#6 - Disaster

Same Mistake - James Blunt(Cover)


“Oh no! No! The best part of that whole fiasco… was when THIS guy thought he could dance!” Keisha laughed loudly, pointing at James, who sat beside her.

“What are you talking about? I can dance… you wish you could dance like this…”

I groaned along with everyone else as James stood up, moving over into the middle of the Chinese restaurant we were now occupying. “God, someone sit him down please!” Anna yelled, hiding her face as James started to attempt the robot, again.

The night had been a blast; pub, drunk people and loud music included. In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time I had laughed so hard. Now we sat around a corner table at the ‘Canton’, eating egg rolls and exaggerating stories from the school bar. “So Jespin, how was your first night out in the greater Washington area?” Keisha asked, leaning in to hear me over the laughter of Eric and Anna.

“Good… really good! Thanks for inviting me.” She grinned back, waving away my thanks as my cellphone began to vibrate. I pulled it out and looked at it. Sidney, again. I hit ignore and put the phone back in my pocket; Sidney was the last person I wanted to talk to right now. Sidney had been the only down point of the night.

I knew exactly when the game was over, cause it was at that point that the phone calls started. The first time I had answered, only to be wheedled into almost leaving the pub.
Guilty, he had actually made me feel guilty about going out with my new friends. “Do you want me to sit at home by myself until you come back to visit?” I had snapped at him, trying to figure out the motive behind being such an ass. “We’re not even together Sidney, and if you keep this up, we won’t ever be.”
It was then that Keisha had taken my phone and hung it up; before he could respond - and I was thankful for that.



He’ll get over it… I thought, trying to reassure myself as I climbed the stairs to my loft. Why is he being like this? It just… isn’t him… I sighed as I opened the door heading upstairs to crash on my bed. “Ugh…” I groaned as my phone began to vibrate. I pulled it out of my pocket and jogged up the stairs before answering it. “Sidney-” I started, when I cut me off.

“I’m sorry Jespin, please just listen.” He paused for a minute, waiting for a response. I didn’t reply, so he continued talking. “I know I’m being a jerk. I’m sorry… ugh…” He groaned softly, the sound tugging at my heart-strings, making me want to comfort him. “Look, it’s just that I’m confused about this… about everything. I’m not sure what I’m suppose to do and… I guess it’s just taking it’s toll on me.”

“It’s ok Sidney… I know. I’m sorry I stopped answering your calls… I just didn’t want to flip and say something I was gonna regret.”

“We’re kind of a mess aren’t we?” He asked slowly, his deep voice wavering slightly with emotion.

“Yah. What are we gonna do about it though?” I asked absently, not really meaning for him to take it as a literal question.

He sighed loudly, and I could just picture the look of determination on his face; the one he always got when he was faced with a problem. “We could make it official? Us, I mean…”

I groaned mutely, squeezing my eyes shut and wishing I could take my enquiry back. Here it was, the million dollar question, out on the table.
When it was stated bluntly like that - so black and white - it became crystal clear what I wanted; and what I wanted, wasn’t him. At least, not like that. “Sidney… I’m living in Washington now and I’m still just getting settled, I don’t think that I’m-”

“That’s a no. Don’t worry, you’re not hurting my feelings. I know that everything has turned upside down in the past few days… I don’t want to pressure you. We’ll just… take it slow, see what happens.” I grinned slightly, murmuring my agreement and my thanks. I yawned audibly, causing him to chuckle. “Anyway, I’ll let you go… have a good night Jes. I miss you.”

“I miss you too.” I said softly, flipping my phone shut and flopping down on my back.


I’m a disaster. I thought solemnly as I stared at the ceiling. A complete disaster... what is wrong with me?
Nothing made sense anymore. I wanted Sidney; or at least I should have. He was kind, funny, caring, loyal - not to mention beautiful. He was someone that I had been able to depend on and trust; someone that I should want to be with, more than anything.
There was obviously nothing wrong with Sidney - he was perfection incarnate - leaving the fault with me. “I’m so sorry Sidney…” I mumbled out into the darkness of my room.

He was right, of course; he was always right. The things he said made sense, and the picture he had painted - vividly - in my mind while he was here, still burned brightly. I could see it easily; how simple everything would fall into place if I just said yes to him.
If I just moved back home, made things official… everything would be perfect.

Almost perfect.

Things worked out whenever I was with him. He was safe. He was comfort. He was familiarity. Everything with Sidney was logical and rational; but for some reason, that was my hang up.
People said that love, real love - the kind that people write songs about - is illogical and irrational.
It’s happy and fun and joyful. It’s unconventional and unplanned…
Things with Sidney would never be like that. He needed structure, plans, a goal. He couldn’t just let things be, or let something take it’s course; he needed to find a problem and make it better - take something and become the best at it. I could only hope that he’d spontaneously get over these feelings - but then again, Sidney also never gave up on anything, ever.



I sat quietly in one of the many plush chairs that lined the hallway. I was exhausted, dead where I sat. Last night had been one of the longest nights of my existence.
I had always had a hard time being alone at night; and that, combined with the guilt and confusion I was feeling about Sidney - left me unable to do anything but toss and turn.

It was a surprise when I got a phone call the next morning from Ben, the head medical guy from the Caps; wanting to see me for an interview. I had dressed in a daze, before walking the eight blocks to the Verizon Centre; and now here I sat.

I should have been a lot more nervous than I was, but my brain was too numb with remorse to make room for any other emotion. I sat patently, not minding the wait; better to be here than at home alone, I thought sadly.

“Jespin?” A woman asked, coming around the corner and smiling at me. I stood up in response and she motioned for me to follow her. “He’s right in there.” She said, pointing at a partially opened office door.

“Hi Jespin! Glad you could make it on such short notice… sorry about the wait.” Ben added as he greeted me, closing the door before taking his seat again, behind the desk. “So… after going over the applications that we’ve received so far, we decided that we wanted to take on two interns this year. We were interested in talking to you about that, discussing whether or not you still wanted to be part of our organization…” He stared at me expectantly, waiting.

“Oh… umm… of course!” I smiled, trying to hide the surprise and fear that was now over-powering the guilt inside me. I had assumed this would be an interview, something that ended with a ’we’ll give you a call later’. I was expecting to have time to go home and think about this, talk it over with Dad - and Sidney… my mind added reluctantly.

“Surprised?” He asked, his smile widening as he grabbed a few papers from a desk drawer. “We like to get interns right away, train them, then hope that they stay with the organization. You had a lot of experience already with other hockey teams and your grades are excellent. There isn’t a whole lot I can really ask you yet, you’ve only had one week of classes so far… I promise you’ll be fine though. We have a great medical staff here and they’re always willing to help out.” He held out some papers to me, sounding so fatherly and reassuring, that I couldn’t help but believe him.

“That sounds great…” I nodded slowly, reaching out to take the papers from him.

“Alright, those are some forms I need you to fill out and this is a booklet, give you a little bit of background information and so on… if you have any questions, my number is on the back.” He handed me a thick binder, full of sheets. “I was meaning to ask you… Lemieux… I saw you had some volunteering with the Penguins organization; you’re not any relation to Mario are you?”

“Yah, actually… he’s my father.”

“Oh!” Ben exclaimed, leaning back into his seat. “Well, that sure is something. You must be very proud of him! Wait till the guys find out about that…” He smiled to himself, moving to get up.

“Actually.” I said quickly, causing him to freeze into place. I furrowed my brow, trying to find a way to explain this to my new boss. “Would it be possible… if… you didn’t tell them?” He stared at me, confusion evident on his face. “It’s just… it might be awkward…” I made-up quickly. “If they know I’m Mario Lemieux’s daughter, it’d make me feel really insecure… like they’d be expecting something from me…” I sighed, not sure if he’d believe me or not.

“I guess that makes sense, hard name to live up to.” He chuckled, flashing me his fatherly smile again. “That won’t be a problem, our little secret.” He finished, nodding for me to follow him.



“Samantha, this is Jespin… she’s our newest medical intern. Do you mind find her some uniforms?” The brunette behind the desk - Samantha - nodded.

She looked me up and down, “medium?” I nodded at her, before she turned around and headed into a backroom.

“Alright, when she gets back I’ll take you downstairs and show you where you’ll be working from… introduce you to the guys.” Ben said, oblivious to the wide-eyed shock that was now crossing my face.
The guys? Of course… how could I forget about that? I looked away and grimaced, this job was going to be great, I had to keep reminding myself that. It was a great opportunity and really, how bad could this be? If I went into it with a positive attitude then everything would be perfect, almost perfect.