Chapter Twenty Two

**so, i absolutely hate advertising myself, but it's time for a little plugging haha. all of a sudden, i had this idea to try my hand at a Sidney Crosby story. it was completely random && the idea just wouldnt leave me alone until i wrote it. so the product of my little idea is this: http://ariskworthtaking87.blogspot.com/. if you happen to give it a read, i'd love to know what you think of it (:



The last thing I remember hearing was Max’s voice whispering what I assumed were words of comfort in my ear, in French. I took Spanish when I was in high school, never thinking that French would come in handy. Turns out I was wrong on that one. Something about the way the French words rolled off his tongue was immediately soothing to me and I found no trouble falling asleep. When I finally rolled out of bed, by myself, it was nearing 6:15. I dredged up enough energy to take a shower and head downstairs. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water. When I closed the fridge something caught my eye. There was a note underneath my favorite magnet that I picked up in Jamaica. ‘I hope I see you at the game tonight…even though seeing you is all I’ll get to do.—Max’. It’s only been a couple of hours and this whole arrangement was already making me feel terrible. I walked back out to the living room, plopped down on the couch, and whipped out my cell phone.

“Oh my God, Riley! How are you feeling?” Vero’s voice was anxious on the other end.

“I’m doing better, Vero, but so much has happened. I just…I need someone to talk to,” I admitted.

“I’ll be over in fifteen,” she said before hanging up. And sure enough, in fourteen minutes and thirty two seconds, my doorbell was ringing. “Tell me everything.” So I told Vero the whole story of how I made things right with Max and how now Geno was screwing us over.

“And so basically, I’m gonna be spending a lot of time in this house,” I concluded. She looked at me with an expression of both shock and sadness.

“I’m so sorry, Riley. I can’t believe Geno would do something like this! It’s just not in his nature at all.”

“Yeah…I didn’t think it was either. But in some regard it’s exactly what I deserve. I mean, I cheated on him. That was awful of me.”

“Yeah, but you were planning on telling him the truth right away. Damn Ryan had to go and mess everything up.” She banged her delicate hand on the couch cushion. “But hey, look at the bright side. At least you have Max now. And honestly, you guys are perfect!” She smiled at me and I couldn’t help but to smile along with her. She was right, I did have Max and that’s what was most important. Even if it was only in private.

“Alright so let’s get ready!” I got up and climbed the stairs with Vero in tow.

“Ready for what?”

“Um, the game, silly.” I began rifling through my closet looking for that dreaded ‘Malkin’ jersey that I would be spending so much time in.

“Seriously, Riley? You just suffered a concussion and you’re going to a hockey game?!”

“I just can’t stay in this house. Thinking about how much time I’m gonna be spending here is making me crazy.”

“That’s true. Max gave you a ticket?”

“Nope, my family has season tickets and if you want, you can sit down there with me!” I saw her smiling when I looked up in the mirror.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way.” So with that, we drove our separate cars to the stadium where parking was a total nightmare because we arrived about ten minutes before the puck was going to drop. When we finally got situated I noticed Max staring at me from his place on the bench. A smile spread across his face as I felt Vero nudging me with her elbow. “Oooooo” She whispered as I felt my heart fluttering. There were seventeen thousand other people here and all he wanted to see was me. Something about that was overwhelming. I felt my breathing become hitched and I thought I was going to have one of the panic attacks I hadn’t experienced since eleventh grade. I wondered how I could be what he really wanted. Vero brought me back to reality. “Whoa, are you okay, Riley? You look kind of pale?” I looked around and noticed that the game had already started.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” I put on my most cheerful smile and settled in to watch the game. The Penguins proudly defeated the Islanders 6-2 and much to my dismay, Geno scored the hat trick. This could only mean that there would be a million people from the press there and I wouldn’t be able to rush back home and be with Max. I dutifully made my way down to the locker room area and hung out in the lounge with Vero. We chatted about nothing as we watched the players file out one by one. Marc finally came for Vero and I said goodnight to them while I continued to wait for Geno. After ten more minutes I saw Geno poke his head out of the locker room, apparently looking for me. I stared blankly at him as he made his way over and I was pissed to see that he wasn’t dressed yet. He still had his gym shorts on…I guess dealing with the media takes longer than I thought. Especially when there’s a language barrier.

“Come here, Riley,” he called and I obeyed.

“Yes, Geno?” I couldn’t hide the exasperation in my voice.

“I want to show them, come on,” he said dragging me into the locker room. It took a minute for what he said to register, but then I immediately understood. He wanted to introduce me to the damn press! I tried to loosen his grip on my arm, but he wouldn’t give it up. How could he do this to me? I’d never, ever be able to date Max after this. Was this some kind of punishment for cheating on him? I glanced over helplessly at Sergei who purposely wouldn’t meet my gaze. Geno must have told him about this. I wanted to die. The press immediately swarmed when I entered with Geno. “This my good luck. My girlfriend, Riley.” The questions came flying about how long I’d been dating Geno and how long I’d known him and if we were in love and what did I cook for him. I answered them as best I could, thinking up creative lies for each of them. At one point, Geno bent down and kissed me, much to the delight of the press. After minutes that felt like years passed by, the interviewers took their leave and I sat down on the bench, sullen, and waiting for Geno to change. This was most certainly not what I wanted, ever in a million years. I looked up and saw Max sitting across from me. He must have witnessed the whole thing. My heart hurt. I reached into my bag, took out my phone, and began typing a message to him.

“hey you”

“hey. you look gorgeous tonight.” I blushed and looked up at him.

“you’re looking pretty good yourself, superstar.”

“you have no idea how badly i wanted to punch Geno before.” I had some idea.

“you have no idea how badly i wished it was you i was kissing.” I saw him smile a little at that.

“i can’t believe he did that. with the press. jesus.”

“yeah i know. i think he wants me to suffer in some way. you can’t blame him. after all, i did cheat.”

“hell yeah i can blame him. Riley, its not your fault that you didn’t wanna be with him. he should just accept that.”

“yeah but i CHEATED.” I looked up and he was frowning at me.

“that really bothers you, huh?”

“more than you’ll ever know.” Geno hovering over me interrupted my thoughts.

“We’re going to Diesel,” he said gruffly, reaching for my hand. I took his hand and followed him out of the locker room. He did not want to give me a break tonight.