Getaway
To: Erin
Love: Secret Santa
"Christmas time is here" I hear my sister singing and you wouldn't think that its too bad, but she's been at it for 15 minutes non-stop. When you hear those words you think of the song from A Charlie Brown Christmas you really think nothing of it and its okay but when my sister has her rendition you want to cover your ears the whole time. She starts out at a normal hearing range and over the course of 2 minutes manages to sound like a dying cat, not that I've ever heard one die I just think that is what it would sound like. I want to claw my eyes out and so does the rest of my family.
The second that she even hears anything about Christmas especially on TV she gets started and its horrible to stop her.
"Sophia!!! You are 23 years old why are you singing that song?" I ask/yelled at her
"Because I like it," she says with a smirk, "Christmas time is here, Christmas time is here its Christmas, Christmas time!!!!!"
God I hate when she does this I just really do, we have grown to live with it but it doesn't stop us hating it. She actually runs around singing that song just knowing that it is going to get on our nerves and right now I refuse to leave the living room. Troy is supposed to be here any minute and I just want to leave.
"OMG!! Thank you! Sophia just started with her stupid Christmas time crap and can we please leave?" I asked with a pout
"Yeah we'll leave right now. How did she get started on it anyways?" he asked
"I don't know it just started and now I wish that it would stop!!" I do all of us really do. "I'm leaving I'll be home tomorrow" I yelled up the stairs and dragged Troy out of the house so I could get away from Sophia's ridiculous singing.
Troy and I are home for winter break we just spent the first semester of our junior year in Northern California. Troy is going to UC Berkley and I am at Stanford, it works out for the two of us. Neither of us really wanted to be apart and when he got a scholarship to Berkeley for basketball and I got into Stanford it seemed like it was the most natural choice to make.
The 33-mile drive between the two schools seems like nothing. There are times when we meet in San Francisco just to go to dinner or to shop sometimes its better than meeting in either Berkeley or Palo Alto because there are more things to do there. We take turns driving to either because I don't want Troy driving his truck all of the time, I was surprised when he and his dad made it up there with it freshman year and the years following.
We have had a good semester. We have both been really busy but have made time for each other. Its been good our relationship hasn't changed, we are still as in love as we have been the almost 4 years that we have been together. It is kind of hard to believe though, the fact that we've been together this long. But I love him and that is all that matters.
Troy and I decided to spend two days at a ski resort in Santa Fe. During this semester we have had time together and it has been great. We both enjoyed it but starting from when we got back from thanksgiving break we haven't seen each other. Finals were coming up faster than either of us thought and we didn't see each other until I went to pick up Troy for our drive home.
The almost 17 hours that we spent in the car driving home were good we had time to catch up. We did talk while we were apart but being together and being able to see each other is different.
So this getaway is for the two of us to have some uninterrupted time together. These next couple of weeks we are going to be with family and that doesn't bother us its just that we are going to be apart more than we have gotten used to in the past.
Our short drive up to Santa Fe was good. The two of us sitting in the car talking about nothing, just being able to have him physically next to me was enough. It took no time at all for the two of us to actually get into our room. Almost immediately we changed and were getting ready to go out. We did want to spend time together but we both also wanted to get some snowboarding in.
I know how to snowboard but I am not the best at it. I learned how to ski way before I ever picked up a snowboard. Troy is almost pro at snowboarding, or well that is what I say since he is so much better than I am.
I took a couple of lessons and I basically fell during then but that's normal. But I think it's a good thing for the two of us to do together. It's something that we both enjoy.
Troy and I are just enjoying our time together going down the mountain. I am going down and just enjoying the sound of the wind in my ears, even the feel of it on my nose even though I know I am going to be cold when we get back inside.
We have been at here for like 5 hours and it hasn't gotten boring. We stopped once to get something to drink, go pee and eat. Then we came right back out. Its been so much fun so far. I can just see Troy doing all of theses tricks and things that I know I will never be able to do but it is still fun all the same.
"Hey babe I'll race you down the mountain" Troy says to me
"No that's not fair you know your going to win" and I know its true since he is so much faster than I am.
"No I'll be fair I promise. We'll just go down this last time. It's late already and I know that I want to eat dinner and you do too. So we'll go down this time and then we'll change and get something to eat." He told me
"Ok, ok. You win we'll see who gets down there first but I am telling you that you are going to win. There is no way that I am going to make it down this mountain before you." And I know its true
"Ok lets go on your mark, gets set, go!" he say and the two of us start racing down this mountain and I know that I have to do something in order to at least stay at the same speed as him.
So I do the only thing I can I shift my weight more and try and balance my self better so that I can gain speed. But that seems to not matter because he is still beating me. We are swerving all down the mountain and Troy gets more speed than I do. And there he goes I knew that he would win. I might as well give up now but for some reason I don't want to. I want to get down there and show him that I am just as fast as he is.
He is standing there looking at me waiting for me to get down and I can't seem to stop right now. I know that is one of the basic first things you learn how to do when snowboarding is stopping but I cant. I am pretty sure that this is the fastest that I have ever come down. So what am I going to do? I am going to plow right into him and let him stop me.
"Brie?"
"Yeah" I answer him
"Why did you just run right into me?"
"Because I wasn't stopping and I figured that you would be more comfortable to land in." I told him
And I think he was, it took me no more than 2 seconds to run into him and the two of us to end up in the floor, luckily neither of us got hurt from this.
"Okay but can we get up now?" he asked seeing as I was still laying on him
"What if I don't want to?"
"Well then we wouldn't be able to eat anything and then we are going to be laying here in the freezing cold and then we are going to get frost bite and I know neither of us like that. And I know for a fact that you can only take so much time in the cold before you want to go inside. " I hate it when he's right.
"Fine. I'm getting up." That is really hard for me though, since my board is still attached to my feet. "Troy?"
"Yeah"
"I need some help, my board is still firmly attached to my feet and now I can't move"
"Oh, right. Sorry" he says and somehow manages to flip the two of us over so I am the one on the floor and he is the one hovering over me. This is a position that I don't mind at all.
"Hi" I say shyly
"Hi" he says with a smile on his face. He takes off my goggles so I can see him better and I don't mind. I am glad that I can see those beautiful baby blues, the eyes that made my heart crumble every time that I gaze into them.
"Your beautiful. Did you know that?" he asks me
"No but I like it when you remind me" I tell him
"Well I am reminding you and I will be for a very long time"
"That's fine with me" I tell him before he leans down to give me a very sweet short kiss while we are still here lying in the snow.
"Mmmm I love when you do that." I tell him
"So do I. Come on" he says and finally gets off of me
I sit up and undo my boots from my board before I stand up. I grabbed my board and followed Troy inside. We went and put our boards in storage before we went up to our room to change. I really wanted to shower the both of us did. Troy was in the shower before I was since it takes him less time and that means I would have more time to soak in the water.
He showered faster than I thought that he was going to but I was glad that I was going to be able to soak my aching muscles in the water for at least a little bit. I really didn't know what he had planed for tonight. He said that we were going to eat dinner at the restaurant here but I didn't know what else we were going to be doing.
When I got out of the shower I dried my hair and changed before I left the bathroom. Troy and I are not unfamiliar with each other in the bedroom. With us being together for this long and staying over each other's houses and apartments made us familiar and settled into a routine.
When I got back into the room Troy was just watching TV waiting for me.
"Hey so what are we doing?" I asked
"Well we are going to eat dinner at the restaurant downstairs and then we are going outside, so I suggest taking something that will keep you warm because if we come back here I know that I am not going to want to leave and I don't think that you are going to want to either." He said to me
"Okay" I said and got my big winter jacket and some gloves.
We walked downstairs and it seemed like Troy already had reservations since it didn't take too long to seat us.
Dinner went really well for the two of us. There was nothing major that happened everything seemed to be calm and it made me a little nervous.
Its not like I get nervous all of the time when nothing happens while were together its just because he said that we were going to be going outside that makes me nervous. But soon enough dinner was over and I still didn't know what to think really. He comes up with something new everyday and it takes some getting used to on my part.
"So are you going to tell me what we are doing or am I going to have to wait?" I asked him
"Do you remember when we went down to LA during spring break sophomore year, this past April?" he asked
"Yeah but what does that have to do with this?" I was confused really I was
"Do you remember what we did?" he asked
"Um… we went to the beach, shopping and to theme parks" I don't know how that has anything to do with being out at night in the cold in the middle of winter
"Well we did something else. Do you remember going to the observatory?" We did, we had gone to the Griffith Observatory kind of on a whim more than anything else.
"Yeah and we saw the movie on the dome ceiling and it felt like we were moving?"
"Yeah that. Do you remember what you said to me after we saw the movie?" he asked
"No" I was really trying to remember but I didn't recall the conversation. I remember looking at all of the stuff up stairs and then going down stairs and looking at all of the information on all the planets and then the two of us weighing our selves on the planets. But I don't remember what I said to him once the movie was over.
"You said that you would love to be in a place where you can see all of the stars, somewhere where everything is clear and you feel like you could touch the stars." He said to me and it did sound like something that I would say. "So look up Brie, touch the stars"
It was then that I noticed that we were no longer inside of the hotel and that I had somehow gotten my jacket on and we were standing in relative darkness and up above me was a blanket of lights, I cold see everything so clearly. It was amazing and it took my breath away.
I never thought I would be able to see the stars as brightly as I did then. I can't believe that he remembered a probably 2 second comment from 8 months ago. He really does things that I will never understand. He is more amazing than anyone that I could have ever imagined.
"Wow" I finally said
"Yeah so are you ready?" he asked
"Ready for what?" I asked him
"To map the stars, yeah I know that we can see them and everything but I brought a star map, a compass, some binoculars and a flash light. Plus some other goodies." He said and it was than that I noticed that he had somehow gotten a bag.
"Are you serious? We are going to seriously look for the constellations?" I asked him
"Yeah unless there was something else that you had in mind for us to do for the rest of the night" he said and I didn't. I couldn't think of a better way for the two of us to spend our time.
"No lets do this," I told him
It was then that he brought out things from his bag, he had mats for the two of us to sit on and a mug I'm guessing with hot chocolate or coffee, and a blanket for the two of us to share.
He brought out the star map and I looked over it. It was interesting because Troy had covered our flashlight with a red piece of cellophane and I thought it was weird but reading the information that came with the star map I understood why. That color helps with being able to see the stars clearly. It also helped that the moonlight was minimal because we would have seen less stars that way.
It didn't take us too long to get set up. Troy had our compass out and was comparing it to the map to see what we would be able to see well. The first constellation that we found was Orion, and once we found him it was easier to find the ones surrounding him. Eridanus, Fornax, and Phoenix were easy to find as well. We found Andromeda, Ursula Minor and Ursula Major also known as the big dipper.
It was amazing, just looking up there and being able to identify everything. It really was indescribable. We stayed out for almost 4 hours. By the time we came back inside we were utterly exhausted. We had spent all day snowboarding and all evening looking up at the stars. Tonight had been a truly amazing night.
I woke up this morning to see that it was still early. It's about 9:00 and I can't believe that I am actually awake. But its good, check out is at 11:00 and Troy and I have to get everything together.
"Babe" I said as I shook him lightly
"Hmm" he murmured
"Get up we have to get out of this room and get something to eat."
"5 more minutes baby" he said
"No because then we aren't going to leave and I know that you wanted to go snowboarding more before we leave. So come on" I told him and got out of bed reluctantly
I got dressed in my gear and went to put all of my things away. Troy begrudgingly got out of bed and got ready. We went ate breakfast and checked out. Once we had all of our things in the car we went back to the storage place and got our snowboards and went back up the mountain.
We didn't leave the resort till almost 5:00 and I was completely wiped out. I was so tired but I wouldn't have changed that experience for a lifetime. By my last trip down the mountain I was more adventurous and followed Troy down some harder slopes and even started doing some tricks. It was a good trip and I loved the time that we were spending together.
I slept the whole way home and Troy didn't mind at all. He knew how tired I was.
When we got to my house Troy woke me and I was regretting leaving him.
"You have to go inside now," he told me as we were sitting in the car
"I know but that doesn't mean I want to. I want to stay with you. I've gotten too used to having you around lately." I told him
"I know but I'll see you tomorrow okay" he asked
"Yeah you'll see me tomorrow. Can you stay tomorrow?" I asked him
"Yeah I will. I'll see you later babe. I love you," he told me as he leaned over to give me a kiss
"I love you too." I told him as I got out of the car with my things.
I stood on my porch watching him drive away. I didn't go inside until I couldn't see his car anymore. I knew that I would see him tomorrow but that didn't make me miss him any less.
I walked into the kitchen and talked to my mom for a bit and she told me that we were going to be eating in half an hour. I went to my room and collapsed on my bed even with the nap in the car I was exhausted.
"So how was your mini vacation" Sophia asked me as she came into my room
"I saw the stars," I told her with a smile
"Eww gross I don't want to hear that," she said as she walked away from me and all I could do was laugh.
A/N: The song in the beginning is very real. My sister has sung it every year for long time, this year I discovered she also has a Halloween and Thanksgiving song as well. The star mapping was inspired by my very recent visit to the observatory mentioned. I would sent you a virtual star map, which I found during research for this, if I knew where your email and which hemisphere you live in. I hope that you look at the stars a little differently the next time you go outside. Merry Christmas and I hope it at least made you smile.