Another chapter, you say? I know, seventh, too.

ENJOY!


As we stroll back to our cabin, I can't stop thinking about Zac and how he expertly saved me earlier. I wonder if he's a good rider . . ? I bet he can skate as well . . . oh, his biceps. . .

I suddenly come to an abrupt halt, stumbling backward a few steps at the impact. My head snaps up, only to see Ty rolling his eyes, moving his arms back to his side. We are standing directly in front of the gate, and I, nearly just walked into it. I blush, "Thanks."

He laughs, looking like he's about to say something. But before I can blink, he pushes through the gate and up the steps. I'm still frowning in confusion when he pauses briefly by the door, looking straight at me, "You are coming in, aren't you?" He smirks, his face arranged in his usual lopsided grin.

I resist the urge to shake my head of my thoughts and instead, I nod, pushing through the gate. He chuckles softly, pulling out a key from the back pocket of his jeans and unlocking the wooden door. Stepping in, he holds it open for me, smiling a little when I roll my eyes. Ever the gentleman.

I wander casually into the living room, landing with an oof on the sofa. An amused smile plays at his lips as he strolls over to the bean bag, landing in its center with a satisfying ompf and a large grin plastered on his face.

"This is so much more comfortable," he states randomly, shifting a little. He wiggles his toes on the carpet, smiling down at them, "This carpet's so soft."

I shoot him a look, questioning his insanity, before adding my own, completely unnecessary fact, "So are giraffes."

He raises an eyebrow incredulously, "When did you stroke a giraffe?" He asks seriously.

"At a zoo. Duh," I answer matter-of-factly, stretching back in my seat.

He nods slowly, his lips twitching again. "Of course," he catches my eye, "how silly of me."

We're silent for a moment, and it's weirdly comfortable. And at some point, I realise I'm still smiling at our absurdity.

"Do you think lamas are soft?" I muse, completely serious.

He frowns in thought, contemplating his answer. "Yes. I mean, they must be. They have fur."

I nod along. "How about bees?"

His brow furrows in thought. "Again, they must be, they have little hairs."

"Hmm..." I acknowledge, trying to keep a straight face. I stare at the fireplace, biting my lip, my mind somehow wandering to the whole disastrous-date situation.

That coffee made me so jittery. . .

Ty's still sitting here, an amused grin playing on his lips as he stares off into space.

. . . What was I thinking?

I groan, frowning at nothing in particular. And then, I randomly cry out: "But you always get stung!"

And for some warped reason, Ty seems to follow my thought processing rather well. "Only if you aggravate them," he reasons. "And it's mainly wasps," he adds as an afterthought, shrugging.

"But what have I ever done to them?!" I question, throwing my hands up in frustration. I have no idea why exactly I'm so annoyed.

"Forced them to make honey, killed them, stuck them in little boxes—"

"Okay, I get the picture," I interrupt, shooting him a look.

He smirks, "It's so sad. . ."

"I love bees," I sigh in a sing-song voice.

"Seriously?" he asks incredulously.

I grin, "It got you to shut up."

He rolls his eyes. "All you had to do was ask," he sings back in an equally irritating smug voice.

"And would you have shut up if I did?" I retort.

His mouth twitches, "No."

I grin.

He smirks.

Ugh!

And suddenly I'm struck with the thought: I don't even like football!

Double ugh!

I groan again, falling back in my seat, only to notice that we're alone. "Where's everyone else?"

Ty shrugs. "They went to grab something to eat."

I nod, my stomach rumbling, "You think they'll bring us something back?"

He shoots me a look as if to say: Well. . . I don't think they're that intelligent.

"Maybe if we call them?" I suggest.

He shrugs again, "It might work."

I push up off the sofa and make a running dive for my phone, grabbing it and landing back on the sofa, all in a matter of seconds.

Now Ty's questioning my sanity.

"You're insane," he states, a smile playing at his lips, obviously having come to a quick conclusion.

"Looks like we have something in common," I retort, smiling smugly to myself as I focus on my phone.

He just grins.

I press dial, selecting loudspeaker before placing it on the arm of the sofa. The dial tone rings for several seconds before Adam's voice crackles through the speaker.

"Hey, Ames," he chimes.

"Hiya, what are you going to get to eat?" I ask, mashing my lips together as I watch Ty curl up on the carpet.

"Well, we were gonna grab pizza?" he replies, his words becoming more of a question than an answer.

"Sounds great," I grin. "Could you grab us some, too?"

"Sure," Adam says, "we'll only be ten minutes."

"Great, thanks," I say happily.

"Yeah, thanks," Ty chimes in from his place on the carpet. He's now rolled into a sitting position, his legs crossed Indian style in the center of the cream carpet. He's laying back casually on his hands, smiling happily at me, his crooked lopsided grin in place.

"Ten minutes," I sigh, lifting myself off the sofa. I pad softly across the living room, pausing at the door, "Come on, we'll need drinks." With a dramatic sigh, he heaves himself to his feet, following obediently behind.

Pinching the rim of two glasses in one hand and stacking two others in the other, I walk carefully down the length of the hallway, calling out to Ty as I do, "Can you grab the coke!?"

I can almost feel him rolling his eyes. "Yes, Madame," he acknowledges sarcastically.

Not long after, the others pour in, dropping into random seats around the living room. Ty and I are sprawled out on the carpet, still in the midst of our debate concerning comfortable seating arrangements. Adam and Soraya are curled up in separate armchairs, slices of pizza held to their open mouths'.

"What time is it?" I ask, curious.

"Half six," Adam replies, disinterested.

"Ohh," I hum, "right."

Soraya suddenly bolts up in her seat, "I just remembered!"

I am quite aware of this fact as I watch a smile curl on her lips, "Sledging!"

Adam's eyes widen in realisation. He grins before turning to us, "A load of people were planning to head over to this slope and go sledging!"

Ty's now smiling, too. "What time?"

"They said they'd meet at around seven," Adam answers, thinking.

I grin, my pizza now forgotten, "Are we going, then?"

Everyone nods, climbing to their feet. "Let's get this cleared up, and we can go," Soraya grins, creating a pile of plates in her hand.

Working together, we're able to clear up in no time at all and quickly make our way to our rooms to change into something a tad warmer.

Sifting through my case, I pull out a long sleeve dark navy tee, pulling on dark blue to jeans to go with it. A glance out the window at the flurries of snow tells me to keep going. I pull on a woollen cream coloured jumper, with a simple dark red heart in the center, wrapping a cream scarf snugly around my neck, pulling a dark red bobble hat over my dark blond hair. To finish it off, I wrap myself up in a red duffel coat. I slip my feet in my dark brown boots, tying them up quickly.

"Ready?" I shoot a glance at Soraya, rising to my feet.

She nods, "Yep, you?"

"Yep," I chime in reply.

"Good, good." She smiles at me, "You look great by the way."

I grin, "Thanks, so do you."

She shrugs, her soft brown curls bouncing off her shoulders, the longer strands swept up in a light gray scarf. She has a dark purple duffel coat on— the style slightly different to mine— dark blue jeans, and a light grey hat. Pulling on her boots, she follows me out the door down the hallway into the living room. We stride in, only to find the boys deep in thought, their heads' resting in their hands'.

"We have a problem," Adam states, sighing.

"We don't exactly have any sledges," Ty speaks up.

In all the time we've spent getting ready and chatting about sledging itself, it has never occurred to any of us that we need a sledge.

"Oh," I say, deflated.

"It's okay!" Soraya chimes happily.

All eyes dart to Soraya, "How?"

"We have sledges," she says, smiling with amusement.

"We do?" Again, in unison.

"Of course, they're in the cupboard." With that she skips down the hallway, yanking open the wooden door. "See?!" she grins.

We go to pull them out, only to find two. Soraya shrugs, "Oh well, we'll just have to share."

"Okay," Ty grins. "Let's go."

It's now five to seven, so we have more than enough time. After scribbling a quick note to our parents' concerning our whereabouts, we trudge our way through the snow in the direction of the gathering at the top of the hill.

We pause, out of breath, as we reach the bottom of the large slope. I grin, "Well, this looks easier than skating."

Well, that's just about jinxed that then.


Oh, no, clumsy Amy sledging? How's that going to work?

Wait and see, my friends, wait and see. ;)

Let me know what you think!

~wildatheart~