The Sound of Silence...

I'm totally delayed with this one, but better late than never!
I just want to say thanks to all the readers... this is my first ever story, and I'm still getting into the swing of things.  Hopefully it all gets better in time!  Enjoy...

                                                                                          

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, and they’re like it’s better than yours, damn right it’s better—

I groaned from underneath my pillow when I heard my phone blaring from my bedside table, waking me up.  Blindly I swung my arm up and felt around for it, I tapped all over the touch screen for the answer button before I brought it underneath my pillow and up to my ear.

“The rule is no phone calls after midnight or before noon,” I snarled into the phone, not bothering to look to see who it was—the ring tone was enough.

Sidney just laughed on the other end, “It’s 12:01 actually, and I’ve got goodies.  I’m parking now, be up in a minute.”

Incoherent words were all I could muster in response before we hung up.  I tossed the phone somewhere in my sheets and tried to get five more minutes of sleep.

Knock Knock Knock

It took all the energy I had to get out of bed and drag my feet to my apartment door.  I swung it open and found Sidney smiling happily, holding up bagels and coffee cups.  He just stood there with that damn grin on his face.

I glared at him for a few seconds and turned to head into the kitchen.  I plopped down onto a bar stool at the counter and reached out, my hands grasping for my food. 

Sidney shut the door behind him and set our food out on the counter.  “Well hello to you too Miss Sunshine,” he sassed.  He held out my sandwich, inches out of my reach, pulling it away when I went for it.

I whined and he gave me a stern look.  Huffing, I gave him what he wanted, “Good morning Patty.”

A smile was back on his bee stung lips and the egg and cheese bagel was mine.

Much to my surprise, after Vero’s mini scavenger hunt Sidney and I became quick friends.  He was nothing like I had expected—his charm and sense of humor was enticing, and his love and appreciation for life and hockey was infectious.

We talked regularly about everything and anything, and would text each other quotes from Friends while we both watched late night reruns.  It seemed like we grabbed food together every other day and endured the flack we got from the rest of the group when we opted out of heading downtown to the club.  We were both pretty low key, but still knew how to have fun.

I even had my own nickname for him, Patty.  In Pittsburgh Sidney was a god, and rightfully so.  The problem was that his face was so recognizable, as was his name.  To keep attention away, I called him by his middle name in public.  It quickly evolved to just Patty, and stuck like glue.

I was still eating my bagel when Sidney finished up his second sandwich.  He threw away his trash before leaning against the counter opposite me. 

“How’d it go last night?” Sidney asked.

Shrugging my shoulders, I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand.  “It was nice,”

I glanced up to find him staring intently at me, waiting for more.  With no response, Sid cleared his throat.  My bagel became very fascinating and I did my best to avoid eye contact. 

He motioned his hands for me to keep going, “And?”

I was never one to give out details of my personal life.  Plus I just assumed that when your closest friend is a guy, he didn't exactly want to hear about how you and your new boyfriend were making out like teenagers on his sofa and how you knew it was time to go when you were practically humping each other.

I cleaned up my brunch and walked right past Sidney.  “Thanks for suggesting the restaurant, it was great.”  I turned to head back into my room and get ready for the day.

“That’s it?!”

---

Sidney plopped down on Elaine’s couch and turned on ESPN.  He had gone over to her apartment after practice to finish move the last of the boxes out of her apartment.  She hadn’t been able to find a roommate to replace Kerry, so she had to give up her place.  Luckily Jackie, Kris’s current gal pal, had an empty room.

He had to admit that he was excited.  Elaine’s apartment was on the other side of town, and it was like pulling teeth to get her to come out sometimes.  Now that she’ll be closer he’ll see her more often, he's always at Jackie's with the crew.

The two of them had gotten close fast, and a lot of the guys ragged on him about it.

“You fuck her yet?” Matt Cook asked once, “It’s gotta be the reason you’re always with her,”

It took everything Sidney had to not beat the shit out of his own teammate.  It wasn’t like that.  He and Elaine were just friends, and he liked it that way.  It was hard for Sidney when it came to girls and their intentions.  Elaine had never even tried anything with him.

And now she was seeing someone, Brendon.

A friend of Elaine’s had tricked her and set her up on a blind date.  After a few weeks of dating, Brendon had been pushing to make it official but Elaine didn't seem too eager.

He’d heard the girls say a few things that Elaine had mentioned before, but they weren’t helpful.  He didn’t want to hear about how good looking he was or the cute things he said to Elaine.  He wanted to meet Brendon himself, make sure he was alright.

Elaine deserved the best, and Sidney was going to make sure she got it.

---

“I think that’s the last of it.”

“Oh, thank god!” I puffed before curling up on the couch.

Sidney lifted my feet up and sat down, placing them back down on his lap.  “You didn’t even do anything!  You and the girls just sat here and talked while us men did the work,”

“I thought that was the Muscle’s job?”

Sidney flexed his arm, “Oh, these muscles you mean?” he kissed his bicep, "Want a ticket to the gun show?"

I giggled and squeezed his rock hard arm, mocking him with exaggerated compliments.

We ended up ordering Chinese food and were all together at the kitchen table.  

Brendon had texted me about going out but I just wasn’t in the mood.  I told him to go ahead without me and have a good time.

“You texting Brendon?  I hear you two are a thing now,” Marc casually said from across the table. 

“What?” I shouted simultaneously as Sidney.

“Marc!  Vous n'étiez pas censé dire quelque chose!” Vero yelled.  “I, I’m sorry Elaine.  I told him to be quiet!”

I dropped my head in my hands.  No one had met him yet, not even Sidney who seemed to be really upset.

While Vero yelled at Marc and everyone watched with laughter, I leaned into Sidney who was all too quiet.  “You ok?”

His head whipped in my direction, his eyes black and his face stern.  “How could you not tell me?” he whispered harshly. 

I was shocked to see him so upset—I didn’t see what the big deal was.  But this was Sidney I was talking about.  We had become each other’s confidants.  He was always the first person I told everything to, even before Vero.  He was the one who knew almost everything about me, the one person I ever shared my true feelings and fears with. 

And I was that person for him.  I’d be devastated if he had a girlfriend that I didn’t know about.  I’d beat the shit out of him, quite frankly.

I tried to apologize, “Sid, I’m sorry.  I just, I—“

“Whatever,” he cut me off.

Sidney didn’t say a word to me for the rest of the night.

Silence can be so deafening sometimes...