Reunited

Shea slammed her fourth shot onto the table, grabbing the bartenders attention to try and get another one. She took another sip of a mix of different alcohol that she was little bit too incoherent to ask about. Shea couldn't tell if her body was processing the alcohol so fast that she wasn't able to get drunk, or if she was already drunk out of her mind and her body just hasn't caught up yet.

The bartender walked over with another shot in hand, "You're the only person I've ever met that enjoys drinking alone Shea."

Shea grabbed the shot and raised it up, "Prefers it actually." She downed the shot, not wincing while the liquid zipped down her throat.

The wedding was in less than a week and Shea needed some liquid courage to get through the next couple of days, but she could slowly tell that Joe was going to cut her off, take her keys, and make some perv at the bar drive her home.

"So which guy will it be tonight Shea?" Joe said motioning around the bar at all the college boys that stake out, just for moments like this.

Shea shook her head, "None of em." Joe chuckled before grabbing the keys from Shea's left side and putting them in his pocket. Shea gave him an annoyed look, but knew that this was the best thing for her. If she got in a car now, she probably wouldn't know which pedal was which.

"If you don't pick a guy, I'll call him," Joe said, walking over to the only phone the bar had.

"You wouldn't dare."

Joe picked up the phone and started to dial numbers, "Try me Shea." He put the phone up to his ear and started talking. She made a mental note to kill Joe tomorrow when she picked up her car, but looking around at the bar, she saw almost every guy reach into their pockets and grab their keys. Shea quickly turned around hoping whichever guy Joe was calling this time would pick up.

It was either her dad, Andy, or the worst of them all, Sidney. Most of the time when Shea had ended up at Joe's throughout her high school career and snuck drinks, Joe had called Sidney to pick her up and bring her home. It was like each time they got closer because of it.

"He's on his way," Joe said hanging up the phone and walking back towards Shea.

"Which one?"

"You'll just have to wait and see." With that Joe walked away from Shea and tended to other customers. While Shea was waiting for the mystery man to pick her up, she recalled a time when this exact thing had happened, except Sidney had been gone that time and she ended up walking home.

---------

"Shea this is the fifth time this week, you've come here drunk, and then gotten even more drunk," Joe said reaching for Shea's, well she lost count after ten, drink. She could see the disappointment in his face, but alcohol numbs the body and mind, and all she wanted was to be numb. Because if her mind was numb, it couldn't keep ripping apart her heart, and reminding her that Sidney had left.

"I'm calling Andy," Joe said walking towards the dial phone he had recently bought for this particular purpose.

Shea stopped him, "No don't Joe, I wanna walk home," Joe gave Shea a questioning look, "I'll be fine I promise." Joe shook his head, but didn't argue, even he thought that maybe she needed a walk to clear her head. And her house was about two miles from the bar, plenty of walking. Shea put the money she owed Joe on the counter, hoping this time he would accept it, like always though he gave it back saying, "You'll need it when you call Andy and he gets a cop to throw your ass in jail for the night." Shea laughed, grabbing the money from the bar top and walked out the door, waving goodbye to Joe.

Shea stumbled along the road, running into everything in her way. Luckily she hadn't gone out to a club so she was wearing boots, instead of heels.

"Maybe someones looking down on me after all," Shea thought looking up at the stars, peeking out through the cloudy night.

Shea knew that if she went home, her mom and dad would be waiting, knowing full well that she wasn't at the library. It had been like this for the past month and a half. Shea stumbling in late at night, her parents saying that she'll find someone better than Sidney, then the next night it was like rinse and repeat. Lucky for Shea, some of her friends threw pity on her and would come, but tonight everybody was too nervous that they were graduating. Shea on the other hand, could not of been more excited. To get out of Cole Harbour, the place that reminded her daily of Sidney Crosby. She had gotten accepted into lots of different colleges, but only two stood out.

University of Pittsburgh

And UCLA.

Shea had only applied to UPitt a couple weeks before, when she found out that's where Sidney was getting drafted to. They had responded right away saying that they would love to have her there. Her family and friends begged her not to go there, to go to California and experience new things, but those words translated into, getting over Sidney and moving on.

She hadn't talked to Sidney since he left. He hadn't called or texted. She had seen some things on the news about him, but she tried her best to ignore them. After all, he had left her without saying goodbye.

Shea kept walking until she reached the lake, near the old park her and Sidney used to hang out at when they were first trying out a relationship and didn't want anybody to find out. It was night after night, just Sidney and Shea.

She walked over to the edge of the dock and sat down. She hadn't been here since the night Sidney told her he was leaving, and he didn't want her to follow. It was a beautiful place, with haunting memories, and Shea didn't have the strength to face the demons crawling around this place. But tonight she had some unfinished business and the amount of drinks she had earlier got her fired up and ready for a fight.

She took her phone out of her jacket pocket, and dialed the all too familiar number.

He picked up on the first ring, "Hello?"

Shea could tell she had woken him up. There was something about his voice in the morning, or in this case during the night, that was recognizable, "It's me."

"Shea?"

"I have quite a few bones to pick with you Sidney. One is why did you leave without saying goodbye? I mean two weeks before you left you said some heartbreaking things, but I thought at least our friendship could prevail and you would say goodbye, if not for you at least for me,"

Sidney interrupted her, "Shea I--"

"No Sidney I'm not done. I'm graduating in less than a month, you remember all the promises you made me when you found out the NHL was interested in you. Well I can remind you, you promised me you would come back and get me, that you loved me too much to live without me, but I guess hockey could easily take my place right? Or that you promised me I would get to see your first NHL game, but there I was sitting on my couch, watching you play as a Pittsburgh Penguin for the first time, and lastly the promise that you wouldn't change. But here we are Sidney, both looking back at the past, me looking at the person you made me, and you looking at who you used to be. The guy that would never hurt his best friend the way you hurt me, or break even one of his promises. God Sidney who are you?"

Shea was crying by then, but her voice was as stable as ever, and she was prepared for whatever response he was going to throw back. On the other line Shea could hear the uneven breaths coming from Sidney's mouth, but it wasn't that that startled her. It was the more feminine voice saying, "Babe who is it?" Shea covered her mouth to keep from whimpering.

She could hear some rustling, Sidney muffling the phone, and she guessed he was responding by saying,"My crazy ex-girlfriend that has severe attachment issues." She wanted to jump in the lake and drown herself, but before she could Sidney came back on the line.

"Shea let me explain that--"

Shea didn't let him finish, "This is absolutely pathetic. I think I should go Sidney, after all you were the one who left first last time right?"

Shea pulled the phone away from her ear, she could hear Sidney yelling her name, before she pressed the red 'End' button. She stared at the picture that was Sidney's contact, a picture of him kissing her on the cheek at the end of the dock she was sitting on. The picture disappeared, along with Sidney's name. Shea, angered and embarrassed, chucked her phone into the lake, and stood up. She walked back towards the little swing set, and down the road.

Now she knew where she would be going to college.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, you are looking at the future University of California, Los Angeles, Bruin."

--------

Sidney awoke to his phone ringing. He fumbled around on his nightstand for the source of the sound and grabbed it. Next to him, Brooke was fidgeting, so he quickly stopped the ringing by answering it, "Hello?"

"Sidney? Hey it's Joe from the bar downtown."

Sidney remembered who he was from all the trips to get Shea, "Yeah hey Joe. What's up?" He asked the question even though he already knew the answer. As Joe was answering that Shea was too intoxicated to drive home and was asking Sidney to come pick her up, Sidney was already throwing on some sweats and grabbing his keys. He told Joe he would be there in ten minutes and hung up the phone.

He was opening the bedroom door when Brooke spoke, "Where are you going?" Sidney silently cursed for waking her up.

"A friend's in trouble. I'll be back soon babe." He heard a grunt from Brooke and took it as his sign to leave. He walked down the stairs and towards the garage. Starting up the car, Sidney remembered the exact same thing Shea had remembered at the bar. The first night they had talked since he had left for Pittsburgh earlier that year.

Without saying goodbye you dumbass, Sidney said to himself, realizing just how stupid he had been the second the plane lifted off the ground. So many times Sidney had dialed Shea's number and quickly ended the call before it could actually go through. Or the amount of times he had drafted texts to her saying sorry and saying he would get her soon, but every time he just discarded them and threw his phone onto the nearest surface. After that call they didn't talk, until Sidney showed up and proposed to Shea. After that, they didn't talk again until just months ago, at the beginning of the summer.

There were so many things Sidney wished he could of done differently and leaving Shea, one, without a goodbye, and two, leaving Shea at all was just the start. But it takes losing everything, to realize you had something right?

Sidney pulled up to Joe's Bar, and could see Shea's shadow waiting just outside the door. She must not of known Joe had called him, because when she saw the car, she slightly rolled her eyes. Sidney laughed, that was the same reaction she had many times before when they were in this exact same situation.

Shea hopped in the car and looked over at Sidney, "Your fiancé wearing your shirt or something?" Sidney looked down at his uncovered upper half and realized he had forgotten a shirt in the whole mess of trying to find his keys.

"Oh hey Sid, thanks for picking me up because as usual, I have thrown myself into self pity and got hammered. Oh you're welcome Shea, any time really." Sidney backed the car out of the lot and looked back over at Shea once he was back on the road. He could see the slightest of tears fall down her already moist cheeks, "Hey Shea I'm sorry, that was out of line."

Shea looked over at Sidney, she could see the apology in his eyes, but she didn't say anything. She just stared at the road ahead of them. It was silent until they reached her family's house. But it wasn't a comfortable silent like it normally was between them, it was awkward and all Sidney's fault. But he didn't know the right thing to say, so he kept quiet. Shea had stopped crying over her recent memory she had just remembered. She wanted desperately to ask Sidney who the girl was, but she wouldn't like any answer he gave, she opted not to.

Sidney pulled into Shea's driveway and put the car in park. Shea took off her seatbelt, looked over at him and almost inaudibly said thank you. Sidney nodded his head, watching Shea gracefully get out of the car and walk towards her front door. Before walking through the threshold, she turned around and flashed him the smile she had only given him one time before.

The day he told her he loved her.

-------

Shea had gotten over herself over the past few days after the whole bar incident. She had apologized to Sidney for being rude, but other than that, they hadn't talked at all. Shea was worried he was upset with her, but seeing Brooke earlier in the week, she just said that Sidney was nervous over wedding details.

Now it was the day of the wedding, and Shea felt a dark pang in her stomach. She had seen the preparations going on throughout the week, her mother and father had even helped, but her brothers had stayed loyal and taken Shea's side, not lifting one finger to help. Trina and Troy had come over two days before the wedding for drinks, and once Trina was tipsy enough, all she could talk about was how ugly Brooke's dress was and how Sidney never smiled when he got asked questions about the wedding. Shea had overheard everything and when she walked back upstairs, she found herself throwing a fist into the air, congratulating herself.

Some of Sidney's teammates had come over and said hello, she was introduced to the few she hadn't met when they had joined Sidney for a weekend up in Cole Harbour. She invited them in for something to drink, since they claimed Brooke had enslaved them to lift things. They gladly accepted.

"She's the devil I swear."

Shea chuckled to herelf, before grabbing Gatorades and water for the very good looking guys she had standing her kitchen. They each thanked her before sucking down the liquid in every bottle she had laid out. She walked back towards the refrigerator and grabbed some more drinks, "Well if she doesn't give you guys breaks, she must be bad." The guys looked at Shea waiting for her to say something rude and mean so they could applaud her and tell her to go tell Sidney that she loves him, but she didn't say anything for that specific reason, did she really love Sidney?

The guys finished off the rest of their drinks, thanked Shea, and walked back over to Sidney's parents house to finish setting up.

But James Neal stayed behind and said, "You know every NHL player that's coming is betting he doesn't go through with the wedding."

Shea raised one of her eyebrows up, "And why he do that?"

"Because of you."

James didn't even look at her before he walked back out the door and down the street.

The rest of the day was spent getting ready, and trying to look better than the Bride herself. Shea put on her last bit of makeup and looked herself over once in the mirror before deciding it was the best it was going to get. Shea had picked an old black dress, it was short and racy, but Shea didn't care what anybody thought about her outfit. She threw on her favorite pair of heels and kept her hair in natural waves. She walked down the stairs, the rest of her family waiting for her to arrive. She felt like she was walking down to meet her date for prom, but instead her whole family just stared wide eyed. Mike and Jason high-fived each other, as if to say "Sidney's gonna feel pretty stupid after he sees Shea", her parents just grabbed each others hands and intwined their fingers together. They were proud that Shea had even agreed to go to the wedding, but looking at her now, they hoped maybe Sidney would realize what he was doing.

They walked out of the house, after each of them told Shea how good she looked, and started for Trina and Troys house. Shea had deja vu when they were walking, she remembered the party where she had met Brooke and now she was gping to watch them get married. Jason stopped walking and waited for Shea to catch up to him, he held his arm out for support. She thanked him with a smile.

Shea's parents walked up the driveway and towards the house, but the kids stayed behind. The Penguins were waiting at the end of the driveway along with some other guys Shea didn't know and some of Shea's friends were there too. They were standing around a car, drinking beer.

"You guys are tailgating?" Shea said, reaching her hand out to grab a beer.

"I need alcohol to get through this wedding man," Beau Bennett said crumpling up a can in his hand and grabbing another beer.

James Neal walked over towards Shea and said, "So Shea whats your plan?" Shea gave him a questioning look, "Oh you know, how are you going to get Sidney to not say I do?" Everybody around them laughed, including Shea, but truthfully everyone was hoping that she would put a stop to the wedding.

"I mean we'll stand behind you if you stand up and yell something like "You love me and I love you so we might as well stop this wedding and have us get married," Kris Letang said.

Shea shook her head, "Sorry to disappoint kids, I'll be quietly sitting in my seat until they both say I do. I'll be drunk as hell, but I'll still be sitting in my seat." Shea heard some of the guys sigh, and mutter things under their breath, but she just grabbed another beer and stuck it in her clutch, and started walking up the driveway. Everybody followed, knowing full well that the wedding was probably going to start soon.

Once they reached the door, everybody went their separate ways. Shea followed her brothers to go find their seats, while the players went to go find Sidney and wish him luck.

Everything was sort of a blur. Music started playing and Sidney walked up to the alter, and stood there with his hand s crossed together. Then the groomsmen started to walk with the bridesmaids. Shea had no idea who the bridesmaids were, but she wasn't paying much attention anyways. Once pomp and circumstance started playing, everybody stood up, but instead of looking towards where Brooke would be coming from Shea turned and looked towards Sidney. Much to her surprise, he was looking at her too. Shea smiled slightly, he looked very handsome, but she felt a tear slip town her cheek. She turned back towards where Brooke was walking, and watched as she walked towards Sidney, a huge smile displayed on her face.

"You may take your seats."

Shea followed suit of her brothers, sitting down. She did her best to try and tune out the talking that was going on. She reached into her clutch and grabbed the beer she had saved for this moment. She popped open the tab, grabbing the attention of the people sitting around her. Mike and Jason stifled a laugh, and he parents looked at her with stern looks, but Shea just gulped down the liquid, and crumpled the can up. The minister was going on and on about how love was sacred and what Brooke and Sidney had was true love, when she caught looks from the groomsmen. They were all mouthing the same exact thing, "This is the time!" but Shea just sat still. She didn't have to guts to say everything she had been wanting to say since she first saw Sidney.

She couldn't tell him that she loved him, that she never stopped, that she wanted that ring back on her finger, and how Brooke didn't love him the way she loved him, and she definitely couldn't tell him that everybody hated Brooke.

But despite her mind telling her she couldn't tell him these things, Shea found herself rising from her seat. She could see the players all secretly high-fiving and getting ready for what Shea was no where near prepared to say.

"Sidney," Sidney looked over towards the voice that had called his name. It was Shea. She was standing up, he turned back and saw James, and the rest of his groomsmen clapping to themselves, "Sidney you can't do this."

Shea heard gasp after gasp, mostly coming from Brooke's side of the aisle. From what she could see all of Sidney's family was smiling, and everyone behind her was sure as hell smiling too.

"Sidney you know it and I know it. She isn't right for you. We're meant to be together, we always have been since the moment you accidentally skated into me as kids. Sidney don't go through with this."

She could hear her brothers high-fiving each other behind her back. She saw the look on her parents faces, and she could see the look on Brooke's disgusted face.

But she saw the faintest of smiles creeping onto Sidney's face.

"Sidney I love you. I loved you then, I love you now, and I'll love you in years to come. In case I haven't already said it, I love you Sid!"

Notes