Chapter Six

"Les boys, meet Amber… and her friend Amy. Amber, Amy, meet les boys," Max made his introductions and the girls smiled at each of them around the circle. When she got to Sid, she put her head down and avoided catching his eyes. Of course she knew that him and Max played on the same team, but she never thought that her and Max would be at home for vacation at the same time. She hadn't been home during the summer in years and when he came home, he was never there for long. Amber certainly never expected this to happen. She could feel his eyes on her and felt blood rushing to her cheeks.

Tanger stepped forward to greet the girls, Amber a peck on each cheek and Amy with a kiss on the hand. They had met several times in Montreal, since him and Max played Juniors close to each other and were both drafted by the Pens. Fleury greated Amber with a hug, as they too had met several times, including during the Olympics, as he was the back up goal tender.

"Vero coming?' Amber asked, trying to act as if nothing was wrong.

"She will be soon… she's bringing some friends,"

"Yesss… bring on the girls!" Jordan cheered and turned to Sid, who was starring at the ground, red in the face. "Don't worry prude-man, I am sure we will eventually find someone good enough for you."

Sid swore at his friend under his breath but continued his stare at the ground.

Max stepped away from the circle momentarily and returned with drinks for the girls. He handed one to each of them and return to wrapping his arm around Amber. Sid looked up momentarily to see Max drape his arm down across her shoulders.

"Sid here, has ridiculously high standards…" Max offered an explanation to the girls.

"Not everyone needs to bang everything that walks by," Amber stated, surprised to find herself defending him.

"The dude is practically a monk," Jordan retorted. "If anyone is offering to help him get his dick wet, it would be much appreciated and I am guessing a looong time coming."

"Seriously, fuck off." Sid snapped, feeling his blood pressure rise.

"How longs it been man? If I were you, I would never wake up alone!" Max laughed, joined in unison by the rest of the guys, who knew this wasn't far off of the truth for Max anyway.

"Yeah well… it's not so easy being me… waking up alone apparently comes with the territory," Sid growled slowly, the only guy in the group not laughing. He finally looked at Amber. He caught her eyes for a brief second. She could see the anger in them, rolled up with pain and the perceived embarrassment if his friends ever found out. Amber's face turned beat red again and she quickly looked at the ground. Sid grit his teeth, put down his beer and walked away from his friends and into the house.

"Whoa, what's his problem?" Jordan asked the group, watching his buddy stomp away. "He's not usually one for the self pity angle."

"Prima donna moment," Max offered as explanation.

Amber listened while the group joked about the great Sidney Crosby's crazy moments. From what she could gather there were plenty to choose from. She was sure that the rest of the guys had done much worse, but Sid's were always under the microscope because of what he represented.

Max was busy telling a story about a stripper in New Jersey, barely making it through a sentence because he was laughing so hard. Amber un-twisted herself from his arm and excused herself to the washroom.

She should talk to him before he makes a scene and makes the situation worse.

-.-

*Knock*knock*

Sid lifted his head out of his hands. He had been sitting on the corner of the guest room bed trying to calm himself, focus his thoughts, figure out what to do. He hated not having a plan, being caught in a situation he didn't know how to handle.

"What?" he snapped at the door, assuming it was Max or Staalze coming to give him advice on mellowing out. The door opened.

"Can we talk?" he heard a much softer voice come from the opening then he expected.

"Talk? Really? You think I want to talk to you?" He replied angrily. He felt his blood pressure rise again and his chest tighten. He didn't know if he should put his fist through the wall or cry or just walk over to her and wrap his arms around her and never let go.

"I know… I am sorry," Amber moved into the room and closed the door behind her.

"You left… again."