AUTUMN LEAVES

“Fifteen, sixteen, come on boys!” Sidney heard their off-ice conditioning coach yell as he focused on his labored breathing and aching muscles. Two days into training camp and Sidney could already feel the upcoming season nearing. Normally he would be ecstatic to be back in Pittsburgh and back into his hockey life routines. But today his mind was wandering away from hockey and kept playing back the voicemail he got that morning.

Her happy voice and friendly tone, and that sentence at the end of the message that boggled his mind. “Daydreaming much Crosby?”, Kris Letang chirped, noticing his captain still doing push-ups though the coach had already signaled for them to move on to the next work out. Sidney gathered himself and followed Kris, saying nothing in return. Sidney seemed odd to Kris. “Something on your mind there captain?” “No” Sidney couldn’t answer faster making Kris give him a look of disbelief.

“you know I cannot believe that despite all the media you have to deal with, you’re still a terrible liar”. Sidney looked at his long-time teammate and friend surprised that he still didn’t get the hint to drop it. “I don’t lie to the media” he answered nonchalantly. “Ok, a terrible faker then, but hey it’s none of business, you do know that I’m here if you need me so I’ll drop it for now”. Sidney did know. Kris got back to his workout knowing how closed off his friend can be. He knew how Sidney functioned. Everything must be on his terms, you can’t push him. He will come to you when he decides to.

Once they were done for the day, Sidney quickly showered, wore his street clothes and retrieved his personal items from his locker. Walking towards the parking lot, his phone felt unusually heavy in his grasp. He waited until he was within the confines of his car to unlock the phone and listen to Autumn's voicemail another time. Her soft voice felt like music to his ears but her words confused him.

-"Hi Sidney, I'm trying to reach you to thank you for your generous contributions. The office just called me to inform me that the money has already been transferred to one of our accounts. Wow I'm just... I don't know what to say. I guess I'm impressed with how fast you and your business manager took care of things. I mean with your busy schedule and all. Ok I'm blabbering now. Um, thanks again, I'm looking forward to seeing you at the gala Saturday or maybe before, bye".

Sidney went over the last sentence in his head again. Is she suggesting that we should meet before to discuss business? is she dropping a hint for me to ask her out? He thought of all the possibilities but that did not help him decide how to respond. However, the one thing he was sure about is that he was not going to ask her out. Autumn did not strike him as the shy type so if her message meant that she's interested in him then she will ask him out. Same goes if she wanted to talk business. Besides, it has only been three days since she seemed more interested in Mario, almost drooling over him. Maybe drooling is a strong word he thought, but this fact strangely upset him.

As a vehicle passed his parked car, he realized that he has spent the last fifteen minutes contemplating his move and that he is surely overthinking this. With a sigh, Sidney decided that a text should do. It is neither a call which may make him look desperate nor a complete disregard to her voicemail making him a jerk.

-No need to thank me, glad I could help.

Simple and casual.

Saturday night came after an uneventful week at the hospital. Uneventful since the day she got the VIP invitation from Mario, the same day she received Crosby’s donation, Autumn contemplated. She tried not to dwell on the fact that he just texted her instead of calling. He owed her nothing, on the contrary. He was true to his word, he made an incredible donation and managed to wire them the money within three days from their meeting. She did slip in her voicemail and figured from his conservative response that he was not interested. She got that message loud and clear.

“Hey! Where did you go?” Tiffany asked with snapping her fingers from the passenger seat. “I was asking you do you know where to park? I don’t want to walk in this dress and heels for too long”. “I got VIP parking voucher with the invitation, don’t worry all the instructions are here”. “I bet you memorized them by heart, I saw you looking at this letter more than your laptop the past few days, and that says something”. Autumn sighed but did not answer.

She had told her friend about the meeting but not about the fact that she kind of asked Sidney out, though in a very indirect way. She did not omit how attractive she thought he was in person and ever since Tiffany is bugging her about it. “Well I hope I get to see this man candy tonight because I find it hard to believe that he could be more attractive than he already looks on TV”. “Oh, but he is. you’ll see for yourself, if you stayed conscious that is”.

Handing the car keys to the valet parking personnel, the two women headed up some marble stairs for the private entrance. The venue was elegant, black and gold filled the room from the tables and chairs to the small stage. Even the catering team donned the Penguins colors. Autumn could sense Mario’s powerful presence and charismatic personality from where she stood. She nudged Tiffany and nodded her head in Mario’s direction. In few seconds, the hostess greeted them and showed them to their table where other UPMC executives sat.

As the two young doctors shook hand with their tablemates, Mario Lemieux showed up to welcome them. “Dr. Scott, I’m so glad you made it here tonight. Wow you look stunning!”, Mario said while giving her a brief kiss on the hand he was initially shaking. “And this must be your lady friend” he said while shaking Tiffany’s hand, leaving her confused. Sharing a knowing smile with Autumn, Mario wished them a nice evening as he excused himself to greet other arriving guests. “He is gorgeous, those icy blue eyes scare you but you can’t look away” Tiffany whispered under her breath once they were seated.

As she was chatting with other guests at their table, Autumn was subconsciously scanning the vast room for a face that was occupying her mind for the last week. She knew he was there somewhere. She heard some women behind them fanning themselves at how fine the Penguins captain looked this evening.

On the other side of the venue, Sidney was trying to keep up with the conversation that Penguins stakeholders were having. He was bored beyond belief at those events, unless the topic was hockey, and not Sidney Crosby, he could manage. He nodded when needed and tried politely to look interested. David Morehouse was talking share holds and economy, but Sidney was not there anymore. Since his arrival, he kept glancing at the entrance to see if she arrived yet. He must have missed it, because now she was sitting at the table talking animatedly with an easy smile on her beautiful face.

There was some traffic in front of her table that blocked his view for few seconds, but when she emerged back in his field of vision she was looking directly at him. He couldn’t stop the grin that appeared on his face when their eyes locked. Then she smiled and this time it was at him. Sidney never really noticed the 20,000 fans looking at him night in and night out at games. But as Autumn’s attention was solely on him, he felt that he’s the king of the world, that he needed to tell every man around him that she is looking at him and only him.

He didn’t even feel that he was walking towards her. His feet were not listening to his brain, he was simply drawn to her. As Sidney was feet away from her, Autumn stood up to greet him. His stance slowed down and he visibly swallowed as he took her in. Long black strapless dress that would have looked rather simple if any other woman wore it. But she wore it. Her dress showed a tasteful hint of cleavage, it was unfairly tight on her waist and hips and as she stepped towards him, he noticed the only revealing part of her outfit. The long slit that starts mid-thigh showing her exquisite legs and her sexy strappy sandals.

He felt that all his blood traveled south as he pictured her legs wrapped up around him as he… “Hi Sidney” she said cheerfully, interrupting his dirty thoughts. Autumn shook his hand and noticed that Sidney was almost non-responsive, slowly releasing her hand from his strong grasp. “Um, this is my friend Tiffany, she’s also a pediatrician specialized in oncology at the UPMC”. As Sidney gathered himself, he flashed Tiffany his dazzling smile, making her understand all too well Autumn’s “if you stayed conscious” comment earlier. “I see you made it to the gala with your busy schedule and all” Sidney said.

She was caught off guard. Is he mocking my voicemail? Maybe I was overanalyzing his, almost rude, text. “Well I guess if you could find time, I can too. Though I save lives for a living, what do you do again? Fight over a rubber disk?” she shot back. Maybe he should’ve been offended, but he couldn’t muster a comeback so he laughed loudly. “Yup that’s me and about 23 other guys in here, including Mario by the way”, He said with a wink. Is that flirtatious Sidney Crosby? or was it possibly a real jab at her comments about Mario few days ago?

Notes