Change on the Fly ➸ Sidney Crosby [ON HOLD]

Two | Tomorrow

≫ Everly - Monday, October 26, 2015 ≪

"Casey!" Lillian screeched, tossing a green bean at my brother's face, hitting him smack-dab in the nose. "Don't be stupid!"

I glanced up at my father who sat with his arms crossed over his chest, staring at my two older siblings with a disapproving look. My mother sat next to him, her dainty hand trying to hide her smile. I always got a kick out of my parents, they were complete opposites, but they got along so well. You would think that after being with someone for thirty-three years that you would get tired of their antics, but my mother claimed to fall more and more in love with my father each day. I aimed for a relationship like theirs.

"How about you both stop being stupid?" My mother and I giggled as Casey and Lillian instantly stopped arguing to look at my father. Lillian settled back into her seat next to me while Casey wiped at his nose.

My father sighed and everyone was quiet for a moment, all of us eating, the only sound in the room was the clanking of silverware and the clock on the wall behind me ticking.

"Everly Grace," My mother addressed me, tapping on my plate with her fork. I swallowed and looked up at her. "How was practice today?"

I shrugged, now pushing chicken around on my plate. "Not great, I couldn't quite get out of my head today."

She sighed but shrugged her shoulders. "It's fine, it was only one practice, right?"

She had a point, it was only one practice. One bad practice is not the end of the world.

"You're always too hard on yourself, Ev," My dad chimed in. I looked up from my plate to see everyone's eyes on me. "Plus, you just had knee surgery in February, relax a little."

I felt my shoulders relax. My parents always knew how to find the right words to comfort me.

"Are the Penguins still practicing there?" Casey asked suddenly, pulling me from my thoughts. It was almost like he knew that I had done nothing all day but replay my practice and seeing Sidney again in my head.

"Uh, yeah, I think so," I responded, keeping my eyes downcast on my plate. "I don't think our practices overlap, though." 

"Really? I read somewhere that Crosby likes to come to practice extra early, usually around the time you finish up." Did he already know? Had a straggling member of the media seen the two of us together?

I coughed, attempting to clear my throat. "Interesting, I'll have to keep an eye out for him."

I glanced up at Casey, who seemed to not know a thing about me seeing Sidney today. I exhaled and allowed my eyes to search for everyone's eyes at the table. Everyone had their view downcast on their food, except for my dad who was wiggling his eyebrows at me, a suggestive look on his face.

Oh, boy.

⊳

Because my mom made dinner, my dad had to wash the dishes. I offered to help him as Lillian and Casey made excuses about how much work they needed to do, or how they needed to call their out-of-town fiancées.

It was quiet between us for a while, my hands dunked in soapy water as he dried the plates I handed him. He cleared his throat after he heard my mom turn on a recorded episode of Chicago Fire.

"You're a bad liar you know? You have a tell." He teased, nudging his elbow into my ribs, as he looked over at me with a smirk.

"I do not have a tell!" I argued out, my voice still in a whisper.