Not On Drugs
December 22, 2011
December 22, 2011
“Good game boys.” Shawn Horcoff, captain of the Edmonton Oilers says, patting each of his players on their helmet as they entered the locker room. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the rookie of the team, sat down at his stall and began tearing off his pads. They’d just pulled off an impressive four to one win against the Minnesota Wild on home ice. They weren’t having the greatest season so a win felt good, especially right before Christmas.
It’s late by the time Ryan finally makes his way out of the arena, showered and dressed. He climbs into his car parked outside and heads towards the airport. His suitcase is already in his trunk and ready to make its way home to Burnaby.
He parks his car in the parking ramp of the airport and stumbles tiredly inside. He hands the attendant his passport and his ticket. She takes his bag and he heads towards security. As soon as he’s through he heads towards his gate and takes a seat in one of the arm chairs.
He begins to dose off as the gate attendant calls for boarding. He clambers up from his seat and hands the attendant his ticket and climbs onto the plane. He finds his seat in first class, putting his signing bonus to good use, and tosses his backpack under the seat in front of him.
Before the plane even leaves the ground, Ryan’s out cold.
December 23, 2011
Ryan jolts awake as the plane touches down in Vancouver. Outside the window it’s pitch black but Ryan can make out Vancouver’s skyline. He hobbles off the plane and quickly grabs his bag from baggage claim before heading outside to grab a ride.
“Any chance you have a light?” Ryan turns to the source of the voice. A girl is standing next to him. She’s about a foot shorter than him and has to crane her head up to look at Ryan. Although the height difference, she looks about his age. She has smooth, tanned skin and a pair of dark, chocolate brown eyes. Her hair is cut short, just below her chin and fell is soft brown waves. She wore a tight white v-neck that he could see her bright turquoise bra through and a pair of tight skinny jeans hugged her slim legs. A pair of scuffed vans were laced to her feet.
“Sorry, what?”
“A light.” She holds up a joint in between her fingers.
“Uh, no, sorry.” Ryan stutters out.
She shrugs and perches the joint between her lips. She begins rummaging through her purse and mumbling something along the lines of ‘I thought I had one in here.’
“Here it is.” She pulls the blue lighter out of her purse and lights up her joint, taking a deep inhale and blowing the smoke out of her pink lips.
Ryan digs his hands into his pocket and watches, almost mesmorized as she smokes her joint. “Should you really be doing that here?”
“It’s for medicinal purposes.” She shrugs with a michevious smile.
“Oh, always is.” Ryan replies sarcastically. The girl smirks and gives Ryan a once over.
“I like you.” She takes, taking another hit of her blunt. “I’m Tatum.”
“I’m Ryan,” She holds out the joint, offering him a smoke. He shakes his head. “Nah, I don’t really,”
Tatum cuts him off. “Just shut up and take it.” Ryan rolls his eyes and takes the joint from her small hands. It wasn’t the first time he had smoked pot. He’d been in high school once. A lot of the guys on his high school team used to smoke a little weed after big wins and sometimes he’d join. He takes a hit and hands it back just as his phone buzzes.
From: Adam
Hey little bro running a little late, I’ll be there soon.
Sent: 3:12am
“Typical brother, running late.” Ryan scoffs as he takes the joint out of Tatum’s hand. It’s completely dead around them, no one in sight. They sit down on one of the concrete benches and pass the blunt between the two of them.
“So what brings you to Vancouver?” Ryan asks.
A half hour and another joint later Ryan learned that Tatum was from Minnesota but was a sophomore at University of Nebraska, Omaha double majoring in Neuroscience and statistics which he thought was ironic. A brain scientist sitting here smoke a brain deteriorating drug. He laughed for a good five minutes and he wasn’t sure if it was the irony or the pot.
He told her a bit about himself to. That he was from Burnaby which was just twenty-five minutes outside of Vancouver but lived in Edmonton for work. When she inquired what line of work instead of replying that he was a professional athlete for the NHL, he simply said he just did some “sports stuff.” She didn’t question him any farther about it.
“So what are you doing here for Christmas instead of going home?”
“I don’t have a home to go to.” She shrugs. “My dad died right after I left for college and I’m not in contact with my mom or step-dad anymore. This is the first Christmas I won’t spend with either of them so I decided to go to Banff. My dad loved it there.”
“It’s really nice, I do have to admit.” Tatum finished up the joint and disposes of it in the garbage. Just then a car pulls up alongside the curb. Ryan was hoping it was his brother but no such luck.
“That’s my ride. It was nice talking to you Ryan.” She digs a small journal from her purse and scribbles something down on a page with a pen before tearing it out and handing it to him. When she gives him the paper he realizes it’s her phone number. “And don’t do that typical guy thing where they wait a week to call the girl. That’s bullshit and I think we’re better friends than that.”
“Friends?” Ryan laughs. “We met like an hour ago.”
“We also got stoned together which I think that makes us pretty close.” She teases before climbing into the front seat of the range rover and disappearing down the street leaving Ryan sitting alone outside the deserted airport.
Ryan’s so fixated on the point where Tatum’s car disappeared that he doesn’t realized his brother had pulled up next to him until he honks the horn. Ryan shakes his head in attempts to clear his foggy mind, the result of the mixture of lack of sleep and too much weed. Ryan tosses his bag in the back of the car and climbs into the passenger seat next to his brother Adam.
“What’s up little brother?” Adam sniffs at the air. “Have you been smoking pot?”
“Hello, nice to see you too, mom.” Ryan says sarcastically.
“Whatever, whatever.” Adam raises his hands in surrender. “Just curious.”
“Don’t tell mom.” Ryan laughs.
Adam chuckles. “Don’t worry, I won’t.”
“Good game boys.” Shawn Horcoff, captain of the Edmonton Oilers says, patting each of his players on their helmet as they entered the locker room. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the rookie of the team, sat down at his stall and began tearing off his pads. They’d just pulled off an impressive four to one win against the Minnesota Wild on home ice. They weren’t having the greatest season so a win felt good, especially right before Christmas.
It’s late by the time Ryan finally makes his way out of the arena, showered and dressed. He climbs into his car parked outside and heads towards the airport. His suitcase is already in his trunk and ready to make its way home to Burnaby.
He parks his car in the parking ramp of the airport and stumbles tiredly inside. He hands the attendant his passport and his ticket. She takes his bag and he heads towards security. As soon as he’s through he heads towards his gate and takes a seat in one of the arm chairs.
He begins to dose off as the gate attendant calls for boarding. He clambers up from his seat and hands the attendant his ticket and climbs onto the plane. He finds his seat in first class, putting his signing bonus to good use, and tosses his backpack under the seat in front of him.
Before the plane even leaves the ground, Ryan’s out cold.
December 23, 2011
Ryan jolts awake as the plane touches down in Vancouver. Outside the window it’s pitch black but Ryan can make out Vancouver’s skyline. He hobbles off the plane and quickly grabs his bag from baggage claim before heading outside to grab a ride.
“Any chance you have a light?” Ryan turns to the source of the voice. A girl is standing next to him. She’s about a foot shorter than him and has to crane her head up to look at Ryan. Although the height difference, she looks about his age. She has smooth, tanned skin and a pair of dark, chocolate brown eyes. Her hair is cut short, just below her chin and fell is soft brown waves. She wore a tight white v-neck that he could see her bright turquoise bra through and a pair of tight skinny jeans hugged her slim legs. A pair of scuffed vans were laced to her feet.
“Sorry, what?”
“A light.” She holds up a joint in between her fingers.
“Uh, no, sorry.” Ryan stutters out.
She shrugs and perches the joint between her lips. She begins rummaging through her purse and mumbling something along the lines of ‘I thought I had one in here.’
“Here it is.” She pulls the blue lighter out of her purse and lights up her joint, taking a deep inhale and blowing the smoke out of her pink lips.
Ryan digs his hands into his pocket and watches, almost mesmorized as she smokes her joint. “Should you really be doing that here?”
“It’s for medicinal purposes.” She shrugs with a michevious smile.
“Oh, always is.” Ryan replies sarcastically. The girl smirks and gives Ryan a once over.
“I like you.” She takes, taking another hit of her blunt. “I’m Tatum.”
“I’m Ryan,” She holds out the joint, offering him a smoke. He shakes his head. “Nah, I don’t really,”
Tatum cuts him off. “Just shut up and take it.” Ryan rolls his eyes and takes the joint from her small hands. It wasn’t the first time he had smoked pot. He’d been in high school once. A lot of the guys on his high school team used to smoke a little weed after big wins and sometimes he’d join. He takes a hit and hands it back just as his phone buzzes.
From: Adam
Hey little bro running a little late, I’ll be there soon.
Sent: 3:12am
“Typical brother, running late.” Ryan scoffs as he takes the joint out of Tatum’s hand. It’s completely dead around them, no one in sight. They sit down on one of the concrete benches and pass the blunt between the two of them.
“So what brings you to Vancouver?” Ryan asks.
A half hour and another joint later Ryan learned that Tatum was from Minnesota but was a sophomore at University of Nebraska, Omaha double majoring in Neuroscience and statistics which he thought was ironic. A brain scientist sitting here smoke a brain deteriorating drug. He laughed for a good five minutes and he wasn’t sure if it was the irony or the pot.
He told her a bit about himself to. That he was from Burnaby which was just twenty-five minutes outside of Vancouver but lived in Edmonton for work. When she inquired what line of work instead of replying that he was a professional athlete for the NHL, he simply said he just did some “sports stuff.” She didn’t question him any farther about it.
“So what are you doing here for Christmas instead of going home?”
“I don’t have a home to go to.” She shrugs. “My dad died right after I left for college and I’m not in contact with my mom or step-dad anymore. This is the first Christmas I won’t spend with either of them so I decided to go to Banff. My dad loved it there.”
“It’s really nice, I do have to admit.” Tatum finished up the joint and disposes of it in the garbage. Just then a car pulls up alongside the curb. Ryan was hoping it was his brother but no such luck.
“That’s my ride. It was nice talking to you Ryan.” She digs a small journal from her purse and scribbles something down on a page with a pen before tearing it out and handing it to him. When she gives him the paper he realizes it’s her phone number. “And don’t do that typical guy thing where they wait a week to call the girl. That’s bullshit and I think we’re better friends than that.”
“Friends?” Ryan laughs. “We met like an hour ago.”
“We also got stoned together which I think that makes us pretty close.” She teases before climbing into the front seat of the range rover and disappearing down the street leaving Ryan sitting alone outside the deserted airport.
Ryan’s so fixated on the point where Tatum’s car disappeared that he doesn’t realized his brother had pulled up next to him until he honks the horn. Ryan shakes his head in attempts to clear his foggy mind, the result of the mixture of lack of sleep and too much weed. Ryan tosses his bag in the back of the car and climbs into the passenger seat next to his brother Adam.
“What’s up little brother?” Adam sniffs at the air. “Have you been smoking pot?”
“Hello, nice to see you too, mom.” Ryan says sarcastically.
“Whatever, whatever.” Adam raises his hands in surrender. “Just curious.”
“Don’t tell mom.” Ryan laughs.
Adam chuckles. “Don’t worry, I won’t.”
Notes
Yeah so this is my new Ryan Nugent-Hopkins fanfic. Hope you like it!
Please update!!!
3/4/15