"Oh my god, she's alive!" Julia shouted and erupted into giggles. Maria laughed with her, but Caroline seemed distant about CiCi's arrival home.

"Where have you been all this time?"

"With a guy," CiCi said being nonchalant. Julia and Maria whooped and hollered at her and she fell onto the couch in a fit of hysterics. She wanted to gush about Sidney, tell them how incredible he was and how good he made her feel.

"Tell them who he is Ci," Caroline started. She still hadn't joined in on the laughter among their roommates.

"Yes! We want to hear all about him!" Julia agreed.

"Wait, is this the mystery guy we saw you with Friday night when we got home from getting food?"

CiCi smiled at the memory. It was only two days ago, but it felt like ages and she couldn't believe the turn of events in her life since then. "That's the one. I met him at Mario's and was off talking with him when I finally saw the message that you all were ready to leave. We exchanged numbers and he ended up sleeping here Friday night. But no funny business."

"No, you just let the funny business happen in the bar," Caroline remarked. A chorus of ooohhhs rang out and CiCi felt her face heat with embarrassment.

"What happened in the bar?" Maria asked.

"Ugh, fine. We had sex in the upstairs broom closet. Then he came here and we sat up and talked almost all night. We fell asleep then he left after you all were gone for the day yesterday. He asked me to go to dinner with him after the symphony last night and I agreed. Instead he met me at Heinz and we went back to his place for dinner and I slept there instead of coming home. I didn't tell you girls because I didn't think I needed to check in so I'm sorry if I worried you. Anyways, I came home only to run into douchebag and then I left again with Sid."

"His name is Sid?"

"Douchebag is Mark right?"

"Yes to both," CiCi replied.

"What does Sid do?" Maria asked, "He must have a normal weekday job to be spending pretty much the last two days with you."

"Uh, yeah. He had a freaking range rover. Then he has to do something cushy to get a car like that!" Julia exclaimed.

"How old is he?"

"When can we meet him?"

"So are you guys dating now?"

"Alright, alright! Slow down. He's a hockey player and he is currently not playing as his season is over. He is 25, like us. I don't know when you will ever meet him because I don't know if we are dating. We are seeing where things go. He will be leaving soon to train anyways." CiCi stopped babbling and waited to hear what the girls had to say in response. But all three remained quiet. Two of the three looked lost for words.

"Come on, say something. You are all scaring me," CiCi said as she pulled her phone from her pocket. She checked to see if Sidney called her yet, but he hadn't.

"You were with Sidney Crosby," Maria asked in awe.

"I call bluff!" Julia shouted. But Caroline spoke up first.

"No, it's true. Tim actually showed up here yesterday as he was leaving. The man gushed about the kid for a good twenty minutes before he even acknowledged my presence." Caroline got up from the recliner and sauntered into the kitchen, but remained in earshot to the others. CiCi climbed up off the couch and followed her friend to the kitchen and leaned against the door frame.

"Care what's going on? You seemed pissed. Look, I'm sorry I hung up on you earlier." She crossed her arms and watched as Caroline ignored her and poured a glass of wine.

"I just think what you did this weekend is completely careless and dangerous. What if he would have hurt you? What if he fucks every girl that will spread her legs for him? What if he really isn't who he says he is?"

"Ok first, you of all people have been telling me for months to let go of the past. Let loose. Have fun. The first goddamn time I meet someone who interests me and I him you get all defensive and angry. Yes, what I did this weekend wasn't me at all, but I liked it. I let my guard down and I met someone who is incredible. He is sexy, he is shy and completely thoughtful. And he has made me feel things I have never felt before! And it's scary and exciting and I want to keep feeling this way! What is so wrong with that?"

"You know nothing about what he does or the repercussions of being involved with him."

"I don't care. That is what he likes most about me! He likes that I keep wanting to know more and haven't done something crazy and googled him. I'm sure I could find out everything I would ever need to know about Sidney Crosby, the face of the NHL. But I want to know about Sid. A toothless, whistles in his sleep sleeper who has the cutest birthmark on his lower right hip. He who called home in the middle of the afternoon while I was with him just to check in with his mom. Who lives two blocks from my gallery and who asked me to bring him a peanut butter milkshake tomorrow because he won't want to eat anything after he gets his teeth fixed."

"Wow CiCi," Maria said. She turned towards her friends in the living room to see them smiling at her. She felt relief flush over her when she saw them. They understood and weren't judging her. She needed their support and she got it. She didn't notice her phone screen light up from the coffee table where she set it down to follow Caroline into the kitchen. But she watched as Julia leaned over, pick it up and answer it without a second thought.

"Hello?" She asked. A smile spread across her face when she heard the voice on the other side. "No, she is right here. You have the right number. Hold on."

CiCi retrieved it, mouthed a thank you to Julia for answering it before it went to voicemail and tried to suppress a smile but couldn't when she saw Sid's name on the screen. He came to her rescue for the second time that day, and she was forever grateful.

"This conversation isn't over CiCi!" Caroline shouted to CiCi's retreating body, but CiCi ignored her. She was done with it. She couldn't believe the woman she spilled everything to and received some encouragement from on Friday had turned so quickly on her. She needed to get away, and raced up to her bedroom where she locked the door and stayed for the rest of the evening.

"You still there?" She heard Sidney ask once she was settled on her bed.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Two of the three were really excited to hear I met someone. The other not so much."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I think she thinks I am going to get hurt. But you have to take risks and that is true of any new relationship."

"Oh."

"What?"

"She must know the reputation some hockey players have given to the rest of us."

"What do you mean? Are you a manwhore?"

"Ha! I'm not, but there are some who are."

"Wait, really? I guess I am just being naive about all of this. Or I just grew up in an environment where cheating was never thought of."

"Yeah, I couldn't imagine being like one of those guys."

"Any of them on your team?"

"We have guys who don't commit to anyone, but none of the married guys mess around. Our organization is pretty family oriented. But the two who stopped by earlier, now they are manwhores. But they are our manwhores."

"Nice. So you aren't like that?"

"No, never. Can I be completely honest with you?"

"Sure."

"You're the first girl I've been with in over three years."

CiCi didn't know whether to believe him or not. "Yeah, right."

"It's true. You didn't hear the guys joking about me being celibate? It's because it's been a long time. And even then my numbers were equally on target with yours. Give or take maybe one."

"Shut up, are you telling me you've only slept with two other girls before me?"

"Yes."

"But why? You're hot!"

"You keep saying that, it is making me blush." CiCi imagined Sidney's face getting red and chuckled softly thinking how he was embarrassed by her saying how good-looking he was. "I was completely dedicated to my career before my concussions. I've dated girls, but I've never wanted to go further with any of them."

"Then what makes me so special that you did?" Sidney didn't reply right away.

"You are letting me be myself in more ways than I could And you're beautiful and intelligent and you don't seem to care about all of this."

"Caroline thinks I am biting off more than I can chew with you."

"I hope you don't think so," Sid said softly.

"Oh Sid, no I don't. I'm really happy I met you. It's really late, and you have a major procedure tomorrow morning. So I'll let you go to sleep," CiCi said.

"I'll see you tomorrow then."

"You got it. Bye Sidney."

"Night Cesira."

*********
It was nearly midnight and CiCi had spent the better part of the last hour researching professional hockey players and how successful their relationships are, but every time an article or website mentioned Sid she would click away. She wanted to stick to her promise to him and keep some hint of mystery to their budding relationship. However, she couldn't help but search images of him. And found seeing his face on screen was unquestionably hot. She could see how much fuller his face has been, and knew his appearance to her now was temporary. She got carried away looking at his face that she didn't notice the soft knocking at her bedroom door.

"CiCi? I know you're still up, I can see the lights are on." CiCi rolled her eyes, closed down her laptop and turned towards her door. She figured she may as well get the earful from Caroline now rather than the next time she saw her.

She swung the door open quickly and looked at her friend, "What? Come to tell me how I am making the biggest mistake of my life again?" She walked over to the bed and left the door open for Caroline to come in or stay out.

"I've come to apologize. It was unfair of me to act the way I did." CiCi considered the apology, contemplating whether it was sincere or brought in by their other two friends downstairs. "I'm really happy that you've found someone, I just hate to see you get hurt."

"Thank you, and I'm a big girl. I can handle it if it happens. But like I said, I don't even know where this is going to go. He is leaving in a couple days to go back to Canada to train. I'm not going to beg him to stay here so we can continue seeing each other. I don't want to be a distraction. He has a big year coming up. If when he comes back he wants to see me then great! If when he comes back and he doesn't bother looking me up, that's fine too. I've had one serious boyfriend in my life. And that sucked. I can't invest myself seriously in a two day romp with some sexy guy. And now I think I am just rambling because I am tired and need to be at the gallery early tomorrow."

Caroline left without another word spoken making CiCi feel as though everything wasn't resolved between the two. And she couldn't understand why there was a sudden tension between them anyways. But she let it go and went to sleep with thoughts of Sidney and the last two days spent with him.

**********

Sidney sat up in bed staring ahead at the television. It was on, but he wasn't focused on it. He was just starting to feel his face again and he wished the pain medicine would kick in. He had gotten used to the missing teeth, so having the implants in felt foreign.

It was nearly seven and he was anticipating Cesira's arrival. She had texted nearly an hour before explaining that she was leaving work in search of dinner for them. He felt badly that she was buying their meal and that they were spending another night in his place together. He knew before he inevitably left for the summer that he would take her somewhere nice, show her he wants to pursue something more with her then leave her to long for him for the next several weeks.

He had hoped he could do some training in Pittsburgh, but knew he couldn't ask Andy to uproot the entire group to accommodate him for a girl. Not only that, but in the little time he has known CiCi he knew she wouldn't ask him to do that or expect him to. She would probably even be upset if he did do that. He'd have to plan to visit in July and he would be back in August for a couple days before heading out west. And before he knew it, it would be the start of training camp and his return to the city for the next nine months.

Sid heard a soft knock on the door and he moved quickly to answer it. He had asked James to leave it unlocked when he left earlier in the afternoon, but James didn't like that idea. Always looking out for his friend. Sid threw open the door and found CiCi standing with her hands full.

"Hey!" Sid exclaimed with a sore smile. He reached for the carrier holding three milkshakes and leaned over to plant a soft kiss against CiCi's cheek.

"Hey! You have teeth!" CiCi laughed. She walked in as Sid held the door open and went directly to the kitchen island. She set a plastic bag on the countertop along with her purse and then turned to place an overnight bag on the floor by the door. Sid knew they hadn't discussed her staying the night, but wasn't the least bit disappointed that she wanted to.

"You spending the night?" Sid asked as she bent over to dig around in the bag.

"Oh, uh I brought clothes to change into right now. I thought it would be a little presumptuous to assume you would want me to." She stood with a pair of leggings and a tank top in her hands. He stepped closer to her, tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear and cupped her face in his hand.

"You can stay if you want. I just thought I missed something in our conversation last night."

"Well do you want me to stay?" CiCi asked.

'I never want you to leave,' Sid thought, instead he said, "Sure, it will be nice."

"Okay, I don't have to be at the gallery until two because of a special event I am supervising tomorrow night. I'll have time to run home before I have to be there."

"Great! Now which shake is mine?" Sid turned towards the drinks that CiCi had brought with her and grabbed one the looked like peanut butter.

"You can have all of them if you want. I got myself something to actually eat from the deli." She wandered down the hall to the bathroom to change while she spoke and Sid trained his eyes on her retreating form. He couldn't get over how at ease they were around each other. Maybe it had to do with what little time they spent apart since Friday night.

Sid was sipping on one of the milkshakes and leaning against the counter when CiCi came back in the room. He was lost in thought and had to ask her to repeat what she said when she sat down to dig into the chicken salad she brought.

"I asked when you will inevitably be leaving for the summer thusly halting all the fun we are having," she said between bites.

"Sorry, uh I leave Thursday morning. I tried to make arrangements to be here this summer, but my trainer works with about fifteen guys."

"I would never dream of asking you to stick around. Besides I have to travel to London one week then to San Francisco for a few days at the beginning of July."

"Wow, what are you doing there?"

"I have a couple art seminars I have to attend. It is usually boring, but I am taking my mom with me to London and she has never crossed the Atlantic before. So it should be fun."

"I love it over there. If it weren't an Olympic year I would do more than just train all summer. Next summer I guess." He studied the bottom of the paper cup while CiCi chewed a bit. Finally he worked the courage to say something that had been crossing his mind.

"We don't have an expiration date, do we?" Sidney asked out of the blue. It startled him to ask it and the look he got from CiCi indicated she never expected to hear it.

"God, I hope not. I don't want there to be one."

"Me either," Sid said as he placed his empty cup in the trash can. He walked around to stand next to CiCi and felt his heart swell when she looked at him and smiled. She turned her body to face him and wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Good, I'll be waiting or you when you get back."

"And we're going to make the most of this while I'm still here," Sid said as he lifted CiCi's chin to look into her eyes returning the adoring look he was receiving from her. The girl who captured his heart.