All You Had to do Was Stay

Jo looked almost the same as she did two and a half years ago, aside for the hoop out of the side of her nose as opposed to the tiny stud she once had. Sid didn't know what else was hidden underneath all her snow gear, but there was probably a significant change. Colton and Kris had mentioned a few tattoos and broken arms.

"Hi Sid." She smiled, before biting at her buff, she was nervous.

His mom noticed the awkwardness between them. The tension could have been cut with a knife.

"Well, it was great seeing you Jolene. We'll have to catch up this week." His mom smiled at her, they were the same height.

"Yes, Trina. I'm sure you'll be around. Mom and Dad will be here shortly too." She winked, with a big genuine smile at his mom.

He watched her haul her belongings, which included two snowboards and two sets of boots down the hall and hit the elevator button. There was the love of his life, trying to get away from him. He was going to have to explain the situation with Kathy. It wasn't going to go well, but it had to be done.

He didn't know if Jo had a boyfriend, or girlfriend for that matter. He knew she liked to jump the fence. She was a wild child, always was. It was always her that suggested even from when they were kids to run through the muddy beaches exposed by low tide with their shoes off and ending up to their knees. When he bought his first car in junior to take it down a very bumpy dirt road, snapping the axel on it. He took the blame for that, not letting her get into trouble.

He shook his head and went back into his room, he was sharing with Flower so it wouldn't be too bad. He was due to arrive later on in the day, as Vero would be coming with him and staying in the same hotel is parents would be.

"We're going to get checked in okay?" His mom leaned against the door way, giving him a slight smile.

"Sounds good. I'll see you two tomorrow. I have some explaining to do to Kath so she doesn't blow a gasket."

"You didn't tell her Jo was going to be here? Good luck with that." His dad laughed.

"That really helps." Sidney sighed in frustration.

He gave his parents a hug and watched them walk down the hall.

The phone call with Kathy did not go very well to say the least. Instead of just coming to Vancouver in about 5 days in, she was on the next flight out of New York. Which thankfully she had two long lay overs in Los Angeles and Seattle.

That bought him time to wander around Canada House, meeting other team members, planning out which events he wanted to attend. The female half pipe and snowboard cross would be out of the question now that Kathy was coming. The best thing about Olympic Housing is she would only be allowed in it half of the time, the other half meant when he had time off he could try to get Jo to sit down and talk.

He couldn't understand why she ran away the next day. And he didn't have time to go up to Antigonish to see her before he left for Pittsburgh. He had put everything out on the line for her to hear, and they fucked, and she left. He also blamed the intoxication that night. With the amount of weed she smoked and the alcohol they drank. If they were sober it might have been a little different. But Jo was never not high.

Finding solace in the gym he got his frustrations out. He saw a mop of dark hair with purple and pink bits in it saunter past him as he was in the middle of leg presses, the figure in head to toe Under Armour heading straight to the open space, pulling out a yoga mat. Needless to say he recognized that ass anywhere. He needed to focus before harassing Jo. Not that it was doing much. Usually he's like a robot in the gym, with not much distractions but with Her, he was much more inept to watch her.

"You gonna stare at some tight ass or actually work out?" Flower asked him, wanting the leg press.

"Sorry Flower. You got this. It's just a friend from home I haven't seen in a very long time." Sid shook his head, getting up.

"Oh is that Jo? Shall I go up and say hi to her?" Marc-Andre grinned.

"You will fucking not." Sid shot a dirty look at his teammate and best friend.

"She is very pretty. Not your type though. With the pink and purple hair, the tattoos and piercings."

"Trust me, under all of that. She is. Just a little messed up that's all and nomadic."

"Were you that bad in bed that you scared her off." He laughed.

"No." He groaned and walked away.

He went over to the free weights not to far from her, he kept his distance and put his headphones on. He got a glimpse of Jo in the mirror, with a angry look on her face looking at him.

Eventually he just got frustrated, took out his headphones and walked over to her.
"If you don't want me working out near you just tell me. You don't need to give me dirty looks." He stated.

"I wasn't giving you dirty looks." She said defensively, "that's just how I always look."

"I don't want these 16 days to be awkward between us. We're both representing our country." He said flatly, watching her stand up, she only went to his chin but she was a scary woman.

"I don't want it to be awkward either. Just stay out of my way." She rolled up her yoga mat and pushed past him.

This got him riled up. He huffed as he followed her out into the hallway.

"What did I do to you? What did I do wrong?" He called after her.

"Outside. Now." She said quickly.

He followed her outside, hoping for some answers.

"Well. What did I do?" He asked again.
He watched her cross her arms to protect herself, she had some cursive written down the back of her forearm.

"It was a mistake." Jo looked away.

"What was?"

"Us hooking up."

"Jo, do you not realize I pretty much told you I loved you?"

"Not in that context Sidney." Using his full name was like a whip, and the way she spit it out hurt.

"I was drunk. You know what I'm like Jo."

"And I was stoned and horny." She pulled her hair out of her pony tail, hiding her face.

"Are you regretting what we did?"

"I did. The very next morning when I woke up naked next to you. Sidney, as much as I liked you, I couldn't live that life."

"What life Jolene? There are ski hills all around Pittsburgh."

"Not big mountains like what I have here in BC. And the hockey wife life. I see the models. Kathy, she's gorgeous. I'm a hippie snowboarder."

"I don't care. You could be a member of the Hell's Angels and I'd still love you." He reached out to her.

"I can't Sid. I have a launch party I need to get ready for."

"Seriously?"

"I am serious Sidney. For Transworld Snowboarding. Shaun White's going to be there, Hannah Teter, Torah Bright, Scotty Lago, Louis Vito, my people. I just came off of a wicked X Games, and I'd really like to keep the momentum up for at least half pipe."

"You don't need to be a bitch."

If there was one thing about knowing someone for 21 years it was that you could always be honest with them.

"Then stay out of my way. I can't have the 'I miss you, fly back to Pittsburgh with me' shit Sid. I'll come home this summer for a bit before I'm off to New Zealand for two months."

"Your going to New Zealand?"

"Yeah, I am Sid. I have an opportunity to go and do something with my sponsors, I'm going to do it."

"That's actually kind of cool."

"Yeah. Red Bull is kinda good to me." She ran her fingers through her hair.

An awkward silence came over them. He looked at her, she refused to look at him, something she would do if she was doing more the marijuana.

"Are you high?"

"No. I have to stay clean for the Olympics. I wish I was high. Thanks for the accusation though." Jo gave him the dirtiest look yet before stomping off.

The team was making great progress with the competition. He found himself an odd day between games and practice off. He decided to take in some of the other events with his teammates. He had found out the women's half pipe was taking place up at Cypress Mountain. Kathy had just left to go back to New York, so he was free to do whatever. He loaded up onto the bus to Cypress. He liked the anonymity of the Olympics, everyone was here to compete, do their best and make international friends. He was looking forward to watching Jo do what she loved best. He never actually got to watch her snowboard, but their friends showed him multiple videos of her tearing it up.

He found a good spot at the bottom to watch, getting a full view of the pipe. Catching the finals he could tell which girl was her, with her Goofy stance, she was the shortest of the bunch. Her gear was different then the other Canadian competitors. Her board was bright, almost obnoxiously so, with the Canadian flag on one side.

He was so proud of her. She got some good air and flashy tricks, earning her first for a while.
While the other girls he saw her first place, and gold medal slipping away. By the end of the competition, she had feel to fourth. She still had a smile on her face, there was some disappointment behind her eyes but she was still happy.

A few moments later her watched her being interviewed by CBC. He wished he was in the family zone, helping her be a support, coaching her through the interviews. She looked like a natural in front of the camera. Reading her lips she said something along the lines of 'it's obviously not the goal I was striving for, but fourth is the highest I've ever placed and to do it on home soil at the Olympics is an honour. Hopefully in four years we'll have slope style and I'll get gold in that.'

Right now she was the top ranked woman in slope style in the world, and very obviously just moved up in half pipe. He didn't know how far she had gotten in Snowboard Cross, but she didn't medal. Spotting her parents, he knew she was going to be a while so he decided to pop over and say hi.

"Sid! How are you doing?" Jo's mom, Deanna, asked.

"Good, I've been looking for you two. She did good today." Sid pointed out.

"We're proud of her. At least this is her last year of school." Her dad, Phil, laughed.

"Hopefully she'll come home this summer." Deanna shook her head.

"She told me she was for a bit before she heads off to New Zealand."

"She's going to New Zealand?" Deanna's eyebrows shot up.

Jo had a habit of not informing her parents of these adventures. Like the one time she took off for Pittsburgh when she was still in high school, and told her parents the night before.

"So this was one of those she's telling you the night before situations." Sid scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

Spotting Jo he decided at that point he was going to disappear before she could yell at him for spoiling the surprise. Or witness her being scolded by her parents. Wishing them well he took off, finding the departing bus for Olympic Village.

A few hours later there was a knock on his door, Flower was out with Vero and remembered his keys for once. So it wasn't him that needed in.

Getting up he found a very furious Jolene MacDonald at his door.

"Hi?" He furrowed his brow at her.

"You told my parents about New Zealand." She snarled.

She was scary when she was mad. Always was, always will be.

"I thought they knew. I'd assumed you grew out of the habit of ghosting or telling everyone you were leaving two days prior to doing so." He crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame.

He was still bitter about her ghosting on him. He forgave her for it, but he would never forget it or still have that tiny bit of resentment.

"I was going to tell them once my visa was secured."

"How do you think Red Bull noticed you?"

"Sidney you didn't."

"Yeah, I did. I tried to get you with Gatorade but Red Bull was more so your thing."

"Are you fucking kidding me." She ran her fingers through her hair.

"Your welcome."

"Fuck you Sid. I hope you guys get fourth like I did." She said before turning on her heel and stomping down the hallway.

That pissed him off, so much so he decided to follow her.

"You take that back right now." He demanded. She knew how superstitious he was.

She continued to ignore him or throw snarky remarks his way. She still knew how to push his buttons, much like he still knew how to push hers. At least it got them talking again.

"I said you take that back right now!" He roared as he grabbed her by the shoulder and held her against the wall in the staircase.

"Sid your hurting me." She whined as she tried to get loose from his grip.

"You wanna talk about hurt eh?" He stood up straight, making himself as big as possible.

"Sidney your physically hurting me. I have X Games in Norway in two weeks." She cried out, making him realize how much of a death grip he had on her shoulders.

"Sorry. You know what I'm like." He said shamefully.

"You didn't have to help me get my start. You know I would have made it at some point." She crossed her arms, protecting herself again.

"Yeah, but I wanted us to experience this together, even though you ghosted on me, and I have Kath..."

"Crazy Kath. I've heard how crazy she is."

"When she found out you were here I was almost done for." He leaned back, scratching the back of his head awkwardly.

"Why don't you break up with her? If she's causing you this much trouble." She looked him in the eye for the first time in three years, her eyes were the same colour his were, just on a much more attractive face, with her button nose, expressive eyebrows. And her lips, he'd love to kiss them again.

"I have no idea." He slung his head down low, "she's not you."

"Well of course she's not me. No one is going to be me." She laughed, "I'm not your type anyways Sid."

"You are, in every way."

"I'm not Sid! I snowboard, I live in the mountains. I smoke weed, snort coke, do M, sometimes I do mushies. I'm careless, I'm not some Barbie who sits on the side. I have piercings and tattoos. Purple hair. You like prim, proper girls straight from the Abercrombie catalogue."

"You are so frustrating you know that right." He laughed.

"I'm frustrating?"

"Yes. You frustrate the living hell out of me, both mentally and sexually. I'm trying to get it through your thick skull."

"Sid. I can't just up and move back east. I'll get maybe two months of snow there. Here I can get 6, and I don't have to worry about a full working visa."

"I can help you with that."

"I don't want your help Sid! I can't move back east. If you want to make it work with me request a trade to Vancouver or Calgary. That way I can make Cypress, Whistler or Sunshine and Lake Louise my base."

"I can't do that. You know I can't. You do realize how much shit that will stir up right? Requesting a trade for a girl."

"Oh because Sid the Kids the face of the NHL. Savior of the Pittsburgh Penguins." She rolled her eyes.

She made him so mad. She knew exactly where and how to push his buttons.

"Don't start."

"Don't start what Sid?" She turned on her heels ready to leave but he grabbed her arm, making sure she wasn't leaving.

"Jo."

"What Sid?!" She glared at him.

He tried to get his point across with words, but it was no luck. He grabbed her hips and kissed her. Her lips felt the same as they did three years ago. He felt her arms drape over his shoulders as she kissed him back. He enjoyed the few moments of having her back in his arms, knowing this might not ever happen again, before she hastily pulled away.

"This isn't right. You have a girlfriend." She shook her head.

"I'll break up with her. We can do the long distance thing if that's what you want. I want you. I always have." He pulled her back to him.

"Sid, I can't." She whined.

"Yes. You can."

"I have to go. I have an interview." She pulled away.

He watched her run down the stairs and heard one of the many doors open and shut, not to sure where she winded up.

But she avoided him for the remainder of the Olympics. Even during closing ceremonies.

Notes