The Roommate

It’s friday morning and the house is dead silent. Sidney’s too nervous to speak, afraid he would ruin the surprise. Meanwhile Bri was just passed out in bed. She was awoken to the sound of her phone ringing and her family singing happy birthday. Luckily for Sidney that meant she was distracted for a while so he could start getting things in order.

He stepped out and met the guys to start the planning process behind her back. They knew things would go smoothly with all going well and they were excited to see her reaction. Flower was probably more nervous than the rest of them, especially knowing just how bad Sid is with these things.

By the time they got finished and Sidney got home Bri was ready to start her day and was eating a bowl of fruit on the couch. “Happy birthday!” Sidney yelled when he walked in the house, carrying a bundle of balloons, including her new age numbers.

“Oh my god thank you!” she said almost choking, standing up and giving him a hug. “I didn’t know you knew when my birthday was!”

“I have my ways,” he smirked after their hug ended. Resisting the urge to kiss her right then and there he handed the balloons in her way. “What are your plans for the day?”

“I don’t really have any to be honest. You?”

“I wanna take you out tonight,” he smiled, shoving his awkward hand in his pocket.

“You wanna take me out?” she asked in shock. “Why?”

“Because no one deserves to spend their birthday alone. It’ll be fun, trust me.”

“Where are we going to go?”

“Can’t tell ya,” he chuckled, walking down the hall to the laundry room.

“But Sid!” she yelled in a playful mood. That was the first time she called him that and he loved the way it sounded. It lit a spark inside his chest and he knew she was fully comfortable with him now. That was a feeling he never really felt before.

“Sorry, can’t tell ya! It’s birthday rules,” he shrugged, taking his clothes out of his washing machine and into his dryer.

“You’re not fun,” she huffed.

“You’ll see how fun I am tonight. Do you have anything you want to do today?”

“Well, I don’t want to work but I have to. But I don’t have to go in for long. Just a few meetings and a much needed conversation with my editing team about these articles.”

“Alright, well you have fun with that. I have an afternoon skate so I won’t be here. But be ready for around 7:30 for dinner?”

“I’ll be ready, don’t worry,” she smirked, leaning on the door frame.

“You sure? Because we’re kind of on a time restraint.”

“Why?” she asked extremely confused.

“Because of who I am I have to be really careful with where and when I go out. So I had to book us a reservation at a place I’m comfortable with going to because I know I won’t get interrupted or drugged, and they’re aware of my situation.” Shit, Sid thought. Did he give away too much!?

“Drugged!?” Phew, thank God that’s all she was focused on out of that whole spiel. “What the hell does that mean!?”

“Because I get drug tested frequently for the NHL I have to keep clean. If someone knows I’m going to be somewhere I have to be extremely careful someone doesn’t try to drug me or alter my food. I can’t even have an Advil or anything because it has drugs I can’t have in them. So this place is a trusted one and always has been. I always try to lay low when I go out. That’s why I get a lot of takeout or delivery.”

“I would have never thought that one bit,” she said in shock. “You wouldn’t think people would want to do that to you.”

“You’d be surprised. One time Duper and I-I mean Pascal, went to a place and someone tried to drug his drink because I couldn’t legally have alcohol here yet. It was messed up.”

“That’s fine. So we have to be in and out by a certain time so no one knows you're there?”

Sidney thought about it and decided that was a perfect way to dig his way out of the hole he dug himself that she was unaware of. “Sure.”

“What?”

“I mean yes,” he laughed. “Just be ready incase I’m not home yet.”

“Can I at least know what kind of place it is to know what to wear?”

“It’s on the nicer end, but not gala fancy or anything.”

“Alright, thank you,” she smiled. “I’m off to work, enjoy your skate and thanks again for the balloons.”

“Anytime! Have fun in the office.”

When Bri arrived at her meeting she knew things weren’t going good for her since she had been slacking on her writing duties. There was a table full of other young writers, editors and publishers, and the creative directors were all standing at the front of the boardroom. Talk about intimidating.

Diana began the meeting on a fairly positive note with new pitches and feedback from customers about the level of service they had received. However Bri was noticing she kept looking at her throughout her entire speech. Could that mean a negative turn in the road? Knowing Diana, probably.

After the big group meeting Bri felt pretty good about the direction of this job and where it was heading, however she had her individual meeting coming up shortly and that caused knots to grow in her stomach until it was her turn.

When Diana’s assistant came rushing to get her Bri walked quickly to the boardroom and shut the door, sitting across the table urgently with nerves.

“First things first, I heard it was your birthday. So happy birthday.”

“Thank you,” Bri smiled.

“We’ve had a lot of great feedback from you with our customers. They adore you and have given us a lot of referrals, especially to work with you in particular. With that being said, your work for these articles hasn’t been the greatest and I need you to pick up the slack. Are you sure you still want to participate with this company because that is a requirement?”

Not sure of what to say Bri was honest. “Thank you for the feedback, that means a lot to me to hear those compliments. But with the articles I’ve really been struggling with an idea and I recently got one so I’ve been slowly working on a series of them that relates to each other.”

“Bri, I won’t sugarcoat it with you, but there are some issues with the lack of content from you there. If you want to continue with this position I need to start seeing more from you. I chose you for this position because I saw your potential, don’t prove me wrong. I know you will pick up the slack, you just need a kick in the butt.”

Bri felt a wave of guilt overtake her body. She ultimately felt that she had disappointed her employer and that was enough to disappoint her. “Now I’ve seen some of the things on your personal blog, and I’d like to ask, how the hell do you know Sidney Crosby?”

“Well I-”

“Do you know how big of a deal you could get us if you did an interview or collaboration with him?”

“I don’t think I can legally do that,” Bri stuttered.

“Why not?”

“Because we would have to go through the NHL in order to get rights, let alone the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. That’s next to impossible to get, especially for a company like ours.”

“Then how could you get him on yours?” Diana asked, getting in her face.

“Because he didn’t show his face or answer a question. He was just heard in a video posted to social media. There’s no issue with that. It’s a publication that creates an issue.”

“Well we will see about that. I’ll call you for another appointment in a few weeks. Otherwise, good job. I’m impressed.”

“Thank you Diana,” she smiled, wanting to curl into a ball and roll out of the room.

When she got to her desk Mia could tell there was an issue. “How did it go?”

“She saw my video with Sid in it and wants to do some sort of collaboration with him of some sort. I can’t do that to him though. She said she’ll let me know in a few weeks about what she wants.”

“Doesn’t she realize the legal rights she’d need to have to get an interview? You’ll be fine girl, the team will shut you down anyway.”

“That’s what I thought,” she said rubbing her face and slouching in her chair.

“So what are your plans for your big birthday?”

“Just going out with Sid to dinner. Nothing too special.”

“I’m really sorry I can’t get together to do anything. I have to cover a theme night at some club downtown. Otherwise I’d totally be there and you know it.”

“I know. That’s okay though, we can make up for it soon,” she smiled.

“So where are you and Sidney going for food?”

“I have no idea. He told me it was nicer but not fancy.”

“You gonna wear the new dress you got in Buffalo?”

“I just might,” she laughed.

“I thought you would!” Mia laughed back, remembering how much Bri loved the dress and couldn’t wait to wear it. “I’m sure it’ll go well between the two of you. Think you’ll get birthday sex?”

“Mia!” Bri swatted her arm, “No! We aren’t like that. He’s not like that.”

“You’re not?” she raised an eyebrow smirking, causing Bri to laugh again.

“Maybe I am. Who knows?”

“It’s all good, we all enjoy a good time every once in awhile… Or all the time in your case.”

“I hate you,” she chuckled again, pulling up her laptop to type another romance article. She finally got the idea she needed.

Meanwhile the hype of tonight was going to drive Sidney up the wall with nerves. He received a text from Mia wondering why she knew they were going to dinner so he had to explain. His teammates had a good laugh about that conversation.

When Bri came home she started getting ready, carefully picking out her outfit. She had decided on her dark red, velvet cocktail dress and a black leather jacket. This outfit made her feel like a bad bitch and confident, yet sultry and sexy all at once. She selected the right amount of accessories and a simple pair of strappy heels.

Her hair was the hard part to decide on, so she chose to give her hair big curls and waves. It took her over an hour to accomplish but she wanted to look good for Sidney and for the people who would see them together. Her makeup was a little on the dark side from her day to day look, but she thought it worked for the occasion.

She heard Sidney come home while she was getting ready but decided on staying in her room to give him his time and space. Little did she know he was already ready to go and just needed her to make the magic start happening.

She came out of her room to meet up with Sidney in the hallway. He was in a white dress shirt and black dress pants and looked daper. “You look so handsome!” Bri smiled looking him up and down.

“Thank you. You’re the one who looks beautiful. Are you ready to go?”

“Of course. You gonna tell me where we’re going yet?” she smiled up at him while he placed his hand on her lower back and helped her down the stairs.

“Nope. You’re going to have to keep guessing.”

“You’re no fun with surprises.”

“You won’t say that in a little while.”

They were driving to Sidney’s secret location and Bri had no idea where they were. Sidney was extremely nervous about the surprise being pulled off but he was confident she would like it. He parked the car and escorted Bri to the door. A gentleman let them in and Sidney held her hand to lead the way.

They walked through a dimmed restaurant to a back door along the far wall. Bri just thought they were going there to be private. Little did she know when the door opened that several people would be yelling surprise at her while the room was decorated as a birthday theme.

Her hands covered her face in absolute shock and Sidney couldn’t help but laugh. Bri’s eyes skimmed the room and noticed Mia was in the crows along with his teammates and their ladies who have become Bri’s friends too. “Sid! Thank you so much,” she laughed, almost on the verge of tears.

“No problem, are you surprised?” he asked giving her a bear hug.

“Yes! I don’t really have friends here but I’m so surprised you pulled this off and that they came!”

“Go say hi to everyone!”

Sid stood back and watched Bri give every single person there a massive hug and showing appreciation for them coming. He knew they all loved her as much as he did right off the bat and that they will always be there for her, regardless of how everything is. He’s well aware she feels lonely here and without a support system, she needs to have this night.

They all sat around a large table and shared some appetizers and large meals. Kris Letang’s wife Catherine, Nick Bonino’s wife Lauren, and Marc-Andre Fleury’s wife Veronique made an effort to sit extremely close to her and Mia at the table, welcoming them into the group in a sense.

Bri was in her glee that everyone came together for her birthday, let alone brought her some gifts. Mia got her a few products she really wanted from her favourite beauty line, the Fleury’s got her a very nice bottle of wine from Quebec and a relaxation basket, the Letangs treated her to a night out at the spa, and a few others got her similar gifts.

After Bri opened her gifts and said thank you to everyone she turned to Sidney and said, “is this your present? Because you absolutely nailed it. Thank you so much Sid. You have no idea how much this means to me.”

“Your gift isn’t done yet though. Are you ready for round two?”

Her eyes grew wide, “Round two!?”

They brought in a cake and everyone sang happy birthday to her. She was absolutely shocked they were giving her this kind of treatment. Before their cake made their way to their stomach’s Flower leaped up and yelled, “Hate to cut this short but we have to go!”

“Go? Go where?” she asked with a whirlwind of confusion.

“I have no idea,” Mia said, leaning into Bri who was still in shock of the cake.

And with that the entire table had to get up and leave in a rush.

Notes

Outfits for the chapter:
Work- http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=215064483
Party- https://www.polyvore.com/red_velvet/set?id=215061216

Sorry that took a little longer than expected, BUT it's super long and has a second part coming soon sooooo I think I'll make up for it. I honestly can't wait for you guys to read the next chapter!

Thanks for the feedback, votes and everything else! Please keep it coming :)

PS The Pens just played an awesome game against Washington and I just had a heart attack watching it.

That is all :)