The game started off great. Sid got two goals in the first period, but then they fell apart, and by the third, they were down 4-2 and weren't able to bounce back. Even though they lost I was still so proud of Sid. The croud in Winnipeg can be ruthless, but despite their taunts, he showed them what he's made of. Lindsay went home and I cleaned up a bit before going to bed. The next morning I'm woken up by my phone, which seemed to be happening a lot lately. I make a mental note to turn it on silent before bed next time. My droopy eyelids open just enough to see that I have one new text message from Lindsay.
It reads, "tap on the link. u need to see this. i'm really sorry."
Next to her message was a link to a gossip site. I lay in bed for a short while, contemplating whether or not to actually open the link. I was scared, in all honesty. I could sense it had something to do with Sid, what else could it possibly be about? Overwhelmed with curiosity, I sighed and tapped the link. It took a few seconds to load the picture, but once it was fully revealed on the screen I didn't want to look any longer. It was a picture of Sid on a couch in, what looks like a fancy bar, with some puck bunny basically draped on top of him. She was smiling and whispering something in Sid's ear. Although he didn't look completely comfortable, he still had a small nervous smile on his face. He was probably worried this would get out to the media, he was right to worry. After staring at my black phone screen for a while, the image burned into the back of my brain, I went back to the site to read the article. According to the site, it was taken the day before the game vs. the Jets... right after I finished talking on the phone to him. I grimaced in pain and disgust, closing the web page and vowing to never look at it again. Of course when Sidney goes on the road he hooks up with whoever he would like. And who would say no to him? I wouldn't... I didn't, but I now regret it. All I really did was set myself up for heart break. I should have seen this coming. As if on cue, I get a phone call from no one other than Sid himself. Seeing his name on the screen, a loud sob escapes my throat. Then I'm balling my eyes out, letting the phone go to voicemail. I get an alert saying I had one new voice message, instantly I delete it without listening to it. No way am I going to let him coax me into forgiving him so easily. There goes my phone again. It's Sid. This time I don't let it ring, instead I press "decline". Then a third time Sid calls. I turn my phone on silent. A few minutes later, when I guess Sid figured out I wasn't going to answer his calls, he texted me. Quickly, I turn off my read reciepts before taking a look.
His message read, "I know you've seen the picture. I know you're mad at me. And I know it won't be easy to get you to forgive me. But if you could just please phone me back so we can at least talk about this and I can explain. You don't have to forgive me, but at least give me a chance. Please."
It's so like Sid to text with perfect grammar. In fact, it kind of makes me giggle. At this point, I'm starting to go insane. Once I've calmed down and the tears stop flowing, something inside of me possesses me to dial his number, and before I know it, the phone is ringing.
"Rebecca?! I can't believe you actually called," Sid says breathlessly, he sounds like he just got out of practice.
"You have five minutes to tell me your story before I hang up," I said, trying to hold back the tears, but my voice was wobbly.
"Ok, I understand. Where do I start? First, I can promise you we didn't do anything, like at all. I was just sitting with my teammates at the bar after dinner, and this random chick came and sat next to me and was all over me. I mean... she did ask me if I wanted to go to the back with her... but I said no! The picture you saw was taken at the wrong moment in time, I saw some greeseball that looked like he was desperate for cash pull out his iPhone before I could push that girl off of me. You can ask any of the guys on the team. Here, Flower is right next to me, he'll talk to you."
"I really don't think that's nece-"
I'm cut-off by a pleasent sounding man with a French accent,"Rebecca you have to believe him. I was there and I saw everything. Nothing happened. Sid really likes you, and if you really like him too you have to deal with the media twisting things. Now it's up to you whether you want to put up with it or not."
Marc-Andre was right, if I wanted this "Sid and me" thing to work, I needed to learn to deal with the media and all their crazy stories, but did I want to?
The phone is handed back to Sid, "You haven't said anything yet. Speak to me," Sid begged.
"Listen, I'm not completely sure if I believe you."
"What else can I do to make you believe me? You can talk to some of the other team mates," he suggests.
"No, I don't mean that. Don't tell me the evidence on how you didn't hook up with some puck bunny. Make me believe that you care about me. Prove it to me," his five mintues was up, and so I hung up.