"Fine," he flopped back onto the bed and yawned. I yawned too. I looked at the clock, it was after midnight. I slid underneath the covers and flicked the light off.

"Bed time already?" Came Sidney's muffled voice from the other side of the bed.

"You have a game tomorrow, well, today."

"Today? It's after midnight?"

"Yes," I yawned and rolled to face him. My eyes adjusted to the dark after a moment or two and I could tell that he was looking at me as I was looking at him. We didn't say anything, just looked at each other. After a while, my eyelids got heavy and I began drifting off to sleep. Before I fell asleep, I heard him whisper "Happy birthday, Erin."

Author's Note

Hey, hey, hockey fans! I hope you liked this chapter :-) Please vote and comment to let me know what you thought! A new update will be out soon; until then, Let's Go Pens!