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.