Chapter 5

Later that morning, Karen woke up and looked at the clock. She groaned when she saw it was only 10:13am. She reluctantly got up and went to the bathroom. When Karen was done, she brushed her teeth, put her hair up into a messy ponytail, and got dressed. As she was heading downstairs, there was a knock at the door. Karen knew she didn't look that presentable for a visitor, but opened the door anyway. Her heart stopped when she realized it was Sidney.

"Apparently you don't need much sleep either"

"Well good morning to you too sunshine"

Smiling up at him, "sorry, morning Sidney."

"That's better. I couldn't sleep anymore and I wondered how you were from last night."

"I'm fine actually. I was never one for getting hangovers, but just tired for never getting to sleep as long as I'd like. Of course I usually average 4 1/2 hours a night before work."

"What time do you work?"

"I have 4am to 1pm shift, so I am in bed by 10p and up at 2:30am."

"Damn, and I thought I had weird sleeping habits" Sidney said looking around. "So do we continue having this conversation like this, or at some point are you going to invite me in?"

"Sorry" she said laughing as she opened the screen door, "come in."

Sidney walked in and Karen shut the door behind him. When she turned back around, she was face to face with Sidney and soon felt his lips on hers. As much as Karen wanted to fight this, her body had already melted into his touch and her arms wrapped around him. Sidney sneaked out his tongue and lightly brushed Karen's lips, begging to enter. He was relieved when she allowed him access and the kiss went to a deep, more passionate one. Karen broke away after a few minutes, but Sidney still had her pressed against him with his forehead to hers.

"I wish you stop pulling away like that" he said.

"I wish you would stop kissing me like that" she whispered back.

Sidney lifted his head back and looked into Karen's eyes before leaning back in for another mind blowing kiss. Before he could connect their lips again, Karen's cell phone started ringing. Sidney reluctantly let her go so she could find her phone and answer it.

"Hello."

"Hey Kiki. What are the plans for today?" Stacie asked.

"Hey Stac. I am up for whatever. Did you guys have anything you wanted to do?"

"Well you know the guys, there is a race on today and I guess they are deciding where to watch it."

"Why don't you guys come over here to watch it. I was going to anyway. I have enough food in the freezer we could cook out during the race."

"That sounds like a plan. We'll probably stop off for some beer and then head over. Ok?"

"K. I'll be here when you get here."

"Are you going to invite the hockey stud?"

"He has practice today."

"But not until 3p, so I can hang out for a couple hours" Sidney said all of the sudden.

"Is he there with you right now?" Stacie said loudly enough that Karen heard all the catcalls and comments coming from her friends on the other end. "Did he stay over last night?"

Karen was now blushing "no he didn't stay over Stac. He just came over about 10 mintues ago."

"Let me talk to him."

"No, I am not letting you talk to him. Just get ready and come over, do you still remember how to get to mom and dad's house?"

"Of course. We'll be there in an hour."

"Alright, see you then."

"Oh Kiki, do you need anything? Chapstick, Altoids, condoms?"

"I am hanging up now. Bye Stac."

Karen hung up before Stacie could say anything else and when she turn around to a smiling Sidney, her face turned three shades of red.

"Please tell me you didn't hear any of that?" a hint of embarrassment in her voice.

"Would you actually believe me if I said no?"

"Probably not. Sorry about that. We tend to do this to each other when there is potential for a new boyfriend/girlfriend to enter our group."

Walking up to her "am I a candidate? Not that I wouldn't mind seeing how we've clicked being together."

"This doesn't seem too fast or even the least bit awkward to you?"

"Maybe it does seem like its happening fast, but why would it be awkward? Because of the age difference?"

"It doesn't bother you that I am older and not just by a few years?"

"No it doesn't. You can't help who you are attracted to. If everybody in this world chose to be with people only because they were the same age, there would probably be a lot of unhappy marriages. That's why you go on what you feel for someone." Sidney lifted her chin to look into her eyes, "I feel something for you and I know you are starting to feel something for me if you haven't already."

Karen moved away from him, "can we be realistic for at least one minute? I don't care what heat comes to me about dating you. Besides Rick, I have dated younger guys. It's you that I don't want to see always defending our realtionship and distracting you from what's important to you...your hockey career."

"I appreciate that you have my best interest at heart but I don't care what the media will say about this nor what the fans say. The fans are fans because of what I do for their city and this team. Yes, there will be some that hate you because you are with me, but they will get over it and find another guy on the team to fall all over. If that is the only reason they are a fan of mine because they think there is potential to be with me, then I don't want them as fans."

"Alright, but what about your mom and dad? Or the guys on the team? I know you'll care what they'll think."

"We will deal with that when and if the time comes. If you want this to slow down then I am all for it, just don't shut out what could be good for both of us."

"How would us being together benefit us exactly?" Karen said with a smile to break the tension that had obviously formed.

"Well I get a girlfriend who understands what I do and won't try to fake her feelings to make me feel better when things go bad and you..." walking over to her and wrapping his arms around her, "you get a hockey stud to play around with."

"I am killing Stacie when she gets here. Can we make a deal?"

"What are the terms?"

"That we slow it down and get to know each other better. Let me have this time to really think about us."

"How long?" Karen looked away, but Sidney brought her to look at him again "how long are you asking for?"

"Just until you turn 21."

"So, three and a half months."

"I'm sorry Sid, I will just feel better about us being together if you were 21."

Seeing her sadness, "hey, it's ok. I fully understand why you want to wait until then."

"Thank you."

"So, have you already been thinking about being with me?"

"After you helped me with Tony last night, I saw something in that. Most other guys being a date or friend wouldn't have done what you did. Then after you kissed me, that was all I could think about when I tried to go to sleep. But then everything came rushing along with it."

"Are you scared to fall in love with me?"

"I think a part of me is scared in general. I don't want to get hurt again but getting hurt by a hockey player really doesn't have any basis here. Its that whole putting your heart out there thing" Karen let go of Sidney and walked over to the couch to sit down, bringing him with her. "I was so in love with Rick that I didn't think anything would happen between us. I thought our love could withstand anything and everything that was thrown at it."

"What really happened between you two, besides what you said at dinner last night?" Sidney saw the look she gave him at the question he just asked "you said you wanted us to get to know each other better. Tell me about you and Rick. We still have time before your friends get here."

"Ok." Karen took a deep breath "um, I had first met him when he was playing for Philly and was in town for a game. Then one weekend, some friends and I took the road trip to New York, DC, and then Philly to see the Pens play. We would do this every now and again. Once they finished the trip in Philly, as we were about to leave our seats, an usher came up and told me that Rick wanted to invite us to the locker room. We were staying in town that night, so we really weren't in a hurry to leave. We headed down to meet him and some other players then made plans to go out after he got dressed. It was actually like last night with us. Just casual enough to have fun but there were those little things to make people wonder."

"Like you putting your hand on my thigh and lightly rubbing your thumb over it?"

"Not like you didn't start it by putting your arm around my shoulders. My hand just happened to relax itself there."

Whispering in her ear, "I wasn't complaining."

"Anyway, we exchanged numbers and talked like almost every night and when they were in town to play, we would get together after the game. During the '91-'92 season he got traded here and I was a little reserved at first not knowing what to expect, but we officially got together not long after he got settled."

"Did anything happen here that maybe carried over to when he got traded?"

"You mean with the team?"

"There or with you two?"

"If there was anything unravelling within the team, I didn't pick up on it nor did he ever say. With us, there was something but I never let on that I knew or questioned him about it." Seeing the confused look on his face, "he did cheat on me once and I don't think he really knew I knew, but I did and let it go for the most part."

"And you think that could happen with us?"

"Have you met Sophia Jenkins yet?"

"The name doesn't ring any bells. Who is she?"

"She is basically the original puckbunny for the Penguins and she has had basically almost every Penguin player in one way or another. She never cared if they had girlfriends or wives, she just wanted the bragging rights."

"So what are you saying then? You think she's waiting for a perfect opportunity to get me?"

"Yes. Sophia and I were never ones to be best friends. She literally took any guy that I was interested in away from me for herself. If she's left you alone until now, then she is either waiting for you to turn 21 or until you actually claim you have a girlfriend. When and if she finds out it's me, there will be no stopping her then."

"Well we will deal with her when the time comes. What happened after Rick got traded to LA?"

"I decided to put everything on hold and go with him. I had doubts, but I was in love and wanted to be where he was. I really didn't want to do another long distance relationship. While we were in LA, we starting fighting more about the most stupidest things. He just didn't seem happy there. We would rarely talk or do anything for that matter and then one night he had a really good game and we kind of put all the bad times behind us....at least for one night. A couple months later I ended up pregnant. He wasn't even happy about it and never talked to me about how he felt. That's when I knew it was over. I figured I could come back home and raise the baby on my own and I don't know if it was all the stress between us, but I had a miscarriage. I was out shopping with Janet Gretzky and doubled over in pain. Rick didn't even come to the hospital to see me until like a day later. He just didn't care and that killed me. I really didn't have any plans to go anywhere and he never really told me to leave or that it was over, so I just bided my time until I could leave on my own and that's when the try outs came up for Team USA. I had a purpose to leave him and a place to go. Cammi Granato let me stay with her since we were both trying out and then made the team."

"Did anybody back here know you were pregnant?"

"No. Unless Rick told Mario and he just didn't want to say anything last night or Rick just completely forgot about everything that happened between us."

"What would happen if he came back and you guys talked?"

"I doubt anything would ever happen between us again. I don't think I could let it happen knowing how it all ended."

"Then you'll be safe for me to keep all to myself" caressing her cheek "because I don't want to share you with anyone. I'm sorry all that happened to you but not all relationships end up the same way."

"I know. I actually am more scared of Sophia getting to you to destroy it than you changing personally."

"I won't let that happen" Sidney said before softly kissing Karen.

Karen broke away when she heard car doors slam and voices nearing the house, "here comes the calvary." She wiped her eyes and got up to greet her friends at the door.