Chapter 27

Oh ladies, how your comments cheer me up! Everyone's reactions to Sid's douchebaggery and Emma's cluelessness was what I needed to keep writing. You're all hilarious, Enjoy :)

Hopefully this chapter completes the last one a little bit better and fills in some of the gaps!
Emma's POV:

My mind was still reeling from the previous night's event and the epic forehead kiss as Sidney and I both said goodbye to his parents and Taylor at the airport.

"Come visit again soon, okay?" Taylor mumbled as she hugged me tightly. I took this as a good sign that somehow over the past three days, I had won her over.

"We'll see each other soon" I promised squeezing her back. "You're coming down in a few weeks right?"

She nodded and let me go turning me over to Trina. "We'll be down to visit Sid in February. It would be great to see you while we're there" Trina commented squeezing me tightly like Taylor had and making it that much harder to say goodbye to them. 

"We'll definitely have to catch a game together" I said trying to keep a smile on my face. Being with them was like being with a real family and even though I would always have the Lemieuxs, these past couple of days with the Crosbys had just felt different. More special somehow. 

"Ready to leave?" Sidney asked setting a brief hand on my lower back. It was the closest he had come to touching me all morning and though he liked to pretend that I couldn't tell, he had put up a wall between us for no reason. At least not for a reason that actually made sense.

"Sure, thanks for having me Mr. Crosby" I said grinning and sticking out my hand for him to shake. He looked at it sternly for a moment but I knew he was only trying to mess with me. He grinned back and shook my hand pulling me into a brief and unexpected hug. For such a large, scary looking man, he was actually just a big softie.

"You'll keep an eye on him won't you Emma?" Troy joked looking over to Sid and winking.

Imagine that, Troy Crosby actually winked and joked with his son. This family was amazing.

"Uh, they're calling our flight" Sidney said blushing slightly and looking anxious to depart his family. I knew for a fact that our flight didn't leave for another 45 minutes but I overlooked this in favor of maybe having a few minutes alone with him and figure out what had triggered his strange mood.

After one last goodbye, Sidney and I began the quick process of getting through security (thanks to his famous name) and disappeared on the other side of the gate where we would catch our flight. I noticed that Sidney pulled his hat down lower over his face and slouched his shoulders slightly in an effort to go unnoticed. The idea that he could pretend to be someone else in a part of Canada where he was literally worshipped was laughable.

Adorable even.

I was still high off of how wonderful this weekend had turned out and wanted to point out all of the funny things I was observing in the airport but Sidney's silent demeanor prevented me from opening my mouth. We continued to walk to our gate and both plopped down unloading our bags at our feet.

Something was definitely up. He hadn't touched me save for the brief hand on my back this morning but that didn't count considering it was mostly to push me along in the airport. He hadn't even kissed me.

"Is everything okay?" I questioned looking at him pointedly not looking at me. I thought that we had finally reached some sort of understanding between us and it had definitely seemed like we had agreed to see where things went between us. But now....?

"Yeah, why?" he questioned leaning down to pull out a magazine from the top of his duffel bag.

"No reason" I stated dryly. It was hard not to notice that he was trying to ignore me for doing something that I was unaware of. I stared at him for another moment willing his eyes to meet mine and smile. Anything to reassure me that there wasn't something wrong with us already- before we could even claim to have really started.

"I'm going for a walk" I announced even though I wasn't sure that he cared. He nodded slightly and I knew that he had at least noticed that I was walking away from him.

Now a safe distance away, I took the time to use the restroom and feel some level of comfort from being in room designated solely to women. No presence of men, no male voices, no reminders of how even the good ones usually turned out to be assholes. Just the solace of being in a quiet room where men were explicitly not supposed to be.

I was achieving a better, zen like state until I noticed that two teenagers had walked in and were in fact babbling on and on about their boyfriends and something cute that one of them had done. My zone had been breached by talk of the enemy. Great.

Sighing I glanced down at my watch noting that I still had about 20 minutes until the plane would begin to board. Since I didn't actually feel like spending that time with Sidney, I walked off in search of a magazine stand. Nothing like the lives of others to distract you from your own problems.


Sid's POV:

It sucked but I felt like I was doing the right thing by putting some space between us.

She thought that I didn't notice her leave but living under a baseball hat for the past couple of years had enabled me to see more than most people could while trying to remain anonymous. I hadn't thought that it would feel as shitty as it did to see her walk away, even just for a magazine, but it had. It felt like shit and I was a piece of shit for not having the guts to talk to her.

Instead I was letting her think that something was wrong with her when really the problem was with me. I had been pushing her, pushing both of us in one direction, and now I was unexpectedly pulling back- and she didn't have a clue why.

Still, this felt like the right thing to do, this whole putting space between us deal. Emma bounced back from things quickly and wasn't vindictive enough to hold a real grudge. The closest she had ever come to really being mad at me was a few years ago before we were even really friends and I didn't think that that counted. Even if she was mad or confused initially, it would be better than letting things really develop between us and then hurt her later down the road.

Our plane would be leaving soon and I spotted her walking back to the gate, an armful of magazines in hand as she spoke to someone on the phone. Even though I knew that I was a coward, I was relieved that whoever was talking to her on the phone sounded as if they were keeping her busy. Once we were on the plane, I could pretend to sleep the whole way back.


Emma's POV:

My mom called.

Of course she would call on what was quickly becoming my least favorite day of the year. Of course.

"Hey mom!" I answered feigning excitement like I had trained myself to do over the past few years.

"Merry Christmas!" she greeted me sounding remarkably happy. But then again, she was off somewhere with her new boyfriend and didn't have any real problems to plague her life. At least none that she would actually address anyway.

"Did you enjoy your time with Nathalie and Mario?" she questioned. I heard a male voice murmuring in the background and I took that as a sign that she was indeed with her new boyfriend.

"I actually didn't spend the holiday in Pittsburgh this year" I told her. I could have sworn that I had told her this awhile ago but since long spans of time usually passed between when we talked, I couldn't be completely sure.

"Oh?" she questioned curiously.

"I'm actually flying back to Pittsburgh now- I spent the holidays with a friend at their house" I explained turning down the volume on my voice as I got closer to Sidney and took a seat near him. I let my purse sit on the seat between us putting some much needed distance there. It wasn't as if he noticed anyway considering his eyes were still trained on the magazine in front of him.

"Oh that's nice!" she said breezily. I almost wanted to smile from how familiar this conversation was. Even though I always had something new to say- her responses never varied. In a twisted way, this was comforting in my current situation.

"Has your father called you?" she questioned suddenly surprising me with the degree of motherly interest in her voice. I hadn't heard that from her in.... a very long time.

"Um no, is something wrong?" Even though it was Christmas, I certainly was not waiting around for a phone call from him. I knew that eventually he would call for some reason or another but I certainly wasn't expecting a call from him on Christmas. It was enough that he had actually sent me a card this year and a set of earrings that I was contemplating returning anyway.

Strange as it was, even though the earrings were beautiful, they were yet another cold reminder of how my own parents didn't know me well enough to buy a gift that would require time and care. Still, I had to appreciate the effort that he or his secretary spent on picking them out.

"No, nothing's wrong, I just wondered if he called." It was odd how nonchalant she was being but I couldn't decide if I should probe or just let it go. It was probably better that I not ask and just take her word for it.

"Well he hasn't yet but you know Dad. There's a time difference and he'll get around to calling eventually. I can tell him hi for you if you want" I offered.

"Oh, that's not necessary sweetheart but thank you all the same."

"Okay, well I hope you're having a good holiday" I told her at a loss of what else there was to say. She had already lost interest in the conversation and so had I- so what else was I supposed to say.

Sidney had finally looked up and I watched him stare at the space between us taken up by my bag. Yeah, now you notice you jerk. Our plane was boarding and that was the excuse that I needed to get off of the phone with my mother. Once I was on the plane, I fully intended to take Sidney's cue, plug in my iPod and distract myself with magazines until we were back in Pittsburgh. Thank god I had driven myself to the airport.

As my mom and I said our goodbyes and the obligatory "I love you" and "I love you too," I marveled over saying goodbye to her hadn't affected nearly as much as saying goodbye to the Crosbys had.

Who had I become that I was now the girl who felt almost zero attachment to her birth mother and a stronger attachment to a woman that she had only known for three days? I looked over at Sidney as he stood up and picked up his duffle bag, glancing at me for the first time in an hour.

"The plane's boarding" he stated obviously. His voice wasn't devoid of emotion but it still wasn't him either. In fact, if I didn't know better at this point in our long and complicated friendship/whatever, I would think that he actually looked guilty. Sad even.

Who were either of us right now?