Hey guys!
Yup I'm not dead. Really didn't think it was going to take this long but you all know how I am, and I'm sorry. Just a warning, the only couple stuff going on in this chapter is a little bit of Navrina. I PROMISE I'll make it up next chapter!
Reviews:
loricnumbersix6- Hey, thanks for the lovely review! As for your suggestions, I'm only going to say that y'all seem to figure out what I'm going to write before I even write it... although I'm thinking a coma might be a little too serious for the relationships right now. Great idea though and like always, keep them coming! Love to hear what y'all think!
Book lover with no life- Thankyou for the beautiful review! As for the ideas: 1) Eventually Maren will spill her feelings. I love the idea but I kind of already have it planned for a chapter in the future and I won't say much more on that because I don't want to give anything away. 2) Truth or Dare is something I've considered, and I love reading stories like that. I don't think I will be doing it, but since multiple people have now mentioned it, I might be able to meet in the middle and do maybe something like 'Never have a I ever'? Anyway, let me know and thankyou for the ideas, please keep them coming!
Guest- Hi, great question. I was thinking about having some other Garde characters included but way further down the road. If it's something everyone wants now maybe I could put it as a side plot or something? Anyway, like I've said before, this story is for you guys so I want to write what you want to read. So anyone who reads this, let me know about it and I'll see what I can do :) And thanks so much for the review, it means a lot!
Thankyou to everyone else that reviewed! Please know that just because I didn't list your name doesn't mean I didn't read your review or I don't love hearing what you guys think because I do so much. I hope you understand that I usually finish chapters up at around two in the morning so I'm only a little tired. The support from everyone honestly means everything, and thankyou to everyone that reviews and/or reads :)
Anyway, on to the story.
Marina
Getting up early for the second day in a row takes a bit of effort for me. Usually I just wait a couple minutes after my alarm goes off to get up, but today I stay in bed until I hear Riley's second alarm go off from the living room.
I get up and it takes a drowsy trip up and back down the hall for me to remember the location of the bathroom. I usually wouldn't bother with putting my hair up before breakfast but considering there are other people here to witness my unpleasant state, I grab my brush and set to work. Maren comes in halfway through without even knocking, neither of us caring less about what the other could be doing.
"Put a piece of bread in the toaster for me when you go out." She tells me, barely awake.
"We don't have food in here." I yawn, both of us comprehending things in what seems like slow motion. She blinks at me. "We have the meal card, remember? We need to go to the cafeteria in the lodge."
Her eyebrows furrow as she stands there, not doing anything. I honestly don't even know the reason she came in here. "Oh." She says. She stands there for another moment before leaving after accomplishing nothing. I'm ready a few moments later and go to the room to change.
After I'm ready, I head out to the kitchen and living room just as Riley's third alarm goes off. She doesn't even look like she wakes up, turning it off with her eyes still closed. I'm not surprised to see that she hasn't even made an effort to get up yet. Maren is in the kitchen, sipping something out of a mug.
She sees me enter and raises the mug to me like an exhausted toast. "They have coffee." She closes her eyes and takes a long sip. Knowing her, it's probably straight black and tastes similar to rocket fuel. I start to walk over and she nods approvingly. "There's sugar but no cream."
"That's fine." I say immediately. Maren points a cupboard and I open it to find a bunch of mugs. I pour whatever is left in the pot into my mug and put some sugar in it, turning around and leaning on the counter like Maren. I take a sip, cringing at the taste because I usually put cream in mine, and I have a hunch that she makes her coffee stronger than normal people. The second sip is better. "Riley, there's coffee." I call, trying to coax her up.
If it were Maren that was still asleep, I wouldn't even be trying to wake her up, because that girl gets up when she wants and nobody can tell her otherwise. Luckily she usually has the slightest sense of urgency so she gets up at a reasonable time, unlike Riley who prefers to wait as long as possible to get up. The difference is that the latter can usually be persuaded.
"Don't like it." She mumbles, the side of her face pressed into the pillow.
"You had it yesterday."
"Because I..." She sighs, seeming to actually doze off for a moment. "It was out of necessity..."
Maren raises an eyebrow, in an equally terrible mood. They are not a good duo in the mornings. "It's obviously a necessity today too."
Riley doesn't respond, unmoving. By her attitude, you'd think she was a deep sleeper, but she's actually the lightest sleeper out of all of us. Anything that makes a noise wakes her up. Maybe that's why she's so hard to get up.
We wait a few minutes as sounds can be heard going on upstairs; the guys getting ready. We sip our coffee in silence until Riley's alarm blares for the fourth time this morning. Again, she shuts it off without opening an eye. Maren almost growls into her cup so I interject before she can say anything harsh.
"R, you need to get up."
She lets out a quiet groan. She must not have gotten a good sleep last night, because that's the only reason she'd be this hard to get up. Footsteps sound down the stairs.
I try again. "Seriously."
Another sound of protest. Joseph walks -actually almost skips- into the kitchen, his grin far too bright for the morning.
"Well good morning! Who's ready to go-"
Riley lets out a loud groan this time, coupled with burying her face into the pillow. Joseph looks over to the couch, startled. "Stop. Talking." Riley growls, her angry voice muffled by the pillow.
Joseph is silent for a minute, turning toward us with wide eyes as he carefully distances himself from the couch. He stands next to me and leans closer. When he speaks, his voice is a whisper. "Is she possessed or something?"
I chuckle and he grins, obviously not too alarmed. Maren might laugh at that too if it were a different time of day. But she just looks at him right now, eyebrows furrowed and the definition of disheveled. She obviously doesn't care about anyone seeing her bedhead. "Of course you're a morning person." She grunts, putting her focus back on her cup.
Joseph's eyebrows shoot up at the terrible attitudes. "Apparently someone needs to be." He jokes. Nobody responds so I smile at him, not really in the mood for talking. I'm not so much grumpy in the morning, just quiet.
"Oh, do you want some coffee?" I ask him, turning around and looking at the empty pot. "I mean, there's none right now, but you could make some. It's uh-"
He cuts me off with a shake of his head. "Nah, I don't like it. Thanks though." I just nod and take another sip of mine.
I jump a little as Riley's alarm goes off for the fifth time this morning. I look at Maren to find her glaring in that direction. This time I let her say whatever violent assault of words she wants.
"Riley, I'm not listening to that alarm go off all damn morning. Get the fuck up. Now."
"Uh huh."
There's more footsteps and we turn our heads to see John emerge from the hall, already dressed like Joseph and I. He does a double take when he sees Riley still on the couch.
"She's not up yet?" He chuckles. Joseph and I shake our heads, but Maren doesn't look amused.
She downs the rest of her coffee in one gulp before putting her mug in the sink, under the tap. She turns on the cold water. "She's about to be."
John looks confused as Maren fills the cup up, not sure what's going on. But then she turns off the water, picks it up and starts walking toward the couch with purpose, and he finally gets it, his expression settling on shock instead. This must not be a normal occurrence for him.
I smile, taking a mug from the cupboard and offering it to him. "Coffee?"
He looks like he doesn't know what to say, watching Maren stride to the couch with more energy than I've seen from her this morning. She stands in a place where she won't get hit and then, without ceremony or suspense, dumps the whole thing over Riley's head. There's a resulting yelp as Riley jerks away from the site of the trauma, causing her to fall the the carpeted floor with a dull thump. Maren is already walking away, in no mood to watch the reaction that she's now seen close to a dozen times.
Riley groans from the floor, the blanket tangled around her. "I've said it many times before, and I'll say it again. I don't need your help getting up!"
"Turn your alarm off." Maren orders.
"You could have just freaking said that."
Maren puts her mug in the sink and stalks out of the kitchen and into the hall with zero remorse. "Get the fuck up."
"I am. Jeez." With Maren gone, Riley mutters a couple other things that don't sound very pleasant.
John looks at the end result of everything before blinking a couple times and looking back at me. After a moment of deliberation, he says, "Yeah, I'll take a coffee, thanks."
I give him the cup and look back to check on Riley, who's still on the floor, slowly shaking her head back and forth. "Did you hit your head?" I ask, only now concerned.
"No." She grunts. "I have water in my ear."
Joseph can't help himself and laughs as she starts hitting the heel of her hand into her head. "Well shit, I wouldn't want to get on her bad side." He says, grinning. John nods, agreeing.
"That's not even her bad side." I say. John pauses with his task of making coffee and Joseph's eyes widen. I recognize looks of fear on both their faces.
I stifle a smile and look back at Riley, who's decided that the floor is a good place to resume her sleep. I sigh. "R..."
"Yeah. I know, I know..." She replies but it doesn't seem like she's getting up anytime soon.
"We need to leave in ten minutes."
She immediately pushes herself up, getting her bearings in record time. John and Joseph look taken aback by her sudden motivation as she throws the blanket back on the couch and starts toward the bathroom without a word.
"Hey, Riley? Your hair is a little..." John trails off with a slight chuckle as water literally drips from her hair.
Riley shrugs. "Jokes on her. I usually wet my hair before I put it up anyway." She gives a small, smug smile and disappears down the hallway. It's at least a good sign that she started cracking jokes, it means she's slowly accepting the fact she can't sleep any longer.
Not a moment after she's gone, Stanley emerges from the hall. His hair is disheveled and he's in the process of putting on a shirt. I have a feeling Riley saw more than she thought she would on her trip to the room. Stanley looks at us and points backwards with his thumb, where Riley must have went. "What happened to her?"
"Maren." Joseph and John answer at the same time.
Stanley just blinks at the answer, apparently uninterested in any further explanation. "Do I smell coffee?" He asks.
John doesn't answer, instead just taking another cup from the cupboard and filling it up. He passes it to Stanley, who takes a long sip. I notice he drinks it black, just like Maren. I can't imagine she'll be happy about another similarity.
"Wait, we have twenty minutes until the lodge opens." Joseph says, looking at the clock. "Why'd you tell her ten?"
"Well she's up, isn't she?" I reply.
"That's evil." He accuses.
"Not evil." John says, holding up a finger. "Efficient." He corrects, nodding in approval.
"Thank you." I say. He holds out his mug and we clink them together before taking a sip. Stanley narrows his eyes and wags a finger between the two of us.
"What is this? An alliance or something?" He asks, suspicious.
"Yes." John replies immediately. "It includes every sensible person here." He smiles apologetically. "You didn't make the cut."
Stanley huffs into his coffee while John sips his. The former shoots a look at Joseph when he snorts. "I don't know what you're laughing about. If I didn't make the cut then your ass sure as hell didn't."
Joseph just smiles smugly. "Of course I did. Right John?" John takes in a breath but stays silent. Joseph's mouth drops open. "That's so mean! I'm sensible!"
"Sorry dude. The members have already been chosen." John apologizes. "It's me, Marina, Maren and Riley. No room for anybody else."
"You might want to rethink that last one." I advise.
"It's me, Marina and Maren." John corrects. He takes another sip of his coffee.
Joseph scoffs. "That means there's an open spot!"
"Ugh." Stanley groans dramatically. "Take your rejection like a man and come over to the good side." He smirks and Joseph uncertainly leans against the island opposite to me and John.
"That's the best you could come up with? 'The good side'?" John mocks.
"It's better than 'the sensible side'." Stanley defends.
Suddenly Maren comes around the corner, rolling her eyes. "I think you all belong on the stupid side." She mutters. Her dragging feet take her in front of John, who raises an eyebrow when she looks at him flatly. "Coffee. Move. Now." She shoos him away with a wave of her hand and starts making another coffee, her back turned to a grinning Stanley.
"Ah, and I see sleeping beauty has awoken at last. Did you finally recover from that poison apple?" He looks so pleased that I almost feel bad for wanting to laugh.
His words actually make Maren pause her work, her mug empty and coffee pot held in the air, ready to pour. Her eyebrows furrow as if she can't believe what she just heard. Eventually she just shakes her head and continues pouring. "I'm completely convinced you didn't graduate kindergarten."
Stanley's eyebrows furrow, unable to tell what was wrong in his statement. Joseph laughs but is quickly silenced by a well-aimed glare from his friend. Thankfully Riley steps back into the kitchen before things can escalate. Her fully-clothed presence compared to the mess that was asleep on the couch just five minutes ago must be jarring for the guys, because they all just look at her in silence for a moment.
"Now, that's efficient." Stanley says.
Riley's eyebrows furrow. "What?" She asks, confused about how getting ready in just under five minutes isn't normal. She's about to lean on the counter next to Maren but Stanley stops her.
"Nope, you can't go on that side." He grabs her arms and pulls her over to the island, next to him. "The alliances must not associate."
"What?" She repeats.
"You know we're associating literally right now?" Maren points out.
"Only because you just started talking to me." Stanley gives her a 'duh' look and she rolls her eyes, putting her mug down and leaving the kitchen.
"It's too early for this shit."
. . .
"I'm hungry." Maren complains next to me, folding her arms. We're in the cafeteria line, slowly moving forward every few seconds as the cooks serve the few guests in front of us. Although I have to agree with her, because with the scent of breakfast food in the air and the bag on my back, it seems like an eternity.
On the other side of me, Joseph grins. "Well, there's no better place for you to be then!" He replies optimistically.
He gestures proudly toward the cafeteria menu while Maren sends me a not-so-subtle expression that reads 'Is this guy for real right now?'. I shoot her a stern look in return and she rolls her eyes, relenting. Joseph is oblivious.
"There's like fifty people in front of us." Stanley grumbles.
John looks ahead and counts the people in line. "There's seven people in front of us." He corrects patiently. The line moves and we all take a slow step forward. John nudges his friend with his shoulder, smiling smugly. "Now there's six."
Stanley just blinks hard and roughly rubs a hand down his face, as though still trying to wake up. "It better be the best breakfast I've ever had."
As he continues to complain, I feel something tapping my arm repeatedly. I turn to Maren, curious about her new level of alertness. She stops tapping and nods in the direction of the kitchen.
"You see the cook?" She asks.
My eyebrows tug in and I look in the direction. I tilt my head. "The guy with the beard? What-"
She cuts me off with a huff. "No, the other one." I take another look at the second cook in line, short dark hair in a net and smiling as he asks the next person in line what they want. "Look familiar?" Maren presses.
"Yeah actually..." I trail off, trying to figure out the weird sense of familiarity. But then it clicks and my eyes widen. "Wait... that's Trey."
Maren nods. "He cut his hair."
I remember him from grade ten, although he was in grade twelve at the time. He was the quite the rebel, always smoking, rumoured drug dealer and the king of skipping class. He hardly ever went to school and when he did he'd have a detention slip in less than an hour, which he would also skip out of. He was the classic bad boy, the type of guy you really would not want to get involved with.
He was also Riley's boyfriend.
"What's he doing here?" I ask, my voice suddenly way quieter as the situation becomes strangely more secretive.
"You think I know?" Maren replies.
"What are we going to do?" I ask instead.
Maren sighs, shaking her head and seemingly just as much at a loss as I am. "I don't know, maybe we should tell her."
"Maybe." I agree, but doubt wedges into the back of my mind. "Would she want to know though? Would it just stress her out?"
Suddenly Joseph leans over, talking just as quietly. "It seems like you guys are talking really secretly and stuff, so I don't know if it makes a difference or not but Riley is coming this way."
Maren and I immediately spin around extremely obviously to see Riley walking toward us on the way back from getting the lift tickets. Thankfully, she's too busy looking down at the stuff in her hands to notice our very suspicious movement. We quickly attempt to look casual as she looks up, readjusting the bag on her back that's bigger than mine since she has her snowboarding gear in it. Her and Stanley's snowboards are already outside on the racks.
"So I got the lift passes." She says as she joins the rest of us. She yawns as she looks down at the stickers, still suffering with the early hour. "Gets us around the whole mountain."
She looks up at the menu displayed over the kitchen, blinking a couple a times to read it. I hope she's too tired to notice the familiar face, or I hope he's changed too much for her to recognize him. But then I remember that while he may look different, Riley looks almost the exact same as she did in grade ten. Surely he'll recognize her if he sees her.
"You should go get a table, R." Maren suggests, probably sharing my thoughts. "In case it fills up fast." She adds.
Riley makes a point to look at the now four people ahead of us and raises a tired eyebrow. "There's like a hundred tables, Maren."
"No, I think you should go get one." Stanley yawns, and I'm too relieved he's unknowingly helping us out to comment of him and Maren's agreeing on something. "Then you can take our stuff over. My bag is killing me."
Riley snorts. "Aren't you supposed to be super strong or something?"
"Yeah, but I'm also super tired." He holds out his bag, bigger like Riley's, and she sighs, but takes it.
"Oh here, take mine too." Maren says, passing it too her. Soon she's loaded down with everyone's bags, barely balancing them in her arms.
"Get me a sandwich or something." She says as she walks away.
Maren nods even though Riley can't see it, before shooting me a relieved look. I don't really think it'll be too horrible if she finds out, but she's supposed to be having fun here, and no matter how she feels, seeing an ex-boyfriend is going to complicate that.
"Thanks by the way, Joseph." Maren says, nodding in approval. Even if he doesn't know the actual purpose of his warning, he smiles in pride at the recognition from the usually neutral girl.
I'm a little nervous as we approach the front of the line, and it's kind of ridiculous because it shouldn't matter to me if he recognizes me or not. He's only hung out with us a couple of times anyway. Maren goes in front of me and he seems like he's studying her as she approaches. She orders two breakfast sandwiches.
"Do I know you from somewhere?" He asks her, trying to figure her out. His voice is low and a little rough, but some girls like that. Riley definitely did.
"Don't think so." Maren replies, looking right at him, as though daring him to remember.
"Oh." He says, looking away from the harsh look to finish the sandwich. "You just look really familiar." Maren just shrugs, so he looks at me instead. "You do too." His eyebrows furrow and he shakes his head. "Sorry, it's just... weird."
I smile at him and he seems relieved at the different reaction. "Don't worry about it." I tell him. I don't know why I'm being nice to him. He was a huge asshole when he was in school, but I'm just getting a different feeling from him now. He's right. It is weird.
He hands Maren the second sandwich and looks at me with a friendly smile. "Alright, what'll it be for you, darlin?"
I tell him my order and try not to laugh when I think of what Maren's reaction would be if he called her that. He hands me my food and asks Joseph what he wants. I get a drink and then use the meal card we were given to pay for it. Maren immediately goes to the table but I wait for Joseph, I watch him smile as he pays for his stuff, but the smile fades when he turns around, looking over his shoulder at the used-to-be rebel.
"Did you hear that?" He asks, his voice sour. He puts on a low voice. "What'll it be for you, darlin?" He shakes his head, apparently disgusted.
I hold back a laugh. "He was being nice."
Joseph scoffs. "He called you darling. He can't do that. I don't even do that." He huffs. I look sideways at him with an arched eyebrow. "What?"
I finally laugh and shake my head. "Oh nothing, darling." I smile at him and he huffs again, walking slightly in front of me as he initiates the hunt for whatever table Riley chose for us.
"Whatever." He says. "I'm allowed to be a little protective, okay? Especially when he was definitely trying to flirt with you."
"He was being nice." I repeat.
"Oh yeah? Well if nice is what you want, I can create a lot things to call you that are more creative than darlin." He gets a step in front of me and starts walking backwards, his eyes suddenly teasing and playful when compared to his sour mood just seconds ago. It must take a special type of person to cheer up that fast. Although I have a feeling he was never actually as upset as he was letting on.
"Please, enlighten me." I say dramatically, keeping an eye out for anything behind him that may pose a threat to his smooth walking.
He grins properly, and it's then that I know I'll just love whatever he comes up with. "Well, for starters there's Kitten, Pumpkin, Snookums, Honey..." he smirks. "Sweet cheeks."
I almost choke at the final name, but I thankfully manage to get my surprised state to form some coherent words. "Definitely not the last one." I say, heat creeping into my face.
He's too used to this reaction to tease me anymore about it, instead giving me a disappointed pout as he comes back to my side, walking forward now. "You didn't like it? I thought that one was the best." He huffs in mock offence. I can't keep in a smile because it looks like it takes so much effort for him to look anything but cheerful. "Which one do you want out of the rest then?" He asks.
"Oh, I don't know, there's so many good options."
"The choice is yours, Your Majesty."
I sigh, pretending to be in deep thought. "I think 'Sea Girl' is just Fine." I decide. An expression of genuine pride beams on his face, and seeing it makes me glad I said what I did.
"You sure you don't want to be called darling?" He teases.
"Very sure."
He grins and puts an arm over my shoulders, quickly leaning down to kiss the top of my head. "Well, the Queen has spoken."
When we find the table, it's easy to decide where to sit because it seems everyone has automatically fallen into the same seating positions that we have in school. Joseph takes a seat next to John and I sit next to him, as usual. Nobody is talking but I don't mind. It's still only eight o'clock, so I don't know if I'd feel like talking even if anyone had anything to say.
"So, is learning to snowboard hard, Riley?" Joseph quickly breaks the peaceful silence, apparently not feeling the same as the rest of us.
Stanley looks up after just taking a bite from his sandwich. "Why did you just ask her? I snowboard too."
"I want an honest answer, not a cocky one." Joseph replies.
Stanley looks offended and if it wasn't so early, Riley might laugh. Instead she just smiles a little. "It's really not that hard. It's just unnatural at first." She says with a shrug. "But I don't know if you should trust me because I haven't been snowboarding since..." She appears to think about it.
"Since you were eleven?" Stanley asks.
"Ten, actually." She replies matter-of-factly.
He rolls his eyes. "Like a year makes a difference."
"It makes a big difference because you're wrong." She stuffs her sandwich into her mouth while Stanley looks almost incredulous at her mood. On the other side of her, Maren almost smiles.
Joseph doesn't break the silence anymore.
. . .
You know, it's funny. I've always liked winter. Everything about it just seemed right. The chill in the air never seemed to bother me as much as it did everyone else, nights are dark and quiet like they should be, and nobody can deny the tranquility that comes with a few inches of freshly fallen snow.
Now, as I stare down the shallow slope of the bunny hill for the eleventh time, I'm having trouble convincing myself why this was ever my favourite season.
My first problem; the snow. You see, when I first thought of this, I had only agreed because I imagined that falling on snow would be much better than falling on any other surface. Sadly, freshly fallen snow isn't ideal skiing conditions, so the snow I am going over has been painstakingly groomed and packed down into what feels like the same consistency as a paved road. It's super fun to wipe out on for the fifteenth time.
My second problem; skiing is hard.
I swear, John is doing to best he can to teach me, but for some reason it seems I'm having a hard time catching on. At first, he assured me that it was just like skating but with really long skates. After that analogy failed to yield any success, he just told me to try my best, and gave up on attempting to relate it to things I already know how to do. I started to look at skiing as an entirely new skill. But God, it's been a hell of a lot harder than I thought.
"Ready?" John stands beside me on his own rented skis. He always waits until I'm ready to go by myself and is an extremely patient teacher. I feel sorry for him that I'm such a sucky student, but he keeps insisting that he doesn't mind teaching me.
"Never been more ready in my life." I reply, trying to replace my fear with determination, but finding tiredness and the urge to give up most prevalent. "Just... give me a minute."
John chuckles. "Remember What I told you. Keep your skis in a triangle shape to go slow and put weight on one foot to turn-"
"And try to zig zag down the hill to control my speed." I finish his words and he grins.
"See? You're practically an expert already."
I snort and shake my head, dreading the trip down. I've fallen every time so far. "Alright, lets go." I sigh.
"That's the spirit." John encourages. It does nothing to make my confidence better but at least he's still trying.
I start off unsteadily, my skis in a triangle shape like they always are. It's to help me go slow John says, but he also says the zig zag pattern he's making me do is to control my speed so I wonder if I can just cut one option out and get better results. I doubt it.
John follows behind me in case I fall, easily keeping up with my shaky pace. He doesn't do the triangle with his skis, instead just turning them to the side to slow down like you would on ice skates. He told me it took him a while to learn to do that, so I think it's safe to say I'm stuck with the triangle for the extent of the trip. It surprisingly seems to be working for me this time down the hill. Little kids whip past me every now and then, looking like they should have long since graduated from the bunny hill, but I try not to pay attention to them and keep my focus solely of triangles and zig zags.
I almost want to cry when I reach the bottom without falling. I stop and take a breath because I'm pretty sure I was holding it the entire time. John easily stops himself right next to me, grinning harder than me and holding up his hand for a high five. Our poles clang together when we do it.
"I think I'm gonna take a break when we get back up." I tell him as we make our way to what is called 'the magic carpet'. It's basically just a long rubber walkway but it moves, so all you need to do is stand on it to take you to the top of the bunny hill.
"You deserve it, that was a good run." He agrees. "Who knows, you might even be ready for the big girl hill after lunch." He teases.
I give him a look that he probably can't see through my goggles, but he laughs anyway. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves." I put the front of my skis onto the rubber thing and it pulls the rest of me on, starting the short trip up the hill.
The hardest part about the magic carpet is getting off, so I'm proud when I manage to do it without too much trouble. I take off my skis with a little struggle when I get near a bench and immediately take a seat next to Stanley, who's doing something on his phone, one foot rested on his snowboard.
"I saw that run, good job." He says, nodding.
I've learned that Stanley really isn't a bad guy most of the time. Aside from a few petty ideals and the player attitude, he's nice. I think he's just one of those people that need to grow on you. "Like mold", Maren had said flatly when I proposed the idea to her. And after that I decided to keep any other ideas to myself, because in truth, they're both people who need to grow on you and I really don't think that anything I say will make them grow any faster.
He looks down at my unattached skis and then back at me, seeming to draw a conclusion. "Taking a break?" He asks.
"Yup." I stretch my legs in front on me, my heels falling heavily into the packed snow. Honestly, ski boots are the most uncomfortable things I've ever put on my feet, so I'm grateful to take the pressure off. "When are you actually going to use that snowboard?" I ask him.
He shrugs. "When I get on a real hill."
I roll my eyes only a little. Ever since we've been up here Stanley has refused to even strap the thing on his feet, as though his reputation will be ruined if anybody sees him taking a practice run of the kid's hill.
Riley hasn't put her snowboard on yet either though, but she could care less about pride. Between helping both Maren and Joseph learn to snowboard, she's hardly had enough time to go on a run herself. Instead, she mostly walks down the hill backwards, holding onto the hands as they learn to make stops and steer. Of course, she can only teach one person at a time, so the job has her running back and forth between the two. Thankfully it looks like snowboarding boots are more comfortable than ski boots.
She's helping Maren right now, telling her instructions as she kind of jogs backwards down the hill, holding her hands to help with balance. She nods once and then let's go, quickly stepping away to let Maren maneuver by herself. She's actually picked it up quite fast, which isn't really surprising coming from Maren. She goes confidently but slowly for a minute before Riley tells her to stop, then she sits down in the snow. I envy that ability, because if I sit down with skis on, I'll need at least one other person to help me up. It's been John's job so far, although Riley had to help out once too. Not my proudest moment.
Riley cheers for her and begins to jog up the hill a little bit to start down with Joseph. She kind of moves them in small incrimants so it's easier to go back and forth, but it still must be pretty taxing.
"Alright." She pants when gets to Joseph, holding her hands out with a grin to help him up. She helps pull him up and takes a few moments to get her breath back before talking again. "So do you want to try on your own?"
He doesn't even think about it before shaking his head. "I don't think I'm ready yet." He says apologetically.
She nods, smiling reassuringly even though it's easy to see how tired she is. She may not have any energy left to snowboard by the time she's done teaching them. "That's okay." She grabs his hands and starts doing the jogging backwards thing again. They do the same zig zag pattern.
"Hey, Pierce!" Stanley calls. She's not the far away since she's just started taking them down so she hears him immediately and looks up while still trying to focus on Joseph. "When do you think you'll be ready to go up?"
This is probably the tenth time he's asked her when she'll be ready to up to the actual mountain. Every other time she's responded with a 'not yet' or 'maybe soon', but she must be too tired to care about politeness at this point.
"Well, maybe if I had some help this would go faster." She says pointedly.
I watch him have a short debate in his head until he stands up and marches down the hill with a purpose. He makes a straight path toward where Maren is sitting in the snow. She barely has time to glance behind her before he lifts her upright without so much as a warning.
"Come on, Sweetheart. Let's do this." He says, holding up his hands to her.
"Yeah, no fucking way."
I notice a few parents look her way at her words, but she doesn't care. She attempts to cross her arms but isn't exactly that balanced so she ends up grabbing one of his hands instead. He smirks.
"There you go. I think if we just work together we can accomplish beautiful things. What do you say?"
"No."
He grabs her other hand. "I think you mean yes."
"No, I mean-"
He gives her a tug before she can finish and the end of the sentence gets expelled in a curse word. I hear him saying things to her in an obnoxiously soothing tone but I don't manage to catch anything she says back. Judging by Stanley's laughs every few seconds, it's nothing family friendly.
At least Riley can now get a break, only having to go downhill now instead of circling back up in small increments. Eventually she switches Joseph around so he's facing backwards and she can actually see where she's going over his shoulder. That must mean he's improving because Maren graduated to that stage a while ago and now is going down the hill almost completely independently, making Stanley's job incredibly easy.
I'm still sitting on the little bench at the top of the hill when everybody steps off the magic carpet after their run down the hill. John is with them since I insisted I would be fine up here by myself while he went down. Everybody slides off the thing except for Stanley and Riley, who look strange stepping off it like an escalator.
"You're still taking a break?" Maren calls as she scoots her way over, looking weirdly comfortable on her snowboard already.
"Don't judge." Riley says, starting a trudge over. "Some of us are tired." She drops heavily into the spot next to me, sighing. "I never want to run up another hill for the rest of my life."
"I never want to go down another hill for the rest of my life." I retort.
"Aw, poor thing." She laughs, nudging me with her shoulder. "You're doing so good though. Who knew you had a secret skiing talent all these years?"
"I don't think talent is the right word for it." I chuckle, marking lines in the snow with the heels of my boots.
There's a settling weight on the other side of me and I turn to see Stanley. "Whew, that was a bit tiring." He stretches his feet out in front of them as though taking a load off. I hear Riley take in a breath like she's about to say something, but then she just decides to hold it for a moment instead.
Maren slides in front of the bench and roughly drops to the ground. "Somebody tell me the time." She demands while Joseph awkwardly hops around her to sit on the other side, much more gingerly. John is the only one who stays standing, leaning on his poles on the other side of Stanley.
Riley reaches inside her already un-zippered -very bright- coat, taking her phone from an inside pocket and pressing the power button. "Twelve forty two." She announces.
Stanley grins and claps his gloved hands together. "Just in time for lunch."
"You never got to go up on the trails yet, did you?" John asks.
Stanley's smile disappears. "Nope."
"Well we can all go up after lunch." Joseph suggests. Without knowing it, my head snaps toward him. Everyone else nods along but I'm not feeling so confident.
"Don't worry, Mar. You were doing really good just then." Maren assures, probably expecting the reaction.
"That was the only time I didn't fall." I retort.
"See? You're doing great! Definitely ready for the next step." Riley says enthusiastically. When she notices I'm still not convinced she tones it down a little. "Look, there's a really easy trail up there. It only gets steeper than this hill a couple times. You should be able to do it no problem."
John nods. "I think you'll be fine, if that helps." I don't tell him that it really doesn't help at all, instead nodding. Besides, I probably won't ever be ready in my opinion so I have to do it sometime.
"Great! Let's get lunch!" Stanley exclaims. Food seems like enough motivation for him to snowboard down the hill, because he reaches down and starts doing up the straps as Riley stands to grab her own snowboard. They're the only two that didn't rent all their equipment, not including John, who had his own helmet and goggles but rented his skis.
"Ready to show us how it's done?" Maren teases as Riley straps her snowboard on.
Riley laughs, not sounding confident. "I'm going to fall."
"What do you mean?" I ask. "Aren't you like, really good at this?"
She shrugs as she stands back up. "Well, I was. But I haven't done this in seven years." She gestures to Maren. "You're probably better than me right now."
Maren snorts. "I doubt it."
"Besides, isn't it like riding a bike or something?" I jump in.
Riley just shrugs again, apparently unconcerned. "I guess we'll find out."
We all turn as Stanley lets out a loud groan. Wen he gets the attention of everyone, he gestures down the hill angrily. "Come on. Are we gonna eat or not?"
"Are you really that hungry?" John asks.
"You don't come between a man and his food, Johnny." Stanley replies, deathly serious. John looks concerned.
Nobody argues with that.
. . .
"Alright, Mar. Just remember that it's perfectly safe."
"Yup."
"You're going to be fine."
"For sure."
"And nothing bad is going to happen."
"Definitely."
I stare at the chair lift in front of me with determination. Some time in the next few minutes, I will be trusting the huge hunk of metal to somehow drag me to the summit of the mountain by the power of mechanics alone. But it's fine. I trust it completely. I trust it like I would trust my own mind. Because I've been assured by multiple people, multiple times that nothing bad has, ever, or will happen involving this contraption of steel pulleys and cushions. I will be fine, and I am sure of it.
With a new confidence, I gaze at the slow moving chairs disappearing over the top of the mountain, and I nod. "Yup, I'm not going."
"Marina-"
"Nope, it's not happening. I'm supposed to trust that rusty piece of junk to get me and a hundred other people to the top of a two thousand foot mountain without killing itself? I think not."
I think I see Maren smile in front of me and Riley presses her lips together. "Actually, it's two thousand one hundred-"
"I don't care! I'm not doing it." I twist my head from side to side, trying to find a clear path out.
"Marina." Joseph tries again, trying to comfort me from his place ahead of me. "It's going to be fine."
"Yeah, that's what everyone thinks before it's not fine." I cross my arms and glare up at the hill stubbornly. When I see Joseph's amused smile, I try to calm down, taking a deep breath. "I know, I'm sorry. It's just..." I trail off, feeling like an idiot.
"It's scary." Joseph fills in.
"It's really high up." I correct, even though we both know he's right. Stanley tugs his arm and he scoots forward as the line moves ahead, causing me to progress too, along with my nerves.
"Well, it's not that high." Riley jumps in. She's right beside me since we decided on three to a chair. She is the unlucky person that ended up with the job of consoling me in all my terrified glory for the entire ride up the hill. "I know it looks like it, but really, we probably won't even be more than thirty feet off the ground at any point." She says. I nod, trying to take comfort in her words, but something in my mind gets stuck on the word 'probably'.
The line moves again and Joseph, Maren and Stanley slide up to get ready to move to the next chair. Joseph turns and smiles at me. "I'll see you at the top." They move up to the stop line and I watch as the chair comes around the turn slowly, bouncing when the three of them sit on it.
"Alright, let's go." John says.
I don't exactly want to go, but I move forward anyway for the sake of not causing a scene. After a clumsy progression to the stop line from me, I anxiously look over my shoulder at the slowly approaching chair.
"You know it's not going to come any faster if you look at it, right?" Riley teases.
I sigh and give her a look. "Shut-" My words end in almost a yelp as the chair hits the back of my knees, sending me sitting down much faster and less graceful than I had hoped. Suddenly the snow disappears from under my skis and the ground moves farther away. I scoot back as far as I can go as I watch the distance slowly get larger as the lift takes us higher.
"See? That wasn't so hard." Riley encourages. I don't say anything, just staring down at the ground that's too far below me and wishing the lift would reverse.
"It seems a lot higher from up here." I say.
"Well, don't look down then." John suggests. I take his advice and look up, but seeing how far we have left to go does next to nothing to ease my nerves.
"Just close your eyes, Mar." Riley says. I don't need to be told twice, although the swaying of the chair and the creaking of metal makes it impossible for me to imagine I'm still on the ground. Not to mention that the weight of my dangling skis feels like it's going to pull me off the chair, despite the rail that has been pulled down in front of me.
"She has a thing with heights." I hear Riley explain to John, although I suspect he's probably picked up on that by now. I hear rustling and when the chair jolts a little stronger than normal, I assume that Riley is adjusting her position. There's a few moments of frigid silence. "I mean, when you think about it, there's really nothing to worry about." Riley tries.
"There are a million things to worry about." I argue.
"Well don't think about them." She says.
"It's not that easy."
"It really is. Just... I don't know try opening your eyes again."
I'm immediately sceptical but I force my eyes open again, the height and the strengthening breeze playing an equal part in making me want to close them again. They widen instead when I see the ground below. "Oh my God we're up higher now."
"Yeah, but Just look at all the people down there. They all came up on this and they're fine." Riley says gently.
I watch the people on the hill, now small from my perspective, weave around under the chairs on the lift, completely ignoring the swinging seats of steel hanging just above them.
"We could land on them." I voice my first thought.
"Okay, that's not where I was going with-"
"If we fall we're going to land on them and then we'll all die."
"Maybe opening your eyes wasn't the best idea. I think we just really need to calm-"
"I'm going to die." I affirm the statement with a nod. "Yup. This is how I die." I do a quick gesture that was taught to me from a young age, not really thinking about it. For a moment, only the sound of the breeze and metal creaking breaks the silence.
"Did you actually just bless yourself?" Riley asks in amused disbelief.
"Well there's not much left to do. We're already on this stupid thing so it's out of my hands." I hold up my palms to emphasize my point before crossing my arms and closing my eyes again, because this whole vision nonsense is not helping matters.
Riley starts laughing and I hear John chuckle too. I had almost forgotten he was here too, acting as a bystander to my panicked anger. Poor guy.
"No offence, Mar, but God can't help you if we start falling." Riley says. I feel her shrug against my shoulder. "Gravity might."
"Thanks. I feel much better now." I mutter sarcastically.
I feel kind of bad because even with my eyes closed I know the uncertain expression on her face. She's not bad at dealing with other people's emotions, but panic is a different story, and since she now knows jokes won't work, I can tell she doesn't know what else to say. She knew I was going to be this way though. She could have been the one on the other chair, teaching Maren and Joseph how to get off the lift and sending Stanley back with John and I, but she insisted. I can't tell if she regrets her decision now, but she's apparently not giving up.
"Okay uh, just... um- oh!" I open my eyes as she tries to snap her fingers, but her gloves prevent the sound. "Let's think about facts! Yeah, it's like the only thing I'm good at, this is good. Just think about, uh... think about this things' success rate and the metal cable and the w- not the weight capacity." Her eyes widen and she shakes her head. "Nope, definitely don't think about that, that was stupid. How about we don't think about the ski lift. Think about snow or trees or- or just think about winter and vacations and I'm running out of things to say, is any of this- why are your eyes open?"
Her furrowed eyebrows of thought suddenly shoot up as she stops. She still looks uncertain and a little panicked and suddenly it's funny, because now she's the one who needs help.
"R, I think you need to calm down." I say. She looks at me for a moment, expression unchanging. Then she looks away and makes a sound that's halfway between a laugh and a scoff.
"Right. You're over here convinced that our last hope lies in the Holy Father, but I'm obviously the one who needs to calm down."
I hold back a laugh. "You know, you're pretty bad at this whole comforting thing, right?"
"Yes, I know. You know." She looks at John around me, who smiles sheepishly in agreement, and makes a wild gesture at him. "He knows. We all know. But guess who's not panicked anymore?" My face clears as I realize she right. She points at John urgently. "Hey, quick! Teach her how to get off the lift before she comes back to her senses."
John chuckles before beginning an unnecessarily elaborate instruction on how to get off the lift when the time comes. All the while I can feel fear pumping back into me as I catch glimpses of the ground that's much too far away. Getting off the lift doesn't stress me out nearly as much as the distance to the hard packed snow below. John stops talking when there is nothing else he could possibly say on the subject, giving me plenty of opportunity to amplify my panic by looking up the mountain and seeing the distance we have left to go.
"How much longer?" I ask.
"We're about a quarter there right now." John replies.
"Only a quarter? But we've been on here for like-"
"Three minutes." Riley says patiently.
I nod and try to keep my eyes focused straight ahead, but find them drifting down anyway. My eyes catch a patch of trees instead of a ski trail. I nod again, settling my back against the seat and closing my eyes once more.
"Yup. This is definitely how I die."
"Oh, not again!"
. . .
Riley lied. She said this trail should be no trouble for me, but the muscles in my thighs are obviously having a completely different opinion. I'm convinced they've somehow caught fire and are actually burning beneath my skin. Who would have known skiing would be so strenuous? Okay, maybe a lot of people. Still, despite how obvious it is, I would have liked to be told.
I breath hard as I come to a shaky stop on a relatively flat part of the trail. John, who decided to be at the front of our little teaching group, chuckles a little, looking unbothered. Of course he is. Not only does he have more experience with this sport, all the other sports he plays must keep him in great shape. I suddenly regret not branching out to other areas of exercise as of late.
Joseph and Stanley come next, Stanley being Joseph's supervisor like John is kind of mine. Maren is last since we discovered early that she needs to have people in front of her to slow her pace. If not, she'll just leave the rest of us behind. She advanced unsurprisingly fast.
Joseph, Maren and Stanley all drop down on the snow once they reach us, taking advantage of their ability to sit down and get back up easily. Riley stops next to Maren and pats the top of her helmet a couple times, for encouragement I'm guessing. Not that she needs any.
"This stuff is pretty tiring, isn't it?" Joseph says eventually, leaning forward with his elbows rested on his knees. I'm happy at least that somebody else is sharing my struggle, even if it's not completely the same. Maren shrugs at his statement and he scoffs. "Of course you're not tired. You're like, invincible or something."
Maren doesn't reply, although I'm 99% sure the expression beneath her goggles in an arched eyebrow. She doesn't really know how to respond when people call her out on stuff, mostly because people just don't. Joseph doesn't seem to notice anything though, just sighing tiredly after, but grinning anyway. As much as he's complaining, it's obvious that he's having a good time.
"Well we should get going again. We're not even halfway there yet." John says.
Seriously? Not even halfway? My mind repeats bitterly as we start to move again. But honestly, as much as I can complain about the pain in my legs, or my apparent inability to balance, this is actually fun. It's nice learning something new and it feels good to actually be decent at it. Plus, the silence in the frigid air broken only by the sounds of scraping snow is pretty calming. Maybe I would even call this skiing thing relaxing.
John goes in front of me since he has to set a reasonable pace. It also helps because I try to follow his path and it makes it easier for me to know where to go. Eventually I get back into the rhythm of going back and forth, kind of just doing it automatically as I'm actually able to take in everything around me for the first time. I didn't really notice it when I was on the lift -because I was focused on not dying-, but the trees are huge here. It's a weird thing to note when I should probably be focusing on the height of the mountain or the huge snow drifts, but they're seriously massive. The huge pines tower over me with height I'm unaccustomed to. Big piles of snow weigh down their branches, but it doesn't fall, hanging on by what seems to be the power of tranquility alone. As I crane my neck to try and find the top of the things, I make a mental note to ask Riley about the reason for the height of the trees later. She'd probably know.
And then suddenly, just as I was thinking about the peacefulness of it all, a hiccup in the snow interrupts my progress. I'm not sure what happens, but one ski goes one way and the other ski goes the opposite way. Things happen quickly after that.
I twist my right foot to line the ski up with my left. I look up as I begin to go straight. Straight down the steep ledge of the trail, which happens to be filled with fresh snow, but also filled with bushes and small trees. I don't even have time to chide myself for my inattention before my ski gets hooked on something.
I think I fall, but I'm not exactly sure. All I know is that by the time my tumbling comes to a stop, there's snow in my jacket and a pain in my knee. I prop myself up on an elbow and look at my skis, which have somehow become tangled in a menacing looking bush. Oh well, the jagged branches stopped my descent so I can't complain. But then pain stabs my leg, and I realize I can complain.
"Shit." I mutter, cringing as I try pull it out, but quickly give up on trying to find a way out of this mess.
"Mar? Are you okay?" Riley's voice calls out from the top of the drop off, which really isn't that far above me. I guess it feels longer when you're tumbling down. Instead of responding, I stick up my hand with a thumbs up. "I'll come down there, just wait a sec." I huff out a sigh, partially relieved that she'll be the one to deal with me, and not John or Stanley. That would be embarrassing.
"No don't worry, I'll get her." Stanley's voice makes me cringe again. I really hope she'll argue with him about it.
"I can-"
"Leave it to me. It looks like Maren needs a little help anyway."
I hear the scraping snow of someone leaving the scene, and when I look up and see the huge figure of Stanley unstrapping his board, I would rather just stay here until they all leave. I'm not really in the mood to be made fun of right now.
I watch him step out of his board and stick it into the soft snow of the edge of the trail, the snow I'm currently sunk into. "Need some help there, Princess?" He asks. Snow rolls from the top of the drop off as his feet sink into the stuff on his way down, and I look away, trying to deal with some of the issue before her gets here. He'll surely have a few words to say about my predicament.
Sadly, he makes fast progress, lifting up his goggles and lodging them on his hat since he refused to wear a helmet. He pulls the scarf away from his mouth and takes a look at the mess I've gotten myself in. Here it comes, I think, preparing myself for the teasing.
"We should get these skis off." Is all he says, kneeling down and reaching through the bush to the locking mechanisms by the heels on my boots. The first one pops open with a one-handed squeeze, which is only a little impressive considering it usually takes my full body weight on my pole to get my feet out. "Are you okay?" He asks as he reaches for the second ski.
"Yeah. It was kind of a soft landing." I joke. Stanley smiles and strangely, nearly all signs of arrogance is gone. He unclips my second ski and I'm able to pull my boots from the tangle of branches with little resistance.
"I wasn't talking about the landing." He says. He points to my leg, the one that's now throbbing a little. "Looked Like you might have twisted that knee when you fell."
I just shrug. "It's not too bad." I say, and it's the truth. I used to fall all the time in skating, and ice is much less forgiving than the soft snow I'm laying in now. This isn't near the worst injury I've ever gotten.
I look up at him and he nods, trusting me to know my limits. He holds out a hand and I grab it, letting him pull me to my feet. The boots make it hard to balance and I stumble back a step, but he catches me. When he doesn't say a word as he grabs my skis, I decide to speak up.
"You can laugh if you want."
He just grins and looks at me, and for a second I think he'll take the offer. But then he just takes my skis in one hand and shakes his head. "Come on, Princess. I wouldn't do that." He insists lightheartedly. "Only a weak man would laugh at a lady in need."
"I'm not in need." I retort, hiding my surprise at his genuine kindness right now. Laughing and joking would be something I expected from Stanley Worthington, certainly not helping me without judgment.
I try to take a step up the slope, but the angle and the stiff boots make it almost impossible for me to gain traction on the soft ground. Stanley's free arm comes around my back and to my shock, he half-lifts me, making the climb much easier. He smirks. "Face it babe. I'm practically your knight in shining armour."
Despite his teasing, I can't help but laugh a little, even as my foots slips and he has to balance me again. "You're a nice guy, you know." I tell him genuinely. His only response is a sound in the back of his throat. I guess he doesn't like being called out either.
He helps me put my skis back on once we get back on the trail, actually having to go back down into the snow to fish my poles out from wherever they landed. The rest of our group wait ahead, looking back to see the progress. Riley waves when she sees I'm alright. I roll my eyes when Joseph blows me a kiss.
"Are you alright? Joseph asks when Stanley and I get over to where they've congregated on the side of the trail. "I mean, it was pretty weird. You were in front of me and I look away for one second and you're gone. It's like you teleported or something."
I snort. "Yeah, I teleported myself into a bush. How very smart of me."
He puts his hands up, "Hey, it was just an observation. Jeez."
"I know." I chuckle and I just know he's grinning, even though I can't see his mouth under the scarf. "Now lets get off this stupid hill before I slide away and die."
"You know we're coming up again, right?" Riley says.
I sigh a little dramatically. "I know. I just really need the motivation."
"Oh, well in that case..."
"R, if you push me I will hit you with my pole."
"You wouldn't- ow! Okay!"
. . .
The warm air of the rental place causes me to pull down my scarf as soon as I walk in, lodging a now steamed-up pair of goggles on the top of my helmet. I make a straight path to the bench, where I drop down onto it with so much force I fear it may crack. It holds, thankfully. Because after falling five times after two more runs down the hill, I'm not in the mood to have to pick myself up again.
Joseph sits next to me, dropping down just as heavily. Without thinking about it, I lean against him and let a breath out. He looks down at me for moment before chuckling and putting an around my shoulders, taking more strain out of my muscles as he squeezes me just a little tighter.
Everyone else takes whatever benches we had when we came in. It's easier this way because we put our stuff in shelves under the bench since we didn't want to waste money on a locker. I just stare numbly at the rental desk a few feet away from me, where the guy who handles the rentals picks through a big pile of skis and snowboards, everyone dropping off their stuff after finishing the day. He's going to be here for a while after we leave.
I stick out my legs in front of the bench, the heels of my boots falling heavily to the ground and water from melted snow steadily dripping onto the carpeted floor. "I need to get these off. Like, immediately."
"Well I can't help you there." Joseph says, letting go of me as I sit up. "Mine have laces." He adds proudly.
"And you tied them all by yourself?" I feign astonishment and he wrinkles his nose at me before looking at the floor.
"The rental guy actually helped me." He says quietly.
He quickly leans down to roll up his snow pants and I laugh, leaning over to do the same thing. I pull up the bottom of my pants to reveal the stiff assortment of latches and hooks that have kept my feet and ankles immobilized for the past few hours. I try to start with the top hook but it's hard, so I work my way down until I find a latch that actually lets me loosen it. My fingertips kind of hurt after I finish the boot, and it's still tight as hell, so I just leave it on as I roll up my other pant leg. Instead of immediately reaching down to start that boot, I just stare at it for a minute, trying to figure out why anybody ever thought something like that would be a good idea.
Suddenly Maren kneels down in front of me, and even though I know she has even less experience with ski boots than me, she tries to figure it out.
"Thank you." I sigh.
She shrugs, chuckling a little. "You kind of look exhausted." She frowns as she tugs on the top latch, probably surprised at the strength of the straps. With another tug she gets it undone.
"Hey, could you do mine too?" Joseph jokes. He's pulling on the knot on his lace, and even though he was only kidding, it's obvious he's struggling with it. Maren looks over for a second and then reaches for the knot. Joseph and I both watch it unravel after one simple tug before she casually returns her focus to the latches. He looks between her and his untied laces, sighing. "Of course, I can't do it. But then Miss Perfect comes along and- oh! What do you know? It was simple all along." He grumbles teasingly.
"We can't all be winners, Joseph." Maren replies with a sigh, as though being perfect takes a huge toll. I laugh and Joseph just throws up his hands.
"Why do you have an answer for everything? Like literally everything!"
She smirks but doesn't respond, which somehow is an answer in itself. She gets the last latch unhooked and holds onto the heel of the boot, looking up at me. "Okay, now pull your leg out."
"I don't think I'm strong enough." I reply truthfully.
She sits up straight again so she can look at me, rolling her eyes. "Oh come on. You've got to have muscles from skating still somewhere in there."
"Nope they're all gone." I say, then after a sigh. "Along with my dreams..."
"Oh don't be so dramatic." She complains with a smile. Then she turns serious and raises an eyebrow at me. "Now, come on. We're getting these boots off now, or else I'm going to call the rental guy over to help you instead."
"Alright then. God."
She holds the boot again and this time I actually try to get my foot out. It takes more effort than I'd like to admit, but we manage to do it. When she gets into position to hold the other one, John looks over.
"Just pull the top part down. It'll give you way more room to get your feet out." He suggests. Sure enough, when we do it his way my foot almost falls out of the shoes without much effort at all.
I thank him and set the clunky boots over to one side so I have room to get my bag out of the cubby under me. "Why is your helmet still on?" Maren asks, laughing a little. I don't have a chance to answer before she pulls it from my head, raising her eyebrows. "Wow, your hair." She states.
"It Just spent, like, seven hours under a helmet. You should see your hair." I defend, digging around in my bag for my hat, which I would have liked to find before my helmet got taken off, but oh well.
"I think it looks great." Joseph says, smiling at me.
Maren makes a hand gesture at him. "Your hair is terrible too." She informs, making him look back at her with shock.
"Excuse you, my hair is fabulous." He swings his head to flip it, running a hand through it afterwards. "You're just jealous."
I laugh but Maren just looks at his antics unamused. "Yup, that's it." She nods. "But as much as I envy your..." She furrows her eyebrows, "mop, I suggest you put a hat on."
Maren goes back to her bench and I chuckle at Joseph's face, which sits between shocked and offended. "Does she ever laugh?" He asks.
"Sometimes." I chuckle. I find my hat and pull it on my head while his eyebrows furrow.
"No, she has never laughed at anything I've said. Ever." He shakes his head, at a loss. "Most people find me funny, you know."
I roll my eyes. "She doesn't find a lot of things funny. Don't take it personally."
"Uh huh." He murmurs, narrowing his eyes in the direction of the bench she's sitting on. I take his hat out of his bag and hand it to him.
I leave my snow pants on since it's easier to wear them back to the room as opposed to carrying them. I put my feet in my winter boots, and tie them up, sitting back and flexing my foot.
"Oh my God. I didn't realize how comfortable these boots were until right now." I sigh, twisting my feet into the carpet. "Holy crap, I don't think I'm ever going to take these off again. Wow. Just... ugh." I close my eyes and stretch my feet in front of me, savouring the feeling of being able to move my ankles.
Joseph laughs and I open my eyes, raising an eyebrow in question. "You're just cute. That's all." He teases.
He grins when I wrinkle my nose at him, putting an arm around me and kissing the top of my head, which just happens to be my hat right now. I don't hesitate to lean into him, his arm around me just adding so much to my comfort level right now. It only takes a couple more minutes for everyone to get their stuff in order and we go upstairs to the main floor of the lodge.
We have to walk past the eating area on the way out. There's actually not that many people out here since I guess a lot of people are already off the hill and gone home. Plus it's a weekday so the hill really shouldn't be that busy today anyway. Aside from us and about a dozen more people, one employee goes from table to table to wipe them off. The employee is Trey.
This is the third time we've had to distract Riley from seeing him today. The first was sending her away at breakfast, and the second was a weirdly rushed bathroom trip during lunch when he came a little too close not to be noticed. We have to come back here for supper too. I'm running out of excuses at this point, and as I look around, I start to think our only option might be to let them run into each other and pretend like we never knew a thing.
"Hey! Look at this!" Stanley points to a poster pinned up on a wooden beam that faces away from the tables, much to my relief. If Maren and I have to make up another excuse it'll probably start to get suspicious.
We all walk over to the poster and look up at it, except for Maren, who stands looking around and waiting for someone to read it out loud.
"'Saturday Night at the Lodge'." Stanley reads out. I'm glad it's advertising for tomorrow and not tonight. I don't think I'd be up to going to a party tonight even if there was one going on. "It's on the second floor, and look, there's a live band and everything. We should go."
"Are we even allowed in? Isn't there alcohol there?" John asks sensibly.
Stanley rolls his eyes. "Only if you buy it from the bar." He shrugs. "Plus, why do you think I brought the beer? We can bring it in the cooler."
"Isn't that illegal or something?" Maren points out, finally looking at the poster.
He smirks. "Only if we get caught." He says, then adjust the bag on his shoulder, not seeming concerned. "And we won't, because who's going to report us?"
"Uh, the establishment?" John guesses.
"Whatever. I came out here to have fun, so you can all do what you want. But I'm going." Stanley declares. We all take one last look at the poster and start to walk away, toward the doors. I glance behind us to see that Trey is successfully in our wake, meaning no awkward encounters today.
"Shoot, I think I forgot my goggles downstairs." Riley sighs. "I'll be right back." She says, turning around.
"I'll get it for you." Maren interjects quickly before she can turn around fully. Riley looks confused but since Maren is already walking away, she lets her go.
"So what are we doing tonight guys?" Stanley asks eagerly.
"Do you need to be out every night?" John says. "Can't you just stay home, and have a nice peaceful evening?"
"Sounds boring." Stanley dismisses. John doesn't argue and just shakes his head. "Oh there's night skiing every weekday, which includes tonight." He spreads his arms, indicating the entire group. "So who's in?"
"Considering I can barely ski in the day, I'm good thanks." I say.
Joseph grins and points his thumb at me. "I'm with her." And then he taps me. "There's a skating rink just a few minutes away. We could probably walk if you wanted to go." He asks. I'm honestly a little too tired, but seeing his excited face and the hopefulness in his eyes, I automatically agree without a second thought.
"I'll go snowboarding I think." Riley decides, nodding. Stanley and her share a fist bump initiated by him.
"So that's one down. How about you Johnny?" He asks.
John shrugs. "I'm just going to stay in the room I think. I heard they have some movies you can rent so I'll probably see what they have." He smiles, content with his plan. Stanley almost looks offended, like he can't believe some solitude can possibly be enjoyable.
"Right, anyway..." He drawls, rolling his eyes. "I guess it's just me and you, Pierce."
"Maren hasn't made a decision yet." She points out.
"About what?" Maren's voice cuts in from behind us, handing Riley's goggles to her so she can stuff them in her bag. She rifles around for something else even after she puts them in.
"We're just deciding what we're going to do to tonight." Joseph explains. "So far the choices are night skiing, skating, or a movie."
She's raises her eyebrows, not even bothering to pretend like she's considering the options. "Can I just go back to the room and die?" She asks flatly as we all begin to walk again, Riley still digging through her bag.
"That's what I'm doing." John says. "But I'm going to get a movie."
"Right. Well I think I'll skip the movie and sleep instead."
"Fair." John agrees. "You guys need to let Mr. Byrne know what you're doing though so he can approve it. Which he will."
"You don't need approval for your movie?" Stanley asks.
John rolls his eyes. "It's a movie. We're only supposed to let him know if we're going anywhere." Stanley eyes him suspiciously until he sighs, relenting. "If it'll make you happy, I'll get approval for my movie."
Stanley smiles and continues walking without any further arguments. Just when it looks like we'll finally be able to exit the building, Riley suddenly sighs, putting down the bag she's been digging through.
"What now?" I ask.
"I think I forgot a glove..."
"Seriously?" Maren mutters, already starting to make her way back to the rental place.
"Sheesh, Sorry. I thought I had- oh! I found it!" She triumphantly zippers the bag up while Maren makes a sharp spin back in this direction, scowling. Riley picks up her bag and her eyes widen when she sees the expression. "Nobody said you had to go get it, grumpy." She picks up her stuff and we start to go toward the doors again, the guys now ahead of us since they decided not to wait.
"It would just make it faster." Maren retorts, making up an excuse without a second thought.
"Uh huh." Riley replies skeptically. "Is something going on? You guys are acting weird today."
I'm suddenly worried that she seems to have caught onto something, but Maren doesn't miss a beat, scoffing in offence. "Thanks."
"Sorry, but it's true." Riley mumbles. She doesn't say anything else though, deciding to drop the topic as we head out through the doors and into the parking lot. I tuck my chin into the collar of my coat as the cold air hits us, although it's somehow more bearable than in town. I guess it's not as damp here since we're further from the ocean.
The guys slow down to walk with us so they can "protect the ladies" as Stanley puts it. What we need protecting from I'll never know, but I've learned to just ignore some of the things he says. Maren usually covers the responding part anyway. We all get back to the room without any of us slipping and falling, which I thought was inevitable. John doesn't waste any time before saying we need to let Mr. Byrne know what we're doing tonight.
"Do we need to knock on his door?" Stanley complains afterwards. "That's so weird."
"Well he didn't leave a phone number, so unless you want to write up a nice email, let's go." John says, giving him a pointed look that silences any complaints. All the guys were nominated as information carriers for the group, so they start walking towards the door.
"I actually do have his number."
They all stop and turn to look at Riley, who pulls her phone out of her pocket. She doesn't notice the confused expressions and just scrolls through what I'm assuming are her contacts.
"Why Do you have his number?" Joseph asks.
She shrugs. "It was for robotics. He runs it."
John's eyebrows furrow. "I was in robotics last year and I don't have his number." He says.
"Dude, she's probably the biggest teacher's pet." Stanley chuckles.
"Yeah, and you're the teacher's worst nightmare." Maren cuts in. She's looking through the cupboards for something and doesn't notice Stanley's glare.
"At least I'm not a b-"
"Found it!"
The ending is a bit rushed but I wanted to get it up. I was going to put the "dates" in this chapter but it would have been way too long and I probably wouldn't have gotten it up until next year or something absurd like that.
Anyway, basically just a long awaited fluff chapter next update. See you then and let me know what you thought, and don't forget to let me know what you think about adding more characters :)