Peace. Love. Penguins.♥

Chapter 47

2011-06-21T13:55:00.000-07:00

Ruthanne's Point of View <3

I wake up in excruciating pain, and feel Kris's leg move when I kick him as I writhe around. "Kris?" I groan, trying to wake him up. I can't think past the pain to wonder what's wrong with me. "Kris.." I groan again, summoning all of my energy to utter his name.
His head turns and he rolls over. Why? "Kris." I say again. He rolls back towards me. I reach my hand out and pat the arm he's not laying on. "Kris, help." I say as another intense wave of pain washes over me. "Ahhhh," my hands fly to my stomach.
I'm watching Kris's face and willing him to wake up in my mind. "wake up Kris," I whisper, feeling more helpless than ever. "Help me."
Kris's eyes flutter open and my hand goes to his cheek to keep him awake. "Help," I say.
Kris's eyes go from lethargic, to terrified in an instant. "Ruthanne," he says my name, getting up out of his side of the bed and running around to my side. "What's wrong?"
"My stomach.." I trail off, pointing to my stomach, right around my belly button area. "Pain," I groan, and then I black out.

Kris's Point of View =/

Ruthanne woke me up with her groaning and kicking. And she blacked out before she could tell me what was wrong. There must be a complication somewhere. I'm freaking out, but I'm trying to portray the calm cool and collected attitude that I would love to have right now.
I scoop Ruthanne up into my arms and carry her down the hall and then down the stairs where I set her on the couch. I run back upstairs to get her parents, and pull out my cell phone. I'll drive her to the hospital tonight, but I have to tell her parents. It's extremely awkward to knock on their door and wait for them to answer, even despite the situation.
Ruthanne's dad grumbles, "What d'ya want?"
"It's Ruthanne," I say, not sure where to go next. "She's not doing good. I'm going to drive her to the hospital!" I run back down the hall and to the stairs.
Ruthanne's eyelids flutter a little bit when I pick her up again, but her body is like dead weight in my arms. She's limp and lifeless, all except that little flutter of her eyelids.
When the chilly night air hits her, her eyes are wide open and rolling back in her head. "Ruthanne?" I ask, trying to keep her with me. "Ruthanne?" She's still got her eyes open, but she's not looking anywhere. I find it difficult getting her into the car and wonder if I should have called an ambulance.
It's too late now I tell myself, buckling her in and closing the door.
I speed to the hospital, not worrying about anything but getting her there. I can't lose her, I can't lose her, is the one thing repeating in my mind.
The receptionist in the ER looks mildly concerned when she sees me walk in with Ruthanne in my arms.
"She needs help now," I say urgently. The room is mostly empty.
The receptionist, rolling her eyes at me says, "she'll have to wait."
"come on," I say. A loom of recognition flashes across her face. She picks up a phone and calls someone. Then someone comes from down the hall and I carry Ruthanne to the room they lead me to.
"we'll take care of it from here," the male nurse says to me. "you'll have to stay out until we get her stabilized. It might take a while to figure out what went wrong."
I sigh and lean back against the wall, letting gravity slowly Pull me down to the floor. The worry that's building in my chest, the longer she's unconscious and helpless, is causime physical pain. It's intense, and I try not to think about it too much, because being the pessimist I am, I can't imagine anything but the worst. It doesn't help. All I can see when I close my eyes is her face, eyes rolled to the back of her head because of the pain. I wish I could take it away from her and be the one suffering. My mind continues going a mile a minute like this for what seems like forever.
"Sir," someone is poking me in the shoulder. I jump up to my feet, already in a fighter's stance.
The man takes a few cautious steps back. When I realize its the nurse I feel stupid. But I search his face for answers instead of dwelling on it. "you can see her now. Shes asleep, but she'll be alright. Her parents came." the nurse walks off down the hallway after relaying the information to me. I burst into the door.
Ruthanne looks paler than ever. I barely realize her mom and dad are sitting off to the side in chairs, while I run up and take her hand. I kiss it gently and look at her face, and down the rest of her body.
Ruthanne's dad speaks up, "she started bleeding internally last night," he says, prompting me to look down at my watch, it's 3 PM, no wonder I fell asleep. "And, she was in shock when you brought her to the hospital," he says.
I groan, both of those things are awful. "Is she going to be ok?" I ask, looking back at her.
"Yes," he says, "they had to go in and fix some things in her abdomen, but she'll be out of here in a few days, maybe a week."
I groan again, feeling sorry for her, but relieved that she'll be alright. The whole process from the time she woke me up at 2 AM last night, was so scary.
"We can give you guys a moment alone," Ruthanne's mom says, standing up. "We're going to go get some coffee." Ruthanne's father follows her out the door without saying a word.
I sit in silence for a few minutes, watching her perfect delicate face as she's sleeping. "Stop staring," she mumbles, squeezing my hand.
"But you're beautiful," I say, remembering every conversation I've had with her as she sleep talks.
"Stop it," she says, again squeezing my hand.
"I love you," I say, getting closer to her ear.
"I love you too," she mumbles, her eyes opening slowly for only a moment before she snaps them shut again. "What time is it?" She asks, her eyes still shut tight.
"About 3 in the afternoon," I say, smiling down at her because she's making such an adorable and funny face.
"What happened?" She asks slowly. "I feel like I got run over by a bus again." Her eyes open for real this time and she tries to focus on my face, but her eyes are sort of glassy from the pain medications.
"Complications," I say. "You'll be in here for a while."
"Ugh."
"I'll stay with you," I say quietly.
She smiles. "Thank you." Her eyes wander down to the bed and then back up to my face. "For everything."
"You're welcome," I lean down and kiss her cheek, and her IV hand shoots up to guide my face to her lips. She gasps in pain as she feels the tug of the IV and I flinch back, not wanting to hurt her. But she persistently puts her hand on my face and pulls me down to kiss her.
I love this girl.

Caitlin's Point of View ;)

The weekend is over, all my clothes are packed up in my case and I'm ready to go back home. Sidney hugs his family goodbye and I shake their hands, except for Taylor, who attacks me with a hug. I awkwardly hug her back and say goodbye.
"And hopefully I'll see you next time," she smiles.

The flight home is quiet. Sidney falls asleep and I run out of games to play on my iPod. I resort to making up a story about the guy sitting in front of me. He was visibly upset when he got onto the plane and I felt bad. He spoke French to the flight attendant for a minute, but she didn't understand him, so she just led him to his seat. He's been trying to keep busy ever since, flipping through the ridiculous airplane catalogs where you can buy stupid things.
The story I make up about him is depressing, and probably not even close to being true... but it keeps me occupied for a while, while Sidney is sleeping. His wife divorced him and he's going to Pittsburgh to start a new life, without any of his family because he can't stand to be around all the places where he made memories with her.

The plane lands and Sidney tells me that Max will be the one picking us up. I drag my heavy suitcase across the air port as I follow him. I'm in a terrible mood and I don't know why.
We can't find Max's car in the dark "pick up port" as I call it because I can't remember the name of it. So Sidney stands and talks with him on the phone for a long time, just agreeing that we'd meet him at a certain statue thing, and walk to his car from there instead of worrying about all this junk.
"Are you alright?" Sidney looks at me.
"Fine," I grumble.
"What's wrong?" He asks, stopping and turning towards me, his face full of concern.
"I don't know," I say, leaning into his chest. He gives me a hug and kisses the top of my head and we continue on to meet Max.
I don't particularly want to see Max. I don't want there to be any feelings for him left inside of me, but everytime I'm near him, I feel them. It's horrible, to be stuck between these two amazing guys, and have both of them adoring me. I don't know if Max still does, but the last time I talked to him, he couldn't stand to see Sidney and I doing coupley things together.
Oh well, I tell myeslf. The more I stress over it, the more likely it will be for me to give myself away in front of Sidney. I feel bad for lying to him, in this way, but it's not like I can tell him that I'm struggling with having feelings for someone else. Especially when our relationship has been going so great.
"There he is," Sidney chuckles. I see why when I look up and see Max leaning against the statue, his head down, and he has sunglasses on. He's all alone.
I laugh to myself. Max is hilarious and I feel like running up to him and giving him a hug.
We follow him to his car as he asks me how I felt about Sidney's crazy-ass parents.
"They were nice, what are you talking about?" I laugh sarcastically. I did get the eccentric vibe from them. But I'm sure they were trying to tone it down in front of me.
Max and Sidney both laugh and then Sidney says, "you got the very sane version of them this time. They were definitely not acting quite as crazy as normal. I didn't want them to scare you away," he smiles, and reaches over to squeeze the hand that's not dragging the suitcase. I smile up at him.

On the way home Max makes a McDonalds trip, claiming to be starving. "Do you guys want anything?" He asks, looking up into the rearview mirror to smile at me.
"A flurry," I smile back. "Oreo. Please and thank you," I laugh as he makes a face at me in the mirror before ordering it.
Sidney looks uncomfortable in the passenger seat and he shakes his head, signifying that he was not wanting anything.
I get my flurry and Max just ordered some fries. I sit and eat it happily. Maybe I just needed something sweet, cause I feel a whole lot better now that I'm eating this ice cream.
Max drives us to Mario's where I'm going to spend the night with Sidney, so he can take me home tomorrow. It's already 11:30 at night.
"Can we watch a movie?" I ask Sidney when we make it up to his room.
He looks at me for a moment before saying, "Caitlin I'm exhausted."
"Ok, whatever," I say, not understanding how he could be exhausted right now. He slept the whole flight down here. I'm still standing by the door while he strips down to his boxers. "Are we going to bed, then?" I ask.
"I am. I don't really care what you do," he says insensitively. I feel hurt, and wonder why he's doing this to me. I feel like I'm going to cry.
I walk over to the bed and sit down by him as he's taking off his socks. "Sid..." I mumble.
"What?" He looks up at me.
"Is there something wrong?"
He scoffs before saying, "funny how you got so happy when you saw Max."
"I'm sorry?" I say.
"It's not a big deal," he says, still obviously very pissed at me.
"Apparently it is," I say. "I'm sorry! I didn't want to be a grouch around him, and I was honestly trying to change my mood anyways."
"Whatever," he says.
A tear rolls down my cheek and I feel like a piece of shit, even though what I told him was true. I can't handle him being mad at me. We sit in silence for a few more minutes before I apologize again and lean over to give him a kiss.
"I love you," I say. "Don't worry about Max," I whisper, even though I'm not sure whether he should worry about it or not.
He sits there coldly. I feel kind of extra special because he's jealous. I mean, I know Sidney loves me but the fact that he's jealous of my attention going to Max is cute.
"I love you too," he whispers. "I don't want to lose you to one of my best friends."
"I know." I smile, my face still resting near his neck. I'm glad that things seem to be fixed.
My phone goes off in my pocket and I pull it out, sitting up to read the text. It's from Ruthanne's iPod number. She never uses that.
hey are you up? I'm so bored!
I laugh out loud. Not being able to move so much is probably killing her.
Yeah, I'm at Sidney's. How was your weekend?
Sidney wraps his arms around my waist and is pulling me into his lap as I read her next text.
Fine til last night. Apparently there were some complications and I was bleeding internally and now I'm in the hospital for like, a week.
Sidney is hugging me and nuzzling my neck and apologizing for being angry, but I'm very wrapped up in worrying about Ruthanne.
Oh my God! Are you alright?
I hit send and Sidney is kissing me down my neck and onto my shoulder, giving me the chills. It's funny how he's gone from being pissed at me to being reassured and loving again.
I'm fine... just feeling very cooped up. Have fun at Sid's.
I don't bother to reply to her because Sidney's hands are wandering around on my waist and I'm extra ticklish.
I turn to kiss him back and the night goes on as though we never had a fight.

Chapter 46

2010-11-25T20:24:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-20T11:07:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-11T14:13:00.000-08:00

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

2010-11-06T23:48:00.000-07:00

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

2010-11-06T22:26:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-19T23:26:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-08T21:50:00.000-07:00

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

2010-08-05T20:23:00.000-07:00

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

2010-07-05T22:28:00.000-07:00

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

2010-05-08T20:43:00.000-07:00

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

2010-04-25T14:55:00.000-07:00

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

2010-01-22T15:05:00.000-08:00

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.

Chapter 34

2010-01-17T23:21:00.000-08:00

Caitlin's Point of View.;)

I didn't realize how hungry I was until after I had downed half my plate of spaghetti. The guys were basically done with their food, and I am going to need a box. They were basically shoveling whatever was on their plate before, into their mouths.
Lunch wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, I had a lot of fun. I'm finding it easier to get along with Sidney again as we're spending more time together and Max can hardly look at me. Like, when he talks to me specifically, he's playing with the salt shaker or something, looking like he's totally concentrated on it.
While we were eating we ended up playing the question game, just asking each other some crazy random questions. Most of my questions weren't difficult, or anything too weird, like I was hoping. Except one time Marc Andre asked me how much I loved Sidney. I had to shove a bite of spaghetti in my mouth and pretend there was a bad taste to hide the face I was making. When I finally swallowed I said, "this much!" And gave him a big sloppy kiss on the cheek. Marc Andre clapped and Max reluctantly joined in. I can see how it would be hard to watch the person you like plant a kiss on someone else's cheek.
After I finish up what I can eat, I get the box I need and Max pays for the bill, leaving a nice tip for our waitress. We walk out of the restaurant happily. Even me.

Back at Mario's, Jordan Staal and Tyler Kennedy have showed up and I let out another sigh when I notice them. "What?" Sidney turns toward me.
I shake my head, not even wanting to admit to myself that I wanted alone time with Sidney. "Nothing." I smile and we head back to the room where the guys are hanging out. It's so much easier to be around everyone when they're distracted. I'm always afraid they'll talk to me and I won't know what to say. So, the guys are playing video games. What's new?
Sidney stays with me while the rest of them sit around the room, all facing the TV. I cuddle into Sidney's shoulder, glad to be over the feeling of mistrust around him, and glad that Max is facing the other way. I can't stand the look of pain on his face when Sidney and I are together. I tell myself that I need to get over it if I want to even be friends with either of them.
Around 7:00, the guys start to leave. Of course, Max is the last to go. He kept standing around trying to make conversation, but it kept getting awkward and he finally gave up. "Finally," Sidney says, nuzzling his nose under my ear. "I thought they'd never leave." he whispers.
I smile, enjoying the moment while nobody's around. It feels so empty, without everyone laughing. Mario walks into the room and I notice him before Sidney.
"Sid,"
"Yeah?" He straightens up quickly, surprised.
"Dinner's ready." Mario says, leaving back to the kitchen already.
Nathalie made some really good smelling casserole thing. I can't say it looks good, cause it just looks like somebody threw up into the pan. "This stuff is sooo good," Sidney says. I have no clue how he could possibly be hungry after everything he ate earlier, but, somehow, being a guy, he is and he heaps a huge pile of the stuff onto his plate. I take a little bit more realistic portion of the casserole and pass it on to one of the kids beside me.
"So, Caitlin, you're staying over tonight?" Nathalie looks at me as though she might be Sidney's real mother. I guess if he's living with her, she's got the right. It would be no fun to be blamed for something Sidney did cause he was living in your house.
"Yup," I say after chewing a delicious bite of the casserole.
Nathalie and Mario both nod in unison, then go back to eating. Everyone else at the table is silent, and stuffing their faces. I remember my great grandmother always used to say that was the sound of good food, and silence at the dinner table was almost always a compliment to the cook. I miss her.
After dinner, Sidney takes me up to his room where we hang out, talking and talking for hours about nothing in particular. It's so nice to be with him again. It's horrible when things are strained. I make a mental note to myself not to get so overwhelmed and freak out at the next thing he does wrong. This is so much better than what I put myself through this past week.

Ruthanne's Point of View <3

I wake up way before the thought ever enters Kris's mind. I'm nervous about him leaving. I roll back over into his arms the way we fell asleep. My movement wakes him up and he looks at me, confused. Normally, I don't wake up all that early, but when I'm stressed, or worried or something, I can't sleep.
"What's wrong?" He asks, as I stare dumbly back into his face. He touches my cheek and I see a tear on his finger as he pulls it away.
"Nothing," I say. I didn't even know I was crying and I still can't figure out why.
Kris just stares back at me, looking concerned. "I love you," he finally says, then he kisses me on the cheek, squeezes me to his chest and tries to go back to sleep.
I lay there, wide awake and afraid to move while he's asleep. I don't want him to be tired later. "Are you still awake?" He asks after a couple of minutes.
"Yeah," I say quietly. He looks down at me again.
"I'll be back tomorrow. And you can still decide to come with me," he says, knowing exactly what I'm upset about.
"I know." I say. But I'm too stubborn to decide to go with him, even though that seems like the easier choice now. "I've gotta pee," I say, an excuse to get out of an awkward conversation, and wiggle my way out of his arms and out of the bed. I hear Kris sigh behind me, but I just run to the bathroom.
I thought I was going to the bathroom to get out of the conversation, but upon reaching the toilet, I suddenly feel like vomiting. Kris comes running in to save the day as I'm getting sick all over the place. Hunched over the toilet with Kris behind me, I feel uglier than ever and I'm embarrassed about the mess.
"Are you ok?" He asks, kneeling down beside me after I'm done and flushing the toilet. I nod, not sure why I got sick and lean into his open arms. "I can cancel..." He says reluctantly after a couple of minutes.
"don't." I say firmly. Although I would be happy to have him here for the rest of the day while I'm sick, I don't want him to cancel his plans. At least while I'm sick I won't have to talk. I can nap on the couch all day.
Kris hugs me again then gets up and turns around out of the bathroom. He comes back with a fresh pair of pajama pants and one of his old t-shirts for me. While I'm changing he gets my toothbrush and toothpaste ready and he hands them to me after I finish. Kris is the best, there's no denying it. He stands behind me, looking at us in the mirror as I brush my teeth.
It's 5:30 in the morning and I feel like sleeping again, but Kris's alarm was set for 5:45 so there's no point in laying back down. "You are going to take it easy today." Kris says, leading me downstairs.
"Yes, Father." I say as we reach the bottom.
"I'm serious! You're sick. My mom will take care of you. Here." He says, helping me lay down on the couch. I really don't need all this help, but Kris is so concerned for me.
A moment later I hear someone else coming down the stairs. Kris runs over to him mom as she reaches the bottom and tells her about me being sick. "That's too bad," she says. "we'll run you to the air port, then I'll come back and take care of her." Kris's mom smiles reassuringly at him, probably knowing deep down that I'm absolutely fine.
Kris's step dad comes downstairs and stares at me for a moment before getting into the fridge. I'm sure I'm a mess, my hair's down and tangled and all over the place. I'm wearing ratty pajamas.
Kris disappears into the downstairs bathroom and I lay here on the couch, staring at the ceiling. I put my hair into a ponytail while he's gone and I wait for him to reappear.He comes back with a big old blanket that looks really warm and soft. He's not nearly as graceful tucking me into the couch as he normally is, but it's a nice gesture anyways. "I love you," he says, reminding me of those movies where the girl's dying and the guy has to leave her for some important reason or another. Jeez I hope I'm not dying. I smile to myself and close my eyes when he kisses me saying "See you tomorrow."

Chapter 33

2010-01-08T14:12:00.000-08:00

Ruthanne's Point of View<3

The week of media and funeral business flies by. I end up not going to a lot of it, I've been kind of sick. Kris keeps trying to convince me to go with him to the Bourdons' house. I keep telling him no, that it's not my place. I don't want to go and make things awkward.
Caitlin texted me the other day saying she wasn't sure what was going on between her and Sidney. I replied but I haven't gotten any further information. I worry about her. I check my phone again, laying by the pool with Kris.
"You check that a lot.." He points out. "something wrong?"
"Caitlin," I say slowly. I know he doesn't like all this drama.
"figures. What now?" He asks, sounding kind of annoyed.
"Sidney. Max. Brittny. Why can't things just work out for her?" I whine.
Kris smiles half-heartedly. "They will. Eventually."
"I hope so. I guess the other night, they went out to a club and Sidney tried to make her jealous." I sigh. "That really gets to her. She's an insecure mess."
"Sidney's like that," is Kris's indifferent reply. He tries to be nice about the whole thing, but he can't hide how much it annoys him.
"Does he know about her and Max?"
"No.. he would have said something to me. He tells us all everything." Kris says. "what's gone on between them really isn't a big deal."
"Except that he still likes her. And vice-versa."
"Yeah. Sidney might not like that too much. He's awfully protective." Kris half laughs, his crooked smile making my heart thud a little bit quicker. I'm glad I've found a guy that I can absolutely be happy with. Caitlin always seems to get herself into stupid messes like this. She's too lovable is her problem.
"Well then let's just hope he doesn't find out." I say, rolling over onto my back, feeling the sun's warmth wash over me. I love the sun, but I'm going to have awful tan lines from this tank top. "let's go inside." I look at Kris.
He stands up and puts his hand out to help me up. I'm a little bit off balance as I'm standing up, and Kris has a good hold on my hand. All of a sudden I feel him pulling me toward the pool and I go flying into the water. I scream, of course, and Kris stands there laughing.
"KRIS!" I shriek.
He laughs again, harder and stretches his shirt over his head and jumps in with me. "Sorry baby." He says, walking over to me. I smile as he puts his arms around me and kisses me. I wouldn't classify this as swimming weather, but the water feels nice.
I glance up and see his mom looking out the sliding glass doors at us. She's smiling, of course. I smile back at her and Kris turns around, dragging me with him. He blushes a deep shade of red and I laugh at him. He's so embarrassed every time his mom sees something. I touch his face, it's hot from when he blushed.
"Why are you so embarrassed?" I tease him.
"She's always watching!" He says, glaring at the doors where his mother no longer stands.
"uh. not really. You just do cute stuff when she is." I laugh at him. My perfect straight hair is all limp and wet now, and it's going to curl later, but I don't care. I'm having way too much fun to worry about that kind of thing. I don't mean to, but I let out a shiver and Kris notices.
"cold?" He looks at me.
"Kinda."
"Let's go inside then," he says. I glare at him and he carries me out of the pool. He drops me off by the cabinet on the side of their deck and pulls out a towel for each of us. I wrap mine around me and lean on him. We walk inside and I run quickly up to his room, trying not to make a huge watery mess. Once I'm dried and changed and my hair is combed, I walk back downstairs. Of course Kris beat me. He hasn't got as much to do in order to look beautiful. I sit on his lap and bother him, poking him in the side. He eventually has enough and lifts me off of him.
His mom and dad are sitting on the love seat pretending to watch TV while we're messing around. Kris's dog comes over and jumps on my lap, getting in the way of me doing anything else that might annoy Kris right now. He laughs evilly and pats the dog on the head. I sigh and bang my head on the back of his couch, hitting the piece of wood under the cushion.
"OW!" I yelp. Kris can't help but laugh before he asks if I'm ok.
We spend the rest of the night just picking on each other like this. Today is Friday and tomorrow is his trip out to Luc's parents.

"Will you pleasseeee come with me tomorrow?" He whines while I'm brushing my teeth.
"Kris." I look at him, not wanting to get into this right now. We've been over it a million times. If they're like his 2nd parents, why doesn't he want to go alone?
"I'm sure they'd love to meet you!" He says.
"It would still be awkward for me to be there. I never knew Luc, or them." To tell the truth I'd never even heard of Luc Bourdon until Kris told me about his death. Some hockey fan I am.
"fine." he says, plopping down on the end of the bed, pouting like a little kid. I walk over and kiss him.
"Just cause I want to spend the day here with your parents doesn't mean I don't love you." I whisper, not really wanting to spend the day with his parents. That could get awkward, and weird. But I think it beats the alternative of going to the Bourdons' house and seeing Kris get upset all over again.
"you don't really want to stay here," Kris says, glaring at me.
"Yes I do," I lie, my eyes giving me away.
"Liar liar," Kris teases. I stick out my tongue, get up and go to my side of the bed.
"whatever," I say, pulling the covers up to my chin and staring at the ceiling. The truth is, I dread the thought of staying here with his parents. Yes, I have gotten to know them better over the past week, but I always feel it necessary to make conversation, and things get awkward quickly. "night." I say to Kris. He's still sitting on the end of the bed, taking off his socks or something. He sighs and throws the socks into a heap of our dirty clothes before turning out the lights.
"good night."

Caitlin's Point of View. ;)

I had a hard time sleeping through the night, but I wake up at 9:00 feeling refreshed, at least. It's been a few days since Sidney and I have actually seen each other and I'm feeling quite lonely, surprisingly.
I had taken a shower before going to sleep and my hair is laying in crazy curls and waves when I look in my vanity mirror.
I jump when my phone buzzes right next to me.
Hey. Haven't heard from ya in a while. Kris just left... what's up? It's from Ruthanne. I smile, glad it's not Max or Sidney. Or Brittny, God forbid.
I just got up. I found out Max still likes me. Brittny calls and leaves no messages. I'm an emotional mess, and the one time I feel like talking about it, you're not here. How's yer trip been? I write, sighing as I hit the send button.
Her reply comes in no time. Wow. I can just imagine what it's like. My trip has been sooo amazing! I went sightseeing the other day and Montreal is just beautiful. I took lotsa pictures! ;) I can't help but smile at her excitement. How I love Ruthanne. She always knows how to make someone smile when they're feeling down.
Yay! you better show them to me.. Glad you're having such a good time. Wish I could see Montreal. :P I send it to her, truly wishing I could. If I hadn't been here, or I had been doing something else, things may have turned out a little differently.
You will, someday. Is her reply. She knows what I'm talking about.
I'm gonna go shower or something. I say, even though I already did that last night. I'm just not in the mood to talk, to anyone really. My phone buzzes again before I can even walk out the door.
Another text. From Sidney. God. I sigh, opening it.
Hey, lovely. Whatcha doin' today? Is what it reads.
My parents are out and I was planning on doing absolutely nothing.. You? I reply, still not in the mood to have a conversation, but not feeling rude enough to ignore him, or lie. I love how he talks to me like everything's been fixed. but I still don't trust him.
Nothing.. you want to come over? Like, nobody's here. Is his reply. Just what I expected. I laugh to myself. That's what I would say if I were him.
Nobody as in none of the guys? haha, sure. What time? I laugh out loud. There's almost always part of the team at Mario's. Even this early in the morning. I hit send and walk to the counter to make some coffee.
That's just about right. Now. Pleassseeee. I miss you.
I can't help but smile when I just reply. Ok. <3 and go to my car, coffee cup in hand. It's so hard to stay mad at Sidney. He's just too darn cute. I get to Mario's relatively quickly, if you're thinking about the average 35 minute drive. Sidney greets me at the door with a quick smooch and we walk to the bar where there's cinnamon rolls sitting out on a plate.
"Did you eat breakfast yet?" He asks.
"I'm hardly awake," I laugh.
He hugs me and grabs two plates. We talk about nothing in particular over some delicious cinnamon rolls that Nathalie made. "These are sooo good. Compliments to the chef."
Sidney laughs at me, giving me a sticky kiss on the cheek. I wipe it off, sticking my tongue out at him. I think it's gross, but he's being nice, so I don't say anything. He leads me up to his room where we slept that night before the cruise.
"I love your room." I smile, jumping into his bed and laying flat on my back.
"me too?" He laughs, sitting right next to my face. "You are so weird. You know that?"
"hah." I laugh, sitting back up to lean on his shoulder.
"Would your parents care if you stayed over here tonight? Do you want to?" I shrug my shoulders. My mom loves Sidney, so she probably wouldn't care, but, I don't have any clothes.
"I don't have any clothes." I say finally.
Sidney sighs. "We could go shopping."
"I also do not have money on me." I say, another . He knows I hate it when he buys everything. But he loves to spoil me. I sigh.
"A couple outfits. Come on Caitlin. Pleasseeee."
"Fine." I give in. SIdney's one for planning ahead I guess, because it's hardly hit 10:30 and he wants me to spend the night. He kisses me and stands up, dragging me with him.
"I love you." He says. I just lean into him and let him hug me. He grabs his wallet and we start the drive to the nearest store. I make him stop at Target, because it won't look weird for him--a guy-- to follow me around in the clothing section, and hopefully some female fanatic won't come chasing him. There's really a lot more people who recognize him in Pittsburgh.
I'm really not into it, so he picks most of the clothes and critiques them when I show him from the dressing room.
"These ones, definitely." He says, pointing to the pair of pink sweats I had in my right hand.
"K." I smile and set them in the cart. "This is enough," I say. He talked me into 4 shirts (Because I was just too cute in them, I guess) and 3 pairs of pants.
"But this is fun!" Sidney says, holding up another shirt from the rack. I just stare at him.
"I'm just going to pretend that didn't scare me," I giggle, pushing the cart to the checkout lane nearest us. He pretends to pout when we get to the counter. "It's only one night, Sid! How many shirts do I need? Knowing me, I'd end up wearing one of yours the whole time anyways."
He smiles, and pays for the clothes. The lady cashier stands staring, obviously recognizing Sidney. She finally snaps out of it and hands us back the plastic bag and receipt.
"You get that everywhere you go, don't you?" I say as we're leaving the store.
"Kinda." He winks at me. I get that fluttery feeling in my stomach again. The one that I used to get just by watching one of his interviews on tv.
We get back to Mario's and a couple of the guys are there, hanging out in their favorite room. I can hear them yelling at each other, and can pick out a couple specific voices. Max, and Marc Andre. I sigh, louder than I meant to and Sidney looks at me.
"What?" He asks, starting up the stairs.
"Nothing." I shake my head like I didn't even sigh. Max is here. I wonder if he knows I'm here. Probably not, I decide, still following Sidney back up to his room.
"There, you've got clothes." He says, setting the bag down.
"Thanks Sid." I hug him.
"Ok Caitlin, what's wrong? Are you still mad at me? Are you depressed!?" He looks at me, confused.
"Nothing's wrong. I'm just tired!" I say, although I do feel a bit depressed. Sidney hugs me.
"You're just so...different." He says, still holding me to his chest.
"I'm sorry," I say, looking up at him pathetically, then looking down at the floor. I'm just not really feeling the same things for him anymore.
"do you want to stay tonight?" He asks. I'm still looking down, but I can feel him staring at me. I tell him yes, even though I'm very confused about how I feel at this point. " A couple of the guys are here, do you wanna go hang out?"
"Sure," I say, knowing Max is here and forcing myself to want to be in the same room as him. I just feel like I'll be the dead giveaway to Sidney. Like, he'll figure it out when I'm acting awkward around Max. I'm not good at hiding my feelings.
We head downstairs to hang out and Max's jaw drops when he sees me coming through the door. "did you spend the night here?" He mouths, looking astonished while Sidney's looking the other way, at Marc Andre. I shake my head quickly. He sighs in relief and goes back to his relaxed position on the couch. Could he really care that much?
Sid and I sit on the same couch as Max, me in between them. Go figure. Max tries not to stare at me and I can tell Sidney's still clueless and trying to keep his hands off of me. I keep brushing his hand off my leg. We're having a good time when Max says. "You guys hungry for lunch? I'll buy." I nod quickly, wanting nothing more than to get out of this room, from between these two guys.
"Sure," Marc says. Sidney shrugs. I think eating lunch with the three guys will be awkward, and I know they'll do a lot of teasing, but somehow, I think it'll be better than this room.

Chapter 32

2009-11-29T21:02:00.000-08:00

Ruthanne's Point of View <3

We wake up at 8:30 in the morning, which isn't too early, I guess. Then, before breakfast or anything Kris yells, "SHIT!" His mom gasps, dropping whatever she was working with.
I was standing at the table and turned around, thinking he got hurt or something. "What!?"
"The thing's at 9:00!! We gotta go!" He runs back upstairs to get changed into something decent. His boxers just won't do for this event. I run to get my eyeliner and clothes to change into, I can do makeup in the car, but I gotta change now. I wear a light long sleeved t-shirt, it's a little chilly out today, compared to what it would be like in Pittsburgh at least. I see so many people walking down the street in t-shirts and shorts today.
"You look nice," I say as he runs down the stairs, zipping his pants up.
"So do you. Always." He says, always sweet. We rush out the door. Kris forgets his keys and has to run back in to get them.
On the way to the media event, Kris's eyes are on the clock more than the road I think."We can make it," he says, pointing at the GPS. "It's right, up there." He shows me where the destination is. We didn't take the time to program it in. Especially because he knows where it's at.
"that's good." I say, still putting eyeliner on. Then we get stuck at a red light.
"SHIT!" Kris bangs on the steering wheel.
"Kris, jeez," I look at him.
He shakes his head, "I'm stressed. I'm sorry Ruthanne." I put my hand on his where it's resting on the console in between our seats when I'm done applying eyeliner to my left eye.
We get to the building that they're interviewing just barely in time. "Kris Letang?" The lady behind the front desk asks.
"Yeah," he pants.
"Room 137, floor 5." She says politely, eying him up all the while. I glare at her while she's not looking, then we run off for the elevator. Kris is tapping his left foot on the floor and his right hand on his leg. I touch his arm.
"stop. It's ok." I say. He looks at me, still nervous and anxious.
We get in the elevator and it goes up up up. I don't like elevators all that much, they scare me.
When we're on floor 5 it takes us a minute to figure out what direction we're supposed to be headed, then we run again. The place we're supposed to be is halfway down the long hall. Kris slows down a few steps before the door and I nearly run him over. "oof!"
"Sorry," he whispers. "sit here." He says, pointing at a chair near the back of the room, towards the door. "I don't think there will be that many people here, but since you're a personal guest and not the media, you have to stay back." I sigh as I sit down and he walks up the aisle, lined by chairs on either side. He looks over his shoulder, having heard me sigh, "sorry!" Then he gets up in front of the NHL/Penguins background they have.
There's only a couple people here so far, but there's more coming in, passing me at the door. Some of them look at me. I have no little name tag, or microphones or crew and equipment coming in. Kris is talking to some guy, and then the guy announces that questions can start being asked at 9:15, 10 minutes from now. Everyone that's already in the room grumbles, wanting to get on with it, but there's still people coming in.
Then the questions start. Kris begins to tear up a few times, remembering his friend and I feel bad, like I do every time we talk about it. The fact that the whole league is interested must make this even worse.
All the questions that could have possibly been asked were and they finally finished around 10:30. Kris comes up to me, looking down. "Sorry." I say, putting my hand on his shoulder.
"It's ok. I just don't want to talk about it." He says, looking over at me.
"I know."
We go out for breakfast together, since we didn't get to eat any before the stupid event.
"Yum.." I say, feeding Kris a bite of my giant Belgian waffle.
"mmm." He groans, closing his eyes. I laugh at him.
"I told you these are good."
"I already knew!" He says back.
"Nuh uh." We both laugh.
Our waitress comes up. "IS Everything going ok?" She asks, obnoxiously interrupting our playful banter.
"Um... yeah." Kris says. "can I get a box?"
"Sure." She says, then after a couple of seconds more looking at Kris, turns and walks away.
"let's leave. She's annoying." He says. I smile.
"Ok." I grin and when she brings the box back we just dump our stuff into it, pay the bill, leave a tiny tip and leave.
We eat the rest of our breakfast in the car in the parking lot, having more fun because no one can interrupt.
For the rest of the day, we just do nothing. It's a great day and we spend a lot of it outside in Kris's backyard, by the pool, soaking up the sun rather than swimming.
I wonder about Caitlin back home and how she said there's Brittny drama. It's gonna be great when we get back, I'm sure. I just hope everything is "ok" right now. I lean on Kris's shoulder. He looks at me. "You ok?" He asks.
"Yeah." I shake my head. "It's fine."
"K." He kisses the top of my forehead.

Caitlin's Point Of View ;)

In the morning, well, afternoon, I get dirty looks from my mother. "Where were you last night?"
"I went to a club with Sidney and the guys," I say. "sorry. I lost track of time. Really bad."
"You bet you did." She says, her arms folded across her chest.
I look down. "I'm sorry mom," I say, putting butter on my toast before I add the cinnamon sugar.
I take my breakfast into the den where I sit in front of the TV and eat. I'm still upset over last night, and I purposely didn't check my phone this morning, so I have no clue if Sidney's even going to apologize. I don't want to know at the moment. Because if he didn't, I will be crushed. And if he did, I'll still have to deal with the fact that I like both him and Max.
There's nothing good on TV and I soon get tired of flipping through the channels. I decide to go on a walk. I need to stop avoiding my problems and think for a while anyways. I take my phone and my pepper spray, because I'm not stupid enough to leave the house without it. I'm the kind of person who's always afraid that someone's going to come up behind me and kill me. My phone buzzes and I open it out of habit.
sorry about last night...do you still want to see me? it says. A tear falls down my cheek. I still don't know if I want to see him or not.
I do. I want to get it all cleared up. I want him to say he's sorry to my face.
I don't. I don't want to deal with the fact that I'm so angry at him. I don't want him to be angry with me for over reacting.
I don't know what to say so I just type what I feel. I just don't know anymore. :'( I guess I need time to think. is what it says when I hit send. And I do.. I decide to hide the messages between me and Max on the note application, in case anyone ever gets ahold of my phone.
I keep on walking and walking and soon I'm really far from home. About the time I I turn around because I still have the walk back home, and I've thought the same thoughts about my dilemma a million times over, I get a text back.
I'm sorry babyyyy.
Why are all my relationships like this? I don't think I'm that bad.. am I? Do I just attract all the wrong guys? My mind is still racing. I don't text him back, there's nothing for me to say right now.

I'm halfway there when that familiar Range Rover pulls up and crawls along at my walking speed. "You want a ride?" Sidney has the passenger side window rolled down.
I shrug, feeling exhausted. I had gone really far. I glance at the time on my open phone. 5:00 PM. I left at like 2:30. Holy crap, I think, What the heck and say, "Sure." making him pull over and let me in.
"Caitlin, I'm so sorry."
"I know." I shrug and lean against the window.
"Your mom told me that you went walking. She started to get worried after a while." He says, trying to start a conversation. "Look Caitlin I'm really sorry. I can't handle it when you ignore me. I hate it when you're upset with me." He says, sounding really pathetic. I risk a glance at him. "I love you." He says.
"then why were you doing what you did last night?" I look at him, tears in my eyes. "Sidney.. you knowwww that that kind of thing realllyyy gets to me." I'm an insecure wreck is what I am. I always have been.
" it doesn't matter why I was doing it, cause it obviously didn't work, it just pissed you off.. I'm sorry." He says, pulling the car over on my curb instead of pulling in. So now he's trying to make me jealous?

I look at him. "But you had to have known that would make me mad... you know how all my past relationships have ended!" I say, opening my door. "Thanks for the ride." I hop out, feeling the need to be polite even though I'm still kind of furious with him. He's been so courteous through all of this, even though I keep getting mad at him.

"I'm sorry. Do you forgive me?" He asks, hands on the steering wheel, staring off in front of the car.
"I guess. Do you want to come in?" I ask. "and don't think I'm not still mad at you. Cause I am." I say. And I mean it. I just hope he gets it.

He gets out of his car and follows me awkwardly into the house. My mother greets him cheerfully and turns to me. "Nice to see you back." She says sarcastically. She can't stand it when I'm out on a walk for over an hour. And she knows that I'm brewing over something when I'm out that long.
"whatever." I say under my breath. I am not in the mood for her to nag me right now. I know what can happen on the streets. I go upstairs and Sidney follows me again.
"How can I make it up to you?" He asks, watching me sit down on my bed.
"Why would you want to make me jealous?" I evade him.
"I'm sorry it was a dumb idea. I should have been thinking..." He says. "Look Caitlin, I said I'm sorry. I don't know what else to do." He throws his hands up in the air.
"Well that doesn't take back everything I saw you doing!" I shoot back, looking at him.
Sidney looks down. I'm having trouble staying mad at him, he looks so pitiful and shameful. "I'll leave if you want me to." He says, half turning toward the door. I can feel my face soften as he examines it.
"No." I say quietly, almost hoping he doesn't hear me. He comes and sits by me on my bed. Even while I'm furious with him, I don't want him to leave.
"I love you. You know that?" He says, wrapping his arm around me.
"yeah." I say, a tear falling down my cheek. I lean into him, tired of fighting and we sit in silence for a long time. I think about how much I like him, and Max, and I think about confessing to Sidney how I feel about both of them. I don't know if I could. I don't know how Sidney will react.
After a while Sidney kisses the top of my head and says, "I've gotta go,"
"where?"
"Back to Mario's. Babysitting."
"Again?" I sigh.
"I'll call you tonight." He stands up and walks out of my bedroom, not giving me time to escort him out of the house. I let out a deep breath and fall back on my bed, still feeling shattered and sad when I should feel loved. I don't know how to control my emotions. When I have everything I ever dreamed of, I still find a way to be depressed.

Chapter 31

2009-11-08T10:48:00.000-08:00

Caitlin's Point of View ;)

I text Ruthanne in the morning. Brittny drama, wish you were here. :'| I send it to her before I even look at what other texts I might have. I'm up early today, so I don't think there'll be any. I'll leave Sidney one for once since I'm up before him.
Hey. thanks for the help. how was the babysitting? <3 I text him before deciding that I really need to be less dependent I'm always feeling bored and don't know what to do when he's not around. It's like I might die if I didn't get to see him for a day.
I sigh and lay back on my bed. It's so nice to be home. It's just too bad I'll be leaving this one soon. I think I might get some of my stuff moved into the apartment before Ruthanne comes, but I'm not going to set anything up quite yet. I want her to be there for that so I don't get in trouble if I do something she doesn't like. We haven't even called dibs on rooms yet.
I get a text back from Sidney as I'm laying on my bed thinking.
The kids were wonderful, as always, haha. You're welcome. You have plans today?
I break a half smile. It'll be impossible to become less dependent on him if he invites me to do something every day.
That's good. :) I've got nothing to do, most of my stuff is packed and my parents aren't going to be here
I text him back. My parents are going to some kind of event that I wasn't interested in. When I was a kid, I had to go to all of them. Since, I haven't enjoyed any so I stay home from most.
I pick up my phone when it buzzes again. I should be getting up and around and doing something, like taking care of my dog, who's scratching on my bedroom door because he wants out. He's been so excited ever since I got back. I'll feel bad when I start going to classes and he has to stay behind. Ruthanne and I are living in a pet friendly apartment, so I might bring him, but, I don't know yet.
Sidney's text reads, You should come over. All the guys and their girls of course are gonna be here.
Sounds like fun ;) Call me later about it.. gtg shower. <3 I reply, then get up and go to let my dog out. There's a note on the counter for me.
Caitlin, Brittny called again. She didn't leave a message for me to give to you, so... anyways, I need you to do the dishes from last night, and vacuum the living room for me please. Love ya, Mom.
I sigh, Brittny. Then figure I'll do the dishes, then let the dog in, then shower, then vacuum. By then, if Sidney hasn't called, I'll call him. I hate having lists of things to do, but then again, on a day like today, it's almost nice. I'd be bored out of my mind otherwise. Gotta stay busy.
So by the time I finish all that and sit down for a few minutes, I come back to my phone. 2 missed calls. Sidney, Brittny. I erase the Brittny one. Then call Sidney back.
"Hey." He says. "Everyone's here, it's 4:30, you coming?"
"Yeah yeah." I say. "I just had some stuff to do."
"ohh. Ok. Well, when will you get here? We're planning on going out to dinner, then maybe to one of the clubs around here. I wanted to wait for you." He says.
"I don't know.. it depends on traffic," I say. "Maybe 45 minutes?"
"I could come pick you up," he says, "if you wanted me to."
"Nah. I think I'll drive this time. You're always picking me up." I say.
"You sound tired. Are you upset?" He asks, sounding worried.
"No. I am tired, I had a bunch of stuff to get done." I tell him. "Brittny called me again. Twice today."
"Ughhh." Sidney groans. "I hate that bitch."
"Believe me, I do too." I sigh, "well, see you soon. I'm gonna get heading." I take my dog back to his kennel, then head out the door.
"Bye," Sidney says.
The drive to Mario's isn't really all that long. I just always seem to drive at the wrong time. Sidney answers the door right before I knock on it.
"Heyyy!!" He hugs me, and lets me in.
"Hey!" I say back, sounding just as happy, but not knowing why I'm not as excited to see him. I guess I'm just tired.
Of course all the girls are the same, except the one Eric's with. I say hello to all of them, and sit down. Ruthanne's not here to help me blend in so I feel awkward being so quiet. I'm introduced to Eric's "girlfriend" Mia and we're getting along splendidly. The guys are all preoccupied with some game on the Playstation or X Box or something, but Sidney always finds a reason to come back and hang out with me. I like that about him.
Ruthanne finally texts me back. Again? God that woman's annoying.
Tell me about it. Sidney's afraid she's gonna try and break us up. I write back.
"Who are ya textin?" Veronique leans over my shoulder.
"Ruthanne." I tell her, hoping she remembers who she is.
"She was here last time we all got together? With Kris." I nod and hit send.
"Yeah." I say, "she's in Montreal now."
"Oh yeah? with Kris?" She looks more interested now.
"Yeah." I say. "I guess it's not a happy affair, but she's happy to be with him."
"I love Montreal." She says.
"I"ve never been out of the U.S." I say. She laughs and that's when the conversation ends because Marc-Andre Fleury comes back up from the game the guys were playing. Sidney walks over too.
"Heyyy!" I say as he pretends to sit on my lap, then sits beside me. "did you win?" I kiss him real quick.
"You mean... You weren't watching?" Sidney makes a really sad, pouty face. I instantly feel guilty. "I kicked ass Caitlin!" His pitiful expression gone, he's back to being excited about the game.
"Dang. I missed it." We laugh and he hugs me. "sorry,"
"are you having a good time?" He asks.
"yeah." I say. And I am. Talking to Veronique and the other girls, who seem to know each other really well.
"So." Veronique leans over again when Marc-Andre leaves. "We're having a girls night next next Friday, at my house. You want to come?" She asks.
"Yeah. It sounds like fun." We exchange numbers and she gives me directions to her apartment building and all that fun stuff. I'm excited to go, even though I hardly know the other girls. I can only remember a couple of their names. Laura, Veronique, and Tess.... And then everything comes together. Sidney had acted strange when introducing me to her. He recently explained that their relationship ended badly because of Brittny. Who's she dating now?
"we might be going out to a club, soo, bring your dancing shoes! The guys don't know yet. and they're not invited. So, shh!" Marc and Sidney come back and we talk to them instead of each other.
"Heyy." I say, still not totally getting the Tess thing, but since she's in the room, I'm not going to ask. "Did you win again?" I fake a smile. I really don't care.
"No. Marc over there killed me in the first round." He glares at Flower across the room and I laugh. When Marc notices he glares viciously back. Veronique winks at me. I laugh again.
"Poor you." I look up at him. He's standing behind the couch I'm sitting on.
All of a sudden all the guys around the room stand up from their game. Max says, "Hey, we're going to get heading to the club."
Sidney grabs my hand and pulls me up out of my seat. "Let's go!" Max and the girl with him end up riding with me and Sidney. I don't know why but I can't help but feel a tinge of jealousy seeing her holding hands with him.

The club is all lit up. I'm don't regularly go to these kinds of places, but they're fun. At 3:00 AM it's about time for closing and we get ready to leave.
I found out the girl with Max is an old friend. Her name is Heather. Sidney had had a drink earlier (it's still not an excuse) and I caught him flirting it up with some drunk girl when I came out of the restroom. In the car, it's silent. Max and Heather know I'm mad at Sidney.
Back at Mario's, Max and Heather and everyone else leaves. When Sidney says, "goodbye." I feel like I'm going to cry. I totally forgot about my parents and freeze when I get in the car. I might be 18 and legally an adult, but I still live with them. They're going to kill me.
If I wasn't so mad at Sidney, I'd ask if I could stay with him. I get a text from Max on the way home.
Sorry 'bout Sidney. Not much I can say for him. I watched it happen too. -Max
It's ok. I guess if it's meant to work out, it will. Meanwhile, I'll be in my room, crying. I reply while driving, which I guess wasn't the smartest thing to do, but, I feel like I need someone to talk to.
I'm sure it will work out. However much I don't want it to. He responds.
Great, he must still like me. Max... Is all I write. I don't know what else to say.
The next text comes when I pull into my driveway. I can't help that I like you. I feel like we'd be perfect for each other. It was hard enough to stay away from you on that cruise. You're the only reason I went, really. A tear courses down my cheek. I've always liked Max, but I tried to put aside my feelings for him and love Sidney. I do like them both. And here we go again on that emotional roller coaster. I had really hoped Max would forget that he liked me. But I guess he hasn't.
Max. I like you too. I just... don't want to hurt Sidney, and I don't want him to think I'm doing anything because I'm upset. I write. and it's true. I have been happy with Sidney, but I find myself faking it a lot of the time too. I don't want to have the rest of this conversation right now, so I follow up the last text with: I've got to go to bed. Night Max.
I take a shower. I would never be able to sleep smelling like smoke like I do. And I go to bed with an uneasy feeling in my stomach.

Ruthanne's Point of View <3

Today is our one last free day until after everything's done and taken care of.
Kris takes me out sightseeing today. It's wonderful in Montreal. I like it better than Pittsburgh. Kris finally decided that we'd be staying a week after his last scheduled NHL interview thing. We're leaving for home next Friday then. He's going to Luc's parents this Saturday. Nobody is supposed to know about it, so that the media doesn't show up. I told him I wasn't going, even though he really wants me to.
"But they're like my second set of parents," he whined. "you have to meet them."
"It'd be too weird. That's not the reason why you're going to see them anyways." I tell him.
"Well what will you do while I'm gone?" He tried again.
"I'll stay here and hang out with your parents. I'm not going." I say. I don't really want to hang out with his parents alone, but it's a good enough thing to do while he's gone. Maybe I'll go sightseeing again and take my camera with me.
I snap a photo of me and Kris in front of a neat looking building. Then I kiss him and skip down the sidewalk ahead of him. He walks, hands in his pockets and laughs at me. I turn around and wait for him at the corner. He jogs up and takes my hand. I lean on his shoulder.
"j'taime." Kris says. I can't help but smile. His voice is so much better when he speaks in French.
"I love you too." I say, holding onto his arm and leaning on his shoulder.
We drive to different places in the city, and then walk around from there. I'm having so much fun with Kris, I forget about all the stuff and the troubles back home. We decide to go home somewhere around 4:00.
We get back and Kris's mom is waiting for us with lunch. I don't normally eat lunch at 4:00, but it's delicious. I'm in such a happy mood today, I just can't stop smiling.
Kris's mom asks why and I look at Kris. She laughs at us and gets up to wash dishes.
"You two are so cute." She says a moment later. I burst out laughing and Kris blushes. We go up to his room, because he feels awkward when his mom says stuff like that.
We hang out up there for a long time. It's like 7:30 when we come back down and sit in the living room.
Kris's mother is working on dinner. It smells really good too. "whatcha makin' mom?" Kris yells.
"Meatloaf." she says back. That's definitely not what it smells like, but I like meatloaf.
After dinner Kris and I go for a walk in the dark. Montreal is even prettier lit up. I love it here.
Kris and I go to bed after our walk. He's got a big day tomorrow, and he's got to get up early. And I guess that means I do too. yay.

Chapter 30

2009-11-07T23:06:00.000-08:00

Ruthanne's Point of View <3

Kris's mom and step dad are really nice. Kris and I got to talking last night and didn't get to bed until after 2:00. And didn't wake up until after 11:00 in the morning.
He told me about his friend, Luc, and how they were so close. And how the day after tomorrow, all the events and everything would take over us. We, mostly Kris, would be really busy. Day after tomorrow is a NHL media event where they're going to ask questions about Kris's relationship with Luc, how they played together in the minor leagues, and everything else you can think of. And the rest of the week is like that, just stuff with the NHL, the funeral, everything else. I guess Kris is going to make a trip out to Luc's parents' home. I'm thinking I don't want to go, even if he wants me to. It'd be too weird to go. I don't know them, or Luc for that matter.
Kris takes his family and me to breakfast, well, brunch at a Tim Hortons nearby. He's surprisingly having a good time, and so am I. It's neat to see how happy his parents are to see him. They ask a lot of questions about me, and I blush at some of the answers Kris gives. They smile and Kris's step dad pats me on the back every time I'm embarrassed.
So then, they start asking me questions about him and filling me in on things he used to do and habits he had. Some of the things, I think I'd rather not know. I answer to the best of my ability, and with the most embarrassing answers possible. Kris's parents are having an absolute riot here in the Tim Hortons, watching our little battle. Of course it was fun for them, they got to find out about each of our little habits and secrets, in public, and watch us embarrass the hell out of each other. It must have been hilarious.
We head back to their place and around 3:00 they decide to go grocery shopping. Kris and I just hang out in his bedroom, having a good time making fun of each other for that conversation in the restaurant. "I love you." I say, laughing and kissing him. "I really do."
"Well I love you too," He laughs, "despite the embarrassing things you said in front of my Mom!" I smile mischievously, proud to have gotten on his nerves and gotten away with it. That's a fun feeling to have. The "he loves me anyways feeling." But I try not to abuse it, cause then he won't love me no more.
I roll over on my back on Kris's bed. "I wish I lived in Montreal." I say, "it's so lovely here."
"You've only been here a day!" Kris says. "I mean, it's great here, but, you hardly even know," He laughs at me.
"Still. It's lovely. The people are nice." I'm talking about his parents, him, everyone at the restaurant, the airport. It's great here.
"Ruthanne," Kris laughs. I smile and sit back up.

Kris's parents, who grocery shop together, which I find hilarious, come back around 5:00 in the evening with stuff to make dinner. I help his mom make a casserole thing while Kris and his step dad sit around in the living room and watch some hockey game or another. We get to know each other a little bit better and I love how easily we get along. Like we've known each other for a long time, really.
Dinner is ready and we all eat, but this time it's quiet, because the food is better, I think. After that, around 9:00, Kris's parents go to bed, surprisingly earlier than last night. I guess that's normal for them, but having Kris home last night was so exciting, they couldn't sleep. His family is a lovely, funny, quirky one.
We go back upstairs and hang out again after a while. I had gotten used to his parents, who are very talkative, supplying the conversation, and I couldn't think of anything to say. I was genuinely tired too, which could have something to do with that, nodding off here and there on Kris's shoulder as we watch TV. It's not like it would matter if I fell asleep, we're in bed. I just don't want to, as long as Kris is awake. I just love being in his presence.
"You're so cute when you sleep." He whispers in my ear when I wake up yet again.
"Yeah?" I look up at him.
"Yeah. You know it won't bother me if you just sleep. You try too hard to stay awake for me." He laughs. I smile then lean my head on his shoulder again.

Caitlin's Point of View ;)

Sidney comes over, and I was right about him sounding irritated and stressed. "Did Brittny call you?" Were the first words out of his mouth when I opened the door. He almost looked mad.
"Uh yeah. like twice." I say. "why?" I ask him, my happiness kind of spoiled now. He comes in and we go to my room almost immediately, so my mother won't hear.
"What's wrong, exactly?" I look up at him.
"I just think she's up to something." He says, pacing back and forth through the mess in my room. "First of all, she somehow got ahold of Mario's phone number and called 2 or 3 times. She called you. Texted you."
"yeah?" I say, not worried as much as he is. "If it's anything, we can deal with it Sidney," I say, still not understanding why he was so upset. "I don't think she's that dangerous."
"Well, I do. How do I know she's not going to do something stupid to get at us."
"You don't." I say, still confused. I think Sidney's overreacting. "I d-don't quite understand why you're so upset over this." I say, shaking my head and putting my hands up. "Explain or something." I say.
"ok. So once upon a time I actually dated her. I think you know that." He says, frowning. "And right after I broke up with her she did this kind of thing. Found the numbers of some of the guys, called them, called me, didn't leave a message. Texted them with weird questions that only a stalker or someone would ask." He takes a breath. "anyways, the next girl I went out with, Tess, was walking down the street to the corner store and Brittny comes out of nowhere and starts flipping out on her, screaming and whatnot, trying to hit her." Sidney grabs my hands. "Anyways, the clerk at the store heard it and came out to help her..." He trails off for a minute. "Let's just say, that one ended badly, because of Brittny and I don't want that to happen to us." He hugs me and rests his head on top of mine while I lean into his chest.
I stand there silently, not knowing what else to do.
"Ok now?" He asks me.
"Yeah.. I don't think there was any way I was going to figure out why you where freaking unless you explained it." I half laugh.
He laughs nervously, "yeahhhh," he says, still hugging me, but I'm looking up at him now. It's just a little bit awkward so he lets go.
"Everything will be ok." I say. "I don't care about Brittny and I'm not going to let her get between us!" I say resolutely.
"I hope not." Sidney says.
"Well, it won't happen, so don't worry about it." I say, glad his little hysteric fit is over. I mean, I do that sometimes too, but it's just a little bit scarier when a grown man hockey player does it. Just a little bit scarier.
"Ok well. I'll help you get all packed up he says. Just tell me what to do." So I do. There's a pile of boxes in the corner of my bedroom, and I point to them. We work methodically, me handing him stuff to put in the boxes, until like half of my room is in them. Then, we head down for some dinner. It's like 6:00 and I'm starving.
Sidney hangs around for a while after that, then heads back to Mario's. Mario and Nathalie wanted to go out tonight I guess, and Sid got stuck babysitting. I don't mind, and neither does he. I just think it's funny, that he does that. So he leaves, and I'm at home, alone, doing nothing. I end up going to bed early because I'm bored and don't feel like packing anymore. But again, I just lay there for a really long time, not able to sleep because Sidney's not there.

Chapter 29

2009-10-31T10:07:00.000-07:00

Ruthanne's Point of View <3

Kris dropped me off at my house and went back to his apartment, instead of staying like he planned. He said he needed to just go be alone again and think about things. He's always thinking about it and he's getting more depressed by the day. I ate some cheese on crackers and talked to my mom a little bit about how the cruise went. I did manage to get a little tan today so she was jealous of that. I showed her my souvenirs then at 11:45 went up to my room to try to get to sleep. Of course it took forever to fall asleep. I'm so used to being in a big bed, with Kris and here I am, in my little single bed, all alone. I wake up early, and I hadn't slept well. Instead of putting the clean clothes away like I should I just dump all of my clothes into the hamper and leave it like that. I grab a few sweaters, a few t-shirts and a few other tops that I like, for my trip to Montreal. I take all the jeans that I didn't have on the cruise and stick them in the suitcase too. I hang out with my family until like 2:00, then say I have to go to Kris's to get a few more things ready. "Bye. I'll miss you." I kiss my mom on the cheek before leaving for the second time in 2 weeks. I have to admit that while I can't stand my family's controlling habits, they've done really well letting me do my own thing since graduation. I get to Kris's at about 2:30 because traffic was decent. I take the elevator to his floor and find his door. I knock a couple times and there's no answer. "KRIS!" I say loudly. There's shuffling inside and then he opens the door. "Hey." He says, sounding and looking sleepy, his hair all tangled and messy. "Come in." "Hey," I give him a hug, letting go of my suitcase to do so. "I'm all ready." "ok. I'm not. Help me?" He looks at me hopefully. As if I would say no anyways. He wraps his arm around my waist and leads me to his bedroom where his nasty brown suitcase is laying open on the bed. "K." I say as he walks over to his dresser. He holds up outfits for me to judge, and then judging on my reaction, throws them into the suitcase, or back in the dresser. He grabs a black suit and automatically folds it then lays in the suitcase. I packed a black outfit as well, just in case. "alright. All packed." he says, folding over the lid to the suitcase and zipping it up. "thanks." He leans over and kisses me. "welcome," I say, smiling. "we've got," Kris looks down at his watch. "3 hours til we need to be at the airport." "Mmk. Let's do something before we leave." I say, not ready to leave Pittsburgh again, just yet. "Wanna go get something to eat?" He says. "I haven't eaten anything all day. "ok." I say. "Cheesecake Factory?" I ask him. So we go, and eat and blow time until it's time to go to the airport. Getting on the plane is easy, no stupid little things to get in the way. Our flight is smooth and we're in Montreal before we know it. It's nice how time flies when you're with someone you love. It takes forever to find Kris's parents car and when we do, both our suitcases don't fit in the trunk of the tiny thing without smushing them. Finally, we get it all in and we pile in the back. We're all introduced in a couple minutes and they seem nice enough. I hope they like me... Driving through Montreal for the first time, I'm amazed at the sights, even at night. It's so beautiful. It doesn't take long to get back to his parents' house and I wonder if we'll be hearing planes go over all the time. We moved from where I used to live because we had that problem. I'm following Kris into his bedroom when he says "oops.. you're gonna be in there." He points across the hall. I frown quickly, then turn around, pulling my suitcase behind me. I guess I won't be sleeping with Kris, unless it's not like a rule. Long lonely nights for Ruthanne. That's not why I'm here, I remind myself I set my suitcase on my bed then go to Kris's door and knock. "Hey." He says, pulling me into him and kissing me. "How are you?" "Good." I say, kissing him back real quick. "Yeah?" He says, kissing me again. "Except for the fact that I'm not sharing a bed with you. I could hardly sleep last night." He kisses me yet again. "My parents didn't know whether you'd be more comfortable in there, or in here." He says. "Oh." I say. "well, can I come in here with you?" "Sure." I smile and hug him then pull away to grab my suitcase from the other room. When I come back, I eye up Kris's bed. It's a double, thank heavens. Big enough for the two of us. I hug Kris again. "I'm so happy to be here." "it is nice." He says, "especially with you here." I smile again and he says, "my parents are gonna go to bed soon." He says. "D'you want to go downstairs and hang out?" "um. sure," I say, just happy to be with Kris.

Caitlin's Point of View ;)

I wake up and feel more alone than ever. It's so empty without the buzz of the cruise ship, and Sidney right beside me. Out of habit, I look at my phone. Before I turn it on, I see my reflection on its screen. I look like a fuzzy mess, hair sticking up all over the place.
It's 10:15 and I've got 3 texts. Sidney, Ruthanne, Brittny?
Sidney: Hey darling, how'd ya sleep? Call me. <3
Ruthanne: Made it to Montreal, sorry I didn't call or anything.. it was late. :) ttyl. miss ya already! <3
Brittny: So.. how was that cruise?

I shake my head, and try to believe what I'm seeing. Brittny. Texted me? About the cruise?
I dial Sidney's cell phone, still confused. He wanted me to call, after all.
"Hello?" Sidney says.
"Heyyy." I say happily.
"Good morning sleepy head. How'd ya sleep?" Sidney asks.
"Good." I say. "well, not really, but. yeah," we laugh and then I say, "Brittny texted me about the cruise?"
"Weird. What'd it say?" Sidney asks.
I repeat the text and he's confused about it too. "Maybe she meant just what she said," I say. "I'm not going to answer it of course," we laugh again. "What're you doing today?"
"Sleeping." Sidney says. I can hear the smile in his voice and I smile too.
"I'm packinggg." I whine. "Help me?"
"packing for what?" He asks, then figures it out. "Oh yeah. I'll come over later. I still have to unpack."
"Ok. As long as I get to see you," I laugh at myself. I've become totally dependent upon him. But I guess I can't be blamed. He's only the nicest, and the hottest guy to ever walk the earth, and I was stuck in a cruise suite with him for an entire week.
Sidney laughs and says, "talk to ya later Caitlin."
"bye!" I say, still smiling, then hang up. I go downstairs to eat breakfast.
My mom greets me, "mornin hon. There's breakfast in the microwave." I walk over to find some waffles and bacon. A weird combination, I think, but yummy nonetheless. It's still warm so I don't bother to reheat it. I hate the chewy consistency microwaving things gives them.
"How were you while I was gone?" I ask my mom, "anything happen?"
"nope. We were good. Everything was great. I did get calls from a few of your friends. I wrote them down here." She picks up a notepad from the end table next to her recliner. There's a list of names filling up most of the page. Brittny's is on it, twice. Why would she call if she knew I was going to be on a cruise?
I ponder it for a second, then decide I'll ask Sidney later. I can't help but feel Brittny's up to something. But I'm almost positive she can't get between me and Sidney.
I hang out with my mom, and play with my new lap top some more until like 2:00. I really need a shower, so I go upstairs to what is basically my bathroom to get washed up. It's about 3:00 when my phone buzzes because Sidney's calling me. I take a break from blow drying my hair to answer it.
"Hey."
"I'm coming over. Now." Sidney says, sounding stressed.
"Ok?" I say, a piece of hair falling in my face and distracting me.
"Yeah.. See you soon. love you." Sidney says.
"ok." I say, after he already hung up. "weird." I say to myself, and in the back of my mind I have this niggling thought about Brittny being behind his stressed tone, but I disregard it, thinking all drama between us and her is over.

Chapter 28

2009-10-30T23:00:00.000-07:00

Ruthanne's Point of View <3

I wake up on the edge of the bed because of the ship's stupid horn thing. Kris is nowhere near me. I sit up, scared for a moment. Kris is on the other edge of the bed. I lay down next to him and try to sleep again. I can't, because I don't know what time it is, so I have to roll all the way to the other side again to get my phone and check. 9:14. The ship's scheduled to dock at 2:30, so I roll back over to Kris to try and get some sleep.
I wake up again, in Kris's arms this time, at 10:45. "Hey."I say sleepily, looking up at him. He's propped up on his elbow, looking down at me.
"Good morning," he kisses me then gets up out of bed. "Are you all packed?"
"um. I think so." I say, getting up to look in the dresser and under the bed one more time. Sometimes, my clothes end up in weird places. One time, Caitlin and Sidney came over and I had to kick a bra under the bed before they noticed. I find it there, and put it away.
"How'd that get there?" Kris asks me, one eyebrow raised.
"You." I lie, even though that's how it got on the floor in the first place.
"oh." He laughs half-heartedly.
I get up and walk over to him and give him a hug. He looks at me funny. "My, you're in a good mood this morning." He says.
"I only get to go to Montreal with my favorite person in the world. I'm just glad I get to be there." I say. Kris kisses me.
"I'm glad you're coming with me. It'll make things a lot easier. You'll get to meet my parents." He says, smiling again.
"I can't wait." I hug him again, and then go to the bathroom to brush my teeth, really hoping my mouth wasn't nasty when he kissed me. Of course his wasn't. He ALWAYS gets to be perfect. ugh. "Are we going to breakfast?" I ask him as my stomach growls.
"Only if you want to." Kris replies, breaking into his suitcase again for a decent outfit. Living out of a suitcase didn't work for him, he never got to the bottom and instead wore a lot of dirty clothes this week.
"We're going then." I say. "I'm starving."
"ok then." Kris starts changing while I finish brushing my teeth and washing my face. I pull my hair up into a messy bun, not in the mood to contend with it right now.
"How cute." Kris laughs at me when I come out. I'm wearing ugly stained grey shorts and an old softball t-shirt. All of my hair is on my head. I'm sure I look hilarious. I just glare at him and get some more decent--but comfy--clothes to change into.

After breakfast, Kris and I still have a lot of time to kill. For some reason, I haven't ended up with a glorious tan this week, so we head out to sun bathe, like it would help now. At about 1:00 the little intercom system starts talking and never shuts up. they're all telling us how we should be ready to leave, and how things are shutting down. so we go find Sidney, Caitlin and Max to pass the rest of the time. We hang out til it's time to leave.

At the air port Caitlin had to have some kind of weird souvenir that would set off the x-ray machine that we have to put our shoes and everything else through. So we stand there, holding up the line while trying to explain what useless thing it is so it doesn't get confiscated. Finally, after like an hour she gets it back. If it were me today, I would just tell them to keep it, but I guess that's the only souvenir she got.
So, because of that ordeal, we get on the plane in a bad mood. I lean on Kris. "Uhhh." I sigh.
"Tired?" He looks at me, with that know it all look on his face.
"stressed." I try to say. But I really am tired.
"Riggghhhhht." Kris says. He grabs my hand and says. "Go ahead and sleep."
I love pictures of what's outside the plane, so I hand him my camera. "Take pictures.Since you got the window seat." I tell him.
"Fine." He says "It's not like you could take them while you're sleeping." He laughs. I just smile, still leaning on him.

I wake up just a little bit before we land. While I'm leaning on Kris, he's leaning on me, so I can't sit up. My neck has a crook in it and I'm really uncomfortable. I hear his soft snore above me. Great, he's asleep.
"Caitlin?" I say, to see if she's awake.
"Yeah?" She looks back at me.
"Get Sidney to say something to Kris." I point up at him.
Sidney totally defeats the point of me not wanting to wake him up. "Hey, you. Yoohoo, Ruthanne needs you to sit up buddy." Kris sits up, groggily.
"Sorry, love." He says, then leans against the window. We laugh and I lean back in my seat to enjoy some music before we get to Pittsburgh. I missed home, but I'm gonna miss the sun more, I think. Especially in Montreal. Then again, it wouldn't matter where I was, as long as I'm with Kris. <3

Caitlin's Point of View ;)

Boarding the plane in Florida was an experience. I got into an all out argument with a guard about my little souvenir thingy. It took us over an hour just to get on the plane.
Landing was a lot easier, and Philippe Boucher was there with a van to pick all of us and our luggage up. Kris and Ruthanne sat in the front 2 seats, me and Sid in the very back. There were suitcases stacked all the way up to the window in the back and then we had to stick some up front.
"You guys packed a lot. Jeez." Philippe says. "How did you even carry all this?" He loads another one into the van.
Ruthanne and I are notorious over-packers. We laugh quietly, a joke between us, then laugh a little louder when we realize we're both laughing. it happens to us all the time. The guys just look at us like we're crazy, so we stop. Philippe just takes us all to Mario's where most of our cars are. Kris's and mine, Max's and Sidney's are there, at least.
"I think I'm gonna go home and unpack I say, tired." Unlike Ruthanne and Kris, Sidney and I were too caught up in conversation on the flight to sleep. I never get tired of talking to him.
"I'll go with you." Sidney says. "I still haven't met your mom and dad."
"Yeah. Right." I say, not minding a bit that he wants to come over.
Ruthanne's over on the other side of the room talking to Kris. "See yinz later." She says. "well, maybe." she comes over and gives me a hug before walking back out the door we came in. "I'll try to come see you tonight or tomorrow, before I leave, at least.
Sidney and I follow after a short conversation with Mario. He wondered how the trip went, and wanted to see our awesome tans. Mine's considerably darker than Sidney's. I made a point to get some sun, while he wore a lot of sunscreen.
Sidney takes me home and I introduce him to my parents, who were also big fans before I started dating him. I told them both they had to act normal when they met him. They tried, really hard but I could tell they wanted to blurt out a bunch of questions. Sidney and I head up to my room with my suitcases after that.
"Thanks for the help Sidney." I hug him after all my clothes are successfully put in the dirty hamper or my closet.
"No problem." He says, sitting on my bed with me.
"I'm gonna miss you tonight." I whine in his ear.
"I'm gonna miss you too." Sidney says, hugging me close.
"How will I sleeeeeeeep?" I groan.
"Oh you'll manage darling. I know you." We both laugh at what he said and how he said it. He couldn't believe that he said "darling" and I thought his face was hilarious. Plus, I will probably be able to sleep.
"Stay for dinner?" I ask him. We hadn't eaten since lunchtime and it's 10:00 now.
"Sure." He says. We walk back downstairs and find that my mom had made some chipped ham sandwiches for dinner and that we had to make our own. I kind of groan, too used to being served all the time, but I'm almost glad to be back to reality. That week long cruise was great, but I can only be pampered so much.
Sidney leaves at like 11:00 because my parents are ready to go to bed and they don't go to sleep while guests are still in the house.
It takes me over an hour to fall asleep and I finally manage to do it at 1:30, because that's the last time I looked at the clock.

Chapter 27

2009-10-25T11:17:00.000-07:00

Caitlin's Point of View ;)

After dinner Sidney and I went back to our suite, got bored and went on a walk. The warm, salty breeze was kicking up and felt so good. That'll probably be the thing I miss the most about going back. It's funny how used to something you can get in just a week.

Today Sidney and I went to breakfast again. "tomorrow we're going home, you better unpack when we get back."
"Yeah." I nod, taking a bite of my pancake. "unlike you.. I didn't live out of a suitcase." I motion toward his wrinkled t-shirt.
For the first time on this cruise, someone recognizes Sidney. A blonde girl in a tight tank top walks over. "Sidney Crosby?" She looks at him.
"um.. yes?" He looks up, confused, already used to being anonymous like the rest of us.
"OMG!!!" She yelps! "oh... sorry! Could I have an autograph. Are there other Penguins on the ship!?" She freaks out, much like I would if I wasn't dating Sidney.
"uh.. sure.. " Sidney says. The girl randomly has a Sharpie in her back pocket. Unless she was planning this, that is. Sidney signs his napkin and hands it to the girl. She does a little dance and then asks again.
"Is there any other Pens on the ship!?"
"Um. no." Sidney says, covering for Kris and Max. Unless she sees them tomorrow getting off the boat, she'll never know. I just sit there, trying not to laugh. The girl takes another look at Sidney before walking away.
I laugh out loud after she's gone. "What?" Sidney asks.
"That's hilarious." I say.
"It happens all the time." He replies.
"I bet it does. It's just funny." I say, laughing again at the blonde girl.
"You just better remember that you would have done that had Ruthanne not set us up." He says.
"I wouldn't be here!" I say back.
"You know what I mean." We laugh and go back to eating.

Back at the suite I say, "ughhh I don't want to go home. back to reality." I throw another tank top into my cute yellow suitcase.
Sidney laughs. "Yeah." I fold the outfit I'll be wearing tomorrow on the ride home and that's it. I'll get all my essentials tomorrow cause I still need those.
I plop on my back on the bed and sigh. "This was a lot of fun."
"Yeah it was." Sidney sits next to me and leans down to kiss me.

Dinner rolls around before we know it and Ruthanne and Kris didn't want to go out for dinner tonight. So Sidney, Max and I went together. It's getting easier and easier to be around Max and not care, although I can tell he still likes me.
We eat quickly and then run back to Ruthanne and Kris's suite to ask if they wanted to hit the hot tub just one more time before we left. The decide that it'd be ok to have a little fun, even though Kris's predicament makes it a bit harder.
We end up having a great time. Kris doesn't talk much, but I can tell this kind of distracting relaxation is helping him. He always just sits there and thinks about it. Poor Kris. Poor Ruthanne. It's getting late and Ruthanne's about ready to fall asleep on Kris's shoulder so they head in. Max says he's gotta go pack, but we know he just doesn't want to be awkward by staying with us. So Sidney and I sit and soak, having a good time talking and playing.
I yawn, and Sidney notices. "We should head in," he whispers in my ear."
"I don't wanna," I whine, "I'm warm." Between being with Sidney and the warmth of the hot tub, I'm just about as happy as I can be. I have totally forgotten all of life's difficulties and my enemies back home. I lean on his shoulder and sigh. He wraps his arm around me again. The wind blows and I'm cold again. "OK, let's go." I stand up and grab my towel.
"haha, not warm now are you!?" Sidney says, getting out of the water himself. I grab up my towel, the breeze hasn't stopped and I'm really cold now. Sidney grabs his towel and I run to him. He wraps his arm around me and we head back to the suite for the night.

Ruthanne's Point of View <3

Caitlin and Sidney finally convinced Kris to get out of our room and do something. I think it really made him feel better for a little bit. We walk around a little bit, enjoying the fresh air, and ten go back to our room. I was pretending a little bit, to be tired. The hot tub was nice, but the breeze made it cold, so I wanted to do something else.
"I'm leaving the day after tomorrow." Kris tells me. "My parents got the plane tickets all ready, for us to fly out of Pittsburgh. if you want to wait til tomorrow to ask, or call your parents tonight." Kris says, going into the bathroom with his sleep pants to change.
"Umm. this is all really short notice. I'll call tonight. I hope they'll understand." I say, going to my bedside stand to get my phone. I've got a few texts, but they're not important, from people back home. I'm not worried about that type of thing right now. I just want to go to Montreal. I look at the clock, 10:30. We're in a different time zone, crap. What time is it back there?
"Kris?" I ask.
"Yeah?" He says, peeking out the door, a toothbrush in his mouth.
"What time is it back home?"
"uhhh.. somewhere around 11:30?" He says, not sure. I don't know whether my parents will be up or not, but I feel like I have to call now.
It rings three times before my mom answers. "Hello? Ruthanne?" She says, sounding quite tired.
I step out of our suite so that Kris doesn't hear the conversation. "Mom?" I say, "Kris's best friend died, and he wants me to go to Montreal with him the day after we get back." I cut straight to the chase, because my mom hates it when I lead up to things.
"Ok?" She says. "When are you guys going to move into your apartment?"
"I think Caitlin wants to wait for me to come home from Montreal," I say. I know they paid for like three months of rent, but the complex owner agreed that it wouldn't count until we started moving in.
"Ok. Are you going to come home, or are you going to stay with Kris?" My mom asks. I'm going to Montreal! I try not to be to excited, it's not for a good thing.
"I want to come home, but I don't know what time our flight leaves. I'll ask Kris." I say, going back into the suite.
"Kris?" I look at him. "What time does the flight leave to Montreal?"
"8:30 in the evening." I repeat the information to my mother and she says it would be smart to come home and switch my summery cruise clothes for some warmer ones. I hadn't even thought of that.
We say goodbye and I run to hug Kris. "I'm going to Montreal with you!" I say, squeezing him tight, even though my arms hardly reach around his whole body.
He hugs me back, happy, but not excited like me. "yay." He says, smiling down at me and kissing my forehead. I'm going to Montreal!

Chapter 26

2009-10-17T00:46:00.000-07:00

Caitlin's Point Of View ;)

The next morning I realize we only have 2 days left. I sigh, not wanting to get back to reality. Sidney is awake when I get up, but barely. He's laying beside me trying to open his eyes. "We only have 2 more days." I say, feeling sad.
"isn't it sad?" He looks at me, touching my cheek. "I don't want to leave."
"Me either." I say. "But I do want to get moved into that apartment."
"Mmmmm." Sidney says, "will you want help?" He asks quietly.
"I dunno. We're not moving that much. It has everything, appliances, furniture. I guess it's pretty nice." I say, "you might come see it though?" I ask him, hoping he will.
"Sure." He says.

We go to breakfast at 9:30, enjoying one of the last days of meals being served to us. "So.. what to do?" he asks.
"I have no clue. I don't want to go swimming," because I think that's really what mad me sick. That and maybe stress and exhaustion. I sigh.
"Yeah." He says.
"I know!" I kinda have a spastic moment. "Let's go to the arcade." I say, calming myself down. That's one of the only things we haven't done yet.
"sure." Sidney says, wrapping his arm around my waist.
At the arcade, it's kinda crowded. Sidney and I wait in lines to play some of the more popular games. We end up playing the racing games on motorcycles that you have to lean and whatnot. It was fun. But it was so crowded we left after a while. It seemed like more and more people kept piling in and nobody was leaving. So we did.
"That was fun." I say, leaning on him.
"I thought so." He says. Instead of going right back to the suite like we usually do, we decide to just wander around the ship and see if we did miss anything fun.
We play around and people watch like we do. It's funny how absolutely no one recognizes him. Back home, he would have been mobbed.
Out of the blue on our way back to the suite, he leans down in my ear and says, "I love you." I smile and turn and wrap my arms around his neck.
"I love you too." He kisses me and we head back.

Ruthanne's Point of View <3>

Kris and I lay in bed for hours after we woke up. I roll over and kiss him. "Kris." I say.
"huh?" He looks at me, his eyes red and his hair tangled.
"I'm gonna miss you." I say sadly.
He looks away. "I know." I hear him whisper. "I'm gonna miss you too." I lay my head on his shoulder. "would you be allowed to come with me?"
"I dunno." I say. My parents have always been kind of controlling. "I hope so."

We don't go out anywhere together. I go get food and bring it back to the suite. Kris won't eat very much and I'm feeling worse and worse as he does. The only way I can imagine how he feels is if like, Caitlin died while I was away. It's terrible to even think of how I would feel, so I stop and go back to trying to make Kris feel better.
At like 5:00 Caitlin knocks on the door between our suites. "Come in." I say. Kris lays back on the bed and folds his arms under his head, staring at the ceiling.
Sidney and Caitlin both come over. Caitlin sits with me on the couch and Sidney goes over to Kris. They talk quietly for a while, I can't hear what they're saying.
"So.." Caitlin says, always feeling like she has to say something. "How's Kris?" She asks.
"I don't know. He won't talk, Like someone I know." I sigh, glaring at Caitlin.
"I'm sorry! I always feel so stupid when I'm upset. Like it's the stupidest thing, but it still drains me." She explains.
"I know." I say, putting my arm around her shoulder. "I still love ya."
"That's good to know." She says. "Love ya too." She hugs me back.
"So." I say, wanting and not wanting to tell Caitlin about how I might be in Montreal. For a month. "Kris is going back to Montreal. He might be up there for a while, visiting family, NHL interviews, the funeral." I whisper really quietly. "And he was thinking about taking me with him..." I trail off, seeing the looks of confusion, then understanding flash across her face.
"ok." She says, hugging me again. "I don't know if I want to move in without you though." She says. "I'd be scared to."
"I know. I would too." I say. "You always have Sidney."
"I know. But he'll get busy. I know he's taking time out of his summer to be with me."
"Caitlin the summer just started, the season just ended. OF course things are gonna come up, and I'm sure you're gonna be put in that equation, but, just don't stress about it." I make my crooked smile, feeling smart after explaining that to her. She doesn't argue, which is abnormal, so I think I made my point.
Sidney comes back over to the couch and says, "you all want to go to dinner? I convinced Kris."
"Yeah." We both say, standing up.
Dinner is good. We all go back to our own suites. I sit with Kris again. "You ok?" I ask him. He nods, sitting up and petting my hair back, looking into my eyes. A little bit weirded out, I look down.
"Do you want to come to Montreal with me? For sure?" He asks me slowly.
"Of course!" I say, meaning it too.
"Ok." He says. "I want to be there to ask your parents with you." He says. "I think. They'll let us."
I smile at him, leaning into his hard chest. "Oh Kris." I say, "I love you." Because it feels right and I don't know what else this can be called.

Chapter 25

2009-10-11T23:37:00.000-07:00

Ruthanne's Point Of View <3>

"Sooo. What happened?" I look at him, concerned and still a little confused.
"umm.. Well, one of my best friends died." He chokes on his last couple words, tears springing to the corners of his eyes.
I quickly put my hand on his in the middle of our table. "I'm so sorry." I say.
"He died. In a motorcycle accident." A tear falls down Kris's cheek and I feel so heartbroken, just seeing him so sad.
We don't talk for a couple of minutes. Kris takes that time to recover himself. "I'm sorry." I say again.
"It's ok." He says.
Kris hardly eats dinner. Neither do I. We don't talk anymore, just eating in silence. I wonder briefly how Caitlin is. I sent her a text earlier. I wonder if she responded. But I don't have time to think about that because before I know it, Kris is breaking down again. He must have tried so hard not to do that earlier. Keeping it all inside is what Caitlin does, and that's what gets her so exhausted. From what I've seen, Kris just gets irritable.
"You wanna head back?" I ask him quietly.
"Yeah." He says, nodding his head solemnly.
He lays down on the bed when we get back and I sit beside him, not knowing whether he wants to be comforted, or left alone. "Why don't you and Caitlin have a girls' night out?" He asks, confirming my suspicions about him wanting to be left alone. I nod and walk over to the couch to get my phone. I read the one text I got from her. She's sick. Great. Now what?
I text her back to see if she's over it yet. Sometimes that happens. I figure I'll give it a shot.
Hey.. sorry you're sick. Kris suggested having a girls' night out. you up for it?
I sit on the couch waiting for a reply even though I could walk right out my door and knock on theirs. I figure if she doesn't reply in 5 minutes I'll try that. And if that fails, I'll come in here and watch TV or cuddle up to Kris and try to make him feel better or sleep or something. I'll find something to do. She doesn't reply so I walk out the door, make a quarter turn and knock on their door. Sidney answers it after looking out the peephole. "Hey." He says.
"Hey." I say back. "Kris suggested having a girls' night out.. is Caitlin up for it?" I ask him instead of going to her. It wouldn't matter what condition she was in, she'd probably want to do it.
"I don't know..." Sidney says kind of warily, turning around. "Come in." He motions with his hand. I follow. Their suite is the exact same thing as ours, with different art on the walls.
Caitlin sits up when she sees me come in. "Hey." She says, sounding tired, like she just woke up. "What's up?" I ask her.
"ah, nothing. I'm feeling a little bit better." She says.
"Up for going out tonight?" I ask her, half hoping she'll say yes.
"Ehhhh.." she says. "I don't know. Probably not. tomorrow?" She looks at me hopefully. That kind of thing is right up her alley. She loves a good party. Way more than I do at least.
"It's fine.." I say. "do you mind if I stay over here and watch TV though? Kris needs some space." Sidney turns like he wants to know more, but I don't say anything. He probably thinks we're having some kind of relationship problem if he doesn't already know about Kris's friend.
"Sure." Caitlin and Sidney say at the same time.
"I'll be right back." I say, and head back to my suite. It hadn't been more than 20 minutes since I left, but Max was already there beside Kris when I came in.
"Hey." He says.
"Hey." I say. "Caitlin's sick. I'm gonna head over there and spend some time." I think he wants to be alone. I mouth.
"Yeah." Max says aloud. Kris is still sitting there, staring off into space. I don't think he would have heard us if I did say that out loud, but, I don't want him to be offended. I grab my phone just in case anyone decides to text me, although I doubt anything will happen. The only texts I get are from the four people in these 2 suites.
Then I turned to Kris and said, "I'm going to head over there and hang out for a while. If you want, you can come." I say hopefully. He just sits here. Max nods and I head back to their suite through the door between the rooms instead of the outside one. I forgot it was there.
"Hey." They said again.
"Hey," I say again. It's not awkward. They just know that I am upset because Kris is and I know Caitlin doesn't want to get too far into it. I don't know about Sidney.
Sidney comes around and sits on the couch with me when he thinks Caitlin's asleep again. "You ok?" He asks.
"Sure." I say. "I just hope Kris is. He was really terrible yesterday."
"I know." Sidney says, putting his hand on mine in a comforting way.
"thanks." I say, then turn back towards the TV. It's not ok that my boyfriend's friend just died. It's not ok that he could be away for a whole month. A tear comes to my eye and I try to wipe it away before Sidney sees it. Of Course I Fail. He sees it.
"Is it cause he's gonna be away for so long?" Sidney asks.
"yeah." I reply, another tear springing to my eye. I don't want to cry in front of Kris, or Sidney, or anybody.
"It'll be ok." Sidney puts his hand on my shoulder. "He was thinking about taking you. To meet his family and stuff. Don't tell him I said anything."
I quickly feel a little bit better. "Really?" I say dumbly, thinking again how I wanted to get all moved into that apartment.
"Yeah." Sidney says.

Caitlin's Point of View ;)

I wake up and my head is spinning. I feel like I"m going to puke again.. MAX is here? I don't remember that happening, but Ruthanne, Sidney and MAX!? are sitting on the couch. I sit up. Sidney looks back. "You don't look so good." he gets up and walks around the couch to me.
"I don't know.." I say. My head has stopped spinning from sickness, and more from confusion now.
"Are you ok?" He asks, looking concerned.
"I need a shower." I say. Max and Ruthanne laugh.
"She's fine," Ruthanne says laughing at me. I look in the mirror across from our bed and see my hair, imagining myself saying that. It's hilarious. Great. My shorts and everything else are very twisted when I get up and Ruthanne laughs some more. I go to the bathroom to get in the shower.

I come out and everyone's still on the couch, laughing about something or other. I feel a bunch better and I'm really hungry. I sit on Sidney's lap since there's no more room on the couch. "Where's Kris?" I look around.
Everyone just looks at each other. "He's still in our suite," Ruthanne says, frowning.
"Wha-why?" I look at her suspiciously.
"Um. He's dealing with something." She says, giving me that look. The I-don't-want-to-discuss-it-right-now-you-better-not-say-anything-else-look. I nod and lean back onto Sidney.
"You're awfully cuddly." He says, wrapping his arms around me and putting his chin on my shoulder. I smile. I still feel really tired, but that's what I get for sleeping the whole day and a half away.
"I'm hungryyyy." I whine, looking up at the clock and not caring what time it is.
"She's definitely better," Ruthanne says, still cracking up.
"What do you want?" Sidney looks at me from behind.
"A peanut butter and jelly sandwich." I smile.
Sidney chuckles in my ear, but lifts me up as he stands, saying "ok." He walks over to the door and grabs his shoes. "Be right back." He says and heads out. I smile and lean back on the couch where the seat is warm in the place he sat.
"Sooo." I say, feeling awkward without Sidney.
"Feeling better?" Max jokes. We all laugh, and I nod.
"I'm so glad too. That was really nasty." I say smiling again. I can't help it. I just can't stop. There's too much to be happy about.
I had temporarily forgotten about Ruthanne's dilemma, not even noticing her "happy" smile.
"Hey." I say to her. "Fill me in!" I whine.
She frowns, but shouldn't she have known better? "Kris's friend died in a motorcycle accident." She says. "He's gotta go to Montreal for a while." Her eyes well up and I regret bringing it up.
"Why are you over here then?" I ask her.
"Kris said he needed some time to sort things out." She says.
"hmmph." I wouldn't want to be alone in a situation like that. Ah well, I'm not Kris. We go back to laughing and joking til Sidney comes in.
"It took me forever to get someone to make this." He says, holding the sandwich up. "You'd better enjoy it." He jokes and hands it to me.
"Thanks." The sandwich is good and we all sit around, trying to have a good time. Trying to keep Ruthanne distracted. Kris eventually comes in looking tired and disheveled. we look at the clock. It's like 12:30 now.
"Sorry," Ruthanne stands up. "see you tomorrow." She doesn't give Kris a chance to say whether he came to visit or to get her. She just stands and takes him back through the door between our rooms.
It's just me, Sidney, and Max. "I'm gonna get ready for bed." Sidney says. "I'm exhausted." Max stands up.
"I better go then, I guess." He says, and walks toward the door as Sidney walks into the bathroom and shuts the door.
"Hey." I say. "thanks for coming over. I wish I could have been awake for more of it." I apologize.
"No problem. You needed your rest!" Max says.
"See you." I say awkwardly, not knowing what else to say.
Max gives me a funny look, then leaves. I go to the bathroom with Sidney, where he's brushing his teeth. I do the same.
"Feeling better.. for real?" Sidney asks me. I nod. Almost all the nausea is gone. I don't feel like I'm going to puke!
And even though I slept all day, I go to bed and fall asleep in the warmth of his arms easier than ever.

Chapter 24

2009-10-08T14:08:00.000-07:00

Ruthanne's Point Of View <3

I'm not tired when we get back to the suite, just happy. Kris turns on the TV like he usually does, just for background noise, I guess, cause he never watches, or changes the channel.
"poor Caitlin." I say, plopping down on the sofa.
"what?" Kris says, looking at me funny.
"Can't you tell she's upset?"
"She looked perfectly happy to me." Kris says, still looking at me funny.
"She gets really tired when she's depressed or has a dilemma." i explain. He still looks at me funny. "I should go talk to her."
"Stay here. I'm sure she's asleep already." He says, putting his hand on my leg and sitting beside me.
I nod, still concerned. Caitlin's always been on this emotional rollercoaster. With her, everything is in extremes. So I tend to try and take care of her. I think it annoys Kris. I lean on him and watch the screen, not understanding anything.
"You want to go out for a drink?" He asks.
"Alcohol?" I look at him.
"Um... yeah." He says, looking at me like I'm dumb.
"Uh, Kris, I'm only 18, besides, I've never really drank before." I say, feeling really dumb.
He sighs and sits back again. "Whatever. It's fine."
"Kris?" I look at him. "What's wrong?" He's been acting funny for a while now. I don't understand why. I can't remember anything I did.
He sighs again and shakes his head, watching TV. "nothing." He says quietly.
"Hey.. how 'bout that drink?" I say, standing up and grabbing his hand. It's funny how I feel like I'll do anything for him.
"You just said 'no'." He looks at me.
"I changed my mind." I look at him and his expression lightens, from the intensely annoyed face to the gentle kind one that I love.
We go to the busiest bar we could find, it was at the bowling alley, actually, so he could order 2 drinks and get away with letting me drink. "please don't get me anything too strong." I whine in his ear, regretting my choice to even come. The flashing lights on the dance floor are making me dizzy and I don't feel like being in here anymore. The initial excitement is gone.
He brings me back something a weird color in a little cocktail glass. "I told him not to put very much alcohol in it." He hands it to me.
"What is it!?" I look at him.
"a martini." He says, pointing at the olive at the bottom, making me feel stupid, yet again. I nod and hope for the best, hoping he really did get me something that's not strong. I don't understand why I suddenly don't trust him.
I don't drink any, looking at him as he downs his first shot. "What's wrong Kris?"
He looks at me again, a weird look in his eyes. "Nothing. I told you."
"hmmph." I say, setting down the glass and kinda looking away. He walks up to get another drink without saying anything.
I stand there alone in our little corner. I don't want a drink. I don't want to be here anymore. Kris is making me nervous. He comes back after a minute. "I want to go back to the suite." I say, drink in hand again. I would feel bad if I didn't drink any of the drink he bought me so I took a gulp, draining the glass halfway.
"Go ahead," he says. "I'll see you later." He grabs my hand, making me doubt all my fears, and squeezes right before I head through the crowd back to the main deck outside. It's chilly outside despite the warm breeze. I wish I would have brought a sweater. Walking back to the room alone, I feel like I'm in a horror movie. All the festivities going on around me and then there's me, walking alone back to my room.
When I get there I don't know what to do with myself so I go get in the shower and get ready for bed. I'm in my sleep pants with a toothbrush in my mouth. It's been about 45 minutes since I left. Kris comes in, a bit drunk.
"Hey." I say.
"Hey." He says back.
"Feel better?" I ask him, knowing something was wrong and wanting to bring up the point again to try and get it out of him.
"There was nothing wrong." He says defensively, clenching his jaw and his fists.
"Hmm." I say, walking back into the bathroom to finish brushing my teeth before I go to bed.
I go to bed and lay on my side without saying anything else to him. I'm asleep before he ever gets in bed and I don't care. I don't want to smell his nasty alcohol breath anyways.

Caitlin's Point Of View :)

I wake up happy despite my dilemma last night and my upset stomach. I feel really sick. I probably won't see Max all day, so that's comforting. One less problem to face.
"Sidney?" I roll over, looking for him. I look at the alarm clock. 1:30. I gasp, wondering how I slept that long. "Sidney?" I ask again. He turns around from the couch to see me on the bed.
"good morning sleepy head." He says, getting up and coming over.
"Don't touch me." I say, sounding a little bit more agitated than I mean to. "I mean, I feel really sick.. I don't want you to get it."
"Sorry." He says, settling for sitting next to me rather than kissing me like he intended to. "So.. what kind of sick?" he asks.
"My stomach."I point at it just as it does another one of those flips that are making me feel like I'm going to vomit. "ohhhhhhh"I get up and try to stagger to the bathroom. Sidney stands and helps me immediately, not really knowing what to do. When I'm laying over the toilet he holds my hair. I love my Sidney.
"Thanks." I say. "I'm sorry." I say, embarrassed, rinsing my face off and getting down my toothbrush
"Why be sorry? It's not your fault silly." He hugs me. I look at him, really not wanting to give this bug or whatever it is to him.
"It's probably from going swimming in that pool." I whine. I can't help but lean back into his strong arms. He kisses the top of my head.
"It'll be alright." He hugs me gently and I'm glad. My stomachs still not up for much.
"I have some Tums in my bag, but I don't think it'll help much," I point at my bag through the door in the next room. Sidney helps me back to the bed even though I don't need it and goes to get the tums. My phone goes off. I reluctantly grab it off the shelf, not in the mood for texting.
Sidney brings me the tums and I throw one in my mouth, grimacing at the disgusting chalky taste. "Thanks." I croak. He laughs and lays next to me. I don't open the text, instead, just turn the ringer off and put it back on the bed stand.
"Are you hungry?" He looks at me. I shake my head. "I can go get you some soup or something simple. Crackers? Anything?" I shrug.
"Crackers. Maybe." I say.
He nods and says, "Be right back." Before heading out the door, he runs to the bathroom and grabs the trash bin, setting it on my side of the bed. "Just in case," then he runs out the door. I go back to my phone, which rings again as he walks out the door. Weird that I'm not getting texts except now, when I'm awake.
2 messages
I think there's something wrong with Kris. He's acting funny and he went out and got drunk last night. :( From Ruthanne. I tap in my reply.
I think there's something wrong with me. I just puked my guts out. Sorry about Kris. You can come over if you want, but I don't want to give this to you. :P
the next one's from Max. Weird
Hey. I'm sorry things are so weird between us. Don't think I don't notice. I'm sorry that I like you so much. I can't help it. How are you? we haven't talked. <3
I tap in yet another "sick" reply
yeah.. it's so awkward. I just don't want to hurt Sidney, you know? It comes out more like I'm on Max's side and I'm just pitying Sidney but I don't fix it. I'm absolutely miserable, I just puked my guts out. Sidney just went to try and get me crackers. :P
I put my phone back on the night stand and close my eyes. I wish for sleep but I just lay there, miserable. Max texts me back right before Sidney comes in. I turn off the ringer and leave it on the stand.
"I had to get soup to get the crackers. That's what took me so long." Sidney says, carrying a tray in.
"Oh." I kinda croak.
"I thought I would eat the soup part and give you the broth. It sounds like you have a frog in your throat." Sidney says. I also hadn't realized he was so caring. So, motherly, almost.
"aww." I say, closing my eyes again. I just want to sleep.
I fall asleep to Sidney's voice after taking just a little bit of broth. When I wake up Sidney's right there beside me, looking worried.
"sorry." I say, turning to look at the clock again. It's going on 4:00 now.
"It's fine. You're sick. You need rest." Sidney says, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.

Ruthanne's Point Of View <3

Kris and I don't really do anything all day. There's still that tension between us since I keep asking him what's wrong. He'll never tell me, but I still feel concerned. At like 5:30 we decide to go out to dinner and we're trying to act all normal when we both know things aren't. I hate that. But I feel like it's the only way to go.
Suddenly though Kris says, "I'm sorry I acted funny last night, but something happened back home that really confused me and made me mad. When we get back, I have to go home to Montreal." He explains.
"Oh." I say, dumbfounded. "Sorry." I feel really bad for bothering him so much. "How long will you be gone?" I ask.
"Maybe a month? It depends." He says, frowning.

Chapter 23

2009-09-22T17:46:00.000-07:00

Ruthanne's Point of View. <3>
Nothing has been better than the time I've gotten to spend with Kris. And I feel like I could never spend enough time with him.
It's almost 3:00, we've just been hanging out. I haven't convinced him to go swimming with me yet. But I don't really want to get a sun burn anyways.
"Let's go for a walk." I say.
"Let's go swimming," he says back. I lean back on the couch, surprised.
"Didn't you just...?" I look at him.
He shrugs. "Let's go. Hup hup hup!" He says, jumping up and running to his suitcase. I go to the dresser where I stuck my favorite blue bikini in the top drawer. He hasn't organized anything yet, still living out of that ugly brown leather suitcase.
We walk down the side, looking at the water. There' not much to see, but water, but the weather's nice and we're enjoying ourselves. I keep a towel wrapped around me and Kris just carries his, showing off his super hot body. I try not to stare as we make our way around the people (not only girls) who can't stop staring.
I laugh when we're out of earshot.
"Huh?" He looks at me.
"They're just funny. They didn't even try to look inconspicuous." I laugh again.
"Oh." He makes a show of looking down at his "gut" which is really some hot rock solid abs. I laugh at him again and we throw our towels down by a lounge chair.
"You go in first." I say.
"Why?" He asks, stepping in.
"So you can tell me if it's cold!" I say, sticking my toes in the water, knowing it'll be warm, but so used to being in Pittsburgh.
"Come on, Ruthanne," he grabs my hand and I follow him in. He wraps his arms around me when we get in and I wrap my legs around him as he walks backwards through the pool. We only bump into everyone that's there. It's sooo crowded.
We have fun lounging and talking. There's really no room to swim, the pool's just crawling with huge fat people and their kids.
After maybe half an hour I say, "My fingers are getting all wrinkly, let's get out." He grabs my hands and walks backwards through all the people again. We head back to the suite, dripping wet. Kris hangs the towel over his shoulders, masking most of his chest, so no one stares. When we get back and in the room I wrap my arms around him--barely able to get them all the way around-- and kiss him.
He kisses me back. "You're the best, love." He says when we pull apart. I just smile and walk over to the dresser, dropping my towel on the way. I grab another pair of shorts and a cute tank I've never worn before.
He gets some shorts and a shirt out of his ugly brown suitcase. "You really should unpack. Or at least get a new suitcase." I say.
He laughs. "Why?"
"I don't know.. It's just, ugly." I say, scrunching up my nose and regretting momentarily that I said it.
He scrunches up his nose and says "I like it." Then laughs. I run to the bathroom so he can change in the main room. I fix my hair a little bit, putting some gel in it, and change into the outfit. He's sitting on the couch fiddling with his phone, his hair wet and beautiful, falling around his face. I sit by him.
"Hey." I say.
"Huh?" He says, putting his phone back in his pocket after pressing the SEND button. I kiss him on the cheek. He's expressionless when I look at him. I can't understand why I'm so happy and he's not.
"What's wrong?" I ask him.

Caitlin's Point of View ;)

Sidney and I slept for almost 2 hours. It's like 5 when I wake up, phone in hand like right before I fell asleep. I look at it, the screen's blinking.
3 texts.
Where are you? we're hunggggry!!!! From Ruthanne a few minutes ago
What are you guy's doing tonight? Mind if I join? From Max like half an hour ago. My heart skips a beat, half from nervousness and half from the happiness that he sent me a text.
went swimming... had fun. Hunggry... call me or something, let's go! From Ruthanne. I laugh, that was 45 minutes ago. I wonder if they're gonna go without us. I roll over and see that Sidney's still asleep. The huge couch makes for lots of room to move, so I get up without disturbing him.
I sit on the bed and text Ruthanne back. Sorry just took a nap.. waking Sidney up now.
I go back to the Max text and hit reply. I have no idea what to say, but I have to say something. Going to dinner soon.. text me. Idk what we're doing tonight. There's something going on at the theatre. Caitlin
I figure something like that will be safe, so I hit send. "Sidney." I say. He groans and rolls over. I throw my phone on the bed and lean over the back of the couch. when he opens his eyes he almost screams. "Good evening sleepyhead." I come around the side and sit on the arm as he sits up. "Ruthanne and Kris want to go to dinner soon." I leave out the little part about inviting Max. My phone goes off.
Well LET'S GO!!! I'M STARVING! Ruthanne replies.
Sidney's up.. no worries. I invited Max, soooo, yeah, he'll be there. I say, just so somebody knows why he'll be there. I don't want to tell Sidney because of that little convo. we had earlier. The phone goes off again as I'm about to put it down.
K... what hall? I want to talk to you
Max replied. I sigh, setting it down as Sidney walks by into the bathroom. He's still so zombie-ish.
idk what it is.. just the one close to our suites. Going at like 5:45. See you there. I say back sighing. I really don't want it to be so hard and awkward to be around Max. He's so much fun. Sidney comes out of the bathroom and sits by me. It's five minutes til we need to be there, so I run to the bathroom to check my hair.
It looks kinda scary, since I just slept. I find a little drool on the top of my head, where Sidney's chin was laying. I grab some toilet paper, trying to get it out. I fail miserably, only getting some. So I just try to blow dry it. That spot on my head ends up being kinda poofy, but at least it doesn't have anymore drool on it. I brush it out and everything looks ok again.
I come out with a couple minutes to spare. Sidney's playing with his phone, but I think it's mine for a second. I'm paranoid when I don't tell the whole truth. "Ready?" I ask him.
"Sure." He says, standing up. I grab my phone off the bed and stick it in my pocket.
"What'do you need that for?" He looks at me funny.
"Nothing?" I look at him funny.
"Then why are you taking it?"
"Habit." I say, and touch it from the outside of my pocket. Sidney laughs and we round the corner to the dining hall. I see Ruthanne and Kris and Max already at a table, laughing at something. I guess we're a few minutes late, but I didn't expect them to be on time.
"Heyy!" Ruthanne says, pointing the seat next across from her, next to Max. I don't know if she did it on purpose, but I sit down not wanting to make a scene. Sidney looks at me funny, probably wondering why I didn't sit by Ruthanne, but I just shrug.
I'm tired of eating out every day already, but I guess that's basically the only choice we have. I get some kind of Enchilada thing. Our feminine waiter recommended it so I guess it must be good.
I'm feeling pretty tired, even after that nap. Sidney looks at me, since I'm the only one not really talking. He touches the poofy piece of hair on top of my head. "That's from your spit you know." I say. I feel Max flinch behind me and feel bad for a second.
"what?" He looks at me.
"that piece of hair.." I say, "you drooled on it." I smile sillily and Ruthanne laughs.
"Sorry." He says, and grabs my hand, holding it under the table. I kick his foot and grin at him, feeling happy all over again. I sit up straight when the waiter comes back. I can feel Max looking at me and glance over at Sidney to make sure he doesn't see. I look back at Max and give him a half smile. He touches my foot with his making a tingle run up my leg--an unusual feeling. I don't want to feel that way about Max right now. I'm with Sidney. I look away and at my enchilada which is absolutely gigantic. I'll never be able to eat it all.
I find that it's absolutely delicious too. Sidney makes me eat a bite of his fish, which is good, in a weird way.
For dessert we all have some kind of sundae. I stuck with my favorite Mexican sundae, even though it's sooo bad for me. We had all decided on the show at the theatre at 7:30, so we were basically burning time right now.

The show at the theatre is some kind of musical. Whatever it is, I can't concentrate on it. I'm sitting between Max and Sidney and I've got tingles all over partially because I am cold, and then there's Sidney and Max. I sigh. Max and Sidney both look at me. "What?" They both say at the same time, and then laugh together. I laugh too, but it's fake.
"Nothing." I put my head in my hands. "I'm just really tired." I explain, which is truly half of it. I don't know what's going on with me. It's like I'm never happy when I should be. Max touches my hand when Sidney looks away, and that makes everything worse. And better.
The show ends sometime around 9:00 and we all decide to hang in one of the giant jacuzzis on the top deck. We run back to our suites and change, going to meet there.
I'm half awake, sitting beside Sidney and Max, Sidney's arm around me. Everyone leaves at around 10:00 and we have the whole thing to ourselves, laughing and carrying on. I wake up a little bit more, just because everyone's being so loud. I'm so lucky just to be here right now and I've hardly been living it up. I make a secret vow to myself to do so.
After a long time in the jacuzzi, it's about 11:30, we all decide to head in. My head's been nodding for the longest time and Ruthanne used that as her excuse to want to leave. "She needs to go to sleep." To tell the truth, I actually feel a little sick. I'm probably just overtired.
We head back to the suite and I plop down on the bed after changing into pajamas. Sidney lays beside me. "Did you at least have fun?" He whispers, his lips touching my cheek, then my eyebrow.
"Yeah," I say, eyes closed. "I'm just tired." Again, I don't tell the whole truth. I'm feeling even sicker now, and I'm hoping it's just exhaustion. I'm asleep in his arms before I know it.

Chapter 22

2009-09-13T11:50:00.000-07:00

Ruthanne's Point Of View. <3>
I wake up well before Kris does, but he embarrasses me by saying. "Stop staring, I can't sleep." I close my eyes and snuggle up to him, wishing I could sleep like a hockey player. Kris rewraps his arm around me and I fall asleep again, waking up yet again, like an hour later. Kris is still snoring, so I roll out of his arms and off the bed, feeling gross despite my shower last night. I go to the bathroom to clean up.
Kris stumbles in a few minutes later, looking for me. "Ruthanne?" He says sleepily.
"Yeah?" I say, stepping out from behind the wall dividing the sink and toilet from the shower and bath, a toothbrush in my mouth and toothpaste foam all over my face.
"There you are," he says, looking more adorable than ever in his sleepy state. He walks over and wraps his arms around me, looking at us in the mirror. "You're so beautiful," he says, kissing my neck. I smile, then lean over and spit out the toothpaste. He releases me to let me rinse and wipe my face off.
When I'm done, I turn to him, "mmmm," I hum into his ear, hugging him. It's still early, around 8:30. There's no way Caitlin's out of bed yet, but we text them anyways. Hey, breakfast time. :)
After a few minutes of no reply, we just leave, glad to have a meal alone anyways. It's kind of annoying to feel obligated to invite them every time we do something. We always have fun and I'm sure they feel the same way, but, I guess that's life.

Breakfast with Kris is fun. It's easier to get to know him when we're alone. He got some sort of crepes piled really high. And they were delicious. I got some waffles, with pineapples and whipped cream. Sounds and tastes more like a dessert, haha, my favorite.
I feel bad for being happy that Caitlin, Sidney, or Max didn't show up. I wonder briefly why Max is on the cruise with us. Looking for a woman perhaps?
"Hey Kris," I say, "why did Max come again?" I add, even though he's never told me.
"I dunno" he says, "probably to pick some woman up. This is the most down I've ever seen him over a girl. Especially one he doesn't know very well. God I just hope he doesn't make an ass out of himself." Kris says, his brows pulling together.
I nod. "I don't want Caitlin to make any bad decisions either." I say. "Why do we talk about this anyways?" I sigh, "it just makes us worry more."
"Exactly." He says, leaving a tip and standing up, grabbing my hand too. I smile at him, trying to forget about that topic once again. We make our way back to the suite, not liking the show we stopped to check out in the theatre.
"ahh," I sigh, plopping down on our bed. "I can't believe I'm done with high school." I sigh. "I mean, I knew it was coming, but I don't think it's sunk in yet."
"It will," He says softly, sitting next to me, smoothing the hair on my head.
I lean on him, sad for the moment, but looking forward to the next. "I know." I say, knowing it's gonna hit me when I go back home and I'm moving into that apartment instead of getting ready for school in my bathroom every day.

Caitlin's Point of View. ;)

I don't wake up til around 10:00, Sidney still curled around me in a weird position. I try to squirm out, but he holds me tighter. "Don't leave," he laughs, kissing the top of my head. I can feel his smile moving the hair on the back of my head. I laugh and try to roll over. He loosens his grip just enough to let me do that.
"Good morning," I say, kissing him happily. He just kisses me back.
"I'm starving." He says pulling me closer.
"Let's go get something then," I say, trying to sit up. He pulls me back down. I pretend to glare at him, but end up laughing. "What?" I ask.
"Were you cold last night?" He looks at me.
"Nooooo."
"Oh. well I was. Now I'm not. You're warm." I laugh at him and get out of bed to go to the bathroom. He can be so silly. I brush my hair and teeth quickly, pulling my hair up into a messy bun. Sidney's still laying in bed when I walk out to get clothes. I pick a cute halter top and denim shorts. He smiles when I come out to get my straight iron after changing. By now he's actually OUT of bed, but still sluggish, walking in and out of the living room/bedroom area and the bathroom.
When I'm all ready I walk out. "How's this?" I ask him, spinning into his arms.
"Beautiful," he says, smiling before he kisses me.
"Alright. Let's go." I say, pulling on his arm. He follows behind me slowly, resisting a little bit. I can hardly move him anyways. Once we're out the door he grabs my hand and we head to get some food.

After food--it kind of a brunch-- we get our swimsuits and towels from the suite. I felt like swimming. Surprisingly, the first pool we go to isn't full of people so we just stay there. Sidney throws me into the deep end, surprising me and making me scream. I worked hard to straighten my hair too.
"Sidney!" I yell at him when he jumps in after me, splashing me again.
He swims over to me. "What?" He asks, trying to sound innocent and using that pouty face on me.
We mess around in the pool for a while before he makes me get out to try the wave pool. I've never been in a wave pool, so I'm nervous. Sidney goes before me, making everything look so easy. When he comes out I shake my head. "No way." I say.
"Come on. There's like nobody here!"
"I'm still gonna make a fool out of myself!" I complain.
"I'll go with you!" He says, grabbing my hand. "Please!" He begs, which I have to admit, is cute.
I finally give in.
"Ok." I say. He hands me one of those boards.
I cringe when he says "just jump in on the board," he commands.
"I'm scared!" I yelp back.
"Get in the water!" He demands, making me think of The Notebook. I finally just plunge in, holding on for dear life. Once I'm in the water, it's surprisingly fun, and not scary at all. Sidney and I mess around, doing stupid spins and what not for a few minutes. People start to form a line after a while so we just get out and leave.
"That was fun." I say, leaning on him.
"It took you long enough to get in!" He says. "It's really fun at night, if I can convince you to do that." He says, wrapping his arm around my waist as we head back to the room. I put back on my clothes and pull my hair back into the messy bun I had earlier.
I sigh and lay on the couch, already ready for a nap. Sidney lays beside me, or tries to. He falls off a couple of times before giving up and just sitting by me. Of course I'm laughing and he's embarrassed, which makes it even funnier.
"Oh Sidney," I say, laughing again. "You never fail to make me happy." I say smiling down at him. He looks back at me, his smile not quite reaching his eyes.
Picking up my phone, I read the text Ruthanne sent quite a while ago. I reply. Yeah, been there done that. we went swimming, then to the wave pool. eek eek eek!
I set the phone down, not planning on getting her reply so quickly. They must be doing something in their room, or else she would be busy. ahaha, I can see you on that. How'd it go?
I laugh and so does Sidney, reading over my shoulder. Scary. I wiped out a zillion times.
Sidney laughs even more. Right now I'm feeling it though. I can feel bruises developing on my shoulder and on my thighs.
Ruthanne's reply says. even better. see you at dinner. We're gonna go on a walk.
seeya. I type and turn back to Sidney.
"What's Max doing?" I ask him, curious as to why he's on the boat alone, with a suite all to himself.
"I don't know." Sidney says, averting his eyes from mine. "Probably trying to hook up or just enjoying the alcohol. He's been in a crappy mood lately." He says. I press my lips, nervous. I can't help but think I'm the reason why Max is so upset.
"Oh." I say, "Well, we should invite him to do stuff with us, get his spirits up." I say, even though I really don't mean it. I don't want him around really, well I do, I like him a lot, but I always feel bad around him. Especially when Sidney's acting romantic.
Sidney shrugs, "he probably wants time to himself. It's not often we get to escape the team you know."
I laugh and hug him. "yeah." I say, still feeling bad.
Sidney wraps his arms around me. "he'll be ok." He says, looking me in the eye.
I feel bad for Sidney's obliviousness. He's totally got the wrong idea, but, I play along. I yawn quietly, laying my head on his arm.
"I'm gonna take a nap. If you don't mind." I say.
"Go right ahead. I'll join you, even." Sidney says, laying down behind me on the couch in a more comfortable position.
"Remember, we have dinner with Kris and Ruthanne tonight, we can't sleep through that." I say yawning again. I didn't realize I was this tired. My eyes close and I'm asleep almost instantly.

Chapter 21

2009-09-05T06:49:00.000-07:00

Caitlin's Point Of View ;)

I wake up in Sidney's arms happy. He's not even awake yet. He's got a Penguins alarm clock sitting on his nightstand and I twist awkwardly trying to read it. 5:45? Ahhhh, how will I ever get out of school mode? I snuggle back into Sidney and it wakes him up. "huh?" He asks. I just ignore him and lay my head on his hard chest to get comfy. I quickly fall back asleep, his warmth comforting, the weight of his arms keeping me from getting up. It probably hasn't even been half an hour when the alarm clock blares.
Sidney groans and tries to roll over, then remembers that I'm there and he smiles. "How'd you sleep?" He asks, tucking a strand of my tangled hair behind my ear.
"Wonderfully." I say, smiling back.
He kisses me briefly then says, "we gotta get movin'" I go into the bathroom and pull on something cute and comfy. It's no fun when you're on a plane and you're not comfy. I pull a brush trough my hair and add just a little eyeliner to my look. I come out in like 3 minutes.
"ohhhkey dokey" I say, just happy to be with him from the minute I woke up. He grabs both of his bags and one of mine. "You don't have to carry mine." I tell him.
"No problem, you just get the other one." I grab my lightest bag and sigh. He's always making my life easier. I follow him downstairs and into the like, entrance hallway thing and he put our bags there. Then, he leads me to the kitchen, "Pop Tart or Toaster Strudel?" He asks me.
"Toaster Strudel." I say, and he throws them in, then walks over to me.
"You all ready?" He asks.
"Yep." I say. He leans down to kiss me, his arms around my waist, my arms around his neck, when Mario's daughter Stephenie walks in. "umm," we both say awkwardly, and let go. "Toaster Strudels are ready!" I desperately try to cover, running to the toaster. Sidney laughs at me and walks over.
"are they?" He asks, laughing.
"I thought I heard your toaster pop!" I say, mock glaring at him. We both laugh at each other and we both jump when the toaster does pop. Sidney grabs them out too quickly and gets burnt. The toaster strudel goes flying across the counter. All the while, Stephenie's standing in the doorway laughing at us. By now, Lauren has joined her and they're both laughing at us. Sidney retrieves the breakfast and we eat in silence, just trying to get our butts in gear so we can get out of here.
"That was swift." I say.
"Yeah," he agrees. "Mario's gonna hear all about that one." He laughs halfheartedly.
I just hug him, "It was cute." I say, smiling up at him. He finally smiles back, and this time it reaches his eyes. We throw the bags in the back of his Range Rover and get going.
"We're picking Ruthanne and Kris and Max up AND Jordy I guess," he says, looking at his phone. My heart kinda stops when he says Max. I'm always having a great time with Sidney and somehow Max gets brought up. "They don't want to go through a hassle trying to find us at the airport."
"Ok." I say, happy. "Are they together?" I ask.
"Yeah, Ruthanne went to Kris's a little bit ago and I guess that's where everyone else is right now too." I glance at the clock on his dashboard. It's like 7:00. They must have woken up really early. We pick them up and make it to the airport, all in good time. Traffic isn't bad on Saturday mornings.
Sidney leaves the Range Rover with Jordan and the rest of us grab out bags. I don't know why Max is here, but I figure he's going on the cruise with us. We go through all the normal airport proceedings and finally make it onto the plane. I traded seats with some lady (after some hassle) so that I could sit by Sidney. Ruthanne and Kris are directly in front of us and Max is somewhere here. He got on right before me, but I didn't pay attention to where he sat.

I slept for some of the plane ride with my head on Sidney's shoulder. When we land, he wakes me up. "Sorry." I say.
"It's ok. " He replies, putting the magazine he was reading back into his bag. We get all our stuff together, luggage etc. and then go outside to hail a taxi.
That takes us to where we need to be and the cruise ship is loading when we get there. "Perfect timing, eh?" Sidney says, gazing down at me and walking around to the cab's trunk. I'm still waking up, so I just nod. We grab all our bags and stand on the curb for a moment
Ruthanne and Kris are over there doing their little lovebird thing. Holding hands and swinging them back and forth, laughing and fooling around. They're great couple. I'm glad they met. Well, not as glad as I am for Sidney. "Get your bags!" Sidney says to them, nodding to our impatient cabby who obviously does not know who we are. That or he just doesn't care. But, I'd be willing to bet he doesn't know us. ;)
They check our luggage, making me pull out every tiny perfume bottle I had which, I had a few. When everything was finally deemed legit, for all of us to get on the boat, it took over an hour. I would hate this job, I decided after no more than 15 minutes of standing there and watching them do everything. Our suites are side by side with a door in between since we booked together. Ours 158 and theirs 157. Max is in his own private room somewhere on another deck. Sidney and I walk in and plop on our bed. "Finally," I sigh, rolling over to face him.
He kisses me, "it'll all be worthwhile soon." He says, kissing me again. I smile, liking what he has to say.
"It better be," I say, rolling over on top of him. There's a knock at our door. "Ughhhh," I groan, "you get it." I roll back over. He gets up to answer the door.
It's Ruthanne, of course, with Kris right beside her. "You guys wanna go find something to eat?" He asks. "I gotta get Max though," he says, pulling out his cell.
"The ship hasn't even left port." I say, looking around nervously, hoping nobody noticed my little jump at Max's name. I need to stop being so...scared of him.
"So? We can still look around!!!!" Ruthanne says, absolutely beaming. I groan and look at myself. I look hideous and scraggly after all the hub-bub and my last few happy moments in the bedroom.
"Fine.. just, let me get ready or something." I try to run a hand through my hair, getting it stuck and hurting myself. They turn around and go back to their suite to wait for us. I run back to my suitcase to get a brush and some eyeliner and something to replace my sweaty clothes. It's the least I could do to spare everyone the gastly sight. Sidney sits on the bed patiently, well, as patiently as he can. I finish and turn around, coming out of the small bathroom. "How's this?" I twirl in front of him in my new short sundress.
He nods, approving, wrapping his arms around me. "beautiful." He says, kissing my neck. He leads me out and we knock on their door.
"You coming or what!?" I shout through when they don't answer right away.
"Yep!" Ruthanne says, opening the door and surprising me.
"Let's go then." I say, hooking my arm through Sidney's.
He laughs at me, "we have all week you know." He says.
"Yes, but, they want us to go go go, then they take forever!" I say, my fast paced mind kicking in again. We laugh at me and walk around just to explore. That's what we decided to do since Ruthanne and I have no clue how this kind of thing goes. We all kind of just walk aimlessly, looking at things and pointing. There's more and more people being led to their rooms or suites, just like us, so we decide to head up a deck. I notice all sorts of things I want to hit later, after relaxing of course.
After a while, I whine into Sidney's ear. "Let's go back," because people are just walking around aimlessly like us, waiting for the stupid ship to leave port so we don't feel so weird. Ruthanne and Kris are so into their little exploration trip they continue on well after Sidney and I head back to our rooms. Max had disappeared sometime earlier, probably to pick up some alcohol.
"So," he says, "what do you want to do tonight?"He asks.
"Well, as long as I'm with you I don't care..." I trail off. He kisses me lightly.
"Let's hit the casino." He says.
I laugh, "I didn't know you were a gambler!" I say.
"I'm not. But I like to play." He says. We laugh again and lay back on the bed.
"I suppose if we're going to be here for a week, I might as well get moved in, right?" I say, getting up to do so, claiming the top half of the dresser in front of our bed.

Ruthanne's Point Of View ,<3>

Kris and I are having so much fun just walking around, I hardly notice the time til Caitlin texts me. Hey, Let's go eat... why aren't you back by now!?
Kris laughs, looking over my shoulder. I text her back. Ok... just having fun with Kris. Enjoying the ALONE TIME. Kris laughs again and we head back down the 3 levels we had climbed. I glance at the time on my phone. 3:30 almost. Wow, what a long day already.
They're standing at the rail, looking out over the water when we get back. The ship has left by now and they're enjoying watching the land slowly get farther away. And the way they're standing makes them look so cute. I pull my camera out and snap a picture before they can notice us. Kris laughs at me. "Paparazzi much?" He asks, making them look up. Caitlin I think, hear him and gives me a funny look. Sidney just seems to hear Kris's voice. I tuck the camera back into my pocket and walk up to them.
"Ready?" I ask happily.
"Yeah," Caitlin says, "I'm starving."
I know how she gets when she's hungry so I say, "let's go then." And we start walking back towards the dining area Kris and I found. I guess on this particular ship, there's several. A waitress immediately sees us and comes over to get us a drink. Sidney and Caitlin get coke and Kris and I both get iced tea. We chat quietly while we wait for that.
The special today I guess is prime rib, so Kris orders it, Caitlin and I don't like our meat still bloody, so we decide on some nice-- cooked --chicken breast. Sidney, gets some sort of weird soup that he says is really delicious and makes Caitlin try. Judging by her face I don't think she really liked it, but she doesn't tell him that. Max shows up late and gets himself some chocolate milk and roast beef. We all laugh at him for his order even though it's something we'd all love to eat.
Dinner was good and fun, and we ended up with some great pictures of the water and of us. Kind of tired, we all head back to our suites for a little break. Caitlin had filled me in on their plans to hit the casino. I have no clue if I'm even old enough to gamble so I turn to Kris. "You want to go to the casino with Sid and Caitlin tonight?" I ask him slowly, just in case I'm not even allowed in.
"Sure." He says. We sit on the couch in front of our flat screen TV for a little bit, just hanging out for a while. We don't really watch the weird romance movie that's on, instead, talking and kissing and whatnot.
Come 8:00, Caitlin has texted me. Let's go!
I laugh. She's always kind of been a gambler.
Okey dokey! <3 I type back and we meet outside. Sidney leads us up to the casino he somehow noticed. It's supposedly a big attraction, except it has this teeny tiny little sign, and only 2 big doors.
I find out gambling is fun and I beat Kris like a zillion times at Texas Hold 'Em since he insists on spending all his money. I walk out with a few hundred dollars more than I had, which was absolutely none. I'm happy to be a winner. Kris comes out with a pitiful win of $47.
Caitlin and Max won some, not much, and Sidney lost. Everyone makes fun of me for being the big winner.
Exhausted, Kris and I head back to our suite. I look at the time again, 12:30 AM. "We spent that much time there!?" I ask him, surprised.
He looks at the clock himself and laughs, "wow. now I know how so many people lose themselves gambling." I nod and walk over to my suitcase, something I didn't bother to unpack since I got here. I get a cute old pair of sleep pants that I love and a t-shirt which just happens to be a Pittsburgh Penguins one. Kris winks at me as I walk into the bathroom to get ready for bed.
I come out feeling less tired than before, having gotten my shower blow dried my hair and brushed my teeth. Kris pulls back the covers on my side and then takes his turn in the bathroom.
His beautiful thick hair, is still wet when he comes out and I smile at him mischievously. He laughs and climbs into bed beside me. "goodnight, love." He says as we pull our lamp switches simultaneously.

Chapter 20

2009-09-03T14:57:00.000-07:00

Ruthanne's Point Of View <3>

Still on the brink of crying I just ask, "why?"
"because a problem came up where there's not as many rooms on the boat as they thought. Their computer screwed up or something." He pauses to take a breath, "They called us, well, me and Sid since we booked so last minute, offering to let us get on another cruise, another time. But, we knew you guys were looking forward to it, kinda like a graduation gift, so we said we'd take it up with you. What do you think?"
"Oh.." I sigh, a great feeling of relief washing over me. I lay my head on his shoulder and lean against the window, pulling my feet up onto my window seat.
"What?" He looks down at me, "you seem relieved, almost."
"I ammmm." I say, looking back up at him. "Brittny sent me a text." I reach over to get my phone up off my bed to show him the text.
From: Unknown Number
You know that cruise? Forget it. You're not going, and neither is Caitlin. ~♥Britt
"Ohhhhh." he says, wrapping his arm around me. "No worries. She's got nothing. As far as we know." He kisses the top of my head, "it's ok." He continues to comfort me.
"Thanks Kris." I say, right before kissing him "for everything."
"you're welcome." He says, kissing me back. I smile. "what?"
"Sorry. I just thought this was funny, cause it's just like a scene out of a movie or something." I laugh.
Kris laughs too, "It is!" He says.
"My mom's calling. Let's go meet my family!" I roll my eyes, showing him that I'm a lot less enthusiastic than I seem. He laughs at me and follows me downstairs.
"I already kinda met your dad," he says, following me into the kitchen.
"well, not my mom!" I say, sitting down at the counter on one of our spinny chairs. He does the same, sitting beside me.
"You must be Kris," my mom says, extending her hand, then taking it back to wash it first because she noticed how disgusting it was. She's always cooking. She comes back to shake Kris's hand and they exchange an easy laugh.
"What's for dinner?" I ask her. I usually know ahead of time, but since Kris came along, I haven't been home much.
"um, I'm making chicken fajitas and we're having tostitos and salsa. I made a jar for you to take to Caitlin." (Ruthanne's mom's salsa... deeeeelish! :) )She says, pointing at it on the counter.
"tomorrow."
"Last day!" She says, smiling. "are you ready for it to end?" She asks.
I nod, even though I'm not. I might try to act tough but I'm gonna miss everyone. Kris somehow knows how I feel and lays a hand on my leg.
"So how'd you guys meet?" My mom asks.
"Internet," I joke.
"Caitlin" Kris, doesn't.
My mom laughs, "it figures. That girl got you soooo obsessed." My mom says, rolling her eyes. I blush.
"We're fans, what can we say?" I say sheepishly, holding my hands up in defense.
"My biggest fan," Kris says, putting an arm around me. My mom smiles, even though she wishes we'd save it for another time, when she's not around.
"your dad's gonna be back in a minute." She warns me, he's not as tolerant of this kind of cuddly behavior. Oh well.
I nod, "we're heading back up, call us down when it's ready." I say. She just says Ok as we walk up the stairs an my dog Turk barks at us. "Don't mind him. Really, he's just a big baby." I say to Kris.
He laughs, "good to know."

Caitlin's Point Of View ;)

"you ok?" Sidney asks me over the phone. "you sound upset."
"Yeah, it's all good." I say, not quite telling the truth. "You coming to graduation tomorrow?" I ask him.
"Of courssse." He says, "I wouldn't miss it for the world." I smile, that means a lot. "Guess what the day after tomorrow is!?" He says loudly. I cringe, his voice hurting my ears.
"Cruissssssse." I say happily.
"You sure you want to go then?" He asks.
"Yeah, why?" I ask him, confused. Painting my nails while on the phone has been a habit of mine since I was in the 6th grade. Everyone always wondered how I took the time to do that. I'm just a highly social girl, really.
"Oh, cause we can go another time, the cruise company messed up and it's gonna be realllly crowded."
"Oh?" I ask. "well I'm sure we'll be spending more time in our room than anything," I say suggestively.
"yeah, and we're first class. Best on the ship." He brags.
"Only you," I say back.
We laugh and then he says, "well, I gotta go, dinner."
I laugh at him again and then say, "ok. seeya."
"Love you," he says, then hangs up. I don't know if I can say it back anyways, I'm glad he hung up for once. I lay on my bed, bored. My mom eventually calls me down.
"Roast beef!" I yell, smelling it. I yell it more because it's funny than because I'm excited to eat it.
My mom laughs and asks, "are you enjoying your new laptop?"
I laugh at her, "what do you think? Of course I am!"
"Of course you are." She says, stirring whatever's all in the crock pot. When I was little and she made this I was afraid to eat it because I thought it was witch's brew.
"Witch's Brew. Yum." I say, leaning over to smell it.
"you remember that?" She looks at me funny.
"Yeah!" I say, "I wouldn't eat this if you paid me back then." We laugh.
"Well, it's almost done." She says.
"Awesome." I say.
"Well you're in a good mood." She notices.
"I have no clue why. I think I'm more hyper than anything else." We laugh again. My mom and I always have a good time at dinner. My dad's usually home by now, but I don't see him around. "Dad home?"
"Yeah." She says, "he's doing something or other in the living room." She explains his absence in the kitchen. He's always bugging to taste it and she has to enlist my help to fight him off. "So. You ready?" She asks me.
"No." I say, already knowing what she means. About being done with high school and going on to that apartment and college. Of course I'm excited for what's to come, but I'm scared too. How am I going to survive on my own? Of course, I won't be alone, I'll have Ruthanne, but I'm not sure how much of each other we'll be able to stand when we live together.
"You'll get through it." She says.
"yeah." I say, "it's just a little scary. thanks, by the way, for helping with rent." I say, turning to hug her. "That is a huge huge huge help."
"I know. You gotta thank your dad too. I had to talk him into it." We laugh, both knowing how stingy my dad can be when it comes to stuff like this. Helping me, in other words. He wants me to do most things on my own, to learn.
The roast beef was delicious and I disappear back up to my room to watch TV. I check my phone. 2 texts. The same one Ruthanne showed me and then one from Sidney
What time is your graduation? <3
I tap in a reply 4:00 tomorrow after school. They're excited to get rid of us. ;) <3
I lay on my bed and eventually fall asleep. I wake up scared. Glancing at my clock it's 2:45. I had fallen asleep in my jeans and Penguins t-shirt probably somewhere around 11:00. Hair still in a pony tail, I stumble into the bathroom to brush my teeth and get into some comfier clothes, grumbling the whole time. I get back in bed and can't fall asleep. All I can think about is how Sidney's going to get mobbed at my graduation. Maybe I should text him and tell him not to come.
When I wake up at 6:15 it comes all too soon. I brush my hair quickly and then curl it a little bit to give it more volume. I sigh, grabbing my bag again even though I don't need it. I grab the garment bag that holds my graduation cap and gown and make my way to my car without breakfast. Sitting in my car I check my phone. One from Sidney again.
ok, can't wait to be there! <3 I remember what took me so long to fall asleep last night and reply to it. maybe you shouldn't come, you're gonna get mobbed and no one will care about graduation. My mom will have it on tape? :( <3 I drive to school, still drowsy from the lack of sleep. My caffeine mints will kick in soon and it won't be a problem, til later that is. I guess the plan is for me to stay at Mario's with Sidney tonight so we can get an early start. We discussed it during our hour and a half conversation last night. I'm officially free after tonight. Well, in my mind I am. I'm sure my parents will have a hard time not bossing me around for a while. I get to school and check my phone again, just in case Sidney's up at this hour. I guess he is, cause I've got a text. No! I'm coming. I might wear a hat and sunglasses, but I'm going! Love you <3
I smile, he won't let mobs of people stop him from watching my graduation. Thanks. :D <3

~ *~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Graduation. We're sitting in these hard chairs, sweating in the gym, waiting for the principal to get done with his speech. I keep glancing at the crowd, looking for Sidney. His hat and sunglasses idea was mimicked by just about everyone in the place so I'm having a hard time. Then I see the Stanley Cup Champions shirt and the defined muscles. I smile and wave, just a little. He smiles back. The girl next to me leans over, "Is that Sidney Crosby?" She asks in a whisper.
I'm hesitant to answer her truthfully. But I do. I just nod then say "Shh." She nods too, understanding.
The cameras are always flashing and I'm getting dizzy in the line to receive my diploma. I smile for the camera when I take it. There are more WHOOS! for me and Ruthanne than I would have imagined, all coming from the row Sidney's in, Max, Kris and Jordan with him, which makes me turn beat red. I retake my seat and the girl next to me says, "Whoa, Sidney, Jordan, Kris AND Max?"
I laugh nervously and say, "yeah," She gapes at me and turns back to look at them.
"You are one lucky girl."
"tell me." I say.
My parents and Sidney(and gang) are there to greet us when Ruthanne and I break off from the crowd. I get a hug from everyone and all the guys hand us each one rose while my parents give me a whole bouquet. "Where are we going for dinner?" My mom asks. "Your choice, love." She puts her hand on my back, above Sidney's
"uhhhh.. Let's get Mexican." I say, not caring where we go. Those authentic Mexican restaurants are always good. The guys all smile, excited and my mom and dad nod.
"Us too." Ruthanne looks at her parents. They smile, but it never meets their eyes. I don't think they expected this many people.
I sit between Sidney and Max, which makes things awkward for me at least. Sidney's absolutely oblivious and Max is kinda acting like nothing ever happened, except he flirts a little here and there. My parents sit across from me and by Jordan and Kris who's by Ruthanne. She's by her parents. All of the parents obviously hadn't expected such a crowd for my graduation dinner so they're a little flustered as we laugh and joke around.
After the dinner I go home to change and grab my suitcase. "I feel so weird leaving so earlyyy." I whine to my mom, giving her a hug before leaving with Sidney.
"It's ok." She says, hugging me again, her eyes welling up. She's trying to hold it together long enough for us to leave so I nod and step out the door.
"that was fun." I say to Sidney, squeezing his hand.
"Yeah it was. Just wait for tomorrow. It's gonna suck." he says.
"Why?" I look at him. I mean, we're going on a cruise, how bad could it be?
"Eh, the first day, people always go exploring. It gets less crowded as the week goes on. More people figure out what they want to do." He explains. "That and getting on the ships a huge hassle."
"Ohhh." I say, getting it now. We walk into Mario's and he leads me upstairs.
"Are you sleeping in here? Or would you prefer your own room?" He stops, setting down my bags for a moment. His eyes make it impossible to say no to such an invitation.
"Here's fine," I say, smiling. He opens the door and I follow him in. He lays my suitcases by his and points to the bathroom.
"You can get ready for bed in there. We've got a big day tomorrow" He sighs, laying back on his bed. I dig through my suitcase for a pair of shorts and a comfy tank, coming out with some. I go to the bathroom and brush my teeth, hair, and then I change. I come back out and lay with Sidney on his bed. He's changed into nothing but his boxers, classic plaid, of course. He rolls over and kisses me. "Night. I love you." He says, pulling the covers up.

Chapter 19

2009-08-31T08:52:00.000-07:00

Caitlin's Point of View ;)

Sidney drove me home somewhere around 11:30 last night. My mom was still up, reading a magazine in her chair. But, she didn't care that I was out late. I just went straight to bed, tired from my long day. Just 2 more days, I tell myself before I go to sleep. I woke up at like 3:30 because I forgot to tell my mom about the cruise. And, I need to get packing. It takes a while for me to fall back asleep, still worried about that. But I finally do. And I dream about a cruise, which is weird. My dreams usually have nothing to do with what I was thinking of before I fell asleep.

When I'm finally fully awake I run to the shower, feeling dirty. After that I straighten my hair. It's usually a little wavy, but I'm tired of that. Then I run downstairs to find my mom. "Mom!" I gasp, out of breath, just catching her at the door.
"What?" She looks at me funny. I don't usually talk to her in the mornings.
"I forgot to tell you last night. Sidney's taking me and Ruthanne on a cruise starting uh, day after school get's out, or Friday, in other words." I say, trying to get it all out quickly.
"Oh really? That's nice. I'm glad for you." She says the opposite of what I expect, all the time. Wow, she's happy for me!?
"Thanks mom." I run up to her and give her a hug. "You're the best."
"Welcome sweetie. Now go get ready for school!" She closes the door behind her and I run back upstairs to get a cute outfit. I want to look nice today, since I'm so happy. I wear a yellow and black buffalo plaid shirt over a white tank and a pair of purple skinny jeans. I lay on some thick black eyeliner and run downstairs to get my black and white houndstooth flats. I pose in front of my mirror, then grab my bag and run out the door.

Ruthanne's Point Of View <3>

Last night with Kris was unbelievable. I was really sad to go home, but, I text him as soon as I wake up. I had fun last night. Miss you. <3Getting ready for school is a drag, all I can think about is how I'm going to waste my whole day there instead of with Kris. Maybe Caitlin will be in a good mood and make me laugh. I sigh and duck into my car, on my way to school. I get there and park by Caitlin, which is weird. We never get a spot next to each other. She's in her car playing with her phone. Her long dirty blonde hair is covering her face, but it's straightened, so I can tell she's happy today. I smile, glad she's in a good mood, then hop out of my car and knock on her window.
"Hey!" I hear her shout happily from inside. She gets out and puts her phone in her pocket. "What's up? Where'd you and Kris go last night, huh?" She pokes my arm playfully. I flinch slightly. At least she didn't flick me.
"um." I say shyly, not really wanting to give details. "To this park with an amazing view!" I gush, I can't help it. It was amazing. "You could see the whole city and you could actually see the stars!" I say. It's unusual, since all the city lights usually drown out the stars.
"Wow." I say. "Sid and I just hung out, talking to everyone. Have you met Veronique?" She asks starting toward the school.
"Yeah. She's cool." I say distracted since Caitlin got me going on Kris and the amazing time we had last night. I notice Brittny hanging out by the doors, watching us and I steer Caitlin toward the front entrance.
"What?" She asks, trying to go back the way we usually go in. Then she notices Brittny and just acts like nothing happened. "Oh god." She sighs.
"Just act like you couldn't care less." I tell her.

At the end of the day I finally break free from my heartbroken friends. They're so concerned about staying in touch. Standing by my car, I check my texts. 4 of them, the phone reads.
From: Kris
Glad you had a good time. <3>From: Kris
You busy tonight? I want to see you again!
I type in a quick reply. Just packing for that cruise! You should come over.
I open the 3rd one.
From: Unknown Number
You and Caitlin are going down! HARD.~♥Britt
I gasp when I read it and stand up straight. Caitlin's in her car, shifting into reverse. I knock on her window. "DID YOU GET THIS TEXT!?" I yell from outside holding my phone up so she can read it. She leans over the console to get a better look, then rolls down the window.
"Are you scared of that?" She looks at me like I'm crazy.
"Yeah, a little. I mean, I didn't even know she had my number!" I say, still worried about it.
"Ok. we have one day left of school. then we're graduating. The next day, we're going on a cruise. There's no way she can do anything to us." Caitlin says. And it makes sense, I Nod.
"We should help each other pack tonight." I say.
"Sure. That sounds like fun. Who's house first?" She asks.
"Um. Yours." I say, "I'm gonna invite Kris over for dinner." I explain. "I'll run home and get my bags in case I want to steal some clothes!"
"You could always just steal them on the cruise. I'm sure we're gonna be together a lot." She says.
"Yeah, nevermind." I turn around and open my car door. "I'm headed straight to your house then!" I say before closing my door. I open the last text.
From: Unknown Number
You know that cruise? Forget it. You're not going, and neither is Caitlin. ~♥Britt
This one really scares me. How did she find out about it? How would she stop us? Maybe she's just trying to scare me. I don't care what she's trying to do. I'm going and I'm going to have fun.
I forward the text to Caitlin Sidney and Kris... with a message saying, Wtf?
I drive to Caitlin's quickly, not wanting to waste anymore time thinking about it. I get there right after her and we run up to her room to pack.
"How long is the cruise?" I ask her.
"A week." She says, "Sidney texted me." She throws her cell onto her bed and pulls her suitcase out from under the bed.
"Take all your bikinis!" I say, "Sidney will lovvve that."
"Oh yeah!" She says, opening the top drawer of her dresser and pulling out 3 super cute bikinis. She throws them into her bag and moves on to the next thing. Clothes. She basically grabs everything out of her closet, wanting options. Good, she'll be able to share, I think.
When she's finally finished packing outfits--essentials she'll pack later-- we head over to my house to help me pack.
I pack all of my bathing suits as well. And then most of my clothes. Just the cool ones though. I have way too many long sleeved shirts I discovered when I started packing. "I hope Kris can come over..." I whine, looking at the clock, it's 5:30. I check my phone. Caitlin rolls her eyes, but I do have a text from Kris
From: Kris
What time?
"He's coming!!!" I squeal.
Caitlin flinches. "ok ok." She says, leaning backwards. We laugh and I text him back. NOW <3 I haven't just hung out with Caitlin since before her surprise party. We have fun talking about Kris and Sidney. But not like we used to. We used to dream about being their girlfriends. Kris shows up, ringing the doorbell even though I see him pull in from my window. I run downstairs squealing to get the door before my Dad does.
"What's your problem?" He says when I push by him. I ignore him and open the door. Kris hugs me and steps in awkwardly.
"Dad, this is Kris. Kris, my Dad." I acquaint them, then go back up to my room where Caitlin still is, looking at one of my magazines.
"Hey," Kris says to Caitlin, surprised to see her there.
"Hi," she says, and goes straight back to her magazine. "Hey Ruthanne. I'm gonna head back home for dinner." She says, getting up.
"Ok. Well, seeya tomorrow. LAST DAY!" I say, getting up and doing a little dance. Kris laughs at me, and I just smile. I'm so happy when I'm around him. Caitlin leaves the room to go home and I turn to Kris. "I'm almost all packed!" I say.
"About that..." he starts. My mind immediately remembers the text.
"huh?" I say, hoping for the best, expecting the worst.
"There could be some... um, well..." my eyes start to tear up. "we might not be going."

Chapter 18

2009-08-26T10:08:00.000-07:00

Caitlin's Point Of View ;)

I was just a little embarrassed when Ruthanne sent me that picture. It was hilarious though. Gotta love Ruthanne. The credits are rolling when I come out of the bathroom.
"Spend the night with me." Sidney says as I sit down.
"Come on you know I can't do that." I say, knowing he doesn't know and I don't know either. So why am I saying it?
"Why not?" He pleads with me, playing with my hair.
"I have 2 more days of school, then I'm allll yours for that cruise." I say, as he continues to play with my hair. It's a comforting feeling, his hand in my hair.
"Fine." He pouts.
"And after I'm settled in my apartment," I say, "I'll stay over as much as you want." I say. He smiles back. Even though the movie is over everyone's still sitting around in here and talking. Sidney stands up.
"It's like 8:30, when do you need to be home." He says, walking back to the bar to grab some more water.
"How long do you want me to stay?" I ask him. Sometimes I feel like he's in a rush to get rid of me. But that's my insecurity speaking.
"Alll night long." Kris says, walking behind the bar to help himself to a Coke. Everyone's at the bar by then and they're all laughing at Kris. Except Max. He's sitting on a stool at the end of the line and just playing with his bottle cap, looking lonely. I can't help but feel bad for him overhearing that conversation.
Ruthanne nudges me, yanking her head toward Max, her brown hair flopping against her face. I sigh and look down. She just looks at me, "it'll all work out. No worries." I glance up to see where Sidney is. He's poking his head in the fridge, looking for something, even though he handed me my water a few seconds ago.
"It might all work out but that won't stop me from feeling guilty." I say. She knows what I mean and nods. Wait, how does she know what I mean? I don't remember filling her in. Kris must know something. Oh well. I plan on having fun for the rest of the night instead of worrying like a usually do.
Bored after another couple minutes, Sidney's still preparing something on the counter behind the fridge, I go sit by Max, since Ruthanne left me for Kris. "Hey," I say cheerfully.
"What's up?" He says back, still looking pretty sad.
"Nothing really. Only 2 more days of high school! You?" I say, still trying to sound happy even though he's making me feel really depressed.
"Ahh, nothing." He says.
"Oh come on Max. What's wrong?" I punch him in the shoulder playfully, my eyes betraying my behavior. He knows it so he replies truthfully.
"I saw you and Sidney earlier and I can't help but think I'll never get a chance with you." He says so that only I can hear. I look down, not wanting to discuss this.
"Max," I say, barely above a whisper. "You know it's complicated."
"Yeah," he says sadly. "Here come's Sid." He looks up and smiles. I do the same. Sidney's bringing over a Coke and a sandwich for each of us.
"Peanut butter and jelly?" He asks, holding it out. I'm a little surprised that that's what he wants to give me, but, it's one of my favorites so I take one.
"Thanks." I say, taking my first bite.
"Welcome," he says, kissing me on the cheek, right in front of Max. I pull away just a little bit. I like Sidney, but I know how Max feels and I don't want to make it any worse.
Max stands up. "You know Sid, I think I'm gonna get heading," he says.
"Ok. Seeya Max."He says, looking over his shoulder. Max's hand brushes mine as he walks past and I look up to say goodbye.
"Seeya." I say. He nods to me and I look down again, before taking another bite of PB&J. "This is good Sidney." I say, holding up my sandwich. His is already half gone.
"Thanks," he says, his mouth still full. I laugh at him trying to talk with the peanut butter stuck to his teeth and whatnot. It might be disgusting, but Sidney's awkward moments are adorable.
"So. Are you going to introduce me to anyone?" I ask him.
"Sure. I'm still not sure who Eric's with but I can show you everyone else." He says standing up and walking toward Marc Andre Fleury, whose voice I've never gotten quite used to.
"Hey Sid! What's up?" He says, looking at me. I stand with my hand in Sidney's awkwardly, waiting to be introduced.
"This is Caitlin," he says, holding up my hand a little. I shake Marc's hand and he turns toward the girl next to him.
"This is Veronique," he says. She looks at me kindly and smiles. I smile back, knowing she'll be someone I can talk to while the guys are doing their thing. Sidney can only stop playing around with the guys for so long. And I can only be the shy new girlfriend for so long.
He leads me to the next person after a short conversation. Geno, this time. "Hey Geno," I say. "Hi Caitlin," He says back, his accent making my name sound funny. Sidney just stands back. "This is Laura," he says and I finally realize why I felt like I knew her. She graduated high school, but, we haven't talked since then.
"Hey!" I say, "long time no see!" Her eyes light up when she realizes who I am.
"Hey!" She says, standing up to hug me. Sidney and Geno just look at us like we're crazy. But, we're girls, even if we didn't really know each other know each other we'd do this.
"So. Seeya later," I say, "I'm getting the full introduction thing. Then maybe a tour of this crazy house." I suggest to Sidney. He shrugs. I'm sure he doesn't want to do it, so I just shrug too, walking away.
He leads me to Jordan who's got his arm wrapped around a pretty brunette. "Caitlin!" He says.
"Jordan!" I say awkwardly. It's not like we ever talked or he has any reason to be excited to see me.
"This is Tess," he says, pointing at his girlfriend. She smiles.
"Hey," we both say, both laughing when we said it at the same time. Sidney's oddly quiet when I look up at him.
"You want that tour?" He asks.
"Nah, that's ok." I say. "Let's just hang."

Ruthanne's Point of View <3

Kris and I just hang out with the bar with all the other couples. I've actually gotten introduced to a couple of people and we're having a good time just hanging out. My friend Laura who graduated last year is here with Geno, so we've been talking. We stayed in touch after she graduated, but, you know how life is. So, we're having fun catching up.
Kris buries his face in my hair. "Let's go somewhere." He says into my ear.
Feeling spontaneous I say, "OK!" And stand up, saying goodbye to Laura. It takes another few minutes to escape, but we finally make it out of there. "Where we going?" I ask, skipping along beside him.
"I don't know," he says, "I thought I'd take you where Max takes all his girls." We laugh then he continues. "But seriously. The view's awesome from up there. Especially at night."
"Ok." I say, not caring where we go as long as I'm with Kris.
We drive for a while just chattering about random things on our mind, which is mostly Caitlin's relationship status.
"You know what?" I say.
"What?" He says.
"We talk about them way too much."
"We do. Why?" He says, laughing.
"I have no clue, but she'd better get things figured out. I talked to her today about it and she's still confused, I can tell." Kris smiles, his face going tight.
"Max is messed up over it. I've never seen him get this upset over someone."
"Yeah?" I say, concerned.
"Yeah. I just hope everything works out well. No drama, in other words."
I kinda laugh at him but reply with a quiet "Yeah," not sure if it can work out without drama.
He pulls in to a nice park with a big hill to the right. "Are we climbing that?" I point at it.
"Yeah?" He says as if it's a no brainer. The hill is huge, intimidating. What if I can't make it up it? Kris would carry me, right? Oh well, I have to try.
We walk up and he covers my eyes with his hands so I can't see. When we get to the top he takes his hands off. "Look," he says.
I gasp in delight. "it's so pretty!" I say, looking at the stars above the smog above the city that's lighted up for the night."
"I know," he says, pulling me into him for a kiss.
"Thanks Kris." I say before kissing him. We sit down on the dewy grass, getting my butt wet. I lean on Kris, not caring about my pants.
We look at the city and the scene for a while before he says, "I better take you home."
"Awww," I say, not wanting to go home.
"You could always come home with me." I reluctantly say no, knowing better. I don't think Kris would try to take advantage of me or anything. Not at all, but, my parents would be pissed and I've got school. "I wish I could." I say, stumbling down the hill while he basically holds me up the whole way down.
"I do too." He says. We get in the car for him to drive me home as much as we both don't want to.

Chapter 17

2009-08-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

Caitlin's Point Of View ;)

We head into Mario's house holding hands. I smile at Sidney, "you're the best you know." I say when he opens the door for me.
"I know." He says, teasing me and dragging me through the door. We laugh and he leads me to where all the guys are in the living room. Jordan, Max, Geno, Eric Godard and Marc Andre are all sitting on various couches accompanied by several different girls. I don't recognize any of them, so I just follow Sidney to an empty seat and sit by him. I glance at Ruthanne and Kris, who are sitting across the room. Ruthanne is smiling, obviously in heaven. Kris is whispering something in her ear as she sits on his lap. She said we were cute? They're adorable.
I immediately find out where Max is sitting. He's alone--well,without a girl--and joking around with Geno. I notice Max looking at me. I try to avoid his gaze, but he's intent on getting my attention. I finally look at him and he smiles at me. I just smile back, kind of half-heartedly. Sidney doesn't notice our little exchange because he's saying something to Kris. I lean my head on his shoulder, tired. He looks at me and smiles. "You ready for that surprise?" My face lights up.
"Sure." I say as we stand up. Kris and Ruthanne get up too. Sidney drags me through the house and I'm sure I wouldn't be able to find my way back to where everybody was. He finally stops in a bright room. He and Kris stand next to each other. Ruthanne looks at me nervously. I'm sure I look the same way.
"So." Sidney says.
"So." Kris says.
"So Ruthanne and I say.
Sidney laughs awkwardly. We laugh too. "We're gonna take you guys on a cruise." Ruthanne and I both squeal. He waits for us to finish, "We're headed out the day after you guys get out of school."
"Oh." Ruthanne and I both say, knowing we had plans. We look at each other. "We can do it when we get back..." I say.
"What?" Kris says, grabbing Ruthanne's hand.
"We were just planning on moving stuff into our apartment the day after school. It's no big deal." Ruthanne says smiling. I hug Sidney tightly and take a deep breath with my head in his shoulder.
"You're the best." I say to him again, looking up, my arms around his neck.
"Thanks." He says, closing the distance between my lips and his. Ruthanne and Kris weren't doing anything so intimate so when I open my eyes there they are standing awkwardly and trying not to watch. We all head back to where the guys are hanging out and sit back down on our sofas, trying not to smile. The guys just look at us and laugh, having already known the surprise and gotten the same reaction from their girlfriends earlier. They helped think it up, and several of them were coming too.

Ruthanne's Point Of View <3>

I can't believe they're taking us on a cruise. Kris immediately told me to leave my wallet at home, that I'm not allowed to spend any money there. I sigh, absolutely hating that he wants to buy everything but complying just because. I glance over at Caitlin, watching her lean on Sidney dependently, stealing glances at Max who, I notice is doing the same thing. I point it out to Kris and he laughs. "I told you." He says.
"God, why does she get herself into these situations?" I ask him.
"She's likable." He says, tucking a piece of stray hair behind my ear. "Max will get over it, or not, in which case there could be some problems." He says.
"Yeah," I say, "I hope nothing becomes of it."
"Me too. Sidney trusts us, so it's just up to Caitlin. And Max, to mind his own business." Kris says. wrapping his arm around my waist and making things way more comfortable. "I think everything will be ok." He reassures me, knowing that I worry about my friend a lot.
"So..." I say. "Who is everyone here?" I subtly motion towards the girls who are chatting quietly. For the first time I notice that the whole room is quiet. Not like at Max's when they were playing that shoot 'em up game, that was loud compared to this.
Kris looks at me funny. "I'm sure you know the guys." He says. I nod, waiting for him to get on with it. "The girl sitting with Geno is Laura. I think she goes to your school." I look at her, recognizing her face but I never really got to know her so I don't really care. "Jordan's with Amy." I nod. "Eric's with a different girl every day, so who knows who this one is." He laughs. I just nod.
"Thanks." I say. I can't stand it when I don't at least know someone's name to put to their face. I wonder why nobody's really socializing or having fun. I mean, we're at Mario's, there's always something to do. Sidney stands up leaving Caitlin in her seat.
"You guys want to go downstairs? Watch a movie?" He says, feeling it to. At least when we're watching a movie, it's ok to be abnormally quiet. The guys kinda grumble, having seen like everything, but the girls are all for it so we all head downstairs. I sit by Kris and Caitlin, who sits by Sidney when he comes in with 2 glasses of water for them.
"What're we watching," I turn to Sidney.
"I don't know yet." He says, "What do you guys say to, uh I Love You Man?" Everyone just agrees, not wanting to sit here and figure it out. Caitlin was telling me about that movie. She really liked it so it must be good. I lean on Kris, tired now.
"What time is it?" I ask him.
"It's like 6." He says, "parents?" He asks.
"I'm not really worried about them today. I got mad at them last night. But it seems like no matter how many times we have that argument, they still want me home early." I sigh. He kisses the top of my head.
"You're moving out soon, don't worry." He says, arm around me. "When we get back, I'll help you guys move to get it done quicker." He whispers, his lips touching my ear.
"ok." I say happily. He continues to trail his lips down my neck. I smile unwillingly and he feels it. He laughs.
"You're too cute." He says into my ear. My skin gets hot and I know I'm blushing. He kisses me on the cheek. "Be right back, what do you want to drink?"
"Um. Water." I say, smiling up at him. I turn to talk to Caitlin, but she and Sidney are in a pretty intense make out session. "ok then." I turn back around in my seat. I watch the movie just for the heck of it until Kris comes back. It's not like I could concentrate on it, I'm too anxious for Kris to get back. He comes back with a couple bottles of water.
"This movie's hilarious. You seen it?" He asks.
"Nah." I say, I haven't sat down and watched a movie since well, way before I went to Kris's. Life's just been so busy. "Look at them." I laugh, pointing at Caitlin and Sidney who are still all over each other. Kris tries to suppress a laugh, looking at them. They're so awkwardly positioned in their seats and their arms don't look like they should be bending that way.
"Someone should take a picture." Kris says. I laugh and pull out my phone to snap a picture. I'll text it to Caitlin and then delete it. I'd hate for someone to find that on my phone.
To: Caitlin
Subject: Look at you!
att.ahahahahaha.jpg
This is hilarious Caitlin...
I can hear her phone buzzing in her pocket since she's sitting right beside me. They stop for a moment as she pulls it out to see what it was. She opens it, Sidney looking over her shoulder. "Ruth.Anne!" She enunciates each part of my name as though she's angry. Really she can't keep a straight face, laughing her head off at the little prank. Kris and I are mocking them, arms flailing and whatnot. I see Caitlin get up, then run back and ask where the bathroom is, almost going to pee herself. Sidney points her in the right direction as Kris and I laugh hysterically.
The movie's almost done and we can't stop laughing. All the other couples look at us like we're freaks. We are, we know. But we're having fun, so it doesn't matter.
<3

Chapter 16

2009-08-20T23:49:00.000-07:00

Ruthanne's Point Of View <3

I went to sleep in a bad mood last night, but surprisingly I woke up in a good one this morning. My parents and I had gotten into an argument because I asked why I was expected to be home so early. They shot back with a "you're lucky we let you stay out so late!" and so it went, a typical argument between teenager and parents. I am soooo glad I''m almost outta here. Just gotta get all the finishing touches together for that apartment Caitlin and I are gonna rent.
I get ready to go to school happily, even though I'm not a morning person and there's not much to get ready. Walking out to my car I realize I locked my keys inside the house. We don't keep a spare key outside--my mom's too paranoid-- so I'm stuck since I am the only one home at this hour. I dial Caitlin's cell, the first one that comes to mind.
"Hullo?" she says, sounding tired, and like she's driving. I hope she won't mind stopping by to pick me up.
"Caitlin." I say, "I locked my keys in the house, can you pick me up?"
"Sure," she says. I pump my fist in the air, no longer afraid of not making it to school.
"Thank you sooo soo much!" I say happily, "See you in a few." We hang up and I sit down on my little porch to wait. Bored after a couple of minutes, I check to see if I have any texts. It would be strange if I did, I mean, at 7:30 in the morning. And I don't. I sigh, bored, still waiting for Caitlin. She drives fast, but, since everybody and their brother has to get to work or school at 8:00, I'd be surprised if she makes it here in 15 minutes. I wait a little longer and she finally gets here.
"Thanks." I say again.
"noooo problem." She says, grinning. I look at her questioningly. She's had this smile plastered on her face since she pulled up to the curb to get me.
"You seem happy." I say finally, trying to find out what's up.
"Oh..." she says, blushing, embarrassed. "well, I am."
"Come on Caitlin," I say knowing she knows what I want. "Why?"
"Because of last night..." She says, pausing and frustrating me even more. "I had fun with Sidney and then I came home and my dad bought me a new laptop."
"Omigod!" I say smiling. "So I trust things are great between you and Sid again?"
"Oh yeah," she says, "I totally got freaked out over nothing. I was a jealous wreck," she laughs. I laugh along with her, but not because it was funny. I was really concerned when she was acting like that. Good thing it's over cause I don't like the drama.
"So. We need to get this apartment thing on the road. I can't stand my parents much longer." I say to her.
"Yeah yeah," she replies. "All we have to do is move in. My parents took care of rent for a few months as a gift. But they won't let me go til school ends, so I figure the day after we'll start hauling stuff over." She looks at me smiling. I smile, so excited for the freedom to come.
"I can't wait." I say, still grinning ear to ear.
"Me either!" She says. We kinda high five awkwardly in the car, our seatbelts getting in the way and Caitlin focused on driving.

School was a drag. We actually had to sit through the classes and in History I actually had to take the last half of the final. Of course it was easy, but, testing sucks so it put me in a lousy mood. I walk back to Caitlin's Intrigue to wait for her to come out. I'm sure she's still unpacking her locker like she promised she'd do. I check my texts again. 3 from Kris. 1 from Sidney? and another from Molly, a friend of mine and Caitlin's. I open the ones from Kris first.
From: Kris
Hey love, had a great time last night. Missing you already!
From: Kris
When does school end? I can't stand the wait!
I laugh at that one, just imagining his face
From: Kris
Call mee when you get out!!! God today's been long.
I open the other 2 before calling him, figuring a couple more seconds won't kill him.
From: Sidney
Hanging out at Mario's tonight, but I'm sure Kris has already told you! See you there I hope
I wonder briefly why I didn't hear that from Tanger, but then get distracted with the text from Molly.
From: Molly
Can't believe school's almost over. We neeed to stay in touch. I can't live without you! Sooo, want to get together tonight? Shopping? Something? Call me!
I sigh, wanting to hang with Molly, but I've already made the decision to hang with the guys at Mario's tonight. I text her back Sorry, already got plans... maybe another day?
Then, I call Tanger. "Hey!" He says, "I've been waitttinggg for you!" He adds.
"Hey!" I say back, "so glad to be out of there." I groan.
"Rough day?" He asks.
"Not really," I say, "just long." I try not to yawn. Leaning against Caitlin's car and facing the school I see her walk out the back entrance. I nod in acknowledgement and wakl around to my side of the car as she unlocks it.
"So, you coming to Mario's with me tonight?" He asks.
"Of course, but, can you pick me up? I'm kinda locked out of my house til around 6:30ish." I laugh sheepishly.
"Yeah, of course. No problem." He says, "when do you want me?" He asks.
"Well, Caitlin and I are leaving the school right now, so, ASAP if you can, I don't really want to sit around on my porch."
"OK. See you then." We hang up and I turn to Caitlin.
"Tanger," I say apologetically.We hate it when we're driving and our passenger is blabbing on the phone. "Everyone's going to Mario's tonight. You coming?"
"Heck yes," she says, looking happy and kind of sad at the same time. I can't read her expression, so, I just disregard it. She drops me off at home and I sit on the porch watching her drive away.

Cailtin's Point Of View :D

I drive home to get something decent to wear, feeling bad for leaving Ruthanne on her porch all alone. Getting home I remember my laptop and how much I wanted to get it set up. I sigh, knowing it will still be there when I get home. I open my phone as I walk up the stairs to my room. A couple texts from Sidney and that's it.
From: Sidney (3:55 PM)
We're all hanging at Mario's tonight and you better be there! :P
From: Sidney (4:15 PM)
I'll pick you up if you want me to. Just call.
I dial his number immediately, having found my escape. I'm terrible with directions and I can't remember how to get there exactly from the ride with Max. Max, I remember. Oh God he'll be there. I try to breathe, waiting for Sidney to answer his phone. It's not like anything serious happened between Max and I, but, I like him too and it'll be awkward to be around both of them at Mario's tonight. Oh well, I sigh, knowing I want to be there too bad to cancel it. Sidney finally answers. "Hey!" He says, "need a ride?" He says as I pin the phone to my shoulder to open the sliding mirror doors on my closet.
"yeah." I say, a little embarrassed and still trying to get over the fact that they'll both be there.
"Well, I'll come for you right now since Tanger's leaving for Ruthanne. Maybe we'll just go together. I don't know. In any case, see you soon. Love you!"
"See you Sidney," I say, surprised that he said "Love You!" I disconnect the phone and throw it on my bed, still looking for something to wear. I decide on a pair abercrombie shorts that I never wear and a cute white top. Then, I go downstairs and open my laptop. Even in good traffic, they won't be here within a half hour. And even then, he said something about maybe going together to pick Ruthanne and I up. I say, reassuring myself that I would have time to play. Really what I want to do is get everything set up for myself, but, I'm still excited to have my new laptop.
Time flies when you're having fun. I set my background to a Stanley Cup Champs one right before I hear the doorbell. Sidney's here! I jump up and run to the door. "Ready?" He asks.
"Yup." I say, locking the door behind me as I walk out with him to the Range Rover where Kris and Ruthanne are sitting in the back. He opens my door and closes it after I get in, as always and walks over to his side.
We drive back to Marios, me and Sidney talking, Ruthanne and Kris talking. "I'm glad you could come. I have a surprise for you." He says.
"Oh?" I say, surprised, which I guess is a good thing when you're getting a surprise.
"Yup. And you had better like it!" He says.
"I will." I say.
"You don't even know what it is!" Sidney says defensively, almost as if he wants me to not like it.
"Well, if you got it for me, then it's good!" I say back. We laugh and Ruthanne laughs, having heard that conversation from the back seat.
"You two are too cute." She says.

Chapter 15

2009-08-05T19:51:00.000-07:00

My mom calls me down to dinner soon after I plop down on my bed. I skip down the stairs happily, and then realize my mother will ask questions. I walk slowly down the rest of the steps. My mom had prepared cheesburgers and french fries. yum. I fix my plate and sit happily, taking the first bite.
"deeee-lish Mom." I say, taking another bite.
"Thanks." She says and fixes her own. My father must have been working late.
"Dad still at the office?" I ask her.
"No." She says before swallowing the last bite she took. I kind of lean back, disgusted. "He said he had to stop to get something for you."
"Me?" I ask. My dad never gets anything for me. hmmmmm.

Ruthanne's Point Of View <3>

His pouty look disappeared when I kiss him shyly. "Hey." I say. "We'll watch it another time." He kisses me back.
"Ok." He laughs, making me smile. He has such a weird laugh. "What?"
"You have a cute laugh."
"You have a cute smile!" He replies, kissing me again, then standing up. "Let's go for a walk." He says, pulling me up.
"Ok?" I stand up and follow him out the door.
We walk out of the building laughing hysterically. We had passed one of his "Neighbors" in an apartment down the hall. The guy was screaming/singing?, Baby Come Back, the song that's on most of the Swiffer commercials.
"You can blame it all on me!" Kris yells when we get outside. We laugh some more, walking down the street. We walk for a while, making fun of Kris's neighbor.
At 9:45 I yelp, "CRAP!" Making Kris jump. "Kris, my parents are gonna be pissed if I don't get home by 10:15, even if I was at Caitlin's!" Kris looks bewildered. I'm probably looking scared for my life. We've been walking for quite a while. Even if we were walking slow, we covered a lot of ground.
"Let's jog back and I'll run upstairs, get my key and drive you home. It'll be ok!" He says. Jog back. Oh crap. Hopefully we didn't walk very far. I'm not one who runs much!
We start off quickly, Kris being super fit, of course. He notices me huffing and puffing though, and slows down. "You ok?" He asks.
"Yeah," I gasp for air, a terrible runner I am. We reach his apartment finally, me still kinda wheezing. Kris disappears through the door while I wait by his car, drumming my fingers on the hood. He comes out after a couple of minutes.
"k. Let's go," he says, hurrying around the front of his car and hitting the unlock key at the same time. He almost gets hit by a Wide Load Semi truck coming down the street, and is still in shock when he gets in the car. "Wow." He says.
"Wow." I say. "that was a close one."
Kris drives me home, getting there at about 10:10. "Thank you soooooo much Kris. It was amazing." I say at my door. "and thanks for hurrying me home."
"No problem." He says before kissing me on the cheek.
"Call me." I say as I open up the door. "Thanks again."
"No problem!" He says again.
I walk into the house. "That didn't look like Caitlin's car to me!" My mom yells from behind the sink.
"Kris was there." I say, knowing they didn't know about Kris. "We lost track of time and he said he could drive me home." I lie, knowing how to get past my parents every time. I think they're still convinced I'm the little angel I was when I was 5. ha. But shouldn't they cut me a little slack? I'm 3 days from being finished with high-school. Jeez.

Caitlin's Point Of View ;)

All I can think of while I'm chowing on cheeseburger is what possessed my dad to buy me something. And what it might be. I sigh when I finish. "Did he tell you what?" I break finally, not coming up with anything.
"Yup." My mom says.
"Will it be something embarrassing?" I ask. The last time he bought me something, I had a friend, Taylor--a high class friend mind you--over. He had to choose that night to give me the cheap dress he found at a yard sale for like 2 dollars.
First of all it was hideous. And. 2 sizes too big. And since when did my dad hit yard sales!? How embarrassing. Of course I was trying to act cool in front of Taylor who was laughing hysterically at me... I hurt my dad's feelings. But I learned the, Don't act like who you aren't lesson. Taylor and I aren't really friends anymore.
"No," she says. "Not like that stupid dress." She laughs. "Why in the world he thought you wore an XL... jeez." She sighs. "He was so destroyed."
"I know." I say, not smiling. I still feel really bad about that.

I hear the front door open about 30 seconds after we have that conversation. He comes in with a pretty big box. "Caitlin!" He stumbles into the kitchen with the box. It must be pretty heavy. That or my dad is a wimp. "I got you something." He says, lowering it to the table. I push my plate out of the way. I see the laptop I've been eyeing up on TV on the box.
"DADDY!!!!" I jump up, squealing. I jump into his arms. "Thank you thank you thank you!!!!" I run around looking for scissors to open the box. He pulls his pocketknife out of his pocket--crazy place for it, I know--and slices it open easily. It takes us like 15 minutes to get to the actual laptop. Then I'm holding it and squealing, so happy. "EEEE!!!!!!" I squeal again. "Thank you Daddy!" I hug him again.
"You're welcome sweetie." He replies. That's what he always calls me when I'm acting like a spoiled little girl.
I run to the living room with the laptop and its charger, knowing I won't be able to play with it until later because it has to charge. I plug it in and run back to my parents. "You guys are the best!" I say, hugging them and dancing around. They kind of just stand there awkwardly, not used to this kind of reaction from me. What can I say? I'm in an extremely good mood since Sidney dropped me off.

Around twelve I'm still pacing around waiting for my laptop to charge. "Honey you need to go to bed," my mom says. "It'll be there tomorrow." She tells me.
"I know. I'm just so excited!" I say seriously. Shaking my fists in front of me. "What's the point of going to school anyways? It hardly means anything."
"Just enjoy the last couple days goofing off with your friends. I know what goes on there." She says, peering over her reading glasses and over the magazine she's reading. I laugh at her. Because of what she said and because the way she looks at me makes her look like an old lady. My mom is anything but. She's like 39 and is still lookin' good. She gives a half grin and goes back to her reading.
I turn around and skip up the steps, "night mom!" I say, heading up, knowing I'll sleep well. Today was great. I turn on my radio--for whatever reason I turn it on at night. I guess it keeps the noise of passing cars down and that did always get on my nerves. But, the song that comes on immediately makes me smile. "Say hey I love you," is playing. Even though the only part I like about it is the chorous, it makes me happy and I brush my teeth humming it. I change into pajamas and climb under the covers even though it's humid and hot in my room. I turn the tiny fan that rests on my nightstand on and turn my little desk lamp off. I sigh when I roll over, not ready for the day to be done, but as soon as my head hits the pillow, I'm out.

Chapter 14

2009-08-04T08:50:00.000-07:00

Ruthanne's Point Of View<3>
Kris and I absolutely loved the Yes Man movie, and he put in the next one, "The Breakfast Club." I didn't really want to watch The Notebook with him right now. I glance at the clock reading 8:00 when I wake up to his sweet voice.
"Ruthanne," I blink a couple times, looking up. "My arm's asleep, darling, let me move it."
I mumble, "Sorry, how long did I sleep!?" As I sit up, embarrassed.
"Just about an hour. I put the next movie in." The Notebook was on the screen.
He kisses me on the head. "You're adorable when you sleep." I smile, still blushing, still embarrassed. I wipe my mouth a little, hoping for dear life that I didn't drool on Kris Letang. It's embarrassing enough to have fallen asleep on him. "Don't worry about it." He says, pulling me into him for a hug. I smile, feeling a little better now. I sit up though, straightening my shirt. He laughs again and leans over to kiss me on the cheek. "You know, you're even cuter when you're embarrassed!" I blush again, just as I thought I was getting ahold of myself.
I turn to him, "Kris," I say, sounding sleepy. "What time is it?" I ask, even though I already know.
He looks up at his wall clock, then back to me. "8ish." he says slowly, looking disappointed already. I sigh unhappily, knowing I should leave as much as I don't want to.
"I can call my parents and say I'm at Caitlin's!" I say, thinking of a plan. We're together so much our parents don't care anymore. He smiles, happy now. I pull out my cell, "shh" I say, as it dials.
I tell my dad, who answers on the second ring that I'm at Caitlin's house. He sighs, but says, "ok." and hangs up. Kris smiles again, having heard the conversation.
"How long can you stay?" He asks, "we still have another movie!" He points to the TV with The Notebook on pause.
"But I fell asleep during the last one!" I complain, laughing though. "Besides, I've seen this 10000 times, easy." He laughs at my pouty face.
"fine." He says, making his own pouty face.

Caitlin's Point of View.

Sidney takes the cone from the girl who brought it out, the look still on his face. He walks back to me where I'm sitting at a picnic table. "Yum." I say, overwhelmed by it. Sidney licks it first. Then I do. We eat it together for a while, talking and laughing until I'm feeling pretty full. Then, I take the cone and purposely get some on my face.
"You got a little," Sidney picks up one of the many napkins he gathered to wipe my face. "Ice cream. Right there." He wipes it off, both of us laughing. I take the cone and push it onto his face.
"You got a little," We laugh again as I wipe it off. "I'm full,"
"I noticed." He says. I look down, not knowing what to say now. But when I look up, there he is, making me think of Max last night. He kisses me sweetly. "Ready to get out of here?" He asks when we're done.
"Mhm." I nod. We hold hands walking back to the Range Rover. "I don't wanna go home." I say quietly, more to myself than to him. "I had a really good time Sidney."
"Isn't this place awesome?" He shuts my door and runs around the car.
"Yes." I reply after he shuts the door.
He jumps in his door and starts the car, glancing at the clock. "5:30" He sighs. "What time do your parents need you back?" He asks, always polite.
"I dunno. Not anytime soon." I say happy. I had though we spent more time at the ice cream place.
"Cool." He says smiling. He backs the Range Rover out of the parking lot and into the street. "Where do you wanna go?" He asks, lifting his hands off the wheel for a moment to exaggerate.
"Wherever you're going." I say, putting my head on his shoulder.
"Well you're helpful" he says playfully,
"I know!" I say back, twirling my hair, a bad habit that makes my hair tangle a lot.

We ended up going to a bowling alley a few minutes away. Of course it wasn't my idea. I can't bowl worth a crap. But I kinda figured Sidney might show me how, hehehe.
I pick the lightest ball that is always pink. Sidney picks a slightly heavier 12 pound ball. "Sidney?" I ask him, swinging the ball at my side. "um. You go first." I watch him throw a strike, first try.
"Your turn." He says, coming back with a proud look on his face.
"Um." I say, my competitive side a little intimidated. "I haven't really bowled." I say, lying just a little. In truth I haven't bowled since I was a little girl.
"Here," he walks up and then sidles around me to wrap his arms around my waist. "I'll show you." We waddle up to the little line that you're supposed to start on or whatever and he holds my hand which is holding the ball. I kinda tiptoe up to the part where I'm supposed to stop and swing back with Sidney's help. The ball goes slowly up the lane and then dribbles into the gutter.
"ohhhhh!" I laugh. Sidney laughs too.
"You'll do better next time." He promises, then throws another strike. I sigh. At least my next ball hit a couple pins down!
We play 2 games before we get tired of being there. Taking off my shoes I say, "I had fun Sid,"
"Me too. But you can't bowl!" He bends over to get his other shoe.
"I know." I say laughing. "But it's fun!" He laughs at me and grabs both of our shoes to take them to the counter.
I meet him by the door where he grabs my hand. "I'm glad you came." He says, "I was really scared you wouldn't."
"I'm glad too. I would still be feeling terrible if I didn't, so..." I trail off as he opens my door. "Thanks." I say, getting in.

He runs me home and I go up to my room and plop on my bed. "Ahhh." I sigh, closing my eyes. I had a wonderful day.

Chapter 13

2009-08-01T22:12:00.001-07:00

I can't forget about Max. But how could he like me like he says he does after meeting me like twice? It's weird, but sometimes things like that just happen. I like him too. Almost as much as Sidney right now. He makes me feel fun and adventurous and happy. Sometimes it feels like I can't joke with Sidney, but he's adorable and nice and fun to be around too. Ugh. I sigh.

Ruthanne's Point Of View. <3

Kris called around 4:45. "Hey, we've got a date." he says laughing. "Want me to pick you up?"
"Yes!" I squeal and then give him directions. He's at my house in less than 15 minutes. He kisses me on the cheek at the door.
"What's up?" He asks.
"Nothing. You?" I ask, walking out the door and holding his big hand. We get into his car and he drives off.
"Not much. I missed you." He leans over and kisses me on the cheek.
"Watch the road!" I squeak, giggling from the kiss. He's so sweet. I wonder what kind of good time Caitlin's having with Sidney right now. "Where did Sidney take Caitlin?" I ask him.
His smile is tight as he says, "Brittny's really getting under their skin. I don't know if they even still have a date." He says only what little details he got from the rumours around the guys.
"oh yeah, I forgot." I say, remembering yesterday and Caitlin's little breakdown. I'm sure she's fine now. She bounces back easily. I lean over the console in the middle of his little car to lean on his shoulder. I hope he's ok with that.
"Yeah. I hope things work out for them." He says, thinking about saying something else that has been on his mind. He doesn't really like to gossip, but this has been bothering him. "Last night Max came over. He talked about her a lot."
"hmmmmmmmm." I say, "you don't think," I say slowly, hoping he knows what I'm talking about.
"No." Kris says immediately, "he wouldn't do that to Sidney. I hope." With this new information I try not to think about Caitlin anymore, focusing on my own date.
"where are we going?" I ask him playfully, poking him in the arm.
"to my place," he says. "I rented movies. But I kinda guessed at what you'd like." Rounding a turn I slip off his shoulder.
We laugh and I sit up before I say, "fun," grinning wide, so happy it's hard to describe. I stay sat up now, afraid to fall off his shoulder again. "What'd you get?" I ask him.
"um...Yes Man, The Notebook" He laughs, "and The Breakfast Club. All movies I kinda like. Or at least a little." He scrunches his nose.
"The Notebook?" I ask, laughing.
"Yep." He laughs. "But like, every girl I know likes it, so I thought you would too."
"I do." I say blushing. I haste to be like every girl.
He pulls up to another fancy apartment building. We get out and walk to the door holding hands. He leads me up to his apartment where I see the movies laying out on his kitchen table. "You thirsty?" He asks, letting go of my hand and walking to the refrigerator.
I nod, "water?" I ask. He nods and grabs 2 bottles out of the fridge. He leads me to a sofa where we sit down. He stands back up to hold the three movies up.
"Which one?" He asks, walking backwards toward the dvd player.
"Yes Man. I love Jim Carrey." I say smiling. I've wanted to see that movie for a while. Kris puts it in and walks back into the kitchen.
"Popcorn?" He pops his head out from behind the wall between the living room and kitchen.
"Yeah." I say, smiling. He walks out with one of those big bags that you can buy at Wal-Mart. Picking the remote off the coffee table on his way to the sofa he pushes play and then sits down. We munch on the popcorn for a little bit, laughing at all the right places. I finish my bottle of water, the popcorn really drying my mouth out. He kisses me on the cheek and trots back into the kitchen to grab another.

Caitlin's Point Of View <3>At this point I'm having a lot of fun with Sidney. We laugh and talk and I forget about all my worries and relax a bit. He holds both of my hands on top of the table as we talk. We self consciously sit up when the waitress comes back, eying up Sidney like she knows him from someplace. Sidney pays the bill and we hold hands leaving the little pizzeria. "That was fun." I say smiling.
"We're not done!" He says, pulling me down the sidewalk to where we parked.
"What's next then?" I jog to keep up with his fast stride.
"You'll see," he opens the passenger door for me and jogs around the front to his side. Starting the car with his left hand, he grabs mine with his right. He seems so happy now that I am. We drive around for what feels like forever, not talking, just holding hands. Everything feels great ever since we talked in the restaurant.
"Sidney?" I lean over and lay on him, happy.
"Yeah?" He looks down at me on his shoulder.
"I'm really happy," I smile, getting those really good butterflies in my stomach.
"Oh yeah?" He kisses my head then goes back to driving. "We're almost there." And squeezes my hand.
"Where are we goinggg?" I bug him again.
"You'll see!" He says back, just like last time. I shut up and just lean on him with my eyes closed for a moment.
We eventually pull in to a tiny ice cream shop that I would mistake for any other. It was called, "Remember When"
"You'll like this," Sidney says, backing out of the car and running around to my side. Of course I'm used to waiting for him when he does this. He looks at me, a concerned look in his eyes, "whatever you do, don't order a medium!" He laughs then turns around and leads me to the window.
"Hmmph!" I get the wrong idea. Then I look at the windows and see the pictures of cones. ACTUAL SIZE!!!! The signs say. My mouth drops open. I look at Sidney. "Really?" I look at him skeptically. He nods.
"You want to share a medium?" He looks at me.
"Ok." I say happily, moving up in line. "Vanilla?" I ask, smiling at him.
"Sure." he says, and steps up to the window to order. The medium is big enough that they have to bring it out the door! I gasp, not able to imagine us eating it all. He looks at me, his face says it all with the "I told you so!" look.

Chapter 12

2009-07-31T23:08:00.000-07:00

I wake up in the morning feeling a little out of place. I was still in my jeans and shoes and everything when I woke up. My hair, of course was unwashed and sticking up all over the place. I hurry to the bathroom before anyone else can get it. Glancing at my alarm clock as I grab some clothes, I realize I'm too late. Already 6:30. My mom would be in there about now. I run downstairs to get some breakfast. Peanut Butter Captain Crunch. Yum. By the time I'm done eating it my mom should be done.
I take a quick shower, not wanting to linger at home while my parents are around. They'll eventually just stop looking at me funny and ask questions. I'm not up for that right now. I don't even know how I'm going to survive a date with Sidney. Everything has just, changed, since the weekend when I was with him. When he was all that mattered, really.
Arriving at school earlier than usual, I sit in my car trying desperately not to overthink things. I have a really bad habit of doing that. I mean, this situation can't be that bad, or confusing. I'm just making it that way. I bang my head on the headrest a few times, my hair flying all over the place. Ruthanne comes up and knocks on my window. "You only do that when you're really upset, are you ok?" She asks after I roll down my window, talking way too fast.
I shrug because it's something that I really don't want to talk about. Maybe she'll have enough sense to leave me alone this time. Usually she bugs and bugs and bugs until she gets me to tell her what's bugging me. I usually turn around and say, "YOU!" But that's about the little stuff that gets on my nerves. I don't know about this one. It's the first serious problem I've had in a while.
She walks around the car and gets in the passenger side. "You wanna skip school?"
"No." I say angrily, knowing the satisfaction Brittny would feel if I skipped and she noticed. And she would. I'm sure she's been on the lookout for me ever since the party.
"Ok. Ok." Ruthanne says, backing off a little. "I was just suggesting it. You look like you need to get your mind off things."
"You know what?" I say, "I do. I do need to get my mind off of things but hanging out just won't do it for me this time Ruthanne." She flinches, even when I'm really mad I don't sound this harsh. And I'm not mad at anyone or anything. Well, except Brittny, but there's always been something to hate her for. I grab my big overly full bag and get out of the car. Ruthanne does the same and jogs to catch up with me.
"What's wrong?" She asks, putting her hand on my shoulder.
"Everything," I finally say, breaking down. Her face goes from shocked to trying to recover her helpful friend look. Even when it's really bad, I've tried to find something positive, and right now I'm having a really hard time doing that. It's funny how things can just build up and build up and finally something that really wouldn't be that important to someone will flip the lid and that person feels so lost and confused. And it's funny that that person thinks they need to keep everything under control, trying to look like nothing's wrong, trying to avoid the subject. Maybe that person should just confront everything head on. Maybe that person is jumping to conclusions about too many things. I sigh. "I just... Sidney just... Brittny." I choke out. Ruthanne wraps an arm around my shoulder and herds me into the bathroom right inside the school. She waits until I'm done crying to give me her makeup bag, knowing how much I don't want to talk about it. I get fixed up and go to class.
The school day couldn't have ended fast enough. I got out of there, jumped in my car, and took off before anyone could stop me. I sped home even though I wouldn't even want to be there when I got to it. I check my phone in the driveway. 2 texts from Sidney. I open it, half expecting a cancellation. Or maybe just hoping for one.
From: Sidney (3:45 PM)
Hey, I'm getting ready to go right now... will be on my way in a little bit.
I sigh and open the next one.
From Sidney (3:50 PM)
if it makes you feel any better, I miss you like crazy. All this Brittny shit's getting old, don't you think?
That, my friend, would be an understatement. Getting old? ha. It's been old and it should have died long ago. Sometimes people make me just want to scream. I pull the outfit I had picked out for tonight out of my desk drawer, don't ask me why I put it there, I just did. I don't text Sidney back, I figure he'll see me when he gets here and that'll be soon enough. This is the first time I haven't been eager to see him when we had something set up.
He comes up to my door all too soon. Of course I've been ready for what seemed like ages but could only have been described as a few minutes. I answer, not feeling as pretty as I look, I'm sure, but his eyes light up when he sees me, and that makes me feel a little bit better. He kisses me on the cheek before grabbing my hand and leading me back to his Range Rover.
We don't talk about much in the car, both of us avoiding the subject we have on our minds. He drives us to a little deserted looking pizzeria on a traffic-less street. He comes around to my side of the car and opens the door for me. I'm getting more and more used to this, soon I'll have to force myself to open the door when there's no-one to do it for me. He holds my hand as we walk in. A man with an Italian accent takes us to a booth not far from the door. To start off I get an iced tea, Sidney gets a Coke. What's with those guys, I wonder, watching him slurp it down.
"So how have you been?" I ask him politely enough.
"I feel like shit." He says finally, after he's done gulping down the Coke he ordered. I feel a little bit better at least knowing he's felt guilty about all this.
"Oh?" I ask quietly, not prepared for that kind of answer.
"Yeah. There's so many things I could do for you. And I really want to, but Brittny just won't stop. She has something against you personally." He says, picking up his Coke again.
"Like I said, we were BFF's! in middle school. We ended up hating each other after that." I tell him again, sipping slowly on my iced tea.
"Oh." He says, "and you still do." He says, stating the obvious.
"Obviously," I say quietly. "So," I say, "what are you getting?" I ask brightly, trying to get steer the conversation away from Brittny. I'm tired of her dominating my life.
He looks down at the menu and flips through a couple of pages. "This," he points to something that I can't read. I look at the picture, it looks like something I would like. I search through the menu for something safe. I decide on a slice of lasagna. The waiter comes back to take our order after noticing that we closed the menus.
"How are you?" Sidney asks after we order. It takes me a moment to think of a response.
"Messed up." I say finally. "I don't know why, and it's so frustrating and I just hate it all." Sidney nods.
"I know what you mean." He says holding my hand on the table.
"At least you always know what's going on!" I say, pulling my hand from his.
"No. That's not true. I don't ever know what you're doing." He says, picking up my hand again.
"Oh." I say defeated. I never thought really about he felt. I was being so selfish. I decide to think about things differently from now on. About both of us. But then there's Max.

Chapter 11

2009-07-31T08:21:00.000-07:00

He leans in even closer and kisses me. At first I'm just bewildered, confused for a moment. Then I submit and begin to enjoy the feeling of his mouth on mine. "This is beautiful." I finish when he pulls away.
He says, "I know," and I lean my head on his shoulder to watch the pretty sunset. It's almost dark by the time we pick all our stuff up and decide to leave.
"Max," I say, kind of awkwardly when we get back in the car. "This was fun. Thanks."
"You're welcome." He says after he starts the car. I think about the kiss and how good it felt. And then I think about Sidney. He seemed genuine enough when he was telling us what happened, but it still made me mad. Not so much at him, but at Brittny, I decide. After a couple minutes of thoughts like this rushing through my head I just stop. Max has a New Hit Music radio station turned on so I concentrate on every word of the song that's playing, not giving myself any room to think.
"Caitlin?" Max looks at me from the corner of his eyes.
"Yeah?" I say, turning to look at him.
"What are you thinking about?" He asks.
I pause for a moment, thinking about what to tell him I'm thinking about. "That kiss," I decide, instead of getting back into the Sidney shit.
"oh." He says quietly. I reach over and run my thumb down his rough cheek not knowing why I wanted to. I can't start anything with Max, I remind myself. Especially if things start happening with Sidney. But I can't stand Brittny, and if he doesn't have the guts to tell her to get lost... I just... I can't do that to them. Or myself.
I sit quietly, wishing Max would say something. He doesn't though, he just keeps on driving.
"Max?" I say, turning towards him again, "what should I do?" I ask him for advice since this is a subject I don't feel like taking to Ruthanne.
"well, I guess you know now that I like you." He says, "and I know that you like Sidney. And that you hate Brittny." He says slowly. I tap my foot impatiently, the torturing thoughts coming back into my head. "Why did you come to me for help, anyways?" Max looks at me.
"Because you know Sidney well and I, I just get the feeling that I can trust you." I say.
"oh." He says. "I don't know if I can give you very good advice, Caitlin."
"Huh?" I look at him again.
He grabs my hand from the armrest between us and rubs my knuckles. "Because I really do like you."
"Oh." I say. He pulls up to the curb outside my house and puts the parking brake on. We just sit in the car. "Well, I better get going." I glance at the clock. My mom doesn't get worried until around 10:30, but I can see myself doing something I'll regret if I stay with Max. He leans over and kisses me on the cheek. "Thanks so much Max." I say as he sits back up in his seat.
"Bye," he says as I open the door. I walk into the house a very confused girl. My mom is sitting on the couch in the living room and gives me a funny look as I walk through. I ignore her and go straight to my room to lay down, suddenly feeling exhausted. I check my phone and see a few messages from Sidney.
From: Sidney
I'm sorry. It's not what it looks like!
From: Sidney
PLEAAAAAAAASE Call me..
From: Sidney
Caitlin! I miss you, call me.
I sigh, not really wanting to call him back, but feeling like I have to. His cell phone rings 3 or 4 times before he picks up. "Caitlin?" He says, "I'm really sorry."
"Yeah?" I say, trying really hard to sound annoyed.
"Do you still want to go tomorrow?" He asks, sounding really sad. I feel guilty for being annoyed with him.
"yes." I say quietly, feeling super exhausted now.
"when should I pick you up?" He asks.
"around 4:30?" I say, unsure of whether or not I seriously want to go or if I just feel bad. I sigh.
"What?" Sidney says on the other end.
"You should know," I say, getting a worse attitude by the moment.
"I apologized." He says, "I hate her just about as much as you do."
"Oh really?" I say, not convinced. "That's why you didn't just tell her to get lost."
"Natalie was standing right there!" He says loudly.
"I'm sorry Sidney." I say, not wanting to fight anymore.
"it's fine. It's my fault. Let's just forget this," he says.
I sigh but say "Ok" so that we can end the conversation. "I gotta go Sidney." I say, "bye."
"Bye."
"Well that went well." I say, and fall back into my heap of pillows.

Chapter 10

2009-07-30T19:38:00.000-07:00

We pull into Mario's long circular driveway. I try to compose myself. I absolutely hate to cry in front of people. Max comes around to my side of the car and opens the door for me like Sidney does. I step out, suddenly unsure of myself. Sure it doesn't look like Brittny doesn't get to me but she really does. She was always too perfect for me when we were "friends" so I was left out a lot. I just didn't know what a real friend was then.
Max walks up to the door and knocks, motioning for me to come up beside him. I do and he pats me on the back a couple of times, waiting for the door to be answered. Natalie answers and lets us in after we've been acquainted. "Where's Sid? Do you know?" Max asks, walking in the door.
"um. He's with a friend, upstairs in his room." She says kind of uncomfortably. Max doesn't seem to care, grabbing my hand and dragging me to the staircase. He jogs up, pulling me along. We walk about halfway down the long hallway to a door that kind of blends in with the wall. Max knocks obnoxiously.
"SID!" He shouts excitedly. Sidney opens the door, looking at Max, then me.
"oh hey guys." He says, "come on in."
Max strolls in casually while I trip on my feet with my hands behind my back. Brittny's sitting on Sidney's bed, looking at me with wide eyes that say, "you actually had the nerve to come over here?" I stand uncomfortably by the door where I walked in. "Hey," I say to Sidney, waving a little. He nods back, just as uncomfortable as I am.
"So." Max says, not as casual as he was before. He starts pacing a little bit now, obviously trying to figure things out. I look at my feet, trying to avoid the burning glare from Brittny. This was a bad idea I keep repeating in my heat. This won't turn out good. My stomach begins to churn. There's an awkward silence in the room. I glance at Sidney, hoping for the best. He still stares at his lap. "What's going on!?" Max finally finishes.
Sidney continues to stare at his lap. Brittny picks at a pink painted fingernail, he blond hair bouncing when she moves her head. Sidney looks up and says, "I can explain."
"Well then do it!" Max says, waving his hand toward me.
"Caitlin." Sidney says, "you know how she is. I was going to cancel because I was mad about all this. Then, I decided you would get the wrong idea." Sidney looks pathetic.
"But what is this!?" I say, flailing my arms around trying to make a point.
Sidney looks down again. "A mess." He finally says, "She came over and Natalie answered the door." He says, "I couldn't just kick her out at that point so we came up here. She took my phone from my desk right before you called and got this harebrained idea. I swear." All the while Brittny is picking at her nails and nodding. I look down and cross my arms on my chest.
Max sighs, "Do you want to go back home Caitlin?" He asks. I nod, walking out of the room quickly. Max says something to Sidney and then follows, wrapping his arm around me, rubbing my back like he was my dad or something. I don't care anymore, I just keep walking toward the staircase. "Caitlin. Sidney wouldn't do this. He's just really stressed." Max tries to reassure me. I rest my head on his shoulder.
"But it's not fair!" I say pathetically throwing my hands up.
"I know honey," Max says, making sure I don't fall down the steps.
We walk out to his car and I climb in sadly. Max starts driving, but not towards my house. "Where are we going?" I ask him.
"Just wait." He says, "you'll see."
Next thing I know, I'm at a tasty freeze. Max gets out of the car, commanding me to stay. He comes back with a vanilla milkshake for me (my favorite. How did he know?) and a strawberry one for himself. I haven't had dinner, so I'm hungry, but I'm not in the mood to eat. "This always makes me feel better." He says with his mouth full of strawberry milkshake. I giggle, laughing at him and feeling better already.
"Thanks Max," I say smiling, happy for the moment. He reaches over and wipes a little vanilla shake from my mouth. I blush, embarrassed about getting it on my face.
"Wanna see something?" He says. I notice the beautiful sunset and think that he maybe quite possibly would take me somewhere to watch it together. I get butterflies, not like earlier with Sidney, that was more of a sickening feeling. This is good.
"Sure." I say, "why not?"
He starts the car again and drives to a park on top of a hill. He pulls a blanket out of the backseat and hops out of the car, coming around to my side again. We hold hands walking to the top of the hill where he spreads the blanket out and pulls me down next to him. "You'll like this," he points to the scene in front of us. A city scene with an amazing sunshine backdrop. I gasp happily. "Max," I start, turning to look at him, but he's already there. So close.

Chapter 9

2009-07-30T08:21:00.000-07:00

I spend a lot of my Monday night digging through my closet for something to wear with Sidney tomorrow. For some reason most of my clothes just don't seem good enough. I call up Ruthanne.
"You got anything cute for me to wear tomorrow?" I ask pathetically.
"I don't know. You'd have to come look through my closet." She invites me over. I drive over as fast as I can to dig through her closet. She has always found better deals on better clothes than me. Even the stuff we bought just the other day. I sigh, climbing out of my car.
Ruthanne opens the door for me. I guess she had been watching for me. We run up to her room. "now you can help me pick my outfit!" She squeals.
"You and Kris are just hanging out, aren't you?" I ask her slowly. She nods enthusiastically and opens her closet doors wide exposing all of her awesome clothes.
I look through it and pull out all the possibles. I end up picking a navy and white striped tank that she had from Hollister.
And a pair of my own regular denim shorts. Feeling happy about my choice I sit on Ruthanne's bed. Ruthanne decides on a navy dress with a flowery trim. We laugh because no matter what we're doing, she always looks more dressed up than I do.
We hang out for a little while, talking about tomorrow excitedly. I finally tell her that I absolutely can not stay any longer because my mother will have a conniption if I'm not home for dinner. I hop back into my car and drive home.
My mom greets me in the kitchen when I walk in to get a drink. I pick up a Coke which immediately reminds me of Max's house. I giggle a little bit, opening it up. "What's with you lately?" My mom says, her face the one she uses when she really can't understand something.
"um. I don't know." I lie.
"You just seem so happy lately." I stifle another laugh. If she had seen me this morning she wouldn't think so. I was on the verge of temper tantrum grumpy. I still really don't know why.
"oh?" I pretend not to know what she's talking about, not even realizing that I was so happy all the time.
"Is there a new boy?" She asks, looking like she understood everything better.
"Um." I say, not able to lie about this.
"Who?" She asks, walking over to me and leaning on the island in the middle of our kitchen.
'Um." I say again. "Sidney Crosby." I say and wince, waiting for her reaction. She jumps back, surprised.
"Really?" She asks looking a pretty skeptical.
"Yes." I say. "We're going out tomorrow night for dinner," I say and pick up the clothes I borrowed from Ruthanne.
"oh. Good for you, Caitlin." She says smiling genuinely.
"Thanks Mom." I take my Coke and go up to my room happy that we had that conversation now rather than when Sidney got here to pick me up tomorrow night.
I have 3 new voicemails when I check my phone. 2 from Sidney and 1 from Brittny. I almost have a spit take when I look again at who the 3'rd one is from. As much as I hate her, I have her number, just in case I want to be evil.
"Brittny?" I say to myself, not believing my eyes. I open hers first, just to see what stupid thing she had to say. Listening to it, it says, "Caitlin! Good news! Sidney and I are going out tomorrow." I hear her giggle and a couple other girls in the background. Then I hear Sidney's voice in the background as well. From what I could make out he said something like Get off of me or Oh Please. I close my phone confused. Sidney? With Brittny? I open the 1'st one from him.
"Caitlin. Call me." The second one said. "Caitlin. We need to talk. Call me."
I dial his number, hoping nothing is going on. Brittny answers. "Caitlin! So glad to hear from you!" In her fake voice. I sigh, not knowing what's going on, and not liking it one bit.
"Brittny? What the hell?"
The next thing I know, I hear Sidney's voice. "Give me my phone Brittny." He says, sounding pissed. There's a shuffle, then Sidney's on. "Caitlin." He gasps.
"Sidney. What's going on?" I ask him, suspicious.
"I'm not even sure myself." He says.
"What do we need to talk about?" I ask him, worried now.
"I was going to tell you to cancel tomorrow night. Don't worry about it now. It's fine. We can still go." He sounds like he's in pain.
"OK?" I say, "Sidney are you ok?" I ask him, hearing Brittny's giggle in the background again.
"NO." He says quietly, "but everything will be alright." He says trying to reassure me. The phone starts to break up on the other end. Brittny's back. "Caitlin. Don't worry, your date tomorrow will be fine. You'll be going with Danny and I'll be going with Sidney!" I hear Sidney say something in the background again, but I can't understand him.
"What?" I ask, on the brink of tears now.
"Yep! You know Danny. He asked you out earlier." She says, still using her fakest happy voice. "Bye!" She says and closes Sidney's phone.
I think of something to do. I remember that I have Max's home phone, at his apartment, from when Sidney called me the other day. I call it. "Hello?" Max answers, oblivious.
"Max?" I ask, although I'd know his voice anywhere.
"Yeah. Who is this?" He asks.
"It's Caitlin." I say. "Can you come pick me up?"
"Sure. Where?" He asks, the always helpful Max. I give him the info and run downstairs to tell my mom where I'll be. She doesn't mind that I won't be home for dinner, for once. I wait impatiently, pacing around the living room. My mom looks at me, worried, but doesn't ask. I'm sure she can tell that I would just freak out.
Max pulls up to the curb and steps out of his car to come get me at the door. I run outside motioning for him to get back in. He looks at me confusedly, but does what I want him to. I get in on the passenger side and sigh. "What?" He asks.
"Would Sidney really do this?" I ask him, almost crying.
"DO WHAT?" Max asks, still not totally filled in and getting frustrated.
"Go out with Brittny tomorrow instead of me?" I say, looking down.
"No no no no no no NO!" Max says, "She has annoyed him more than Valeska { ;) } ever did. He likes you. A lot." Max shakes his head.
"I called his phone and she answered. Then she gave the phone to him and he said that he was going to cancel but then she took it back and told me that she'd be going with Sidney and I'd be going with this kid who asked me out earlier." I ramble on.
"Oh." Max says, not sure what to say now. "Where were they?"
"I have no clue." I say, still looking down and trying not to cry. "Could you call him on your cell?" I ask hopefully.
"Sure." And he does it. I hear his end of the conversation. "Sid?...... Where are you?...... Ok... See you there." Max hangs up and looks at me. "He's at Mario's. We're going there now." Max pulls out into the street. I sigh.
"Why?" I ask, "Why can't anything happen normally for me?"
"Cause the guy you want is Sidney Crosby." Max points out, "and now just happens to be a bad time, what with his stalker and what not." Max says, I giggle a little bit, feeling a little better.
"But can't he just tell her to get lost?" I ask, "can't he just..." I trail off and a tear runs down my cheek.
"Caitlin." Max says, "everything will work out."

Chapter 8

2009-07-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

Breakfast for me before school? ha. if I'm lucky, I finish my hair in time to grab a granola bar. I'm constantly late. Not that it matters, none of the teachers are worrying about anything. We're seniors. It's our last week of school. They let us do what we want. It's been this way for years and every new principal we get tries to stop it. I don't know why principals are always so... so.... uptight. But it's always hilarious to watch them get frustrated and storm out into the hall.
I drive my black Oldsmobile Intrigue to school every day. It's a decent car. It gets me where I'm going and it manages to stay in good shape most of the time. But, it's a Monday, I'm in a bad mood when I get into the car despite all the things I should be happy about. "The last Monday in highschool. You can do it." I mutter to myself.
I'm the type who blasts my music. Really loud. I mean, who can listen to 3oh!3 with the volume turned down!?
I get to school and go to my locker, taking a few more things out and shoving them into my bag. As if it isn't already way too full. A couple papers fall out. And someone bends down to get them before I can. "Hey," he says. "You dropped these." He hands me the papers but doesn't disappear like I wish he would.
"Thanks," I say politely, shoving them back into my overstuffed bag.
"You're welcome," he says, looking nervous now. "So," he starts. "I'm Danny." He tells me.. All I can think about is how cute he is and how much I like Sidney and how much I really want to get out of this situation.
"I'm Caitlin," I hold out my hand. "Thanks for picking up my papers." I say and turn around to go to my first class.
"Wait!" He says loudly, trying to get my attention over the loud buzz of everyone in the hallway.
"What?" I turn around and try not to snap at him. I don't know him, I remind myself. I can't be mean.
"would you," he stutters. "want to get a coffee with me? For lunch?" He asks hopefully.
"Um." I say, my index finger on my lip--a habit I have for when I'm seriously thinking. "I'm doing lunch with my friends today. Maybe some other day?" I lie, trying really hard to be nice to this new, cute stranger.
"ok." He looks down disappointed and walks away, probably because he knows that I didn't mean it. I don't want to get into anything with someone from highschool during the last week. That would be nerve-wracking.
Ruthanne trots up to me, "Who was he?" She asks in a snotty tone that would only be used because she noticed my pissy face.
"Danny?" I ask her. She shrugs and we walk off towards class.

Ruthanne's Point Of View:

School was really fun. Just a lot of people running around and goofing off. I get home and check my phone.
You have 5 new texts! it reads across the screen. I open one, wondering how I got so many since I last checked it when school ended.
From: Kris
Hey... how are you? I miss you!
From: Kris
Callllllll meeeeeeee.
From: Kris
Are you there?
From: Kris
Ruthanne!!!!!
From: Kris
Where are you!?
I smile when I read them although I hate people who text me like 10 times in a row looking for me. I hurry up and text back.
At home, just got back from school :P.. awww, I missed you too!
And it was true. Even though we were all having fun being idiots at school, he was all I could think about. Before I even knew it, my phone was buzzing again.
I couldn't stop thinking about you. <3 What's up?
I pause for a moment, just smiling before I can even enter:
nothing. <3
and send it. I stop bothering with the texting and just call him.
"hey," he says in his beautiful voice.
"hey," I say back, hoping he thinks my voice is as beautiful as I think his is. "What did you do all day?" I ask nonchalantly.
"Absolutely nothing. Just hung out at my apartment." He says.
I smile, "Sounds like fun," I joke. I know better. Sitting around is never fun unless with a friend. And by the very bored tone in his voice, I can tell that he didn't have much entertainment.
"Oh it was," he says sarcastically.
I hear my mom come in the front door and call me downstairs. Probably to do some chore or another. She's hysterical because I won't be around very much anymore.
"I'll call you later, Kris. My mom is calling." I sigh and wait for his goodbye. I swear I will never get tired of his voice.
"Ok. Bye." He says, sounding really sad. I close my phone, feeling the same kind of sadness and walk downstairs.

Chapter 7

2009-07-24T10:22:00.000-07:00

We got back to Ruthanne's sometime around 3:00. I told her that I needed to get my stuff together and go home, so she drove me back to my place. Really I just want to sleep the days away--dreaming of Sidney--until Tuesday. Just 2 more days.
My parents don't work weekends, so I usually try to be away as much as possible. They're all about spending time together before I move out and go to college. I'm all about avoiding them. For some reason, the past few years I just feel like I don't really need them. Of course I love them, but I can take care of myself.
It's the last week of my senior year and surprisingly, I don't care. I'm not concerned that none of my friends and I will stay in touch. Ruthanne and I will, definitely, and the rest don't plan on moving out of Pittsburgh, so I'm not worried about friends or anything else for that matter.
My parents greet me as I walk in the door. I say hello back, then complain that I'm tired and run up the stairs. In my room, I put my new clothes away and plop down on my bed. "Ugh." I sigh, feeling extremely alone now.

I wake up to my ringtone: Dear Maria Count Me In... I really don't care what the song's about. It's catchy, I like it. I open it up without looking at the caller ID. "hello?" I say sleepily just now glancing at the clock. 5:30, wow. A long nap for me.
"Hey," I hear Sidney's voice on the other end.
"Hey," I'm suddenly awake, happy to hear his voice. "What's up?" I ask.
"Nothing much. I'm home at Mario's." He says.
"oh." I say, "I was just taking a nap." I tell him.
"Did I wake you up?" He asks, concerned.
"yes." I say, trying to sound grumpy and hoping that he won't take me seriously.
"Was it a good nap?" He asks jokingly.
"yes. yes it was." I tell him. "So what are you doing tonight?" I ask, curious to see what an NHL player might have on the agenda.
"Nothing. I finally get a break from the guys," he laughs, "Max ran out of Coke." I laugh too.
"how much did he have?" I ask, still giggling.
"A LOT." Sidney replies. We laugh again. We seem to laugh a lot together. I wonder about this for a moment and just decide that it's a good thing.
We talk like this--randomly and not really about anything-- for the next half hour before my mother calls me down for dinner. I say goodbye kind of sadly but go downstairs to eat.
My mother is serving my favorite tonight. Tacos. Only the best food ever known to man. My family eats in silence tonight. My parents usually drill me with questions about my day, but they're more laid back tonight. I try to start a conversation several times, asking them about their day. They don't say much so I give up and go back to eating my tacos. Yum.
I go back upstairs to my room after dinner. I watch the movie Taken, before going to bed. I'll just say that my dreams of going to France were a little bit broken after that movie. I don't know if I want to go now. I dream about being kidnapped. And I make a vow to myself that I won't watch movies like that before I go to bed ever again.

-----------------------------------------
I'm gonna be gone for like 2 weeks on vacation.
idk how much I'll be able to post while I'm gone.
<3 <3 <3 ---- Caitlin

Chapter 6

2009-07-21T14:14:00.000-07:00

Still Ruthanne's Point Of View ;)
I let them play another game before I say, "Caitlin, we have to go." I feel kinda bad, seeing her disappointment, but she knows my parents just about as well as I do.
"Ok," she stands up reluctantly, squeezing Sidney's hand as she gets up. "I'll talk to you later." She says still holding a smile. "Call me or something." We say goodbye to all the guys, and they still can't take their focus off the game long enough to say anything. Sidney at least walks us to the door, still talking to Caitlin.

Caitlin's Point Of View:

Ruthanne and I walk down the hall toward the elevators, Max's apartment being on a higher floor. "So. You and Kris, eh?" I ask.
"I sure hope so." She says, getting that dreamy look in her eyes again. "He's super nice."
I laugh at her, "So is Sidney," I say happily. "I can't wait until Tuesday."
"Kris said he wants to hang out on Tuesday," Ruthanne says still looking quite dreamy.
"Awesome!" I say, "he's interested!" and we do our silly little girl dance into the elevator. At first we don't notice who else is in the elevator. Until she says something.
"Hey!" Brittny says, using another one of her fake voices. "What are you guys doing here?" She asks like she doesn't have a clue.
"Um." Is all we can get out. She walks out of the elevator, grabbing our arms.
"So." She starts, suddenly snobbier than ever. "I don't know what you guys think you're doing. But you can't have them." She pokes me in the chest. "Sidney's Mine!" She shouts spitting all over me. I flinch a little, trying not to let her intimidate me. She struts down the hall towards Max's apartment.
"Oh my god," I say laughing. Ruthanne is beside me cracking up as well.
"She's really desperate to be better than you. YOU SCARE HER!" We laugh together, still standing in the hall. We look down towards Max's apartment to see him answer the door and then shut it again in her face. She pouts and walks back down the hall, glaring at us.
"You WILL be sorry." She says, getting into the elevator again. We decide to wait until she's out of here before we take the ride down. Sidney comes out of Max's apartment and sees us against the wall by the elevator. He jogs down to us, but he's not finding this as hysterical as we are.
Right before the elevator door closes, he grabs my hand, just to make her mad. "You ok?" He asks. I giggle.
"Yeah," I nod, still laughing. "Did you see her face when you grabbed my hand?" Ruthanne is still laughing obnoxiously, doubled over.
He nods, finally cracking a smile. "I'm glad you don't let her bother you." He says, "She never fails to get on my nerves. Worse than Valeska even." He winks, knowing somehow that I knew about Valeska.
"Oh believe me Sidney, she's been trying to get to me since the 9th grade." I say, not smiling anymore. It gets annoying, so I deal with it by laughing at it. It's really not as funny as I make it out to be. "Well, we gotta go." I say, walking over to the elevator and pushing the button to go down. Ruthanne walks over and stands beside it to wait, trying to calm herself down.
"See you on Tuesday," he says, letting go of my hand reluctantly.
"See you." I say. I have a feeling he stood there for a while after the elevator doors closed.

Chapter 5

2009-07-21T07:13:00.000-07:00

Max answers the door, "HEY!" He says it just like he did yesterday, his voice excited. And I still can't get over that accent. So cute. "Come on in!" He opens the door wider, letting us through. Sidney gets up off of the sofa and greets us. Being a girl, I don't fail to notice that he said hello to Ruthanne first. But I don't care, he hugged me! We walk back over to the couch and I sit between Ruthanne and Sidney. Most of the same guys from last night are here again, playing video games, sprawled out on the floor. They hardly notice when we walk through.
The conversation is random, Max usually asking weird questions, but we all have fun, just hanging out. Sidney got us all a Coke and I secretly wonder how much Max really has in his kitchen. Kris Letang, sitting alone, isn't a big part of the conversation and I know that Ruthanne can't help but stare so I introduce them officially, hoping they hit it off.
She eventually went and sat with him on the love seat, leaving Sidney and I on the couch, not really having an excuse to sit so close anymore. I reluctantly scoot over, but he must feel the same way cause he wraps his big arm around me and pulls me back over. "Where are you going?" Sidney whispers in my ear. I giggle, just because I wouldn't stand a chance if I actually did try to resist him. Being tucked under Sidney's arm is one of my favorite places to be, already.
"Look," I subtly point at Ruthanne and Tanger sitting together. "She likes him," I say.
"I know." Sidney says, "look at her face." And I realize what he's talking about. Ruthanne's eyes were dreamy when she looked at Kris. She didn't even notice our stares, but neither did Kris. I hope everything works out in Ruthanne's favor, meaning a date with Kris. She's dreamt about that for as long as I can remember.
"Wanna play?" I ask Sidney, remembering the good time we had yesterday.
"Next game." He promises. And that's what we do. He sits behind me arms around me like last night and helps me with the buttons. I have a hard time concentrating on the game, Sidney's smell surrounding me, his muscular body against mine. I laugh when I'm the second one to die, dropping the controller. Sidney kisses the top of my head and says, "next time, we'll win." I laugh and we wait for the guys to finish the current game.

Ruthanne's Point of View:

Kris takes my phone and puts his number in my contacts. "Call me." He whispers, handing me his phone. Even Max has joined the group of video-gamers, so Kris and I are the only 2 not playing. I don't think he minds, at least, it doesn't seem as if he does.
"aren't they cute?" I look at Sidney and Caitlin on the floor laughing.
"Sidney really likes her." He says, "he didn't want to take her home last night. She's all he could talk about after he came back." He fills me in.
"aww. Well they're really cute." I say, glancing at the clock.
Kris notices, "do you have to be somewhere?" He asks.
"No, not really" I say, trying to think of any excuse to stay longer than I should. My parents probably wouldn't approve of this, being weird like they are. But Kris is so nice.
"Ok." He says, smiling for a moment then looking down shyly. "So Ruthanne, I kinda have to go, but I was wondering if you'd want to hang out sometime. Maybe Tuesday?"
"Um." I pause, not knowing my plans. But I'm willing to cancel. "yeah." I say smiling. "Call me." He gets up and says his goodbyes, everyone waves, too concentrated on their game to do anything more. I walk over and sit down on the couch closer to Caitlin.

Chapter 4

2009-07-20T15:57:00.000-07:00

As I reached for the doorknob the door bursts open. "DEETS!!!" Ruthanne screeches. Her dad, watching the news, doesn't appreciate this and yells at her to be quiet.
Instead of filling her in right there on the spot, I run up to her room. "SO," she says, "what happened!? I saw you guys through the peephole! So cute!" She screeches again and her mother in the next room tells her to be quiet.
"Well," I say, not knowing how to explain the wonderful--although many people would say we realy didn't do anything--time I had with Sidney. "We left because of Brittny. I guess she's stalking him."
"I KNOW THAT!" Ruthanne shouts, still very excited.
"ok ok." I say, trying to calm her down a little. "He drove me over to my place to get dressed and we went over to Max Talbot's apartment!"
"OH MY GOD! WAS TANGER THERE!?" She yells again.
I smile, "yeah. And guess what." She beams, but looks extremely jealous. "He's cuter in person!" I say. "So we hung out there for the rest of the night," I say, trying not to look overly excited about it. "And he's taking me out for dinner on Tuesday!" I can't contain myself any longer, I jump up and dance in a little circle.
"EEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!" She squeals, "I'm so happy for you!"
"Well, who set it up? You're the best!" I hug her quickly. "So, are we going to the mall tomorrow?" I ask.
"Heck yes," she says. "I heard there's gonna be a huge sale at Delia's." We dance around again, two giddy teenage girls who are having the time of their lives. We go to bed around 11:30, wanting to be able to get up bright and early for that sale.

The store was packed with frenzied girls just like us. We walked out with a few cute pieces, but we didn't spend much time there. We made our way to the food court, kinda hungry. And that's where we saw her again, hanging on some guy of course. "Um. Ruthanne. Let's not eat now." I struggle to say something comprehensible.
"Why?"
"Brittny & Friends." I point and quickly turn around trying to avoid the scene that she's gonna try and cause.
"You can't run from her forever you know." Ruthanne points out.
"um. Yeah I can." I say and duck behind a fake plant looking down and pretending to fiddle with my iPhone.
"Come on Caitlin." Ruthanne says pulling me out from behind the plant and leading me back towards the ice cream shop. "I'm Hungry." She says.
I end up ordering a mint chocolate chip and she gets strawberry. Yum. I have to admit that the ice cream was good, whether Brittny's burning glare was drilling the back of my head or not. She never did confront us, but she probably knew that the glare would get on my nerves more.

On the way back home I get a text from Sidney:
Sidney: Hey, what's up?
Caitlin: heading back to Ruthanne's. We were at the mall. you?
Sidney: nothing. I'm at Max's, chillin w/ some of the guys again. Do you guys wanna come out?
Caitlin: sure.
I turn to Ruthanne. "Sidney wants to know if we can come out. I already told him yes." I say, smiling wide. "Drive woman." I command, in a hurry to see him again. I tell Ruthanne where Max lives, getting directions from Sidney on the way.
I take a guess on which apartment is Max's and I'm not right, the door being answered by some gothic teenager. She lazily points to Max's apartment. "thanks!" Ruthanne and I gasp, jogging down the hall.

Chapter 3

2009-07-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

The guys started to show up after a while. Sidney and I never left the couch, sitting there with his arm around me, I was as comfy as ever. Everyone was making jokes on Sidney, but he just laughed along with them, only now and again having a good comeback.
There was a knock at the door. Max went to answer it. "FOOD!!!!" He yelled excitedly. And I swear I've never seen guys move that fast. Not even in a game.
"God." I whisper under my breath. Sidney chuckles, standing up slowly and then helps me up too. We walk over to the door where Max is desperately trying to get out of the crowd of ravenous Penguins Players while balancing at least 5 pizzas. "He really shouldn't have shouted." I say smartly.
"He doesn't think of the consequences." Sidney laughs at Max who is still being attacked. "Guys!" Sidney shouts and they all turn for a moment. Long enough for Max to hurry out of the mess and put the pizzas down on a table.
Max shouts, "dinner is served!" Obviously not learning the lesson. All the guys hurry to the pizza. Sidney and I linger behind, not really caring about food this second.
"They're hilarious." I point out.
Sidney chuckles, "try working with them." We laugh harder and wait even longer for all the guys to finish piling pizza on their plates. Each guy I saw walk away from the table had about 5 slices on their plate.
"Wow. Max wasn't kidding when he said you guys eat a lot." Sidney just laughs and takes 3 slices for himself. I take 2, not even able to eat more than that.
Maxime appears from the kitchen with another 24 pack of Coke. I guess we already went through the first one. As the guys get up to get another drink Max says, "now you see it! Now you don't!" Sidney and I laugh again finding ourselves laughing more often than not tonight.

The pizza was good. Everyone enjoyed it and they went straight to the video games after that. Almost all the guys sprawled out on the floor, laughing when they killed someone on that war game everyone's playing. Sidney sat with me on the couch instead of playing. I kept insisting that he could play, that I'd just watch. But he insisted that if he played, I'd have to too.
I finally gave in--secretly wanting to try it anyways-- and Jordan Staal passed me his game control.
"What do I do?" I asked, as helpless as I sounded. Sidney handed his control back to Jordan and wrapped his arms around me, showing me the buttons to shoot, duck and crawl around. When the game started, Sidney and I playing together, he helped me whenever I needed it and the next thing I knew, I was one of the only 2 left in the game. Our little character ran around looking for Tanger's, but he eventually made a kill-shot from on top of some little hill. I sighed, laughing and leaning back into Sidney's hard chest. "That was kinda fun," I whisper.
"See!?" Sidney exclaims, "boy's aren't crazy for liking stuff like this." We laugh again and I pass off my control to Marc Andre Fleury, hopping back up onto the couch.
Sidney glanced at the clock across the room and gasped. It was 7:00 already. "Do you need to be home?" He asked nervously.
"No, I'm supposed to be at Ruthanne's tonight." I say.
"What time are you supposed to be there?" He asks, looking a little bit sad to have the night coming to an end.
"Around 10:00 is fine. We have time," I say, gently grabbing his big hand in my small one and running my finger tips over his knuckles. He sighs in relief. "I'm not ready for tonight to be over," I say.
"Me either." He says, "you're a really great girl. I'm glad I decided to go to your party thing."
"Well, thanks." I say, smiling. "You're a really great guy. I'm glad you came too." I say, making it sound cheesy on purpose. We laugh and he leans in for a little kiss. Everyone else was playing the video game. No one would see.
Except Max, choosing this exact moment to get up for a drink. "whoa!" He exclaims, then sheilds his eyes in mock horror. Sidney laughs, his lips still on mine. I just smile, loving this moment, Max or not.
The clock struck 9:30 all too soon and Sidney sighed as we got up saying our goodbyes. All the guys gave him questioning looks, probably meaning, "will we see her again?" He nodded to them and we ducked out the door.
"Thanks so much for bringing me." I said out in the hall. "I had a great time with you tonight."
"Oh you're welcome." He said, squeezing my hand. We walk outside into the chilly air. It's not quite dark yet, but it's been a pretty cold summer.
He opens the passenger side door for me like he always does, and walks around to his side quietly. I tell him where Ruthanne lives and he drives in silence. He finally breaks it. "So, I had a great time today, and I'd like to spend more time with you."
"Oh?" I asked quietly, not expecting this.
"Yeah. I was wondering if you'd want to go out with me on Tuesday, to dinner."
"Sure." I say nonchalantly as if I got asked out by my famous idols every day.
We pull up on the curb right outside Ruthanne's and he comes around to open my door. He walks me up onto her stoop and says, "I'm gonna pretend like I'm dropping you off at your house."
We laugh and he gives me a little kiss. I stand on on the step and watch as he gets into his car and drives away.

Chapter 2

2009-07-19T13:52:00.001-07:00

I turn around just in time to see Brittny wrap her arm around Sidney, who was still holding my hand. "Trying to avoid me?" She asks him, trying to sound innocent.
Sidney is speechless, searching for words and not finding any, so I say it for him. "Yeah, actually, we were."
She mock gasps and says, "why would you ever want to do that!?" In her fake voice.
"Hmmmm... Let's see. I could make you a list, or you could get out of here before I..." I kinda trail off. I'm not one to threaten people.
"Before you what?" She asks teasingly, putting on more lip gloss and frustrating me even more.
"Before I call security on someone who wasn't invited." I look down, embarrassed. "Just please, Brittny, don't ruin my birthday. I leave you alone, you leave me alone."
"Sorry," she snaps her gum and walks off. It's unusual that she makes an appearance without her posse. Maybe even they have given up on her. "Seeya babe," she waves at Sidney. He kinda makes a growling sound under his breath and turns back to the jukebox.
"I'm so sorry," we both try to say at the same time. We laugh at that, but the mood is still tense.
"I hate her," I say, "we were best friends in middle school and then she adopted her little posse and ditched me.. I still can't be civil around her, I'm sorry, it's hard to hold my tongue sometimes." I ramble on, apologizing.
"You said it better than I could have," he says. "She won't leave me alone. Her parents want ties to the Penguins team and she's been harassing all of us for a long time. Especially me. I'm on the verge of getting a restraining order for her." He sounds angry and the way he is scrolling through songs on the jukebox appears violent.
"I would."
"What?" He asks, still annoyed and in a bad mood.
"Get a restraining order." I say laughing, trying desperately to lighten the mood. He laughs a little bit too, but not seriously. "Come on Sidney." I plead, "don't let her get to you."
"I'm just so tired of stalkers!" He says. I try to keep from laughing, he sounds so funny.
"Do you want to leave?" I ask, kinda scared of what the answer might be.
"Only if you can come with me. But this is your party you gotta stay here, for a while at least. And I'm afraid of what will happen if I leave you here alone with her." He says. I let out a little sigh of relief. I'm not ready for him to leave.
"You're worried about me and Brittny?" I confirmed.
"Yeah. You're both scrapper, in your own way. And that's why I don't want you to fight." He says, brushing his thumb down my cheek.
"I can leave soon." I say, looking out the window overlooking the ice. "None of them give a crap that I'm here. It's all about you." I say.
"Sorry." He says, smiling.
"So, I guess, let me make my rounds. Say hello and goodbye to everyone. Thank Ruthanne." He nods as I squeeze his hand and walk back out.
It takes me at least 15 minutes to get out of conversations about what Sidney's like and what I'm going to do with him later on. I thanked Ruthanne and she gave me our routine pep talk and made it back to Sidney by the jukebox within 20 minutes. "Sorry, " I sigh, "EVERYONE seemed to get interested when I said I was leaving with you."
"it's okay. I don't mind waiting for you." He says, grabbing my hand and pulling me down onto the bench to sit beside him. I begin unlacing my skates and taking them off. I try to put my sneaker balls in inconspicously, but Sidney catches me.
"Don't be embarrassed," he holds up his own pair and we share a laugh.
Leaving the rink he leads me to his range rover and opens the passenger side door for me. I thank him and hop in as he walks around to the driver's side. "Do you want to stop by your house and get changed?" He asks.
"yeah, if it's okay." I reply.
"Where's your house?" He asks.

At my house I invite him in, "my parents aren't going to be around for a while, don't worry." I say when he smiles nervously. Inside, I run up the stairs to my room. He follows kind of slowly, looking at the pictures hung up on all the walls. "This shirt or this one?" I hold up two when he walks into my room. He points to my favorite. "Good choice." I say and grab a pair of holey jeans to wear with it. "Stay." I command, going into my bathroom. In there, I change and then rifle through my jewelry box looking for accessories. I add a touch of eyeliner and then come back out in record time. I give Sidney my best runway walk, almost falling all the way over to him. He gives me an approving nod and we walk back downstairs and outside.
"You look nice," he says.
"Thanks." I say, "so what're we doing?"
"While you were in the bathroom, Max texted me. A bunch of us are getting together over there later. But he wants to meet you, so we're going right now." Sidney smiles, holding my hand as we walk down off of the porch.
"Awesome." I reply, looking forward to what may be a good party. Sidney drives us to a nice apartment building and we ride the elevator to Max Talbot's floor. Sidney knocks and then lets himself in.
Max says, "HEY!" In his nerdy voice with an awesome accent. He gives Sidney a quick, manly hug and turns to me. "So you're Caitlin?" He asks. I nod and he kisses me on the cheek. We walk into his living room and Sidney and I sit down on a cushy sofa. Max is in and out of the living room, still preparing for the guys to come. "They're real hogs," he explains.
Sidney nods, "we all eat a ton."

Chapter 1

2009-07-19T10:21:00.000-07:00

As we walked into the empty lodge-like entrance to my favorite ice rink, my friend Ruthanne asked, "have you ever wished to be like the most popular girl at school?"
I replied with a, "no, never. WHY? have you?"
"yeah, actually," she smiled sheepishly, "I think it would be fun!"
"What? the scandals, lies, rumors, stalkers, haters? Sure." I laugh and walk to a bench to lace up.
"ha. Thanks Caitlin," she says sarcastically.
"yep. You should know better, you know." I laugh, "where is everybody?" I ask slowly, "It's usually packed in here."
"Well I heard there's an MJ memorial down the street," she says, sounding a little fake. I don't think anything of it, trying to stay in a good mood.
"oh. Well, you ready?" I say, always wanting to be the first out on the ice. She nods and we skate out together.
"But seriously Caitlin, rumor has it, she has met Sidney Crosby." She is the name basically everyone knows Brittny Crum as. She's only the bitchiest, richest, most annoying girl in the whole school. And people love her. It's dumb.
"So what? I bet he thought she was a bitch." I say, kinda jealous since most of the rumors about the infamous Brittny Crum are true.
"Yeah, you're right," Ruthanne said, skating backwards an odd look on her face.
Just then I hear a "happy birthday Caitlin!" in an oddly familiar voice. Turning around, the most gorgeous face is looking at me. Sidney Crosby just wished me a happy birthday. Suddenly I'm flat on the ice. Ruthanne gasps and stifles a laugh while Sidney helps me up.
"Sorry," he apologizes, "I didn't mean to startle you." I smile helplessly, blushing because of my deathly embarrassment. I just fainted in front of Sidney Crosby. "Happy Birthday," he says again.
"thanks." I say smiling--what else can you do in the presence of Sidney Crosby!? "Finally 18!' I exclaim, trying to sound normal when it's nearly impossible to contain myself from jumping around.
When I'm finally able to sort through all the thoughts in my head I look at Ruthanne who is across the ice, nonchalantly staring. I glare at her, she set all of this up! "RUTHANNE!" I yell across the ice. She shrugs, a teasing smile on her face.
"sorry," I turn back to Sidney. "She knows I hate surprises." As I say this, a zillion people begin to file onto the ice.
"I'm the same way," he says, picking up my hand from where it dangled at my side. I kinda glance at it nervously. He notices, but doesn't say anything, knowing it would make things awkward. I smile up at him, noticing for the first time how much shorter than him I really am. "Do you, want to go get a hot chocolate?" He asks slowly, looking a little nervous.
"um. Sure." I say, still not sure of myself around him. We pass Ruthanne on our way off the ice, she gives me a Go Get 'im Tiger! wink. I smile to myself, looking around at all the staring faces. Including, Brittny Crum, who glares at me, flips her hair, then skates away to start another rumor I'm sure. Oh well, I decide, right now I need to focus on not doing something stupid.
We stand at the concession stand in the corner and I pull out money for my hot chocolate. Sidney quickly slaps his down saying "2 please," before I can even protest. I decide not to say anything about it and we gather our drinks and go to a secluded booth in the corner.
"Wow." I say, "this isn't how I imagined meeting Sidney Crosby." We both laugh and sip on our drink.
"It is different. But, Ruthanne is a devious friend. For both of us," he says.
"wait, you two know each other?" I ask suspiciously.
"From parties. Somehow we always end up at the same ones. She told me about your birthday coming up and how much it would mean to you if I could come out. I figured it would be fun to come meet you. All she ever talks about is things that you two have done together." I smile.
"That's Ruthanne for ya," I say.
"she's definitely different," he says laughing. I nod and sip my hot cocoa again. I hadn't realized how thirsty I was. My cup was only half full now. "So, how do you like your birthday party so far?" He asks.
"Wait, this is a party?" I ask just realizing why so many people from school were here.
"Yeah," he laughs, "it is. Ruthanne rented out the rink."
I look down feeling dumb. "Wow. It's really nice. Thanks for coming," I add.
"No problem." He says, taking the last gulp of his drink. I do the same thing, only having a sip or two left. "Do you want another?" he asks. I shake my head, if I drink another, I'll have to pee soon.
"Let's go skate," I say.
"sounds good to me." He says.
On the ice we talk about random things, just going with the flow around in circles on the ice. "You know, I bet this feels weird for you."
"what?" he asks.
"Skating slowly in circles." I laugh.
"Yeah, it isn't normal for me," he turns around, skating backwards in front of me, holding my hands. "So, I was thinking..." he says, but trails off, looking away suddenly, a panic in his eyes.
"what?" I ask.
"um. Do you want to go out tonight? Meet some of the guys. Hang out. Party?" He says quicklys, skating backwards more quickly now.
"sure." I say, "but what's wrong."
"There's someone here." He says pulling me along. When we reach the runway like exit, he steps off the ice and gently tugs my arm. He walks as quickly as he can, which is faster than me, and he stands with his back to the windows, looking at the jukebox.
"who?" I ask. He doesn't reply, just scrolling through the songs nonchalantly, trying to look inconspicuous. "who!?" I ask again.
"Me." Someone behind me says.

new new new.

2009-07-17T11:41:00.000-07:00

I'll probably start my own story sometime soon, ugh, I just wish I could figure this Google Account crap out.