Loosen Up

-Phil's Point Of View-

I grip my hands on the wheel and swallow my dry throat. I keep going. It's an empty road ahead. I'm already getting tired although the sun hasn't even set down yet. My view is just beautiful. To my left, I can see the grain fields and the blue sky. To my right, I can see the wind mills that belong to people I never met. I just reached Manitoba not only ten minutes ago, so I still have a long way to drive. Everything still looks familiar. I remember complaining about not knowing where Bozie and I were, but I grew to love this area. It's been over a year since I was this close to the place that held all of our memories.

September showed up and hit me so fast last week, reminding me that training camp starts soon. I love Toronto, don't get me wrong, but the media and the commotion is hard to handle sometimes.

I deal with it in the season because it's part of the job, but after we missed the playoffs again that year, I needed to escape. So, I drove out to the country side a month later in May. I was looking for the small town my sister, Amanda, suggested. I explained that I just wanted to rent a place and enjoy it for a while. When I had said 'a while', I meant a couple days. I ended up spending almost four months of my off-season there.

Last night, Tyler told me to stop; to not drive out here today, to erase her out of my memory, to stop thinking about her, to stop making myself sick and unhealthy because I can't deal with the fact that she's gone. I wish it was that simple. When I first met Rhea, I was three years younger than I am now. Now it had been thirteen months since I last saw her. She changed the way I thought, the way I looked at life, and taught me to appreciate the little things. Her laugh was so joyful, her hands gentle, attracting any wild animal and taming them with her heart.

I fell in love with Rhea that year, and I'm going keep driving until I can lie down beside her again.

May 25th, 2011.

"It says to take a right when you see a purple sign." Bozie looked up from the Saskatchewan map, squinting his eyes and trying to spot it. "Okay....no sign." he turned his attention back over to the paper.

"Why would there be a sign in the middle of no-where?" I rolled my eyes. The car wheels made the dust on the road fly up and I could barely even see where I was driving.

"Phil, what's that thing over there?" he tilted his head up, as if it would give him a more clear vision.

"What thing?" I followed the pathway of his eyes and saw what he was looking at.

As we drove closer and closer, we quickly realized what it was. It certainly wasn't the lakehouse that we were searching for and planning on renting, but this one looked decent as well. I hoped that they at least had a phone that worked. We had no service so we couldn't call Amanda and ask for better directions than what the map said. We weren't used to it since my GPS would not work. I drove the car more slowly as we approached it, now seeing that it was a large, red barn. Beside it, was a white house. In fairness, it did have water nearby. There was a small pond which rested on the left side and I could see the ducks that were paddling their way in.

I stopped my black BMW, that didn't even look black anymore from all the dust, and we both got out while staring up at the structure. Since there were animals around, I assumed someone had to be living there. Chickens can't live on their own like that. I continued to examine the farmhouse with my eyes, openly willing to admit that I thought it was perfect. The white paint on it was still there, the flowers on the white porch were blossomed, the stairs looked swept and it was in good shape.

"Should we knock on the door, or..?" Tyler asked aloud, quietly.

"I don't know, I guess." I started walking closer to the porch calmly.

"Can I help you guys?" a sweet, elderly female voice made them both turn around, startled for a moment.

I smiled nicely at the lady with short gray hair and green eyes. "Yes, please, um.. we're from Toronto and we don't really know where we are.." I chuckled with Tyler on my side.

"Oh!" she laughed kindly. "Alright, and which land were you looking for out here?"

"There's this lakehouse that we wanted to rent. I was told it's somewhere down by Yorkton?" I replied.

"That's far from here, dear. You're in Whitewood." she responded. "Yorkton is a bigger town."

"Crap..." Tyler sighed.

"Do you want to use the phone inside the house?" she asked, seeing our tired expressions.

A hopeful smile curved across my face. "That would be great, yes please."

"Okay, follow me, boys." she took her time as she walked ahead of me and Ty, climbing up the wooden stairs and up to the front door. She turned the handle and led us both inside to the beautiful, old-style house. Everything looked so delicate and antique.

"You have a really nice home." Tyler complimented, still letting his eyes wander around as she walked us up to the telephone in the living room.

"Thank you, dear." she said softly. "I'm Mrs. Thompson, by the way. Gina Thompson."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Phil Kessel." I shook her hand.

"Tyler Bozak." Bozie also introduced himself.

"Wonderful to meet you too," she spoke, clasping her wrinkled hands together. "Here's the phone, call whomever you'd like. If you need a phone book, just ask!"

"Thank you," Ty nodded his head and sat down on the flowery furniture by the phone.

"Rhea, honey, are you in the kitchen?" she called out.

"Coming, grandmother!" a voice returned. The footsteps gradually became louder as she came closer. When she reached the living room, she stopped in her tracks. "Oh...hello."

My mouth widened and closed back up like a fish. She was wearing a plaid red and blue buttoned up shirt, sky blue jeans and no socks so she could show off her red nail polish. Her hair was wavy, brown and wavy. She had to push back the loose strands behind her ear. I blinked twice to know if she really looked like that. She had green eyes, like the grass in an open field. She was so natural, so beautiful. She looked like she was about my age. I had never seen anyone like that before, even in all the places I've been and the people I've come across in my life.

"H-Hi.." I said nervously. I could feel Tyler's smirk on the side as his face turned to look at me.

"Well, you don't see hockey players in your living room every day." she laughed, flashing her perfect straight teeth.

I couldn't help but lighten up even more instantly. "You watch hockey?"

"Yes," she chuckled sweetly again. "Bozie and Kess."

"Hi-ya," Tyler saluted.

"But...I'm a Habs fan, so I'm not sure how to act right now." she curled an eyebrow.

"You have bad taste in teams, then." Bozie cracked, sounding like he was joking but we all knew he wasn't.

She rolled her eyes, while still smiling. "I'm Rhea." she introduced herself.

"Phil, but uh, I guess you already know." I said, earning a giggle from her.

"Have you seen your father? I need him to cut down some more logs for the fireplace." Mrs. Thompson asked her and then explained her reasoning.

"He and Nick left to go to town to pick some stuff up," she responded.

"Oh, alright." her grandma understood. "Can you get these boys something to drink?" She then went down the left hallway in the house, leaving us three alone.

"Of course," she smiled brightly at me. "What can I get you?"

"Umm, uh...A glass of water is fine." I said, smiling back at the beauty five feet in front of me.

"Okay, and for you?" she glanced at Ty on the chair, with the phone to his ear.

"Water is fine for me too, thanks." he replied.

When she left to go into the kitchen, I didn't hesitate to exhale deeply. I plopped myself down on the sofa beside Bozie and put my hands in my lap. He turned his head to the side to look at me, and I could see his wide smirk from the corner of my eye.

"Stop." I sighed, still facing forward.

"Phil Kessel likes a Montreal Canadiens fan. Damn, that's gonna sound great in the papers!" he added sarcastically, teasing me with every chance he got. "Toronto Sun is gonna love this."

"Don't talk about those assholes," I shook my head in disgust with the media. I wasn't okay with what they wrote about me during my scoring drought. They don't just rip on Brian Burke, or just me alone...they rip us both together at once.

"You know I'm kidding," he grinned, hitting his knee on the side of mine lightly, and then he tried to re-dial the number again. "She seems to be into you."

I whipped my head to the side. "You think so?"

"Well, I know you're the one who's gonna be wearing the skirt in the relationship, that's for sure." he mumbled.

Before I could open my mouth and shoot something back at him, Rhea walked back in with two glasses in her hands. My eyebrows unfurrowed and I caught her smiling down at me, as she placed our water in front of us. I stared at her as she did it. When she stood back up straight, I cleared my throat and moved out of my position, and leaned forward.

"Thank you." I said, grabbing the glass and drinking the liquid down. I didn't even take a break, I just gulped it all down in a few.

I hadn't noticed she took a seat in the one-seat sofa in front of us until she cracked a laugh, "Thirsty, much?"

My eyes widened at her words. "W-What?"

"The water." she clarified, looking down at my empty glass.

"Oh," I chuckled, shaking myself out of my inappropriate thoughts. "Yeah, long drive. Only stopped for water in Winnipeg and Tyler here ended up drinking six of the bottles in two hours."

He snickered beside me, and then his tone changed once he sat up and began talking normally on the phone. "Hey!" he answered happily.

I remember looking down at the creamy rug, disappointed that he was actually able to reach my sister. Reason being, I really wanted to stay in that town. That house, preferably. I wanted to get to know her more, and I wanted her to get to know me, as well. I guess the quote 'Never date anyone associated with a rival team' just did not matter at that point.

Tyler typed down something on his Notes section in his signal-free phone, before saying bye to Amanda and hanging up. "Okay, she explained the directions more clearly."

"Good." I forced the simple word out of my mouth.

"Robert! Nick! Hurry, you don't want to catch a cold." Mrs. Thompson called out again, her footsteps sounding towards the front door which we came through.

"It's May, Mom, don't worry." a tall, well-built, brown and gray haired man said as he stepped inside. He looked like he was in his mid-forties, maybe.

Rhea got up and walked toward him, standing on her toes to kiss his cheek. "Hi daddy."

"Hi sweetie," he then looked passed her shoulder and saw me, first. We made eye contact and then he also glanced at Tyler.

"We leave for half an hour and the Leafs get here?" the boy a bit taller than Rhea, said, grinning. I assumed he was Nick.

Her father walked closer into the living room and approached with his hand held out, "Although we're a Habs family, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Robert."

I gulped what felt like a lump in my throat. The man was her father. I barely knew his daughter, and I was already meeting him and her brother. My mind begged me to not do or say anything stupid. It also begged Tyler silently to not do or say anything stupider.

"Pleasure to meet you too." I said nicely, extending my hand out to meet his firm handshake, before he also shook hands with Bozie.

"Oh you young folks and your sports." Gina threw her hands down and rolled her eyes. "These wonderful boys were lost so I invited them in."

"And we really thank you for that," Tyler bowed his head. "We have better directions now so I think we'll be on our way."

I quickly glanced at Rhea, who was standing beside her dad with her arms crossed. I then saw what was unmistakable. She looked back at me at the same time, not at anyone else in the room, just directly at my eyes. She bit her bottom lip, and rubbed the top of her foot behind her other leg slowly.

"It's almost eleven, though!" Gina shook her head. "Are you sure you want to get on the road at such a late hour?"

"We have a guest room with two beds if you'd like to stay. It's safer than driving while exhausted." Robert suggested.

Tyler glanced at me and I replied for both of us. "We wouldn't want to intrude.."

"I admire your manners," she replied kindly again. "But we're offering."

"I suppose we could get on the road in the morning.." I ended my sentence with a grin.

"Great!" she practically jumped. "Rhea, could you show them to the room?"

"Yeah, follow me." she glanced at me, still holding that warm, hopeful smile.

"I'll get us our suitcases for the night." Tyler pointed out the door with his thumb, and I nodded my head.

"I'll help you," Nick went behind as they both headed out.

Meanwhile, I followed Rhea's footsteps as I watched her confidently walk. She turned the knob and the brown door opened wide. We both walked in and I looked around at the two twin-sized beds with white bed sheets and wooden bedside tables. There was also a window on the left with blue curtains, hardwood floor, and a picture on the wall of mountains.

"Will this be okay?" Rhea's voice behind me made me turn around, with my hands still on my hips. "The bathroom is the door at the end of the hall if you turn right."

"Okay and yes," I grinned lightly. "It's great."

"I'm glad." she crossed her arms again, looking up at me. She wasn't too short, but if it ever came down to it, I'd say she would have to go on her toes to have our faces in front of each other directly. Nonetheless, she was beautiful. Her curves would make any man go crazy.

"So where exactly are you and your linemate going?" she asked.

"We're looking for a lakehouse in Yorkton to rent for a few weeks." I told her.

"Oh, I see." she replied, nodding her head. "Never thought about a lakehouse in this town?"

I blinked twice. "Well, honestly, I didn't even know about Whitewood until your grandmother told us. We haven't drove by yet."

"It's only a walking distance, and there's a smaller lake not too far." Rhea explained. "We'll see, maybe I'll take you there tomorrow before you leave"

My mouth closed, my throat swallowed, my stomach flushed. I didn't even know if I was hearing things or not, but I took my chance. I smirked down at her, as she put five of her toes on the hardwood floor, and the other foot stayed flat. Her green eyes and brown hair were the perfect combination.

"Well, goodnight." she put a stray of hair behind her ear.

I took an extra few seconds to reply. "Goodnight."

She walked out and left me standing there, rubbing my neck with my hand. I sighed and sat down one of the beds, choosing the one by the closed window. It wasn't long until Nick and Tyler brought two suitcases in and we both thanked Rhea's brother. Bozie took some clothes out of his unzipped red suitcase and went to the bathroom to change. I then took off my shirt, and put on only a pair of plaid boxer shorts to wear to bed. It was hot, almost Summer, so I slipped under the covers.

"So, did anything magical happen with you and the cutie when I was gone?" Tyler teased and closed the door behind him, turned off the ceiling light, and went under the covers in his bed.

I closed my eyes and buried my head in my pillow. "I don't want to leave."