Chapter Five

Coasting Down Memory Lane;
Chapter Five.

When Riley walked in she saw Sidney sitting at a table with three other people. He sat with a large man who looked slightly rugged, a woman who looked tired, and a young girl who looked no older than fourteen. When Sidney saw Riley he got up and walked over to her,

“Hey,” he breathed with a smile.

“Hey,” Riley replied with slight uncertainty.

“So look, uh my parents are here,” he said with a nervous smile.

‘Oh no! No, no, this is bad, bad timing!' Riley screamed inside her head.

“Oh...” Riley replied with s shaky voice—Sidney noticed, but just let it go.

“Want to meet them?” Sidney said with a half smile.

“Sure.”

Sidney led her over to the table where his parents and sister were sitting. He introduced everyone to each other but Riley had a weird feeling about his father—he gave her a weird look when Sidney said her name. Riley sat at the table with his parents trying to focus on whatever they were talking about but she just could not think straight, not after what she found out the night before.

“Sorry I can’t stay longer but I have to get going,” Riley said, lying through her teeth.

“But I don’t have to leave for another fifteen minutes; don’t we have the same schedule?” Sidney said as he gave her with a questioning look.

“I have to stop off at the head office on my way; Paul called me last night saying he wanted me to stop by for some reason,” Riley replied, lying yet again.

“Oh, well then I’ll see you at the rink then,” Sidney said as he stood up to kiss her cheek.

Once Riley left she got into her car and drove, Paul never called asking her to stop by, but she figured that she could head into the office to talk with some of her co-workers and fill Paul up on what she had been up to. The whole car ride there she was trying to calm herself down but one thought in her mind was preventing that, ‘His dad knows’

When she walked into the building she was automatically greeted by Paul. He was talking to the secretary about who knows what but once he saw her he made his way straight to her.

“Good morning Miss Jacobs, what brings you here?” Paul asked as they made their way to the elevator.

“Oh just thought that I’d stop by and fill you in on everything,” Riley replied with a smile.

“Ah, so how do you like the job?” he asked in a friendly tone.

“Oh I love it. It’s everything that I’ve ever wanted.” Riley replied as she relaxed slightly.

“That’s what I want to hear. But you do know that this is the easy part, right?”

“What do you mean?” she replied with utter confusion.

“Just wait until the season starts, oh dear wait until the playoffs!” he said with a laugh.

“Oh, yeah that’s when the competition starts,” Riley said as the exited the elevator.

“Yep, you’ll be covering the players’ reactions on the turnout of the game and their reactions on the rumours...” Paul said as he seated himself in his big comfy leather chair.

“Yeah, the rumours will be interesting,” Riley said as she sat in the not so comfy seats on the other side of his desk.

“Oh especially since the star player is Sidney Crosby,” Paul replied with a laugh.

The talked a bit more until Riley had to leave; as she made her way to the arena she got a text from Sidney. She debated on reading it or not but eventually pulled out her phone.

‘Training’s cancelled today.’

“Ugh, now what do I do?” Riley growled. ‘Thanks, but now what do I do?’ she wrote back quickly.

‘I don’t know, how about lunch today with my parents?’ Sidney texted back, Riley got in her car and was on her way back to her house.

‘Alright, I’m heading home now so I can do some writing I guess. What time are we heading out?’ She wrote as she was stopped at a red light.

‘I’ll come get you when we decide on a time, just be ready.’ He wrote back to her.

Riley was sitting on the couch typing away on her laptop about how the guys train and their thoughts on it when there was a knock on her door. She got up and answered it only to see Sidney standing there with his family.

“A little early, don’t you think?” Riley said with a laugh, noticing that it was only 10:30.

“Yeah, we got bored and they wanted to see where you lived,” Sidney said as his mother rolled her eyes.

“Ah, well come on in and make yourselves at home,” Riley replied as she moved out of the way so everyone could file in.

“Oh, it’s a nice place,” Sidney’s mother cooed.

“Oh, thank you, Mrs. Crosby,” Riley replied politely.

“Oh, please, call me Trina and call him Troy,” she replied pointing at Sidney’s dad.

“You have a lot of artwork,” Troy said as he walked around the hallway and living room.

“Yeah, there are a mixture of real and store bought pictures,” Riley said as she followed him.

“Real? Where on earth did you find these beaches?” Troy asked, with a brow raised.

“I lived in Australia for four years, and spent a few months in Japan,” Riley said.

“Wow.” Taylor gaped.