The Time Is Now

I’m sitting on my bed reading for stats. Unfortunately statistical significance and Chi-squares are turning my brain to mush and putting me in a mood to sleep instead of a mood to study.

Then I hear my phone buzz on my nightstand indicating a new text.

Saved by the bell…sort of.

Hey it’s Sid. Are you busy later?

I nearly drop my phone off the side of the bed once I read the text.

It was Wednesday and it had been four days since everyone had gone out to Ts, four days since Sid had asked for my number. I was secretly hoping Sid was going to eventually text, but part of me didn’t actually think he would. There was an internal argument raging in my mind about why he would text some college girl like myself when he could date a Victoria’s Secret model.

“Just answer it!” I said aloud to myself.

Hey! I’m free. I quickly texted back before I could overanalyze Sid’s reasoning behind his decision to text me anymore.

Cool, do you want to hang out?

“Obviously!” I laugh to myself.

Sure, I need a break from studying for stats :) I quickly text back.

OK cool. Meet me by the side entrance to Agganis at 9?

Will do.

It a date!...I think

* * * * * *

I’m standing outside the door to the hockey offices and I take out my phone to shoot Sid a quick text letting him know I was outside.

Moments later Sid appeared, holding the door open for me from the inside.

“Hey,” he greeted with that infectious grin on his face.

“Hey yourself!” I replied hoping the glass of wine I had before walking over would help me sound a little more confident than I was actually feeling right now. “So what’s on the schedule tonight?”

“You’ll see! Come with me,” he said reaching for my hand.

We walked down a small flight of stairs, to the right of which was the weight room the team must use for their off ice workouts.

Sid led me down a hallway and stopped in front of a door, to the right of which on a small plastic sign on the wall read “Cinema Room.” Sid pulled me inside the pitch-black room for a moment before he flipped a switch illuminating the room with a dim glow.

The lights revealed what was essentially a small theater with a large projection screen at the front of the room.

“Okay,” he started, “since going to the movies can sometimes be a little bit of a hassle for me, I figured we could bring the movies to us.”

“Sid, this is,” I began still a little taken back by his creative date idea, “this is great, you didn’t have to do this.”

“I know, but I wanted to. The guys said that if they’re not watching game footage in here, the room doesn’t really get used. So I figured why not take advantage of it.”

Moments later we hear three faint beeps coming from the part of the hallway we had just come from.

“What’s –“
“Popcorn’s ready!” He answers before the question leaves my lips. “Go take a seat, I’ll be right back,” he insists. “There’s a microwave down here?” I ask.

“Player’s lounge” he simply states before jogging out of the room and down the hall.

He returns moments later, with two bags of microwave popcorn, one for each of us. He presses a button on a keypad next to the light switch starting the movie. Dimming the lights even more, he eventually makes his way over to the seat next to me, offering me a bag of popcorn.

Suddenly the opening scenes of the movie are projected onto the screen in front of us. Flashes of late 1970s pop culture, political, and historical events are being displayed on the screen in a montage and I immediately know what movie is about to start, Miracle.

He would…

* * * * *

“Want to see something cool?” Sid asks moments after the movie ends.

“Sure,” I laugh. He reminds me of a little boy with all the enthusiasm and excitement wrapped up in how he asks the question.

“Okay, come on,” he reaches for my hand again.

He leads me out of the team’s cinema room and out to the same hallway we were in before. This time he leads me to the other end of the hallway, away from the way we came in.

As we get closer to our destination, I can feel the air get slightly cooler, and before I know it, Sid has led me down the tunnel out to ice level at Agganis.

At first I’m kind of awestruck. Everything seems so much bigger from down here. The arena seems ten times bigger when it’s dark and empty.

We cut through the bench and into the stands. Sid leads me up into the stands where we found seats toward the back of a section.

Being in Agganis all by ourselves...it was risky and dangerous, but it was exhilarating and that’s what made it so exciting…and kind of made Sid even hotter, like that’s possible.

After a few moments of silence Sid spoke up.

“Sometimes when I’m on the road or home, I come to the rink early or stay late, before or after everyone’s there...and I just sit and clear my head. It’s kind of my spot, my place,” he explains.

“This is...” I begin but can’t really find the words, “thanks for bringing me here. For sharing this with me,” I say turning towards him.

Sid reaches for my hand, interlacing our fingers.

“You know, you’re a really cool girl Mariev,” he says leaning closer.

It took a minute before I realized it was happening.

I felt his lips cover mine, tentatively at first, as if he was almost hesitating. But then, that large hand that had been holding mine had cheated it’s way to the back of my neck, pulling me closer, where he was more deliberate. His tongue slipped between my lips, his other hand on my waist. A moment later, he breathed in slowly and released my mouth.

“We should keep this on the down low?” I offer, trying to catch my breath.

“Only if you keep coming up here with me,” he smirks before capturing my lips with his again.

Notes