"So where are we going?" I asked. We were headed outside of Pittsburgh towards Sewickly. I've always liked this subarb. It's close to the city but not right inside.
"Well I thought I'd show you where I live. You can meet my adopted family." he answered. I could see the slight smirk before his words sank in.
"You mean I'm going to meet Mario Lemieux?! No way!! Wait!! I have to go home first, I can't wear this he'll think I'm a disrepectful slob!!" Mario Lemieux!!!
He turned and looked at me "You look beautiful. Never say you don't." I blushed. "Besides Mario won't want you to dress up. He's just a guy." he stated.
"You're right... I just feel like I should. I mean it's Mario Lemieux, he's a legend." I chuckled.
"I don't remember you getting this excited over meeting SIDNEY CROSBY." He said 'Sidney Crosby' in a teengirl obsessive kind of tone.
"Oh trust me I was." I answered. He smirked.
"No but really, I felt the same way when I first met Mario, but don't worry he's extremely laid-back." he reassured. I loved that that one comment instantly relieved my fears. I've never met someone else who could do that. He knew exactly what to say. I wonder if he's like that with everyone or just me... No that's just part of Sidney.
--20 minutes later--
"So this is where he lives..." We had just pulled into the driveway of a gorgeous brick mansion. You first turned into the drive and were met by and iron gate. The security guard let us in and we drove past the front of the house to the left side where Sid parked his Range Rover. The house had big arches leading up to the porch. It was amazing.
"You talk like you've been wondering forever." He laughed at me.
"NO!!! I mean I'm not like a stalker or anything. I mean what kind of creepy person would drive around looking for his house...CREEPERS!" I rushed, faking guilty. He saw through my joke and started laughing.
"Oh come on. Let's go meet MARIO LEMIEUX!!!!!!!" he said very dramatically, taking my hand.
"Wow cool your jets man, he's just a guy." I said with a straight face. Then we both burst out laughing.
We climbed the steps and Sid opened the front door. We first walked into a foyer that had a fire place and a few upscale looking chairs with a coffee table. There were two doorways. The one on the wall across from the front door seemed to lead to a sitting room where the stairs were. The door we went through was to the left. It lead to the living room. There was a huge tv, couch, a couple chairs, and a coffee table. The next room was the dining room. It was huge. The table could probably fit like 50 people. I assumed Mario wanted it this way so the whole team and their families could come over. The next room we went into was the kitchen. Standing in front of the sink was Nathalie, Mario's wife, I assumed. When we came in she turned around.
"Hi" she smiled at me, then looked at Sidney. She looked a little confused so I figured Sidney must not have warned her I was coming.
"Hey Nathalie, this is Malana. Malana, Nathalie."
"Hello" she grinned and came over to hug me. I was a little shocked but recovered and hugged back quickly.
"Hi" I smiled, pulling away.
"Sidney I didn't realize you were back. How was practice? I hope the guys weren't messing around..." Mario said walking into the room. When he saw me he stoped looking puzzled. It looked like he realized something then he grinned, "Hello."
"Hi" I smiled, shy. I can't beleive I'm standing in a kitchen with Sidney Crosby, Mario Lemiex, and Nathalie Lemieux!
"Malana this is Mario. Mario, Malana." Sid spoke up.
"It's nice to meet you. I've heard a lot about you." he said shaking my hand. The last comment earned him a sharp look from Sid.
"It's nice to meet you to. I can't say I've heard much about you." We all laughed.
"Ya I'm don't really get out much," Mario laughed.
"Ya there's this rumor going around that you live in a hole, you know since you were a hockey player" Sid said. He looked at me and we both cracked up. Mario and Nathalie gave him a weird look. He tried to explain it, but they still looked confused.
"Anyway.. dinner will be ready in about half an hour." Nathalie said.
"Great that gives me time to interrogate Sid's new girlfriend." Mario said. I blushed. Girlfriend?! Not that I don't want to be but we haven't discussed that yet. I mean we've only been on two dates, and that's only if you count the day we met. And as hard as it is to believe we've only known each other for like three days! Sid let out a nervous laugh. Then before it could get anymore awkward than it already was Mario walked out towards the living room with Sidney and me both following.
"So how did you two meet?" Mario asked.
"We were both the 7th wheels" Sid continued to explain the rest of the story. He glanced at me every so often and smiled. Mario kept looking at both of us and smiling. I smiled and blushed during the entire retelling.
"So... where are you from Malana?" Mario asked.
"I'm actually from about 2 hours north of Pittsburgh. It's a really little town." I answered. (Authors note: this is actually true for me lol).
"Really? I haven't really been north of here much except Erie." he seemed interested.
"You're not missing much. It's the everyone knows everyone, you have to drive half an hour to go to a gocery store, people need to breed outside of here once in a while type of town."(Author's note:Again sadly this is true for me.) We all laughed.
"So do you have any siblings?" he continued his questioning. It's funny how he treats Sid like he's his son. It must be nice for Sidney to have such an amazing father figure for guidance.
"Ya I have a brother whose 4 years older than me." I answered.
"What do you parents do?" Sid gave Mario a look, obviously telling him to stop, but Mario continued anyway.
"My father travels for a local locamotive company. He's away 6 days a week, but he's making a lot so he's happy. My mother is a doctor, which obviously means she never has a break from work." I answered, hoping they couldn't sence the disgust in my voice. In all honesty I do not like my parents. I know most people will think it's because I'm young, but it's more than that. It's the fact that they think all I need is money to keep me happy just because that's all they care about, the way they act like they know me when they don't even care enough to know who my best friends are. Everything about their personalities is what I don't like; I'm sure I don't like it because of them. I pomised myself long ago I would never be anything like them. My children would never grow up in the envirnment I did. They would always know someone loved them.
Mario continued with his questions although Sidney had on a frustrated mask, he was trying to figure something out. I answered all of Mario's questions while also trying to read what was making Sidney think so hard.
"Dinner's ready" Nathalie called from the kitchen. You could hear her going upstairs to get the rest of the family. Mario, Sidney, and I walked out to the dining room. Mario sat down at the head of the table. Sid pulled out a chair indicating for me to sit down. He then sat down between Mario and me. I looked around the table. Nathalie had made a nice salad, a turkey, mashed potatoes, noddles, stuffing, and homemade bread. It all looked so good. The rest of the family walked in a couple minutes later.
"Malana this is Alexa," Sid indicated to a pretty brunette girl who looked about 13, "Stephanie," he looked at the a taller also very pretty brunette I assumed was about 15 or 16, "and Austin," he looked at the only son who was about 14 or 15. "Guys this Malana."
"Hi" they all said and smiled.
"Hi" I smiled back.
"Lauren's out with friends but I'm sure you'll meet her sometime," Nathalie interrupted. I smiled. I'm glad everone was so nice about me being here even though someone *cough* Sidney *cough* didn't tell them I was coming.
We all ate and talked. They were all so down-to-Earth. It was hard to belief I was eating dinner with the two best hockey players in history, in more than one way. One being that they didn't act like they were amazing, they were very modest and normal. The other way being that they are amazing, how did this happen to me of all people?!
After we ate everyone helped to clean up the table. I asked Nathalie if she needed help with the dishes but she declined.
Sidney came in and said he wanted to show me the back yard. We walked out and I was amazed. We walked out onto the porch which had a few tables. The front of it had a rounded off area and to the sides there was two sets of stairs. The surroundings were typical western Pa with the pine trees. About 300 feet from the porch there was a pool with a wall on the far side. It was really really nice. Although it was faily cold out here considering it's January, we're in Pa, and it's getting late. I think Sid realized I was getting cold, so he led me back inside.
"Want to see my room?" he asked.
I smiled and nodded. I wonder if he's the type to decorate or if he just has everything laying around, and no posters or anything.
We walked upstairs and past a few doors. We then walked into a really big sky blue room. The carpet was shag and a tan color. The room had a very calm feel to it which fit Sidney really well. It was pretty clean. He made his bed and put his clothes away, but he did have a few stray things laying around. He didn't put up any pictures on the walls but it wasn't boring. He had a really big fluffy bed, and a desk that his laptop and PSP were sitting on. He had his duffel bag sitting out. He probably figured there was no point of putting it away since he was taking a trip to Montreal and Boston within the next week. There were two doors aside from the one we walked in from, which I assumed to be his bathroom and closet. "I like it." I stated.
"Ya I didn't really decorate much." he laughed.
"It's really calm though so it fits you," I said.
He just looked at me and and smiled. Our eyes locked and I couldn't think. I loved those eyes, they were amazing.
"We better get you home. I wouldn't want to make you tired for class tomorrow." He smiled.
"I actually don't have class tomorrow but I will need my rest, Mols and I are going shopping." I smiled. She's my favorite person to shop with because she loves clothes almost as much as I do. We're also going to my favorite mall ever Ross Park. I like the Mills but it doesnt have Hollister or Abercrombie. Monroville's ok to but it's set up weird.
Sid pretended to get a chill. "Scary." he said breaking me out of my internal chatter.
"I'm not that annoying to shop with." I pouted.
"I'm sure you're not." he lied and laughed. He grabbed my hand and we walked downstairs. The kids passed on our way and we said goodbye to them.
We walked into the kitchen interrupting Mario and Nathalie's conversation. "I'm going to take Malana home." Sid said. "Wait, crap, I forgot my keys. I'll be right back," he said looking at me. He walked back upstairs.
I was now standing in the kitchen alone with Mario and Nathalie. "Thanks for dinner." I smiled.
"No problem,"Nathalie answered.
"Anyone Sid likes is welcome here." Mario said. I blushed when he said 'Sid likes'.
"Your house is very beautiful." I said trying to keep the situation from getting awkward.
"Thank you. It took a long time to get it exactly how I had imagined it." Nathalie smiled.
Sid came back downstairs. "Ready?" he asked smiling.
"Mhm. Bye Nathalie, Mario." I smiled at them.
"Bye I'm sure we'll see you again." Mario said. Sidney shot him another look, which just made him laugh.
"Goodbye it was nice to meet you." Nathalie said.