Chapter Eight

Coasting Down Memory Lane;
Chapter Eight.

Riley made her way to the stands as the practice began. Even though she and Sidney were not on the best of terms, he still captivated her attention. It is pretty hard not to watch him anyway, but Riley could not take her eyes off of him. A part of her wanted to just tell Sidney what she had tried telling him years ago, but another part of her wanted to never talk to him again, not after the way he had talked to her.

Ten minutes before practice ended Cooper called and since Riley had already written enough down she answered. “Hey Coop!” She said cheerfully. “Hey Rye!” he said with the same cheerfulness. They talked about random things; they even got onto a topic of toast. Cooper had Riley laughing the whole time; Sidney had glanced over at Riley a few times. And every time he looked Riley was laughing at something crazy he had said. This angered Sidney, a lot. But Riley was not trying to make him jealous and he knew that—making it even more aggravating.

After practice Riley went down to the locker room to interview the guys and all that stuff. She eventually made her was over to Sidney and she was very professional about it. “Look can we talk?” Sidney asked after Riley finished asking him about the practice and thoughts for the upcoming season. “No,” Riley replied simply. “What?” Sidney asked as he stood up. Most of the guys and the media had left a few minutes ago. “No,” Riley repeated as she closed her notebook and put away her microphone that the company gave her. “What do you mean no?” Sidney asked, his voice getting louder by the second. “No as in no I do not want to talk,” Riley replied with a smirk to finish off her smart-aleck remark. “Why?” he asked now getting frustrated. “I’m on my lunch break... now,” Riley replied looking at her watch. “So then we’ll have lunch,” Sidney said, obviously wanting to talk badly. “Can’t, I’m already having lunch with someone,” Riley replied as she was walking out of the locker room. “Tell Kay that you have other plans,” “I’m not having lunch with Kay,” Riley replied as she walked away and left the Mellon Arena.

Riley and Cooper had agreed that they would meet at the new restaurant that had recently opened near the Mellon. As soon as Riley pulled up she saw Cooper and walked over to him. “Waiting for someone?” she asked from behind him. He turned around with a huge grin on his face and enveloped her in a big hug.

They were seated off to the side, near a window that had a nice view of the city. They made small talk until the waitress asked for their orders. After that they continued to talk, Riley’s back was to the door so she couldn’t see who was coming in. In the middle of their conversation Cooper said, “Oh my god, it’s Sidney Crosby!” Riley’s eyes widened and her heart started beating faster. ‘What is he doing here?’ Riley kept asking inside her head. “Oh what a coincidence,” Riley said trying to act astonished. “Not a fan, huh?” Cooper asked with an eyebrow raised. “Not at this moment in time,” Riley said as she looked away. “Alright, well to be honest, I don’t like him either,” Cooper said with a smile.

They continued to talk about god knows what for another hour when they decided to leave. Riley had left to use the restroom while Cooper still sat at the table talking to the people around him. As Riley was making her way back to the table she felt a hand grip her arm tightly.

“Where do you think you’re going?” an all too familiar voice said from behind her.

“What are you doing?” Riley asked as she turned around to face Sidney.

“Me? What are you doing?” he asked looking slightly angry.

“What are you talking about?” Riley whispered quickly.

“Who is that guy?”

“Why does it matter? Are you jealous?” Riley asked with an eyebrow raised.

“No, I’m just curious of who you are having lunch with,” Sidney replied with a smirk.

“You’re jealous,” Riley replied with a smile.

“Whatever, so who is he?”

“That’s none of your business, but if you’ll excuse me I have to get back to my table,” Riley said as she pushed past Sidney and walked over to Cooper.

Riley walked back over to the table and soon left with Cooper. Well they went their separate ways, Cooper had to go back to work and Riley had to go back to the rink—practice was extended because of the cancellation that happened previously in the week.

When Riley arrived back at the arena she was met instantly by Jordan Staal. They had become close since the beginning of training camp. He enveloped her in a huge bear hug that lifted her off the ground.

“So, what’s up?” Jordan asked with a goofy smile.

“Nothing, how about you what have you gotten your bad self into lately?” Riley asked returning the goofy smile.

“I haven’t done anything bad,” he said looking hurt and putting his hand over his heart.

“Ha! Sure you haven’t,” Riley said as they walked inside the Mellon Arena.

They continued to talk until coach Therrien told him to get on the ice. It was clear that Riley was the most liked reporter. Mainly because of her bubbly personality and that she was close in age with the majority of the guys. There were some other reporters who were young, not many but some. Over the past few days Riley began talking to one of the younger reporters, Jennifer Nolan. She was twenty-four years of age and was a tall, about five-foot eight, she had blonde hair dyed black underneath. She had beautiful green eyes and was quite intelligent.

“Hey Jenny,” Riley said as she walked over to where Jennifer was sitting. “Hey Rye,” she replied quickly glancing at Riley than directing her attention to the ice that no one was on. Even though Jennifer was one of the reporters she had a huge crush on Max Talbot. She always got a little giddy when she got to interview him. “You know, he’s not on the ice right now, he’s in the locker room,” Riley said with a smirk. “Yeah I know,” she said as she widened her eyes, almost as if she was saying Duh.

The both of them got along really well, they had similar interests. It also helped that they were close in age. Jennifer was born in Denver, Colorado and moved to Pittsburgh at the age of seven.

The two continued to talk until Jennifer had to take an important call. Riley took this as an opportunity to get a good look at the Penguins dressing room, when it was not full of penguins. She was sitting on the bench writing down the description of the dressing room when the door opened. Riley was too deep in her writing to even hear the door open and the person walk in, she was on a roll describing everything perfectly. She was calm until the other person spoke up.

“Put the book down,” the man said in a flat voice.