offsetting minors | s. crosby

Good Luck Charm

"Good work boys, we head out to LA for the road trip day after tomorrow. Three games in three days, so get some rest." Coach Sullivan had made his after-game speech short and let the guys go about their ways in the locker room.

Sidney stood in the Penguins locker room,  the space filled with guys in various states of undress and excitement following their Sunday night win against the Islanders. Even he had to admit that he was on his game tonight, more so than usual, and the team had been fired up from the beginning. The win was something they needed, and even though it was still early in the season, he was starting to think that maybe they could be Cup contenders again this year. 

At various points during the game, when he should have been scrutinizing the team from the bench, he found himself glancing up to the WAG's box and hoping for some reason that he'd find a now familiar head of brown hair staring back at him. He'd pulled his attention away from the box after Geno gave him a shove and a look that let him know he was going crazy.

The previous night had been undoubtedly one of the best of his life- putting aside the first night they'd met, though he hadn't been in the right state of mind to fully appreciate it at the time. Sidney couldn't remember the last time a girl had managed to get his mind off of hockey, even for a little while. And though he'd managed to get her to sit through a movie about hockey, not once did his team or his job come up. 

For the first time, after a game, he had no desire to go home and watch game tape while he obsessively recounted every important minute of the game. Instead, he wanted to succumb to his body's exhaustion after a hard game and take a nap in his huge bed that saw way too little of him. A little company wouldn't hurt, either. Sid's thoughts went back to Elliot, who hadn't seemed to leave them since they first met. 

She was right, about all of the reasons she was hesitant to give into the feelings that Sidney knew existed underneath her too-logical rationale. His job wasn't exactly conducive towards having a stable girlfriend, and he'd seen his past relationships-if they could even be described as such, he'd only ever had one real girlfriend- crumble and fizzle out with the stress and craziness of his schedule. 

But his feelings toward any of those women couldn't hold a candle to what he'd been feeling for Elliot, even having known her for less than a week. If he was being completely honest, the women he'd kept company with in the past hadn't ever been much more than bodies to keep him company.

He knew it wasn't fair, what he was asking of her. But if there was the slightest chance that this could work out, he knew that he'd hate himself more than he had during the Cup finals of '08 if he didn't even try with her. 

This was crazy- his dad would have a fit if he knew that Sidney was spending this much time thinking about a girl he barely knew when it was the beginning of the season and he had much more important things to worry about; namely, leading his team to another Cup win at the end of the season.

But she was everything Sid had ever thought he could want in a woman- she was brilliant, self-motivated, and stubborn, and he couldn't have dreamed up a more perfect match for him. He'd never found a woman that he had trouble keeping up with, but she was a whirlwind. Not to mention, one night with her had inspired his best game in recent history. Surely, that wasn't a bad sign. His dad couldn't argue with the facts from the game.

"Sid, you coming?"

He hadn't even noticed that the locker room was starting to clear out, and that wives and kids were starting to trickle in to greet their players. He found Geno, who was shoving the last of his things into his bag and getting ready to leave. A few of the guys were heading to a local bar to celebrate the win, but Sid didn't have it in him tonight.