All the Way

"When you fall off your board," Ally prompted as Cordelia stood from her knees in front of their class of ten, "make sure you fall flat, you have no idea how deep the water around you really is and run less risk of hurting yourself the flatter you hit the water." 

"Once you're in the water, come up with your arm over your head," Cordelia added, showing them what she meant, "the fins don't look like much but I've known many-a-paddle boarder who's ended up with stitches, they will slice you up like a ripe tomato." 

"Delia, you want to show them a safe fall?" Ally asked, smirking because it wasn't her turn to take the dive. The water was still on the cold side this early in the summer, despite the gorgeous weather. 

Cordelia took a deep breath to brace herself for the cold and let herself fall straight back off the board into the water, tossing her paddle to the wayside as she covered her head and resurfaced on the other side of the board, "Don't be afraid to garage sale the paddle when you're falling." She chuckled, nodding to her paddle slowly floating away, "You're tethered to the board, once you hope back on, you can paddle over to your paddle on your stomach, the way we showed you."

"Now," Ally leaned over and grabbed Cordelia's paddle for her before continuing the lesson, "there are two ways to get back on, one that's a little bit of a pain, but looks attractive and-"

"The Unsexy Seal." Cordelia piped up, chuckling as she brushed the hair out of her face, treading water beside her board.

Reilly knew he should've been watching Cordelia demoing how to get back on the board, but he kept finding himself staring at Ally. He was beginning to feel like a stalker, tracking down her school and signing up for a lesson when she'd only wanted one night with him. She could have a boyfriend - a husband even - a whole life here in Toronto that didn't include him and the ticking clock that was his time in town. It was early June but he could already feel the days slowly slipping away, it was only a matter of time before he was back in Boston.

"Now, who's ready to stand up?" Ally beamed, clapping her hands together, snapping Reilly back to attention.

The rest of the class tentatively stood up from their knees, two of them promptly fell in, earning a cheer from Ally and Cordelia and Reilly chuckled as he watched a few people, wide eyed and shaky legged looking like little deer as they started to paddle.

“Any time you feel like standing up, Reilly honey.” Cordelia beaked him with a smirk and he chuckled as Ally glanced over at him. He tried to be a hot shot, jumping to his feet the way Delia and Alley did it, but ended up tipping his board and falling in.

Everyone in the class cheered as he surfaced, arm over his head as instructed and he glanced over at Ally to see her giggling at him.

Now he really wished he’d paid attention to Delia.

“Check this out! There’s one other way to get back on I didn’t show you!” Delia yelled to the rest of the class, beaming as she paddled over to him.

She hopped off her board and jumped onto his overturned one, motioning for him to swim around to the other side. Once she'd instructed him where to hold onto, she leaned down, grabbing the opposite edge as she leaned back, the board righted itself as she fell into the water and it pulled Reilly back on in the process. 

"Delia! You showboat!" Ally yelled from the other end of the group, shaking her head as Delia righted her sunglasses and hoped back on her board.



An hour later, as the class ended, Ally headed for the shore to collect the equipment, it was her turn to load the trailer and Reilly saw it as the perfect opportunity to talk to her. He was out of the water before most of the class had managed to turn their board around and lifted the fibre glass board with ease as he followed her back up the beach.

“That was awesome.” he smiled at her she slid her board into the rack, tying it down before motioning for him to do the same.

“Glad you enjoyed the class.” Ally bit her lip as he effortlessly lifted his board, he didn’t have the biggest arms, but it was still impressive watching his muscles flex, she knew how strong he was.

"Excuse me miss, I'm looking for a stand up girl." Ally spun around, beaming at the sound of a familiar voice and threw her arms around Ben's neck. Reilly glanced away, fighting against the pull of jealousy as he shoulders tensed and his fingers curled into fists where he held his hands tightly to his sides. He focused instead on setting the adjustable handle of his paddle back to it's standard height, glancing out to the lake were Delia was corralling the rest of the class back to shore.

"Deee-eeee-eeee-lllll-iiiiiaaaa!” Gabe hollered from the beach, grinning ear to ear when he read her tank top. 

"Gaaaaa-aaaaa-bbbbbeee!” She yelled back, laughing before she hopped off her board, walking it in the rest of the way so the fins wouldn't break off in the rocks.

"Come to me, twinny!" He chuckled, meeting her halfway in the knee deep water to wrap her in a bear hug, "Reping the Suns Out Guns Out, that's my girl!" 

"Oh god, you two look like one of those fitness freak couples! The ones that jog to Starbucks and have date nights at the gym." Ally pretend to gag and Ben laughed as Delia and Gabe immediately pushed away from each other, Gabe running to the shore and scooping up Ally. She screamed as he headed back into the water, carrying her bridal style over the slightly choppy waters of Lake Ontario until he was waist deep. 

"Take that back or I'm tossing you in!" He threatened as she squirmed to stay dry.

"I take it back!"

"Delia and I don't look like a couple!" He smirked as she nodded.

"Not at all!" 

"Good." He smirked, tossing her in anyway. 

"You jerk!" She screamed when she surfaced, laughing despite herself as she splashed Gabe and ran for the shore, "You going to rinse off?" She called to Delia, nodding to the bathing station up the beach.

Cordelia could still see it all in her mind, five years ago she’d driven up from Kitchener with a group of Rangers and their girlfriends for midnight swim. She spent the night attached to Gabe's side, until she bumped into Jeff, not unlike the way they had this morning. He followed her up to the bathing station, apologizing profusely for dumping his drink on her, but she laughed it off as she jumped into one of the showers to rinse off.

”Delia, I mean it, I'm sorry-"

"Stop saying you're sorry, Skinner! It's just a spilt beer, relax." She chuckled, turning to face him standing outside the stall with the curtain open. 

He bit his lip for a second as he just stared her, trying desperately not to let his gaze follow the water trickling down her bikini clad body, “What do you want me to say then, Delia?" 

"You don't have to say anything-" that was all the permission he needed, closing the distance between the two of them before he pressed her against the shower wall. Her heart pounded against her ribs as he kissed her, gently at first, his hand caressing her cheek. Once she recovered from the shock and kissed him back, gently quickly became a heated make out session. His hand on her bare waist sent a shiver down her spine as she knitted her fingers into his curly mop.

"Delia! You in here?" 

They jumped apart at the sound of Gabe's voice, starring at each other in surprise at what they'd just been doing.

"Yeah! I'll be out in a second!" Delia called as the water shut itself off and Jeff rubbed the back of his neck.

"Delia-" he started but she bit her lip, shaking her head.

"I-I better go before he comes in and drags me out.” She left without looking back and honestly hadn't been back in there since.

Glancing at Ben out of the corner of her eyes, Delia felt like shit for ever liking Skinner, "Let's go out tonight." 

"You? Want to go out?" Ally asked skeptically as Gabe raised his eyebrows at her in surprise.

“Oh stop! Just because I don’t go out every night like someone,” I shot Gabe a pointed glance and he smirked, shrugging, “doesn’t mean I’m completely against going out.”

“Well, why don’t I make a few calls, see if we can get enough people to get a booth at Gravity?”

Reilly pretended not to listen as he towelled off his hair, Ally ran off to the bathing station a moment later and Cordelia unlocked her car. She fished his keys out of her trunk, smiling as she tossed them over to him.

“You were pretty good out there, if you’re interested we have an open spot in our advanced class Sunday afternoon if you’d like to join.”

“I’d love to.” he nodded and she smirked.

“She’s stubborn, luckily for you not nearly as stubborn as I am, with a little persistence you could win her over. See you tonight.” she added in a hush tone, winking at him like it was their little secret.

“Thanks Delia.” he waved good bye, nodding to Landeskog as he headed back to his truck, fishing his phone out of the glovebox and dialling a familiar number.

“Smitty! What’s up man?” Dougie Hamilton chuckled enthusiastically on the other end of the line.

“Not much man, look I was wondering if you wanted to go out tonight, you know have a bros night? I hear Gravity is turning into quite the spot on a Friday night.”

“If we’re having a bros night, I’m inviting Segs, you’d fucking love him.”



Delia felt like an idiot. Her mind was reeling, she couldn’t stop thinking about Skinner and the longer she sat here, Ben’s arm resting on top of the booth over her shoulders, the guiltier she felt.

“I’m going to the bathroom.” she yelled to him over the blaring music and he nodded before he turned back to the conversation he was having with Gabe.

Delia slipped away, b-lining it for the bar, squeezing passed a disgusting among of couples happily groping each other to the beat. She suddenly remembered why she hated night clubs.

“What can I get you?” the bartender smiled at her, leaning against the bar.

“The strongest thing you have.”

He smirked at her before pouring a shot and she tipped it back without questioning what it was. She squeezed her eyes closed, cringing at the burn as she slammed the glass down on the bar. In the brief second they were closed, Delia could still feel the phantom touch of Jeff’s hands on her waist.

“I’ll have another.”

Ally stood up from the table everyone was sitting at to order another round of drinks. Reilly watched her as she made her way to the bar. She was teasing him, and every man in the room for that matter, in her short outfit and high heels, accentuating her tan legs. She leaned over the bar, immediately catching the bartender’s attention and quickly ordered the drinks.

“Jesus, who is that?” Reilly instantly regretted letting Dougie invite Tyler. Dougie was clearly busy after they hung up earlier, where he’d expected the night to be just the three of them, they had a whole booth of guys, all NHL hot shots, under 25, single, and looking for a little fun. They were sitting up in the balcony, people watching, while slowly becoming intoxicated. Seguin was wasting no time in scoping out the girls he planned on taking home. One of those girls quickly becoming Ally.

“Damn, I’d like to get to know her better.” Dougie chimed in and Reilly clenched his jaw, though kept quiet.

“That’s Ally.” He said and the two other drunk boys looked over at him.

“How do you know her?” Dougie asked.

“I took her paddle board class today.” Reilly shrugged it off, trying to play cool, but deep down he was dying to get down there with her.

“Paddle board, eh? She could teach me how to ride her paddle board and I could teach her how to ride mine.” Seguin smirked, still eyeing Ally as she made her way back to her friends.

“I’ll be back.” Reilly gritted though his teeth and quickly stood up, walking away from the boys. He didn’t want to hear any more of Seguin’s plans to get Ally in his pants. As he made his way down the stairs and past the hallway to the bathrooms, he bumped into a very drunk Cordelia.

“Hey! I know you!” Delia laughed, throwing her arms around Reilly.

“Hi Cordelia.” Reilly laughed awkwardly, quickly hugging her back.

“What are you doing here? This is crazy!” she stumbled back, winking at him exaggeratedly.

“I’m just here with some friends.” Reilly motioned to the balcony and Delia looked up at the crowd of people.

“You should come say hi to Ally. I’m sure she’d love to see her favourite student.” Delia winked and Reilly’s heart began to race and his cheeks turned red. He wasn’t sure if it was because he wanted to see Ally or because Delia told him he was Ally’s favourite.

“Uh, yeah, sure.” Reilly nodded and Delia grabbed his hand. She led him back to the table where Gabe, Ben and Ally were.

“Guys! Look who I found!” Delia shouted at her friends and Ally’s face dropped. Reilly noticed and his heart sank.

“Reilly Smith, right? What are you doing here?” Gabe asked, giving him a handshake.

“I’m here with some guys.” Reilly shrugged, pointing behind him at nothing really. Gabe nodded and took a gulp of his drink. He could sense some awkward tension from Ally and immediately took action.

“Well, I’m gonna go dance with this gorgeous creature,” Gabe took his longtime girlfriend Mel’s hand, kissing it before he pulled her out of the booth, “Ben?” he gave his friend a look and Ben got the hint.

“Yeah, let’s go.” He gave Ally a sympathetic look and stood up, snaking his arm around Cordelia’s waist, leading her off.

“Um, hi Ally.” He said and Ally looked up at him, then quickly down at her drink.

“Hi Reilly. You can sit if you’d like.” She said, motioning at the now empty booth. Reilly took a seat across from her.

“How are you?” he asked, making the conversation even more awkward.

“I’m fine….And you?”

“Good, good. I had fun in your class today.”

“I’m glad.” Ally nodded and took a sip of her drink. She looked out at the crowded dance floor, begging for something to relieve the tension between her and the man sitting across from her.

“Listen,” Reilly began, “I realize that the last time we saw each other, it was just a night of fun and nothing more than that. So why do you like hate me or something?”

“I don’t hate you.” Ally shook her head.

“Are you sure? Because ever since I got here you’ve been avoiding eye contact.” Reilly said and Ally hesitantly looked up at him.

“I’m sorry. It’s just every time I look at you, all I see is that night.”

“Is that a bad thing? He frowned, afraid he’d disappointed her in some way.

“No,” she quickly answered, “I just don’t want always think of you as the one night stand that I bailed on as soon as the sun came up.” Ally frowned. Reilly nodded, feeling his heart hurt as soon as she mentioned that.

“Yeah, about that-“ Reilly started and Ally looked down, still feeling guilty about that night, “Why did you leave? I thought you would have at least stayed until we were both awake or something.”

“We had fun, Reilly, we did, but that’s all it was. ” Reilly’s heartbeat skipped when she said his name.

“Well, can we at least try to put that night past us and maybe try to be friends or something?”

“Reilly-“

“No, no, hear me out. I realize it’s not normal for two people to have their one night and then become friends, but I really like you Ally.”

“Reilly-“

“I wouldn’t have signed up for your class if I didn’t. You’re different and I don’t know why but I can’t get you out of my head.”

“Reilly-“

“Ally, please. I’m not asking for much.”

“You are though! You’re asking me to forget that night when it’s the only thing I have to know you by. You’re asking me to build a friendship with someone I don’t know anything personal about-“

“That’s the point of friendship. You learn about that person. What they like and dislike and what makes them laugh. That’s what I want. I want to know what your favorite color is and what you like to do in your spare time.” Ally looked down and stayed quiet as Reilly stared at her. She didn’t know what to say. When she looked back up, Reilly had moved from the booth across from her to right beside her. “Friends. That’s all I want.” He said and she looked over his features. After a moment, she nodded.

“Friends.”



“Well, hello there.” Tyler smirked, standing up a little straighter as he smirked.

“Which one?” Jeff asked, glancing around the crowded dance floor, not noticing anyone particularly extraordinary.

“That one, the one trying to blend into the crowd in an all black dress. With the curly hair and the bright red fuck me shoes.” He pointed to her and Jeff’s heart dropped into the pit of his stomach. Delia.

“Since when do you notice shoes?” Dougie chuckled as Tyler smirked.

“I notice the ones I want over my shoulders.”