Chapter 7

So I didn't think Chapter 6 was overly exciting, so I figured I'd post Chapter 7 for all of you too! :)

Chapter 7
Lauren’s flight arrived on time in Montreal on Thursday, and a driver was waiting for her at baggage claim. He pulled her bag off the conveyer belt and directed her out to the short-term parking. They took the elevator to the appropriate level of the parking garage. As he led her towards a row of similar looking black cars, she noticed a familiar figure leaning against one of the cars. She would have recognized him anywhere. Sidney had a hoodie and jeans on, and of course, a dark grey toque covered most of his dark brown hair. In his hand was a pink rose. He smiled when she saw him and she ran ahead of the driver and threw her arms around Sidney’s neck. He pulled her into his arms and lifted her up. She nuzzled into his neck and said, “You sneak! I thought you had interviews all day!”
“I do, but I told them I needed a lunch break. And then I decided I needed to stop by the airport on my way to lunch.” He grinned from ear to ear. He handed her the rose as they climbed into the back of the car. “So are you hungry?” he asked her.
“I’m starving! Where are you taking me?” she winked at him.
They had lunch at a pizza place near one of the locations he was appearing at that afternoon. It was pretty busy, being lunch time and all, and he warned her as they sat down at a booth in the back of the restaurant. “Today will probably be pretty crazy. The people here take their hockey very seriously, and these appearances are going to be packed. You’re welcome to come with me today, or you can go back to the hotel and relax.”
“Well if you don’t mind, I think I’ll come with you. I want to see what your life is like.” She smiled, giving his hand a gentle squeeze.
“Well, just so you know, I can have someone take you the hotel anytime you’re ready to leave.” As he said that, a group of fans approached the booth.
“Can I get your autograph, Mr. Crosby?” one of them asked.
“Sure.” He smiled and signed the jersey she had handed him.
“Is this your girlfriend?” another asked, pointing at Lauren.
Lauren thought to herself: Oh shit. We’ve only known each other a week. We haven’t even talked whether or not we were going to tell people. I hope he knows I’ll be okay with it if he says I’m just a friend.
Sidney looked over at Lauren and grinned. “This is a good friend of mine. I definitely don’t think I’m lucky enough to be her boyfriend.” He said. She smiled back at him.
“Umm, would you mind getting a picture with us?” the fan asked Sidney.
“Not at all.” He replied, sliding over in the booth so the fan could sit down next to him. Lauren leaned back so she wouldn’t be in the picture, but the fan spoke up.
“No, you should be in the picture too. If you’re important to Sidney, you’re important to me.” She said, smiling at Lauren. Sidney grinned at her and they posed for the picture. “Thank you so much! Sorry for interrupting your lunch.”
After the group of fans walked away, Lauren said, “I wasn’t sure how you would answer that. But I think you handled it well. Except for that last part was a complete lie.”
Sidney looked at her blankly. “What do you mean?”
“When you said you weren’t lucky enough to be my boyfriend, that’s a complete lie. If anything, I’m the one who’s out of my league here. No pun intended.” He chuckled at the last part.
He grabbed her hand under the table. “That’s because you are in a league all your own. I’ve never met anyone quite like you before. With all the girls I’ve dated in the past, I would have laughed if a fan had asked if they were my girlfriend after only a week. But today, I had to fight the urge to say “Yes! She’s my amazing girlfriend!” She smiled at him. “The only thing that stopped me was the fact that I hadn’t actually asked you to be my girlfriend yet. Well, that, and my parents would KILL me if a fan found out I had a girlfriend before they did.” She stared at him thoughtfully for a moment and he couldn’t read what she was thinking. “Umm, please say something. Anything.” He pleaded.
“Actually, I think it is you that needs to say something. I feel as though you should ask me a question. And I think that my answer will be yes.” She grinned wickedly at him. He smiled when he realized what she meant.
“Lauren, will you be my girlfriend?” he asked, staring intently into her green eyes.
“Hmm, I don’t know, we just met and all. And you know what they say about hockey players…” she trailed off. When she saw the look of panic and disappointment beginning to form on his face, a huge smile appeared on her face. “Gotcha! Of course I will be your girlfriend. That officially makes me the luckiest girl on the planet.” He grinned at her.
“If there weren’t like, fifty people staring at us right now, I would totally kiss you.” He said.
“I’ll remind you of that later, when there aren’t fifty people staring at us.” She laughed.
After lunch, when they were back in the privacy of the car, she reminded him of his earlier statement. He grinned and kissed her passionately. A moment later he pulled away and looked at her seriously.
“I don’t know how to say this without looking like a jerk.” He said nervously.
“I don’t think it’s possible for you to look like a jerk. But what’s on your mind?” she said, running her finger along his jawline.
“Well, I plan to tell my parents and sister that you are my girlfriend, and of course Pat (AN: his agent, Pat Brisson) will have to know, and feel free to tell your family, and even Liz and Maria if you want, but I’m not ready to tell the world about us yet. Are you okay with that?”
She smiled when she saw how much this was stressing him out. “Of course! Sidney, I understand how difficult it is for you to maintain your privacy. Besides, I doubt your fans will all like me as much as the ones today did.” She responded.
Sidney rubbed his thumb on her hand. “Well, they will just have to learn to live with the fact that I have a girlfriend who makes me incredibly happy. But you’re probably right, they won’t all be that nice. You’ll do great, though.” He said reassuringly.
“Thanks. And when the time is right, we’ll tell who we want to tell. Until then, I’m okay with it just you and me that know.” She said.
“Lauren, I want to tell the whole world how great you are. I mean, I know we’ve only known each other a week, and that’s not really a long time, but things just seem different with you than they’ve been with any other girl.” Lauren jokingly raised her eyebrow at the mention of other girls, but Sidney kept talking. “I just feel so comfortable around you, like I’m supposed to be with you. And like I’m supposed to kiss you.” He said, kissing her forehead. Her eyes grew wide in shock.
“I swear you know how to read my mind, Crosby. I pretty much told Liz the exact same thing about you the other day.” They both laughed and he kissed her lips.
They spent the rest of the day visiting sporting goods stores, with Sidney giving interviews (and seemingly answering the same questions over and over again) and Lauren watching from the crowd and smiling every time his eyes found hers. Oddly, the girlfriend question was not asked. Pretty soon, they were on their way to the hotel to get ready for dinner. During the car ride, Sidney was a little fidgety, and Lauren could tell something was up. “Sidney, are you alright?” she looked up at him with a warm smile.
“Yeah, I just uhhh, well, I knew this conversation would be awkward, and I didn’t know what to say.” He said, his cheeks blushing a pale pink.
“Well, how about you just tell me, and then we can both be awkward?” she said, lightening the mood. He smiled at her and seemed to relax.
“I guess it’s not really that awkward, but I just wanted to tell you that I reserved you your own room. I didn’t want to freak you out or anything by assuming that we’d share a room.” He said, nervous about her reaction.
“Sidney, you are the most considerate guy I have ever dated. Most guys would assume that we were sharing a room.” She leaned up and kissed his cheek. “Don’t get me wrong, I am very attracted to you, but I love that you respect me enough to think about things like that.” She rested her head on his shoulder, and they rode the rest of the way to the hotel in silence, each with a smile on their face.
As they were approaching the hotel, Lauren realized the conversation had been left pretty open-ended. She hadn’t told him that she didn’t need her own room because she didn’t want to seem too eager to hop into bed with the hockey phenom. On the other hand, she wondered what it would be like to fall asleep in his arms. After all, she was his girlfriend now, even if no one else knew yet. She figured she would just see where the night led to.