Chapter Sixty-Seven

“Stop looking at me like that.” I said to Sidney after he just putted in his ball on the 15^th hole.

“Like what?” He said.

“You know what I’m talking about.” I said and then I hit my ball and missed. I just looked at Sidney.

“Seriously, Sidney. Stop it.” I said.

“I’m not going anything.”

“But you are.” I said and finally put the ball in the hole.

This went on for the remaining three holes. Sidney ended up beating everyone, and I beat Sophie.

“Seriously, Sidney. One word about it and I’m walking home.” I said walking to the car.

“Knock it off guys, its just a game.” Jake said.

“I’m sorry that we just aren’t the perfect couple like you and Sophie.” I said with an attitude and got into the car.

“Jo, I don’ t want to fight about this.” Sidney said when we got into the car.

“Yeah, this is why we don’t play games with each other.”

“Are you going to be this way the whole night?”

“ME? You are saying this is my fault?! You are the one that would put a ball in and look at me with this smug look.”

“I did not do that.”

“You did. Its like you wanted to rub it in. Of course you are going to win, Sidney. I play golf like once a year!” I said.

“Okay lets just drop it.” He said.

“No, we are having a rematch.”

“What?” He said.

“We are going mini golfing tonight, my turf.” I said.

“Fine, but seriously Jo, this is stupid.”

“Its not stupid, because I hate to lose and so do you. That’s why we don’t play games together, ever!” I said.

“Fine, we will go mini golfing and then after that this fight can be over.” Sidney said.

“Deal.” I said and Sidney headed towards the mini golf course.

“Stop sucking!” I said to Sidney after the first two holes where he got a 4.

“I just don’t want us to fight.” He said looking at me with his puppy dog eyes.

“I told you after this it will be done, but please try or else there will be another fight.” I said.

“Okay, I promise I won’t let you win.” He said laughing.

“Awe, so sweet.” I said moving to the next hole.

We both got 2s on the 3^rd hole and as soon as Sidney put his in the hole (he always went first), two little boys came up to him.

“Are you Sidney Crosby?” The one asked him. I looked at the one and shook my head yes.

“Yeah, whats your name?” Sidney asked bending down to talk to them.

“My name is Alec and his name is Spencer.” Alec said.

“This is Joey.” Sidney said pointing to me.

“We didn’t know if it was you, we thought you would be in Canada.” Spencer said.

“No, I came back for a little. Do you guys play hockey?” Sidney asked them.

“Yeah, I play defense.” Alec said.

“I play forward, like you.” Spencer said smiling.

“Do you think you could sign this for us?” Alec asked handing him a random piece of paper.

“Of course.” Sidney said signing the paper.

“Is it okay if our mom takes a picture?” Spencer asked.

“That’s fine.” Sidney said and woman walked over and took a picture of Sidney with the two boys.

“Thanks so much Sidney!” They yelled and ran to where their dad was standing across the course.

“They like legit were done on the course and spotted you.” I said once they left.

“I know, wouldn’t you do that if you saw David Beckham?”

“Yeah, but you aren’t David Beckham.” I said giving him a little shove.

It was really fun, this golfing trip. I forgot the whole incident from earlier, but I was totally winning. It was just nice to be out with Sidney doing something like this. However, by the time we hit the 7^th hole a group of teenagers were behind us. I tried to ignore them. There were 2 girls probably 17 or 18 and two guys. The girls kept whispering behind us, and I figured they were talking about Sidney. I was surprised it took them 2 holes to come up and talk to him. I really couldn’t believe they did it. I was ready to hit the ball on hole 9 when the two girls legit walked on the green and started talking to Sidney. I was too far away to hear what they were saying but I can just imagine the conversation. I just saw the two girls laughing and flirting with him. One actually like touched him. I tried to ignore it, but I guess it was obvious I was getting annoyed, because the one guy in their group said something to me.

“How annoying is that?” He said.

“Is one of them your girlfriend?” I asked.

“Yeah, the one in the white. But, she would obviously rather talk to him than hang out with me.” He said laughing.

“Yeah, apparently.” I said.

“Nice of them to just ruin your game.” The other kid said.

“I just can’t believe they had enough nerve to come up and say something to him. I mean what could they have said to break the ice?” I said looking at the two boys.

“They have been coming up with things to say since they saw you guys.”

“What hole did they see us at?” I asked them a little confused.

“They spotted you as soon as we got here.” The one said.

“Good to know they we had people watching us the whole time.” I said.

“Hey, do you think you could move your little shindig off the actual course?” I said to them. They soon moved and I putted the ball. Me trying to move on with the game didn’t help at all. All 6 of us ended up playing the rest of the holes together.

“Doesn’t this get annoying?” Bill asked. I finally asked them their names. Bill has the girlfriend in the white, Laura. Kyle had the girlfriend in the green, Megan.

“It was annoying when they interrupted the game, it crossed the line when ya’ll started playing with us. Not that I don’t like meeting new people, but I was just suppose to be having a nice evening with my friend, not 4 strangers and especially not 2 girls flirting.” I said.

“Sorry, boyfriend?” Kyle asked.

“Yeah, not like your girlfriends care.” I said.

“Does it happen a lot?” Bill asked.

“Mostly when we are out together, people leave us be. You will get the few pictures and what not that want to be taken, but the places we go, we go all the time, so people are use to seeing us there.” I explained.

“Are they even hockey fans?” I asked at like the 15^th hole. Sidney basically has said like 5 words to me since he started talking to them. Its not that he wanted to talk to them, I could see he was trying to find a way out, but Sidney couldn’t do that. He isn’t that type of person. The two girls didn’t even acknowledge my presence, which just annoyed me even more.

“They are the casual fan. We like it, so they watch it sometimes.” Kyle said.

“Really, Sidney. Really was it necessary to give them a hug when we left?” I asked when we got into the car.

“Its not like I wanted too.”

“Then don’t. You could have said at like hole 7 that we wanted to play and it was nice meeting them. I just want one night where its just us two. I mean we can’t even go mini golfing together!” I said getting upset.

“I’m sorry babe.” He said kind of in a whiny voice.

“Its just annoying. I get it, you have fans. I was okay with the kids coming up to you, because I mean you are like their hero. But those girls? I mean you aren’t at the rink, you aren’t at a team event or even an NHL event, you are out. And then they didn’t even acknowledge me!” I said.

“Its not like I wanted this to happen. Its not like I invited them to play with us!” He said.

“I know, but you also didn’t tell them not too.”

“Are you really jealous of them?” He asked.

“You did not just say that!” I said.

“Then what is it?”

“Its not about being jealous, its about wanting to spend time with my boyfriend. Its about wanting to have one day with Sidney, the boy and not Sidney, the hockey player.”

“I’m really sorry, Jo. I don’t want to be that guy who is too good to talk to people. I want to be a normal guy.”

“That’s what I am saying. I want you to be a normal guy. I want to be able to go mini golfing in peace, but that will never happen.” I said.

“Baby, I love you and I am sorry. But you did beat me.” He said looking at me when we were at a stop light.

“I did beat you.” I said smiling.

“you know what that means?” He said.

“No?” I said a little confused.

“Ice cream.” He said knowing that it would cheer me up.

When he pulled into Cold stone, thankfully it was empty. He grabbed my hand and we got our ice cream. We sat and shared a tub.

“I promise, tomorrow at the Pirates game it will be better.” He said.

“Are there fireworks tomorrow?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“You promise we can stay for them?” I asked.

“I promise. And I promise that we won’t get bothered during the game.” He said.

“I don’t mean to be a downer. Its just hard and annoying. I mean I just wanted to spend time with you because we don’t get it too often and then those girls. Its like can you imagine doing that? I would never ever do what they did.”

“I know, babe. Lets just forget about it.” He said and we walked out of the store hand in hand.

“Lets just go rent a movie.” He said when he got into the car.

“Can we watch it at Marios?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“You pick the movie.” I said.

So that’s what we did. We went to the movie place close to Sewickley, picked out a movie. Actually, Sidney picked out the movies. I don’t even know what they were, all I know is that he would be explaining them to me.

“I don’t get why you always pick confusing movies. Then you get annoyed when I ask you questions.” I said when we got into the car.

“I don’t get annoyed!” he said.

“You so do! You know you do.” I said laughing.

We got back to Mario’s, but no one is home. They left for Florida today, so we had the house to ourselves. Funny that they trust Sidney enough to leave him alone in the house, but whatever. So we got back to Marios. I got changed into some of Sidney’s clothes and we cuddled on the couch and watched the movies. It was perfect, really perfect. I could see myself being content doing this for the rest of my life.

“This feels so right.” He whispered after the movie was over.

“I know, I never want to let go.” I said kissing him. We finally broke apart.

“Good thing you never have too.” He said then grabbed me hand and we headed upstairs.