Chapter 9

Short and not totally proofed, but I really wanted to update this story. Sidney and Emma are going slow and walking around in circles for a reason so just be patient. Also, the next chapter will hopefully give more insight into what he's thinking because I plan to write it all from his perspective. So enjoy :D

Emma's POV:

I parked my car behind Sidney's garage door and stepped out. Surprisingly, Sidney was there waiting for me to walk me in.

"Here, I can take your coat" Sidney said helping me out of my tan trench coat. He has always had manners thanks to his parent's upbringing but it still surprised me to feel his strong hands on my shoulders as he helped me out of my coat and hung it up in a small closet in the foyer.

I barely had time to process the fact that I was close enough to see the gold in his eyes when I heard shouts of "Sid!" and footsteps pounding down the hallway.

Austin Lemieux, possibly the cutest kid I had ever met and my favorite honorary cousin, ran into the room with the intention of attaching himself to Sidney and instead detoured to me once he saw me standing in the hallway.

"Em! Are you here for dinner with Sid?" He said this all while giving me a hug and I was happy that he hadn't grown out of this loveable stage yet. Pretty soon he'd be like all teenagers not wanting to touch anyone or seem less manly.

"Hey buddy. Yep, I'm here to give your Mom something and maybe stay for dinner." I gave him another squeeze and ruffled his smooth hair. He was going to be a heartbreaker one day, that was for sure.

"Mom's in the kitchen with Alexa and Lauren" Austin said already tugging me down the hall. I briefly waved to Mario as we passed his study but he was on the phone talking to someone and gave me a quick smile.

"Emma! What are you doing here?" Nathalie asked giving me a hug and telling Austin to go wash his hands. She looked between Sidney and I with raised eyebrows and I tried to ignore the little smirk on her face.

"I came by to drop off the soup container you gave me. It's been in my car for more than a week."

"Well then you have to stay for dinner, I made a pot roast and there's tons of it." I agreed and she quickly put me to work instructing me to where the gravy ingredients were while I chatted with the girls. Sidney had ducked out and disappeared, probably to go talk hockey with Mario. Our conversations were still so limited that it didn't surprise me that he didn't stick around- he wasn't exactly good with girl talk, especially with me around.

Things had definitely been friendlier between us, today at the dress shop had been testament to that, but he still didn't seem comfortable around me and I was starting to just not care anymore. This was at least a step up from me feeling sad about it like I used to. I was getting better in that respect and maybe, finally, getting over my absurd crush on him.

"So where were you two?" Lauren asked eyeing me curiously.

"Vero, Marc-Andre's fianceé, had me trying on bridesmaid dresses and I guess she made Sidney tag along for a male opinion. I'm not exactly sure that he wanted to be there but that's where we've been all afternoon."

"Good. It's about time he noticed you looking hot." Lauren said rolling her eyes and leaving me dumbfounded. Did everyone around here know that I had been harboring a crush on him? I couldn't stop the blush that pooled on my cheeks and it was worse when both Sidney and Mario walked into the room immediately after.

Nathalie gave Lauren a look and squeezed my shoulder supportively. "Go have a seat at the table, I'll finish this. There's extra dessert in it for you if you sit by Austin and convince him to eat all of his vegetables."

Nathalie made amazing desserts and that was all of the motivation I needed to wrangle everyone to the dinner table, Austin already talking my ear off about hockey. With 8 of us sitting at the table, it was a little cramped with me sitting down at the end around all of the kids and Sidney, Mario and Nathalie sitting at the top of the table. It was probably for the better that Sidney was so far away, engrossed in conversation with Mario but still, did he really dislike me that much or was I reading too much into this? I didn't have too much time to dwell on it as I was filled in on everyone's recent games, love lives and high school gossip.

Story of my life: banned to the kid's part of the table.

"Sidney, are you feeling alright? You're staring off into space." I looked down at the other end of the table to see Nathalie feeling Sidney's forehead as if he were sick.

"I'm fine" he said actually blushing. His eyes quickly met mine before shifting away again while everyone stared at him. He couldn't get sick in the middle of the season. As a hockey family, the Lemieuxs more than anyone else understood this and it was definitely cause for concern.

The rest of the dinner Sidney kept his eyes trained either on Mario or his plate and I wondered why all of the sudden he was even more reserved than usual. I offered to do the dishes and after shooing Nathalie away, was happily left alone in the kitchen by myself to scrub and load the dishwasher. Because I had never had this type of family environment, I loved doing chores like this simply because it let me pretend that I had some sort of normalcy and stability growing up. There was also something just so completely relaxing about doing the dishes after a meal that any time that I was over, I was more than happy to do them and received very little complaints from anyone else.

"I can't believe you actually like doing the dishes."

I almost dropped the plate that I had been holding back into the sink at the sound of Sidney behind me.

"Easy, I didn't mean to scare you" he said taking the dish out of my hands. He grinned at me slightly before loading up the silverware into the dishwasher beside me.

"How can you tell that I like doing the dishes?" I was curious considering I didn't think he knew anything that I liked.

"You're always so eager to do it. And you take a long time doing it, like you want to keep on doing it." He leaned around me to grab more plates to load in the dishwasher and I had to force myself not to lean away. Everytime he leaned around me I was almost close enough to bury my face in his chest if I let myself. "We wait longer to have dessert when you do the dishes." He gave me a real smile this time and I almost dropped a plate again in surprise. Was he teasing me?

"So is that why you're here now? To move the process along?" Why else would he be in here voluntarily helping me in the kitchen?

"Partly. I also wanted to tell you that Mario and I have talked to a few guys on other teams and they're willing to come out and attend the benefit for the CPP. If that goes well, then maybe they'd be interested in working with the program. It could be more of an NHL thing instead of just a Penguins program. You might help more kids in other areas that way. Either way, it's the press that you need."

I couldn't help the smile that bloomed over my face at what he had just told me. This would give me the press that I needed to really get the program going in Pittsburgh and now, possibly in other cities.

I was so shocked and excited at the same time that he asked me if I was okay. He probably thought that I was going to be mad at him again for some reason.

"Thanks, Sidney. That was really nice of you." If he had been anyone else, I would have hugged him, that's how happy I was. But because it was Sidney, something held me back thinking that he would definitely not be receptive to the notion of me hugging him tightly in appreciation and thanks. It would be the equivalent of a reporter hugging him after an interview. Definitely weird.

"I appreciate you taking the time to do stuff like this for the program."

He returned my smile and we finished loading up the dishes in a new comfortable silence.

"Emma, will you stay and watch a movie with me?" Austin skidded into the kitchen again and I wondered if he ever walked in this house. It seemed like he flew everywhere.

"Just as long as it's not any of the Mighty Ducks movies" I stated watching his face fall. He always wanted to watch those movies and I could quote all of them now thanks to him.

"Hey, don't look at me bud" Sidney said smiling at the pleading look Austin had turned on for him. "You've made me watch those a million times too."

"You both suck" Austin said giving up and shaking his head as if the whole world had crashed down on his tiny shoulders.

"I'll still stay and watch a movie with you, I just think we should broaden your horizons" I said ruffling his hair. He pulled a face at me and finally agreed to sit down and watch the Capitals play their final series game against the Kings. If the Caps won tonight, they would advance over the Kings in the playoffs and most likely end up playing the Penguins. Obviously, it was sort of a big game.

I was a little bit surprised that Sidney stayed with Austin and I to watch the game. Both the girls and Nathalie and Mario were watching something else in another room and I half-expected Sidney to go up to his room and watch the game alone analyzing or whatever he did while he watched games. Needless to say, when he settled in next to me on the couch, I had to practically force myself to keep my head focused on the game and not gape at him instead.

I smiled everytime Austin asked for my opinion on a player or a ref's call wishing that I had actually grown up with a sibling like this. He was so earnest in his curiosity to know everything about the game that it was hard not to love a kid like that. I noticed how often he looked over to Sidney too and how patient Sidney was in giving him attention.

Austin soaked up the attention from him and towards the end of the 2nd period had tired himself out so much that he was falling asleep on my arm. The room was dark except for the TV on and I settled back against the couch, content to finish the game and then wake Austin up and send him to bed.

Ovechkin was all over the place and even though I was sitting next to Sidney, it was hard not to be excited about some of the plays that he had instrumented in the game.

"He totally should have passed that" I muttered to myself watching one of the King's defenseman easily steal the puck away from him.

"I didn't realize you knew so much about hockey" Sidney commented looking at me through the glow on the TV.

"Uh, I go to almost every home game" I said keeping my eyes on the TV. It was hard to look at him after yet another reminder that he had never paid attention to me prior to me yelling that I disliked him.

"Where do you usually sit?" He asked after a few more minutes of silence. I held my breath watching Ovechkin pop the puck into the net again after faking the goalie out. He skated around waving to the cheering crowd who were now throwing hats at him, congratulating him on his hat trick.


"I sit up in the owner's box with Vero, Eliza and everyone else" I said finally taking my eyes off of the TV to answer his question. He was close enough again that if I was brave enough, I could lean slightly into his side. I used to fantasize about what just sittiing with him quietly would be like. I knew that he could be the type of guy a girl could lean both physically and mentally on if he let himself think about something other than hockey for 5 minutes.

Which obviously because it's me we're talking about, is highly doubtful.

"Oh" was all he said blinking at me and looking embarrassed. Good.

I really needed to find a new Penguins player to devote so much of my cheering energy towards. The game was over relatively quickly after Ovechkin had basically wiped the ice with the Kings. Sidney had attempted conversation for the last few minutes and I gave him vague answers sensing that he was only trying to make up for the fact that he was embarrassed about not knowing that I was a huge Penguins fan. I bounced so quickly back and forth between liking him and being disgusted with him that by the end of the night, my brain felt like it was going to explode. This has to just be a physical reaction to him. It's those damn brown eyes.

There was no way that someone could just remain in a perpetual state of infatuation with one man who you coincidentally despise at the same time.

Sidney woke Austin up and got him moving upstairs while I turned off the elaborate TV system and fixed the pillows back to the way they were before I left the basement giving Sidney a quick goodbye. I knew that he had followed me upstairs but I concentrated on giving everyone else hugs and kisses goodbye.

And after that, I was gone with plans to pick up more ice cream before settling into bed at home.

If that didn't just scream 'hot Friday night' I don't know what else did.