Through the next week, every run in with Sidney brought some gradual easy. I felt like a little kid trying to get to the center of tootsie pop. How many licks did it take? How many meetings would it take to be friends? We were friendly towards each other, we said exchanged salutations, it was formal but it was a step in the right direction. It was good that we were able to move past the everything so quickly, or at the very least sweep it under the rug to be cleaned up later, because we were going to begin player meetings soon for profiles. Which meant being locked in room for hours a couple times a week.
I played it cool, and so did he. What struck me as odd was that as nice as Sidney was to me he was a heinous depraved barbarian to Heath. The only way for me to describe his expression when he was around Heath, Sidney would look like an animal ready for the kill; raised hackles, barred teeth, and a stare that could put a hole through reinforced steel. He reverted back to caveman speak, grunts and one word answers when Heath spoke to him about anything. If it was a full sentence it was of the most condescending nature imaginable. After several incidents of this, Heath mentioned something about it to me. Heath was afraid of Sidney, which I had to admit made me laugh. I have been watching Sidney play ice hockey forever, and while he held his own when need be, he was not an intimidating guy. When it pertained to fighting at least. Another thing that confused me was the behavior, Sidney got along with everyone. Everyone. It could be Joe Schmoe or the President of the World. He was a charasmatic, good ol' boy. He was a sweet heart, who cared about people. But apparently, Heath wasn't a person, and I wanted to know why he didn't qualify.
My curiosity got the better of meand one day while finishing up a meeting with Sidney and Max, who was begining to grow on me in the few short days i had been here. I decided to get some answers. Sidney rushed out of the room the minute the meeting was done to 'enjoy' yet another media frenzy. The camera loved him, but it was a one sided affair. It left Max and I to stare at the clinical white walls above one anothers head. Max got up from the mahogany confrence table to leave, as i sat there clicking my ball point pen.
"Max..."
"Yeah, Reags"
"Is Sidney... Does he... Why is he being a jack ass to heath?"
"Its nothing personal"
"Umph. ugh." I stuttered looking for words."Your yanking my dick?"He looked shocked at my crudeness. What can I say I grew up around Marines these were everyday words of my childhood, every now and then they slipped. He recovered quickly.
"No wanna pull mine." waggling his eyebrows vaudevillian style. He saw my distress and apologized. "I was just kidding."
"I know, its not that, I can handle a baffoon like you.It is the fact that you didn't answer my question."
"Hphh. Well, the awnswer to your question is that if you really don't know why Sidney dislikes Heath then you don't deserve to have someone tell you. Another thing, if you want him to be nice just ask him, he won't like it but he will do it for you." With that he pulled himself up from the faded twill chair and strode towards the door.
"Reagan" Poking his head in the door frame. "Belle mais naifs."
Beautiful but Naive. And to all those who laughed and took spanish when I took french. "when are you ever gonna use that reagan?" Whose laughin' now buddy? The question now was, what did he mean?
I mulled over our converstation. I still had no clue what Max had been talking about? Maybe thats why they call him mad max, because he is out of his mind. I couldn't make much progress on that, but I decided to address the one problem I could fix.
At the end of the day before I left, I set out looking for Sidney, praying he hadn't left yet. I went into the players lounge and ran into,literally,Marc-Andre Fleury or Flower. Flower, who was an absolute sweet heart, told me he had gotten back on the ice. I thanked him and redirected myself towards the ice.
I froze in my tracks at the image in front of me, my heart swelled and my breath caught in my throat. Sidney was where Marc said he'd be, on the ice. I realized then how much he loved the game. He looked like a kid. He had a pile of pucks sitting near him. He was not wearing a helmet and his dark brown curls were matted down. His normally pale cheeks were aflame with rosy color, like a child coming in from playing in the snow. He finally accomplished a trick that i assume he had been working on before I arrived, and a million watt smile that could have powered new york city lit up his face. It was so powerful it had me smiling.
"Well done" I said walking out onto ice. He looked up with a startled but pleased expression.
"Thank You"
"Mmmhmmm" We just stood like that for a million hour minute, in transcendent silence. I loved that about him I didn't have to talk, we could just be in the moment together and without forced conversation about frivoulous things i was bound to forget. Chit-chat.
"Why are you still here? Everyone already left like an hour ago, others than those going over tapes." I asked walking over to the bench o sit on the boards. I slipped but didn't fall. High heels and Ice don't mix.
"You okay? Those shoes are a death-trap out here, especially considering who is in them."
"I can manage." I said, smiling that we had thought the same thing. Upon reaching my destination, I propped myself up on the boards. Sid glided over to me, and sat down beside me.
"Please, I have never met a woman that spends more time on her back than you." I just smirked and quirked an eyebrow on him.
"Nuh..no.not like... not what i meant." he stammered."Damn it, you know what i meant." He said flustered. Another thing I liked about him, he may be just another red-blooded male in the locker room, talking about beer and bikini babes or whatever the hell they talk about, but in front of women he was a complete gentleman.
"I know." Giving him a chesire cat smile."You didn't answer my question by the way."
"Which was?"
"Why are you still here"
"I had somethings I wanted to work on." He said plainly.
"Your dedication never ceases to amaze me"
"We suffer for our art." Leave it to him to compare sports to art, though in all honest it was the he played. "Why are you still here?"
Oh, I had completely forgotten about the orginal reason I had sought him out."Looking for you actually."
"Yeah"
"Yeah"
"How about that. Well what can I assisst you with?"
"It is about Heath." Flared nostrils, locked jaw, narrowed eyes, and the frozen icy amber was back.
"What about him?" he said in a short tone.
"Sidney I like you, so I mean this in the nicest way possible, you are a brutish condescending jackass to Heath, and he has not done anything o my knowledge or his to deserve that treatment." He did not like being called out on this particular isssue, the look on his face told me that, but I continued anyway. "Besides, it doesn't seem like you to act like this. You are always so sweet. He doesn't deserve this, if you could maybe be a little nicer to him or at the very least cordigial, I think it would help, and I would really appreciate it."
"Reagan just stop. Stop acting like you know me. I hate when people act like they know me. That is all I am ever around is people thinking they know everything. Well you don't okay, you don't know anything, you don't understand anything, you don't get it. Don't fucking tell me, what some other fucking guy fucking deserves, just fucking don't. I will treat him the way I want to fucking treat him. If that hurts his fucking feelings, well then tough shit. And what does it fucking matter if you will appreciate it." his eyes were murderous.
I was... flabergasted. I was feeling about fifty different things, the most prominent was hurt. I could not believe Sidney had snapped at me like that or what had warranted it. Hot tears streamed downed the contours of my pale face, hitting the glassy surface to form little crytal droplets.
"Reagan" His voice filled with, concern?
"I thought we were becoming friends thats why you would care if I would appreciate it. But, I guess not." I stated, my voice barely above a whisper. I was not one to scream when I was mad, I was just cold and withdrawn. I got up to leave.
"Reagan..." I could tell the explantation was about to follow but I had no interest. I glanced over my shoulder.
"Screw you, Sidney. One less person you have to worry about thinking they know you or speaking to you for that matter.''
With that I strode off the ice to leave.
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