"Who wants to go skiing?" my mom asked us. I immediately perked up. We were on winter vacation, and it was getting boring lazing around the house for a whole week. I was itching for something to do, and I was sure everyone else was, too.
A chorus of "oooh!"'s and "yay!"'s broke out among the flock and Ella, sans Fang and I. Fang looked at me with his gorgeous black eyes. I felt my cheeks redden. I tried to open my mouth to calm the flock, but my lips wouldn't respond. As soon as Fang looked away, my mind snapped back to attention. Get a grip, Max!
"That would be fun," I said. "Let's get dressed, everyone. Living room in fifteen."
I watched my friends disperse excitedly to their rooms. Once they were all set, I went to my room to change. Fang did the same.
After removing my pajamas, I put on a blue tank-top. I pulled on a turtleneck and grabbed my new cardigan before heading out to the living room. Fang and Gazzy were already waiting for me, and the girls and Iggy were still changing.
"Gaz, can you help Iggy get changed?"
"Can't Ella do it? She's been hanging out with him constantly for the past week," he whined.
"Don't be silly, Gazzy. All of us have been spending time together lately," I said. They hadn't been spending much time together…right? Actually, looking back on it, Iggy and Ella were with each other for much of last week. How could I have missed it?
Regardless, it didn't matter. It was probably a good thing my bird brother and blood sister were getting to know each other a little better. Ella wasn't very close with any of us yet besides Nudge and I, and I desperately wanted Iggy to spend time with someone who wasn't a crazy pyromaniac.
"You haven't noticed?" Gazzy said, looking up at me.
"Maybe I haven't. Go help Iggy, Gaz. You can have an extra cookie this evening if you do."
"Okay!" he exclaimed, rocketing out of his chair. If only I could make him get out of bed that quickly…
"So," Fang said. I whirled around, surprised. He'd been so quiet; I'd forgotten he was here during my conversation with the Gasman. "What do you think about skiing?"
I shrugged. "I guess it'd be fun. We just have to be careful, though. I've heard that tons of people have died by falling off cliffs while skiing."
"Good thing we'll be safe, then."
"What? We'll die if we fall off a mountain, Fang."
"I don't know about you, but I know I won't. Are you forgetting we have wings? A lot of good a week off did you," Fang reminded me. He grinned at me, causing my heart to miss a beat. I didn't even have the presence of mind to feel annoyed.
Ignore him…
Ignore him…
"Whatever."
"And besides, we've done plenty of more dangerous things than skiing."
"I guess you're right. But how will Iggy ski?"
"I was thinking that he could go snow tubing with someone during the day. Then at night, when most people leave, we can try to teach him to ski. If he tries to ski during the day, people will probably get hurt."
"I'm sure."
"I'm sorry to interrupt your couple time," Ella called from the kitchen, "but can you guys convince Nudge that her skiing outfit does not need to be fashionable?"
My face immediately reddened. "Fang and I are not a couple!" I screeched. Ella laughed and slinked back into room she and Nudge shared. Without meeting Fang's eyes, I followed Ella into the girls' bedroom.
"Maaax!" Nudge wailed. "This jacket doesn't go with anything!" She held up a bright pink ski jacket with purple polka dots.
"Nudge, it's a ski trip. Nobody dresses fashionably. Look at Fang, for example. And unless you're a natural at skiing, you're going to fall. A lot."
"Then what should I wear?"
"It's up to you, dear. Just keep in mind that it's going to be very cold outside, 'kay?"
"Okay!"
"And hurry up. We're meeting in five minutes."
"Got it!" she said, as I left the room.
Fang and I walked down the hallway back to the living room. We passed Iggy's room, where Gazzy was yelling at him for putting his ski jacket on his legs. The saddest part was that it wasn't a joke. In the living room, Ella and Angel were waiting for us. Ella was dressed in a light purple pullover and beige sweatpants. Angel was adorned in all pink and a white winter hat with a pom-pom. She looked beyond adorable. Her big, blue eyes were enough to melt anyone's heart alone, but an incredibly cute outfit on top of that? Forget it. Mind control was an unnecessary formality for her.
Reading my thoughts, Angel winked at me. Being the evil child she was, I had no doubt she'd manage to extract an extra few scoops of ice cream from my mom.
"So, have you skied before?" I asked Ella.
"Yeah. I've gone a few times with my friends."
"How hard is it? Do you think any of us will be able to pick up the skill on our first day?"
Ella shrugged. "I guess it'd be easier for you guys, with the enhanced genes and all. You probably won't get to the black diamonds or anything today, but maybe you'll get there tomorrow. I'd tell you not to rush it, but it's not like any of you will get hurt or anything."
"Thanks, Ells. By the way, would you mind spending a little time during the day with Iggy snow tubing?"
"Of course!" Ella replied immediately. "Wait, you don't want him to ski?"
"I definitely want him to. But it's probably better for us to wait until most of the people leave before we bring Iggy."
"Oh, ok. I'll stay with him until it gets dark, then." I looked at her, wondering why she was so enthusiastic to spend the day with Iggy. "I've already skied before, and you guys should spend the whole day on the slopes."
"Aww, that's sweet," I told her.
"I just wish Iggy could ski, too," she said wistfully. Then, it hit me.
Ella had a crush on Iggy.
That's why she'd been spending so much time with him lately. I'd been too dumb to notice. Before I could decide how I felt about it, Nudge, Gazzy, Iggy, Total, and my mom walked into the room.
"Listen up, kids," my mom announced. "The ski resort is extremely big, and none of you have phones to contact me with if you get lost. Even though I assume most of you plan to ski together, we're going to need a buddy system so nobody gets lost."
"I'll go with Total!" Angel squealed.
"Angel, honey, I don't think Total can ski. It would probably be better if he stayed in the lodge with me or went snow tubing with Iggy, don't you think?"
"I guess," Angel said. "I'll go with Nudge, then!"
"That works. Gazzy, do you want to go with Iggy?"
"Actually," Ella interjected, "I'm going to go with Iggy. Gazzy hasn't skied before, so he should experience it now."
My mom shrugged. "That works. So, Max and Fang, I assume you two want to be together?"
"If we must be," Fang mumbled, causing Angel and Nudge to start giggling.
"That's fine," I said, keeping a straight face, "but who will Gazzy go with?"
"I'll stick with Nudge and Angel," he said.
"Sounds good," my mom said. "There's hot chocolate in the car."
We needed no more convincing.
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I
By the time we got to the resort, the place was packed. Dr. M bought us our tickets right when we arrived, and we were on our way.
Even though Iggy couldn't ski yet, he went with us as Ella taught us the basics on a snowy patch above the bunny slope. The lift patrol probably wasn't thrilled about a blonde pyromaniac whooping as he went in endless circles on the ski lift, but of course Iggy couldn't have cared less.
Once Ella got us started, she and Iggy, who looked disappointed to leave the ski lift, left to go snow tubing. Note to self: do not let Iggy build a ski lift at home.
We all practiced going down the bunny slope a few time, with varying degrees of success, before going our own ways. Angel insisted that she, Gazzy, and Nudge stay at the bunny slope, leaving Fang and I to the next-easiest slope.
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I
"Gazzy, stop it!" Nudge yelled, raising her arms to block a volley of incoming snowballs. "Angel!" she cried in desperation, hoping her blonde best friend would come to her aid. But when Nudge averted her face from the snowball headed over her makeshift shield, she saw that all Angel wanted to do was make snow angels-with her wings out-in the snow above the hill.
Gritting her teeth, Nudge lowered her arms and made a snowball of her own. As she turned to throw it, though, her face made contact with an ice-cold wad of snow fired by the Gasman.
"Aah!" she cried, stumbling backwards. But she wasn't fazed in the least. She ran at Gazzy, who was significantly slower than her, and used her snowball to cream-pie Gazzy's face. "Take that!"
Gazzy laughed maniacally, like Nudge had given him permission to go all-out. He created and rapid-fired another volley of snowballs, but Nudge wasn't done either. Soon enough, they were both caught in a full-on snowball fight right above the bunny slope.
"Hey!" Angel suddenly yelled. "You messed up my snow angel!"
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I
"Help me along, Iggy?" Ella asked politely.
"Of course, Ella," he replied, taking her hand and helping her down the tubing hill. Instead of letting go as the tubes picked up momentum, though, Iggy held on to her hand all the way down.
"I-I-um, go again?" Ella stuttered out at the bottom.
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I
"Fang! Stop showing off," I complained, as Fang glided over a jump and pulled up next to me on the side of the slope.
Fang grinned at me. "I can't help being amazing. It comes naturally to me."
I glared at him and looked down the hill, trying to ignore him. It was like he always knew what to say to annoy me. "How do you wedge again?"
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I
Once the sun began to set in the evening, the seven of us met up back at the table Dr. M reserved in the lodge. She gave us each thirty bucks for dinner-hey, bird kids have an appetite. And have you seen the prices there?
I ended up getting two burgers, a slice of pizza, an order of fries, and a large drink. Everyone else looked just as hungry as I felt, so the two hundred-plus dollars my mother shelled out for dinner were gone in an instant. Total mooched some fries off of Angel's tray before deciding they were too greasy and settling for a powdered donut.
"Meet us at the top of the hill to the left of the bunny hill in an hour. It's easy difficulty too, and it's called Firework. Like the Katy Perry song," Ella told us, as she and Iggy went out to the bunny hill.
Nudge, Angel, and Gazzy caught me up on how things went, and it didn't surprise me to hear that a brutal snowball fight went down. Angel's snow angels sounded like a good idea, although I wasn't too happy that she took out her wings for that.
At any rate, it sounded like the three of them had a good time soaring down the bunny hill.
"It's like flying, you know, but on land!" Nudge chirped enthusiastically.
I put my finger to my lips. "Shh! There are people around."
Nudge looked down, but she quickly regained composure. "I meant that the ski lift is like flying an airplane on land!" she yelled, making sure everyone in the building heard her.
Cue mental facepalm.
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I
"I think we should, you know, have a contest," Gazzy suggested. "See who's got the slickest moves on the slope. Ella can be the judge of it."
"Gazzy, I can barely get down the slope normally," I reminded him.
He grinned. "I'll go first!"
It turned out he was a heck of a better skier than I was. He did use his wings a little-cheater!-but since he didn't take them out of his jacket, Ella let it slide. He just used them like a pair of arms on his back to prevent himself from falling and propel himself up ramps. Gazzy pulled up just before the first turn, giving us a thumbs up as he glided, backwards, up to the edge of the mountain. He nearly gave me a heart attack almost falling off, but I knew he was going to be okay. He slid over to the wall of snow on the side of the slope.
How the heck is it legal to make it so easy for skiers to fall off a freaking mountain?
"Six out of ten," Ella announced. "Nice run, but you were too boring."
"What?" Gazzy complained. "How was I boring?"
"You used the ramps but you didn't do anything fancy, like a 360 or anything." Wait, that's what Ella expected? She'd be sorely disappointed come my turn.
"Fine," Gazzy pouted.
Angel and Nudge had solid runs, too, meriting them a five and a seven in Ella's ratings, respectively. Nudge had a nice 'flutter-step' off the ramps, where she used her wings to kind of parachute her fall a bit and make her look like a butterfly as she landed.
When Iggy's turn came along, though, all standards went out the window. He approached the slope confidently, with his chest puffed out, which might've been okay for him if someone told him where the slope began. He kept his show on a little too long, unfortunately for him. Iggy stumbled forwards as the ground began to slope down under his feet, and eventually lost his balance and rolled like a ball all the way down the hill, nearly running into Gazzy as he plowed into a bank of snow.
Ella was laughing her head off, and her hands were over her mouth. "Sorry, Iggy, but that's a zero," she called down the slope. That's right, sister. No amount of bias could make up for that abomination.
Iggy pretended to look disappointed, but couldn't keep it up for long. He started laughing too, even though his hat had a ball of snow sticking to its side, threatening to fall down his shirt and sending a cold front his back's way.
"I'll go next!" Total volunteered. I managed to sneak him up the mountain by stuffing him in my jacket and pretending I was pregnant. I dare you to think of a better idea.
Total bounded down the slope, snow sticking to his paws. Eventually, he hit an icy section and slid hard into Gazzy, nearly knocking him over. The little guy had some serious bowling-ball power.
Fang completely killed it on his turn, doing a one-eighty on the ramp and grinning at me as he smoothly glided backwards and pulled up next to Angel.
"Ten out of ten!" Ella cheered, clapping her hands. "Max, your turn now! Make your boyfriend proud!"
After glaring at my sister, I took a deep breath and started on my way down the hill, trying to keep my speed under control.
Wedge, dang it! How do I do that again?!
As I rocketed down the slope, completely out of control, I couldn't stop looking at the gaping hole in the snowbank to my left. It almost looked like it was grinning at me in the night sky, inviting me into a free-fall off the mountain.
I gritted my teeth, desperately trying to listen to the instructions Ella and Fang were yelling at me. Shut up! I wanted to yell, to one of them. It was impossible to pick out one voice with the wind rushing past my ears.
I estimated I had about three seconds left before crashing into the wall of snow forcing skiers to turn. Screw it. Slam into it loud and proud.
Just then, I noticed a mogul to my right. Avoid it. I swerved to my left, and by some miracle succeeded, but what followed was way worse than falling over a mogul.
"Max!" Nudge yelled, as I shot off the mountain.
Thankfully, I was no stranger to emergencies. This hardly qualified as anything. I looked down, looking for a place to glide to, but there was nothing but trees.
I sighed. Time to take out the wings. Who cares if people see them?
I unzipped my jacket and threw it off of me, unfurling my wings in the process. Minor problem: my wings got caught in my jacket as I threw it off, so they were both basically a dysfunctional, tangled mess as I dropped like a stone into the cluster of evergreens below.
"Fang!" I yelled instinctively, as I closed my eyes and braced for impact. What the hell was that, Max?!
Turns out, the impact wasn't too bad. I thankfully missed all the trees and slammed into a huge pile of snow, doing nothing more than taking the breath out of me.
"Max, you okay?" Fang asked, landing beside me.
"Yeah," I grumbled, still lying on my back in the snow. The lights gave Fang's face a glowing effect, like it was made of pure energy.
"You don't look like you are," he observed, kneeling by my side and leaning closer to me.
Before I could comprehend what was happening, Fang kissed me. Full on the lips.
As I felt my brain freeze up-not from the snow-I leaned into the kiss and wrapped my arms around him, prompting him to kiss me harder.
WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, MAX? my mind told me.
SCREW IT, I replied.
Because just then I realized I loved Fang. I couldn't deny it any longer.
Fang grunted slightly, like he was trying to suppress the noise. I giggled, knowing I did that to him. It did wonders to my ego to prompt Mr. Emotionless Brick Wall aka. Fang to actually, you know, react.
Finally, after it felt like the ski resort closed and our friends fell asleep on the slope, Fang broke out of our kiss.
"That was-" Fang began.
"-freaking awesome."
Fang grinned. "Think of it as our Christmas gifts to each other."
My head spun, regaining its bearings. "It's Christmas?"
"How could you forget?"
"That's right…well, Merry Christmas, I guess."
Fang chuckled. "Merry Christmas, Max," he said, kissing me again.
And that was the best Christmas present I'd ever gotten.
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I
Merry Christmas, everyone! Happy holidays if you don't celebrate Christmas.
Thanks to pepperpottz for suggesting this! I hope you enjoyed reading it.
Question of the One-Shot: On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate the Christmas Tree line breaks? Be honest - I won't be offended at all if you don't like them. I had cooler ones in my Word document, but the annoying Doc Manager insisted on taking them out and making my life hard.