Counting Stars

We land in New York the following Tuesday in the morning. All that I’m ready to do is sleep after a fairly early flight, but the guys want to explore the city. Christmas in New York is apparently a big deal to my teammates. Hopefully, when we get to the hotel I can sneak away call Brooklyn and maybe relax a little. It turns out that virtually the entire team was leaving to explore the city, “Guys I think that I’m just going to head up to my room.”

The guys exchange a quick look before Fleury interjects, “Come on! I know we’ve been in the city before, but we’ve never had this much time. All of us need to do some Christmas shopping and I know you haven’t gotten Brooklyn anything.”

Our goalie has a good point, but I’m still not convinced, “Guys really, I’ll go shopping later.”

Just then our PR lady joins our little group, “Hate to break it to you Sid, but you have to go. I organized you all to have tickets to see Jimmy Fallon this evening. They tape in three hours and obviously you need to be there.”
I repress a groan, I was looking forward to a quiet afternoon, “Alright, Jen thanks.”

In around ten minutes our team is ready to go explore New York. All of us make a beeline to 5th avenue, knowing that the women in our lives whether it be mothers, wives, girlfriends, or sisters would love something from these stores. We decide to split up because together we are garnering too much attention. It ends up being me, Fleury and Dupuis wondering around fifth avenue trying to shop for the girls. Collectively we decide that SAKS is probably our best bet. We head to the women’s department which is fairly full for a Tuesday a week before Christmas. By and large the three of us stand out as clumsy hockey players surrounded by expensive and delicate merchandise. After some stumbling around a sales associate approaches the three of us, “Can I help you gentleman with something?”

I turn in response to her question and see that she is talking to Flower. The woman, probably in her early thirties is dressed immaculately, albeit a little severely. From the look of concern on her face it is clear that she feels that we do not belong within ten miles of her store. “We are looking for Christmas presents, for our families.” I finally make eye contact with her and I see some recognition dawn on her face.

She nods and I see that she knows me somehow, but isn’t sure. All that she does know is that I have money and now worth her time, “All three of you?” We nod. “Let me grab two of my associates and I will return shortly.”

As she leaves Pascal turns to me, “Weird, it looked like she recognized you, but it definitely doesn’t look like that girl watches hockey.”

I shrug and occupy myself with some scarf lying on the table and look up when the woman returns with two other employees. They all look the same to me honestly, “I’m Abigail and I will be helping you this afternoon Mr. Crosby. My associates can assist your friends.” The other girls introduce themselves to Flower and Duper. “Am I right to assume that this is for Ms. Donahue?” She has a glint in her eye that I know means she hopes helping me will translate into a large paycheck for her.

I realize that the only reason Jennifer recognized me was because of Brooklyn and the feeling is a little strange to say the least. Regardless I nod, “Yes, it is. First Christmas together, I don’t want to mess it up.”

She nods sympathetically and leads me away from my teammates, “Personally, I think you should stay away from clothes. Jewelry or bags even shoes are probably a good bet for the first major holiday.”

“Sure, that sounds fine,” We walk over to the jewelry section first and she shows me some things and I realize that Brooklyn loves her shoes and would never let me pick them out for her. “Maybe not jewelry. How about bags? That is always safe right.”

The girl laughs, and I can tell that it is forced, but regardless we head over to that section. And I can’t really find anything there either. So she decides to take me over to the shoe area and I realize that I should of started here first. Brooklyn loves shoes, maybe even more than jewelry. We get there and I immediately head to where it looks like the high heels are.

“Is it weird to buy shoes for my girlfriend?”

“It’s not common, but if she loves shoes, maybe you just know her better than everyone else?”

I nod, feeling comforted by her words, “I need to look at the ones that are really high. She loves those, but not cheap looking.”

“Any specific designer?”

“Um, good ones? Don’t be concerned about price.”

This time Abigail laughs earnestly and promises that she will return in a moment with some options. While she comes back she has a about five options in her hands, “You are in luck Mr. Crosby. Ms. Donahue has shopped here before and has marked interest in a few of these shoes. Any of these I am confident she would love.”

I look over the selection and am immediately drawn to a pair of what Jennifer informs me are peep-toe pumps. They are high, which I know Brooklyn will love, but they are really pretty sky blue color. I don’t think she owns anything like this, but they look like her. “I’ll take these.”

Jennifer nods and goes to package them up, “Anything else?”

The shoes were about 750 dollars and I know that is probably too much, but I have the sudden urge to spoil my girlfriend. She is surrounded by finer things in life and I need to surpass that this Christmas. I want to impress her, “If you have a bracelet maybe to match these I would love that.”

The girl’s smile increases dramatically, “Let me go pull you some options.”

She returns with a wide selection, but I immediately chose a skinny sliver bracelet with large light blue stones spaced evenly throughout. I point it out to Jennifer, “How about that one?”

“I would have suggested that one myself,” her surprise is obvious, but she wraps it with a smile. “Anything else?”

I shake my head, “That will be all I think.”

Jennifer rings up the two items and I am shocked, not at how much it cost, but that I feel like Brooklyn deserves to have this money spent on her. She is worth every overpriced penny that I just paid for these two items. “Have a wonderful day Mr. Crosby.”

“Thank you for your help, and if you could keep what I bought a secret?”

“Not a problem at all.”

I leave the counter and disperse to find my two teammates. They are waiting in the lobby with bags in their hands as well. A girl who looks very familiar is talking with them, but leaves quickly and the guys see me. We compare our hauls and they both share a wry glance, “Ah to be in the honeymoon stage again.”

I look at Duper, “What do you mean?”

“Carol-Lynn would kill me if I spent that much on her now,” He shakes his head.

‘’Who was that girl?”

Fleury responds immediately, “What girl?”

“That girl, she kind of looked familiar.”

They both deny the existence of this girl vehemently and I finally let it drop. We depart and head back to the hotel to drop off our haul. By the time we make it downstairs back to the lobby the guys are waiting. All of us are dressed in jeans and sweaters or something comparable. Jen gets us all on the bus and we are on our way to 30 Rock. Once there the ushers let us take a few photos on the small stage before Jimmy Fallon himself comes out and talks to us before a little. We take a few more photos and he warns us, “Now we are playing Pictionary tonight one of you will be recruited to be the fourth person. How do we feel about that?”

Most of the guys are excited and I am too. Fallon is a funny guy and seems genuinely nice. He comes over to me as we are being seated, “Hey man, I’m a huge fan. I think you’re going to enjoy the show tonight.”

We shake hands, “Likewise. I’m looking forward to it.” There is a strange look in Jimmy’s eye as he walks away but I shake it off and take my seat between Nealer and Geno. In about ten minutes they are playing the opening credits and announce who the guests are for tonight. To say the least I am surprised when they announce that Brooklyn of all people will be on the program tonight. I turn to Nealer and Geno and realize that all of my teammates are looking at me. The little shits all knew. “I’m going to kill all of you.” They simply laugh and I try to focus on enjoying the show. After the first segments they take a break so that they can edit in a commercial break later. When they start filming again Jimmy Fallon speaks, “Our first guest tonight is one of the hottest young stars in Hollywood and quite possibly on her way to her first Oscar. Please welcome the beautiful and talented, Brooklyn Donahue.” The small theater erupts in applause and whistles as my girlfriend emerges all smiles from the curtain. She gives a quick wave and shares a kiss with Jimmy before taking a seat on the arm chair with a laugh. All the guys are cheering and sneaking looks at me, I simply shake my head and take in Brooklyn. Finally we are in the same room again and I wonder if she knows that I’m there. She looks absolutely amazing sitting there and the crowd continues to cheer until finally Jimmy has to quiet everyone down.

******
I’m sitting with Jimmy Fallon trying to keep my nerves to a minimum; Sidney is somewhere in this theater, but I’m not sure where. I pull down my dark red dress while the audience is still cheering. My outfit is fairly simple, the red dress is long sleeved with a scoop neck that hugs my torso and hips before gently flaring at the bottom. The black pumps give me about an extra five inches and make my legs seem to go one forever. Across from Jimmy Fallon though I feel nervous, he gives me a kind smile before turning to the audience and trying to get them to quiet down, “Welcome, welcome! I am so excited to have you here. I’m a huge fan, my wife’s a huge fan. Basically this entire studio is a huge fan.”

I laugh, “Well the feeling is absolutely mutual. I’m so glad that I get to be here, thank you.”

“I heard though that this is your first late night appearance.”

I nod, “It is, it is. So I’m a little nervous, but I’ve heard that if anyone’s going to be your first time it should be you.”

The audience laughs a little at my double entendre and Jimmy acts comically flustered, “Well, I’m gentle don’t worry. But let’s focus on this year for you, it’s been huge.”

I nod, “It has, and I’ve been extremely lucky and have really gotten to do a lot.”

“What’s been the craziest experience that you’ve had so far?”

‘’Geeze, that’s tough,” I bite my lip before launching into a story surrounding an ill-fated meeting with Leonardo Dicaprio and the entire studio is laughing by the end. For the next few minutes the interview flows smoothly.

Before the next question Jimmy pauses for a moment, “I’m a huge hockey fan and as you know the Penguins are here tonight,” a small cheer goes up and I smile knowingly. “So I have to know what it’s like dating Sidney Freaking Crosby.”

I lean back into the chair and fidget a little before answering, “God, you are going to make me talk about him when he is right here!”

“Well yeah,” Jimmy responds and I laugh.

I take deep breath, “Okay, here it goes. I will tell you one story. Pretty recently he invited me to this holiday party with the team, who I’ve all met and they are great guys, great families. But we go to this party and I don’t know what I was thinking, but of course we are going to ice skating. The only problem is I don’t know how to ice skate,” The audience gives a slight chuckle.

Jimmy Fallon gasps, “Oh, no.”

“Exactly. Anyways Sidney teaches me how to skate while there,” The audience aws and Jimmy mentions how cute that is. “No, no it’s really not, he was not a good teacher! Anyways I’m a horrible skater and eventually fall in front of everyone. Like really, my boyfriend is the best player in the world and I can’t even stay on my feet.”

“You are a horrible girlfriend.”

I laugh, “But really that is exactly how it felt. Whatever though I’m pretty sure he is a bad actor.”

Jimmy closes out the segment, “We will be back after this break playing Pictionary with the lovely Brooklyn and a few guests. Come right back!”

We take a break to organize the set and Jimmy and I exchange a few pleasantries before makeup comes and touches both of us a little. I take a moment to scan the crowd and locate my boyfriend. Jimmy sees me looking and smiles at me, “Please, go say hi. We have about five minutes until we keep filming.”

I say thank you and then make my way towards the audience. Emma joins me to help control crowd even though Beau is seated pretty close to Sidney. Before I get to Sidney though people in the aisles ask for pictures and I happily oblige. Eventually Emma pulls me away though so I can say hi to Sidney. He stands and I grab his hand and pull him down to the stage for a quick second. We walk over to a slightly less conspicuous space and hug, “I told you I would see you soon.”

“You are such a little shit,” he laughs and quickly pecks me on the lips. “God, you continue to take my breath away.”

“Aw thanks.”

“Also, you are killing it. The audience loves you,” he rubs his thumb along my hand. “Do you want to grab dinner tonight?”

I nod emphatically, “Please. I will be in town tomorrow too so I might come to your game with a few friends.”

“I would love that,” his eyes darken a little. “Spend the night tonight?”

I step back into Sidney’s arms, “Of course. You owe me from Friday still.”

He laughs and I slap him the chest. Emma comes over, “Hi Sidney. Sorry I have to steal Brooklyn back.”

“Fair enough.” Sidney kisses me on the forehead and then makes his way back to his seat.

We pick back up from the break with couches and an easel set up. Jimmy speaks up, “Welcome back. We are going to play a friendly game of Pictionary. On my team I am going to recruit our next guest tonight. Kerry Washington.” She emerges, looking chic as usual and we share a quick hug. “And as Brooklyn’s second teammate, Evegeni Malkin from the Pittsburgh Penguins!”

I smile and turn to Geno walk down from his seat to join us. He shakes Jimmy’s hand and gives Kerry Washington a quick peck on the cheek and then turns to me. Unsurprisingly he pulls me into a huge hug that crushes my lungs and lifts me off of my feet. We laugh and then settle into the game. Unfortunately, Geno and I lose pitifully. The language barrier is a huge problem, but we have absolutely so much fun. By the time the game is over all of us are hysterically laughing.

*******
After the show we are allowed to stay and hang out for a few minutes and Brooklyn walks out, now in a much more casual ensemble and I can’t help but smile. “Did y’all like the show?”

We all nod and Brooklyn easily fits into my side, “Ready for some food?”

She nods emphatically, “Just come back to my dressing room and then we can head straight from there.”

Coach Dan interjects, “Don’t tire our captain out too much now.”

“I don’t know if I can make that promise,” She winks and then we walk away. My girlfriend fits in perfectly with my teammates. Usually finding a girl that can hang with my teammates is a little difficult, but from the very beginning Brooklyn has dished everything back to my guys. Honestly, it’s really hot.

Back in her dressing room she gathers her things and a man walks in and looks at me, “You must be Sidney. I’m David, Brooklyn’s image is in my hands and I just wanted to thank you for being spectacular during this process.”

I send a quick look to Brooklyn who seems to be trying to control her laughter and focus back on David, “Um, thanks. It’s great to meet you.”

“Do you need anything else? Sidney and I are going to grab an early dinner.”

“Nope, just wanted to touch base,” David waves and then leaves the small room.

Brooklyn is tidying up before she leaves and gathering her things when I realize this is the first time we have been alone in weeks. My mind runs wild with the possibilities, “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too Sid.”

We are silent for another moment before I take a few steps to close the distance between Brooklyn and I. She falls into my arms and I hold her for a few minutes in silence. I think the two of understand each other and what comes with being high up in our field. Sacrifices are made and we get benefits, but nothing beats holding someone you truly care about in your arms.

She looks up at me and we make eye contact and lean forwards. Our lips meet in the middle and this feels heavenly. I could kiss this girl for the rest of my life. Her hands fall around my neck and I use my hands on her hips to pull her closer to me. I lean her against the vanity and let my hands roam over the beautiful body that I’ve been missing for the past few weeks. After a few heated minutes we pull away both breathing heavy. I rest my forehead on hers, “Tonight, I promise. I’m not going to do in this against a table, again.”

She laughs, “That’s a very good point.”

We walk in and hand out of her dressing room and then out of 30 Rock. Brooklyn suggests a simple restaurant for us that is fairly uncrowded. We have a nice dinner and then decide to head back to her hotel room for a little. Unsurprisingly, the room is beautiful and luxurious. Brooklyn drops her bag on the extra bed and then crawls in to next to me. She stretches out, “So tell me everything that I’ve missed the past few days.”

“Doesn’t really matter. I’m here with you now,” I lean over and kiss Brooklyn again our lips slide against each other. Brooklyn moves closer to me. Soon the two of us are lost in a hot and heavy session. Eventually Brooklyn settles herself on top of me. My hands run up and down her sides re-familiarizing myself with her curves. I push up Brooklyn’s top and press my lips against her newly exposed skin.

She sighs and helps me remove my shirt as well before working on the buckle to my pants. While she is focusing on that I remove her bra and have to contain my groan at seeing her beautiful breast. I lean up and place kisses across her chest and am rewarded with a moan. Smiling I pull Brooklyn up against my chest and kiss her full on the lips. Feeling her body up against mine is wonderful and for a second I just relish this beautiful girl above me. “I am the luckiest man in the world.”
Brooklyn smiles at my admission, “I feel like I should be the one saying that.” We resume our kisses while I work to help Brooklyn out of her leggings.

*****
I am on top of Sidney without a stich of clothing on and Sidney is also as bare as I. My hands run up and down his body reverently. I’m trying to memorize every inch of this wonderful man beneath me. His fingers are playing with my clit and I have to try to focus on kissing him. I finally push his hand away and he looks at me a little confused, “I want you inside of me.” Without another word I gide Sidney into me and I sink down onto his body.

Sidney groans, “Fuck.”

I smile and slowly move up and down, losing myself in the feeling of Sidney’s hard member inside of me. We fit together perfectly and I realize that nothing will ever compare to this. Sidney pulls my head down to his and captures me in a deep kiss and our tongues tangle. He flips us over so he is above me. Our eyes connect as Sidney slows the pace and I feel as he slowly thrusts every inch into me. My back arches in ecstasy and he takes the opportunity to once again focus on my chest. This time it is my turn to interject,

“Oh my God.”

Sidney pulls back from chest and continues his slow tortuous thrusts. My hands clutch Sidney’s back and I know that I will leave marks. Our eyes focus on another as Sidney pushes into me again and again. WE are silent besides our breathing and I lose myself in Sidney’s ministrations. Before long I feel myself getting closer and closer. “Sidney.”

All I need to say his name and he kisses me one last time before thrusting hard and I fall apart under him. We climax together and are silent. In a few moments Sidney pushes a stray hair back, “Are you okay?”

I smile, “More than okay. That was amazing.”

“You are perfect,” Sidney kisses me softly on the lips and then rolls off of me. He pulls me towards his warm chest. “I don’t deserve you.”

His admission makes me a little nervous and I suddenly know that Sidney and I made love. We might have not said the words, but that’s what it was. Undoubtedly an emotional connection was formed in the last few minutes. I sigh and realize that Sidney has it wrong. If anything I don’t deserve him. I keep secrets from this perfect man while he does everything perfectly. Selfishly I promise myself in this moment that everything will change from this point on. The past won’t matter if I can make every moment from now forward count. “Stop. I think you have it the wrong way.”

Sidney simply pulls me closer to him, “I would have this argument with you for every day for the rest of my life if I could.”

Notes

Two chapters in less than 24 hours, make sure you read Chapter 19 first. Finally, Brooklyn and Sidney are reunited, enjoy!!! Also, imaging Sidney shopping in SAKS just made me laugh...