Response to the Valentine's day challenge set up by Chiffon a year ago.
Haha, I suck. B( Sorry about that.

Words: 2523

Requirements:
Length-One shot, short or long
Must be romance, even as a second genre, but does not need to be fluffy
Any pairing, does not need to be V-Day
Um...there has to be a pinata in there somewhere...
There needs to be an event (race, showoff, something original) on any Peak
That's it.

Even with his bad positioning, Mac felt confident for a win. The lineup wasn't particularly impressive; Mac was one of the highest ranked riders. In fact, the only other boarder who rivaled his skill was the bombshell in the end gate, Elise Riggs. Mac agreed with every male on the mountain that she was one smoking match, but he wouldn't let her looks get in the way of his win.

Mac grinned. He knew that, whatever the results of the day's race, it would definitely be an interesting one. Though he'd most likely win.

He switched his head phones on and took a firm grip on the gate handles. "Bring it."

Elise sighed. There were so many people in the world who didn't know when to quit when they had met their match. She knew she could easily take down every other rider in the race. Not even that punk kid Mac Fraiser, with his up-beat headphones and cooler-than-you attitude, could intimidate her, much less give her a challenge. She had this race in the bag.

'Game, set, match.' She thought shrewdly, adjusting the zipper of her low-cut. 'Blind the enemy. Let them see what they're up against.' She was grinning ear-to-ear as the starting lights glowed red and she entered the gate.

"3... 2... 1... GO!"

The green light flashed as the racers sped off. The first fifty yards of the race often separated the losers from the winners. If you went down in the beginning, it could be impossible to catch up. Already Griff was out for the count, no match for Zoe's bizarrely masculine strength. Kaori and Viggo didn't last the first jump. Mac barely dodged a blow from Moby but soon soared to the front of the group. He lost track of Elise almost immediately, but it didn't bother him. There was no way she could catch up. Mac could already taste the victory.

In no time the final stretch of the race was before him. Mac tucked in, spreading across the final bridge. The finish line was in sight.

Mac was too focused to look up, otherwise he would have seen the curvy figure back-flip over the bridge thirty feet above him.

He exited the ice funnel, slowing on the powdered snow. No problem, he though. Victory and jubilation were right around the-

"HEY, Fraser!"

Mac swore he got whiplash as he whirled his head in the direction of the call.

Elise tore out of the starting gate ahead of the game, immediately going off to one side. It was dangerous staying in the middle of the pack; you'd become an easy target in no time. She swerved and caught a snow drift, catching enough air to make it over the bend that separated course from wilderness. A little shortcut never hurt.

Soon enough Elise was nearing the end, no other competitor in sight. 'Probably knocked each other out in the beginning,' she thought, tucking down and gaining speed. She'd need it for the next jump; if she didn't clear it she'd land in the freezing river, and she saw what happened to poor Nate when he landed off on the ice up ahead. As the bombshell zoomed behind another bank of snow, she caught a glimpse of another rider zooming behind her, staying on the course. Was it Fraser? She couldn't be sure, she had hardly seen the person board by.

But her thoughts where soon cut off as she launched off the ramp of snow and backflipped into the air. She found she couldn't think about him again until she saw the same person beneath her in the powdered snow, right in her landing spot.

Oh, great. "Fraser! MOVE! HEY, Fraser!"

It was too late to move, Mac realized, as she came crashing down on top of him. The board crashing into his back created much less pain than he'd expected, but she exceeded his expectation in the weight department and took him down completely, them not ten yards from the finish line.

"What the f-"

Mac struggled to get up, but Elise shoved him back into the snow, forcing the white, cold, and surprisingly uncomfortable material into his eyes, nose, and mouth.

"How much does this NOT rule?!" He yelled furiously from beneath the white.

"Can it, Fraser!"

Mac got up again and saw her scrambling for the finish, the crowd roaring. He pushed himself up, spewing snow from mouth and nostrils-

BAM!

-and soon finding himself lying down (once again!) in the snow, a light but considerably tall body pinning him down.

"Woah, dude, we hardly know each other," An annoyingly shrill voice said from above him.

Mac didn't even try to control his arm as it swung his angry fist into Viggo's ugly face. "Get OFFA me!"

He struggled to his feet, but already he could feel the other competitors racing by at high speeds, barely missing him as they entered the finish line. Elise was already there, looking damn proud of herself for finishing first. But Mac also noticed another thing; the crowd had gone from cheering to making a noise he was all too familiar with: laughter. They were laughing. At him. He could feel his face redden and burn with embarrassment and ignored Viggo's protests from the ground.

Mac cursed again, avoiding staring up at the bleachers, and tried desperately to scoot his board forward, willing it to pick up the momentum and get him across the line. The moment took forever, but once he was safely across he flopped down into the snow, willing the coldness to just end his humiliation now.

Elise sighed. 'They always have to take these things so hard.' All of the racers occupied one large tent while they waited the results to be posted. Mac was in one corner, back to the world, removing his feet from snow-filled boots and ignoring every attempt at cheering him up. Viggo was talking to some female spectators near the tent entrance and sporting a black eye, no doubt he was telling them how he had to fend off Mac with his snowboard and crawl over the finish line, despite them having been in the stands watching the whole thing. Elise sighed again.

'Well, Fraser didn't have to be such an idiot; it wasn't my fault he just stood there and let himself get knocked flat by oncoming boarders.' She looked back to her mirror and scooped more snow sludge out of her shirt. Her boobs where freezing.

Suddenly the crowd began cheering again and the competitors knew it was their cue to go look at the scoreboard.

Elise grinned as she saw her name next to first place; she new she'd made it before all the rest, but sometimes the judges could pull some weird technicality if they had a grudge, and she knew that you couldn't expect anything until you saw the board yourself.

Following her was Zoe in second, then Moby. Griff came in fourth, to the child's dismay, and Viggo had swung in for a fifth place trophy.

'Wait a minute...' Elise though, but her thoughts were cut off for the second time that day by a "What the HELL?" from the group of boarders behind her. Everyone was looking at Mac, and she could sense that they were all holding their breaths, seeing what he would do. Would he blow up? He wasn't the most reasonable kid on the circuit. But Mac didn't say anything. He stormed violently to the judge's tent, hands curled into fists.

Barely two minutes had passed before they all heard an explosion of yelling, and then Mac emerged from the tent. He was obviously teeming with anger, his face pale and brow furrowed. He stomped back into the tent, mumbling under his breath.

"Eliminated... unnecessary violence... Up yours..."

Nobody tried to follow him; it was much too dangerous and there was no way somebody would risk their perfectly good noses to Mac's fist.

Mac slunk through the door to the Peak One lodge's back door, hoping that nobody would see him. He couldn't stand another person trying to "cheer him up" or ask "what's wrong?" They knew very well what was wrong, damn it, and he was sick of being pitied when all he wanted was to just go pity himself.

He snuck by the lodge lobby where somebody had set up a large piñata in the shape of a pink snowboard and Elise was about to put a blindfold over her eyes and star whacking with a broken chair leg. Mac let out a depressed sigh and moved down the hallway as quickly as possible.

As soon as he got into his room he began ripping off his snow gear, goggles, sweatshirt and CD player tossed unceremoniously onto the floor. 'I cannot believe that bitch!' Mac thought viciously, kicking off his heavy slush-filled boots. 'I had the win, HAD it, I could have made first with thirty seconds over EVERYONE!' he took off his soggy T-shirt and flopped down on the bed. He shivered but didn't go to turn up the thermostat. Minutes passed and the chill of the room spread over Mac like a morning fog.

His quiet was interrupted by a knock at the door.

Elise moved down the hallway silently, her bare feet making virtually no sound on the soft blue carpet. She had been having fun at her little party; after learning of her win, Nate had wasted no time and gone out to buy her a piñata, and stuffed it full of her favourite candy: Hershey's Kisses. The piñata had originally been a skateboard but the wheels where removed to make it more appropriate for the occasion. Psymon had even provided her a chair leg to start batting at the thing. Nobody would take no for an answer, and she hadn't even been able to change out of her wet boarding clothes.

When Elise got to Mac's room she found the door already open. Without saying anything she peeked inside, and saw the haphazard teenager flop down onto his bed. She could feel the cool air from the room and knew he hadn't remembered to turn on the heater, and offhandedly wondered if he would catch cold.

Elise willed herself to go in… but do what? Apologize? She hadn't done anything wrong… she was just boarding, it wasn't her fault that he had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. It wasn't her fault he couldn't get his ass moving in time. It wasn't her fault that he had lost his temper and punched Viggo, then got kicked from the race for it. None of it was her fault.

So why did she feel so bad?

'Sucks to have a conscience.' She thought bitterly. Opening the door a bit more, she knocked on the wood, hoping he wouldn't respond.

Mac looked up from his bed as if he had expected her standing there ten minutes ago. "What do you want? Come to humiliate me some more?" The contempt oozing from his voice stabbed at Elise.

"No… of course not."

Mac pushed himself out of the bed and stood up in front of her. She looked at his face; his brow furrowed, eyes accusing. Had he taken it so hard? Normally he handled things with wordless cool, no troubles to be seen. It occurred to Elise that he didn't have a shirt on; she felt suddenly uncomfortable.

"Well? What do you want?"

Elise avoided his eyes. "I just came to apologize." She spat out before she could take it back. She looked at him, but he didn't say anything. He just waited. "I didn't mean to land on you, or cost you the race, or anything like that."

Mac stayed silent for a moment longer, then turned around and walked into his room. He grabbed a shirt off the ground and, about to put it on, turned around to tell her to get lost.

Her kiss took him totally by surprise.

'What am I doing?!' Elise thought as she pushed her lips to his, her hands automatically holding down his wrists. 'He's half my age! This can't be legal! He's going to sue me for rape of a minor and I'll get shipped back to Canada and/or get a life sentence!' But her body was blind to her mind's panic as she pushed him against the wall and closed her eyes, releasing his arms and groping his chest and back with her hands.

'His skin is so cold,' Elise thought. 'His lips are cold, too… And he isn't even pushing me away…'

'Could he want it?' She felt her answer as he kissed her back, his chilly hands grabbing her sides.

Mac couldn't help himself as he felt her press him against the wall and push her body against his. All of his negative thoughts disappeared with the shock- then it was just nothing, his mind shutting down and letting his body do all the work. Her wet low-cut top added to his chills and he could feel her breasts push into him, soft and cool. The only part of her that seemed to be warm was her lips. They tasted like chocolate.

She was surprisingly gentle for having initiated a surprise attack, and she left no room for him to take control. He could only grab her sides as she let go of his hands, moving them steadily up to her chest.

'Wait… Kaori… this is wrong.' Jumbled thoughts started flitting through his brain, as if he had been unconscious. 'She… Elise has somebody, too…'

As if reading his mind she pulled back suddenly, backing up from him several feet and leaving him against the wall. She looked scared, then sorry.

"Oh my god I'm so sorry, I am so sorry, Mac…" she seemed frantic as she spewed her jumbled apology, and he fought the urge to take her up in his arms and hold her and tell her it would be alright, like he did so often for Kaori. "I just wanted to apologize, that's all, I swear I didn't mean to do anything… I'm so sorry about everything."

Mac shook his head, not meeting her eyes. He still felt confused; that girl was like a tranquilizer. "Stop, don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault, stop apologizing." His voice had regained its normal composure- no shaking, no bitterness. "Cut it out, man, it wasn't your fault. Just get outta here, go enjoy your party thing."

For a second Elise looked like she would stay, but she nodded and hurried from the room, smoothing out her hair and adjusting her top.

Mac watched silently as she went. Once she was gone he sat straight down on the floor. He sighed; between all the mixed feelings and thoughts jumping around in his tired head, he did know one thing; after all that, he did feel a lot better.