Chapter 46

Caitlin's point of view. ;)

When I wake up in the morning in Sidneys arms I feel like a very lucky girl. I'm always waking up before him, giving me the perfect opportunity to reflect on last night. If there's anything I'm sure of, it's that I've got it good being Sidney Crosby's girlfriend.
Sidney begins to mumble in his sleep. "Caitlin, no!" he groans and scoots closer to me and stops talking. He's really warm and in my skimpy pajamas I'm happy he is providing me with some body heat.
After a few minutes, Sidney blinks a couple of times and wakes up. "I hate it when you watch me sleep," he mumbles and smiles at the same time.
"I love you," I stretch towards his face to give him a kiss.
"mmmm," Sidney groans, "I love you too baby." He wraps his arms around me and we cuddle and kiss for a little while like we sometimes do. Then we realize that we aren't back at home and we should probably be moving out to the living room by now to visit Sidney's family.
I dress in something comfy. We aren't leaving the house at all today. I put on a pair of jeans and a cute band t-shirt that I picked up from some sidewalk vendor person back in Pittsburgh.
As soon as Taylor sees me walk out into the living room she squeals, "You like All Time Low too!?" she jumps up and walks towards me. "I have an all time low shirt. I should wear it today we could match." I smile at her and say sure. Because all time low is awesome and we aren't leaving the house. Normally I couldn't stand to match someone.
Sidney laughs at my bewildered expression. I'm still not totally awake and taylor's little outburst kind of scared me a little bit so early in the morning.
She comes waltzing out in her lovely shirt, which is cooler than mine I must admit. "so who's your favorite!?" she asks excitedly and looks at me expectantly.
"um. I like Alex," I say, referring to the lead singer, mostly because I'm not that huge of a fan of theirs. Even if they were my favorite I probably wouldn't know anyone but the lead singer.
"me too!" Taylor squeals again. "how cool. Have you ever gone to a concert!?" I can tell she's dying to know so I keep the conversation going.
"yeah I saw them at warped tour one time" I smile halfheartedly. Warped Tour was great when I went. But like 2 days after it, my boyfriend dumped me. I can't help but associate warped tour and sadness now. But that's the past, I remind myself. No use getting all sad about it now. I've got Sidney.
We start a game of monopoly with all five of us playing and I have a feeling that I'm going to lose. Surprisingly though I start out good and am able to buy both park place and the boardwalk in the first couple of times around the board. Everyone thinks I'm going to dominate after that but my bad luck takes a step in and I go broke because I keep landing on everyone's hotel spaces.
The rest of the day is spent hanging out and having fun. It seems like Taylor really likes me and Sidney's parents are more pleasant today. Maybe it was just me. Maybe I was thinking that things were aimed at me that weren't because I was having a hard time dealing with the fact the Ruthanne was seriously injured. I was probably being very oversensitive.
I decide to forget yesterday, except the part where I gave Sidney his present. That will be a good memory.
When it's nearly time for Trina to start dinner Sidney takes a quick field trip to his room to get something. We had all just been hanging out after they agreed to quit the monopoly game. To my great surprise, Sidney comes back with the box of 23 things I gave him.
"Sid, no," I look at him pleadingly. I really don't want his family to know how mushy some of that stuff is.
"Come on, they asked." Sidney winks at me and I out my head down in embarrassment. "it doesn't matter what they think. I loved it."
"fine," I say, still unhappy that he's going to show them some of that stuff.
"look!" he calls his family over and they all sit around the living room to see what he pulls out of the box. The first thing he pulls out is the slinky. His family laughs and he quickly explains, "I really did want a slinky," he laughs with them and I blush some more. Next is the movie ticket from a chick flick we went and saw one night. Taylor finds that especially hilarious and laughs a lot. My trinket from our cruise, a picture of us from the photo booth at the mall, a key chain with our names on it.
All of this means something to me and Sidney but now that I look at it all again, it looks really girly. His parents found my gift to him kind of hilarious but Taylor thought it was cute and kept saying things like "aww."
It makes me laugh too but I'm still embarrassed and I just keep my head down until Sidney is done. "I love you," he laughs again and gives me a hug. I put my nose into his shoulder and hide my face. I don't want to try and say something right now.
When our little hug is over I lift my head and his family is staring at us.  "you guys are too cute," Taylor says, smiling really wide. I'm not sure why she enjoys her brother having a girlfriend so much or why she likes me, but I can deal with it.
I smile back and lean on Sidney's shoulder again. He grabs my hand and we wait for someone to start talking.
"Sidney never told me how you two met," Trina starts, trailing off at the end, a questioning tone in her voice.
I blush again, suddenly remembering that day. I almost fell on the ice right in front of him. Twice.
"well, " I start. "Ruthanne, my friend, somehow met him before me and invited him to the skating rink which she and my family rented for my birthday." I attempt to explain.
"so you had no clue the whole time? And he just showed up for your birthday not even knowing who you were?!" Taylor exclaims excitedly.
"prett much. " I say, shrugging my shoulders.
 "that's so perfect!" I've come to a conclusion. Taylor is a hopeless romantic and she creepily finds everything I do awesome.
"for the record I'm not showing up at random girls birthdays. I had heard so much about her from Ruthanne, and I don't know, Caitlin sounded pretty cool." Sidney teases me and laughs.
"thanks," I say dryly. He gives my hand a squeeze and I smile.
"you're the best." he whispers in my ear. Now I'm starting to feel awkward because he doesn't mind that his parents are right in front of us. I glance up to see Troy nodding off and Sidney's mom reading a magazine. They've totally lost interest. Taylor on the other hand is staring intently.
"you're going to need to start getting packed up," Sidney says to me after an awkward moment.
"I know. Will you help me?" I ask him, a puppy dog expression on my face.
"of course," he chuckles and stands up, holding his hand out to help me up. I take it and smile and we head to his bedroom.
We don't really pack. It's more cuddling and such. I can't remember another time when we've been able to just get away and do this kind of thing. In any case, I really like it.
We are in sidneys room for a long time before Trina calls us out for dinner. She was probably too afraid to come in after the amount of time we've spent in here.


Ruthanne's point of view. <3

Kris had stayed  with me at my house all night. He didn't want to leave my side and I'm thankful for that. In the morning I wake up and his arms are around me so gently I can hardly feel them except their comforting warmth. He's watching me and I can feel his eyes moving over my face.
"good morning," I mumble and blink a couple of times. The light from the sun burns my eyes and I feel the headache that I had in the hospital last night return. I immediately shut my eyes and ask Kris if he can bring me some pain meds.
"of course," he whispers, already trying to ease out of my tiny bed without moving me. I immediately miss the warmth of his presence. It might be summer but that doesn't change the fact that another persons body heat is comforting.
Kris is back almost instantly and my eyes are still shut. I don't want to open them. At all. I've never had a very high pain threshold.
"Ruthanne," he comes back and laughs at me squeezing my eyes shut. "I've got your medicine." I hold up my hand in the general direction of the window and open my eyes again. My head hurts, but I'm able to take the pill and the glass of water he got for me and take the medicine.
"are you feeling any better this morning?" Kris asks me. I can't remember what happened last night before I went to bed. But I sure did sleep soundly.
"I'm ok," I say. "I've still got a headache. And as soon as I move I'll be able to tell you more. "
"you'll have that headache for a while. Believe me. " I believe him. He's a freaking hockey player and has probably had 200 concussions by now.
"ehhh," I groan and pull the covers up on me. I don't want to get out of bed and have to move and feel pain and stuff. I bury my face in the pillow and I stay there until I can't breathe properly anymore. I turn my head again and Kris is sitting on the edge of my bed.
"you're going to have to get up sometime," he says quietly, obviously knowing the feeling I have right now. I decide that I will get up and he stretches out a hand to help me.
"Thank you," I say as I get up slowly. My legs hurt, and my knees and ankles crackle as I straighten out. Kris thinks it's gross that that happens to me in the mornings.
Now to get down the stairs. I didn't realize how traumatic something like this could be until last night when I had to go back downstairs to get something.
My heart starts pounding and I can feel the pulse of it in my ears. Kris has to help me down the stairs with his arm around me and taking a lot of my weight. We make it to the bottom after a long time of taking it really slow. I figured Kris would get impatient, but he's so good to me. It's hard to believe how amazing he is sometimes.
"Thanks so much," I wrap my arms around Kris and give him a huge hug.
 He hugs me back as gently as possible and says, "anytime babe." I smile at that. It sounds funny to me when he calls me "babe." I don't feel like a "babe."
We get ourselves some breakfast, but I don't eat much. As soon as the first couple bites hit my stomach it was upset. I don't want to get sick again, I groan inwardly.
Kris finishes his bowl of cereal and then eats the rest of mine for me. After that we're not sure what to do with ourselves so we spend the rest of the day watching movies together in the living room. My mom is busy with work but she checks up on us, mostly me, every once and a while. She also made Kris's day by promising to make us lunch. Kris loves my mom's cooking.. well, who doesn't? She's really great.

After a long day of laziness, Kris and I are still just hanging out and eating dinner. We are having really good grilled chicken salad. He still doesn't want to leave me alone. I feel bad, because he doesn't have any clothes, so last night he slept in his boxers and then wore his dirty clothes today. It's not like he could wear my clothes like I can wear his. That'd be entirely too tight.. and hilarious.
We come to the decision that Kris can spend the night again and he's going to go home and get some stuff to stay here. Meanwhile, I'll be attempting to take a shower and dress my arm wound. I don't want him to feel like he needs to help me with that stuff.
I send him off from the front doorway and he smiles as he goes. I already miss him when I turn around to realize that I have to go back up the stairs to get to the shower. "Mom!?" I shout across the house. There's no way I can go up those alone.
My mom comes running, concerned because of the alarm in my voice.
"Can you help me up the stairs?" I ask her slowly, feeling like a wimp, yet so helpless at the same time. I silently vow to myself that tomorrow I will be going up and down stairs all by myself.
"Of course. Nobody expects you to be running up and down them all by yourself right away," my mom smiles and walks with me up the stairs. What bothers me the most is that it's all in my head. I'm physically capable of climbing these stairs. But I can't even approach them without sheer terror coursing through my veins.

I'm hardly out of the shower and Kris is back. He knocks on the door. "Yeah?" I ask, not knowing who it is yet.
"It's Kris," he replies. I quickly finish dressing by putting a t-shirt on and open the door just as he says, "is it alright if I come in?"
"yeah," I say, happy to see him again.
He immediately looks at the gash on my arm. "Do you want help dressing that?" He asks, still staring at it. Yes it looks disgusting and it stung like hell when I accidentally got shampoo in it.
"Ok," I say, lifting my arm and shoving it towards him. "I don't want to do anything wrong."
"Just watch me, so you can do it next time," Kris says, always being helpful. He grabs the stuff I had already laid out and he gently takes care of everything. It's a lot easier than I expected it to be and I know that I can do it right next time it needs done.
"Thanks," I say. I feel like I'm always thanking him. Like he never has to thank me, because he's the one always giving in this relationship. I can't wait til I can show him how much I really do care.
He responds by giving me a kiss on my forehead and leading me to my room.
"Are you ready for bed?" He asks, looking at the clock as I yawn.
"Not really.. I mean, it's only 9:00," I say, "Wanna watch another movie up here?" I ask him, just wanting to relax some more. The bruises and things hurt the least when I'm sitting still.
"Whatever," he says. He doesn't really like being inactive for so long, but it's obvious that he'd do whatever I want to do.
"We don't have to," I say, "We could go for a walk or something."
"No, believe me you're not going to like that in the morning if we do. Let's just watch a movie." He laughs at me and we go to my movie shelf.
We pick Obsessed and it's like my third time watching it, but in all the scary scenes I'm like holding onto Kris's arm for dear life. I can see a smile playing on his lips everytime I do this but he doesn't say anything, and he just wraps his arm around me and holds me tight.
After the movie we lay down for bed. Just laying there, Kris and I have a pretty good conversation. We talk about how the summer was really bittersweet and how we're both not ready for it to be over.
"goodnight," I whisper,"I love you," as we're both struggling to keep our eyes open.
"goodnight," Kris breathes, and we both fall asleep within the next few seconds.

Chapter 45

Ruthanne's Point of View <3


On the way home Kris and I talk a little bit. My head is still pounding and I'm tired again.
After a long period of silence Kris sniffles then says, "You know Ruthanne, I've seen a million injuries, concussions, you name it, in hockey, but I haven't ever seen somebody fall as hard as you seemed to. I can only imagine the pain you're in." He lifts a hand to his eye. I instantly feel bad. I can't handle it when people cry, especially not Kris. I reach my bruised left hand over and put it on his leg. He glances down and notices the bruise and he frowns.
"I feel ok," I lie to him. I am in excruciating pain. All over my body I am sore. That's why they sent some pain meds home with me. I don't know why my mom thought it was necessary to go get more.
 I ask Kris where my phone is suddenly thinking of Caitlin. "Where's Caitlin!?" It bothers me more that I can't remember where she is than the pain does.
"She's in Canada, with Sidney," Kris says, wearing a halfhearted smile as he looks at me. "I have your phone in my pocket," he says, trying to reach it. I stop him and try to wiggle my hand into his jeans pocket. The spot where it's bruised hurts a little and I gasp.
"got it," I say. I need to text Caitlin. She's gotta know I'm ok.

Hey this is Ruthanne, Iam out of the hospitl and Iam ok. Love you.

I hit send as we pull into my driveway. Kris is still looking awfully sad. "Kris," I say. He ignores me for a moment. "Kris!" I say louder, getting his attention.
He snaps out of it and makes a little grunting noise. "It's not your fault. And anyways, I'm fine," I say.
"I know," Kris says, "but that doesn't change the fact that you got hurt, and I'm gonna feel terrible as long as you're in pain."
"Kris," I say again. I love the sound of his name on my lips, even though I'm saying it because I'm annoyed. I smile and lean my head against the headrest. "I'll be ok, it's fine, don't feel bad." I try to convince him more, a genuine smile on my face.
We pull into my driveway and I try to climb out of the car myself. I hit my head on the top of the car as I stumble out. I'm suddenly dizzy and I fall back against the car for support. Before I know it Kris is by my side holding me and hugging me. "are you ok?" Kris asks, kissing the top of my head gently.
"no," I finally give in. "Can you take me inside?"
I barely get the question out and Kris is handing me things.. All of a sudden I'm being cradled in his arms like a baby and he's carrying me to the door. I unlock the door for him and he carries me inside and sets me gently on the couch.
"thank you," I say, laughing. The laughing hurts my stomach so I just lean back on the couch and shut up. It doesn't seem like I'll be able to do anything for a few days yet.
Kris sits down next to me and gives me a kiss on the cheek. "Anytime," he says, a half smile playing on his lips.


Caitlin's Point of View

I spend most of the day worrying about my best friend. It's supposed to be a celebration for us up here in Canada and I'm struggling with blaming Ruthanne for ruining the experience for me. Because I'm anxious, Sidney's upset and on edge. I know it's not her fault, and I'm not really blaming her, I'm just upset.
Finally at like 7 pm I get the text saying Ruthanne's ok and out of the hospital. A wave of relief washes over me and it's suddenly easy to enjoy my time with Sidney.
"She's OK!" I announce to Sidney and his family. We're sitting around the dinner table eating his mother's special lasagna. Apparently nobody can make it better, but to me it tastes just like my mom's. That'll be a plus with Sidney when I get her to make it one day for us.
Sidney reaches his hand over underneath the table and squeezes my knee. "That's great," he smiles and we all go back to eating and talking about the subject we were on before I interrupted. I soon begin to realize that Sidney's parents are a little bit eccentric and they're not going to share my opinion on anything. I'm still relieved from Ruthanne's status update but after dinner I'm a little annoyed and I'm just ready for the night to be over. Sidney's parents are great but I don't see us getting along very well. And I don't feel like they like me very much.
After dinner, it's time for cake and ice cream. The nicest part about this is the fact that it's completely normal. Like any normal family's birthday celebration. Sidney's parents both give him something and Taylor got him some kind of nifty trinket from wherever they took their family vacation this year. I decide that I'll giver him mine after we go to bed. His family gives me funny looks and tries to convince me to give it to him now but I tell them it's not a big present and I don't know where it's packed in my luggage. Really, I'm starting to get nervous about what he'll think of it.

It's about 11 o'clock when we all head to our bedrooms. Sidney's excited for his present and I immediately have to get it out. I hand him the large-ish box full of 23 things. He makes a funny face when he opens it up and sees how much is in there. It took forever to wrap all 23 things.
He undoes them one by one and thanks me for every single one. We keep getting into discussions about how fun the moment was when we aquired that object and stuff, and it's 12:30 before we know it.
"There's still one more!" I say after he's done with all that.
"What!?" He exclaims, "Caitlin, you really didn't have to get me anything. A kiss would have done it for me." He smiles as I hand him the bottle.  "Holy crap, how did you do this?"
"it's a secret," I say, laughing. "Open it!"
He does and he reads the note, smiling at times and frowning at others. At the end I feel like he's going to cry. I run over and give him a hug and a kiss.
"I love you. Happy birthday." I say, happy now.
"Thanks," Sidney says, "I love you too."
And that was the amazing end to a long, stressful day. I'm happy to lay down and go to sleep next to Sidney Crosby.

Chapter 44

Caitlin's Point of View ;)

 I'm officially freaking out and I excuse myself from our conversation in the living room because I am nearly in tears.
A few moments ago I got a text from Ruthanne's phone, probably from Kris that says

 Ruthanne fell down the stairs and got knocked unconcious. We're in the hospital.

I replied as soon as I made it to the bathroom, but Kris never replies.
I stay in the bathroom for a few minutes and all of a sudden Sidney is knocking at the door. "I know something's wrong," Sidney says after a few knocks and me not answering.
I open the door and let him in and just lean on his chest. "Ruthanne fell down the stairs and she was unconcious and she's in the hospital." I whimper into his chest and I try not to cry. I don't know that much about the situation.
"Oh my God," Sidney says. He holds my head to his chest and kisses the top of my hair. "It's gonna be alright," he says as he sways back and forth. It's comforting to have him say this to me and the rocking motion makes me close my eyes and relax. "It's gonna be alright," he says a few more times before letting me go. I'm nearly completely settled down. "hey, My parents are gonna worry," Sidney says after a minute and he squeezes my hand before he heads back to the living room.
 I follow him after a moment's hesitation to check my makeup in the mirror.
"Is everything all right?" I hear Trina ask as I'm walking out into the living room.
 "It could be better.." Sidney says slowly. "Our friend Ruthanne fell down the stairs, knocking herself unconscious and putting herself in the hospital." He explains after a moment.
 "Oh!" Trina says, surprised.
 "Yeah, it's Caitlin's best friend, sooo.." He trails off as I walk into the picture again. He pulls me into his side and gives me a squeeze.
Trina smiles but doesn't say anything, which makes me feel better. I like it when people know enough to just let it drop for the moment. I don't want to think about Ruthanne being in a coma or anything like that.

Ruthanne's point of view <3
 I blink my eyes and the bright white lights blind me for a moment. Suddenly there's movement around me and I hear kris's voice.
"Ruthanne!?" he says, sounding very worried. I open my eyes again, determined to see him and I'm stunned by the sudden pounding in my head. I am forced to close my eyes again. I can't handle the bright lights or something. Something is wrong.
 I try to talk. "kr. Kris?" I manage to squeak out.
"what?" I feel like Kris is moving towards my face and I flinch away. "can you turn the lights off?" I ask, trying to get used to the feel of words in my mouth again.
 I feel like it has been forever since I've talked, or even opened my eyes. It's like waking up in the morning except for the pounding in my head. And I don't remember falling asleep. I hear Kris moving away from me and I can tell that he has turned the lights out.
 "thank you," I say, yet again trying to open my eyes. This time I'm able to keep them open and see Kris. Then I look around. I'm in a hospital room? What the heck is going on?
"hey baby," Kris says, leaning down to my level beside where I'm laying. I look over and notice a bandage on my arm and an IV in it too. "I missed you," he smiles sweetly.
"what's going on? What happened?" I am so confused. "why am I here?"
"you fell down the stairs, and you have a concussion." he explains. I can't remember any of that at all. "and the bandage on your right arm is there because you cut your arm on something that was in the box you were carrying."
 "oh," I say. I trust him. It must have happened but I can't remember a thing.
 "I'm sorry." Kris says, his face suddenly looking sad and apologetic. "I should have carried the boxes down the stairs for you.
" "it's fine. It's my fault I'm just clumsy." I smile at him, trying to make it better even if I'm not sure how my fall went.
 "I feel guilty because I just watched it happen and I couldn't do anything about it and then you were knocked out on the floor and now you're all messed up and I could have stopped this from happening!" Kris goes on. He's really upset.
"it's ok, Kris," I say, "it's not your fault." I try to lift up my left arm to give him a hug but there's a shooting pain up my arm to accompany the motion. "owwww," I cry out in pain.
 Kris jumps up trying to think of something to do to help me. "just hug me, ok." I say, just wanting his body near mine.
"I love you Ruthanne," Kris says as he is embracing me.
 "I love you too," I say back, wincing in pain because he touched a spot that must be bruising. "when do I get out of here?"
 "whenever the doctor comes up and checks you out and gives you the ok. I can call a nurse now," he says helpfully.
"ok." I smile back weakly. "thank you."
The doctor comes up and asks me a series of questions which are hard to answer. I can't remember very much about anything. They tell me this is normal, I guess. I hated it. He writes down a bunch of stuff on his ugly brown clipboard  and tells me not to do a list of things and other stuff.
My head is pounding again and I'm not paying attention. Hopefully my mom or Kris is. My mom came in at about the same time as my nurse did. Finally, they give the ok for me to go home and Kris helps me walk out to his car. He's going to drive my home and my mom is going to stop at the grocery store to get some over the counter pain meds.
 It's dark by now and he loads me into the passenger seat, leaning over to buckle me in. I feel like it's been a long hard day, even though I wasn't awake for most of it.

Chapter 43

Caitlin's Point of View. ;)

I realize that I'm so obviously more excited about Sidney's birthday when he's not awake at 7:30 AM like I am. I never wake up early, and I feel so anxious and excited. But nervous at the same time. I poke Sidney in the face. I like to watch him wake up. It's so cute.
"huh?" He mumbles and rolls to his right, falling off the bed and ripping the covers off of me in the process. The cold air shocks me when it hits my body so I follow him to the ground.
"It's cold!" I shreik as quietly as possible trying to rip the covers off of him. He smiles and sits up, rubbing his head a little bit. But he knows what I want and he pulls the comforter around him more snugly. He smirks at me as I dance around. Finally I give up and run for the sweatshirt he wore last night. It's as cold as the room but at least it will warm up eventually.
I sit on the edge of Sidney's bed and look down at him in triumph. I may not have gotten the covers back but I did get his delicious smelling sweatshirt and warmth. "Happy birthday," I grin at him cheesily.
He smiles back. "Thanks Caitlin."
I lean over to kiss him and all of a sudden the door is opening. Sidney and I both sit up straight. He hits his head off of his bedstand and I get a crick in my neck from moving so quickly. Plus I'm blushing. His mom kind of makes a horrified face and backs out of the door, slowly closing it behind her.
"oops," I whisper, feeling extremely embarrassed and sorry.
"It's alright," Sidney says, "she's probably walked in on worse with Taylor," he laughs.
I'm kind of appalled at that thought. She's just a kid.
"I'm kidding, Caitlin." Sidney laughs at me. I blush again and sit there awkwardly.
"oh," I laugh.
"you're too cute," he smiles. "Come on lets go get some breakfast. My parents are obviously up."
I follow him out of his room awkwardly and continue to look down when I see Mrs. Crosby out of the corner of my eye. Sidney smirks at me when I look at him, obviously not as embarrassed as me.
We eat cereal even though Mrs. Crosby wants to make us something delicious. Everyone in the family takes their turn saying happy birthday through the course of breakfast.
After, his mother insists that we all get dressed and ready for the day because we're going somewhere to visit someone or other. I didn't really pay attention because I couldn't hear over the crunching of my Crunch Berries. I love Sidney's younger sister for liking the same ridiculously unhealthy sugary cereal that I do.
I wear a nice pink plaid shirt and capris. I throw my hair into a messy bun and  make my bangs look extra cute by teasing them a little bit.  I don't apply any makeup except mascara. '
"You look great," Sidney says as he's still getting ready. I don't know how that man can take so long but I swear it took him forever just to pick an outfit.
Finally, he decides on one and we head back out to the family room. Sidney's parents and sister are all waiting around. "You could have told us to hurry," I apologize.
"It's fine, we're not in a rush. Actually, we started a movie, but if we don't tell Sidney to get ready at least 2 hours before we're going somewhere, he's liable to make us late!" Sidney's mom laughs. "I've never met a boy who took so long to get ready until I had him in the house." This time everyone laughs and Sidney kind of gives his mom a death glare. I pat him on the shoulder and suppress another laugh as he looks at me.
We sit down on the love seat to watch the movie with his family and that's when I get the text.

Kris's Point of View =/

Ruthanne lays motionless at the bottom of the stairs and I yell again, not knowing what to do. "Ruthanne!" I say, alarmed. Ruthanne's mom comes rushing out of her office and we reach her body at the same time.
"Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God," Ruthanne's mom is saying. She rushes off to get the phone before I can suggest calling an ambulance. If Ruthanne's not woken up yet, something might be seriously wrong. I grab Ruthanne's hand and rub it, then put my head by her mouth to hear or feel her breath. This is insanely stressful. If she got hurt... "Ruthanne? Honey?" I say, right next to her face. Her eyelids fluttering is the only response I get.
I try and keep the crazy thoughts in my head to a minimum. What's best for Ruthanne right now. She's still lying motionless. She really took a wild fall, and there were a couple somersaults in there. Hopefully she didn't do anything to her neck.
After a few moments, I look away from her body and see the box that she was carrying. The contents are scattered and a stray trophy that was in it lays beneath her arm. There's a  large gash where the trophy sliced her soft upper arm open adn she's bleeding on the floor. I send Ruthanne's mom for something to clean it up a little bit.
I can feel tears in my eyes and I can't stop holding Ruthanne's hand. It's so soft, and fragile. What would I do if I could never hold her hand again? Suddenly I'm thinking about my summer and the loss of Luc and feeling bad for myself instead of her. I force myself to snap out of it and focus on the situation at hand. It's not about me. We have to get help for Ruthanne.

It feels like forever before the ambulance arrives and Ruthanne's mom and I took turns freaking out. Really, it's been about 15 minutes.  By the time they got here though, she would open her eyes and then close them again. It's something, right!? They allow me to ride in the ambulance with her because she really came alive when they put her on a stretcher and her hand lost contact with mine.
In the ambulance they're doing all sorts of things to her and asking her questions and all I can do is just hold her hand. I've never felt more helpless.

In the hospital, I have to wait in the waiting room for a while before they get her situated. I managed to steal her phone out of her pocket while we were in the ambulance.
I send Caitlin a quick text. I don't mean to freak her out, but I feel like she deserves to know. There's an instant reply asking if she's alright. To tell the truth, I don't know anything yet and I can't do anything about it and I'm sitting here with my elbows on my knees and my face in my hands. I don't reply after that. I know it's terrible, but I don't know anything at this point, and I'm already trying so hard not to cry.
The lady at the desk recognized me when I walked in. And she's been staring ever since. Normally I would be friendly and say hello or something, or even just smile, but I stand up and pace and run back to the desk to ask if I can go see Ruthanne yet.
"Yes, you can go see her," the nurse gives me a broken smile "She's in room 378" I'm too worried to respond to the smile. After looking at a map of the hospital for a couple of seconds I dash down the hall towards the elevator so I  can get to the fourth floor. I need to see Ruthanne, to make sure she's alright.

Chapter 42

Caitlin's Point of View ;)

Sidney picks me up and I'm only going for the weekend, but I had to pack a really large suitcase.. Mostly for his present. He laughs at me and asked if I could pack anymore for just a couple days. And yes, yes I could. I had to take some of my clothes out, to put his present in. I hope he likes it. He better.
We're boarding the plane and I'm thinking more about my birthday plan. I don't know if the scavenger hunt is a good idea. I'm thinking it'll be hard to pull off...
Sidney watches me as I sit in my plane seat. "You look beautiful," he says, a smile on his face. "I missed you today."
I smile back at him and then put my head down on his shoulder. "I missed you too." We both pause a moment before I say, "you know I've probably gone on more plane rides with you than in my entire life."
Sidney just laughs and kisses the top of my head. He rides planes all the time.
We arrive at the airport on time and Sidney's parents are waiting for us at a gift shop place. I guess that's where Sidney always meets his parents. They both hug him and his mother gives him a kiss and I hang back awkwardly. Then they turn to me.
"You must be Caitlin!!" His mom says, coming over to hug me. I stand up my suitcase and hug her back. "I've heard soo much about you!" She says smiling.
"Good things?" I smile, hoping I hadn't done anything too bad to Sidney.
"Always," she says. Sidney's dad comes over and shakes my hand and we all walk out and to their car where it's parked in the huge parking lot.
Sidney and I sit in the back. It makes me feel like such a kid. Sidney and his parents talk about what's going on this weekend and I get a feel for what I'll be doing. I'm definitely not going to have time for the scavenger hunt thing. I think it'd be weird anyways. Sidney's parents seem nice enough but I'm not brave enough to ask about it.
When we get to his house his little sister Taylor attacks him with a hug. Then I'm shown to Sidney's room. Apparently there's a guest room that's under renovation and I wouldn't normally be allowed to do this. Sidney kisses me when we walk in. "I'm so glad they're finally redoing that room," he whispers. "I'm so glad you could come."
"You just wanted me in your bed." I laugh at him and plop down on his bed. It's been such a long day and I'm feeling tired. Sidney gets down on the bed with me and kisses me again. "I love you," I say. We rest for a couple minutes then head back out to his living room to socialize with his parents and younger sister before his parents head to bed. It's already 9:00, and they don't usually stay up that late. I'm glad because I really just want to go lay down with Sidney. And I can't wait to give him my present tomorrow.
Sidney's parents ask me a lot of questions about myself and my family. I almost feel like I'm being interrogated, but they're cool about it, they're just curious. They live so far away, they're kind of detached from our whole life in Pittsburgh. So we visit until around 11:00 when they absolutely must turn in because they can't go 30 seconds without yawning. I admit I'm feeling pretty sleepy as well.
Sidney and I stay up for a long time in his bedroom before we actually go to sleep. His bed is small, and kind of awkward to try and fit two people into side by side, but I'm a cuddly kind of person so I'm fine with that.

Ruthanne's Point of View <3

I wake up in the morning and lay in bed. All I can think about is how last night we almost got jumped by a bunch of gangsters. They must have been attracted by Kris's fancy car. And our loud music. I had a dream about that experience, only, we didn't get away and they were harrassing us and smashing up the car and whatnot. The dream was really unrealistic, but it was scary anyways.
I notice my phone buzzing and check the time, 11:00. Jeez, I think. I'm up late. I've got like a text from Kris. I'm always happy to wake up to a text from him.
Good morning baby, <3 I love you!
I text him back quickly.
Good morning, I love you too!!!! <3<3 Are you doing anything today?
I add on to the end of it so he'll have a reason to text me back. He's not huge on texting, but you can keep him going if there's a good conversation.  My phone buzzes almost immediately.
I'm not doing anything today. Do you want my help moving stuff?
It would be a great opportunity to hang out with Kris all day. I love being with him.
Yeah, I only have a few more boxes to pack and take over. <3 See you soon?
I really don't need that much help, I realize after I look at the mess that just needs to be organized and shoved into a box. But Kris would look for an excuse to come over here anyways. I can't wait to see him.
Yep, I'll be over in a few.
I sigh and hop out of bed. I need to shower and get some of my stuff organized before he gets here. I don't want him to see my room like this. I head to the bathroom and plug my iPod into the speakers. Cobra Starship comes on and I sing along as I bathe. It's going to be a good day, I keep telling myself even though I woke up feeling kind of sad and weird. Kris gets to my house in no time, like I figured he would and he's knocking at the bathroom door before I even have my hair brushed. Thankfully, I'm dressed and I open the door for him to come in.
"hey," he says, smiling instantly when he sees me. I look up at him, embarrassed. I'm sure I look like a drowned rat or something with my flat, wet hair and no makeup and sweats on. Oh well, I reassure myself. He's seen you at your worst. This isn't that bad.
"Hey," I say back, continuing to pick at the tangles in my hair with the comb. He walks around me so he can put is arms around my waist and further prevent me from getting anything done. I grumble and pull away from him and he gives me an insulted look in the mirror. I didn't mean it, but I want to get my hair combed out before it starts drying.
"My bed missed you last night," he says quietly. I smile and start laughing.
"Is that so?" I set down my comb and raise an eyebrow at him. His sense of humor is so odd sometimes. But I love it.
"It is," he grins, that cute crooked smile he has and leans down to kiss me. Kris can make me feel better no matter what mood I'm in. "You look cute today," he says, his eyes quickly moving up and down my body. I blush instantly. I can't tell if he's being serious, but I think he tends to like it better when my look is more natural. I hug him and we walk to my bedroom.
"wow," he chuckles at the mess.
"I know,  I didn't get a chance to finish organizing," I say. "I just woke up when we started talking," I smile.
"It's okay," Kris laughs, "I admit to cleaning extensively before you come over." We both chuckle and then we get to work on the last few boxes that need to go. I'm moving almost completely out of my parents' house.
"I think you're gonna like my room. I put my Letang jersey up already." I wink at him as I walk out of my room and towards the stairs with the box I'm carrying.
He chuckles then follows me down the hall with two of his own boxes.
All of a sudden I hear Kris yell and then everything goes black as I tumble down the stairs...

Chapter 41

Ruthanne's Point of View <3
Early in the morning I wake up and Kris isn't by my side. I freak out a little bit and look around the room. He's not in the room either. I get out of bed and walk downstairs. Kris is in the kitchen making breakfast.
"Good morning," he says, smiling brightly.
"Hey," I say, "you scared me."
"Sorry.. I was hungry and I wanted this to be ready for when you woke up. It'll be done in a few minutes." He stirs the scrambled eggs and looks up at me. I walk over and wrap my arms around his waist. I lean on his back and stay there while he cooks. I feel clingy right now.
"mmm," I groan. "that smells really good."
"I hope you like it," Kris says, "I don't make breakfast a lot."
"I'm sure I will lovee it." I say happily. I'm still sleepy and I'm like falling asleep on his back so I let go of him and go sit at the bar.
"You sound tired," Kris comments.
"I feel exhausted." I say, and it's the truth. I feel like I could close my eyes right now and fall asleep on this stool.
Kris turns off the burner and before serving the food he comes over and hugs me. "You can go back upstairs and sleep if you want," he says.
"I can't sleep without you," I say, a puppy dog look on my face. I really can't sleep without him. Well, not good sleep at least.
Kris's crooked smile makes me giggle. "After we eat."
I smile wider and hug him back. "thank youuu." I yawn into his shoulder.
"You're welcome baby," Kris says. I smile again and lay my head down on the counter while he serves up the food.
We eat and I don't feel as tired anymore, but I still need a nap so Kris and I go upstairs and lay down. "I love you,"  Kris says in my ear as I lay there in his arms. I barely hear him because I'm already half asleep. Napping comes naturally for me. I need at least 10 hours of sleep to function.

When I wake up I see Kris playing with my phone. "Hey!" I yelp, trying to grab it out of his hand. He's too quick of course. "What are you doing?" I ask him suspiciously.
"Caitlin texted you," he says back. "She's going to Cole Harbour with Sidney for his birthday this weekend," Kris explains. "He wants his family to meet her."
"So, you're just texting her?" I ask.
"Yeah," Kris says, smiling. He's a goofball.
"Now how am I gonna move!?" I groan. This just isn't working out that well for us. Summer is almost over and we've taken a lot of vacations. And Caitlin is leaving again. I'll probably move the rest of my stuff and she'll get hers later.  I realize how selfish I sounded and feel bad, but there's nothing I can say without making myself look even more terrible.
"I can help you," Kris says, planting a kiss on my cheek as I make another grab for my phone.
I give him the puppy dog lip. "Can I have my phone!?"
He hands it to me immediately. He can never take it. I text Caitlin saying I'm back and she asks if Kris told me everything. Of course there's nothing for us to discuss anymore because he just spilled it all. I wonder how Caitlin got her family to let her go on such short notice.. I guess it was the same for me going to Montreal.


Caitlin's Point of View. ;)

Sidney's birthday is this weekend and I started working on his gift today. Now that he's told me he's taking me to Cole Harbour with him this weekend, I'll have to pack it all up and try and finish it there. I figure, my money can't get Sidney Crosby anything he doesn't already have, and he'd like something homemade and from the heart better anyways.
I'm attempting to make a message in a bottle. I secretly took sand and a couple seashells from the beach in Florida where we docked and so I'm putting that in the bottom of the bottle. The hardest part about this is going to be writing the note, and attaching it to the cork so he can get it out. Since we're leaving later today, I'm going to try and finish this one. And try to finish packing. And convince him to leave me alone all day while I do this.
I'm also trying to fill a cute box I decorated with 23 things he likes, or memories, like movie tickets and things. Since he's turning 23 this weekend.
And for the last thing, I'm going to try and coordinate this with his family while he's not around, a scavenger hunt in his home town for all of it. It would be easier if I had any background knowledge about where he lives.
So, I'm spending my whole day on this, I better have a good plan for when I get there. I need a lot of a day to execute the birthday surprise too, so I'll have to make sure we have a free day while we are up there.
The box will be the first thing he finds, followed by the 23 items so he can fill the box with them (some will be in the same spot as others because they go together, or because it'll be crazy to go to 23 different locations), and the last thing wil be the message in a bottle. I'm so happy with my plan, it better work out.

Sidney texts me all day, nonstop and I have to keep holding him off. I keep telling him that I can't go do anything and he can't come over here because I'm helping my mom get ready for our family reunion next weekend. There's not a reunion, but he doesn't have to know. I still feel bad about the lie.
My mom eventually comes up to my room wondering what's going on too. There's glitter and tissue paper and everything else all over the place when she gets here. "Well this is a mess. Is it for Sidney's birthday?" She asks.
"Yeah," I grin widely, proud of myself. I still need to get a few of the 23 things but I think I'm good for time to get those.
"All homemade?" My mom blinks.
"Not ALL of it. Besides, What am I suppsosed to buy him?" I ask laughing. "He's got everything he wants, and everything he needs. This is better, I think, than stressing over what to get him and how much money I'd have to spend and everything." I explain myself and watch her face as she understands.
"Ok then. That's what you're doing up here. I was afraid you died. You never stay up here all day like this." I laugh at her for thinking that, but it's true, if I'm at home I'm downstairs. I only ever slept in my room.
Boy I can't wait for Sidney's birthday this weekend! Hopefully his family likes me and will go along with the scavenger hunt!


Ruthanne's Point of View <3

My day is uneventful, Kris and I just hang out, and Max comes over to Kris's house to hang out. I think it has to do with getting his mind off of  whatever Kris went to Max's for the other day. It must really be bothering him. I'm not even sure what it is. Then it dawns on me. Sidney asked Caitlin the other day about Max and she said there was nothing going on. Maybe Sidney said something to Max or he found out the wrong way, or he's totally destroyed over it. I don't know. I don't care to get involved.
We end up playing golf on the Wii most of the evening and then realizing we're all starving at about 11:00.
"What's open?" Kris asks, obviously not thinking of fast food. I'm sure he's used to high class stuff, but I'm not. Yet.
"ha. McDonalds, Eat'n Park." I laugh,  Max does too.
"Drive through?" Kris asks.
"Yes, dummy," I laugh at him again and we all hop in his car to go to McDonald's. Kris doesn't want to be seen there, I can tell.
We eat our food in the car in an old pot holish parking lot. All of us laugh and eat and we jam to rap music we've never listened to before.
None of us thought about what parking lot we parked in. And it scared the shit out of us when someone came up and knocked on the window.
"Yo what's ya'll partyin in there fo?" The big black guy shouts outside my window. I shriek in surprise and nearly land in Kris's lap.
"Oh my god oh my god oh my god," I repeat over and over under my breath. Who knows what he wants.
Kris just starts the car and pulls out of the parking lot. I never imagined it being that easy. I look back to see the guy freaking out in the parking lot and 2 of his buddies coming out and joining him. I lean heavily on Kris's shoulder. "Do not. Take me there again," Kris says at the same time I try to.
"How was I supposed to know your nearby McDonalds wasn't safe!" I ask him.
"I don't know," he laughs, "but that was some scary stuff. I don't know how we made it out of there." I smile and sigh.
"I'm glad we did." Kris drops me off at home, going out of his way to do so, after that ordeal and I go straight to bed. I go straight to bed. It's been a long day.

Chapter 40

Caitlin's Point of View ;)

After breakfast and stuff Sidney's got some stuff to do back at Mario's so I take him home so he can do his thing and I can do mine for the day. My plan is to get a lot of stuff moved into the apartment. The sooner I'm moved in there, the better. It's closer to Sidney too.
Ruthanne and I are getting together to help each other move things into the apartment today. First she's going to help me, then we'll stop at her house, eat lunch and move her stuff.
The first thing on my agenda is picking out an outfit for the mysterious date tonight. I choose one that's nice enough to pass for semi formal but it wouldn't look terrible to wear to a  movie theatre. I think I did good.
She gets to my house and I instantly know there's something wrong. Apparently, as she's telling me, she's stressed out over the way Kris left this morning.
"Aw, honey." I say, feeling bad. I know how it must feel. "He's probably just got stuff to do today. You know he loves you and at the very least you know he's texting you tonight." I say, trying to comfort her. I'm not as good at it as she is when I'm feeling down, but I do my best.
"Yeah," she says, knowing I'm right. We both kind of hate it when the other is right, but this time it isn't bothering her.
"Don't worry about it. Let's have a good day moving stuff," I say. I never told her about Sidney and I having a date tonight. I kinda think she'll be a little more upset if I tell her that. Hopefully we can be done with moving today before he needs to come pick me up.
So Ruthanne and I spend the day moving everything. It's actually fun, working together. I think the best part is creating a whole new room for myself in the apartment. It's not totally new, but, it's definitely going to look different.
After my stuff for today is done we go to her house. Lunch for today is tacos, made by her mom. Yummy stuff! And she even made salsa for me. I love Ruthanne's mom's salsa and she knows it. If she knows I'm coming around she'll be sure to make it. I love her like a second mother.
Ruthanne's stuff is basically all packed up already. I think this morning before she came over she was stressed out so she wanted something to do. We put all the boxes she has into our 2 trunks and haul it on over to the apartment complex.
I hang out in my room and decorate and whatnot while she unpacks and stuff. She wants to be left alone, I think. I never realize how long we spend at the apartment. I'm having fun unpacking... But Sidney texts me at about 5:00 saying he'll pick me up at my house at 5:30. Shooot.
"Ruthanne I'm leaving. I gotta go home!!!" I shout, even though she could hear me if I spoke in an indoor voice. I walk out before she can say anything and immediately regret it. Guess what I just did. I'm the second person who's left her that way today. Hopefully she doesn't think of it that way, because I feel terrible.

I'm dressed and doing my makeup in the mirror when there's a knock at my bathroom door. My mom must need me. I walk to the door, mascara in hand and answer it. Sidney stands on the other side looking handsome as ever.
"Hey," he says happily. "Almost ready?"
"Almost," I say, feeling funny. I only have mascara on my left eye. I'm sure it looks funny too. "Hold on," I fix my right eye to match and walk with him out the door. "Where are we headed?" I ask him curiously.
"Cheesecake factory, then we're going to play putt putt with Kris and Ruthanne." He replies, smiling down at me.
I feel bad because the first thought that runs through my mind is I thought this was gonna be a just you and me night. But I don't say anything because I want it to be perfect.
"Sounds like fun!" I say.
My mom watches us as we walk through the kitchen and out the door. I can tell she's excited for me by the way she pretends to make food on the counter, but she's quite obviously smiling up at me. I wave at her and she the storm door, ready for my fun night to begin.
"Sid," I say as I step inside the car.
"Yeah?" He asks. He looks over at me and I can see him looking at my hair and my eyes and my outfit. I can't tell if he likes it or not though. "You look gorgeous," he says, just as I was about to wonder about it.
"thanks. But, I was gonna ask, What was Kris up to today? Ruthanne was real stressed out about it."
Sidney pauses or a moment like he's contemplating whether or not to tell me. "I'm not sure," he finally says in his lying voice. I can tell it's a lie from the way it leaves his tongue but I leave it be. I want to have a good night.

"Your order please miss?" The waitress glares down at me. I order a chicken tostada salad thing. It sounds and looks delicious. Our waitress, "Missy," just got done drooling all over Sidney. I have a hard time being polite to her. It looks like she hates me, but she just loves Sidney, could stay here all night just hanging all over Sidney. Ahh that annoys me.
Sidney places his order then looks at me as the waitress walks away. "I'm sorry about that," he says unhappily.
"what?" I ask him, semi annoyed still.
"The waitress! I know you noticed and I know you care!" He says.
"It's fine," I say, not wanting to get into it. It does bother me but it's not like he can help it.
"No it's not, it bothers you," he smiles sweetly.
"It's fine Sidney, it's not like you could stop it." I snap at him, and instantly feel terrible about it. He looks like a puppy you just scolded for being bad. Hurt. "I'm sorry," I apologize.
Our food comes and we barely talk as we eat. I feel bad, but I know he does too. When we're done eating and on our way out Sidney asks, "do you still want to come to putt putt?"
"Of course! I'm not mad at you." I say. "You can't help who you are in this city."

Ruthanne's Point of View <3

Kris finally texted me around 7:30 asking me if I wanted to go play some putt putt golf with him and Caitlin and Sidney. No wonder she ran out on me. But Of course I want to go, I haven't seen him all day! Well, since this morning, but that's long enough. It's funny, after spending so much time together, I can hardly stand to be away from him. Maybe that's why he left this morning. Maybe I'm too needy.
He's coming by to get me at 8:00 so we can meet up with Caitlin and Sidney. Good,  I think to myself. Putt putt would be a fun date kind of thing, but it's a lot of fun with a bunch of people.
I can't wait for him to get here. Half of me wants to ask him what he's been up to all day, and half of me doesn't want to know. I think I'll leave it alone, in case it's bad. I want to have a good night.
Kris gets to my house and I walk up to him like I wasn't stressed out all day over what he'd been doing. I think that's the best way for me to deal with this right now. I want to have fun playing putt putt together.
"Hey babe," he says, wrapping his arm around me in the kitchen. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah," I say. I threw my hair up in a pony and put on a cute but cool outfit. I can't wait. I suck at putt putt but it's so darn fun.

We get to the putt putt place, a place I've never been before, and start playing. I have a pink ball, which makes Kris laugh. His is light blue! Not much  better, is my  best defense. Caitlin is purple and Sidney is red. It really doesn't matter but we have fun picking and laughing at each other.
After a long while, mostly my and Caitlin's fault, we make it to the 18th hole. There's no doubt that one of the guys will win. They're so good at this, I can't believe it. So Caitlin and I started a little competition between ourselves, since we can't beat them.
In the end, Kris wins, with like 25 strokes, and Sid comes in second with 27. Caitlin and I kinda lost count of ours, so we leave our scorecards blank.

We all leave and go our separate ways, Sidney takes Caitlin to her house, and is probably going to stay over again tonight and I go with Kris. He's not told me about anything he did today, and I'm still curious, but I'm sure it was nothing.
"Do you wanna come over to my place?" Kris asks me, "I haven't really gotten to see you today."
"Um. Yeah," I say, "I'll text my mom." I'm exhausted from a long day, but I can't help but want to be with Kris.
"What did you do today?" He asks after I hit send. I'm always yelling at him because if he talks while I'm texting, I'll type what he says. 
"Me and Caitlin moved a lot of stuff into the apartment," I say. Kris isn't too happy about the apartment Caitlin and I are moving into, he thinks it's in the slums and he doesn't want me around those sort of people. When he first brought it up, I yelled at him for being judgmental but I know he's mostly right.
He gives me that sort of look but I shrug it off. He's not stopping me from moving now. Maybe later I'll move out for him but I've got too much time and money invested in it right now.
"What about you?" I finally get up the nerve to ask him. I don't even know why I was nervous but now that it's out I feel better.
"I was at Max's all day. He texted me this morning, he was upset."
"Oh," I say, surprised. I didn't see that coming. "Is it all good now?"
"Yeah, he's fine," Kris smiles half-heartedly. He's not all that into this topic so I change it up and we talk about other things on our way to his apartment.
Inside Kris's house I notice on of the pictures we took in Montreal in a frame on one of his shelves. "Aww," I say immediately, hugging him the instant I see it. It's in black and white, and it's of us hugging. We got someone there to take it.
"What?" He asks, confused.
"Our picture," I say happily, pointing at it.
"Oh." Kris smiles. "I like that one."
"Me too," I say, standing up on my tip toes to kiss his cheek. "I love you," I say.
"I love you too," he kisses me then we head upstairs where I brush my teeth with the toothbrush I left here. He lends me one of his t shirts and a pair of athletic shorts that I absolutely swim in. I pull the drawstring tight, and I look like a gangster the way they billow off of my legs.
We lay in his bed and talk and cuddle for about an hour before I'm too tired to stay up another minute. I fall asleep in his arms a very happy person.

Chapter 39

Caitlin's Point of View ;) 

After Ruthanne and Kris left so suddenly Sidney and I didn't know what to do. It was about dinnertime and there wasn't any food at the apartment so we ordered a pizza and hung out there some more. It ended up being a good time. Before we realized it it was like 11:30 and I needed to take him home still.
"Crapmuffins," I say out loud. "My mom's gonna be pissed."
"What?" Sidney looks at me confused. "It's 11:30. I still gotta drive you home." I say sleepily, just realizing that I was tired.
"If your mom didn't mind I'd come to your place," was his reply. He's always for us spending the nights together. I guess I am too, but that's not the first thing that comes to my mind.
"Hopefully she won't cause I'm not asking I say. I'm freaking tired." We get in my car and drive back to my place. My mom's still up, watching TV.
"Hey mom," I say as we walk in. "Sorry I'm so late, we lost track of time."
"You and that Sidney kid, huh?" She laughs and says, "It's alright." Then she turns around. "Hey!" She exclaims noticing Sidney for the first time.
"It's alright that he stays right?" I ask her.
"Of course," she says happily. What's with her good mood, I wonder. My dad's nowhere to be seen and he probably wouldn't be as cool with Sidney staying as she is so we both head upstairs before he comes out. It's bedtime for Caitlin. I was exhausted.

Morning always comes much too soon and I wake up because I'm sweating and because Sidney is smothering me. I kind of peel myself off his chest and hope he doesn't wake up to notice. He mumbles in his sleep and rolls over. He'll probablys still be sleeping for another half hour at least. I look at my alarm clock, it's only 8:00. He'll definitely be out that long. I grab shorts and a tank top and run out of my room to get a shower.
He's still asleep when I get back. I lay back down beside him and cuddle up, hoping my cold skin won't wake him. He's really cute when he sleeps. I grab my camera off my bedside table thinking I haven't used this in forever. And then I think about how there's absolutely no pictures of Sidney and I. Anywhere. Well, unless someone else took them of course. And with Sidney Crosby that's definitely a possibility.
Anyways, I grab my camera, and I'm looking at pictures all from senior year. I miss all my friends. It's starting to really hit me that I won't be going back next year. I'm done. Out of high school. I was trying to be tough but, I realize now that it's really over. I won't be seeing some of them ever again. Sure I'm going to college in the city and there'll be lots of people I know going to the same place, but it won't be the same.I suddenly feel really really sad. I smile at the memories and decide it's time for new pictures.
I snap one of Sidney while he's sleeping. It's so adorable. He wakes up when my camera's lens clicks though, and he stares at me suspiciously.
"Morning," he says groggily, rubbing his eyes.
"Hi,"
"Did you just take a picture of me?" He asks, looking at me again.
"Um. Maybe?" I say, grinning wide. he rolls toward me so he can kiss me. I laugh. Then we sit up and try to take a good picture of the both of us. It's nearly impossible on my bed, but finally we get one of me leaning on his shoulder. The sunlight coming through my curtains put a neat shine on my nearly dry hair and there's a glint in Sidney's eye despite the fact that he just woke up. It's really a very good picture.
"I love you," Sidney says, nuzzling his nose into my shoulder.
"I love you too," I say, leaning on him, my full weight not moving him an inch. "Do you want breakfast? It's like 9:30," I whisper.
"Yeah, I'm hungry," he laughs.
"you're always hungry." I laugh, getting up out of my bed.
"How about waffles?" I ask him. I'm really really in the mood for some waffles.
"yum." He says. Downstairs we're the last ones up and we're making a mess with the waffle maker. It's always a messy food, but it's worse with Sidney helping. He's really not meant to be in the kitchen.
"Sidney! Jeez! Oh my gosh, stop!!" I find myself saying half the time. He's either pouring too much mix in the thing or trying to pry the half done waffle out of it, or stirring the mix some more because it's lumpy. It's like having a little kid in the kitchen.
"Dude, go sit at the table, it's almost done," I finally say, fed up with his annoyingness. He looks at me kind of insulted but listens and when the waffles are done and I clean up the counter, I bring the food to the table. "Yumm." Sidney says again. "These look sooo good."
"good," I say, still a little annoyed with him. My mom walks into the kitchen and dining room area and says, "Good morning, how'd you guys sleep?"
"It was hot," I say. "
Didn't you run your air conditioner?" She asks, a confused expression on her face. "Shiiii-oooot." I stop myself from swearing in front of my mother. I get the look, but she's amused. "I forgot I had one," I finally say.
"Oh, caitlin," She says laughing. "Did you make waffles for me? I didn't eat yet."
"Yeah, just take one," I reply, not wanting my second one. I finish the one I'm eating and take my plate to the sink. Sidney follows me and puts his arm around my waist as my mother leaves the kitchen area for her television.
"hey baby," Sidney says in my ear. "do you wanna go out tonight??" he whispers.
"where?" I ask, leaning back into him.
"out to dinner, a movie maybe? Just you and me." he turns me around and I'm looking up at him. He knows it bothers me that all the guys are constantly around. He kisses me and grabs my hands. "what do ya say?"
"yes."

Ruthanne's point of view. <3

I wake up in a panic, because I fell off a cliff. I hate falling dreams. My eyes shoot open and I see Kris flinch. He's been watching me sleep. "good morning beatiful," he whispers.
All I can do is smile and scootch towards him. "Hey," I say into his chest as we cuddle up/ I don't feel like talking, I'm so sleepy. Our blanket nest on the floor is so nice and perfectly warm but not sweaty. I'm lovin this moment.
"mmmm," he groans as he yawns and stretches. "What time is it?" He asks sleepily. "I've been up for like, an hour."
"I'm sorry." I smile. "You could have gotten me up, you know?"
"Yeah, but you're so cute when you sleep." He laughs.
I crane my neck to look behind me at the alarm clock and see what time it is. Oh joy, the power has gone out since I've last been home. It's blinking and doesn't have the time. I hate it when that happens. I flop my left arm over to see if my phone or iPod is on the other side of me. Thankfully my phone is. Or else I'd start to be frustrated."It's 9:30," I say, yawning.
"shoot, I've gotta go," Kris says unhappily. I notice that he didn't swear like he usually would and it throws me off.
"Why?" I ask him, feeling sad.
"I've got stuff to do today," he says. "I'll see you tomorrow," he leans over and gives me a kiss before standing up and walking out of my bedroom.
I stand up and follow him. What's going on? I wonder to myself as I tag along down the hall and down the stairs. It really upsets me when I don't know anything about what he's doing.
"Kris?" I ask as he walks out the door and I stop in the doorway.
"Ruthanne," he says walking back. "I'll text you tonight, promise." He leans over and kisses me and walks back down the walk to his car. I sigh, still unsatisfied, but what can I do? I guess I'll wait til tonight to see what happens.

Chapter 38

Caitlin's Point of View ;)



Sidney and I get to the apartment pretty quickly, because I speed most of the way there. Sidney was a little intimidated by my driving and said things like, "You'll devastate a whole city by killing me Caitlin, slow down." Usually I laughed at him and kept going, but after thinking about it, I don't really want to be responsible for that kind of thing. I can see the news headline now. "Sports hero killed in firy car crash. girlfriend responsible."
At the building I smile at him and walk in the main door. Ruthanne and I are moving in upstairs. It's not like we could live downstairs, there's no apartments down there but  I hate these stairs. I love the apartment though and can't wait to move in. I guess I hate the stairs because they remind me of a crime scene from Law and Order.I suppose Ruthanne's probably got a lot of stuff already packed that she's going to drop off here. "You guys aren't even moved in here yet, are you?"
"No. Not at all. I haven't moved anything."
"Then why are we coming here?" Sidney looks at me, a strange look on his face.
"I'm not really sure. Ruthanne probably has a bunch of stuff packed from Montreal that she's gonna drop off." I say, pausing for a breath of air as I walk up the stairs. "I think we plan on getting all moved in this week."
"Oh," Sidney says, "yeah I forgot about that plan." I laugh at him and open the door into our living room. That still feels strange to me. My parents or Ruthanne's parents or both must have taken care of the whole furniture scene cause it's all here. Just what Ruthanne and I picked out. She must have known about this to drag Kris here.
"Do you think they're here?" I ask, hoping they're not like, in the bedroom or something. I didn't check the driveway for Kris's or Ruthanne's car. I don't even know what his looks like.  I walk into the kitchen and Sidney follows. "Oh well, I'm not looking."
Sidney laughs at me, knowing exactly how I think. "That's probably a good idea," he laughs some more. Maybe if they're here they'll hear us and they'll come out.
"Do you like it?" I ask Sidney as I turn around and walk into the bedroom I picked out. I like the way everyhing is so nice and things are close and there's no crossing the whole house to get to something. I have a feeling I'll love it here. Especially because Brittny will have no clue where I'm living. This is the first time I've even thought about her in a few days. It's really nice. Hopefully she hasn't done anything stupid.
"I do like it. It's very. Small." Sidney steps into my room. A bed! I run over and sit on the mattress. Sidney follows me to my bed.
"You don't really like it, do you?" I ask him.
"You could always live with me," he says, looking serious. Have we not just been dating a few weeks, a month and a half, tops?
"heh?" I look at him. Everything about that idea sounds wrong right now.
"I'm serious!"
"You're crazy is what you are." I laugh at him and lean on his shoulder, "That's why I love you, I suppose," I laugh at him again. I feel him smile and he moves his arm so that it's around my waist. I love my Sidney Crosby. But I do not want to live at Mario Lemieux's with him.

Ruthanne's Point of View <3

We spend more time at Kris's apartment than we intended to and I feel bad. Caitlin was excited to see me and she'll probably be there before we get there. On the car ride there I'm kind of stressing about that.  I knew about the furniture getting moved in. I kind of wanted to see her reaction. Oh well.
We pull into the driveway and there's her Intrigue, just sitting there. I sigh.
"What?" Kris looks at me, noticing the pent up energy.
"They beat us," I say, smiling at him. I don't want to be upset.
"sorry," Kris says, walking in in front of me and heading for the stairs. I jog up beside him, wondering how or if he knows what apartment is ours.
We walk into the living room and look around. Sidney and Caitlin are nowhere to be found. I look through the arch into the kitchen, not there. I'm afraid to walk into the bedroom, even if the door is open. "SO Kris," I say loudly, not really planning what to say next. I just want to get Caitlin's attention.
She comes out of nowhere and attacks me with a hug. "HEY!!!" She says loudly. I can see Kris lean towards me, and I briefly wonder why. Oh. I was sick just last night. Oh Kris.
"Hi" I say back. "How have you been?" I ask her. The face she makes is enough to tell me that it wasn't as bad as she thought. She's still smiling.
Sidney walks out soon after Caitlin and greets Kris with a smile. There's no TV or anything to be a distraction today so It's just us four. We'll have to entertain ourselves. "Do you like the furniture?" I say, asking everyone, and walking over to sit on the couch. It's the one Caitlin and I picked but we haven't sat in it or anything yet. I know, dangerous furniture shopping. But, it's pretty awesome looking. Luckily, it's very comfortable. Kris sits next to me, grabbing my hand. I give his a squeeze, feeling really happy.
"I love it!" Caitlin says, "I don't even care if it's comfy!" I laugh at her as she jumps up and lets herself fall to the cushion. She acts like such a kid. I love her. Kris laughs out loud and I poke him. Sidney laughs too. Caitlin just now looks up, realizing she looks really stupid. So she laughs too. Sidney pretends to sit on her before sitting beside her. He'd probably break her if he actually did sit on her.
At first the conversation is a little strained but it picks up after a while. We talk about everything and Kris even contributes to the conversation. Normally he's the quiet one, only speaking when asked something. I think hanging around me so much has changed him a little bit. I don't care though, I love him either way.  Kris looks at his watch suddenly. It's 5:00 and on the flight home he promised he'd cook dinner at his place. I wanted to know if he was as good a cook as his mother is. He says he is so we'll see.
"We've gotta go," Kris says to Caitlin and Sidney so I can't stop him.
"Well, ok," Caitlin says, looking a little disappointed.

Back at Kris's apartment he heads straight to the kitchen and invites me to sit on one of his barstools by the counter. When he's gone into another room for a second I think, "This is weird," His kitchen's layout is extremely similar to my parents. the bar is in the same place, the stove, the fridge. He comes back out wearing this red apron with stains all over it. I can't help but laugh. I love aprons.
He's working on making some chicken alfredo with his own special sauce. Or his mom's special sauce. And he's making a salad for on the side.  Yum.  I can't wait.
It doesn't take very long to prepare and he's got the table set in no time. Good thing. I'm freaking starving. "Sit here miss!" He leads me to the table. I smile at him and sit down. He's hilarious. He sets my plate of alfredo in front of me and makes me take a bite before he sits down.
"Yum. this is really good," I say, looking up at him after I swallow. "I never would have guessed you could cook!" I say in an apologetic manner.
"Ha! I told you I could cook," he laughs and starts eating.
"I'm sorry," I apologize and take another bite. The portion he dealt me is a little large but it's good enough and I'm hungry enough that I think I'll eat it all.

After cleaning up dinner Kris proposes that I stay overnight at his place. I really want to but my parents expect me to come home. They were already upset about me being away so long. "I can't," I say, "I gotta go home."
Kris makes a sad face but doesn't protest, he knows how long it's been since I've been home. "you should come over for a while," I say, even though it's late. I could never spend too much time with Kris.
He immediately smiles, which must be a yes. I hug him and stand up. "we oughta get going then," I stand up from the  bar stool I'm sitting on. "I'm sure they're waiting up for me. They don't know what time our flight was," I laugh. I needed a little time before having to be home. And now I'm ready.
Kris and I take separate vehicles because mine was left here before we went to Montreal and because I don't know if my parents will let him stay. He almost definitely will if he's allowed. And my bed's not that big, but that just makes for amazing cuddling. So I hope they don't care.
Walking in the door I see my dad sitting at the kitchen table. "Dad!" I say setting down my bags and sauntering over to him. It's been even longer since I've seen him, he was working the day I went to Montreal.
He stands up to give me a hug and say hello. He's not a real talkative person so after a few awkward seconds as he's staring at Kris who's just standing there, he sits back down.
"Hello," Kris says smiling. My dad nods at him and looks back down at his papers. Now I'm off to find my mother. She's in her little office room working too.
"Ruthanne!" She stands up and comes over to me. "Oh! You brought Kris!" She says, coming over to hug both of us. "How was Montreal?" She asks me.
"Amazing," I say happily. And it was. It's my new favorite place. "Just amazing."
"That's great!" She says peppily. It's a little disturbing how happy she is. "You know the house has been so quiet, usually you're around here making some sort of noise. It was hard to get used to," she laughs.
"Yeah?" I say, "It'll be even worse when I move out then, eh?" I catch myself saying eh. It's hard to go somewhere and not pick up their accent I guess but it's still hilarious that I said it. Kris caught me too. He elbows me and laughs. Last but not least my mom picks up on it and starts giggling.
After it's all out she says, "yeah, it will be worse. Are you still planning on moving everything this week?"
"Yeah," I say. "which reminds me, I've gotta get started on packing all that stuff."
"Don't worry about it right now," she says, "you have all summer." There's a hopeful tone in her voice.
"I know," I smile at her, kind of turning towards the door of her office. I don't want to talk about it right now. I'm gonna miss this house and my room so much when I move out. Then again, I can't wait. "I think I'm gonna head upstairs mom, I'm kind of exhausted after traveling today,"
"Ok." She calls back, "is Kris staying?" She asks, craning her neck so she can see out her office door.
I look at Kris and he nods, so I  yell back.
"OK!" She says. Her head disappears and she goes back to work on her computer.
Up in my room it's hard to get situated in my bed because it's so hot. I didn't think about that when I thought about sharing a bed. So Kris and I end up moving all my blankets and stuff to the floor like you do at a slumber party. I'm surprised he was up for it.
My last thought before falling asleep is, "I freaking love Kristopher Allen Letang."

Chapter 37

Ruthanne's Point of View <3

I wake up in the middle of the night to thunder and lightning and there's no Kris by my side. I feel weird because a dog isn't hogging up my whole bed. Turk, my chocolate lab, is scared to death of thunderstorms and he always comes and lays by me. I frown and sit up, feeling a little bit dizzy. "Kris?" I mumble into the darkness. I look for his alarm clock on his night stand and see that it's 2:45 AM. I frown again. Where is he?
I slide to the edge of the bed and stumble out of it. I figure I'll go to the bathroom and see how disastrous my appearance is, then see where I can find Kris. I walk into the bathroom only to hear Kris crying. I suddenly feel bad for looking for him because now he'll be embarrassed because I saw him. I can't see him but I know he's sitting on the edge of the bathtub so I go and sit beside him. When I lower myself onto the tub I feel him flinch, like I surprised him. But I feel like it'd be insensitive to walk back out the way I came. I wrap my arms around his shoulders and whisper, "I love you," in his ear.
Kris puts his hands to his face and wipes off all the tears. "I love you too," he says, leaning on me. I feel like crying because Kris is and I don't know if I can stop myself. It'd only make him feel worse I tell myself and just hang onto his shoulders. We're both a mess right now.
Kris and I sit for what seems like forever before I feel him getting ready to stand up. Between the two of us there's a silent communication that we're going to bed, and we both head in that direction. I love Kris and it's nice to know he loves me and will be there whenever he can. I sure hope I can be that reliable, is the last thought I think before I fall asleep.

Kris is up before the sun and saying my name before I even think about waking up. "Ruthanne. Come on," he says, pushing on my shoulder.
"Huh??" I roll over and look at him.
"We gotta get ready to go!" He says, "our flight leaves at 8:30!" He turns around, grabbing one of his duffle bags.. "Grab all your stuff. You wouldn't want to leave something important in Montreal." I get up slowly, rubbing my eyes.
"K" I say, and I head for the pile where most of my clothes lay. I might have some stuff in the bathroom but I mostly tried to keep it all in one place. "mmm, how'd you sleep??" I ask, yawning  as I pick up a few pairs of jeans and shove them into my suitcase.
"Terrible." Kris says, shooting me a look from across the room.
"I'm sorry.. Me too though," I try. One day without him felt like a lifetime.. I just want to talk. He walks over to me and gives me a hug.
"Hi," I look up at him, smiling real wide.
"Hey," he says, looking down at me, a crooked grin on his face. "I love you," he whispers as he kisses my forehead. "I missed you like crazy the other night," he says, kissing me again. "I can't wait to get back to Pittsburgh," he squeezes me tight, then lets go.
"Me too," I say quietly. I've been homesick. Hey, maybe that's my problem. Homesickness.


Caitlin's Point of View. ;)

I almost choke on my cereal before I turn to look at him. "Huh?" I ask, totally dumbfounded by his question. Did Max say something? Right here right now I vow to try and stay away from Max as much as possible.
"You and Max?" Sidney looks at me like I'm retarded.
"Not really," I try, since there really isn't anything between us. Even if Max wants there to be, I said no.
"What do you mean, Not Really?" Sidney looks at me. I feel like crying, like I just got caught doing some terrible crime.
"I mean..." I pause for a minute, "we've talked, but nothing is going on between us." I say.
"Oh." Sidney says, "well you act weird around him lately. And he flirts a ton."
"See how it feels?" I ask, knowing it doesn't really relate to his behaviour in the club the other night, but I still felt horrible about it. "I'm sorry," I apologize, that didn't need to be brought up again.
Sidney wraps his arm around me. "It's ok. I just like to think my girl is being faithful."
"No worries," I look up at him, not knowing whether I can believe that myself. I take another bite of my cereal, suddenly not feeling hungry at all. I can't believe we just had that conversation.

Sidney and I hang around the pool at Mario's the whole day. There's nothing better to do than to just lay together. I don't have any swim clothes so we just lay by the pool, cuddling.I hope I tan, and I certainly hope I do not get weird, Sidney tan lines on me from our cuddling. We talk about life and how everything's going for a long time before I remember that Ruthanne is coming home today.
"RUTHANNE and KRIS!!!" I say excitedly, startling Sidney when I sit up.
"Huh?" Sidney looks at me.
"They're coming home today!!" I say, scrambling, trying to find my cell phone. Kris and Ruthanne like to take morning flights, I remember.. So they should be back by now, it's like 1:00. I pull out my phone and send Ruthanne a text.
have you made it home?? I can't wait to see you! ;O is what ends up being typed onto the screen first so I send it, really hoping she has and wants to sit around our apartment all day.
"Sid, would you mind coming to my place and hanging for a while tonight?" I ask him, giving him my puppy dog face. I know he'd say yes even if I didn't do that, but I can't help doing it.
"Sure," he says, smiling at me. "Do you act like this when I've been away for days?" He looks at me with one eyebrow raised.
"Maybe," I smile and stand up, heading inside already. I hear Sidney get up to follow me. My phone buzzes in my pocket. Yeah, we're home. I'm at Kris's for now, We''ll be at the apartment soon.
I smile, hoping Sidney will be willing to go soon. I can't wait to see them! It's been what? 2 weeks? Crazy! I miss them (well, her.. I don't really know Kris) like CRAZY!!
I run upstairs when I reach the stairs, on my way to Sidney's room to get my stuff. He follows me up. "What's the rush?" He asks slowly, making me laugh.
"They're heading to the apartment soon!" I say, "I wanna meet them there!" I feel like a little kid getting a visit from a distant relative that I happen to love.
"Ok, ok, let's go then." Sidney says, kind of groaning about it. He obviously doesn't share my excitement but he wants to make me happy so he grabs his car keys off his nightstand.
"Let's go in my car," I say, secretly not wanting him to be able to get away. Has he even been to our apartment yet? I'm always coming over here.
"Why?" He asks, giving me a funny look.
"I don't know.. cause then you can't leave me."
"Like I'd do that!" He laughs at me and grabs my waist.
"I know. Still, ride in my car. I never get to drive."
"I never realized you like to drive." He says, smiling.
"There's a lot of things you would realize if you didn't insist on spoiling me so much," I smile at him again.
"Do you want me to stop?"
I laugh, "no way."
We head out the door, get into my car and drive  back to my place. I feel happy.

Chapter 36

Caitlin's Point of View ;)

Sidney and I wake up late, at like 11:30 and then we just lay there. "I don't wanna get upppp." I whine.
"Me neither," Sidney says, shifting so that his arm fits more comfortably around my neck. I snuggle into his chest, so happy to fit here perfectly. He kisses the top of my head and I can feel his smile moving my hair around. I hope I don't wake up looking a mess, like a cavewoman or something, but sometimes that's unavoidable. I reach up and touch Sidney's face, thinking of the time Max and I sat on that hill together. How can I love them both? When I'm with Sidney, I love him. When I talk to Max, it just seems perfect.
I force myself to stop thinking about that and focus on Sidney for right now. He gives me one more super tight hug before he rolls over and out of bed. I scowl at him, but follow closely, not wanting to be left alone. I laugh at him standing in the middle of his room. His boxers are riding up his butt and it's so gross but so hilarious. He turns around.
"Your butt is eating your pants, doofy," I say walking over to him. He gives me a confused look then picks his wedgie right in front of me which is equally gross, but still funny because he's Sidney Crosby.
"What would I do without you?" He asks, laughing and turns to hug me yet again. I like hugs but he's in a particularly huggy mood today. 
"You'd turn into a lonely old bachelor," I laugh at him, even though we both know it's not true. Sidney could have any girl he wanted, simply because he is Sidney. He laughs, then pulls on a shirt and heads for the stairs. He keeps motioning for me to come with him, but I know I look like crap. I pull my hair up into a messy bun and attempt to wipe the sleep from my eyes.
When I join him on the stairs he goes on his usual, "it doesn't matter what you look like," thing and I ignore him. That gets annoying. He should know that I am a girl and this is what girls do. They obsess. "You're not even listening are you?" He realizes when we get to the bottom.
"hmmm.. what do you think?" I ask him, sounding a little more annoyed than I had intended. I lean on his shoulder when we sit at the breakfast bar in the kitchen.

"Cereal?" He asks me, standing up and heading to the cupboard. I nod sleepily and wait for him to bring me a bowl, spoon, milk, and some cereal. He's so kind. I would have made him get his own. We eat our breakfast silently until Sidney looks at me and asks, "Is there something going on between you and Max?"

Ruthanne's Point of View <3

I wake up feeling a little bit better. I definitely can't wait for Kris to come home though. I look over my shoulder at the alarm clock sitting on Kris's night stand. It's like 5:30 AM and I'm not even tired. I think Kris's flight comes in at like 8:30. That seems like such a long time. Especially if I'm wide awake.
I get up and go take a shower. I feel so disgusting even though I'm not really dirty. That's what being sick does to me, I guess. The water beating on my back is comforting somehow and I keep turning down the cold water, until I can see red streaks where the hot water runs down my skin. I don't know what this is doing for me but it feels good, and it's waking me up. I stand in the shower until I feel clean again and then I get out and get dressed.
I should probably go downstairs and get something to eat since I'm starving, but I don't want to wake Kris's parents up. I know they're probably sleeping in until they have to go pick him up. I pick up my iPod and start playing with it. I find out for the first time that Kris's parents have unprotected Wifi and I can occupy myself with this for a while.
Finally, around 7:00 I head downstairs and get some food. Kris's mom is at the stove, as always, making something. Looks like pancakes. Yum. I wonder if she's doing this because I'm here, or if she always does that.
"We'll be going to get Kris soon. are you up to it?" She turns and asks me, startling me. She generally doesn't speak to me.
"Sure," I nod, wanting to go. All the sooner I'll see Kris, is all I can think. I might be dressed but I'm definitely in no shape to go out in public so I turn around and head back upstairs to freshen up. I put on some black eyeliner and mascara, and straighten my hair nicely. When I'm happy with the way I look I go back downstairs where breakfast is ready.
"Finally," Kris's mom says. "Breakfast is ready, you know."
"thanks," I say, taking a plate of pancakes and heading to the kitchen table.
"You'd better hurry, we've gotta leave soon." She looks at me like she means it so I hurry up and eat.
After wolfing down the food I get in Kris's parents car and we leave for the airport. Kris's mom occasionally tries to start a conversation but it always seems to die out, so she gives up.
We get there just as I'm fully lost in the city. We drive around for a while before Kris finds us. He thinks about greeting me with a kiss as he climbs into the backseat then thinks better of it when his mother says hello.
"Hi," I say, so happy it hurts to see him.
"Hi," He says back, mocking my happy voice and wraps his arm around me. "I missed you," he says.
"I missed you too." and that is all that's really said on the way home. His folks, and I are not ver talkative. I mean, I like to talk to Kris, but that feels so much different.
Arriving home, it feels so much later than it is. It's around 10:00 in the morning but I feel like we should be eating dinner or something. It's weird. It's warm outside so Kris and I spend some time by the pool before we go inside for lunch. We make ourselves some grilled chicken sandwiches, and they are delicious.
Soon after eating them though, when we go back out to the pool,  the nauseous feeling is back. "Ugh," I groan.
"are you feeling sick?" He asks.
"Mhmmm" I say, and stand up, making myself dizzy.
"Come on," he says, helping me make my way into the house. I head for the downstairs bathroom this time, and barely make it. Kris, of course, helps me with my hair, then wiping my face. He hugs me tight."I love you," he says. I just moan into his shoulder/armpit area. I feel like crap all over again. I thought it was done. Kris leads me upstairs where he lays me down in his bed and stays with me until I fall asleep.

Chapter 35

Caitlin's Point of View ;)

Sidney and I  spent hours talking on his bed before we both passed out in each others' arms. I never changed into the clothes he bought me. Thank heavens I took a minute to text my mom and tell her I'd be at Sidney's overnight, she was worried when she got home. I guess I forgot to leave a note.
I wake up at like 3:00 AM sitting straight up against Sidney who is leaning against the wall. I lift his arm off of me, attempting to get out without waking him up. My jeans are digging into my waist, I need to pee, and I want comfy clothes. Sidney stirs, then wakes up.
"Caitlin!?" He asks, finally opening his eyes.
"What?" I ask him, on my way to the other side of the room where my bag of new clothes is.
"What are you doing?" He tries to look at me through the darkness but failing.
"I'm putting on some pajamas. And I gotta pee." I say, laughing a little bit.
"What time did we fall asleep?" He asks me.
"I dunno, a little bit ago, I assume. I can't sleep very long in jeans." I say, happy to be slipping into something a little less tight.
"Oh," he says, getting up too. I can't see him but I hear his pants hit the ground and the light on his bedside table flicks on. I'm blinded by it for a moment, and when I open my eyes again Sidney's right beside me.
"Hey," I say, turning to kiss him, then breaking it off because I have to pee so bad. I leave the room and scamper down the hall to the bathroom, glad the floors aren't creaky. The bathroom, like the rest of the house, is super nice. I hurry and get out as fast as I can to get back to Sidney. He's already back in bed, laying with the covers slightly folded back for me to get in too. We weren't under the blankets before and I was cold, despite the fact that it's summer. I'm all too glad to climb under the covers with him now. He kisses me when I crawl into his arms and we lay there talking again.
"I Love You," he finally murmurs after a long silence. I had almost been asleep and he woke me up. After trying to say that I love him too, I realize he's already asleep and I tighten my grip around him. I love Sidney. And that's a fact.

Ruthanne's Point Of View <3

I slept most of the day away, finally realizing at about 5:00 that I might actually be sick. Kris's mom wakes me up for dinner. Just for me she made homemade chicken soup, which is delicious, As always. I'm jealous of her cooking skills and over-compliment her on the food. Then, I return to my couch and take another short nap. I'm feeling gross when I wake up and head upstairs to take a shower.
Looking in the mirror, I'm a mess. My hair is falling out of the pony tail, and I'm embarrassed, hoping that I didn't look like this for dinner. After my shower I don't bother to change into normal clothes. I put on a different pair of sweatpants and dig through Kris's pile of clothes to find another shirt that smells like him. I'm lonely already and the night is not even half gone.
I decide that if it's not cold and dark outside already, I might try and go out and lay by the pool. My stomach is churning and I feel like I'm going to vomit again. Luckily I'm in the bathroom and the toilet is nearby, so I don't make a mess this time. God, what's wrong with me? The really scary thing is, pregnancy is the first thing that runs through my mind. Oh my mother would kill me.
Outside, it's ok, so I stay by the pool for a while. Kris's mom lets the dog out and he sits by me, keeping good company. I pet him for a while, watching the last remaining sunlight dance on the surface of the pool, then decide to go back in. I'm so bored, and nervous, and I feel like I've wasted the day away, sleeping.
At 9:00 I give in to a little vow I made to myself. I had promised myself I wouldn't bother (of course he wouldn't call it that. He always seems  happy to hear from me) Kris while he was away. I didn't want to text him, call him, anything. But I do it anyways.
Krissss.. How has it gone? Love you. :)
I send the text and his reply comes almost instantly. Finally. I was waiting for you to give in to that. lol. It went well. I forgot how early Luc's parents go to bed, so I'm just hanging out in the guest room. How was your day? Love you. :)
His texts always make me so happy. He's such a sweetie. I had a decent day. I slept most of the time.Your momma made me some Chicken noodle soup. The Best Ever.  I hit send, leaving the getting sick details of my day out.
Are you feeling better? Kris replies. Go figure that'd be the first thing he wants to know.
I got sick again. No big deal though. I think I'm fine. I reply, trying to sound nonchalant despite the fact that I'm scared of what might be wrong with me. I thought I'd gotten another text, but really my phone was ringing. I open it, expecting to read his reply and instead saw the Call Duration clock ticking away.
"Hey," Kris says as soon as I put the phone to my ear.
"Oh. Jeez." I say, my voice sounding surprisingly scratchy and sick. "You scared me for a second. I thought I had another text."
"Sorry. I miss you." He says.
"I miss you too," I whine.
"You don't sound too good." Kris notices. I knew he would. He's always so concerned about what might be wrong with me.
"I'm fine," I say, although I feel like crap right now. "Hey I think I'm gonna go to bed now." I say, but what I really mean is, I've gotta puke. "I love you, goodnight!!!" I say into the phone, jumping up and running to the bathroom. I don't have time to close it before I puke into the toilet again. I hope Kris didn't hear it and I close the phone as soon as my body is done heaving.
Sure enough, my phone rings again. Kris must have heard it. "hello?" I say innocently enough, washing my hands yet again.
"Ruthanne, did you just get sick again?" He says, sounding worried.
"yes. But it's nothing. don't worry." I say as I wipe my mouth.
"I hope so. I wanna see you better when I come home tomorrow." He says. "Now I've got to go to bed, for real," he laughs. "I love you."
"night," I say, closing my phone and throwing it on the bed. I change my clothes again, somehow finding another one of Kris's dirty shirts and collapse onto his bed, falling asleep in no time.