"Ready for your first snowboarding lesson?" asked Twister.
Val drained her glass of chocolate milk, wiping her mouth on the back of her hand. "I don't know. Otto would just laugh at me."
Twister shrugged. "We'll make it a private lesson. Don't worry. We won't go to Big Air or anyplace crazy."
Val took her blue jacket off the hook by the door and tucked the snowboard Ray had given her as a Christmas gift under her arm. "Okay, I'm ready."
They walked through the snow until they reached the bunny hills. Twister strapped his snowboard to his feet, saying he'd go first and demonstrate. "It's pretty simple." he said. "Just lean forward and bend your knees to start. Lean back to stop. You steer with your hips, kinda like surfing."
Val nodded. "I think I can do that."
"See you at the bottom," said Twister.
Val leaned forward to follow him. Wind whipped her hair off her face as she gathered speed. She tried to turn but ran smack into Twister. They fell heavily to the ground.
"You okay?" they asked each other simultaneously.
"I don't think I broke anything." said Twister. "But you're kinda sitting on my leg."
"Sorry," said Val, standing up and brushing snow off her jacket.
"That wasn't bad for your first time," said Twister. "I almost ran into a tree when I first tried snowboarding."
"And you ran into an icy rock in New Zealand." Val added.
Twister felt himself blushing. "Well,...that wasn't one of my finer moments."
0-0-0
Val and Twister spent another hour on the slopes. Val seemed to be having a little trouble getting the hang of turning. She tried to show off by riding like a slalom racer, only her slalom gate was usually Twister. More often than not, they both ended up in the snow.
"I'm having so much fun," Val said after her third or fourth crash landing.
Twister hoped she'd get tired soon. Falling his full height was painful. Besides, he was freezing. Whenever he landed, he got a lot of snow stuck his sweater, which was now soaked.
Val unstrapped the bindings of her snowboard and stood up. Then she took off her helmet.
"Ugh. My legs are killing me." she said when she tried to walk.
"How about we take a break and get some hot chocolate?" said Twister.
"Only if I get to make it," she said. "I hate the boxed stuff."
That was more than fine by Twister. If they had hot chocolate at the cabin, he could take a hot bath and change into a dry sweater.
At the cabin, Twister went upstairs to the bathroom; Val went into the kitchen. She pulled milk, cocoa, sugar, and a pot out of the cupboard. She leafed through a book while she waited for the stove to heat up. Five minutes later, Twister appeared, now in a navy-blue sweater. He watched as Val poured the ingredients into the pan.
"How can you make hot chocolate without measuring?" he asked.
"Practice," she replied, stirring the mixture.
She took the pot off the burner and poured the contents into two mugs. They brought the mugs into the living room. Twister took a sip. Val's recipe really did taste a lot better than the boxed kind. It was extremely cozy, sitting with a girl he adored, drinking hot cocoa by a roaring fire.