Out of the Woods

Summer 2013

“Come on, dude, we gotta hit the road!”

James closed the tailgate of his GMC Sierra as his two teammates piled into it. He decided to get some off-season training done in Vancouver, but it was time for some fun. He double-checked his backpack for his weekend passes to a local country music festival before heading into his truck. They left the skyline of Vancouver in the dust and headed into the country. A small smile escaped his mouth; he was feeling like he was home. The beauty of British Columbia surrounded them with woods, mountains and a clear blue sky. James was thinking to himself this wouldn’t be a bad place to spend the offseason from now on.

“So what are we thinking this weekend?” Tyler Bozak says from the back, “Should we find some festival girlfriends?”

“Nah,” James replied, “I just want to get drunk and listen to some good music instead of that shitty stuff that our arena plays.”

“Fair enough, I hope there’s a liquor store close by. We might run out.” Tyler adds as he pulls out a beer from the cooler by his feet.

James rolls his eyes as he pulls off the highway and into town, “Hey, save those for when we get there.”

“I am so meeting girls the second we set up camp.” Morgan Reilly chimes in as he looks over his sunglasses at a group of girls walking towards the river.

Tyler and James both laughed as they finally pulled up to the festival. They gave the guards their camping passes and found their spot. The sun was already beating down and country music was already filling their ears. None of them could wait any longer and began shot-gunning beers as they attempted to set up the tent. About an hour later, everything was set up and the boys sat on the tailgate figuring out what to do until the music started.

“I honestly just want to see Florida Georgia line today. I don’t know any of the other acts.” Tyler said looking at the line up on his phone.

“Yeah, same.” James says as he nods in agreement, “I guess we can just stay here and drink till then.”

“Or, we can go find girls.” Morgan whined as the two of them just laughed but he wasn’t joking, “Seriously, lets go to the river, swim, meet some girls and hang out with them until we go to the concert.”

After a ton of convincing and another beer later, James finally agreed to go with them. He’d honestly rather meet up with other guys and just drink. The lake is flooded with people floating in inner tubs, almost all of them holding a drink in their hands. The lake stood perfectly still and crystal clear as mountains wrapped around it. BC was too beautiful James thought to himself. He didn’t even stop to notice Morgan and Tyler heading towards two blondes sunbathing by the dock.

Thanks guys, I’ll just stand here by myself.

James finds a log to sit on and pulls his phone out of his pocket to take a picture of the scenery. Moments later, Tyler comes running up towards James. He had this shit eating grin on his face which caused James to just raise an eyebrow.

“Hey, James. You’ll never guess this.”

“Tyler, I said no girls this weekend.”

“Look, I know they’re skinny blondes, but their friend who’s back at their campsite is the polar opposite.”

“I don’t care, honestly.”

“She’s short; dude, like 5’1, black hair, curvy and tattooed. Apparently.”

James paused for a second; he really did prefer short girls. He was a sucker for dark hair and tattoos, even though he didn’t have any himself. Before he could open his mouth to argue, he was getting pulled away from the lake with the boys. They were heading back to the girls site. James pursed his lips together and followed behind them, not saying a word.

“It’s just one drink, dude. We can thank them afterwards and just go the concert if you want. Besides we haven’t met their friend yet.” Tyler said as they walked up the hill back to the campground.

“I don’t care about their friend, Ty, I came here to hang out with you guys.”

“We don’t even know what she looks like, she could be their ugly friend for all we know.”

As they get towards to the site, all three boys stopped and gasped in sync. She sat there innocently on the tailgate of a truck, sipping on a beer as she applied sunscreen to her arms. Her tanned legs swung over the edge, revealing a scripture tattoo on her left thigh. Her hair was black and cascaded passed her shoulders, wavy from the summer heat. Tyler was right about her body, she was fully figured, but she was fit. Her cutoff jeans hugged her curves perfectly as her black tank top showed off more of her ink. James watched her every move and couldn’t take his eyes off her. She was exactly how Tyler described her

“Hey Ally, we met some friends at the lake.”

She stopped what she was doing and took off her sunglasses. She had these bright green eyes that could be spotted in the darkest times. James grew nervous as she stared at them from head to toe.

“I leave you girls alone for 5 minutes and you find three hockey players,” she replies biting her lip, “I’m impressed.”

“Wait, you know who we are?” Morgan asked her.

“Yeah, you’re Reilly, Bozak and …” She stopped and focused intensely on James. He couldn’t find the words to speak. He just looked at her hoping he wouldn’t pass out.

“Van Riemsdyk, right?

James nods.

“Nice to meet you guys.” She says getting off the tailgate and coming up to shake their hands. She was pretty small. She didn’t make it past any of their chests. Tyler smirked a little bit on her lack of height, and James couldn’t help but return the favour.

After a few more drinks, they all decided to head to the concert together. James felt less nervous around Ally, it was probably the booze talking but he didn’t care. Plain and simple – she was adorable. She fit on his lap like a puppy and he couldn’t help but smile over that. They were inseparable the entire night.

“So no girls this weekend, eh?” Tyler nudged James as they walked towards the stage.

“Shut up, Tyler. Look at her.” He replied as they both watched her walk with her friends. As it was getting a cold, she had James’ plaid shirt draped over her shoulders now. Even in the dark, he could still see her eyes shining. Her laughter was contagious, and even he found himself smirking when she was talking about something. She turned around and flashed him a smile and he returned it, he couldn’t help it, it was damn near impossible to not smile back.

The band came onto the stage and everyone began to cheer. Finally, time to listen to some good music. Florida Georgia line always put on a great show, but with Ally by his side, it felt even better. She swung her hips to the music and sang every lyric. James was front row to the hottest show in town, and he couldn’t take his eyes off Ally. She turned around to face him and grabbed his hands. He spun her around and pulled her into him. Her head rested on his chest as his arms instinctively wrapped themselves around her waist. He took a deep breath and pressed his lips on her cheek as he rocked both of them to the beat of the music ...