The Hockey Life

Chapter 2-Happiness

Chapter 2

Automatically I yelled. "Doors open."

It was Sid. A smile danced across my face at the sight of him and he closed the door behind him.

He said "this is the first time I have done this and I don't know what it is but it's like I have known you my whole life, I know I only met you today but your so easy to talk to and I just want to say..."

I was waiting for him to do finish his sentence and all of a sudden, he places his hand at the base of my jaw line and brushed my cheek with the back of his hand. My emotions were everywhere at this point that I wouldn't have remembered a thing after this.

He bowed and turned his head to the side and kissed me. After this, nothing was ever going to be the same. Outside the door, I can hear the crowd roar with chants. All I was channeling in on was this kiss. It wasn't one of those 5 second kisses you get from your relatives but this, this was a kiss. A romantic one at that.

I realized that he was going to be late for his game, when I gently broke the kiss, wishing I hadn't, he looked surprised.

I said "your going to be late for the game". He looked reassured, he probably thought I broke the kiss because I had a boyfriend or something.

He said "the game doesn't start until their captain is ready, and I sure as hell am not ready yet." He took my lips again for longer and we stood there, entangled in each other, until someone tapped on the door. We broke the kiss at the same time and he said "alright, now I'm ready to win this game".

He grabbed my old clothes and shoved them in his cubby with the rest of his clothes and we raced out of the locker room and into the hall where everyone was waiting.

Everyone turned to look at me and I turned red with embarrassment. He directed me to Dana Heinze and coach Bylsma. I stood near them to watch all the players get lined up, and I basically watched Sid go in front of Geno and saw how he got ready for games. His facial expression changed from gentle with me to focused and game ready, he did his handshake with Geno and was ready. Consol was roaring with cheers and when the lights went out, that's when it was the loudest.

Because every fan knew that the Pittsburgh penguins were about to take the ice for a warmup skate. All the players got ready and headed out towards the ice. I walked with Dana Heinze and coach Bylsma to the penguins box, and then I looked up all the fans that were reaching down to get a high five.

I kept my hands low because I wasn't about the star socialite life and plus I wasn't even part of the team. Once I walked through, I was amazed at how many fans showed up for this game.

Coach Bylsma suddenly said "I know what your thinking, it's beautiful isn't it?", I responded with a nod of the head. "It's nice getting this view every other night." I said "your very lucky". He said "well, there is an opening for sports manager/athletic training assistant if you want it."

My eyes lit up with desire and need for this job. Before he could finish, I said "that would be great!"

We seemed to get along with each other great. "After the game I will talk to Dana and set you up with the job." I was so ecstatic I couldn't move, until he told me to. I wanted to tell Sid so badly but knew that it would be announced at the end of the game. When the players went back in the locker room, we all followed behind and chatted amongst ourselves. They did one last chant to get pumped and ran out towards the ice ready to play.

Before Sid went out, I caught a glimpse of him and he was looking at me with a wide smile. He probably thought, yay she isn't one if those dumb fan girls that I just met but an actual down to earth one. I have to admit that I was excited about having this job and couldn't wait to tell my parents. It seemed like just yesterday I was watching the game on tv, but now it's right in front of me, front and center.

When the beginning line up took the ice, coach Bylsma sent me to the end of the bench where I wouldn't get as squished or hit because some of the bench had a glass wall in front of it, so the players couldn't necessarily sit there because they wouldn't be able to get out.

So I took my seat and was catching glimpses of people staring at me with envy. There was a little crack where the glass met another glass wall, and I could here this girl speaking saying that I was that girl with Sid. They asked who is she? What is she doing? I guess I could have answered the questions for them but decided not to interfere and to remain clueless as ever.

When the game started, the opening line up was Sid Center with wingers, Dupuis and Letang. I called this the dream team because this combination of players has scored the highest amount of points together this year. I wasn't surprised because they were all equally skilled individually. When they started I never realized that the whole pittsburgh penguins team was staring at me. So I turned to the side and asked "hi?" As I was concerned that they didn't approve. One of the players responded, " We have just never seen such a focused member. I was freaking out on the inside because he actually called me a member.

I responded " I just love hockey". They all smiled and approved then looked back to the ice. The player who was courageous enough to respond to my questions was sitting right next to me. He introduced himself as Marc-André Fleury (flower). I responded, "nice to meet you, I'm Dana". He said "we all know who you are." I looked confused, because I haven't met all of them yet.

So I asked " how?" All he said was "Sid". He must have seen my expression because he chuckled under his breathe. I was blushing and smiling all at the same time. He seemed like a really nice and down to earth player and not soaked into the ego light that comes with being a hockey player. I noticed that he didn't have his helmet on, but instead was wearing a penguins logo baseball cap same as mine, and backwards.

This answered my question, if he was playing or not. Suddenly out of the blue, he says "you know, he really likes you, even though he only met you today." I probably looked like I was going to faint because he followed up the comment with a "are you okay?" And chuckling. I didn't know what to say. He was speaking about me already? Maybe in the locker room. I responded with a "yeah, I'm fine." And I followed with a "I really like him too" looking towards the game. At the corner of my eye, I saw flower grin and turned back toward the game as well.

We watched as the puck went from stick to stick in the rangers zone. We had the power play because Niskanen from the rangers team got called for slashing. Dupuis was set near the goal when Letang sent the puck to Dupuis and Sid was speeding down center ice, when he passed the puck to Sid and he shoots and scores! I was so mesmerized by how talented Sid really was. This made the score 1-0 with the pens leading. I stood up cheering with the team to show my support. It was one hell of a goal. I looked over at Sid and just smiled, he looked over and smiled back.

Flower noticed our exchange in expressions and said "I'm glad he is happy that he has you in his life now, before, it was hard for him to be really driven by something that whatever happens he will still be happy in the end."

I was so moved by what he said that I gave him a smile and said "I'm happy too." It was a little cheesy, but it's what I felt. I took flower by surprise by asking "do you have someone special in your life?"

He replied "yes, I have been dating her since I was 16. But right now, we are going through a rough patch. It always comes down to being late or not coming home because of hockey."

I said "whatever happens, when you have been dating for this long, in the end it will be resolved and you guys will be back into full swing in no time." He was happy to hear my thoughts on his personal life that we started to talk like we have been friends for forever.

Soon enough, at the end of the first period, Sid came back to the bench to change line up for the beginning of the second. I assumed that he wouldn't want to show our status just yet because some guys are certain ways with publicity on personal matters. But he was different than the rest. Since Flower was between us, Sid reached his hand over flower to grab mine to hold. We sat there watching the game when flashes started to emerge out of nowhere.

I turned behind and saw that there was a crowd of people taking photos of us. I was bracing myself for him to let go but he didn't.

I looked over and saw him still watching the game, not even noticing the photographers. I was so taken in by this that I tried to not notice them. But that surely failed because I kept making eye contact with the people. But at least they couldn't see through my hat. As it was nearing the end of the second, Sid let go and went back out on ice.