The Coworker

After the Pens home opener they had a mini road trip that kept her from her home for about a week. Now that she’s home she finally has time to do her unpacking in a more organized fashion. She started with actually taking out more dishwasher for more than one person. It took her a while but it left her alone with her thoughts which was nice.

And it gave her time with Marty, so she was thrilled about that. Despite being mid October it was a wet and drizzly day outside, unfortunately there wasn’t much she could do about it anyway. She knew the snow would come soon and that would even be worse.

As she finished making her tea and prepared for a Netflix binge she was surprised to get a ring at her doorbell. Does anyone even know where she lived? Her townhome is extremely private in location compared to where everyone else lives.

Marty was silenced by a “sh” as she walked to open it. When she looked through the peephole she couldn’t believe who it was. “Sid, what are you doing here?”

“Can we talk?” he asked.

“Sure, come in,” she moved out of the way to get him in the door. He took off his shoes like the good Canadian boy he was and entered slowly. “Cute little place you got here.”

“Thanks, I’m still barely moved in.”

“Really? You’ve been here for months.”

“I haven’t been home much,” she picked Marty up and carried him to her living room. “Would you like anything?”

“No thanks,” he said waiting for her to sit down on her presumably new grey couch. It was totally her style and he wasn’t surprised by how modern the house was decorated.

“So what brings you here?”

“I wanted and needed to talk to you about something.”

“Okay,” she replied hesitantly.

“First, I need to apologize for what happened last year. I don’t know why I treated you so horribly for no reason. I learned that you were really protecting me from the public eye and I over reacted. You sacrificed everything in your career for me and I made it worse. I’m so, so sorry.”

So he came for an apology, she thought. “Why did you wait until now to say sorry? Why couldn’t you have told me this weeks ago?”

“Because I was scared. You scare me.”

“I scare you?” she asked, becoming very heated by his words. Her back was getting up and she was in defensive mode. “You scared me Sidney. The way you spoke towards me and the way you acted. That was so Goddamn out of character and I didn’t deserve that. Then you spend the next few weeks being so cold towards me.”

“I know. But I know you can hold your own and I’m not used to that with women, but I like that. You have no idea how mad I am at myself for ruining what we had. I regret everything and I want to go back to where we were.”

How he could be so calm during this while she is ready to tear him from one side to another was frustrating to her. “I don’t know why you think you can come here and think by a simple apology will make everything better. It’s not like that Sid.”

“I know. I just want to make the effort to go in a positive direction. If you don’t want to be my friend again, I can understand and respect that. But I had to at least make an effort. Or at least make you more comfortable in a work environment.”

“I don’t think you’re capable of doing that,” she replied bitterly, sipping her tea.

“I know I was a bit harsh in the past-”

“A bit?” she exclaimed, almost spitting out her drink. “The way you treated me at your house for the BBQ and during training was a joke. The vacation was just…”

“Can we talk about that during another time?” he asked, sincerely not wanting to argue.

“If we don’t talk about it now, when will we?” she asked, wanting to cry. She was upset because he was taking this so casually and the ordeal was far from that.

“Can I take you to dinner to make it up to you?”

“Y-You want to take me to dinner?” she asked, absolutely shocked.

“I was thinking on Thursday before we leave to Montreal.”

She was hesitant but she knew he was being genuine. “Fine, I’ll go. But make no mention of this at work, okay? I don’t want a puck slut label.”

“And I want the label of fucking a co-worker?”

“Well between me and you, you already do.”

He almost cracked a smile at her quick wit and accuracy. “Look, it’s between you and me. I promise. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go grocery shopping for the rest of the week. Thank you for taking the time to talk to me.”

She stood up and walked him to the door, “You’re welcome. Thank you for apologizing.”

“You’re very welcome,” he smiled lightly at her. He lent in to give her a quick hug before opening the door to leave.

He felt bad that he was semi forced to go there by his teammates and didn’t tell her, but maybe he would at their dinner. They all felt it was necessary for him to at least apologize to her to help make it less awkward for everyone else. Their tension was still bad but it needed a lot of help. And since their trip it hadn’t gotten any better.

Will they ever go back to normal? Neither of them could tell. But him apologizing and offering to take her to dinner was a great start in the right direction. He didn’t want to talk about things between them, but there was no better time to start talking than now. Especially because he felt his game was going to start being affected by his personal life.

Notes

Outfit of the chapter: https://www.polyvore.com/laid_back_lazy/set?id=232470977

Two in 45 minutes!? Not too shabby. And a major plot twist too.

What do you think/hope will happen!?

Thanks for the love :)