Baggage Claim

When Sidney came down stairs after his shower he found Brooke sitting at the island with her Ipad open, scrolling through some things. He still hadn’t gotten used to the idea that she would be staying with him for the next little while. They hadn’t slept in the same house since there were sixteen and they barely spoke to one another unless it was to say excuse me or argue about something. “Hey, are you hungry?” Sid asked opening his fridge and realizing that he really only had kale, Gatorade and some yogurt.

“Uhm, sort of not really,” Brooke said distracted. Sid turned to look at her noticing she hadn’t looked up from her Ipad since he had come down.

“Well I’m going to have to go to the store, did you want anything in particular?” Sid asked grabbing his keys off the counter. Brooke didn’t acknowledge him and it was irritating. Sid took a deep breath and walked over to Brooke and took the Ipad out of her hand.

“Hey, what the –“ Brooke said reaching for it.

“I’m going out to get food, what do you want?” Sid said still holding it, trying to keep it from her grasp.

“Sidney please give it back, I don’t care what you get, I told you I’m not hungry,” Brook pleaded and she reached across him to get the Ipad form his hand. He backed away from her, still not allowing for her to get it back.

“What don’t you want me to see on here?” Sid asked turning the screen towards himself, and Brooke relaxed realizing the screen had locked itself.

“You know what? Why don’t I come with you, I’m starting to feel hungry,” Brooke said, taking a few steps in the direction of the front door. Sid looked at her and was a little confused but when he looked down, he saw that the screen had gone black and when he pressed the home button the password required screen appeared. Sidney frowned while setting down Brookes Ipad on the counter.

“Well now I’m interested,” Sid said turning toward Brooke and again picking up his keys, heading towards the door.

“Well it’s nothing to be interested in so don’t worry about it,” Brooke said crossing her arms in front of her chest. Sid nodded his head and grabbed a Pittsburgh Pirates hat that had been sitting on the table in his foyer. There were a couple others sitting there as well and Sidney offered one to Brooke but she shook her head no and followed Sidney out the front door. She kept walking toward the truck still parked in the driveway while Sid locked the door. His house and its surroundings were beautiful. Brooke looked around at all the trees and the garden sitting underneath his front windows and was amazed by the amount of colour the bloomed from it. She laughed to herself figuring that the flowers were Trina’s touch and Sidney groaning when she probably first mentioned it.

“Ready?” Sid asked from beside the truck. He had passed her with out her noticing it while she was off in her only little world admiring the beauty of what was around her. She nodded her head yes and hurried to the passenger side door. Sidney watched as she effortlessly hopped into the truck and admired how beautiful she looked with no make-up on and in an old baggy shirt and shorts. Her hair had waves in it from her shower and looked almost perfect falling over her shoulders just slightly. Sidney started the truck and cleared his throat a little bit. If he was going to make it through the next couple of weeks with Brooke he was going to have to stop thinking about her and looking at her the way her was. As he was reversing, when he turned around to look behind him he caught Brooke looking at him quizzically.

“What?” he asked putting the truck in drive and going down the driveway.

“Nothing,” Brooke said looking out her window.

“That’s a lie,” Sid said turning onto the street. Brooke sighed and answered him.

“I was just thinking about how I’ve never really seen you with a baseball hat on before. I mean in pictures yeah, but I don’t know if I ever really remember wearing them when you were younger,” Brooke pointed out. Sidney had to think about it a little bit but she was right, he had really only started to wear them frequently outside of hockey tournaments for privacy reasons. He nodded his head understanding what she meant. “Do you wear them so people wont recognize you as easily?” she asked.

“Yeah,” Sid answered pulling the brim down out of habit. “I mean, not to sound cocky or anything but people tend to recognize me no matter what now, but it helps a little bit I guess,” Sid said turning a little red on his cheeks. Brooke chuckled a little bit and rested her head on her hand propped up on the car door.

“I do not envy you, Crosby,” Brooke said shaking her head and chuckling again. Sid joined in too thinking about how some days, he didn’t envy himself either. They drove a little further before Brooke spoke again. “It suits you though, the hat, you look good in them,” Brooke said complementing him. Sidney smiled a bit and thanked her. She smiled back and the both went back to looking ahead at the road.

Sidney pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store and since it was a late Saturday afternoon, there weren’t to many cars parked outside the store. They both made their way towards the doors of the grocery store and Sidney kept his head down the entire time. Brooke couldn’t imagine having to be in the public eye 24/7. It would drive her insane. He had to always be aware of what he was doing and what her was saying. If he made one wrong move it would be all over the Internet. Girls were always trying to get his attention, which Brooke couldn’t believe that for a guy in his twenties, it was the worst thing in the entire world. But still, how could he know for sure that if he were to meet someone down the road that they were with him for him, not for the money that he makes or the fame that come with his name. Brooke started to get a little bothered about thinking about how many girls have tried to sleep with him and how many had actually succeeded. Brooke turned towards Sidney, feeling a little bit of unwarranted hatred towards him and kind of snapped at him. “Where to captain?” Brooke said with a chill in her voice.

“Uhh, over here a I guess,” Sidney said pointing toward the vegetables looking bewildered. Brooke stocked off in that direction with the buggy while Sidney followed behind.
…

By the time they had gotten back to the house it was around six o’clock and Brooke felt like she was going to fall through the floor. She was exhausted and wanted to eat as fast as possible so she could go and fall into her bed and sleep for what she figured would be a day or two. They worked together putting the food away but Brooke had been extremely silent and grumpy since the store. Sidney hadn’t pushed her or commented on the change because he wasn’t in the mood for a ‘Brokney’ fight as his younger sister called them. Brooke didn’t know where anything went so she had been emptying the bags and handing the items for Sidney to put away. Once everything was away, Sidney turned to her and asked her what she was in the mood for.

“Honestly Sidney, I don’t care, so what ever you’re in the mood for, I’m game for that,” Brooke said sitting on one of the chairs behind the island. She put her head in her hands and rubbed her eyes. She was ready to just go to bed with out eating but she knew that was a dumb idea since she hadn’t eaten anything all day.

“How about a peanut butter and jam sandwich?” Sidney asked causing Brooke to look up at him. He knew that it was a pretty out of left field but he couldn’t think of anything else of the top of his head that would allow him to make in a matter of minutes.

“Are you serious? That’s what you want for dinner?” Brooke asked.

“Sure, its quick and I’m pretty skilled at making them now so it will taste pretty amazing too,” Sidney pleaded his case, getting a smile out of Brooke. He smiled back and went to work grabbing everything he needed and started their dinner.
…

“Sid, I gotta hand it to you, these are pretty amazing,” Brooke said before taking another bite out of her sandwich. It had taken him no time to make them and Brooke was now on her second one.

“Wow, two compliments in one day from Brooke Blake, I wish someone else was here to witness this,” Sid said smirking at Brooke, joking around. Brooke pushed his shoulder and rolled her eyes at him, not finding it as funny as Sid but a little humorous. “Do you want me to make you a third one or is two going to be enough?” Sid asked nodding his head towards her again empty plate.

“No funny guy, I stuffed, but thank you for dinner,” Brooke said getting up to wash her plate.

“Don’t worry about that, I’ll wash it, just go upstairs, I’m sure you want to go to sleep,” Sidney said getting up and taking the plate out of her hand.

“Sid, it’s fine, I can wash the plates,” Brooke said reaching back for the plate.

“No. You’re tired, you’ve had a long day, I can take care of two plates and a knife,” Sidney said walking past her to the sink.

“You’re way to controlling Sidney,” Brooke said angrily toward the back ok his head.

“Why? Because I’m trying to be nice? Not everyone in your life is an asshole Brooke, and even though you may think that I am one, I’m really not,” Sidney stated turning around to face her. He was tired of them always arguing with one another and was enjoying the happy mood from two minutes ago.

Brooke knew when he said that that Sidney was referring to her father and how much she and him don’t get along. There was a reason she was going to school in a completely different country and that was so she could get as far away from him as she could. Sidney regretted it as soon as he turned around but didn’t know what to say. “I didn’t call you an asshole Sid,” Brooke said lowering her voice and turning to walk up the stairs. Sidney watched her walk out of the kitchen.

“Shit” he said to himself.
…

Growing up, Brooke had always been a daddy’s girl until she was about fifteen and started high school. Her family had always had money because her grandfather had owned quite a few fishing boats and was one of the largest Lobster selling corporations in all of Canada. While her father had always been more interested in the business side of it, he went down a different path from her grandfather and owned three banks in the province.

When Brooke had started high school her father had started to spend more and more time working and less time at home with her and her family. When she got suspicious, Brooke went to her father to find out what was going on only to be shut out by him completely and her resentment for her father began. He would come home some nights, having already had one to many drinks and her mother never seemed to say or do anything about his behaviour and Brooke had had enough. She began talking back to him, calling him an alcoholic and accusing him of not caring about his family. On more than one occasion the fights turned physical by her father slapping her across the face. Whenever those nights occurred, there was always a new present for Brooke the next morning: a new car, more money in her account, trips around the worlds, etc. When it came time for Brooke to go to university her father paid for everything including her medical school as well as living expense and more. He tried to buy her love back but when that didn’t work, he paid for her to be happy. Brooke hadn’t had a conversation with her father in almost five years that consisted of more than five words.

Sidney had known about the issues between them, ever since they started and he was one of the many few whom knew anything about Brooke's home life much to her dismay.

She didn’t know is she was ever going to forgive her father for everything he had done to her but because of she was never able to rely on anyone but herself. She was guarded, especially towards men, and especially towards Sidney. She was afraid that every man would turn into her father.

Notes

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