The Road to the Cup ~ Wattys 2015

Thanksgiving

I was packing my bags for Detroit. My parents had requested that I come home for Thanksgiving since there was no way that any of their children could host the family get-together without burning the turkey or burning their house down. My mom was the cook in the family and she knew it. It was a surprise that Jason, Alex, and I hadn't died of starvation since moving out.

We had just beaten Toronto a few hours ago. I was going to drive through the night to get home and then leave early Friday morning to be home in time for our game that night.

I was triple checking my bag when my phone rang. "Hello?"

"Erin?"

"Sidney? What's wrong?"

"We're fighting. I don't know why and I can't handle it. I just left her place, can I crash at yours tonight?" He was very upset and I hated to tell him no, but I was leaving.

"I was just heading out, but I can leave the door unlocked if you want. My parents invited me home for Thanksgiving, I'm so sorry I can't stay with you," I said.

"It's fine. Can you wait for me to get there before you leave? I just want to see you before you go."

"Of course. I'll see you in a few minutes," I hung up. I felt awful for having to run out, but my family was expecting me. What if? I whipped my phone back out and texted my mom, 'Can I bring a guest?'

'Yes. who is it?'

'Sidney. He and his girlfriend are fighting and he was going to crash at my apartment, but I didn't want to leave him alone. I'll see if he's willing to come when he gets here. Thanks, Mom!'

'Any time, Erin. Bring that poor boy home. A good meal will fix everything.'

I ran to my room and threw some of Sidney's stuff into a bag. We'd have to explain this to Johnston, but that would come later. Right now, Sidney was what was important.

He knocked on my door and I yanked it open. He looked so sad. I pulled him inside and hugged him. "I'm so sorry, Sid," I said.

"It's not your fault," he sighed.

"I know I can't stay with you tonight, but would you like to come home with me for Thanksgiving? My Mom is more than happy to have you and it would give you a breath of fresh air away from the city," I said.

He thought about it for a minute. "Are you sure? I don't want to intrude or ruin the festivities."

"You wouldn't be intruding or ruining anything, Sidney. Come on, it'll be fun. I already packed you a bag."

"Well, if you already packed me a bag," he chuckled and followed me down to my car.

"Do you want to talk about what happened?" I asked once we got onto the freeway. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

"She thinks that I'm not spending enough time with her, she wants me to cut my hair, and she was very upset when I told her that I wanted to wait to see her until after games."

"Why'd you tell her that?" I asked, wanting to know what inspired this change since he had wanted to hang our with her before games and change the ritual.

"We haven't been doing as well since I started hanging out with her before games. I know we've all been a little shaky, but I feel that my play has suffered. I'm not playing as well as I used to, and I need to fix that."

"So you told her that you would prefer to wait until after to hang out with her so that you could focus on the game? You explained how it would help you play better, right?" I asked.