Going to Canada for the summer from when she was twelve to when she reached the age of sixteen wasn't how she wanted to spend her summers, at least not at first. She wanted to be lazy around the house, annoy her older brother, but none of that happened. Her mother thought it would be best if Taryn spent time with her grandparents. The first day there had been pure torture in her mind. Her grandparents wanted to chit chat with her, but all she wanted to do was be left alone to wallow since she hadn't been able to get her way with her parents. It made her wonder why Travis hadn't come with. She had been jealous that he got to stay home and work on his soccer skills and she was sent off to with with family that never came out or called them in years. The second day was much like the first except Taryn went to the store with her grandmother for things for the dinner they had planned with some of the neighbors. It was something she was not looking forward to. She hated the way her grandparents had been showing her off, like she was some kind of trophy. The dinner on the third night changed everything, it was when she met someone who would make the summers she spent in Canada worth it all. Sidney Crosby. He lived down the street and was the same age as her. That was when she thought that maybe spending time in Canada wouldn't be so bad after all.

That had been three years ago. At the age of sixteen, Taryn was happy to escape the constant fighting between her parents. Her brother was off at college and had been home for Christmas, but then that was it. She didn't blame him, she couldn't, she wouldn't want to be in the house with constant fighting either. Being in Canada and with Sidney, took her mind off of the situation at home. When she was with him, it was just them. There were no parents fighting, no grandparents nagging her about spending so much time together. It was a carefree time where she could be herself with the one person she looked forward to seeing every summer. The moment he had come over to see if she was there yet, they had left Taryn's grandparents house.

Sidney had taken her to their spot, it was where they ended up two summers ago when she just wanted to get away from the house for a bit and he didn't want to go home at the time. Knowing that Sidney should be playing hockey or at least practicing made it more special that he was spending time with her instead. His face was all over the newspapers that her grandmother sent to her while she was back home in Pittsburgh. “Your here earlier than usual.”

“I couldn't take the fighting so I came earlier,” Taryn told him as she sat on the grass beneath the tall tree that shaded the area they were in. “I just wish it would stop.”

Taking a seat next to her, Sidney gave her a small smile. “How about you not think about it? We are going to have a spectacular summer again. I have a feeling that things are going to get better.”

“That would be a nice change,” Taryn admitted. “I wish summer could last longer, I hate leaving every time. It gets really hard.”

“I know, but right now, let's do something that you want to do.”

“Watch the sunset?” Taryn asked, placing her head on his shoulder. “From right here.”

“That sounds great.”

For Taryn, nothing seemed to get any worse when Sidney was around, in fact they just got better. That started happening last summer, things between them had changed. To her it was for the better. It was hard to tell if he felt anything towards her since he never really spoke about it and when he would, he got extremely shy about it. A week before she left last summer she had kissed him and was surprised when he actually responded. She knew she liked him more than she thought she would when she first met him, but it seemed that he cared about her as well. The only problem was that she would have to wait to find out next summer if he still felt that way or if he thought it was just a one time thing. Summer always took forever to get there and when it was finally there it went by in the blink of an eye.

Knowing that summer was coming to a close, Taryn didn't want to go back home to Pittsburgh, she wanted to stay in Cole Harbor. She knew Sidney would start to get busy soon, but that didn't matter, she would be away from her parents constant fighting. Out here, she'd be with Sidney more often, it would be better than letters and emails they exchanged during the school year and holiday seasons.

With only two full days left in Canada, Sidney and Taryn stayed at her grandparents while they were out at one of their parties. They trusted them and they really didn't have a choice. On the way home from a party at one of her grandmother's friends' places, there was a road block and it didn't look like it would be cleared for hours at least. So they went and checked into a hotel and called their granddaughter so there wouldn't be panic from her when they didn't come home.

Taryn was dressed in a pair of shorts and a tank top while Sidney had on a plain white tee on along with his pajama bottoms. They had watched a movie before they found themselves bored with freedom and nothing to do. So after locking the front door and making sure the door on the side of the house was locked, they headed up to her bedroom where they laid down on her queen sized bed. “I don't want to go home.”

“Don't you miss your parents?” Sidney asked running his hand up and down her back as her head stayed on his shoulder.

“Sure I do,” she told him. “I don't miss the constant fighting or the headaches from their fighting.”

“I'm sorry,” Sidney told her as he kissed the top of her head. “I wish you could stay out here and that way we could spend more time together.”

“That would be nice,” Taryn said snuggling into his side. “Do you think teenagers can fall in love and not end in constant fighting or divorce?”

“I think if they really love one another then they can make it work, but maybe sometimes things aren't meant to be.”

“Maybe my parents would be better off without one another.”

“At least you know you have someone that loves you outside of your family.” He told her.

“I do?” she asked sitting up and Sidney's hand rested on her hip. Her forest green eyes looked into his brown ones. She had a feeling what he was talking about, but she wanted him to say it.

“Yeah, you do,” he sat up and brushed her blonde hair from her eyes and behind her ear. “You'll always have me.”

“Your my best friend Sidney.”

“I don't want to be your best friend, Taryn,” he told her. “There's something I meant to tell you last summer and I didn't.”

Her eyes never looked away from his brown ones. She was too interested in what he had to say. He sat up and took a deep breath. “The first time you fall in love...it changes your life forever.”

“How do you-”

“I fell in love last summer, well I think it was before last summer, but that was when I knew what it was.”

“Who-” Taryn's question was stopped mid-sentence as his lips descended onto hers. She gasped in surprised before wrapping her arm around his neck to bring him closer. Sidney brought her body closer to his as he continued to kiss her. When he broke the kiss they were both out of breath and his lips kissed down her neck.

Taryn's eyes closed as she felt his lips on her skin. The feeling she had while his hand crept under her shirt, scared her, but not as much as she was nervous. She wanted this as much as he did. When he stopped, she looked up at him and gave him a small smile before pulling his shirt above his head and tossing it off the side of the bed. Sidney did the same and was a little disappointed that she was wearing a sports bra under her shirt. His lips placed light kisses on her stomach. The belly button ring she got when she was fifteen found its way between his teeth. When he bit down, she didn't know what to think. All of this was a new experience for her and for him as well.

When she went home to Pittsburgh, she had been happy, but all of that changed. Her parents were constantly fighting. It was never ending. From the time she got up and left for school to when her dad walked in the front door after work. It was like clock work for them. Then after a week and a half of being in school, her parents finally told her. They were going to separate for awhile. Her mom was going move out to a nice condo while her dad stayed at the house. They left the decision of where she wanted to go up to her, they believed that she was old enough to make the choice. She didn't want to hurt one or the other, so her decision was simple in her mind. She would stay in the house and that was that. Her mother didn't like the choice she made, but Taryn had made up he mind and that was the end of it.

Six years later Taryn Jones found herself working at Mario's while going to school. It wasn't the life she had wanted, but after her father died last year, she didn't want to waste the time she had of being young. So she enrolled back into school while working. She wasn't going to just do nothing. Her father might have left her some money, but that didn't mean she didn't have to be a slacker in that department. At times when she came home to the empty house she wondered where her mother ended up. The last she heard from her brother who was now living in Chicago, their mother was living in California. She hadn't even come out for the funeral, but that didn't surprise her since she had left in the middle of the night and didn't tell anyone about it.

“Taryn!” a loud voice yelled at her. She looked up and smiled at her friend and co-worker Jayne. “Can you help me? I need you to grab the last three bottles of champagne and follow me up to the party in the V.I.P. section.”

Setting the glass down that she had been cleaning, she made her way out of the bar and grabbed the bottles and followed Jayne. The girls made idle chat while walking up the stairs. Jayne smiled at the bouncer in front of the V.I.P. section, and he allowed them through. He knew Jayne and the other waitresses, but on occasion Taryn had called for his help with some drunks.

Setting the champagne down in ice buckets that were all around, Taryn's eyes connected with a familiar pair of deep brown eyes. Making sure the ice hadn't melted in the buckets, she gave him a small smile before standing back up.

“Taryn Jones!”

Looking up to where the bouncer who's name she couldn't remember. He was pointing to the bar she had left and saw more people were there and she needed to get back down there before something bad happened. Looking back, Taryn caught him looking at her. He knew who she was, just like she knew who he was. It may have been six years since they last saw one another or even spoke to each other, but they knew. Biting down on her lip Taryn smiled at Jayne and whispered that one of the buckets needs more ice before walking down to the bar.

Knowing that he was now there in the same place as her at the same time, made her stomach turn and she wasn't sure why. She hadn't thought about him in years and now that he was here and now it was a huge surprise. As soon as she was behind the bar, she gave a smile to Andrea who was the other bartender on that night. “So what were you doing up in the V.I.P. section?”

“Jayne needed help bring more bottles of champagne to the party up there. I didn't mean to leave you for that long.”

“No big deal,” Andrea shrugged it off as she made another Long Island Ice Tea. “Are you okay?”

“Just had a blast from the past. Wasn't expecting it so it was kind of a surprise.”

“Brown hair with some curls?”

Taryn looked up at her friend shocked that she knew. “How did you know that?”

“Because he just walked down from the V.I.P. section and is heading towards the bar and is looking right at you.”

Seeing Sidney Crosby sitting at the bar, she went to walk to the other side, but with one look from Andrea and she knew she wouldn't be able to get away with avoiding talking with the hockey star. Walking over to where he was sitting she gently bit down before looking at him. Putting the smile she gave to all the customers she leaned forward a bit. “What can I get for you?”

“Ten minutes of your time.”

“I'm working.” she said lowering her eyes before bringing them up again to meet his. She let out a sigh as she heard Andrea call out for a towel, so she turned around and grabbed one of the ones in the cabinet and walked towards her and tossed it to her before going back to where she had been standing. To her surprise, Sidney was still there watching her .

“Please,” Sidney's voice was low, but loud enough for her to hear him. “I just need to tell you something.”

“I have a break in twenty minutes,” she told him as she grabbed the notepad and started scribbling on it. “Give this to Jayne. She'll show you where to meet me.”

He nodded his head and smiled at her before thanking her and walking back to the V.I.P. section where the rest of his teammates were still celebrating their Stanley Cup win. They should have won it last year, but they didn't and so they worked even harder to this time and the work paid off. Although he hadn't had the biggest part in the final game, he had faith in his team and they deserved the win. Handing the note to Jayne she looked at him with a questioning gaze before looking down at the note. She stuffed it into her apron before grabbing the empty bottles of champagne and replacing them with the new ones.

When the time finally passed by Jayne nodded to him to follow her and he did so. He a large drink of his champagne and set the glass back down and followed her to what seemed like a back room. It seemed kind of stylish. “She'll be over there.” Jayne told him pointing over to where someone had their nose buried deep into a book. Jayne walked back out leaving him in the middle of the room looking around.

When he looked back at her, the book was lowered and her eyes met his once again for that night. “Taryn Jones.”

Tossing the book near her bag of books, she straightened up in her chair and watched him take the seat her feet had been propped on. “Sidney Crosby.”

“Six years is a long time and here you are in the same city as me.”

“I haven't left in six years,” Taryn told him honestly. “Since I was sixteen.”

“The summer that we-”

“Yeah.”

“I went to your grandparents for a week hoping you'd show up the next summer and even the following one.”

“I'm sorry,” Taryn said taking her hair out of her ponytail. “My parents ended up separating right before school started that summer and the next summer I needed to get a job.”

“Did you forget how to email?”

Taryn looked down at her hands, “I'm sorry Sidney, I really am, but my life got complicated and I didn't want you to get involved. You had a hockey career to think about. I was just the silly American girl that spent some summers in Cole Harbor.”

“You were never just a silly girl Taryn.”

“Please don't do this Sid, please.”

“Do what?” he asked scooting closer and taking her hand into his own. “Tell me what I'm doing wrong.”

“You're making me miss everything.”

“I was always thinking about you,” Sidney told her. “I have a picture of us under the tree at Mario's house.”

“I have it in my apartment too.” Taryn admitted.

“Do you remember what I told you before we had sex?”

Taryn didn't answer, she took her free hand and wiped away the tears in her eyes.

"The first time you fall in love.. it changes your life forever. It was true then and its still true now. You changed my life and I think that tomorrow you and I need to get together and start catching up on each others lives.”

“I don't think your girlfriend would approve.” Taryn told him as she stood up and he followed suit.

“I'm not seeing anyone. It has been all hockey all the time,” he told her. “I won't take no for an answer.”

“Sidney Crosby...”

“Taryn Jones,” Sidney said letting go of her hand so she could pull her hair up into a ponytail again. “I'm not asking you to marry me. Just have lunch with me.”

“Okay,” she agreed. “Plus I kinda missed you.”

“I missed you Taryn.” Sidney told her before he leaned down a bit and kissed her softly before bringing her into a hug.

Notes

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