Just Hold Me (Sidney Crosby) EDITING THEN CONTINUING

Chapter 21 - Geno's

I pull up into Geno's place. I check my watch. 2 am.

I call him and get his voicemail.

"Hey G. I'm outside your house right now and I'm coming in. And I'm gonna wake you up so you can help us. We kinda need some of your Russian Philosophy. Literally."

I end the call and look over at Hannah.

"Are you sure you're okay?" I ask her, calmly, locking eyes with her.

"Oh. Yeah I'm fine."

"One thing I've learned with girls. If they say nothing's wrong, everything's wrong."

I smile as she laughs.

"Yeah. And when we say everything's wrong, nothing's wrong." She laughs.

I laugh too.

"I never put it together that way." I smile.

"It is true though." She says.

I shrug.

"Not with you." I reply.

"What do you mean?"

"You're straight up honest. You don't sugar coat. If you're having a problem, you tell me. Sorry I can't exactly fix your problems. I can't describe how much I want to."

"Trust me. You fix them effortlessly. Don't worry." She says to me.

"What?" I ask, wondering how.

She just gives me a lippy smile.

I clear my throat and turn back towards Geno's house.

"Well, let's give a soon-to-be angry foreign man a stern wake up call."

She laughs.

I love when she laughs. So free. So beautiful. And her smile. Oh, her smile. She has to be the girl with the most imperfections, but the most beautiful girl I've ever seen in my 27 years put on this earth.

"Okay." She says, smiling.

I smile at her smile.

I climb out and see her opening the door.

I almost forget my job when I see her.

I run over to her and stand in front of her, not allowing her to move.

"What?" She asks, still smiling.

"Get back in the car. You know the drill. It's my job."

She gets back into the car, rolling her eyes cutely.

I close her door and open it again.

"With that hand injury, you shall not do anything. If you need something, I'll do it. Okay?"

"I'm perfectly capable of doing anything I wanna. Including carrying myself and opening my own door." She says whacking my chest after finishing.

I smile a literal half smile.

I am mezmerized by her. She has a strong will and I love it.

I shake my head, still smiling, not sure what to think of her.

We start walking towards Geno's large house.

"You know. Just because you are capable and are willing, doesn't mean you're going to do half the things you say you will." I say on the way to the door.

"Oh. Is that so?" She asks, smiling, looking up at me.

I look down at her, admiring the reflection of the porch light in her eyes.

She blushes as I smile at her and it makes me just want to squeeze her. So tightly she'll know that I never want to let go.

She stops in front of the porch steps, taking a breath, cradling her arm in her hand.

"That's it." I say, swooping her up in my arms.

She huffs as she dramatically rolls her head around to face me.

I smile at her.

"You knew it was coming."

"I did." She says, admittedly.

I smile, proud of myself.

I walk up the 3 steps to the porch and knock on the door to Geno's.

I look down to see Hannah asleep. Daaaaanng. She sleepy.

"Aw." I say to myself.

I knock again, louder this time.

Geno answers the door this time, curly hair over his forehead, eyes barely open, wearing an inside out white V-Neck . He takes his fingers and presses between his eyes, rubbing away the sleep.

With his eyes still closed and his face facing the ground, he says, "What you want Sid?"

"Something's happened." I say sternly, remembering the actual seriousness of the situation we are in.

"It 2am." He says, his head still down, his hands now at his side.

"G, it's-"

"2am."

"Yeah."

"2am." He repeats.

"I understand it's 2am Geno. But it's Hannah..."

"Give me Hannah." He says, finally looking up.

He runs a hand over his face and sticks out his arms for Hannah.

I hand him to her carefully and confused.

JUST HANDING OVER MY GIRLFRIEND

He holds her in his arms effortlessly. His biceps poked through the material of his inside out shirt.

I stared down at my own arms. I need to work out.

"Come on." Geno says, turning around. We walk into his living room. A roaring fire warms the entire house.

He sits down on the couch with Hannah still in his arms. She moved against him and curled up. It angered me in a way. Is this jealousy I am detecting?

Geno stroked her hair.

I moved around, trying to keep mean thoughts away.

"I sorry. It russian thing."

I shoot eyes at him.

"I see you really care about this one."

I just look at him, for once not knowing what to say.

He smiles and looks down at her in his arms.

"I glad Sid. You were lonely. Need girl. She lonely. Need boy. Make me so happy. She make Sid happy?" He asks, placing a large hand on her shoulder and letting it slowly slide down her arm.

"It's just...when she looks at me...I swear can't breathe." I say, losing my voice at the feeling.

He looks up at me. He gently sets her on the couch.

He walks over to me.

He looks at me, serious.

"Do we need guy talk?" He asks me.

"We just might." I say, placing my hand on the back of my neck.

"Leggo then." He says, leading me to the kitchen.