\\.::Sixteen::.//

After morning skate that day, Sidney decided to take me out for lunch before heading back for his pregame nap. He walked me to the car and opened my door. He got in and drove around Pittsburgh.
“Well, you guys looked good this morning,” I said as we were driving.
“Yeah, Ty has been really great for us. I’m glad he’s holding up the fort for Marc. You’re coming right?”
“Of course,” I smiled. I really didn’t want to stay anywhere alone after that dream. It was only a dream right? Then I thought about how the man at Joe’s Crab Shack was him in my dream. It was Kenny that night when Sid was playing Boston. My life just really can’t get any worse.
Sidney pulled up to the side walk and we got out. “I like just ate not too long ago,” I laughed.
Sidney just smiled, “Well, I figured we’d do something to pass time till you got hungry.” I gave him a confused look as he led me into a shop. We were in South Side so we were bound to do something nuts. I looked around and seen it was a tattoo parlor. I’ve been thinking of some ideas lately and mentioned it to Sidney once; just once.

“What are we doing here?” I asked with a smile, getting excited.
“Why else would we be here, silly? We’re getting a puppy!” Sid said holding my hand.
I punched him playfully as he led me through the small shop. “Are we getting a tattoo?” I asked excitedly.
“Well, you are,” he laughed. “You’ve been thinking, right?” he smiled. I nodded looking at the books. I had two tattoos already and I loved them. Justin took me to get them and get got matching ones. I wanted to get one for him, so when I looked at it I’d smile and think of every great memory. I wanted to keep it small though.

“Raina, I never expected to see you around here,” a man said to me.
I looked up and seen Andy from high school. He played hockey with Justin and was a pretty close friend to him. “Hey!” I smiled hugging him. “Yeah, Sid just surprised me and brought me here.”
“Well, what a great surprise for all of us,” he laughed. “How has everything been?”
“Great,” I said smiling. “A lot better than before, I must say.”
Andy smiled, “That’s good. You kinda disappeared the past few years.”
I nodded and shuffled my weight, “Uh, so you doing tats now, eh?”
“Yuppers,” he said excitedly. “You looking for one?”
“Yeah, I want to get something to remind me of Justin,” I said shyly.
Andy smiled, “Sounds perfect. You have an idea?”
“Kinda,” I said nervously. I wasn’t sure what to pick. This was forever and I wanted to make it perfect. “I want a tree with full leaves on one side and none on the other, but at the bottom.” It reminds me of how one half is still going on with life even though the other side’s gone.
“I’ll draw something up and you tell me what you think,” Andy smiled. We headed into the back while he threw something together; he was an amazing artist. “So, don’t be rude,” he said as we sat down, “who’s your friend?”
“Oh, sorry,” I blushed, “Sidney this is my friend Andy from high school. Andy, this is my boyfriend, Sidney.”
“Nice to meet you,” he smiled shaking Sid’s hand.
“Nice to meet you as well,” Sidney said professionally.
“So, how’s the season coming along?” Andy asked starting the drawing.
“Pretty good, nervous about that outdoor game,” he chuckled. “We’re gonna be freezing our nuts off,” he said causing us to laugh.
“Yeah, I’d be fucked,” Andy laughed. The boys talked mostly hockey, Andy sharing about his high school years and Sidney talking about the NHL. Andy finished up the drawing and handed it to me. “Well, what do you think?”

I stared at it with a huge smile, “Its prefect, Andy!”
“Anything for you, Raina,” he said as I hugged him. He gave me all the low down to keep it healthy and we swapped numbers to keep in touch.

“Thank you so much, Sid,” I smiled and kissed his cheek.
“You like it?” he asked holding my hand.
“Love it! But, you really didn’t have to do that for me.”
“I wanted to. We had to pass up the time somehow so we could be hungry!”