Start Me Up

When Tessa got home after spending two full hours in a hardware store getting a few necessary things for the closet in Pekka’s master suit all she wanted to do was nap. She had dropped the supplies off at Pekka’s, leaving them in his garage with a note not to touch them, she knew he would be arriving home from practice shortly after she left there and she didn’t want him to hurt himself trying to bring it all upstairs.

The last thing she wanted to deal with was Shea, and in correlation to that, Amelia. It appeared, however, that she wasn’t about to get that lucky. Amelia was sitting on the couch, watching TV, when Tessa walked into the house, and for a second Tessa wondered if she could get to the guest room without tipping her sister off.

That proved impossible because before she could even slip out of her shoes Amelia looked over at her and exclaimed, “Oh! Good, you’re home.”

“I’m home.” Tessa confirmed, and she had to bite back her sigh when Amelia grabbed her hand to keep her from walking toward the hallway. So close, yet so far.

Against her better judgement, and completely against her will Tessa sat down on the couch, keeping a good distance between the two of them but not enough to be eyebrow raising. Amelia grinned and asked her, “How do you feel about coming to the game with me tonight?”

“That depends, am I gonna get fed?” Tessa asked her with a raised eyebrow.

The wicked grin on Amelia’s face scared her, and Tessa’s brow lifted when she told her, “It is entirely possible that food may be in your evening plans.”

“Why…?” Tessa asked her wearily, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know what exactly her sister had up her sleeve.

“I set you up on a date.” Amelia told her, trying to play it off as not a big deal at all.

Tessa’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head as she asked, “You did what?”

Amelia chuckled and explained, “Relax. It’s nothing major. Just a nice guy taking you out to dinner after the game. No strings attached, no expectations, nothing. Just dinner and maybe a kiss goodnight if you’re feeling so nice.”

“No way.” Tessa stated, crossing her arms over her chest for good measure. Amelia sighed and Tessa continued, “Amelia, I’ve told you countless times that I have absolutely no interest in dating any of Shea’s teammates.”

Amelia sighed again, and then she told Tessa, “Look, as much as I would absolutely love for you and Pekka to profess your love and be together forever I’ve accepted the fact that that’s just not going to happen. It is none of Shea’s teammates, I promise.”

“Why don’t I believe you then?” Tessa asked her with a raised eyebrow. She didn’t like the idea of her sister setting her up with anyone, and Tessa really wasn’t sure that she was ready to date again. She wasn’t sure she was really over what had happened between she and Jacob, she thought maybe that would be a lifetime thing though. Plus, factoring in the Shea situation, and her not knowing how she felt about him and what was going on between them and Tessa knew she was absolutely not ready to date yet.

“It’s one of the Bruins.” Tessa stared at her blankly when she said this. She was actually floored, she had no idea what to say to her sister right now. As if sensing her frustration, and her inability to find any words Amelia told her, “It’s Bergeron, if that makes a difference.”

“How did you… I mean… what?” Tessa asked, brow lifted. She rolled her eyes when Amelia laughed at her.

“Shea plays with him during International tournaments… I stole his number off of his phone last week.” When Amelia told her that Tessa sighed so she continued to explain, “Look… Tessa… I heard what you said to mom the other day about Jacob. I’m not gonna force the whole thing out of you, I got enough to know that I think maybe you need this.”

“You think I need to go on a date with some guy I don’t know?” Tessa asked her, unsure if she was really hearing this right.

Amelia nodded, “You need to have some fun. I’m not asking you to marry the guy. Just go for dinner and let him show you a good time. It’s been a while since you’ve let anyone do that for you.”

Not that long ago actually.

“It's already arranged anyway, you'd be super rude to not go." Amelia told her with a grin. She had clearly put a lot of thought into this plan, knowing there was no way Tessa would say no once she knew the poor guy would be waiting for her after the game.

Tessa had to admit, she didn't give her sister enough credit sometimes. This really was a pretty smart plan and part of her wondered if, despite how much she wanted to say no, this might be the best thing for her. Maybe this would finally get her mind off of Shea, and how much she wished he had come into her bedroom last night to finish what they had started.

That thought alone made her shake her head and turn to Amelia and say, "Fine. Dinner, that's it. No promises."

"Oh my God really?" Amelia asked in excitement. When Tessa nodded her head she threw her arms around her and kissed her cheek loudly, "Oh I love you."

That was what Shea walked into the living room to see when he came home from practice, and it made the guilt inside him gnaw away even more. He walked directly into the kitchen, and the noise made Tessa and Amelia turn around, he caught Tessa's eyes, and then looked at Amelia and asked, "What did I interrupt?"

She grinned over at him and told him, "Tessa agreed to let me set her up on a date for tonight."

Shea nearly dropped the carton of orange juice he had moments before pulled out of the fridge. He hoped his voice didn't sound as shaky and nervous as he felt inside when he asked, "Oh yeah? Pekka or Craig?"

Tessa looked at Amelia, and Amelia smiled over at Shea and told him, "It's a surprise."

Shea's eyebrow lifted, but his eyes darted to Tessa as she got up from the couch and told Amelia, "Well, I'm gonna go... do some work."

"Are you gonna let me pick out your outfit for tonight?" Amelia asked her with a smile.

As she was heading down the hall to the guest room Tessa told her, "Absolutely not."

Shea put the orange juice back in the fridge and headed down the hall again for two reasons; he left his watch on the bathroom counter that morning and he didn’t want to forget it before leaving for the game that night, and to see if he could stop Tessa before she went into her own room. He reached out and grabbed her elbow, succeeding in making her stop and slowly she turned around to face him with a raised eyebrow.

He cleared his throat, ran a hand through his hair and looked at her as he tried to get his wording right, “Look… about the other night… I uh… we haven’t had the chance to talk about it… you know?”

She wasn't sure why but she got angry, and she knew he could hear it in her voice when she told him, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna tell my little sister that I slept with her fiance while she was out of town."

Shea sighed, ran a hand through his hair and said, "That's not what I meant."

"Yes it was."

"Okay, yeah it sort of was... I just... wanted us to be on the same page about this whole thing." Shea said, and Tessa raised an eyebrow at him. He explained, "What happened... happened... but it can't happen again."

"Trust me, I get it." She wasn't sure why was so mad right now, maybe because she knew that deep down she didn't want to just pretend it hadn't happened and move on.

"I just... don't want to make things worse, I don't want to complicate things more than they already are. We can't... go there again even if..." He stopped talking, and Tessa really wanted to tell him to finish. She wanted to hear what he wanted to say to her, she wanted him to tell her that she wasn't alone in not wanting to stop whatever they were doing.

But instead of telling him to continue she simply nodded her head and told him, "Don't worry, I'm not about to go spill our little secret. You can breathe now."

Shea sighed when Tessa stepped into her bedroom and closed the door between them. He wanted to knock on the door, he wanted to walk right in, he wanted to show her without words how much he really didn't mean anything he had said. But instead he just turned away and went into the kitchen. What was he supposed to do anyway?

He headed back into the kitchen and he fixed his eyes on Amelia, who was still sitting on the couch, reading a book. As if she felt his gaze on her she turned look at him and when she caught his gaze her brow raised and she asked him, "What?"

"You're really not gonna tell me who it is?" Shea asked her in surprise. When she shook her head he asked, "But it's someone I know?"

"Yup." She told him.

"But you're not gonna tell me who?" He asked her.

"Nope."

- - -

When Tessa came out of her bedroom intent on throwing a pair of shoes on and getting into the car with Amelia to go to the game that night to find Amelia standing in the doorway waiting for her she sighed. The first words out of her sister's mouth were, "You're not seriously wearing that are you?"

"What is wrong with wearing a jersey to a hockey game?" Tessa asked her, straightening out her Weber jersey as she headed to the closet beside the door to dig for a pair of shoes.

Amelia told her, "What's wrong with it? You're kidding, right? You can't wear a Preds jersey on a date with a Bruins player. You can't wear a jersey on a date period."

"Relax Amy, I have a perfectly acceptable dinner date top on underneath this jersey, and at the end of the night I will take the jersey off and give it to you to take home." Tessa informed her, shoving her feet into low heeled ankle boots before she turned to her sister and asked, "Now, are we ready to go?"

Amelia sighed dramatically but nodded her head and lead Tessa out to her car in the driveway. Once they were on their way to the arena Amelia asked Tessa, "You promise you're gonna give this date a shot? Like a real shot?"

"As real of a shot as I can give someone who lives in another state." Tessa informed her.

Amelia grinned, "I like Boston. I could visit like all of the time."

"You're insane. I don't even know the guy." Tessa told her with an eye roll.

She rolled her eyes for a second time when Amelia told her, "Yet. You don't know the guy yet."

"You're impossible." Tessa muttered as Amelia parked the car and they both got out.

Tessa followed her into the arena and up to the wives room, where she sat down almost immediately. Amelia made the rounds saying hello to everyone like the good little captain's girl she was before she sat down next to Tessa and then she glanced over at the girl beside her and said, "Oh! Roman didn't tell me you were in town!"

Tessa glanced at the redhead beside her, and before she could stop herself she asked her, "Wait, are you Harper?"

The girl blushed and nodded, before she motioned to the brunette beside her and said, "Yeah, and this my best friend Bristol."

Amelia told Tessa, "She's dating John Tavares. We all hate her for it."

Bristol chuckled and Tessa shrugged her shoulders, "He's cute. Super cute. Way too young for me, but cute, and an excellent player to boot."

"He'd appreciate that." Bristol said with a laugh.

"I can just picture it now. He'd be all red faced and trying not to smile." Harper said with a laugh before she straightened her posture and did her best John impression, "Aw heck, I'm just you know, working hard out there, the teams really working hard this year and they're great. It’s great to have guys like that with me, they make me look good."

Everyone around them burst into a fit of laughter at that, and finally, Amelia introduced Tessa to Harper and Bristol, "Oh right. This is my sister Tessa."

Harper smiled, and seemed to be a lot more comfortable now as she held her hand out, “I’ve heard a lot about you, it’s nice to finally put a face to the name.”

Tessa’s eyebrow raised as she shook Harper’s hand and asked her curiously, “You’ve heard a lot about me?”

Harper nodded and explained to her, “A few of the guys apparently think we’re a lot alike.”

Amelia laughed and stated, “I can totally see it.”

Tessa smiled gently and she leaned a little closer to Harper, lowering her voice as she told her, “Between you and me, I’m really glad you came into Roman’s life.”

“Yeah?” Harper asked her with a small smile.

Tessa nodded her head and she said, “He’s the sweetest guy ever, and he really thinks the world of you.”

When the game was over, a win for the home team, Tessa followed closely behind Amelia as she lead her down to where they would be waiting for Shea and Patrice. Tessa couldn't help but ask Amelia, "Does Shea even know about this?"

"About Patrice? No. I like when Shea gets annoyed with me, he gets all huffy. It's cute." Amelia told her with a grin that made Tessa shake her head in amusement.

Frankly, Tessa wasn't so much worried about Shea getting 'annoyed' with Amelia. She was worried about what he might do or say to her. But then again maybe Shea was smarter than that, maybe he wouldn't say a word to her because maybe, unlike herself, Shea had gotten over what happened between them and was content with moving on with his life.

"Alright, hand the jersey over lady." Tessa rolled her eyes as Amelia held her hand out to her the moment they stopped in the hallway by the parking lot where Amelia had parked her car.

So Tessa pulled the jersey off and handed it to Amelia before she took a moment to straighten out her top and then she looked over at Amelia and asked, "So... did I pass?"

Amelia grinned at her, "With flying colors. You look hot."

Tessa rolled her eyes but accepted the set of keys from Amelia, hooking her middle finger through one of the key rings to hold onto them as Shea approached them. Tessa averted her eyes as he leaned down and accepted a hug and a quick kiss from Amelia before their eyes met and they both forced a smile on their faces. There was no post win congratulatory hug between them this time.

"Good game." Tessa said.

"Thanks." Shea smiled gently at her before he looked over at Amelia and asked, "Didn't you set her up on a date?"

Amelia nodded, her eyes floated beyond Shea's body and toward the hallway where she grinned and said, "And here he comes."

Shea turned his head over his shoulder and he damn near dropped his phone, wallet and keys that were in his hand. Bergeron? Amelia's big surprise date for Tessa was with Bergy? What the fuck?

Patrice approached them, and Amelia gave him a quick hug before she told him, "Patrice this is my sister Tessa, Tess this is Patrice. Have fun."

Tessa rolled her eyes at Amelia but she turned to Patrice and he was holding his hand out so she shook his hand gently as he told her, "It's nice to meet you."

"You too." She was trying to be polite but every part of her body was on high alert, she could feel Shea's stare on her. She wanted to know what was going on in his head, but then, at the same time, she also most definitely did not want to know.

As if sensing the glaring presence of the tall defenseman as well Patrice turned to Shea, who took part in the typical 'hockey player hug' as he said, "Nice to see you again man."

Shea nodded his head and was polite as ever, "Yeah you too."

Patrice smiled and joked, "Don't worry, I'll have her home nice and early."

Amelia laughed and said, "Or don't. We're gonna leave now."

As Shea passed Tessa he stopped for a moment, their shoulders touching before he bent down slightly and spoke quietly, but his voice was harsh and angry, "So what, you're gonna move to fucking Boston now?"

Tessa stood where she was, completely stunned as Shea nudged her shoulder as he walked past her and left the arena. What in the hell was that about?

She turned back to Patrice to find him waiting with a small smile so Tessa shook the thoughts about Shea and his odd behavior out of her head and stepped into the spot beside him as she lead him out to where Amelia had parked her car earlier that evening.

As she drove Tessa told him, "Sorry you guys didn't get the win tonight."

Patrice shrugged his shoulders and told her, "Can't win every game right? They were the better team anyway."

Tessa nodded slowly in agreement because it was true. Their drive was filled mostly with mindless small talk, but it wasn't a long drive at all to whatever restaurant he had picked out and Tessa was surprised when he stopped at the front of the car to wait for her. He held the doors open for her when they walked into the restaurant, and he placed his hand gently on the small of her back as he lead her through the restaurant as they followed the hostess to their table.

Once they were seated Patrice asked her, "So how do you like Nashville? Amelia mentioned you just moved here last month."

Tessa nodded her head slowly, "It's good. Different than St. Louis but so far I think I like it."

He smiled, "Yeah I always like coming here for road trips."

Curiously she asked him, "What about Boston? I've never been."

"I love it there, pretty great hockey city too but I'm biased." He joked, and Tessa let out a small laugh at that.

"So if my sister mentioned I just moved here... what else did she mention about me?" Tessa asked him out of curiosity. She was a little nervous to find out.

His cheeks flushed and he told her, "Nothing bad."

"Well, that's a relief." She said with a laugh.

He chuckled and told her, "She did mention that you just got divorced."

"Oh..." Tessa didn't really know what to say to that. It wasn't a great ice breaker and part of her was angry with Amelia for telling him that.

That anger dissipated when he told her, “I didn’t mean to upset you, I just figured it wasn’t fair of me to spend all evening with you and not let you know that she told me that.”

Tessa smiled gently and she told him, “It’s not exactly my favorite ice breaker but I guess getting that out of the way early is probably for the best.”

“He didn’t treat you very well did he?” Patrice asked her curiously, and Tessa didn’t answer him. That was his answer. He reached across the table, placing his warm hand over hers and he told her softly, "Everyone needs that one date after getting out of a long-term relationship to sort of... reaffirm their faith in the dating world. I'm happy to do that for you."

"You're something else." Tessa stated, and when he raised his eyebrow at her she flushed and told him, "Honestly, I haven't been on a real date in... five years. So... I'm a little rusty and a little nervous. Please try not to hold that against me."

“I never would. But I promise to make it worth your time and I promise you that I'm not gonna expect anything from you. Just give me a few hours tonight, and hopefully, you'll realize that not all of us males are that awful, and maybe you’ll actually have fun tonight." Tessa was sure the surprise must have shown on her face because he chuckled at her reaction.

He was so not what she was expecting, but this little voice in her head was telling her she needed to do this. Anything to get her mind off of Shea.

So she told him, "Alright, I'm gonna hold you to that."