famous last words | s. crosby

6; sink or swim

Sidney's POV

Elliott sat cris-crossed in the passenger seat of my Range Rover; I was her chauffeur to the airport that morning. She had on one of my Penguins hoodies, a pair of old, ripped jeans, a pair of sandals that reminded me a lot of something Jesus Christ himself would've found fashionable, and her hair was messily thrown into a bun that sat at the crown of her head-- the hair I was pretty sure she hadn't even brushed that morning. She was busy slapping a small bit of makeup on her face just in case if any press decided to make an appearance.

The two of us walked into the airport together, though I carried most of Elliott's bags, despite her pleading me not to.

"Alright, mental check list. Do you have skates?" I asked her, looking down at her as we walked in.

"Check."

"Competition uniforms or whatever the hell you call them?"

"Check."

"Everything else that is of less significance?"

I heard her laugh as she pitifully  punched my arm. We stood in the middle of the airport, just staring at each other. I spoke up.

"You're probably going to beat me up for this one, but explain the whole competition to me again?" I asked, a smile dawning on my face. She had already explained it to me hundreds of times in the car.

"Listen. I don't take the ice for the judges until Thursday, around 5:30. I'll be last; you'll probably be in Nashville. I'll compete again, on Saturday, but that won't be until 10 or 11. You'll be playing the Islanders that night, but you might be able to catch a few snippets of it after the game." She looked up at me, obviously laughing at my inability to understand figure skating, "Just listen to the commentators. They'll explain what's happening much better than I could."

I nodded my head, my face falling slightly as the called for the four p.m. flight for Boston made itself heard over people's voices and I handed over her bags. I was getting a taste of what it was like to be on the other side of a hockey relationship-- being left out in the city for days at a time with little contact.

"I'll miss you. Don't get any ideas and replace me with one of the Bruins while you're out there, okay?" I joked, bittersweet laughter erupting between us. I almost fell backwards as El wrapped her arms around my torso-- for her size, she was a lot stronger than you'd expect.

"I'll miss you, too, I guess."

Our bodies separated, but our eyes stayed locked onto each other's. I cupped her face with both hands and pulled her towards me until our lips-- didn't meet. Elliott had managed to dodge the kiss for the time being, but her face was beet red as she squirmed out of my arms.

"I'll see you in a week, Sid. Good luck with your games! I'll be watching!" She waved as she began almost sprinting towards the gate.

"Wait, Elliott! One more thing!"

She spun around, slowly running backwards towards her flight.

"Bring home the gold, alright?"

With a smirk, she shot a double thumbs up to me before turning around and running off. I watched as she ran until she disappeared into the crowd of people. I'd only known the girl for a few days and I was sitting there, in the middle of the airport, tearing up as she pushed her way through the gate. I just wanted to spend time with her, but our schedules worked against each other.