Chapter Seven

That is how I fell in love with Sidney Crosby, for about the third time. Although my mind told me that it was a bad idea, I couldn’t help but completely lose myself to him. Things went back to normal for the most part. I was definitely a lot happier with him here.

But, every time I felt that happiness, there was also dark thoughts looming in the back of my mind. Sidney was leaving again towards the end of summer, then I would be back to my ridiculous depression. This time, though, I thought it would be even worse.

I can’t count how many times “What was I thinking?” or “I shouldn’t have done this,” coursed through my head. I tried to make the most of it, though. His parents were happy to see us together again. My mom, not so much. “I thought you were just starting to get over him,” she said, her mouth a thin line. “That boy is so selfish, I’m telling you…”

I shook my head, “Why Mom?! Why? Because he came back to his hometown for the summer? That makes him selfish?” I was furious. “No, Haley,” she said quietly, but I could hear the anger in her voice.

“Because he just will not let you move on. I had to deal with your moping around since he left, and now it’s going to happen again as soon as he leaves for Pittsburgh and forgets about you. Just like last time. It’s not healthy,” she shook her head.

“Did you ever think maybe we aren’t letting go of each other because we don’t want to?” I asked, my voice practically oozing venom. “You don’t want to!” she yelled. “Sidney, on the other hand, is perfectly fine with just leaving you in the dust to go bask in the glory of his damn NHL career!”

“You’re ridiculous,” I said. “Am I? Or are you starting to realize that I’m right?” she asked. “But you aren’t right! I love him, he loves me. That’s all we need for right now. And just so you know, Mom, it was my choice to break up, not his. So don’t go blaming it on him,” I said. “Honey, I’m just trying to help you. I don’t want to see you get hurt again,” she said, softer now. “I know. But sometimes…you just have to let me make my own decisions.”



The rest of the summer went by much quicker than I wanted it to. It was a lot like that first summer that Sid and I started becoming close. We spent all of our time together, and everything was how it should be.

With about a week until Sidney was supposed to leave, those dark, depressing thoughts crept back into my head, about 20 times worse than before. That evening, at about 6, Sidney and I went down to the lake near our houses.

There were only three other people, but they left about 15 minutes after we got there. We sat on the dock for a long time, just talking. Mostly about the past. But then we started talking about what I knew was on our minds the most.

“I’ve been thinking a lot about…what happens next,” he said. I nodded, for him to go on. “I don’t think I’d be able to handle what happened last time,” he said. “But I don’t really know what choices we have,” he finished.

“Well, Penn State isn’t that far away from Pittsburgh. We could make it work if we tried. I know you’re really busy, though. Maybe we could just have a summer thing,” I suggested. “That doesn’t work for me. It’s harder than you think…leaving you for that long,” he said. “I know exactly how hard it is,” I mumbled.