Chapter 15

This one's short because I've had no time to relax and write lately. Also, since when did blogger get rid of spell check? There are probably a million stupid errors in here so just ignore them :D

Emma's POV:

It was a miracle that I made it through the rest of the event after the incident in the hallway with Sidney. Every time I stepped up to the mike to introduce a speaker or make an announcement, I had to practically force myself not to look at him and start babbling incoherently. Seriously, what was that? When I had started to fix his tie for him, I hadn't realized how close we were until he had voluntarily put his hands on my hips and pulled me closer. At least I think he was the one to pull me closer. Part of me still wondered if my body had acted on its own accord and pressed itself against him despite my brain knowing better.

Now the event was over and everyone was starting to leave the crowded room and head downstairs to where the valet was. Besides the weird incident with Sidney in the hallway, the night had turned out to be a big success and it really looked like the program was going to start spreading to other teams. Ovechkin for one had seemed very interested but I wasn't sure if that was because he still wanted me to have a "drink" with him or if it was because he was genuinely a good guy. Kris Letang had awkwardly pulled me  aside after dinner a few hours ago and while we were dancing, told me to be careful because Ovechkin had a weird thing for redheads. After being warned, I managed to stay away from him for the rest of the night and tried to ignore the feeling of what I thought were Sidney's eyes on me.

"Hey, are you coming with us for drinks?" Vero asked pausing next to me while Marc helped her into her coat. I shook my head 'no' and made up something about needing to stay here for clean up. They offered to help of course but it was so much easier if everyone just went home and I could pick up everything that I needed and go home and relax by myself. The combination of couples plus me and some of the still single guys was starting to get tedious. Usually even the single guys had a flavor of the week so really it was just me who was the odd-woman out.

"If you change your mind, give me a call and I'll let you know which bar we're at, okay?"
I nodded and she gave me a quick hug before pulling Marc away with her. I talked to a few more people on their way out and eventually just decided to stand near the doorway so that I could make sure that I thanked everyone important as they left. It was already 11:30 and I figured if I could be out of here in an hour and home by 1am if I really scared the staff into moving fast. I didn't have to stay for the entire clean up but I felt like it was my responsibility to make sure that even this part of the evening went smoothly.

"Want me to stay and help?" I turned and saw Nathalie standing behind me. She started to help me pull the tablecloth off of the table I was stripping but I stopped her.

"No, don't worry about it. Get home for the kids. I'm just staying because I have some extra energy to burn off." That part was definitely a lie because my energy level was negative 5 but I would rather be here by myself with the staff than make her or Mario help out. She looked skeptical and opened her mouth to speak but I silenced her and stepped out of my high heels, setting them down on a chair.
"See? I'm even comfortable now. Don't worry about this, I've got it taken care of."
"Fine. But call us if you need anything."

We both knew that I would never call but I still promised that I would and gave her a hug and a kiss goodbye. Finally it looked like everyone was really gone and it was just me, some of the crew and the bartenders working to get the room back in order. Now that it was quiet, I could feel my body unwinding from the long day. With my shoes off and my feet no longer feeling numb, they were currently screaming at me and would need a long, hot soak before they felt usable again. Whoever invented the high heel must have absolutely detested women. Or it was a woman herself that created the heel because we all like to torture ourselves. Just thinking about this pissed me off and I was so distracted that I didn't notice someone standing behind me until I almost rammed into them.

"Jesus, Sidney. Why do you creep up on me like that still?" I breathed out trying to calm my racing heart. Why was he still here? I thought I had seen him slink off with Christine about an hour ago. I had tried not to watch as she tucked her arm through his and rest her head prettily on his shoulder as they left. Even though I was tired, I remembered that part of the night very clearly.

Apparently exhaustion made me petty.

"I thought you could use some help. You're going to run yourself into the ground if you don't leave soon." I rolled my eyes at him for his random display of parenting. One day he was going to make a great Dad just because he already had the obnoxious 'I'm just trying to look out for you' skills all father's possess. Well, maybe except for mine.

"I'm fine" I said turning to face him. "What about you? You guys play tomorrow night and you have Christine to worry about." That was my subtle hint that he should be with her and not standing here torturing me with how good he still looked, even all mussed up in his suit. The gel in his hair had worn out and his curly hair was springing slightly in different directions making me want to touch them and see if they were as soft as they looked.

"I'll be okay but seriously, you should just go home. You look exhausted." Since that sounded like a terrible way of him hinting that I looked like a trainwreck, I felt myself start to really bristle in irritation.
"I will, just as soon as I make sure everything is okay here."
"You're ridiculous. That's what the clean up staff is for. They get paid to do this job meaning you don't have to be here." He punctuated his words like he was the one annoyed with me and I didn't understand why.

I was the one being bullied right now for no reason by him. Why did he care what I did right now anyway?
He had a point but he was irritating me now so I childishly wanted to stay and keep working just to spite him. I couldn't stand having people tell me what to do in situations like this. Part of me was still churned up from earlier so now with him standing in front of me looking gorgeous and irritatingly concerned about my wellfare, I felt anxious and miserably over-tired.

He sighed and broke our stare as he rubbed a hand over his face. "You are the most stubborn person sometimes."

"Oh, you're one to talk, Crosby" I said resisting the urge to smack him. Or at least push him farther away from me.
"Did you ever realize that you only call me 'Crosby' when you're pissed off at me?" He asked changing the subject and looking amused.
"Well you do tend to piss me off sometimes" I said stepping around him to remove another table cloth from a nearby table. I shook it out and started to fold it only to have Sidney pick up the other end to help me fold.
"Yeah, I noticed." He smirked at me and matched my movements as we folded the giant table cloth. He met me halfway in the middle to join the ends together and my stomach fluttered just from being in close proximity with him again.
"So are you done yet?" He asked again looking down at me.

I sighed looking around the room. It did look like everything was under control and I didn't have to be the one to lock the place up- the manager was doing a final walk-through.

"Yeah, I guess so." He nodded and gently took my arm to steer me towards the coat check. He was acting like we had somewhere to be but really he had his car and I had mine. I was obviously just going to go home.

He helped me into my coat without saying anything and I remembered that I still hadn't put my shoes back on.
"Wait, I need my shoes!" I moved to walk back into the room and he blocked my path holding the shoes in question up.
"I saw them on the chair with your purse and grabbed them."
"Thanks" I smiled noting that it was weird to have someone else remember details for me for once. He put the shoes on the floor and I stepped into them, my arches protesting at being put back in the heels and in an uncomfortable position.
"Are you okay?" he asked looking at me worriedly. I bit back a groan as I tried to take a step forward while my feet screamed at me.
"Um, yeah. I just need to get home so I can take off this dress and soak in a hot bath. My feet are killing me." As I said this, Sidney blushed and started to look embarrassed. I didn't think that I said anything...

Instead of replying, he made a weird grunt of acknowledgement and followed me out of the coat room and back into the main hallway for the elevators. We were silent the whole way down and I tried not to notice how he pulled at his tie uncomfortably. I knew he disliked wearing suits and was probably resisting the urge to tear his tie off no matter how expensive it was. It still struck me as odd that he had come back literally to make sure that I got into my car but with Sidney, you never knew what his intentions were. They were almost always noble and I couldn't shake the feeling that he had adopted the Lemieux mentality in looking out for me. I understood Mario and Nathalie's intentions behind it just because they were a second set of parents to me and I never felt like a charity case to them but with Sidney it was different.

I was a grown woman in her mid-twenties. When he looked out for me and did things like this, I felt like a kid and I didn't need him feeling responsible for me. Yes, we had become close friends but he had the viper. He could be at home with her right now instead of leading me out to my car where I'm sure if he thought of it, he would remind me to wear my seatbelt and drive with my hands carefully placed in the 10 and 2 position.

"So, what are you doing for the holidays?" The question caught me off guard and I blinked at him in surprise.

"The holidays?" Why was this topic coming up?

"Yeah, you know, Christmastime. What are your plans?" We were out of the building and heading towards my car now and somehow this all just felt suspicious. I knew Sidney. I knew his facial expressions, I understood the tones of his voice, I knew his mannerisms. I shouldn't be so suspicious of a seemingly polite question and yet I could tell that there was more behind this question than just a casual inquiry.

I chose to keep my response simple and see what he did. "Nothing special, the usual." I knew that the ambiguous answer would bug him.

"Is your family going to be around?" He asked coming to a stop in front of me. We had reached my car finally and I noticed that he had parked next to me.

"I don't know what's going on yet." He didn't really need to know that my Dad hadn't even bothered to call me yet and tell me that we weren't spending another holiday together or that my Mom was cavorting around a resort with her latest boy toy rather than spending the holiday with her daughter. Something about that just didn't say 'holiday cheer' to me and I didn't need to make the situation awkward by telling him this. Then he would feel bad for me.

"Well Nathalie told me that your parents aren't going to be around." He watched me stiffen and I bit my lip to keep from saying anything. How did she know?

"I was thinking that you should just come back to Cole Harbour with me this year. We have three days off which is kind of nice since we usually only have two-" He continued to talk but I tuned him out feeling annoyed and tired. Tired of being in these heels, tired of my family, tired of Sidney playing the father role with me. Just tired.

"Sidney, no" I stopped him mid-sentence watching his face fall and change into something else.

"Why not?" He asked. "You shouldn't be alone during the holidays."

"But I can't go home with you either. Besides, you should be spending that time with your family and Christine. I'm not intruding on that family time just because you feel bad for me."

"Christine is not coming home with me. And me feeling sorry for you is not what this is about."

"Sidney, you're practically living with the girl and you're not taking her home to meet your parents?"

He snorted and let out a bitter laugh. "Yeah, because she would just fit in so well with my parents and Taylor."

"Well what makes you think that I will?" As soon as the words left my mouth, I wanted to smack myself. Instead of looking uncomfortable because of the question, he brushed it off.

"Look, I'm not inviting you for Christmas because I feel bad for you. I just think that you would have fun and my parents have never met you. You'd enjoy being with them more than I think you would if you had to spend the time with your parents." Remarkably, he did have a point but I would still feel like I was intruding if I went. Besides, how would it look if I was there and not Christine. Even though it was by no means cheating, I would feel like we were doing something wrong.

And if the press got ahold of this? Utter disaster.

I loved the holidays but I wasn't going to be anyone's charity case. People who had families should spend that time together- no one needed an extra person around to upset the family dynamic or be awkwardly placed in 'family' photos. I was careful to never accept holiday invites to Thanksgiving dinners or Christmas or even Chaunnakah celebrations for this reason.

"I really appreciate the offer, I do. That's incredibly sweet of you. I just can't accept the offer. I really think it would be a good idea for you to take Christine with you if you guys are moving in that direction." Sidney was now looking like he wanted to throttle me and I didn't know why I was still talking. Obviously this discussion wasn't going anywhere. I wasn't going to accept his offer and he still wasn't explaining exactly why he wouldn't take the woman he was dating home with him for Christmas.

"We're not moving in that direction. I don't even know what direction you're talking about" he said interrupting me. "She's staying here in Pittsburgh with her family and I'm going home. We're not spending the holidays together." Our whirlwind conversation was heading into that territory now. The dreaded conversation about their relationship that I usually avoided at all costs.

"You know, I was just trying to be nice and show you a nice time with my family. I hate that your family treats you like shit and ignores you all of the time so I wanted to help you forget about for a few days but it's obvious that you would rather just sit alone at Christmas instead of getting over your damn pride."

I felt the tears well up in my eyes before I could stop them and he muttered a stream of unpleasant phrases before reaching out to hold my shoulders. "I'm sorry Em, I didn't mean to say that."

"I'm going home. Thanks for helping out tonight." Before he could reach for me again, I walked around the car to the driver's side and got in as quickly as I could. Even though he couldn't see me, I waited until I was three blocks away to let everything that had been pent up inside of me out.

The worst part about what he had said was that he was absolutely, 100% right.