Sid and I have been trapped in this elevator for an hour. Periodically he receives a text from Dana but they are no closer to getting us out of here.
"Are you taking classes during your internship?" Sid asks me.
I'm surprised when he asks me about my schooling although I don't quite know why.
"No, I think it will be busy enough here and I'll need to really focus on my masters courses when I take them" I tell him. "Did you like school? Actually, how did you do high school if you were playing?"
"I went to regular school until I left Shattucks and then I was in a version of home schooling. We had tutors who came to the rink so we usually had class after practice."
"Did you ever want to go beyond high school? I mean you wouldn't of course since hockey is your dream; but, did you ever want to?"
I'm surprised when he turns red and looks away like he's embarrassed. He looks adorable.
"Actually" he begins. "Um, this season I'm taking a college course online."
"Really?" I'm surprised he has the time and inclination. "Why do you want to take a class?"
"I don't know. I've always wondered what it would be like to go to college and be a regular guy and this is as close as I'll ever get. Although I never would admit it as a kid, I loved school. It was fun to learn new things. So I thought I'd try an online course."
He still looks embarrassed but, when his eyes reach mine, I can see unease in his eyes too. Is he worried about what I'm going to say?
"That's great Sid" I say honestly and enthusiastically. "What course are you taking?"
He smiles widely and says "it's WWII history."
"Why did you choose that one?"
"I've always loved learning about the wars and read everything thing I can. I thought this would be a good place to start."
He looks excited now. His eyes are bright and crinkle in the corner as he smiles widely. He uses his hands to gesture when he talks about the course. It's really, really adorable the way he tells me all about the syllabus and how excited he is learn the details of how the world was drawn into a war.
"Why did you choose PR?" Sid asks switching topics.
"I have a lot of experience on the other end of the microphone so I thought I'd see what was involved on this side." Sid frowns at me. I don't know him well enough to figure out why or even ask.
"Don't take this the wrong way but that feels like a practiced answer. Believe me; I've given enough of them that I can recognize it easily."
Shit, he's. That is the usual answer I give when someone asks me that question. How can I stay professional and maintain the distance from him I need if he's going to be this intuitive?
"Ok" I say hesitantly and try to decide how much I will share with him. "When you're in the public eye from a very young age, invasively and constantly, you develop a persona so that you give a consistent image both as a family and individually. It's hard not to give the 'standard' answer when asked a personal question."
Sid smiles. Oh yeah, he understands this well given his youth and exposure to the media.
"Oh" I say. "I guess you know what I'm talking about."
"A little bit. The press never went after me like they do politicians; but, I understand the need for a consistent persona, as you call it."
"The media does like to dig into political families for sport; at least that's what it always feels like when it happens to you. Actually, it can feel like you're being hunted. Every little thing that happens in your life is dissected in the papers, on line, on TV and by people I don't know and will never even meet. My sister or I go on a date and they publish a story including the pedigree of the boy and what time we got home. As a Christian and conservative governor, my father was especially dissected and so were we."
"At least I didn't have to worry about that stuff. There were lots of cameras when I played or practiced but I didn't have to worry about pictures when I was away from the rink."
"That's good. It was horrible" I say softly.
I'm surprised that I've told him this much. I never talk about this with anyone because the fear of retribution on my father has always hung over my head.
"So why choose PR. If you wanted the antithesis of what you've experienced growing up then why not become a reporter? You could do things differently than you experienced."
"That is what I originally wanted to do. I was on the school paper in prep school and loved writing, I still love writing."
"Why didn't you do your degree and internship in the media?" he asks.
"I couldn't" I say.
I can't say more. Even if I can trust Sid, and it feels like I can, I still can't say anything about my family that's negative. He may not mean to but he could say something to someone else and then it gets in the press. I can feel myself sit up straighter and put the practiced and perfected neutral look on my face.
Sid frowns but raises his eyebrows shortly after.
"You couldn't do it because your dad is the governor. Is it a conflict or something?"
"Or something" I reply softly.
"Public Relations is as close to media as you could get without the conflict" he says and then purses his lips. "That sucks."
I don't reply. He's right, it does suck. In fact, I feel like I've never been able to live the life I want because of the obligation to the family. That thought always makes me feel guilty. There are so many problems that others have in this world and I'm lamenting that I can't live my life exactly the way I want. What is it the call that? 'First-world problems'?
"Regardless of how you got here" Sid draws my attention back to him. "You are clearly talented and really good at it. I've never seen Geno be so comfortable with the media before."
"He did great today" I agree. "He feels much more confident with English now and thinks it's the right time to get more involved."
"Why do you do that?" Sid asks.
"What do you mean?"
"Every time you receive a compliment, you brush it off and give someone else the credit. Or you just ignore it and brush it off completely."
Oh. I never realized that I did that and it makes me wonder if I always have.
"I didn't realize I did that" I tell him.
"Yeah, you do. Geno is definitely more confident in English but he's also really confident in taking your advice and guidance. It's only been two days and he already seems really comfortable with you."
"I'm glad he is. I really need to do this well."
"Why?"
"What do you mean why?"
"Why do you need to do this well? Most people would say they 'want' to do something well. You said 'need'."
I'm feeling really uncomfortable now. His eyes are kind but fierce too. There is no escaping them. He barely knows me and yet he's asking some very personal questions. I can't help wondering why but then tramp down those thoughts because I can't go there.
"I'm sorry" he says. "That is clearly too personal and we hardly know each other."
"It's ok Sid." It's intrinsic in me to put others at ease. "I'm just really not used to being asked these kinds of questions and answering them."
"Usually the standard non-answer, right?"
"Yep" I reply.
We smile at each other in our shared understanding of what it's like to answer reporter's questions vaguely.
Thankfully, he steers the conversation to safer topics including tomorrow night's event. When we do go back to person things, its movies and music. Our conversation leads us to our favourite books. Most of Sid's are about war either in fiction or non-fiction just like his favourite movies.
"What's the last book you read?" he asks me.
Shit, do I really tell him? I guess there are worst things to be honest about.
"Come on" he encourages me. "I won't tell anyone."
The more I wait, the bigger it's going to seem.
"It must be good" he says to me and wiggles his eyebrows.
"Ok, fine" I reply. "But you need to keep this to yourself, ok?"
He nods and I narrow my eyes at him. He crosses his heart and gestures like turning a key at his lips. Mmmm those luscious, gorgeous lips.
"I promise Anna."
"It was Fifty Shades of Gray" I confess and cover my face with my hands.
"Oh my God!" he says and then begins laughing, hard.
"It's not that funny" I complain.
"Oh, I'm not laughing at that" he manages between giggles but then can't talk any more.
Is Sidney Crosby really giggling? Yep, he is and it doesn't look like it's going to stop soon.
I wait him out until he finally slows down the giggling.
"If not, what are you laughing at?" I ask him.
"Fine" he says. "I'm laughing because, while it isn't the last one, I read the books too."
I know that my eyes are wide and unblinking. Did he really just admit to reading the Fifty Shades books?
"Seriously? Wow" I say.
"Yeah, I bought them for my iPad so no one would know."
He is turning pink again. Adorable.
Before either of us can say more, the lights come on and the elevator lurches before moving up. It seems that either the generators or the electricity are back on.
Sid stands easily while I try to figure out how to get up in a tight skirt. I guess I didn't think this through carefully enough when I sat down.
"Let me help you" I look up and Sid is standing over me holding out his hands.
The alternatives are either staying down here or struggling to stand potentially flashing parts of my body that I'd rather not. I put my hands in Sid's and he pulls me up. I come up to his nose so I have to look up to see his eyes. That's when I realize how close we are now that I'm standing. We are still staring when the doors open.
Sidney
I'm rattled as I follow Anna out of the elevator. I haven't enjoyed a conversation that much in a long time. When you tickle it out of her, she's not just articulate and intelligent, but she's also funny, sweet and kind. I feel my pulse pick up as I watch her walk away with Jen; who was waiting for us to get off the elevator.
I'm surrounded by people asking if I'm ok so I assure them that I am but I can't stop watching Anna. Jen is animated talking and gesturing and Anna nods. It looks like she's reassuring Jen that she's ok. I'm about to turn away when Anna looks over her shoulder and directly at me.
When she smiles at me, I feel it in my chest and warmth emanates from there and through me. It was a split second, and barely discernable to most, but I noticed and feel it. Interesting.
Anna
Oh God what did I do? All I had to do was be unnoticeable and stay away from him. Of course I couldn't plan a power outage. Why didn't I engage in polite conversation and talk about him? There are so many subjects that I can talk about, it comes from years of dinner parties, but I couldn't maintain the distance. He was so charming and completely disarmed me when he saw through my polite answers. I know that I playinh with fire and can only pray that I don't get burned from it. I have the scars from the last time.
"Are sure you're ok Anna?" Jen asks me.
We're back in the offices and everyone is gathered around. The power is still out and we don't know when it's going back on.
"Yeah, I'm good, thanks Jen" I respond and hope that the attention is off of me soon. I hate being the centre of attention.
"Ok everyone" Jen addresses our entire team now. "We have to be creative to prepare for tomorrow's event. Let's do everything we can without power today and then we'll figure out the rest tomorrow. There are gift bags to stuff, media packets to put together and the programs to organize and put out. Let's do everything we can for the room and then we'll figure out the rest afterward, ok?"
We all agree and she puts us in groups. I'm working with Adam on the gift bags. He gets the cart with all of the items and we walk to the hallway closest to the glass wall. It's a sunny day so we'll have enough light to see what we're doing.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Adam asks me. "I would have freaked out if I was stuck in the elevator."
"Yeah, I'm ok" I answer.
"I am so claustrophobic; it would have been a disaster. Were you alone too?"
"Um, no actually" I say. I guess I can tell him since others saw us get off the elevator together. "I was with Sid."
"Oh. My. God." He says and his eye open up so huge that they fill his whole face. "You were stuck in an elevator with Sidney Crosby for hours?!"
"Not hours" I tell him. "An hour, maybe two."
"Tell me everything" he demands. "He is so hot."
Even if I didn't know that Adam is gay, this conversation would make it obvious to even a blind man.
"We just talked" I tell him. "He asked me about school and we talked about the internship. Then we just chatted. You know, movies, music, books."
I hold back the Fifty Shades of Grey comment. It's too bad that we were interrupted because I really want to know why he read the books. Of course, I'll never know.
"That's it? You're so boring Anna. Seriously. I would have jumped him."
"Um, I don't think you're his type Adam."
We both chuckle. If Meagan has been the disastrous part of this internship then Adam is the bright spot. He's so friendly and kind. He always checks in to see how I'm doing. We've even had coffee a few times and I always laugh my way through it. He's so funny.
I bring his attention back to our task and we set up an assembly line. It's going to take a while but this isn't difficult work. This is the part of PR that people don't see. They think it's all glamourous with parties and stars without considering how everything else gets done.
We chat and laugh while we work and it's really a welcome change from the stress of the day. The first media scrum went well but was definitely stressful and then being trapped in an elevator with Sid. I just need to turn my brain off for a while and I'm able to do that with this task. I would never, ever completely drop my guard with anyone but I can come pretty close with Adam and I feel a lot of the stress fall off of my shoulders.
"I think that's the last one" Adam says.
I look around and am surprised to see that we are, in fact, done. My watch tells me that we've been at this for a few hours and I didn't even realize that much time had gone by.
Adam's phone goes off and he checks it.
"Perfect timing" Adam says. "They've brought dinner in."
That's one of the great things about the organization. We may work long hours for no money but they do feed us really well. We load up the cart with the completed gift bags and it takes both of us to push it to the room to ensure that nothing falls off.
"Wow, are they all done?" Jen asks when she sees us.
"Yep, they're all ready to go" Adam answers her.
We follow her down the hall and to the tables that have been set up for dinner. Usually we'll eat in the conference room but there are no windows in there so it's probably really dark. As I look around, I see more people than our team. It seems like everyone has stayed to keep working regardless of the power being out.
I excuse myself to use the washroom. The hall gets darker and darker the closer I get to the centre of the building where the washrooms are located. There is an emergency light but it's not very bright and I can barely see in front of me. I turn my phone on and use it as a light in front of me.
"Careful as you come around the corner" I hear.
Is my luck really that bad? It can't be, can it? Why is he still here?
"Hi Sid" I say as I watch him come around the corner to stand in front of me.
"Hi, damn, I should have thought of using my phone as a light. It was really 'interesting' inside of the washroom."
It takes a lot of effort not to laugh. I really have to maintain professionalism around him. Earlier in the elevator was an abnormality, a blip, temporary insanity that I need to never let happen again.
I smile at Sid and then continue around him.
"Everything ok?" he asks.
"Of course, why wouldn't it be?" I ask back.
"You just seem a little weird" he says. "I don't mean that as a criticism, sorry. I just want to make sure that I didn't offend you or something earlier."
Shit, I'm doing this badly. Is it possible to screw something up this badly without even trying?
"No, Sid, everything is fine. You didn't do or say anything wrong. I'm sorry if I gave you that impression."
"Oh, ok."
He doesn't sound convinced but he turns to continue on his way. Shit. He's still a client, the star player at that, and I've forgotten it.
"Sid" I say and wait until he turns around. "You never did tell me why you read the Fifty Shades books. We were interrupted before I could ask you."
I can see him smile and instantly feel better. He continues to smile at me and I start feeling something else, something that I need to avoid feeling; but, damn, he looks so good.
"Maybe the next time we're trapped in an elevator together" he says and winks at me.
I don't have to respond because he turns and walks away. I'm only human so I watch him walk away. He looks really good walking away too.
With the help of my light, I'm able to use the washroom and return back to the offices for dinner. As we eat, we all give updates on the work we've been doing for the event. Everyone has finished their assignments.
"That's all we can do today without electricity. Everyone go home and come back in early tomorrow. Let's plan for 8am but check your email for confirmation that the blackout is over" Jen tells us.
All of us pack up our things and head to the car port together. A security guard walks us to our cars so that he can manually open all of the doors that are locked. Usually we would use our passes but that takes electricity of course.
Adam parks next to me so we walk together to our cars.
"Are you sure you're ok Anna?" he asks me.
"Yes, I'm alright. It's just been a very odd day."
"You can say that again" he laughs and we say goodbye.
I notice that my mother has called me six times over the last couple of hours. Damn, she's going to be ticked off that I didn't answer.
Once my phone is connected to the Bluetooth, I call my mother.
"Anna! Where have you been? I've been so worried about you. Do you have power? Do they know why it went out?"
I listen to her and let her stream of consciousness run dry so that I can actually respond to any of the questions.
"Mom, I was at work, I'm fine, no we don't have power yet and they don't know why it's out."
"But you're ok?"
"Yes, mom, I'm just fine."
With that settled, mom tells me all about a charity luncheon that she hosted today and what a huge success it was. I hear every detail including how wonderful my sister was at encouraging more donations. Since mom can't see me, I roll my eyes but hold back a sigh. She talks the entire twenty minute drive to my apartment. I finally have to interrupt her.
"Mom, I'm sorry but I've arrived at home."
"If you don't have power, where are you going to park? You can't get into the underground. Is it safe where you're parking? You father can call the police to escort you to your door."
I chuckle at her. She is so insanely over the top, and always has been, that I just find her amusing now. If I didn't, I'd probably scream and pull all of my hair out.
"Mom, I'm ok. There are safe places to park in the lot and I'm close to the door. Ok?"
"Ok darling. Text me when you're in your apartment and call me later if you need to talk."
"Thanks mom" I tell her and then disconnect.
I get out of my car and walk toward my building. That's when it hits me. I have to walk up twenty two floors. Guess I don't have to work out today.