Him and I

At the skills competition the following night, Alex and Camryn were giggling as they made their way to their seats. They smiled politely at the brown haired woman sitting there with a towheaded little boy in her lap, both in matching Minnesota Wild jerseys.

“Hello, I’m Rylie,” she introduced herself. “Rylie Staal.”

“Camryn Seguin,” Cam introduced herself. “We’re on the same team this weekend.”

“Hi, I’m Alex Gates, and I guess I’m the enemy.”

Rylie laughed. “Tonight we can be friends at least.”

“Alex! There you are! What are you wearing?”

The rapid fire questions from the accented french voice made Alex smile. “Vero!” She smiled, hugging the woman who joined them. “This is Cam and-“

“Rylie West!” Vero exclaimed and then laughed. “I guess it’s Rylie Staal now though. My gosh it has been ages. How are you?”

Rylie helped the little boy into the empty seat beside her and stood, embracing Veronique Fleury. “I’m good, how are you? How is Vegas?”

“It’s lovely, truly. And Alex is there. She’s James’s girlfriend.”

“James Neal?”

“The one and the same.”

“James “the Real Deal” Neal, has an actual, living and breathing girlfriend? That you like? Because the James I remember brought around bimbos from my yoga classes.”

Vero rolled her eyes. “Ugh, those girls. I don’t know what that man was thinking when he had Alex the whole time. Idiot.”

“But you’re wearing a Lightning jersey,” Rylie said to Alex.

She grinned and tapped the C on the front. “For Steven. And my Islanders beanie for John, and my PK tee under this jersey. But I’ve got my necklace for James,” she added, lifting the Lego like figure from under her jersey. “Basically James’s friends became my friends and I have to support all of them because they don’t have girlfriends.”

“Don’t let her fool you,” Camryn spoke up. “She loves supporting all of them. Ty and I had dinner with them last night and she dotes on them all.”

Alex shrugged. “They’re my guys, what can I say?”

“I completely understand. Eric has three brothers,” Rylie told her.

“How do you and Vero know each other?” Camryn asked Rylie.

“My best friend Jody is married to Jordan, one of Eric’s brothers. They met when he played in Pittsburgh and by extension of her dating him, I met all of his teammates and significant others. V was always the nicest, even though I was just a friend of a friend.”

“I always thought you and Paul would be cute together,” Vero spoke up. “I was hoping one of you would figure it out at some point. Just like I hoped James would figure it out about Alex.”

“Paul Martin?” Alex asked. Rylie nodded. “I love Paulie; he’s one of my favorite of James’s friends. Just don’t tell Steven.”

“I haven’t spoken to Paul in years,” Rylie admitted. “But he was a good friend to me. We just were never long term material. How is he, do you know?” She asked, looking between Vero and Alex.

“James and I see him when we can which is to say a few times in the summer and pretty much whenever they play against each other. He met a girl, Lily, and she’s great. He got demoted to the AHL but he’s taking it all in stride, waiting for his chance to prove them wrong,” Alex replied. “If the Sharks can’t get their heads out of their ass then I hope he gets traded somewhere that will appreciate him by the deadline.”

“I can’t believe any team would do the professor like that.”

“The professor?” Alex asked.

Vero smirked. “Paul looks like a sexy professor when he wears his sweaters and glasses. And Rylie never had a problem swooning over it.”

“Vero!” Rylie blushed.

Alex giggled. “I secretly love when Paul wears his glasses; it’s so dreamy.”

“I think James is even more attractive when he’s wearing glasses,” Camryn admitted. “I mean, I didn’t really know who he was when I met y’all this summer but I googled him and girl, your man is really good looking,” she told Alex. “That suit with the floral shirt? Gorgeous.”

Alex grinned. “That is a personal favorite of mine actually. But you know who wears a suit exceptionally well?”

“Who?”

“Flower.” She looked to Vero. “Sorry to check out your husband but the man has great style.”

She smiled. “He has a little help.”

“Yeah, So does James, now. He used to have some hideous shit. That suit jacket he wore to Kris LeTang’s wedding? Ugh! Flower on the other hand looked gorgeous.”

“You went to Tanger’s wedding?” Rylie asked.

Alex nodded. “James didn’t want to go alone so he begged me to be his plus one. I don't really know why though because he ended up in a hotel room with some third cousin of Kris’s wife that night.”

“Wasn’t that the night you ended up making friends with Sid?” Vero asked.

“Yeah, he took pity on me at the bar and danced with me.”

“James was so pissed at Sid flirting with you.”

“Sid was definitely not flirting with me....but he knew it was pissing James off so we let him think he was because I was pissed off at him for bringing me as his date to a wedding where I only knew a handful of people and then ditching me for an easy lay.”

“How long have you known James?” Rylie asked.

“Eight years.”

“Wow, that’s a long time.”

“We’ve been dating for a little more than a year now. It took awhile for us to get our act together.”

“How do you and Camryn know each other?” Rylie asked as the four of them settled into their seats.

“Steven and Tyler played in a charity softball game this summer and James and Alex were there to cheer for Steven,” Cam answered. “He introduced us all after the game.”

“It turned out that Cam and I are both native Texans from Dallas and dating boys who played for the Stars,” Alex added.

“Mama,” the little boy beside Rylie said, tugging at her sleeve. He climbed over the seat to crawl into her lap and she ruffled the hair on his head.

“Rylie, did you and Eric?” Vero asked.

She nodded. “This is Finley and he’s three.”

“Where are the other boys?”

“Downstairs with Eric.” She looked to Camryn and Alex. “Eric has two sons with his ex-wife in addition to this little nugget. We met for the second time about a year after his divorce. He didn’t even remember meeting me the first time at Jody and Jordan’s wedding but I decided not to hold that against him.”

“I met Tyler at a New Years Eve party I was working at,” Camryn offered. “I kissed him to save him from these two giggling girls that I’m pretty sure were plotting to kidnap him.”

“James rear ended my car at a red light and ruined the birthday cake I baked my grandmother,” Alex added.

“Marc and I met when we were teenagers; I’ve known him practically my whole life and I’ve known he was my one for almost as long,” Vero said.

“That’s so sweet,” Camryn said.

“This is fun,” Rylie said. “I wasn’t sure what this weekend would be like but I’m so glad to have met you both. And of course it’s so great to see you again, Vero.”

“To new friendships,” Alex said.



At the end of the skills competition the four girls headed downstairs, making their way through a maze of people and hallways.

“Alex!” Steven shouted, pushing his way through the crowd to reach her. He whistled when he saw her jersey. “That’s one good looking jersey you’re wearing,” he grinned. “Who are your friends?”

Alex rolled her eyes at him. “Steven, this is Veronique Fleury and Rylie Staal.”

“Rylie!” a small voice yelled out in the crowd. “Rylie!” Two little boys came tearing down the hall towards them and then came to a screeching halt when they saw Steven and stared.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” Steven asked, sticking his fist out towards the little boys. They first bumped him in return.

“There you are, Ry.”

They all turned towards the voice that came from behind them. Rylie embraced the man and they shared a kiss which the three little boys immediately eww-ed.

Alex nudged Vero. “There’s four of them?” She whispered.

“Four big, strapping, broad shouldered Canadian dreamboats.”

“Wow.”

“Mm-hmm.”

Rylie turned back to the girls with a smile and Eric’s arm around her waist. “Cam, Alex, this is my husband Eric. Cam is married to Tyler,” she told him.

“Segs was showing off baby pictures on his phone all day,” he told Camryn. “My brothers have daughters and I keep trying to convince Ry we should have another.”

“Three little Staal’s and their father is quite enough for me, thanks,” Rylie replied. “You can spoil your nieces to your heart's content though.”

“Or we could have a mini Rylie.”

She shook her head with a smile. “I’ll see you girls tomorrow,” she said as she started rounding up the boys.

“Bye!” They waved as she and Eric walked away.

“Ladies,” John greeted as he joined them. “I thought you were going to wear my jersey,” he said to Alex.

“Steven’s building, Steven’s jersey,” she shrugged. Steven gave him a toothy grin and pulled Alex under his arm.

“Where’s Nealer so we can tell him how you love me best?” He asked.

“She doesn’t love you best,” James said as he joined them, tugging Alex from Steven and hugging her. “We all know it goes Paul, John, me, PK, you.”

The girls giggled and Vero spotted Marc and waved goodbye as she went to join him. “Cam!” Tyler called out from just down the hall.

“See you tomorrow, Alex,” she said before walking away.

“Hey, McDavid’s your teammate tomorrow, right?” John asked James.

“Yep.”

“He still here?”

“I think he was still in the locker room.”

“Can I borrow your girlfriend for a minute?”

“Why?”

“I need a favor, if Alex doesn’t mind.”

“I don’t mind,” she replied.

“You don’t even know what it is,” James said.

“I don’t need to know; it’s John and he’s my best friend, after Katharyn of course.

“Come on,” James sighed. “We can find PK while we’re at it and get some dinner, I’m starving.”

The four of them made their way down the hall to the visiting team locker room that the western conference players were using for the weekend. James spotted Connor McDavid and headed toward him.

“Hey, Connor, you met Tavares yet?”

John stuck his hand out towards him. “Nice to meet you, Connor.”

They shook hands. “Nice to meet you too, man.”

“Would you mind doing me a small favor?”

“Yeah, sure, I guess,” Connor shrugged.

“I met Danni a couple months ago,” John started.

“Who is Danni?” James asked.

“She’s Ryan Nugent-Hopkins wife,” Connor answered. “I lived with them my rookie season. Did you lose a bet to Danni?”

John gave him a funny look. “No.”

“Danni and Nuge make a lot of bets with each other that usually end with one of them having to do something embarrassing or stupid.”

“This was something I told her I thought I could do to help her,” John explained. “I just need your cell phone.”

“Um, okay?” Connor said, his brow furrowed as he turned to grab his phone. He passed it to John who opened up the camera and switched to video.

“Oh, Connor, this is my friend Alex,” John introduced them. “Alex, Connor is single, and Danni’s husband needs to know that it’s completely normal for the happily involved girl in a group of single hockey players to try and play Cupid until they’re all married off so if you could just look into this camera and tell Ryan hi, that would be great.”

Alex’s face lit in a smile and James groaned as she tugged Connor in beside her. Steven tried to bite back a laugh and failed. John held the phone up and nodded at Alex.

“Hi, Ryan, hi, Danni. I’m Alex and I just met your friend Connor. So adorable this one. Anyway, I heard that Danni has this little problem with fixing up all of your friends, Ryan and well, my boyfriend is James Neal and he has some really needy friends with zero sense when it comes to girls too. And do you know who it falls to to ensure that these hopeless, but adorable, boys get their happily ever after? That’s right, me. So I just wanted you to know that this is a fact of life you should just accept. We’re girls happily in love with a hockey player. We want your friends to have the same. Let your girl do her best for them. They’ll thank you later for meeting her. And Danni, if you ever need to trade stories on these guys, I have some doozies. I’ll give my number to Connor for you. Bye!”

John stopped recording and passed the phone back to Connor. “Thanks, man.” He hugged Alex. “You were exactly as I expected. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. And seriously, Connor, let me give you my number for Danni. I bet she’s great.”



At the game the next afternoon, Alex met up with Camryn, Vero, and Rylie and the four girls cheered for their significant others as they played against one another. The pacific team beat the central team in the first game, and in the second game between the atlantic and metropolitan divisions, Alex cheered on Steven and John on their respective teams. In the third game it was James and his Pacific division teammates versus Steven and his Atlantic division teammates. The Pacific team won the game and Alex and Vero cheered wildly for the guys.

Afterwards the girls all ventured downstairs and as the guys started to filter out, began to go their separate ways. Camryn was the first to depart with Tyler and then Rylie, Eric, and their brood of mini-Staal’s.

“There’s John,” Vero said, nudging Alex.

She turned and saw John speaking with a woman just down the hall. His eyes were focused intently on her but hers darted everywhere but back at his.

“Who is she?” Vero asked.

“I’m pretty sure that’s the girl he’s got a crush on.”

“Why isn’t she hanging out with us then?”

“Because she works for his team.”

“Oh. OOOH.”

“Yeah, oooh. She’s pretty though.” Vero nodded. They watched as John and she spoke, her shaking her head no and refusing to make eye contact and John tugging his hair in frustration. She hurried away in the opposite direction a moment later and Vero and Alex quickly turned their backs so John wouldn’t know they’d seen the interaction.

A beat later, they could hear John’s footsteps start towards them and then his voice as he greeted them as he approached. “Hey, Alex, Veronique,” he said.

Alex turned and smiled at John’s approaching form. “Hey, where’s Steven? I want to harass him about losing.”

John laughed as he hugged Alex. “He’s sulking in the locker room.”

“Can I go in there?” she asked as he released her.

“No.”

“Pleaseeeee?”

“No.”

“You’re no fun, Tavares.”

“I know. Your boyfriend tells me that all the time.”

“Well you didn't have to prove him right,” she teased him.

“I figure I owe him after Halloween; if I let you in there with Steven you’ll see Lundqvist and no woman ever comes out of that experience happy to be going home with their boyfriend or husband.”

“The King is still in there?! Johnny! You have to introduce me! The suits! The style! The man is a damn god amongst men.”

“Who plays for my mortal enemy.”

“Rivalries don’t count at the all star game,” she replied dismissively.

“Kris is in there,” Vero spoke up. “He’ll introduce you.”

Alex squealed. “Oh my gosh, of course! I forgot Tanger and Sid were here.”

John rolled his eyes. “Stay here while I get Steven.”

“And Hank!” Alex called after him.

“No!” He yelled back before disappearing into the locker room.

“Did I just hear Tavares tell you no?” James’s voice rumbled from behind them.

Alex turned quickly to him with a frown. “He won’t introduce me to Hank.”

“Lundqvist?”

“Yes!”

“Hang on, I need to go thank him for not giving into you.”

“James!”

“You have Flower, you don’t need to meet Hank.”

“But he’s the King. And so handsome!”

“What? I’m not handsome?” Marc asked as he joined them.

“Well of course you are but come on. Lundqvist is stupid handsome.”

“James won’t introduce you to him?”

“Worse. Johnny won’t.”

Marc laughed. “The horror.”

“Right?”

“Alex!”’ Steven shouted as he walked into the hall. “I could hear you during both games. How do you get so loud? Also, I do not appreciate that you were cheering Tavares every time he hit the ice.”

Alex laughed as Steven hugged her. “Jealous.”

“Always. God, is this how Nealer feels all the time?”

“Yes,” James replied quickly. “Welcome to my life.”