I'll Never Forget
I thought everything would be okay. I’d only been playing for the Thrashers for a few days, and I thought I would be able to handle being back in the Igloo, but it was too hard. I played my hardest against my best friends, and though we lost, I was happy for the Penguins.
We got back to the hotel that Crush and I had to stay tonight at, and went up to the room, abandoning the team at the hotel bar. I went up to our room, and once I was changed into my pajamas and my face hit the pillows, I was crying and shaking. I missed Pittsburgh and the team. I missed Sidney as my roommate, Geno’s presence overall, and Marc-Andre’s skill at scaring the shit out of me by hiding in my hockey bag. But I missed Sidney the most. He was my best friend, and leaving him was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do. I was crying so much, that I didn’t realize that Erik had come in, until I felt the bed dip, and two strong arms picking me up and holding me.
I turned, gripped onto him, and cried into him, knowing that he wouldn’t care. He told me that he missed them too, but that we had to deal with the trade. He whispered soothing words in my ear and rubbed my back, calming me down, the way Sidney used to after hard losses. This wasn’t the hard loss of a game, it was the hard loss of a best friend.
After I had calmed down and Erik had gone to sleep, I texted Sid to tell him I missed him. I thanked him for being my best friend and that I’d never forget him.