Raining on Sunday

Flashback

I took my place on the ice, knowing that this was Harvard’s last chance at the Nationals, as the Captain for the women’s hockey team, I felt the pressure weighing down on my body. I skated up to the line and faced off with the Captain from the visitors intruding on our ice, both of us anticipating our chance to send the puck flying to our team to score. The referee spoke, but to me, it was all a blur. The puck dropped and we fought, Harvard getting the puck. I skated down as fast as I could, following my team. The puck soared in my direction, me being the only open one on the ice, and I shot it straight into the net. It seemed too easy, something was wrong and for a moment, the world moved in slow motion. One of the girls from the opposing team got to me a second too late, and slammed her body into mine. Her leg, hitting the side of mine, sending my knee in ways it shouldn’t have been bent. My body hit the ice backwards, and before the celebrating team could realize what had just happened, everything went cold.

“Miss Kemp, don’t panic. You’re in the hospital. You were hurt during your game. You’re alright now.” I heard a soft voice speak, and felt a hand on my arm. My eyes fluttered open, and I looked around. I felt tired, not just physically but mentally exhausted. I looked around and saw flowers everywhere, and as I tried sitting up I was gently pushed back down. “You shouldn’t move just yet, honey. You’re body was in shock for a while.” The voice spoke again. I looked over and saw a blonde nurse standing over me, and a doctor standing at the foot of the bed. “What happened?” I choked out, my voice still dry. I looked at my leg, and saw a metal cage with pins in it on my knee. I inhaled sharply as I saw the scars on both sides of it. “You took a very hard hit to the knee, and we worked hard but we finally fixed everything. You have a long road to recovery, I’m afraid though.” The doctor spoke. I shook my head, knowing what this meant. I was done in hockey. There was no longer a future for me. I dropped my head into the pillow and tried to fight back tears. “Can I walk?” I asked. “You tore your ACL, MCL, your joint was fractured, not to mention all the minor tears in the ligaments. You can’t be on it immediately, but with therapy you will be able to walk again.” He spoke softly. “Can I skate?” I cried. The doctor and the nurse were both quiet. So much for the Olympics, I thought to myself.

Six months of rigorous physical therapy had taken place before I was confident enough to walk on my own. My recovery had gone smoothly, and doctors were even impressed by how quickly I was recovering. I was in my last class before graduation when I had received a text. I pulled out my phone, keeping it hidden under the table. It was my coach, letting me know that I was needed in the rink after class. I sent back an okay, and locked my phone. My hands were sweating as I thought about what I was needed for. I didn’t press charges on the girl who hit me, and I hadn’t been back near the team since the accident. After class, I ran out of the class and ran to coaches office. I knocked on her door, and she said to come in. I slowly opened the door, and saw her sitting behind her desk and a man standing looking at pictures from the season that coach had on her wall. “Eisley, there’s someone that would like to meet you and make you an offer.” The man turned and pulled a hand out of his pocket, and extended it to me. “My name is Mario. How do you feel about Pittsburgh?”

Present

The final buzzer had gone off, and I watched as our guys stood hopelessly in the center of the ice. The rest on the bench fell silent, most with their heads hung low. 2-1, the Penguins fell to their opponents. Coach motioned for us to stand up, and applaud the winning team. I watched as Sidney skated back over to the bench, as he stepped inside he pulled me into a hug in front of everyone. I inhaled deeply into my shoulder, and I could feel his heart pounding. “Come on. Let’s go shake hands.” Everyone skated onto the ice, and shook hands with the winning team. We were a graceful team, accepting our losses, and moving forward but this stung a little worse tonight. After it was all said and done, we made our way back into the locker room where it was silent. Nobody spoke, just changed out of their gear and headed for the showers. James walked passed me, bumping me in the process. “Sorry.” He mumbled before scurrying off. I sighed and walked into my own office, and collapsing in my chair. After a while, coach called everyone into the locker room. The mood floating amongst everyone was heartbreaking. Almost everyone was changed out of their gear and back into their suits already, everyone except for Sidney. I looked away from his eyes, and listened to coach talk about cleaning out the lockers tomorrow, at their own time and he tried giving a pep talk, once he realized that it wasn’t helping, he told the guys that he was proud of them, because win or lose, we still had each other.

“Sidney? You okay?” I asked once the locker room had cleared out, he had finally stripped himself of his gear but still sat in his under armor on the bench. He looked up at me, but his eyes were watery. “I thought for sure we had it this year. If I had just been fast enough I could of stopped the final shot.” He spoke quietly. I put my hand on his arm, “Don’t blame this on yourself. This is far from your fault, Sid. Everyone could have done something differently, but that doesn’t mean that it would of changed the outcome of the game.” He looked down and played with his fingers. I pulled his hand away and held it in my own. I felt my own heart hurting from his pain. I got an idea to make him feel better, and shoot of the bench and trotted over to the overhead stereo system that was in the coach’s office. I plugged my phone in and played a familiar song.

Flashback

“Sid, I can’t skate anymore, you know howl long its been since I’ve stepped on ice with blades under my feet?” I laughed. He grabbed my hand and picked me up, sitting me on a counter in the gear room. He pulled off my shoe much to my dismay, and looked at my shoe size. “I could of just told you, you know? What if I had athletes foot?” I asked. “Eh, wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had athletes foot.” He replied, handing me a pair of skates. “I can’t skate, Sid. I can’t even dance anymore. My knee…” “You know I’m getting really tired of hearing that word, ‘can’t’. It’s getting old really fast, Kemp.” He gave me a funny look and grabbed my hand, leading me back to the ice. I put the skates on, slowly lacing them up. Sid hopped out on the ice, skated around a few times and then slid over to where I was standing. I felt like a newborn learning how to walk again. I put one foot on the ice, and slowly put the other one on. I started out slow, Sidney skating in front of me, cheering me on. “See? You remember. I’m not saying you have to drop your gloves with me, but you can at least enjoy being on the ice again.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me along with him, picking up the speed. A song came over the arena, and I recognized it right off the back. “I love this song.” I laughed. It was Come and Get Your Love by Redbone. “Oh is that so?” Sidney looked around, with a sly look on his face. “Wait, did you set this up?” I asked. He shrugged. “I may or may not have heard it coming out of your office at least a hundred times.” He bumped with his booty, sending me off on one foot, he grabbed me by my waist to make sure I didn’t fall. “Damn your big ass, Crosby.” I playfully hit him. He grinned and grabbed my hands, shaking his hips to the song. “Sid, don’t quit your day job.” I poked. He twirled me around on the ice, and sang the chorus loudly. I felt myself loosening up, and feeling more comfortable, so I danced with him. It felt natural to be on the ice again, and I was having the time of my life. “Cause you’re fine, and you’re mine and you look so divine…” He sang into my ear. I felt myself turning red, I looked back at him in his eyes. He had the most perfect eyes, and I never noticed until now. We had been friends since I started at the Consol 4 months ago, but I never noticed how beautiful he really was until now. He leaned his face close to mine, I could feel his breath on me. I could of sworn we were going to kiss, but we were interrupted when the music came to a screeching halt, and a male voice yelled his name. “That would be my dad…to be continued?” He smiled, releasing his hands from my waist. I nodded, and tucked a stray hair behind my ear, watching him skate off.

Present

“What are you doing?” He asked, as I walked over to him to pull him off the bench. “I can’t dance right now, Eisley, come on.” He tried stopping me from dancing on him. I shook my head, and put his hands on my waist, and shook my hips with him, mouthing the words to him. “Getting really tired of hearing that word, Crosby.” I winked at him. A smile finally spread across his face, and he twirled me around like he did many months ago. I sang the same part he sang into my ear, into his and felt his grip on my waist tighten. “There’s that famous smile I’ve been looking for.” I nudged him. “I’m pretty sure you’re the only person who could make me feel okay after completely blowing the playoffs.” He laughed. I laid my head on his chest, still swaying to the beat. I felt him kiss the top of my head, and hug me tighter. “I love you, Sid. I just want to see you happy.” I sighed, and froze, realizing what I had just let out. He pulled me back, and looked into my eyes, his eyebrows dug together. “I-I-I meant like, you know-“ I started but was cut off, “To be continued?” He smirked. I nodded, and felt him close the space between our lips.

Notes

I wanted to give a little background on the history of Sidney and Eisley, I hope you all like this chapter too, and here's Sid and Eisley's song ^.^
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvqMvxdZTVE