Chapter 31

Don't hate me after you read this chapter.
:)



I open my eyes to see that I am in my own bed.
How did I get in here?
Sitting up in my bed, I see Sid on the floor with a cover on top of him. He must have placed me in my bed after I fell asleep.
looking up, I see that it is 8:30 in the morning.

Removing the covers off of me, I place my legs on the floor and carefully walk around a sleeping Sidney to walk out of my open bedroom door into the hallway
Stopping halfway down, I open the door to LC's room, as she is sleeping and alone.
Kris must have left.
Silently I close her door as I walk up front to see no one is on the couches or floor.

Sighing, I see a phone on the table, that is blinking.
I walk over to the table and pick up the phone.
opening it up, I see a text message there.

Sid-
Your late for morning skate. Where are u?
The whole team is worried cuz ur here b4 all of us.
When u get up, call me.

Whitters

I close his cell as I walk back to my room.
Walking in, I go over to Sid and kneel beside him.

"Sidney you need to get up," I say as I move his shoulder back and forth.
His eyes open.

"Ok. What time is it?" Sid asks as he yawns.
I look up at the clock 8:35

"8:35," I say.
He sits up and gets up off of the floor.

"Thank you for waking me up," Sid says as he begins to folds the covers up.

"I wasnt going to wake you up but, I kinda read your text from Ryan about practice. Sorry," I say as he places the folded cover on the bed.

"It's alright Aaylah. I dont mind you looking at my phone," Sid says as he kisses my forehead.
I smile as he smiles at me as he heads pass me to go up front.

I follow him as I walk up front.
Sid grabs his shoes from the door as he walks over to the couch as he sits down.

"How long is practice today?" I ask.

"Until noon and a game at 3," Sid says as I watch him lace up his shoes.

"So will you come back here to get me and LC?" I ask.

"Yes, oh I have to take your car to praitice. We never got the Range Rover yesterday," sid says as I walk over to the table.
I grab my keys as sid gets up.

"Catch," i say as I throw my keys to him.

"Thanks babe," Sid says.

"So are you staying tonight or going back to Marios?" I ask.

"I'll probably stay here unless something comes up. Well I got to be going. See you at noon," sid says as he kisses me and heads for the door.

"Dont let anyone drive my car Sid. i'm trusting you,"

"I wont let anyone drive it. I promise,"

"Alright now get your butt to practice before you get in trouble,"
Sid smiles as he walks out of the apartment, closing the door behind him.

Turning around, I head into the kicthen as I hear my cell phone going off.
Walking over to the kicthen table, I pick it up.

"Hello," i say as I walk over to the Fridge.

"Is this Aaylah?" a girl asks.

"Yes this is her, who is this?" I ask as I pull a bagel out of the fridge with honey spread.

"It's Nicole, from school," she says.
Nicole, oh Whits sister.

"Whitneys sister right?" I ask.

"Yes,"

"Hey, sorry I didnt regonize your voice. How are you?"
Walking over to the countier, I plug in the toaster placing the bagel in.

"I'm doing good. School has been alright. What about you?"

"I've been awesome. I won my hockey game yesterday,"

"You play hockey?"

"Yeah i do, well my boyfriend got me on the team,"

"Nice, so are you going to the game this afternoon?"

"Yes I am,"

"Well can i possibly sit with you?"

"Yeah, I'll make sure we get a spot for you. Wait what is your seat?"

"c16, in seat number 24,"

"Then your good, i'm in the section in seat number 25, so we will sit by on another,"

"Oh good, so what do you do while they pratice?"
My bagel pops up as I place it onto a papter towel, as I grab a knife to spread the honey spread onto the bagel.

"Just relax and get ready for the game. I normally dont do nothing before a game,"
I grab the napkin and head into the living room as i plop down on the couch.

"Ok, so can I meet you somewhere since its my first game?"

"Just follow Whitney into the lockerroom, Myself and my friends will see you there, ok?" I ask as I grab the remote and turn on the TV.

"Alright, I'll let you go. See you later on,"

"alright. Talk to you later, Nicole,"

I flip my phone down and set it beside me as i take a bagel and bit into it.
My eyes go up onto the TV, as it is on FSN.

"Well you should have been at Mellon arena yesterday Stan," an older guy says.

"Why is that Streggy?" Stan asks.

"Cause that women's hockey game was really good yesterday. Guess who the number 1 stars number was?"

"87?"

"Yeah, by the name of Aaylah Thomason. She plays alot like Siddo too. Shes like the next Sidney Crosby,"

Me the next Sidney Crosby?
No way, he is alot better then me and I know it.
He's been playing since he was young and me only 3 weeks.

Grabbing the remote again, i change the channel as I landed on Discovery channel.

"How many in that pot?" Captain Jonathan asks.

"34,"

"peep,"
I smile as I finish off my bagel.
Guess I'll do some of my homework.

I leave the TV on as I get up with my paper towel in my hands as I throw it away in my smaller trash can by the front door.
Walking over to the table, I grab my school bag off the chair,placing it onto the table as I grab my hockey bag, throwing it on the ground in the cronter by the landuray room door.

Sighing, I sit down in the chair as I unzip my backpack, as I pull out my notebook and textbook.
Placing my bag next to me, I began to read and do my essay.

2 hours later (10:45)

Closing my notebook, I hear a door open.
Turning around, I see Lc coming out of her room.

"Did you sleep alright?" I ask as I get up from the table.

"I slept alright after Kris stayed with me. He's a good friend," Lc says as she walks into the kicthen.

"That's a good thing, so are you going to the game tonight?"
I pick up my bag, placing it onto the table as I place my books into it.

"Yeah, I'm going to go. What did you have for breakfest?"
I zip my bag up and place it on the table as i got up.

"Just a bagel with honey spread on, like from Ryan's,"

"I think I'l have the samething, so when is the game?"

"Three but, Sid is coming over here to pick us up in my car,"
I see LC smile as it fadeds away.

"You sure your alright?" I ask as I walk into the kicthen as she places her bagel into the toaster.

"Yeah, I'm alright. So are you taking a shower?" LC asks.

"No, I took one yesterday,"

"Ok, then I'll get one after I eat,"
Her bagels, pop up as I walk out of the kicthen and head over to my computer.
Moving the mouse, the screen appears with Sidney on the background.
I dont remember putting him up.
As i look at the pic, it has a note with it
"This is Aaylah's computer.
Please dont touch!!

Sidney *Hearts* Aaylah and Aaylah *Hearts" Sidney

I smile as I click on the internet to look at a few websites, as an IM pops up.

GenosGirl71: Good morning there missy
PittsBabe88: Morning Hoe
GG71: lol, whats up?
P88: Nothing much, just chilling for a bit, then getting dressed for the game. U going?
gg71: Yeah I'm going, Geno is picking me up as well as Whit and his sister. I never knew he had one.
PB88: Neither did i until i met her at school. She is actuallying going to be sitting with us tonight
GG71: Oh ok, so how is LC doing?"
I look over my shoulder as LC has a semi smile on her face.
PB88: After Kris stayed over here, she is alright, not depressed.
GG71: Good, well i Got to go. See you and LC at the game
PB88: Bye
GenosGirl71 signs off at 10:54 am

I click it shut as i go to NHL.com
I see a tag called, Womens' New player
Clicking on it, I saw a picture of myself with Haley in the background.
It's an article on me.

Pittsburgh, PA
Novemeber 10th, 2007

Women's hockey doesnt get enought attantion like it should get, expecally when the women are pretty good hockey players at that. Say for example Women's Hockey Leagues newest player, Aaylah Thomason. She is a 19 year old skater that plays hockey for the Pittsburgh Tigers. She is a rookie with an attitude and is being compared to the Penguins own Sidney Crosby. Thats a player then if she is being compared to Crosby this early in her career. Oh yeah, did he mechin Thomason had the same number as Crosby.


"Hey I'm going to take a shower and get ready," LC says as I turn my head off the screen and on her.

"Alright," I say as I clock and save that into my favorite as I hear the bathroom door shut and an knock on my front door.

"I'm coming," I say as I get up off the chair and walk over the door.
Unlocking it, i open it up to see Colby standing there.

"Get out of here Armstrong," I say, firmly.

"I need my bag," Colby says.

"Stay there," I say as I walk over and walk past Sid's bag, in which as a 87 and his last name one it.
I grab Colby's bag as I throw it to him, and slam the door.

"What was that Aaylah?" LC asks from the bathroom.

"Nothing," I say as I walk back over to the computer and shut it off for the day.
After is turns off, I walk into the hallway as I hear LC singing in the shower.
Shes a pretty good singer.

When I walk into my room, I close the door and head right over to the closet.
Opening it up, I pull down a pair of jeans from off the hanger. Looking around, I cant find anything more, so I walk over to my dresser.
Grabbing the handles, I open the second drawer as a found a yellow puffy shirt.
I grab it and pull out my sweater that goes with it.
Closing the drawer, I change from the clothes I had on yesterday to the jeans, shirt, and sweater that I have layed out on my bed.

Picking up my dirty clothes off the ground, I walk into my bathroom and place them into the pile.
Walking back into my room, I go over to the driesser as I pick up my brush and began to put my hair up half and half.
Looking into the mirror, I was finished getting dressed.
As I turn around, I see that the clock read 11:25
It didn’t take me a lot of time to get finished getting dressed.

I walk over to the door and open up the door to smell a soapy arrouma from the bathroom.

“I like what your wearing,” I say as LC turns around to face me.
She has on a pink 87 jersey on with jeans and clog shoes.
Her hair is up in a weird ponytail kinda way.

“Thank you, I like your outfit too but, why aren’t you wearing a pens shirt?” LC asks.

“I only have 2 shirts and they both are dirty,” I say.

“Ah ok but, your still wearing the Pens colors on you,”

“Yep,”
I smile as I head back up front and sit down on the couch.
Deadlest Catch is still on the TV, as I turn my head.

“So what time is Sid coming to get us?” LC asks as she walks across the TV.

“In about 30 minutes practice is over but, he may leave early to come and get us,” I say.

“Why is he picking us up so early for?”

“I don’t know but I think he likes to hang out before the game. Get his mind set on the game,”

“Yeah, that sounds like Sid to me. What are you watching?”

“Deadest Catch, it’s a good show. My step-dad got me hooked on it,”

“Ah ok, whats it about?”

“About them living on the edge of life. They fish up in Alaska for crab,”

“Oh ok, I’ll watch it with you until Sid gets here,”

30 minutes go by as an knock comes at the door.

“I’m coming,” I say as I get up from off the couch and walk over to the door.
Unlocking the door, I open it up to see a sweaty Sid there.

“Hey babe,” Sid says as he comes in for a hug.

“Nah, your not hugging me sweaty,” I say as I smile.

“Your not nice,”
Sid smile.

“You ready to go?” Sid asks.

“Yep, come on LC,” I say as she gets up from off the couch.

“You ok?” Sid asks LC.

“Yes I’m fine. I just want to enjoy my day,” LC says as she walks out of the door before me and Sid walk right behind her and down the steps.

“Do you want to sit up from LC?” I ask as we all walk down the sidewalk.

“No, you go ahead and sit up front with Sidney,” LC says as she walks onto Sid’s side as I walk over to the passenger side door.

“You can open it babe,” Sid says as I open up the door and get into my own car.
Again I’m my own passenger in my own car.

Leaning over, I grab the door handle and close the door.
Grabbing my seatbelt, I place it over my chest and clip it into place.

“You buckled LC?” Sid asks.

“Yes,” LC says as I watch as Sid backs out of the parking place and then places the car in drive.
Turning the wheel, he drives out of the parking lot and turns right onto the main road.

“We’ll take a differeny way today, so we don’t have to fight with the twists,” Sid says.

“Thank god. I was tired of thoses,” LC says, as Sid turns a left.

“I was in the news today,” I say.

“Really?” Sid asks.

“Yep and they are comparing me to you,” I say.

“Wow,” LC says.

“I know I cant believe it neither,” I say.

“How was practice Sid?” LC asks.

“It was alright, nothing really great happened. Oh I got to meet the three new guys on our team,” Sid says.

“Three, who got traded beside, him?” LC asks.

“Darryl Sydor and Jarkko Ruutu,” Sid says as he turn onto the main highway to Pittsburgh.

“Oh ok, so the new players will be in the game today?” LC asks.

“Yes, as far as I know they will be. You’ll meet them later on today,” Sid says.

“Alright, so why are get going this early?” LC asks.

“Well I am going to buy you two lunch if you wanted it and get the chance to hang out with some of the guys and girlfriend and wives on the team,” Sid says.

“Oh ok, hey Aaylah is Vette going to be at the game?” LC asks.

“Yep, she is. Oh and that girl Nicole that I met at school will be there too,” I say.

“Who is Nicole?” Sid asks.

“Whit’s Sister,” I say.

“Oh ok, I remember him saying something about her being here,” Sid says.

“So LC, are you going with me on Tuesday night to go to my game on Wednesday in West Virgina ?” I ask.

“Yeah I’m going with you. You need a friend there with you. Oh Sid are you going?” LC asks.

“No, I have a game that night in Philly,” Sid says.

“Ok, then I’m going with you. I cant be here by myself,” LC says.

“Alright,” I say.

15 more minutes pass as Sid turn and pulls into the back parking lot of Mellon Arena.

“I’m going to park here, ok Aaylah?” Sid says.

“Alright, it’s the same parking spot we were in yesterday for my game,” I say, smiling as I unbuckle and get out of my own car.

“Here, you probably need to hold onto your keys,” Sid says as he walks over to me and hands me my keys.

“Ok, I was going to ask you if you wanted to hold them or not,” I say as I place my keys into my pocket as I follow Sid into the door of the arena with LC behind us.

As we walk into the arena, LC gets beside me as we follow Sid through his rital. After he is done, we head for the lockerroom.

“So are we allow to go into the lockerroom with you?” LC asks.

“Yeah, your allow too. The only room you cant is the dressing room,” Sid says as he opens the door to the lockerroom.

“Ladies first,” Sid says as I lead the way in as I already see Yvette sitting on Geno’s lap.

“Hey Vette,Geno,” I say as I walk over there to them.
Vette gets off of his lap as she hugs me.

“I’m glad you’re here, Geno was beating me up, holding me so I cant get up,” Vette says as Geno gets up.

“That a lie,” Geno says as I turn to see Whitney talking to Sid as I walk over to Nicole, which she has her head down.

“Hey there,” I say as he lifts up her head.

“Hey Aaylah,” Nicole says as she stands up.

“Hey, why was your head down?” I ask.

“My head is kinda hurting me,”

“Oh ok, so how was the ride with Geno and Vette to the arena?”

“They are really nice, me and Vette talked a little bit. Shes nice,”

“I know she is. Shes actually my friend since she moved here a long time ago,”

“Oh ok,”

“So are we going to go get some food?” Ryan asks as Kris walks into the room.

“Hey Kris,” LC says as she walks over to him as they hug one another.

“Hey,” Kris says as he walks to LC by herself.

“So when do we eat?” Ryan asks.

“Shut up, Whit. We will,” Nicole says.

“So Kris you wanna join us for lunch?” Sid asks.

“Where are we going?” Kris asks.

“I was about to ask that,” Sid says.

“Lets got to the Chruch Brews, they have pizza there and everything,” Ryan says.

“That sounds good to me,” Vette and LC both agree with one another.

“Ok, so are we going to drive there?” I ask.

“Probably not, its just down the road,” Kris says.

“But wont you guys get attacked?” LC asks.

“Nah, we shouldn’t. The people wouldn’t do that here, but maybe in another city they would,” Sid says.

“Alright, so we have eight people,” Geno says.

“Since Whitters decided where we are going, he leads the way,” Sid says as we all being to smile and laugh.

“Alright, follow the leader. And that’s me,” Ryan says as he walks out of the door as the guys get in front of the girls.

“Guess, the boys wanna hang out for a bit,” LC says as we walk out of the lockerroom and down the hall to the back of the building.

“Yeah,” I say in agreement to her as Sid had one door open and Geno the other door as we walk out of the arena.

“Thanks guys,” All the girls says.

“Your welcome,” Sid and Geno say to us.
As I walk out of the building, Sid came over to me as he grabs my hand into his but didn’t interwine out fingers together.

I look at him as he mouthes” I’m not because of the girls and photographers”
I nod my head as LC walks on Sids other side and Kris is right behind her as the other four are ahead of us, with Ryan leading the way.

“So when do we get to meet the new players?” I ask as we cross the road and the far back parking lot.

“Hopefully, when we get back from eating, they will be there,” Sid says.

“What teams did they come from?” LC asks.

“Atlanta, Detroit, and New York,” Sid says.

“Detroit?” I ask.

“Yeah, and they got Ruutu too,” Sid says.

“Oh ok,” LC says.

“Oh, are you, Aaylah, LC, Kris and Vette coming to play mini golf after the game? We are planning a game with the young guns on the team,” Whitney asks.

“Do you wanna play?” Sid asks me.

“Yeah, I’ll love to go,” I say.

“We’re in,” Sid says.

“So are me and Kris,” LC says.

“Ok, so we got you 6, me, Nicole. Two of the new guys, which I wont say, Jordan, TK, Fleury, Vero, Malkin, and maybe Bugsy might join us,” Whit says as we get onto a sidewalk.
Everyone is in twos.

“Alright,” Sid says.

5 minutes of walking later, we walk into the restaurant with Ryan and Sid holding the doors open.

“Thank you boys,” I say as I walk into the place behide Nicole as we wait for everyone to get inside.

“Is this a buffet?” LC asks as we all walk to the counter.

“Nope,” Ryan says.

“How many are in your party?” A lady asks.

“Eight,” Ryan says as I watch her grabbing 8 menus.

“Follow me please,” she says as I walk behide Nicole to the table, which were two combined.

“A waiter will be with you soon,” she says as I walk over to the other side of the table and sit in one of the middle chairs as Sid comes around me and sits on the end.
LC sits across from me as Geno is beside her with Vette on the end and Kris on the other end.
Nicole was on my right side and Whit on the end.

“Hello, I’m your waiter this afternoon, what would you all like to start off to drink?” he asks.

“I would like an sweet tea with a lemon,” I say.

Everyone ordered their drinks as I pick up my menu.

“Who about we get two extra large pizza’s, one with chesse the other with pepperoni?” Ryan suggested.

“We need more pizza then that Whitters,” Sid says.

“Then 4 extra large pizzas, two chesse and two pepperoni,” Ryan says.

“Does that sound alright girls?” Sid asks.

“It’s alright with me cause I’m not going to eat a whole lot,” I say.

“Then we’ll do that,” Sid says as the waiter comes back and delivers the drinks to all of us.

“We are ready to order now,” Ryan says.

“Alright, what will you all have?” he asks.

“Four extra large pizzas, 2 with extra chesse and ther other 2 pepperoni please,” Ryan says as I pass mine and Sids menus to Nicole.

“Alright, should be ready shortly,” he says as he walks back.

“Have you ever been here before, Ry?” Nicole asks.

“Yes I have. The pizza’s are really good,” Ryan says.

“So Nicole, why did you move here?” LC asks.

“To be with my brother but mainly for school. I got accepted by CCAC, so. I ended up here,” Nicole says.

“Aww, well you alrighty have two friends at the CCAC. Me and Aaylah. Then you will have more friends, like Vette,” LC says.

“Yes,” Vette says.

“Thank you all,” Nicole says.
We just talk random for the next twenty minutes before the pizza ‘s comes out.
The waiter places one Chesse and pepperoni at each table.

“Let’s dig in,” Ryan says as I lean over the table and pick up two chesse pizza’s and place them onto my plate.
Grabbing one of the pizza’s, I take a bit to taste this great flavor.

“Umm this is good,” LC says as I nod in agreement with her.
After I finish off my two pieces, I watch as the boys continue to attack it.

“Are you done Aaylah?” Sid asks as I grab my sweet tea from off the table.

“Yeah, I really wasn’t too hungry,” I say.

“Alright,” Sid says as he grabs a piece of pepperoni pizza.
I just sit as I watch everyone still eating besides LC and Nicole.

“So what do we do when we get back to the arena?” Nicole asks.

“You girls cane come into the lockerroom until one hours before the game. Then you can go grab your seats in the stands,” Ryan says.

“Ok,” Nicole says.
As she says that, a cell phone goes off.

“It’s mine, I’ll be right back,” Sid says as he excused himself from the table to walk outside.

“Wonder who that is,” LC says.

“Probably someone from the team, Staalzy or Flower,” Kris says.

“Oh ok. I can’t wait for this game today,” LC says as she smiles a bit.

“Me neither, its going to be exciting to see you play Ryan,” Nicole says as Sid walks back in and joins the table.

“Who was it Sid?” Ryan asks.

“Someone, nosey,” Sid says.
I look at Sid with a worried look on my face.
He grabs my hand as I get up from the table and follow him.

“It wasn’t a girl, I promise. It was my dad, him, my mom, my sister and Aunt Victoria are flying in tomorrow night, for LC’s birthday, which is on Thrusday. They didn’t want me to tell her, so that’s why I didn’t say anything,” Sid explains to me.

“Oh ok, wait I thought they were coming in Tuesday?” I ask.

“They were but, they got their flights changed to tomorrow. They said they should be here around 3 in the afternoon,” Sid says.

“Oh ok. Thanks for telling me,” I say.
Sid kisses me saying” I would never cheat on you in a million years,”
I smile as we walk back over to the table, hand in hand.

“Everything ok?” LC asks as I sit back down in my seat.

“Yeah, everything is good,” I say.

“Is everyone done?” Geno asks.
A lot of us says yes but Kris doesn’t as he is still eating.
There are only 3 pieces of pizza left, so a lot has been aten.

“Dang, its almost all gone,” Ryan says as Geno and Kris both take another piece.
After that, I look at both of them back and forth.

“Me done,” Geno says.

“Me too,” Kris says.

“Someone has to eat the last piece. Don’t waste food,” Ryan says.

“I’ll eat it,” Sid says as he grabs the last piece of pizza as he ate it.

“Now we are done,”
The waiter then comes back over to us and hands Geno the recept as he passes to Ryan.

“I’ll pay,” Ryan says as he gets up.
I get up out of my chair as I push it back in.

“go ahead in front of me,” Sid says as I walk behide Nicole as LC got beside me as we head out of the restaurant.
We wait outside as Ryan comes walking out of the door.

“Let’s roll,” Geno says as we all smile, heading back to the arena.
I am beside Nicole as Sid is at the end with Ryan.

“Are you and Sid together?” Nicole asks.

“Could you tell?” I ask.

“Yeah, I kinda could have by the way he hald your hand and everything,” Nicole says.

“Yeah, he is my boyfriend,” I say as we cross the street.

5 minutes later, we all walk across Mario Lemieux Place and into the little road that lead into the arena.
Geno, Vette, Kris, and LC walk in before I walk in and wait in Sidney to walk in.
As he does, he begins his ritual.

“See you down there Sid,” Ryan says as Nicole goes with him as I walk with Sid during his ritual.
After he completes it, he heads down the hallway.

“Glad you stayed with me,” Sid says.

“Why?” I ask.

“Because my good luck charm and I’m nor kidding, when you are with me, the team wins,”

“Maybe you just want to show off to me,”
He smiles as he grabs my hand.

“Hey Sid, who is this?” A man asks.

“Oh, this is Aaylah Thomason. Aaylah this is the head coach, Michel Therrien,” Sid says.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I say as I shake his hand.

“You too, wait are you that women’s hockey player. For the Pittsburgh Tigers?” Michel asks.

“Yes I am,” I say.

“You played a great game yesterday. I seen it,”

“Thank you, Mr. Therrien.

“Your welcome, so you going to watch the Pens play today?”

“Yep, I got invited by Sidney here to come and watch,”
I see Michel looking at Sid.

“He’s a good boy. Well I’ll see you in a few minutes Sid,”
Michel walks off as we head to the lockerroom.

“He’s a nice coach,” I say as Sid opens up the locker room door.

“He’s alright, but not my best coach,” Sid says as I walk in with him behide me.
Looking around, not a lot of players are in here.

“Let’s go to the lounge,” Sid says as he grabs my hand as he leads the way to the lounge.
We walk in as we seen a lot of different players in here.

“Sidney is here everyone and with a Aaylah,” Jordan says

“Shut up Staalzy,” Sid says as we walk over and sit by Geno and LC.

“So are the new players playing in the game today?” Jordan asks.

“No clue,” Sid says as a guy close to bold walks into the room.

“Hey guys, mute the TV for a second,” he says.
I watch as LC grabs the remote from Kris and mute the TV.

“Well the new players will be playing and on the samelines as we practiced in the morning skate,” he says.

“alright,” A few of the guys says.

“Ok, and hour until closed doors and two hours before the game. Speak to you all in a bit,”
He walks out of the room as Kris unmutes the TV.

“What are you watching?” I ask as Sid walks over to me.

“There is no where to sit,” Sid says.
I get up from my spot between LC and the arm of the couch.
Watching him sit down, I walk a little as I felt his hands pulling me down to sit on his lap.

I move as I sit on Sid’s lap. His arms are both around me.

“Get a room you two,” LC says as I watch stick his tongue out at her.

“I agree,” Jordan says.
I smile.
I knew and Sid knew that we wouldn’t be getting a room together for awhile but I knew that LC and the rest of the guys were just joking with us and all.

“Kris give me the remote,” Marc Andre says as he walks into the room with Vero.
Kris passes the remote to LC, as she turns on MTV, in which had the hills on.

“We are not watching this,” Ryan Whitney says.

“No, no we can watch this,” Jordan says.
We all look over at him.

“What, I like this show. Blame Recchi’s wife,” Jordan says as no one turns the channel.

I look over at Sid, as he mouths “Want me to get up?”
I didn’t know what to say.

“I can sit on the armrest. You look uncomfortable babe,” Sid mouths.
I shook my head and mouth” I’m alright for now”

He knew that I wasn’t ready for me sitting on him but, I feel alright.
Me and him have held hands, slept with each other, not like sex or anything and we rarely kiss but we have done it, so sitting on his lap shouldn’t be that bad at all.

As a commercial came on, I feel my phone ringing in my pants pocket.

“Excuse me,” I say as I get up off of Sid and walk to the back through the door into the lockerroom.

I open my phone up as I say” Hello,”

“Hey,”
The voice that I never wanted to hear again.

“Why did you call me, Ryan?” I strongly ask.

“To congrats you on your win last night in the hockey league. They were talking about you this morning on ESPN,” Ryan says.

“Thanks but, don’t call me again. You hurt me remember?”

“Yes but I told you I was sorry. I wasn’t calling to get back together with you cause I know it will never happen but, I just wanted to congrats you”

“Thanks but I gotta go. Bye,” I hang up my phone and head back into the lounge as I walk over to Sid.

“You ok babe?” Sid asks.

“Not really,” I say a Sid gets up, grabbing my hand in his as he lead us to the back of the lounge.

“Whats wrong?” Sid asks.

“Ryan my ex just called me to congrats me on my win. I didn’t expect him to call me,” I say.

“Aww, but he did do a good thing by calling you cause if I was your ex, I would have done the same, not matter what I did to you,”

I just wrap my arms around Sid.

“Your right, he did do a good thing but I told him not to call back again,”

“That’s the right thing to do,” Sid says as we sit down at the little table in the back, as we watch TV.

50 minutes later, The bald guy comes into the lockerroom again.

“Can family and friends exit the locker room area. The team needs to have a private meeting before the pre-skate,”

I get up from my chair as I hug Sidney.

“Good luck Sid. Kick some Rangers butt,” I say as he kisses my forehead, since we weren’t really ready for lips yet, even though he has done that a few times.

“I will, see you after the game,” Sid says as I walk down one of the stairs and follow LC out of the lounge and locker room.

“Are you ok? You looked sad when you walked in from answering your phone,” LC says as we walk behide Nicole, Vette, and Vero.

“Yeah I’m alright now but, my ex called me to congrats me on my win yesterday. I told him thanks. I wasn’t expecting a call from him though,” I say.

“Aww, but I think its good that he called you, even though he cheating on you in the past cause I know that your probably never forgive him,” I say as as Vette turns around.

“Did you tell Ryan not to call back?” Vette asks.

“Yeah, I asked him not to,” I say as we walk down the backhalls.

Walking about 5 minute more minutes, we walked into this hallway that lead to the main hallways, where all the fans were at.
Going across the Penguins packed way, we walk into out little hall and into the arena.

“So is section C16 just for the girlfriends, Wives and family of the Pens?” Nicole asks we Vero is leading the way.

“Yeah pretty much,” Vero says as we turn down our alise.

It goes Vero, Nicole, myself, LC, Vette and the annoying Taylor, who is Max’s girlfriend.

“Am I suppose to be here?” I hear a lady ask.
I turn and get up.

“Let me see,” I say as she hands me her and her childrens tickets.

“Yes it is, your in the right section,” I say.

“Oh thank you. I wasn’t to sure where the Pens family sat at,”

“It’s here. I’m Aaylah Thomason by the way. I’m Sidney’s girlfriend,” I say.

“I’m Shelly Dupuis, Pascal’s wife and this is Jake and Jackie,” Shelly says.

“Well its to nice to have you part of our family now. I’m Vero, Marc Andre’s fiancée,” Vero says.

“Thank you. You girls are so wonderful,” she says.

“You’ll love the atmosphere here too,” I say as I sit down as Shelly and her kids do the same.

“I think we will,”

After 15 minutes of talking to Shelly, we decided that one day this week or next, we are having a girls day at Vero’s house but we all have to deicde on what day to do it on.

I look around the arena, as I look up at the big screen to see myself playing my game yesterday.

“Aaylah is that you?” Nicole asks.

“Yeah, that’s me,” I say.

“You play great hockey Aaylah,” Shelly says.

“Thank you,” I say as I seen myself go out onto the ice for the first star of the game.
I was smiling as I looked into the crowd at my friends.

Then I see someone skating out onto the ice as my cell began to ring.
Looking down at my pocket, I pull it out opening it to see a text on it.

“Can you come down to the locker room for a min.

Sid”

Closing up my phone, I get up.

“Where are you going?” Vette and LC both ask.

“I’ll be back, I gotta do something,” I say as I walk out of the row.
I head out of the main arena and cross the busy hall into the empty one.
Turning to the right, I head down back to the locker room.
I then open the door to see everyone in their stalls.

Everyone looks at me as Michel Therrien comes over to me.

“I have a question for you, if you wanna do it. Since you won your game and you were first star yesterday, would you like to drop the puck at faceoff?” Michel asks.

“I’ll love to do it,” I say.

“Alright. You can go down behide the guys when we take pre-skate and you can just stay at the bench since where the frezzer is, its on our bench,” Michel says.

“Alright, I’ll do that,” I say.

“Ok,”
He walks back over to his team as a guy comes over to me.

“Hi Aaylah, I’m Dana Henize, the equipment manger and you’ll be following me out when they guys do pre-skate ok?”

“Alright, sounds good Dana,” I say as I take out my phone and text Lc and Vette both.

“I’ll be dropping the puck before the game.

Aaylah”
I hit send to both of them.

A few minutes pass, as I get a text from LC.

“Will u be back up here?”

I text
“Yes I will be back up there, probably after the first,”

I place my phone into my pocket as Sid walks over to me, full in gear.

“He wanted to know, so I texted you,” Sid says.

“It’s alright, I like you in your jersey,” I say.

“Thanks, do you want to skate out with us?”

“I don’t have my skates Sid. They are at home,”
Then Dana comes over to me.

“What size do you wear in mens?” Dana asks.

“I wear an 7 and a half in womens, so maybe a 6 in men’s,” I say as Dana walks into a room.

“I should have brought my jersey if I known I was going to do this,” I say as Dana comes back.

“Here, theses might work, they are an old pair,” Dana says.

“You can get them on in my stall,” Sid says as I walk over and sit in his stall by Ryan Malone.

“Hey Aaylah,” Ryan says.

“Hey Bugsy,” I say as I take off my shoes as I slid my feet into the skates.
Perfect fit.
I then lace them up as I hear” Do they fit?”
Looking up, to find Sid there.

“Yes, where can I place my shoes at?” I ask.
Sid leans over, picking them up and placing them on the top stall on his stall.

“They will be safe there,” Sid says as he sits down in Mario’s stall.

“Let’s go for pre-skate boys,” Michel says as Sid gets up.

“Aaylah you can go on after Geno,” Michel says as I join the end of the line as we walk out.
A few minutes of walking, we enter the same tunnel were I was yesterday as I jump onto the ice behide Geno.

Before going to the bench, I skate around the entire rink as I move onto the bench.

“Get out here,” Sid says.

“I don’t have a stick,” I say.
Sid hands me his as I head out onto the ice.

“Sid gave you his stick, I guess he trusts you more then me,” Whit says as I skate around, shooting pucks at Marc.

I look up as I see all the girls, laughing and waving to me as I slap a shot pass Marc Andre.

“Nice job Aaylah,” Jordan says as he slaps my hand.

Skating around, I see the three new guys.

“Who are they?” I ask Sid.

“The one who is 18 is Marc Staal, who is Jordan’s brother,” Sid says.

“Did Jordan know that his brother got traded here?” I ask.

“No he didn’t. He was really surprised at practice this morning when he saw him on the ice in a Penguins jersey. The one who has as 9 on is Pascal Dupuis from Atlanta and the one with 51 on is Valtteri Filppula. He’s the one that came from Detroit,” Sid says as I watch Marc Staal and Jordan messing around.
They look like they both were happy as Vatteri is skating around.
I guess he was the one that is uncomefortable.

“I’ll be right back,” Sid says as I walk him skate over to where 51 is with Bugsy and Dany Sabourin, the back up goalie.

“Come on boys, lets head back into the dressing room, for a pregame talk,” Michel says.
I watch as some of the team goes flying into the run way as Sid came over to me with Geno behind him.

“See you later Aaylah,” Sid says as he hugs me as Geno does the same as they skate to the tunnel, leaving me on the bench.

I sit down on the bench as I feel my phone ringing.
Quickly, I grab it out of my pocket to answer it.

“Hello,” I say.

“Hey girl, Your so lucky to be out there with the boys. By the way, who are the new players?” LC asks.

“I’ll tell you after first period, cause that’s when I’ll be back up there. I’m watching first period in between the benches,” I say.

“Hey, its Vette, did you have a good time down there playing the the boys?” Vette asks.

“A blast,” I say as the announcuer comes on.

“I’ll talk to you guys later. Bye,”
I hang up the phone as I place it back into my pocket.

A announcer is talking about the Penguins and everything else as I see people comin over.
It is Dana.

“Hey Aaylah, can I get you to move over to inbetween the benches, so when I guys come out it wont be crowded.
Dana says.

“Alright,” I say as I walk over to the middle.

“Thank you,” Dana says as he skates back over to the tunnel.

“The visiting team, New York Rangers,”
Boos came loud as I seen that team hit the ice and circle around in their area.

“And now your Pittsburgh Penguins!!!”
I clap as the team begins to come out onto the ice.
I have the hugest smile on my face that I had in along time.

They skate around for a bit as the mangerment came into the back part of the bench.
A man walks behind me as he opens a frezzer to put in the pucks.
I never knew they did that.

I watch as some of the players get into the bench as Jordan, Sid, and Geno on the ice with Marc, Jordans brother and Gonchar with Marc Andre in net.

“Ladies and gentlemen please stand up for the the National Anthem,”
I was already standing up as I look up at the flag, with my hand over my heart.

After it was sung, someone taps me on my shoulder.

“Here Aaylah,” Dana says as he hands me a puck.

“And now everyone stand up for our puck dropper for today, for the Women’s hockey league, Aaylah Thomason,”
I hear clapping and yays as I hop over the bench and onto the ice.
Skating over to center ice, I head Sid on one side and someone else on the otherside.
I look at both as I drop the puck.
Sid moves his stick to get it as I shake Sid’s hand first then the rangers.

“Here,” Sid says as he hands me the puck.
I smile as I skate back over and got over the benches as an older guys is standing there.

“I’m Bob Errey, from FSN, I’ll be in here to coverage the game,” Bob says.

“That’s not a problem Bob. I’m Aaylah by the way,” I say.

“It’s nice to meet you. Congrats on your first game. Can I ask you something?” Bob asks.

“Go ahead,”

“Can I get and interview with you?”

“Now?” I ask.

“If it is possible. You don’t have too,”

“I’ll love to, since this will be my first interview,”

“I’ll go easy on you then. Let me report it to them up there,” Bob says as he begins to talk.

A few seconds later

“Thanks Steiggy, I’m here with Aaylah Thomason. If you don’t happen to know her, she is the newest thing in the WHL. So Aaylah how was your first game for the Tigers?”

“I really enjoyed it. I get along with the team well,”

“Good thing to hear, So why are you here at the Pens game?”

“I am here to watch the Pens play. They have been my team since I was growing up,”

“Thank you, Back to the Steiggy,”

“Thank you Bob,”

“Your welcome, so you been a fan all your life?” he asks.

“Yes I have. Mario was my favorite player until he retired. I mean he still is and all,”

“Who is your favorite now?”

“Sidney is,”

“Good choice, everbody loves him here,”

“Good to know,”

I am right at the action as I watch the guys play 20 minutes of hockey as the buzzer rang.
The boys head into the tunnel as I hop over the bench and follow mangerment into the tunnel.

Walking down the hallway, I turn and walk into the locker room as I make my way over to Sid, who is sittin down.

“Awesome goal,” I say as I kiss him on the cheek.

“Thanks babe, if you want to get your shoes on, then you can sit in Mario’s stall. He couldn’t mind,” Sid says as I lean over him to grab my shoes.

I sit down in Mario’s stall as I change from the skates back into my shoes.
Looking at sid, I can tell that he is happy.

“Good luck in the rest of the game Sid,” I say as I kiss his cheek walking out of the locker room and down the hall.
I walk into the crowded hallway as I got stopped.

“Can you sign this for my daughter, she loves you Aaylah,” a lady asks me.

“Sure, do you have a pen?” I ask as I take the jersey, which was Sid’s.

“Here,”
I sign my name on the number seven as I hand it back to her.

“Thank you so much,”
I hand her the pen back.

“Your welcome,” I say.
It takes me about 30 minutes to get back to my seat.
A lot of people were asking for my autograph as I walk back into my chair as the second period was already in session.

“Where have you been?” LC asks as I sit down in my chair.

“Signing autographs for a few people,” I say as I watch as Marc Staal gets a goal.

“Yes,” I say as I get up, clapping for him.

“Who was that?” LC and Nicole both ask me.

“That is Marc Staal, he is Jordan’s brother,” I say.

“He doesn’t look like Jordan,” LC says as we sit down in our seats.

“I know but they are brothers,” I say as I watch the game.
The boys were leading 3 to nothing on the Rangers.

45 minutes later, the buzzer rings for the end of the game.
The Penguins won 4 to zip on the Rangers.

“That was an exciting game,” Nicole says as we all get up to head out of the main arena.
I am right behind LC as we turn and walk up the stairs
Shelly is waiting with her children to go out.

“Go ahead Shelly. You can get ahead of me,” I say.

“No you go ahead Aaylah. I’ll get behind Vero,” Shelly says.

“You sure?” I ask.

“Oh yeah, go ahead,”
I walk on past as I walk out of the main arena.
As we cross the busy hall to the back hallway.

A bodyguard was holding the door open for us.

“Thank you,” I say as I walk on past as we get beside one another.

“I absoulely loved that game,” Nicole says.

“we are glad that you did. Did you enjoy yourself Shelly?” Vero asks.

“Yes I did. I loved it, did you guys?” Shelly asks her kids.

“Yeah. Dad scored a goal,” they say.

“Yep he did,” Shelly says as we arrive to the locker room.

“Go into the lounge as they change,” a bodyguard says.

“Alright,” we say as Vero led the way in as I was behind her.
Walking into the hall before the locker room, we walk into the lunge in which had no one in it but use for now.

“Can we watch TV?” the Dupuis kids ask.

“No, we are just waiting on daddy to go home,” Shelly says as she and her kids sat on the couch as Me, LC, and Vette stood up, with Vero on a stool.
Nicole is on a chair as more of the girlfriend or wives walk into the dressing room.

“Hi guys,” two blondes says.

“Hey guys, oh I don’t think you met these guys yet,” Vero says.

“No we haven’t. I’m Erin, Brooks girlfriend and this is Abby, Malones wife,” Erin says.

“It’s nice to meet you Erin, Abby. I’m Aaylah, Sidney’s girlfriend,” I say as I shake their hand.

“We heard a lot about you from Sid,” Abby says.

“Hopefully not bad things,”

“Oh no, all good,” Erin says as LC, Vette, and Nicole introducts themselves to Abby and Erin.

“So about that get together next week, when should it be?” Vero asks.

“Umm, Cant do it on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday,” I say.

“What about everyone else?” Vero asks.
Everyone was busy the same days as me but no one was busy on Friday it sounds like.

“So how about everyone in here meets at my house say at 9 on Friday morning?” Vero asks.

“That sounds good to me,” I say.

“Ok, then it will be there then,” Vero says as some of the players began to walk into the lounge as Sid is one of the first ones to.

I walk over to him as I gave him a hug.

“Good job today,” I say as he hugs me back then looks into my eyes.

“Thanks babe,” Sid says.
Every player had came and gone from the lounge but not me, Sid, Whit, Nicole, Geno, Vette, LC, Kris, Marc S, Val, Jordan, Tyler, Marc Andre, and Vero.
Bugsy and Abby couldn’t join us because of their son Will.

“So who all has cars?” Ryan asks.
I raise my hand, as do Geno, Kris, Jordan, Marc Andre and Val.

“Who has the biggest cars?”
I didn’t raise my hands but Geno, Jordan and Marc Andre did.

“Who wants to go with who? Me and Nicole will go with Geno and Vette.,” Ryan says.
I didn’t care who I was with.

Jordan, is taking Marc S, Tyler, LC and Kris.
Marc Andre, is taking Vero, Myself, Sid and Valtteri.
And Vette has Geno, Ryan and Nicole.

“So who is leading?” Jordan asks.

“I will,” Vette says.
I guess it is right because Ryan is the only on who knew where we were going too.

“Let’s move on out,” Ryan says as he leads the way out.
We all had to move into single line as we walk out into the hall as we get into groups.

Sid wanted to take Valtteri with us cause he really wasn’t combfortable with the team yet.

I walk behind Sid, as we head out of the door as the rest walk out through the garage.

“You got her going it now,” Ryan says.
I guess I am a little supersataie now, like Sid it.

“Where did Marc-Andre park?” I ask.

“By your car cause I see his SUV,” Sid says as we walk as LC turns to follow Kris and Jordan down the parking lot.

“Bye LC, I’ll see you there,” I yell as she says the samething to me.
All three, me, LC, and Vette were in different vehicles.

I walk to the backside of Marc’s car as Sid gets behind me and the new guy is on the other side.

“Doors unlocked guys,” Marc says as I open the door.

“Do you want the window seat babe?” Sid asks.

“Yeah, I don’t wanna be in the middle,” I say as Sid hops in first as I go in after him.
I reach out as I close the door and I reach over to put my seatbelt on.

“You guys ready back there?” Marc asks.

“Yes,” I says as Marc Andre pulls out.
I look over at Valtteri.

“Hi Val, I’m Aaylah,” I say as I look over at him.

“Nice to meet you Aaylah,” Val says.

“You’ll get used to this team in no time. They are a really good group of guys to hang out with will maybe expected Ryan Whitney. Don’t hang out with him,” I say as I hear everyone laughing including Val himself.

“Alright,”

I watch as Marc pulls out of his parking place as he moves back to let Vette go by, the he gets into line behind her as Jordan ends the caboose.
Vette turns and heads down to the south as we follow her.

“Wonder where we are going to?” I ask.

“Me too,” Sid says we stop at a stop light then head to cross the bridge into Fort Pitt and out of Pittsburgh.