***
“Dineen watch out!” her friend Alyssa screamed. She pulled her friend out of the way of the car. They both fell to the ground.
“Oh my god,” their friend Anna exclaimed. The car finished pulling into the driveway and someone one jumped out.
“Are you girls okay?”
“Yea I think we’re fine.” Lys stated. She started to get up and help Neen up.
“You’re-you’re-you’re…”and she fainted.
“Here let’s get her inside. He, Alyssa and Anna helped Dineen into the house.
“I hope she is not hurt.” Anna said when they laid her on the couch.
“Honestly, I think she is more star struck.” Lys smiled. The girls’ rescuer was none other than Pittsburgh Penguin Max Talbot. “By the way I’m Alyssa, this is Anna and that is Dineen.”
“Nice to meet you girls, I’m Max.”
“Nice to meet you as well. You’re that penguin correct?” Alyssa just smacked the side of her head.
“Yes I am.”
“Sorry, Anna is not into hockey much, watch! Who is 87?” Anna thought for a minute.
“Crosby?”
“11?”
“Staal.”
“25?”
“Ah! It’s Dineen’s favorite player, Talbot?”
“Yea that’s me!”
“Wait you’re Max Talbot?”
“Yep!” he nodded.
“Oh Anna.” Lys said. “You have to forgive her she is very book smart but lacks common sense.” He laughed at that as Anna slapped her arm. Just then the doorbell rang.
“Excuse me for a moment, but some of the guys were coming over after the game.” He raced downstairs.
“Way to be Anna.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t know.” Lys laughed.
“Wait til Neen wakes up, she’ll kill you.”
“I hope she’s okay.” The girls walked over, she was breathing. You would have just thought she was in a deep sleep. “We should get her some water.” Anna walked over to the kitchen to get a glass. She came back and started to flick some in her face. Footsteps were heard coming back up the stairs. Lys turned around and she almost fainted.
“Hey ladies, this is Sidney and Kris. This is Anna and Alyssa.”
“Nice to meet you.” Anna went over and shook their hands. But Alyssa just stood there. “Lys what’s wrong?”
“Huh what? Nothing, nothing at all.”
“Hey wait you’re Crosby aren’t you?”
“Yes I am.”
“Oh! I get it now. She is like in love with you.”
“Anna! Oh I am not, just a fan.”
“Yea but don’t you have his jersey, earrings and posters in your room? Oh and what about your picture with him?”
“Haha, oh Anna.” Lys blushed.
“What picture?” he seemed interested.
“Oh nothing really, it’s just a picture of us that you were so kind enough to take with me.”
“Can I see it?”
“Sure.” Lys pulled out her phone and they went and sat on the loveseat together.
“Hey Max do you have washcloth I can borrow?”
“Yes.” He walked into the bathroom to get it. “Here you go.”
“Thank you.” Anna dabbed the washcloth in the water and then on Dineen’s face. Neen slowly started to open her eyes.
“Hey boo.” She said. “Where am I?”
“Max’s house.”
“So it really was him?”
“Yep, it was me!”
“Holy fuck!” she exclaimed. “Hello! I’m-”
“Dineen, I know you’re friends were nice enough to inform me.” She blushed.
“Where is Lys?”
“With Sidney.”
“Crosby?!” Anna nodded. “Oh well there goes the rest of the night.”
“Hey, I can still hear you!” she called over to her friend. Neen sat up on the couch.
“You need any medicine or anything?” Max asked.
“No, just water.” Max walked to the kitchen and he got her a glass of water. “Thank you.” She said when he handed it to her and sat down beside her.
“So what are you ladies up to tonight?”
“We were just drinking and hanging out. We watched the game at Mario’s.”
“I love that place, they have the most delicious ribs.” Max stated.
“Oh I know! I love how they fall right off the bone! So good!” Anna told him. “And you know the other thing I like there is their perogies!”
“They are delicious too! If their kitchen was still open I say let’s all go over and get some!”
“Aww yea too bad.” She commented.
“Maybe some other time.”
“Okay!!!” Dineen excited stated. She was trying to get back into the conversation. Just then laughter was heard from the couch area. “What’s so funny guys?”
“Nothing!” they both stated and laughed again. “Do you want to go get some fresh air?” Sidney asked her. Of course she said yes.
“Well she is our ride.” Dineen told Kris and Max.
“Do you need to get home? I’ll take you home.” Kris offered.
“No, no I didn’t mean it like that! I am enjoying myself talking to you guys.”
“Yinz are really nice.”
“Ha! A true Pittsburgher…yinz! I love it!” Max smiled at her. Dineen got a pain of jealousy through her. Max was flirting with Anna not her! She needed a way to get the attention back on herself.
“Max my head is starting to hurt a little bit now, is there any place to lie down?”
“Yes of course.” He helped her up off of the couch and walked her back to the bedroom. “Here you can use my room.”
“Thank you.” She kicked off her sneakers and lied down in his.
“Can I get you anything else?”
“You know, maybe that Tylenol is not a bad idea.”
“Sure thing hun.” He left and came back with her glass of water and the pills. She told him thank you again. “Anything else?”
“All that talk about food made me hungry for a cheese burger. We should go get some.” He laughed.
“Why don’t you lie down for a few minutes then we’ll head out. Where would you like to go?”
“It doesn’t matter, I love Denny’s burgers.”
“Okay we will go there!” He smiled at her before he retreated back to the living room.
Meanwhile on the walk with Sidney and Lyssa…
“So have you lived in Pittsburgh your whole life?”
“Yep! All 23 years of it!”
“You’re 23?” he asked.
“Yes I am.”
“I thought you looked younger, but it’s cool that we are the same age.”
“Actually, you are a few months older than me.”
“When’s your birthday?”
“Nov 20th.”
“Awesome. So Alyssa where do you work?”
“Well, part-time still as I go to graduate school.”
“What are you going for?”
“Entertainment Business.”
“That is interesting. What would you like to with that degree?” So she explained about her plan to open a record label one day. She then shivered. “You must be cold. Here take my jacket and we’ll head back.”
“Ah alright.”
“Something wrong?”
“No, I just enjoyed talking to you.”
“Well I can give you my number and we can chat some more.” Her face lit up.
“Sounds good!” the new friends walked back into Max’s apartment about a half hour after they left.
“Hey you guys want to go to Denny’s? Dineen is craving a cheeseburger.” Lys giggled.
“She loves that place! But where is she?”
“Laying down, let me go wake her.” Max said and walked back into the bedroom. There he saw her lying there with the biggest smile on her face. He wondered if it was because she was lying in his bed. So to wake her he went over and kissed her on the cheek. “Neen, time to wake up.”
“No! I was having a good dre- oh shit! That wasn’t a dream.” She opened her eyes to see Max. Then she blushed.
“It’s okay, do you want to go to out to eat?”
“Just me and you?”
“Well we can if you want to, but some other time. We have our friends with us now.”
“Okay!” she smiled. She put her shoes on and followed Max out of his bedroom. Everyone seemed to paired-up. It was Sid and Lys; Kris and Anna; finally Max and Dineen.
“Who is going to drive?” Kris asked.
“Well I can drive, that way where ever we go we can just go home straight from there. Save you guys some time.”
“It’s no problem for us to drive though.” Stated Kris.
“I know but it’s fine I don’t mind.”
“Well then I’ll ride with you.” Sidney told her. She still had his jacket on too.
“Alright, we’ll meet yinz there then.” She said. Her and Sidney made their way to her little blue Saturn parked somewhere on 14th street.
“Kris do you want to drive or shall I?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“I’ll drive, you drove here and it was my idea.” He stated. “You ladies ready to go?” They both nodded.
“I call shotgun!” Neen screamed when she saw his beamer. Kris just laughed.
“I was going to let you have it anyway.” Him and Anna hopped in the backseat and cuddled close to one another. Glad to see them two getting along great! Everyone got situated and left for the restaurant.
Max, Neen, Kris and Anna beat Lyssa and Sidney to the restaurant.
“They are probably fucking.” Dineen stated. As soon as she said that the two walked through the doorway holding hands. “Bout time.” She joked with them.
“Oh I’m sorry, you didn’t get enough alone time with Max.” Lys retorted and Neen just blushed.
“How many? Six?” the greeter asked. The group followed her to a table in the back to accommodate them. There was another party of five already seated. “Your server will be right with you. Enjoy.” She smiled and left. The newfound friends and lovers sat down at the circular table.
“What are you guys going to eat?” Kris asked.
“Hmm…I think I want some dessert.” And Lys set her menu down to look at the dessert one. Just then the waiter came out carrying the drinks of the table sitting behind them. She was about to say something to the group but instead tripped on the rug and all the drinks spilled on Neen, Max and Lys but mostly Neen. She had pop spilled all over her precious jersey.
***
Hope yinz enjoyed this!!! More to come soon!
