Scenes From an Elevator: James and Alex

Reese Dennis tucked an errant piece of her brown hair behind her ear and pushed her glasses back up her nose. She looked over at her assistant and rolled her eyes as the younger woman tugged the hem of her too short dress to reveal more cleavage. She took her own cardigan off and approached the girl.

“Put this on,” Reese told her, handing the black garment to her.

The girl frowned. “Why?”

“Because that dress is not appropriate for work, and it's definitely not appropriate for a woman who works in an elementary school. Put it on or go home.”

She took it begrudgingly, muttering under her breath as she walked away.

Reese couldn't wait for the day to be over.



Pekka Rinne followed PK Subban and Roman Josi inside of the elementary school and into the office, where five different women of varying ages clustered, all of them turning to smile at them as they walked in.

From behind the counter stepped an older, grey haired woman who shooed the others out. “Silly girls with no self respect,” she said as she approached Roman. “Although I can see why.”

PK laughed. “He's single too, ma'am.”

“If only I weren't happily married,” she grinned. “My name is Eloise. Are you the boys from the hockey team?”

Roman nodded. “Yes we are.”

“Follow me; I'll take you to the library. The kids are already there with Ms. Reese.”

“Who is Ms. Reese?” Roman asked as they followed Eloise.

“She's the school librarian. The kids just love her.”

“She's probably old,” PK whispered to Pekka.

When they reached the library, they followed Eloise to a circle of children who were intently listening to a blonde woman speak. Eloise turned to look behind them and smiled broadly. “Ms. Reese, the hockey players are here.”

The three men turned. “Or maybe not that old,” PK murmured as he elbowed Pekka in the side. “Hi, I'm PK,” he said as he held his hand out.

“Reese Dennis, it's nice to meet you,” she replied politely as her small hand was swallowed in his. She turned to Roman and acknowledged him with a nod and then Pekka. He noticed she was tiny when he found himself standing beside her. He was 6’5”, and she couldn't have been more than 5’2”.

He couldn't help but notice her small, rounded breasts in a simple white button down, or the curve of her hip to her heart shaped butt that was perfectly encased in a pair of crisp, dark blue dress pants. She wore flats on her feet, her hair was in a ponytail and had a pair of tortoiseshell colored glasses on her face.

“You can follow me,” Reese said. “The kids are very excited for today and we appreciate you taking time out to come in today.”

“It's our pleasure,” Roman grinned.

“Annie is my assistant,” she said with a nod towards the blond the kids sat around. “She should be wrapping up in a minute and I'll turn it over to you all.”

“What grade are they again?” Pekka asked.

Reese found herself momentarily stunned by his voice. She was fairly certain she wouldn't mind if he read her the phone book.

“Second grade so they're seven and eight,” she answered.

Pekka nodded. “And they read the most?”

“That's right. The second grade classrooms had a read-a-thon contest and our vice principal knows someone who knows someone and here you three are as a treat for these kids.”

“We're happy to be here,” PK spoke up.

The blond woman sitting with the kids stood and flashed a flirtatious smile at the three men as she approached and Reese took her place. “Hi, I'm Annie; it's so wonderful to meet y'all,” she drawled in a sweet voice as she sidled up to Roman. He returned her smile and Pekka rolled his eyes before turning his attention back to Reese who was motioning them forward.

Pekka let PK take the lead; his oversized personality and fun loving attitude was a perfect fit for the kids as Pekka and then Roman followed. They shared reading a story for the kids and then broke off in smaller groups with them. When they left to return to their classroom, Pekka and PK chatted with Reese while Roman flirted with Annie.

Pekka noticed as Reese gritted her teeth when Annie giggled loudly, pushing her chest against Roman’s arm, the cardigan she had been wearing with the kids in the room discarded once they were gone. PK eventually drifted towards them, leaving Pekka alone with Reese.

“So...are you a hockey fan?”

“No, never seen a game.”

“You should come sometime; you might like it.”

“I doubt that. Sports aren't my thing.”

“Books are though I bet. I like books. I'm not just a dumb athlete.”

Reese smirked. “Sure you aren't. You're also probably used to getting everything you want.”

He chuckled. “Not always.”

Reese noticed a sad look pass through his eyes and wondered who hurt the tall, handsome blond in front of her. She pushed the thought aside just as quickly as it came.

PK walked back to them then before the conversation could continue. “You ready?” He asked Pekka.

Pekka nodded. “Is Roman?”

“Even if he isn't, Annie needs to get back to work,” Reese spoke up. “Annie,” she called out. “Miss Wright’s class is coming in in five minutes; you might want to get ready for that.” She turned her attention back to PK and Pekka. “It was nice to meet you both. Thank you for coming down to do this.”

“It was our pleasure,” PK replied. “Thank you for having us.”

“Yeah, thank you,” Roman echoed as he walked up.

“It was nice to meet you, Reese,” Pekka smiled. “Maybe we’ll see you at a game one day.”



On her lunch break two days later, Reese’s phone rang. Glancing at the display, she quickly answered.

“Devon? What's going on?”

“Reese! Oh my god! I know I'm not supposed to call you at work unless it's an emergency but OH MY GOD!” she squealed.

Reese held the phone away from her ear as Devon screamed. “Dev, I need you to breathe and tell me what's going on.”

“We got the spot!”

“What spot?”

“On the Ford Band Stage.”

“The what?”

“Reese! We talked about this a month ago as a band. I sent our press kit to the Predators for consideration to play the Ford Band Stage during intermission at a game next season. They called me today. Apparently a band had to drop out for tomorrow's game and they want us to take the spot. Can you believe it?!”

“I cannot believe it. We’re going to perform at a hockey game?”

“Yeah, for nineteen thousand people. It's huge for us. Who knows who might be there and hears us play. This is amazing. Band meeting at six tonight so we can plan a set list.”

“I'll be there.”



Mid March was not supposed to find the Preds fighting for a playoff spot. They had been favorites going into the season but expectations and reality unfortunately had not come to fruition. Every game was a battle, another step closer to the goal.

For Pekka, his focus was always the game at hand, never ahead, and never backwards. On a professional level, the season had been a good one for him, the payoff from a lot of hard work and sacrifice overcoming injuries in the previous seasons.

On a personal level, the season had started great. He came back into town a few weeks ahead of most of his other teammates and decided to stop in to say hello to Alex Gates, the best friend and roommate to his teammate James Neal.

Alex had been just as much a part of his outside the rink life as any other non hockey playing friend. She was already living in Nashville when James had been traded and as soon as he arrived as a part of the team, so did she. James brought her along often as his “date” to team functions when he needed someone acceptable to play the part, and she often came out with them after games as well.

Pekka had taken the time to get to know her and not dismiss her as one of Neal’s bunnies, which he always seemed to have plenty of without effort. He enjoyed talking with her, about hockey, life, Finland, and her hometown of Dallas. She had even let him in on the secret of the best steakhouse in Dallas, one he now always went to when they visited the Texas team.

Plus the way she put a bull shitting Nealer in his place was always good for a laugh for the boys.

He had stopped in to her bakery on a whim and hadn't expected the overwhelming need to kiss Alex as she stood behind the counter in her cute apron, the sunlight streaming in the windows and hitting her just so. Instead he asked her out and enjoyed the way she blushed under his stare.

He ended up helping her close up For Goodness Cakes that afternoon and then they had gone grocery shopping together for everything she needed to make dinner. It had been easy and fun and while grocery shopping could be thought of as a mundane task, it was nice to do with Alex.

At the house she shared with his teammate, he read the others man's disdain for their dinner guest easily. But James put on a smile and his game face and went along with it as Pekka and Alex worked side by side making meatballs and then a sauce before boiling spaghetti noodles. After dinner he expected James to pull him aside but his demeanor had completely changed and they were all laughing and joking before the end of the meal.

Things between Pekka and Alex progressed naturally and after a first date where they had spent the entire day together, there were sleepovers at his place after a couple weeks, and then came her fight with James.

He really had wanted to confront the other man but refrained because he was falling for Alex and making her happy was better than punching her best friend in the face. They went to the team Christmas party together, she met his parents. Things were perfect. Until they weren't.

It was January 9th. It had been a Monday. They had played in Chicago the day before. He and Alex had made plans to go out that night because he was going to arrive back in Nashville late and Alex was opening at her bake shop that morning.

He showed up at her apartment expecting his knockout girlfriend ready for dinner. Instead he found her teary eyed and looking like she had barely slept for the past few days. And then came the bomb.

She was in love with her best friend. She was in love with his teammate. His teammate.

He was pissed as the words hung in the air but as Alex broke down in tears, and she worried about how he must hate her, he softened, seeing how much being honest with him pained her.

The truth was, Pekka had known the risk getting involved with her. He had assumed from the beginning that James and Alex were one day going to pop up and tell everyone it was a joke, that they really were together but the day never came. He knew the night he had joined James and Alex for dinner before the season started that James didn't like it. But he didn't say anything so Pekka took it as another sign that maybe their “we're just friends” line wasn't a line after all but the truth.

In the end, he accepted Alex for her truth, and he had kissed her goodbye and he went home. Alone with his thoughts, he let his anger simmer. It didn't help any that they left on a ten day road trip three days after the breakup, forcing him to see Neal with an extra pep to his step, trying and failing to hide his happy smile.

A week into the trip, Pekka cornered James in a trainer's room in Edmonton. James had been avoiding him the entire trip and Pekka, with many a night alone in a hotel room without someone to call or text like James now did, had given a lot of thought to everything that happened.

What he realized was that he wasn't mad. He didn't hate Alex, and he didn't hate James. It hurt, but who was he to stand in the way of someone's happy ending? And if he dwelled on it, then his heart wouldn't be open for it's own happily ever after.

So he told James they were good and meant it.

Things slowly started going back to normal after that and following their bye week in February, Alex started waiting for James after games and they openly left together and Pekka felt happy for them. Things just went back to the way they had been before Pekka ever asked Alex out and that was okay.

And then Reese Dennis came along.

Pekka had been roped into going with Roman and PK at the last minute because their captain, Mike Fisher had fallen ill. He didn't mind; he enjoyed doing things in the community with his teammates that involved kids and was active in his own charitable endeavors with the children's hospital in Nashville.

He expected the kids to be excited. He expected there to be teachers that would be seeking to catch their eye. He hadn't expected the school librarian to be attractive, or his age (he guessed at least).

Pekka was sitting in his stall during the first intermission of a scoreless game against Arizona when he heard PK let out a loud whoop and shout for Roman. A few others joined them around the tv and PK turned towards him.

“Peks! You gotta see this!”

He ambled over and looked at the tv. “What am I looking at?”

They were watching an in house camera feed of the arena, which was focused on the band stage. “Just keep watching,” Roman told him, elbowing him in the side.

The camera panned as the singer jumped back in and Pekka’s jaw nearly dropped. “Who's that?” James asked as he walked by.

“That's the librarian from the school we were at this week,” Roman answered.

“That's a librarian?!”

“Damn, I should have volunteered to go in Fish’s place.”

“She's hot.”

“Is she single?”

He heard his teammates but their words only half registered as he watched Reese on the screen. Three days ago they had met a buttoned up, no nonsense librarian. Today she was belting out a cover of a song he vaguely recognized with her hair down and tousled, wearing skin tight jeans and a tank top, and the sexiest rasp he had ever heard.

Their coach passed by then, shouting at them and everyone headed back to their stalls. Pekka took one last look at the tv before making his way back to his spot with only one thought in his mind.

Two really. One, to win the hockey game and two, to see Reese Dennis again.



Following their win the next day, Pekka walked into the elementary school they had visited the week before and headed for the office. He smiled with relief when he saw Eloise behind the counter.

“Hello there,” the older woman smiled kindly. “You're one of those hockey boys.”

“Yes ma'am. I was wondering if you knew if Ms. Dennis was with a class right now.”

“As a matter of fact, she's not; it's her lunch hour. And I know she hides out in her office for lunch. Come on,” she said, coming around her desk. Pekka held his arm out to her and she slipped her own through his. “Such a nice boy,” she said, patting his arm.

She led him down the halls towards the library and paused just outside of a closed door a few minutes later. “Good luck,” she smiled with a knowing wink before leaving Pekka alone.

He hadn’t thought out a plan and now he was left staring at a closed office door, not sure what he was supposed to do next. He was now doubting just showing up; would he come across as a stalker? Should he have sent her flowers first with his number instead? He was about to turn and walk out of the school when the door creaked open and he was face to face with Reese.

“Pekka?” she asked, her eyes wide, her voice squeaking with surprise.

He could feel his neck burn as he flushed. “Uh, hi.”

“Hi. What are you doing here?”

“Eloise showed me to your office.”

“That doesn’t surprise me. But why are you here?”

“I saw you perform last night.”

“You did?”

“We have an arena feed on a TV outside the locker room. You were good.”

“Thank you; it was very last minute because there was a cancelation but it was a lot of fun, and more people than would ever see us at our neighborhood bar.” Silence lulled between them for a moment before Reese spoke again. “So were you just in the neighborhood and wanted to say hi?”

“No, I wanted to see if I could take you out to dinner.”

“You want to take me to dinner?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“I don’t understand...”

“You’re a professional athlete and I’m a librarian. What could we possibly have in common?”

“We won’t know unless we get to know each other.”

“Does this usually work for you, just showing up at a girls job and asking her out?”

He could feel the flush again. “I’ve never shown up at someone’s job that I didn't know to ask her out. But I felt something when I met you, and I liked your no nonsense attitude.”

She studied him. He was handsome, and physically she was definitely attracted to him so that was a good start. “You promise you’re single and not stringing along some other girl?”

He chuckled. “Very single. No one else.”

“How long was your last relationship?”

“Three months.”

“How long since you broke up?”

“Two months ago.” She nodded. “What about you?” he asked.

“It’s been six months since I dated anyone and I was with him for six months.”

“So no one you’re stringing along then.”

“Hardly; the band takes up most of my free time. It’s mostly why the last guy and I broke up.”

“Hockey takes up a lot of my time. Perhaps we understand that about each other.”

“Perhaps,” Reese allowed.

“We leave tomorrow for three days but I’m back on Sunday. Can I take you out then?”

“I have a gig Saturday night.”

“If that's your excuse, I won't accept it. How does dinner sound? We have a game Saturday night and then fly home after so it’ll be after midnight before we get in.”

“You aren't going to accept no, are you?”

“I will, if that's truly what you want. I won't push you, but I would like the chance to get to know you.”

“Dinner,” she agreed and Pekka's face lit with a smile that made her smile too.

“Let me give you my number,” he said.

“Okay,” she nodded, leading him into her office. She reached for her phone on her desk and handed it to him, letting him put his name and number in her contacts. When he handed it back, she called him, ending the call once his own phone began to ring from his pocket. He immediately pulled it out to save her number.

“So Sunday then. I’ll call you later in the week and we can decide on a time.”

“Okay.”

“Do you mind if I text you this week? We’re going to DC and Raleigh so I’ll only be an hour ahead of here.”

“I think I would like that.”

Pekka smiled. “You think?”

“I'm not sure what to make of you yet.”

He stuck his hand out to her. “My name is Pekka. I've lived here for the last ten years but I'm originally from Finland.”

“Finland is beautiful,” Reese interrupted.

“You've been?” He asked with surprise.

She nodded. “The summer right after I graduated college. I've always wanted to visit again but life gets in the way.”

He nodded in agreement. “That it does. What about you? Are you a native Nashvillian?”

“I'm a native Tennessean. I was born in Memphis and grew up there. I went to college in Knoxville, and then I ended up here six years ago.”

“Now that we know a little about each other, do you feel better about going out with me?”

She laughed. “I'll google you after you leave to ensure you're not a serial killer.”

Pekka laughed. “I can provide references.”

“I might take you up on that.”

“You just let me know,” he grinned. “Or you can text me and ask me anything you want.”