Chapter 12

The next morning Sidney woke up to the sun coming into the bedroom. For a moment he forgot where he was since his room in Mario's house doesn't get sun until early afternoon. He looked down to see Karen lying on her side facing the opposite way. Sometime during the night, they changed positions because Sidney was now spooning her. He glanced at the clock that read 9:13am and he knew he had to get up. The team was having a meeting at 11a to go over last night's game and to prepare for Sunday's afternoon game. Sidney let go of Karen and quietly got out of bed. He picked up his clothes and headed to the bathroom. A few minutes later, he emerged dressed and left the room.

Karen woke up and looked at the clock. She groaned at the numbers staring at her, 9:32a. She laid there for a second and smiled at what happened last night, but her smile faded when she glanced behind her and didn't see Sidney beside her. Karen cursed to herself that she just became a puckbunny again. She reluctantly got up and went to the bathroom. When she was done, she put on her robe and headed downstairs to see if any of the girls were up yet.

As she got closer to the bottom of the steps, Karen smelled food being cooked. As she looked into the living room and still saw Sheril and Diane asleep, she figured it must be Natalie making breakfast. Entering the kitchen, she saw the refrigerator door open.

"Well you're up early. You are always the last one to get up after a night of drinking."

"I really didn't drink that much last night."

Karen stopped dead in her tracks and saw Sidney coming out from behind the door with a carton of juice.

"I didn't see..I thought you..."

"You thought I left without waking you up or leaving a note, huh?"

"Yeah I did. Sorry, I just thought..."

Pulling the pan off the stove and putting it on the table before walking over to embrace her into a hug, "If it was any other girl that I didn't care about, yeah, I would have left without a word. But I couldn't and wouldn't do that to you" Sidney said before kissing her.

"You care about me?"

"I thought it was obvious."

"It probably was, but I still wanted to ask. So why are you dressed and making breakfast?

"We have a team meeting at 11a and I need to go get a shower and changed before heading to the arena. I figured I would make you breakfast in bed before I went, but seeing how you got up before that happened, I guess you have to eat it in here."

"And I guess you don't have time to join me."

"No, I don't, sorry. How about when I am done at the arena, we can go for a late lunch?"

"I'd like that. Will you call or text me when you have an approximate idea when you'll be done?"

"Absolutely" Sidney looked at his watch "I'm sorry but I really need to go."

Karen walked him to the door and Sidney leaned in and kissed her. "We'll talk at lunch ok?"

"Ok. Bye."

Karen watched him drive out of the driveway before going back into the kitchen for breakfast, only Diane and Sheril was in there enjoying it too.

"Thanks for breakfast girl. I am starving after all that drinking" Sheril commented.

"I didn't make it. Sidney made it for me but he had to go before he could give it to me in bed." Karen said pouring herself some juice.

"I'm sure he'd like to give you something else in bed too."

Karen stayed silent and smile into her glass. Sheril and Diane looked at each other before looking at Karen with a 'no you didn't' look.

"Did you....did he....did you and he..." Diane stammered out.

"If you find verbs, nouns, and adjectives to add to that, you might be able to form an actual sentence."

"Let me ask this all personal question" Sheril spoke up "did you get to experience the man meat of the Pens captain?"

"I love how you ask a question girl" Karen said looking at them "yes I did."

"Did what?" Natalie asked as she emerged from the guest bedroom.

"Apparently, our friend here got to do what many girls in the Pittsburgh area would love to and that was fuck Sidney Crosby."

"It wasn't like that. It was a little more special." Karen explained.

"My god, you're falling for him." Natalie said.

"I already had" Karen said. "When we first met at the arena last week, the girls and I played a little 4 on 4 with him, Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Ryan Whitney and Marc-Andre Fleury. Apparently I scored on Sidney and he was a little taken with me after that. When Mario came down to play a little 1 on 1 with me and I beat him, we started jokind around. I sat and talked with Mario for a bit and even Mario realized that Sidney was mesmerized by me because of the move I made on him. He didn't even know Mario invited me to dinner and he learned a lot about me from that. Afterwards, I did ask if he wanted to got to Pops and relax a little and while we were there, it just felt right to be with him like that."

"What do you mean? Like how?" Diane questioned.

"Like we were so comfortable with each other right off the bat. There was no awkward moments. It felt like I had known him for a while. Something clicked right away with him. I don't know, it's hard to really explain. I just know what I feel when I am with him and what I feel when I'm not."

"You're in love with him. Does he know about you and Rick?"

"Yes. Mario brought it up at dinner. He also knows about my parents and the one night with Shanny. It felt right to tell him, like I didn't want to keep anything from him."

"Have you told him how you feel?" Diane asked

"I want to, but it's too soon to tell him. Isn't it?"

"Not after last night. You need to see if he feels the same about you or if last night was what he wanted." Natalie saw the look Karen gave her "if all he wanted was to get you into bed, you need to find out now before you keep falling for him. The longer you take, the more in love you become, the harder the fall when he breaks your heart and kicks your ass to the curb. If he does feel the same and you tell him how you feel, then you guys can concentrate on a relationship."

"But is it worth it when he'll only be in town until the beginning of June?" Karen asked her friends.

"What do you mean?"

"You know hockey players always go 'home' for the off season. He has a house in Cole Harbour, not to mention his family. I can't take three months off of work to be with him, even if he did ask me to go with him. I tell him how I feel now and when he comes back in September for training camp, what if nothings the same between us and something happened with him while at home."

"You'll never know until you take that chance Kiki."

They continued on with breakfast and then laid around for the rest of the morning.

At the arena, Sidney was in the team lounge with the guys after their meeting. They decided to stay and work out a little.

"So Sid, how come you didn't make it over to Jordan's after the game to celebrate?" Ryan asked with a questioning look.

"Had other plans."

"With your girlfriend?" Geno asked with a huge smile.

Sidney sat there and smiled. He wanted Karen to have that title, but he hadn't really asked her to be his girlfriend yet. "Right now, we're still friends."

"Friends? What's holding you back?"

"I don't know if she feels the same that I do. I think I have picked up on some feelings coming from her, but I can't be sure until she tells me how she feels."

"Have you told her how you felt?"

"Not to where she heard me."

"You want to explain that a little more Sid?" Ryan stopped peddling on the bike.

Sidney looked around and saw where him and Ryan were the only two in the room. He walked over to him so he didn't have to talk so loud. "After the game, I met up with her at a bar her and her friends always go to on the SouthSide. When they were ready to leave, I drove them home because they were way to drunk to drive. I ended up staying the night with Karen and when we were done, she fell asleep, I looked at her and said that I was falling in love with her. She didn't hear me and I meant what I said to her. I guess I want to be sure she feels the same before I go and blurt it out."

"And considering that after the playoffs you go home until training camp starts will certainly put a damper on things."

"If things are going great like they are now, maybe she'll go with me."

"Sid, she has a job of her own. She'll probably not be able to take a three month hiatus from work to be with you. Ask her about her vacation time. Maybe she can at least stay with you for a week or two."

"Maybe."

"Just let things happen naturally like they have been. Come on, lets get this workout done so we can head out."

Sidney thanked Ryan for his advice and went to his locker. He wanted to text Karen first before finishing his workout.

Karen had gotten her shower and was straightening up her bed when she saw a bulge at the bottom of the covers. She reached under and laughed when she pulled out Sidney's boxers from last night. That only made her laugh harder to realize he was commando this morning. Karen sat on her bed and thought about last night. She was glad they made love because now it's like it's out of the way and they can concentrate on other things. Karen thought about if she wanted the title to be his 'girlfriend'. Maybe when they went for lunch and talked it was one of the things that would pop up.

Karen was brought out of her thoughts when her cell phone went off. She saw it was a text from Sidney and a smile just instantly appeared at the sight of his name. She opened her phone to read the message.

Hey baby. Stayed to workout for a bit after the meeting. Will only stay until 2 then we can meet for lunch. Sound good? I will call you when I get done. ttyl Sid

Karen hit the reply button to text him back, knowing it would be another hour before he got it. She decided to do a load of laundry and added Sidney's boxers to the pile.

Sidney was done with his workout and he went to call Karen. As he opened his phone, he saw a text appear from Karen.

I would love to meet you for lunch but my car is still at Pops and no way to get it. Come get me? :)

Sidney forgot he drove everybody home and they had left Karen's car. He dialed her number and waited for her to pick up.

"Hello."

"Hey baby."

"Hey you. Are you done with your workout?"

"Yeah. I just need to grab a shower and get dressed. Sorry, I forgot that we left your car at the bar last night. We can go get it after lunch."

"Well, we'll probably hit Pops tonight anyway if you don't mind playing chauffer to us again then I can just drive it home tonight."

"I figured we could just hang out at home tonight."

"Oh, that's right, tomorrow's game is an afternoon one. Well, we can get my car after lunch and if you don't mind hanging here with the girls, we can stay in. There's enough here for them to drink if they want."

"Mind if I ask a few of the guys to hang out too?"

"No, the more the merrier."

"Ok, well, let me get ready and I will be there in a little while. I missed you today."

"I missed you too. See you soon."

They hung up and Karen went to put the laundry in the dryer. She figured by the time Sidney got here, his boxers would be done. After she did that, Karen went up to her bathroom to get her make up on and change into something more appropriate. She was in a tank top and cut off sweat shorts....not a good look for going out to lunch with Sidney Crosby. Karen laughed at what the stories would have been if they saw her dressed like that and out and about with Sidney. She chose a pair of denim capris and a v-neck knit top, casual but nice. Karen headed downstairs to wait for Sidney to arrive.