Chapter 4

Thank goodness for rainy days at home. Also, thanks Jay for the chicken noodle soup idea ;D and thanks to everyone who reviews this story! It really does help me write.


Emma's POV:

I woke up the next morning to the sound of my alarm going off like it always did at 6 am on weekday mornings. I did feel considerably better compared to the day before but not well enough to go back to work.

Okay so maybe I just wanted a day off in the middle of the work week but under the premise of being sick, I didn't see what was wrong with that. After making the necessary calls to the voicemail of my boss and Florence to hold all calls during the day, I rolled back over and pulled the covers back over my head.

The next time I woke up, it was to the sound of my doorbell ringing. I groaned looking at the clock that now read 11:30 wondering who the hell could be bothering me right now. My parents were on vacation in Costa Rica and they always called before stopping over so it couldn't be them. Everyone else I knew was working anyway, so who was it?

The doorbell rang again and I threw on a robe without glancing in the mirror and bundled it up tightly. It's probably the damn UPS man or something. Through the shaded glass around the front door, I could see someone standing there shifting back and forth slightly and about to reach for the doorbell again. My throbbing head protested the possibility of a loud noise and I quickly opened the door before the mystery person could ring the doorbell again.

Needless to say, I was shocked when I saw that it was Sidney Crosby standing on the other side of my door holding daisies and a big tupperware container (Note: Bet you didn't think that I would have him bring her soup, huh?)

"Hi" he said smiling and taking in my haphazard appearance. Okay so I was wearing blue pajamas with sheep on them and a pink robe- that didn't mean that he had to look amused.

"What are you doing here?" Again I wanted to add but I kept quiet. This was the second time he had come over uninvited and I didn't get it.

"Nathalie sent me over with soup. I brought the flowers" he said holding them up again. "Uh, can I come in?" he asked looking beyond me into the house. I wanted to say no but he took my silence as a yes and gently nudged his way in past me.

As I watched him walk past me into the kitchen, I hoped that he got sick as an end result of all of this. That would at least prove that there was some justice in the world.

"Sidney you can just leave it on the table there" I pointed to the kitchen table and hoped that he would leave it there, give me the stupid flowers and leave. As if it wasn't painful enough that he seemed to be everywhere at once nowadays, he also had to see me in my most unattractive states.

"Uh, do you have a pot or something?" He said looking around my kitchen. "I think that's what Nathalie told me to do with this." He was scratching the back of his neck again and I tried to ignore the fact that it was kind of cute. He was wearing his workout clothes with his curly hair bundled into a Pens cap and I realized he must have come from their morning skate.

"Look I'm really not feeling up to soup" Or your company. "Could you just leave it, please?"

"Sure" he said looking considerably less chipper all of the sudden.

"So what's the real reason you're over here?" I said cutting to the chase. Sidney Crosby didn't just take soup over to poor girls in need. There had to be a reason why he was here buttering me up with soup and daisies.

"Nathalie made you soup and asked me to drop it off. We didn't get to talk yesterday after the game either, so here I am." His explanation seemed reasonable enough but I still didn't understand why he wouldn't give up on the Children's Partnership Program when he was too busy to do it anyway. He was exhausting me and that alone was making me hungry for the first time in 24 hours.

"Well what is there to talk about?" I said digging out a pot for the soup. "I already accepted your apology for backing out and like I said, it's totally fine." I really was trying to be nice. I was not a mean or vindictive person by nature and I didn't want to start being that way to him either.

"I know you did. I just feel like I can do more. I don't want to start becoming that guy who is too busy to do things that are important- like this program is."

Hold up, did Sidney Crosby just call my baby important? While the former me would have probably melted into a puddle at his feet, I held back another sneeze and stayed strong and relatively clear-headed.

I nodded still feeling a little apprehensive about his change of attitude towards me.

"Okay, so are you going to teach me how to heat up this soup for you or what?" he grinned giving me the impish one all of those fan girls always blogged about. It was enough to almost make my poor immune system feel better. Almost.

"You don't know how to cook? I thought that the kid wonder could do everything" I partly joked. He seriously doesn't know how to reheat things?

"Yeah" he laughed "Well, not everything" he trailed off making me wonder if there was more to that statement than he would let on.

The heavy burdened look that he tried to disguise most of the time had returned to his face making him appear older than his 22 years. He was only about a month older than me but at times like this, I felt like he was years ahead of everyone around us.

"What kind of soup is it?" I asked peering into the big tupperware container. "Chicken noodle?" Nathalie Lemieux literally made the best chicken noodle soup on the face of the earth.

"Uh, I think so" he said coming closer to look down into the container with me. I wasn't used to being close to him physically or mentally and I instinctively backed off moving away to begin heating up the soup. Weird.

"Are you, uh, feeling better?" he asked still trying to make conversation with me. Why is he still standing so close. Better yet, why is he still here?

"Definitely feeling less like roadkill today" I said laughing slightly. "Mostly, I just wanted the excuse to stay home in my PJ's all day" I gestured to my ridiculous outfit hoping that a laugh at my expense would loosen us both up a bit. And maybe shoo him along. I was seriously confused why Sidney Crosby was hanging out in my kitchen with me right now.

He did laugh, surprising me even more. It was one of those goofy, full-blown laughs that I had heard myths about but didn't quite know what to do now that I had witnessed it. "Everyone needs a day like that" he said still smiling at me. Huh? I almost pinched myself for the simple fact that I had made him laugh.

In my sick state, was I now resorting to hallucinations? "I think I need to sit down" I said reaching for the nearest kitchen stool.

"What's wrong, are you okay?" he was back into serious Sidney mode bending down in front of me to make sure that I was okay.

"I think I'm hallucinating" I mumbled suddenly needing water. Water would clear my head, right?

"Here, let me get you something cold to drink" He rooted around in my cabinets until he found the glasses and filled it up with cold water before passing it back to me. I drank it gratefully almost disappointed when Sidney didn't disappear from my kitchen in his cute athletic wear. Damn it.

"You're still here." Oh how I wish I could take that back. I cringed when I saw his eyebrows furrow in confusion at my babbling.

"Uh yeah. Listen, maybe you need to go lie down again. I think you're getting worse." He started to gently lead me away from the kitchen and towards the direction of the stairs.

"Yeah I think you're right." I stopped us at the stairs knowing that he would follow me into my bedroom if I didn't get my head together quickly. "Thanks for bringing the soup by and the flowers. That was really considerate of you."

"You're welcome" he said giving me smile. Thankfully he was taking the hint and leaving before I started to act stupidly again.

"Feel better Emma" he said holding the door open another second before turning and walking down the path to his car.

I made sure that all of the doors were locked and the kitchen cleaned up before I headed upstairs to my bed again. I fell asleep wishing that it all had been a dream. That at least would make sense.

"Wakey, wakey!!" The next thing I knew, I was being pushed at and spoken to in a heavily accented voice. Vero.

"Come on Em. We're going out to dinner and drinks" she said bouncing up onto the bed with me. I had this thing about beds where ever since I was a little girl, I had only wanted the biggest and fluffiest princess beds. Sadly that had carried into adulthood but it was amusing to see short little Vero climb onto the bed with me.

"Seriously, I know you're awake and your color's back. Now put on some clothes and let's go!"

"Vero, no." I whined trying to pull the covers back over my head. I hadn't forgotten about earlier and getting out of my bed would almost make it real. I was such a pussy.

"Hey, why don't you have wine?" Eliza said popping her head into the door. "Jeez, you need to shower" she said taking in my attire.

"God, Max isn't here with you is he?" I half expected him to pop his head in to see what was going on. It was like he couldn't do anything without her anymore. Annoying but cute.

"No, he's out with the boys tonight. I think they're heading over to Diesel which is exactly why we need to go out also and have a good time" Vero said bouncing up and down again.

"Oh" I said feeling like I didn't have a choice. I didn't feel sick anymore after sleeping most of the day away. But wasn't it better just to play it safe?

"Are you sure we can't just stay in? Order takeout maybe?" I asked not entirely willing to go out and be with crowds of people tonight. Besides, it was a weeknight. It was more responsible all around if we stayed in.

"Oh, chinese food?" Eliza said popping her head back into the doorway.

"If you promise to at least shower and put on cuter pajamas, then we'll stay in" Vero said still eyeing me and my unshowered state.

I nodded and pushed my way out from under the covers to head into the bathroom and shower. When I emerged 10 minutes later clean and skin still pink from scrubbing at my skin, I found that Vero had made my bed and straightened up my room for me. I got dressed into clean clothes this time following the noise of the girls giggling downstairs. For as obtrusive as they could be sometimes, they were also my best friends and I knew they meant well.

"Mr. Wok delivers out here!" Eliza said excitedly. Before Max, Mr. Wok was her number one man and she hated the fact that they didn't deliver to her and Max's house in Fox Chapel. My little house was luckily within city limits though and they still delivered out here even though I was technically in the suburbs. It had been my maternal grandparents house and I had spent most of my summer refurnishing it after graduation when they left it to me and moved down to Florida. At least it's mine and I don't have to live with my parents.

"Did you make soup today?" Vero asked gesturing to the big container sitting in the middle of my fridge.

"Uh no, Sidney brought it over" I winced at the expressions on both of their faces when I turned around.

"Oh no" Eliza said suddenly looking horrified. Vero was wearing a similar expression, making me feel like something was really wrong.

"We should have known this would happen" Vero shook her head while Eliza nodded.

"What!?" I was getting frustrated because they were leaving me out of the loop.

"You don't see it?" Eliza asked staring at me. Was this another side effect of being sick? Utter confusion?

"Em, he's intrigued by you now because you've made it clear that you don't like him anymore."

"Guys always want what they can't have. Even the infallible Sidney Crosby isn't immune to this age-old phenomenon." Vero added both of them still nodding like bobble-heads.

"What? You've got to be joking. Nathalie made me soup, he brought it over." That was it. He was going to leave me alone after all of this. He was just being nice.

"And so who are the daisies from?" Vero said eyeing the arrangment I had set in a vase on the kitchen counter.

"Those are mine" I said not wanting to admit that he had brought them over. So I was lying, what was a little harmless lie here and there in life?

"Really?" Eliza said eyeing me like she didn't believe me. She was dating Max and was a lawyer. She was damn good at sniffing out lies and I tried to be as cool and collected as possible.

"Yes" I reiterated starting to get just a little bit irritated. Sidney Crosby was not interested in me now that I wanted nothing to do with him. That was like one of those bad romance novels I spent my time reading in high school.

The doorbell rang saving me and I ran to grab my wallet and cover the bill before either of them could protest. The my house, my credit card rule applied here, especially when it came to food.

"So now that we're done talking about Em's denial, I need to talk to someone before I burst" Vero said picking at her soy noodles. What she said next, I was not expecting.

"Marc wants to get married" she waiting to guage our reactions.

"What? That's wonderful!" My heart instantly fluttered at the romantic possibility of a wedding. I loved weddings and watching people on their happy day.

"Aren't you excited?" Eliza said watching Vero. Suddenly I noticed that she didn't look that excited.

"I don't know. I'm not sure if we're ready" she said scooping more noodles into her mouth. "I mean, we've been dating for like 3 years, so why does he want to get married all of the sudden? We're still young!" she said gesturing wildly. She tended to get a little theatrical when she was worried about something.

"Wait a minute. You guys love each other, so maybe he just feels like this is the right time. I mean, he's more settled because they won the cup last year and he has a great contract with the Pens. This is just him taking the next logical step in your relationship." I was one of those hopeless romantics that believed in long-lasting love. If you loved someone enough, everything would work out. Even if I had never had the chance to apply this theory in my life yet, I still believed in it.

"Yeah, I guess I should just talk to him about it. I kind of left him hanging because he was going out and I was coming over here to meet up with you guys." She obviously felt bad but I felt worse for Marc. Poor Flower, probably trying to drown his sorrows right now at the bar.

We finished our dinners and started to watch an old movie on TV but it was obvious that Vero was distracted. "V, why don't you just go home. I can tell that you want to talk to him."

"Thanks," she said smiling. "I didn't want to be rude and leave you guys." She was already up and grabbing her coat throwing out empty takeout boxes along the way.
"I'm going to get going too. Wanna lunch tomorrow?" Eliza asked wrapping her scarf around her neck.

"Sure" I said not completely wanting everyone to leave. Most of the time, I was happy to be alone considering it had been just me most of my life anyway but on nights like this, it was a little sad to have my friends leaving me to go home to their boyfriends. I don't even have a cat.

After watching them both drive away and locking my house up for the second time that day, I let myself wonder what it would be like to have someone to go home to or cook for like these girls did. Not that I had time for that sort of thing but once in awhile, it would be nice to have a guy around.

Maybe I should take Vero's advice and date more. Maybe that could be a part of my new life theory where I grabbed life with both hands and told it who was boss. Maybe.