Jesy 18 years old
Finally after all the scrimping and scraping and working and saving we're here, New York City the week before the draft. My 2 friends and I have spent all of high school preparing for this moment, lucky for us all of our parents said they would meet whatever we had dollar for dollar. We walk into the door of the hotel and like everything else I've seen today I have to keep myself from gawking
"Jesy! Come on!" I look up to see Amy staring at me impatiently I snap out of my trance and follow behind her and Jamie to the front desk to check in, moments later we are on the 14th floor in front of our home for the week
"This is insane I can't believe we are finally here" I say and they both nod in agreement
We make ourselves comfortable in the room and then decide to head down to the pool

"I wonder if we'll meet any hockey players while we are here." Jamie asks and I shrug

"I don't see why we wouldn't I'm sure they are everywhere" Amy says as the loud ding of the elevator lets us know we are at our destination, the doors open and we make our way to the pool

As we walk I zone out once again getting lost in my own mind amazed at the trip we have worked so hard for finally happening. As I day dream walking down the hallway I collide with someone snapping me back to the present

"Oh my God I'm so sorry!" I say and look up to meet dark brown eyes

"No its ok it was my fault I wasn't looking where I was going" he says and smiles "Sidney"

-Sidney 18-

I stretch as the plane lands in JFK airport, this is it at the end of this week I will be on an NHL hockey team the thought makes me smile as I exit the airport and head for my hotel. I check in quickly and make my way up to my room before deciding to walk around the hotel a bit. As I daydream my way down the halls I collide with something, someone, a girl to be exact and she's apologizing for something I did wrong

"Oh my God I'm so sorry" she says and her eyes meet mine, a piercing beautiful blue

"No it's ok it was my fault I wasn't looking where I was going” I smile at her "Sidney"

"Oh um no, no I'm not Sidney" she says her eyebrows knitting together in confusion "I'm sorry you have the wrong per-"

I smile wider as she rambles and cut her off mid sentence "No I'm Sidney"

"Oh, right I'm Jessica"

"Nice to meet you" she smiles and carefully tucks a strand of dark brown hair behind her ear and I find myself carefully watching her every move

"Jesy! Come on! I swear you get star stuck too easily it's a hall way....." I turn to see a girl the same age as Jessica with short blonde hair and dark green eyes "who are you?"

"Sidney, you?"

"Amy, Jesy come on let's swim"

"I'm coming" she says and turns back to me “If you want maybe you could join us?" I try to speak but find my mouth dry this girl has me so nervous "I mean you don't have to I was just asking cause it looked like you wanted to talk but maybe I was wrong ok I'm gonna go"

She turns and practically runs to her friend in embarrassment and I clear my throat "I'll be down in a few minutes" I see a faint smile on her face and she nods

I quickly make my way up to my room and fish through my suitcase for my trunks and head down to the pool, I walk in quietly and see 3 girls talking at one end of the pool, I jump in and swim towards Jessica

"By the way, you can call me Sid" I say behind her and she jumps turning to me and smiling

"You scared me, and you can call me Jesy"

"You can call me Amy" her friend says in a mocking flirty voice

"And you can call me tonight" the other girls says

"That's Jamie" Jesy says "We only let her out on weekends"

I laugh and see Jesy smile, the kind of smile that makes her eyes light up and I find myself smiling too "So, Jesy, Amy, tonight" I say addressing all the girls and the girls laugh "What brings you 3 to New York City?"

"The NHL draft" they say in unison

"Why are you here Sid?" Jamie asks

"Same reason" I say and leave it at that by the look on their faces and how easily they are talking to me I take the guess that even though they are here for the draft they don't realize who I am. If they did they would have already compared me to Gretzky, called me Kid or asked what team I was going to, I'm not in for that I like making them laugh because they think I'm funny not because I'm Sid the Kid Crosby , the next one and I just told a joke so they should laugh.

"So what's your favorite team?" Jesy asks as we all swim around

"I can't say I have one, you?"

"How can you not have one? For me it's the Sabres, partly because I'm from Buffalo, but I also like the Penguins, Chicago is good too but I don't get to see many of their games, beyond those 3 I'll just watch hockey to watch hockey"

"I don't know why I don't have a favorite I just don't" I say and she narrows her eyes

"I don't believe it for a second, you have a favorite, you're just not saying so you don't take a chance of saying a team I don't like"

I raise an eyebrow at her "oh yeah? And why would I be takingthat chance?"

"Well you have a mid western United States pronunciation to some of your words, buts its covering a Canadian accent" she says and my jaw drops

"You're good"

"I watch a lot of hockey; I can spot a Canadian accent a mile away. So that being said, what's your favorite team?"

"I really try to watch hockey objectively and not choose favorites, but I'll make you a deal, if you hang out with me for the week I'll tell you my favorite team after the draft"

She looks between me and her friends "Ok, but I have to spend time with them too, we've been planning this trip for years"

"Deal" I say "So what are our dinner plans for tonight?" She shrugs swims away from me and sends me a heart stopping smile

-Later that week Jesy-

"Sid we can't be out too late, the draft is tomorrow" I say into the receiver of my cell phone

"We won't be out late I promise tell the girls they are invited too"

"Where are we going?" I ask and he laughs

"You'll see"

He hangs up the phone and I turn to Amy and Jamie "I guess we are going out with Sid tonight"

"Do we have to? We've spent like the whole time here with him tomorrow is the draft and we haven't even done half the stuff we said we would" Jamie says and I see Amy nod

"Well we have today, we'll cross it all off today" I say and I earn a smile from both my friends

"You just want to spend every minute possible with that boy cause who knows if you'll ever see him again" Amy says and I reluctantly nod

We all hurriedly get dressed and I call Sid and give him the rundown of the list of things we want to do, he complies and we head out the doors of the hotel. We head through the crowed and loud streets of Manhattan checking out Times Square, then head over to Macy's and barely make it through a quarter of the massive store. After a quick lunch we make our way to the Empire State Building, spending some of the day there we then head to dinner and by the time the sun is setting we are on a boat circling the Statue of Liberty

"It's pretty isn't it" I say looking at the sun setting behind the symbolic statue

"Yeah you are" he says and I turn to him in surprise "I mean" he stutters then clears his throat and burns his chocolate eyes into mine "No that's exactly what I mean" he says and my eyes widen before I can process what's happening his lips are on mine

"Sorry" he says shyly breaking the kiss and I smile

"It's ok" I say quietly and turn to finish watching the sunset I feel his arm wrap around my waist and I lean into it as he places a soft kiss on my temple

"I've wanted to do that all week" he whispers

"Maybe I've wanted you to" I say back equally as quiet

After the boat ride ends we head back to the hotel and up to our rooms

"I seen that" Amy says as soon as Sidney gets off the elevator I send her a dumbstruck look pretending I haven't the slightest clue what she is talking about "You and Sid I seen that"

"Oh yeah playing tonsil hockey on the boat" Jamie pipes in

"We were not!" I say defensively blushing

"You wanted to" they chorus

I walk away from them smiling and head into the bathroom to shower, I ignore their mocking for the rest of the night and fall asleep quickly

-Next morning Sidney-

I'm up and showered early; too nervous to eat I get dressed and pace the length of my room. By the time I'm supposed to leave I've easily wore a hole in the floor I head to MSG trying my hardest not to panic everything I've worked towards my whole life comes down to what happens in the next few hours

I step into the huge room tables covering where ice should be, a stage at one end and a few fans in miscellaneous jerseys speckled in the stands, like Jesy, Amy and Jamie, that thought makes me even more nervous.

I sit at my table and now begins the waiting game

-Jesy-

Finally what we came here for has arrived we get up early eat breakfastand take our time getting ready, sabres jerseys get put on hair and makeup get done and by the time we are ready to leave we are bouncing in anticipation.

We walk into MSG and we all gawk there's something about knowing it’s there and seeing it that are different and we just can't help but be in awe of all the history beyond hockey contained in these walls

"Keep an eye out for Sidney guys so he can sit with us" I say and my friends roll their eyes but nod anyway

The time passes slowly the floor fills in with owners and general managers and prospects and the stands fill in with fans from around the league. We try to kill time by talking with the Coyotes fans behind us, it seems like hours pass before they are ready to start and I feel myself get nervous for every guy on that floor.

As they drone on speaking I tune them out trying to find Sidney somewhere in the crowd

Finally they are ready to begin and all I've heard for the past hour from the Coyotes fans and the other fans around us is how this Crosby kid is going to be picked first because he's crazy talented. I try my hardest to pay attention to what's going on but my mind keeps wondering to where Sidney could be, I text him where we were sitting but he never came to find us my attention is captured by the penguins general manager speaking

"The penguins choose Sidney Crosby"

The people around me mumble about the penguins being the team to beat now and complaining about their team not getting him. My eyes focus on the boy standing in a suit making his way to the podium, my heart stops when he turns Sidney Crosby, 2005's number one draft pick is in fact the Sid I've spent the whole week with, my jaw drops.

"Oh my God, that's Sid!" Amy says and a few people behind her make a comment along the lines of no duh

"Jesy, you kissed the number one draft pick last night" Jamie says and I just look at them both with a blank stare "you ok?"

The rest of the draft goes by like a blur, according to Amy and Jamie we met a couple of Sabres prospects and players from other teams but the last thing I remember is seeing that tempting crooked smile holding a penguins jersey in front of his suit while the media snaps pictures

-Sidney-

I'm on cloud nine, I'm a Pittsburgh Penguin, my dreams are coming true. After all the media swarm the draft goes on and at the end I finally get to make my way back to my hotel.

I walk in the door and push the button for the 14th floor to go see Jesy. I knock on her door and Amy opens it in her swim suit

"Jesy" she says back into the room and pushes past me Jamie close on her heels

"Hey" I say as she turns the corner

"Hi" she says shortly and I look at her concerned as she backs away when I try to hug her

"By the way" I say carefully "My favorite team is the Penguins"

"Yeah I got that" she says walking into the room I follow her as she grabs her towel

"What wrong with you?" I snap and she turns to me her blue eyes iced over

"You could have told me who you were!" She seethes

"Does it matter?" I ask my voice full of venom thinking maybe my dad’s warning of staying away from girls that care about who you are is right

"It doesn't, but it does. I told you exactly who I am I didn't hide anything from you, but you kept the biggest secret of them all!"

"Jesy I didn't tell you my last name that's all and I didn't because I didn't want the false front I get from everyone I meet strictly because of my name. I'm just Sidney with you and I like that" I say sitting down on her bed

"You still could have told me Sid" she says quietly

"I'm telling you now, I'm Sidney Crosby I was the number one draft pick today and I am now currently a Pittsburgh Penguin. Do you like me any less because of it?" I ask scared her answer may be yes

"No, I don't." She says quietly "want to go swimming? We leave tomorrow"

"I'll go change and meet you down there" I say with a smile standing in front of her door

"Congratulations Sidney, I'm sure you'll be great" she says wrapping her small arms around my torso

"Thanks" I say returning the hug "Hey Jesy" I say as she steps out of my arms to grab her towel again and she turns to me towel in hand with raised eyebrows "I uh" I say rubbing the back of my neck nervously

"You better learn to talk if you're gonna be a hockey player" she says with a smile that I return

"It's a little hard to phrase I want to kiss you in a way that doesn't make me sound like an entitled idiot"

She laughs wholeheartedly causing me to smile "I think you did just fine" she says patting my shoulder and I lock my fingers behind her back kissing her quickly