The next morning, Hamilton wandered into the kitchen, grabbing the open box of Cherrios from the counter, and poured himself a bowl. Looking over his shoulder to the table, he saw Bella, Scout, and Will were sitting there, already dressed in their skiing clothes and laughing about some misadventure Bella had gotten herself into.

Brushing his wet hair from his face, "Where's Jake?" he said, between bites of his cereal.

"She's in the bedroom."

"Thanks." He took his bowl with him as he set out in search of Jake. Walking down the hall, he heard a soft tapping noise.

Computer, he smiled, shaking his head. I swear, she like...an addict or something.

Knocking swiftly on the door before he let himself in, "Hey," he said softly. "What are you up to?" He sat next to Jake on the bed; she was laying on her stomach, typing on her laptop in front of her.

"Just checking the snow conditions." Closing her laptop, she stared at the comforter. Her thick white turtleneck contrasted the darkness of her hair and her new black ski pants were unmarred by previous ski trips. The beige jacket lay on the floor next to the bed.

Rubbing her back lightly, "I'm sure she'll e-mail you soon," he could feel her tense through her layers of clothing.

"How did you know?"

"I've known you for three years...I've loved you for three years. I can tell when something is about your mom."

She stopped tracing the pattern on the bed to glance at him; her eyes acknowledged the fact that he did understand her better than anyone else could.

"Besides, I saw you watching the weather conditions on TV earlier."

Laughing, she turned onto her back, moving his hand to rest on her stomach. "Am I that obvious?"

Leaning closer to whisper, "Only to me," he kissed her forehead. He stood up and held his hand out for her. "Let's go ski."

She seemed to consider his statement for a moment, before accepting his outstretched hand.

With a smile, he led her out of the room.


They stood at the base of the mountain, pondering what to do. Bella and Will's ski equipment had been rented for the week, but there were other problems at hand. Jake, Hamilton and Scout were all experienced skiers, while the other two were not.

"Why waste money on private lessons when I can teach you?"

Jake laughed loudly, "Let's weigh our options, shall we? On the one hand, you could take lessons. Safe, useful, good, no-great lessons. OR...you could have Rambo here," pointing at Scout, "teach you how to death ski."

Bella and Will looked hesitantly at each other before replying. "Lessons."

"Hey, I'm not that bad!"

"Ok, Scout...How many of your broken bones in the past nine years have been due to skiing accidents?"

"That's....that's a low blow. I mean, no beginning skier is perfect - I was just a little shakier than most."

"You surpass shaky and move on to dangerous after the fourth human-tree incident."

"Ok - Two of those weren't my fault. I can't help it if I get something...stuck in my eye and I can't see where I'm going."

"You know, they've come out with some amazing new technology recently...Goggles - you might want to try it."

"Hah..." He whipped out a pair of sunglasses from his back pocket, "I've got something even cooler."

"Hey, I resent that." Bella adjusted the goggles which drooped on her face.

"Well, Bug Eyes, we need to sign up for lessons. Today, preferably." Will grabbed her hand and lead her to the lodge.

"See you guys later!"

"Ok, so where should we start?" Unfolding the map, Jake searched for a good trail.

"How about this one...Devil's Run?"

"Scout, that's a double diamond."

"Yeah, so?"

"Are you sure that's such a good idea? You know, with your past record and everything?" Hamilton tried to approach the subject lightly.

"I think it's a great idea. Are you two coming or not?"

"No...dying doesn't sound like too much fun today. I think we'll stick to blue and green trails." Jake looked at Hamilton, who nodded in agreement.

"Ok, well...have fun. You know. Being wimps and everything."

"We will. Hey, do you wanna meet up here for lunch? Say around 12:30ish?"

"Yeah, that sounds good."


"Ready to ski, Ham?"

"'Scuse me?"

"Oh, that's right - I forgot. You snow board now, don't you...?"

"Hell yeah."

"...Because skiing is so last year and we wouldn't want to be old fashioned, now would we?"

"No shit."

Jake stopped rocking back and forth on her skis, "What's up with your two syllable answers today?"

"Just seeing how long it would take you to notice."

"You...are way too easily amused."

"Well, we only children must learn to entertain ourselves."

She chuckled, "Yeah, I hack, you play mind games...Shouldn't that be the other way around?"

"I don't mind you being the one who wears the pants in the relationship. So long as I get to be the one who takes them off." He growled at her.

"You are so...tacky." Pushing on her ski poles, she propelled herself down the steep slope.

With a small hop, Hamilton closed in behind her, "You know you love me for it." As he passed her, he turned slightly, twiddling his fingers and smiling.

Swishing to the left and to the right, she watched him glide before her in smooth, easy movements; he was a natural. Approaching an upturned shelf of snow, he squatted down and leaned back, preparing to jump. She saw him fly into the air, graceful and in control.

Show off. Smiling and pushing forward, she tried to catch up to him.

In the three years they had been dating, he still felt the need to impress her, whether it be an expensive date or a cheesy song he wrote for her. Now, he was doing it again.

Jake could see it before it happened. He started to lean while in the air causing him to miss his landing. The rest of his journey down the slope was made on his back as he struggled to stop.

Shaking her head, she turned to where his body finally lay, sprawled out in the snow.

"Come on Ham. What happened to the master guru snow boarder I know is in there somewhere," poking his heavy jacket with her ski pole, "Huh?"

"Uhhh," he groaned as he lifted his head slightly to look at her, squinting in the morning sun, "I hurt." Collapsing back into the snow, he sighed, "I think I'm gonna stay here for a minute."

Laughing, she unlatched her boots from the skis and sat next to him; he wasn't hurt - well nothing physical...just his ego. But it's always wise to give a guy a good kick in the ego every once-in-a-while.

Hamilton opened his eyes after hearing a click. Jake had taken a picture of him, covered in snow, with his disposable camera. He had wanted to bring his good camera, but Jake had debated, saying that it might get broken. So she bought him four disposable ones instead.

When his eyes fully adjusted to the light, he could also see that she was also holding his sunglasses before him.

"You dropped these..."

He grabbed his camera and sunglasses from her, wiping the snow from them, "Thanks," wrinkling his nose as he said it.

"Don't give me that 'It's your fault' voice. You were the one trying to show off." Brushing the snow off her pants, she stood up and stepped into her skis.

"Whatever."

"Come on," she gave her hand to him, "We have to meet them soon."