Chapter 12: The problem with smiling

***Sorry about all the dialogue in this one lol***

There had been random conversations happening somewhere below me, in my house all day. I was positive - at least judging by the different voices I would occasionally hear- that almost the whole team was here; that being said the house was almost silent. It was like someone had died.

Every now and then I would hear Geno's deep voice speaking Russian just beyond the door, to no one that I could hear... he's probably on the phone to Oksana, I realized after hearing him for the third time that day.

Over the course of the last few hours I had heard Vero approach a few times; only to be shooed away by Flower. I was thankful for that, I had no desire to see anyone right now.
I knew that I was over-reacting, but the pain in my chest was making it hard to focus on anything else. I was going to have to pull it together; we had a game tomorrow against Anaheim. For now though, I just wanted to be left alone in my misery.
My team-mates probably thought I was going crazy. Once everyone found out that Karri had left of her own accord they thought the problem was over. I could tell my mood was making everyone uncomfortable, and I couldn't understand why they all felt the need to sit downstairs. At least Max knew how to take a hint; he was the only one who had come into my room to try and talk to me. My glare had sent him back out.

"You can't be serious... that's the last thing he needs." Flower was speaking in a carrying whisper.

"Yah! She say she gonna kill me if I don't. I more afraid of her than him..." Geno replied before turning the handle and pushing the door open.

"Ah. Sidney. Oksana say she wanna talk to you..." I looked up at Geno, the fear in his face almost made me laugh, almost. I couldn't help but find it humorous that as physically imposing as I could be at times, he was still more afraid of a 120lb girl that was currently on the other side of the Atlantic. He gave me a pleading smile and I held out my hand; it's not like this conversation was going to make anything worse.

"Hello?"

“Sidney, what are you doing?” She replied, exasperated.

“I’m not doing anything.”

“That’s exactly what I mean. Evgeni told me what happened last night. He also told me you’ve been hiding in your room all day.”

“I haven’t been hiding…” I retorted quietly.

“Sidney… what do you want right now?”

I thought that over carefully before I answered. “I want Karri to figure out whatever she needs to figure out… and then come back.”

“Right. And what is it that happened to make her leave?”

“I- I- …well I’m not sure! She wouldn’t tell me…” I was sick of this question. It felt like every person I knew had asked me that at least once last night. I felt like an idiot not being able to answer.

“Wouldn’t it be better to go figure out what it was that caused her to take-off, as opposed to feeling sorry for yourself in your room?” I let out a groan, Oksana had a way of making me feel like an idiot sometimes.

“You make it sound so easy… Sana, I don’t know what happened, and if she won’t tell me, then how am I suppose to figure it out?”

“Vero said she went to the bathroom. She was fine when she left, and a mess when she came back…”

“Uh huh…”

“Никудышно!” She exclaimed, I could easily picture her shaking her head as she sighed at me. ”Are you serious? I swear, you boys would get nothing done without us!” After pausing to wait, for what I assumed was an answer from me, she started again. “Video-cameras, Sidney. Mellon is full of cameras, one of them had to see what happened…so go теперь!“
I heard her laugh before she hung up the phone. I let out a huge sigh and pushed myself out of bed. I’m an idiot… how did I not think of that?
Geno was giving me a worried look, apparently wondering what Oksana had said.

“I need to go into Mellon, check the cameras.” Geno cocked his head and gave me a puzzling glance. “Ah… the cam-er-as… never mind Geno just get in the car.” He shrugged and followed me out the door.

Max’s POV

When I got back from Sidney’s, Karri was still sleeping on my bed. We had stayed up the whole night talking, about a lot of things.
Even though I had promised not to tell Sidney where she was until she figured out what she was going to do; I felt obliged to tell him - after all, he hadn’t punched my face in after the whole kiss fiasco. No that wasn’t totally true, I needed Karri out of my house; all this alone time wasn’t good.
She was curled up in one of my shirts, her eyes were puffy and swollen, there was a mound of Kleenex around her and she had her legs curled up against her chest. I shook my head as I put my hands in my jacket pockets and threw the contents on the side-table; keys, a few hundred dollar bills and twenty cents. I pulled off my jacket and tossed it on the end of the bed.
She looked exhausted, it was a good thing she was finally getting some sleep. I smiled at how good she looked in my shirt, in my bed. I shook my head again trying to clear those thoughts, now is not the time Maxime… a cold shower would do me good…


I took my time, as I stood under the water, trying to collect my thoughts. Every girl in Pittsburgh and you have to get a crush on your team-mates girl. I sighed, resting my forehead on the wall, letting the cool water wash over me. What was wrong with me? This is seriously fucked up. It was one thing to think she was hot, but now it’s getting further than that; the last thing I need is to start caring about her… Oh who am I kidding… I already do.
I normally didn’t have heart-to-hearts with too many people. Any relationships I had with women didn’t include a lot of time outside of the bedroom, certainly not on the level of connection I was beginning to form with Karrington.
I hated seeing all this crap happening to her but, come to think of it, the only time we spent together was usually because of this crap. Why can’t I just have a normal, uncomplicated relationship with someone? Was that so much to ask for?

By the time I got out of the shower Karri was up and in the kitchen; she had added a pair of my gym shorts to her ensemble. She smiled at me when she realized I was watching her. “Hope you don’t mind…?” She asked glancing down at the shorts as she continued to fry some eggs and bacon in a pan.

“No, look better on you anyway…” Shit! Stop saying stuff like that… it was true… but… not the time. She smiled on last time at me before turning back to her work.
I took a seat on one of the bar stools around the counter. We sat in silence until she was sliding the eggs and bacon onto two separate plates; handing one to me. I nodded my thanks and dug in. “So, you gonna call Sid today?” I asked between mouthfuls, trying to sound casual.

“I don’t know… I don’t think I really figured anything out last night.” She put her fork down and looked up at me “I’m really sorry… you know… about all the crying, and stuff…” She looked embarrassed and I laughed.

“Don’t worry about it, glad I could be of service.” I continued to eat, stealing a peek at her between mouthfuls, she was trying to put on a brave front for me, but I could tell she was miserable. I knew I needed to take her back to Sid. “Karri. He’s pretty miserable. I know you think you’re doing the right thing but your not. It’s not the right thing for you and it’s not the right thing for him.” I said it all quickly, in one breath, hoping it would hurt us both less if I said it fast.

“It’s not that simple Max…”

“Why not? Because some reporter who doesn’t know anything about Sidney Crosby the person, thinks you’re not pretty enough for him? You know Karri… you’re being a little selfish…” I finished, trying to peek her interest.

“What do you mean?” I grinned in-spit of myself. I knew her well enough already to know I’d need to make her realize she was hurting Sidney; she’d never do anything to help herself.

“Well let’s think about it. YOU have a woman say bad things to YOU about YOU, and YOU leave Sidney. Then you say it’s because you’re trying to protect him and make him happy. But that’s not true. YOU left because YOU were trying to protect yourself. You don’t want to be the ‘gold-digger’ or the ‘ugly-girl’ and instead of doing what’s best for Sidney, you do what you think is best for you…” I trailed off shaking my head “Poor Sidney!” I finished dramatically.

Karri looked on the verge of tears again. I knew I wasn’t right, but I also knew I didn’t have to be. She was so in love with the kid all I needed to do was trick her; apparently it worked. Lucky bastard… I thought as I watched the first of the tears fall over the brim of her eyes.


She made nervous chit-chat as we drove back to Sidney’s. I could tell she was terrified about seeing him again; I was a little terrified about seeing him again too.
We walked up the front walk, stopping outside the door. We could hear Sidney yelling in a fury of anger on the other side. Karri took a step back from the door her hand over her mouth, she glanced at me and I shrugged, this wouldn’t be the first time Sidney yelled at me. I pushed the door open to see the kid pacing back and forth yelling into his cell phone; Vero, Flower, Geno, TK, and Tanger were watching from the couches in the living room.

“Ummm… Sidney…” I asked into the room, still afraid to walk in, my courage apparently stopped at the doormat.

“What!?” He turned around and fired at me, his face red from yelling. I kept my eyes on him as I reached back and grabbed Karri’s arm, pulling her into view. Sidney stopped pacing. “I’ll call you back.” He said quietly as he flipped his phone shut and let out a sigh of relief.
Karri stayed beside me, looking uncomfortable as 7 pairs of eyes turned to look at her.
Vero moved first, quickly stepping towards her and pulling her into a hug. “We were so worried.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that… it’s just-”
“We already know. We went to the rink and had them check the tapes… that stupid bitch.” Vero breathed, causing me to raise my eyebrows. She was right of course, but I rarely heard her talk like that.
I looked away from Karri towards Sidney. His eyes were on me. I watched him for a minute before giving him a small smile, letting him know that nothing happened.

Sidney’s POV

“I don’t give a shit! She had no right! Whatever it was that she said was enough to make Karri take off and I never want her in the arena, around me or around Karri ever again!”

“Ummm… Sidney…” I heard Talbot call from the door.

“What?” I fired back at him, not in the mood to deal with anything else. He watched my reaction as he pulled Karri into view. I couldn’t help but breath a sigh of relief. She looked tired and weary, but she was otherwise fine. I met her eyes and she gave me a weak smile. “I’ll call you back.” I said quietly to Mario as I hung up the phone. I breathed another sigh of relief as I recognized the smile in her eyes; she was back and she still loved me.

As Vero embraced her I noticed for the first time what she was wearing. A ‘Talbot’ practice jersey and a pair of gym shorts that did not belong to me. I looked up at Max, he was watching the exchange between the two girls. He finally looked away, bringing over to meet mine.
I wasn’t sure what to do. She was safe, yes. She was here, yes. But he knew, he know where she was this morning when he had come over, and he never said anything. He could have called me lat night, but he didn’t; and now my girlfriend was wearing his clothes. After a minute he gave me a smile. You son of a bitch.
I felt out of breath as I stared at him, the anger boiling inside me. Every girl in the city and you have to try and sleep with my girlfriend.