It's been a little over a month since I was stuck for 12 hours in an elevator with Jamie Benn in Buffalo. I have not been on an elevator since. I use the stairs when needed. It's not like it was a terrible experience, but that's only because I was with Jamie. I have been busy working on my next book. Jamie and I haven't talked since the morning we got off of the elevator. He's busy with hockey and I'm busy with writing. I didn't think we were going to leave the elevator being best friends or anything like that anyway. This is the realistic result of what happened. We have both gone back to our normal lives.
Today isn't a normal day, not for me anyway. TSN, which is basically the Canadian version of ESPN, contacted me about doing an interview and at first I turned it down. I didn't want to exploit what happened and honestly I don't really feel like there is anything to really talk about. What happened in that elevator beyond what I tweeted in the moment is meant to stay between me and Jamie. The only reason why I agreed to do this interview is because they told me Jamie wanted me there. I could understand the appeal to a certain extent. My tweets about what was going on were and still are extremely popular. I think #elevatorwithbenn was trending in the United States at one point. It was exciting in the moment but I am not sure how well that will translate to an interview. I am here, though, because Jamie wanted me to be so that's good enough for me.
I pull up to the Wells Fargo Center and park. The Stars just had morning skate and our interview is scheduled to be just a little after morning skate after the players go through their usual media routine. I am nervous because I don't know what to expect and I haven't really been interviewed before. Not on a scale like this. I've been interviewed by local papers here and there about my writing but nothing like this, especially not TV. TSN chose Philadelphia since it's closest to me locally and I was going to be going to the game tonight anyway so I would have been in the area eventually. After morning skate at the arena was the time the Stars allowed for Jamie to be available so that is why I am here. I follow the instructions TSN emailed to me and make my way to security to get escorted to the visitor's locker room, which is where the interview will be taking place.
The interview is going to be done with Cabbie from TSN. I am somewhat familiar with him only because I have watched some videos of him on YouTube. He is not your usual host. What I mean by that is he doesn't take anything seriously. He is very funny, known for his humor and his over the top way of interviewing athletes. He is definitely my kind of interviewer because I tend to think we have the same sense of humor. That doesn't mean I am not completely intimidated by this whole thing. What if we are there just to get made fun of? I don't know if I can handle that. I just have to keep reminding myself that I get to see Jamie. That is why I am here. I've actually missed being around him and being able to talk to him. It's been a weird month to be living in my head. I haven't really reached out to him since he hasn't reached out to me. I just assumed he didn't want to talk to me. The fact he wants me at this interview changes everything. Or maybe it doesn't. Who knows?
I check in with security and am escorted down to the visitor's locker room. There is a background set up with 3 bar stools in front of it. There's lights and a camera set up. I am introduced to a few people on the crew and I shake their hands. I am brought over to a chair and seated in front of a mirror. Someone comes over to do my makeup. I am starting to get more nervous. This is no joke. After my makeup is done I am walked back over to where we will be doing the interview. Cabbie walks over to me."Hey, Amy, I'm Cabbie," he says as he shakes my hand. "It's good to meet you."
"Yeah, you too," I reply. I start to look around the room as more and more crew members gather around.
"You look nervous," he says. He puts his hand on my shoulder. "You have nothing to be nervous about."
"I'm new to all of this. It's intimidating."
"You'll get the hang of it really quickly, I'm sure. You have the personality. I've read your tweets." Someone walks over and whispers something into his ear. "Jamie should be with us shortly." He points to the stool closest to his. "Why don't you sit while we wait?"
I sit down on the stool and he sits down on his. Why do I have to be closest? I'm sure it doesn't matter. A guy walks over to me and clips a microphone to my shirt then walks over to Cabbie and does the same. Someone else walks over to him and hands him a bunch of index cards. He sifts through them. Jamie walks in and smiles as soon as he sees me. He's wearing a black Dallas Stars shirt with black shorts. His socks are pulled up to his knees and he has sneakers on. His hair wet from showering and slicked back onto his head as always. He walks right over to me. "Hey," he says.
I smile. "Hey," I reply.
"You couldn't even dress nicely for us, Jamie?" Cabbie teases.
"The guys thought it would be funny to hide my suit," Jamie says as he sits on the stool next to me. I laugh. He looks at me with raised eyebrows. "It's not funny." The guy walks over to Jamie and clips the microphone to his shirt.
"You look perfect just like this anyway," I say. He smiles.
"Save it for the interview, guys," Cabbie says. My cheeks get warm with embarrassment. I almost forgot other people are around. I need to control myself. "We're going to get started in a few."
Jamie leans over and whispers in my ear, "It's so good to see you."
"You too, Jamie." He puts his hand on my back and rubs it a few times before putting it back onto his lap.
Cabbie raises his eyebrows. "Something going on between you two?" he asks as he points his finger at us. "Off the record. I'm just wondering" Jamie and I exchange looks and we both shake our heads no. "Not sure if I believe that but ok. We're going to start now."
I take a deep breath. "Today I am here with Jamie Benn, captain of the Dallas Stars, and somebody you probably don't recognize. It's unusual that we will have an athlete and a non athlete on this show but these two have been through something pretty unusual together. Sitting to my right is Amy Sisco. You might recognize the name or you might not. About a month ago Jamie and Amy were riding an elevator together when the elevator malfunctioned and stopped working. They were stuck. They were stuck together on that elevator for 12 hours as they waited for it to be repaired. Yeah, sure, that's not that common but it happens you might be saying. Amy decided she was going to tweet her experiences and started using the hashtag elevator with benn. It instantly grabbed the attention of hockey fans, players, the media. That's why we are here today. TSN and Cabbie Presents have gotten so many requests for these two to be interviewed." He looks at us. "They want to know more." He looks at Jamie. "So Jamie, what was your first thought when the elevator stopped and you realized you were going to be there for a while?"
"I was worried about missing the game. That was my first concern," Jamie replies.
"Did you have any other concerns?" Cabbie asks as a follow up question.
"Not at the time," Jamie answers.
He looks at me. "Amy, you knew who Jamie was, right?" he asks.
I nod my head yes. "Yeah, I was actually there in Buffalo just to see him play," I reply.
"So I imagine you were pretty excited to be on the elevator with him," he says.
"When I stepped on and saw it was him, yeah, I was pretty excited. I wasn't going to say anything to him, though. I just texted my friend that he was there."
"What did you think when the elevator stopped and you realized you would be stuck with him for a while?" he asks.
"I was pretty much freaking out inside but I was trying to play it cool." I look at Jamie. "I don't think that lasted long, though."
He shakes his head no and smiles. "It didn't."
"So you decided to start tweeting about it."
"Yeah. I practically live on Twitter so I figured I'd live tweet what was going on. We were only supposed to be in there for 4 hours originally so I thought it would be a fun thing to do to pass the time," I explain.
"How many followers did you have before all of this happened?" he asks
"I don't remember exactly. I think it was about 560."
"And how many do you have now?"
"I think last I checked it was about 21 thousand."
"Wow, that's amazing. Did you think it would have gotten so popular when you started tweeting?"
"No I didn't think anyone would see them. They were more for my enjoyment. Jamie retweeted me and mentioned me in a tweet and that's when it started to get crazy."
Cabbie looks at Jamie. "You're not known as the big Twitter guy. I think everyone was surprised when you started tweeting along."
"Um, yeah, I knew we were going to be there for a while so I figured why not? There wasn't much else to do," Jamie explains.
"When you found out she was a fan of yours did that change how you felt about being in there with her?" he asks Jamie.
"I pretty much found out right away." He looks at me and smiles. "She seemed like someone I could get along with. The fact that she's a fan didn't change anything."
"It seems like it didn't take long for you to become comfortable with each other. Ten minutes in you were flirting according to your tweets," he says to me.
"I'm just a flirty person, really. I talked to him how I talk to most guys," I reply.
"Jamie, did you expect to get along so well with her?" he asks. "From what I read from both of your tweets you got pretty well acquainted with each other."
"I wasn't expecting it but it kinda just happened," Jamie replies.
"Ok let's get down to what everyone really wants to know. You mentioned kissing. Did it really happen or was that just something you said?" I look to Jamie. I don't know if he wants to tell them we did or not. I could deny it if he wasn't comfortable talking about it. "Either one of you can answer."
Jamie looks at Cabbie. "It did happen." He looks at me and smiles. I smile back. I'm happy he answered. I didn't want to.
"Wow ok," Cabbie replies. I guess he wasn't expecting that. "Have you seen or talked to each other since that day?"
"No we haven't," Jamie replies, "I've been pretty busy and I'm sure she has been too."
"You can't deny that there is some kind of chemistry going on between the two of you," Cabbie says, "do you think you'll be keeping in touch after this?"
I shrug and look at Jamie then say, "I don't know. I guess we'll see what happens."
"We only have time for a few more questions." Cabbie looks through his index cards. "Twelve hours is a long to be stuck with someone in one place without being able to go anywhere. I am sure there's so much that happened that you didn't tweet about and that we won't have time to ask about today. Amy, you're a writer, have you thought about writing a book about your experience?"
"No I haven't. What I chose to tweet was what I was comfortable telling people. The rest is for the both of us to take with us," I say.
"Ok. The last question we have is for the both of you. Is there anything you've either learned or taken away from your experience? It can be from one another or the experience itself. Amy, you can go first."
"I feel like I got to see a side of Jamie that not many people get the privilege of seeing. Even though we haven't spoken since that day I feel like we have a special bond because of the time that we spent together. If we continue to keep in touch or not I'm grateful for the time we had together," I answer.
"Jamie?" Cabbie says.
"The best way I can describe it is..." he pauses and takes a deep breath. He puts his hand on my knee and looks into my eyes. "Before we were in that elevator I saw the world in black and white but now I see it in color." I smile and put my hand on his.
"On that note I'd like to thank Jamie Benn and Amy Sisco for being here with us today. All of their social media information will be on the screen. If you haven't make sure you check out the hashtag elevator with benn. I'm Cabbie and this has been Cabbie Presents."
We all stand up from our stools and the production assistant helps us take our microphones off and takes them away. Cabbie shakes each of our hands and thanks us for the interview. Jamie and I look at each other and smile. "I missed you," I say.
"I missed you too," he replies.
He reaches out and takes my hand in his and pulls me close to him. I wrap my arm around his back, hugging him. He leans down and kisses my forehead. He lets go of my hand and puts his hands on either side of my face and kisses my lips. I wrap my arms around his neck and he puts his hands on my hips as I kiss him back. It feels so good to be kissing him again. I have missed everything about being with him, his smile, his laugh, his touch. We pull away from each other and notice that everyone in the room is watching us. We both look at the floor embarrassed. "We should go out some time," I suggest as I look back up and into his eyes.
He smiles. "Yeah, I'd like that."
The End