The Twelve Days of Christmas
The Eskimo Way
"Breakfast was delicious. Thanks, Ig," I said, giving his arm an appreciative squeeze before I walked out of the kitchen.
I glanced at Ella and Angel, who were sitting together in the living room. Angel caught my eye and sent a gleaming smile my way.
"Ella said we should go play with tabloogahans," she said hopefully.
"No, no. Toboggans. Sleds," Ella corrected, getting up from the couch. I smiled at the idea and called the rest of the Flock into the living room…
Much to my delight, it was easy enough to convince everyone to participate in sledding this morning… Well, everyone but Total, who still refuses to step a single paw into the snow. Heaven forbid he should endure such a hardship.
We walked around outside for a while until we finally came to the top of a steep slope that would be perfect for hurtling down on a sled at full speed. There was just one problem…
We only found two sleds at the cabin, so we'd need to take turns. As the selfless leader, I volunteered to wait for everyone else to have a turn… which left six other kids and still only two sleds.
Finally, we agreed that we would play Rock, Paper, Scissors to determine the order.
"I win!" Angel shouted in a glee-filled voice, explaining to Iggy that she threw her hand out flat to symbolize paper.
Iggy, who had kept his hand balled into a fist for rock, complained, "How can a piece of paper beat anything?"
"That's the rule. Sorry, Ig," I said.
"No, I understand how the scissors can cut the paper and the rock can smash the scissors, but can someone please explain to me how in the world a sheet of paper can afflict damage upon a rock? Please, someone enlighten me," he continued.
I rolled my eyes. "Just deal with it, okay?"
He grumbled, but didn't say anything else.
Two by two, everyone was racing each other down the slope, peals of laughter and pure joy ringing out in the open expanses around us. Angel won against Ella, and then against Nudge, both of which I am convinced she used her mind-control over to make them slow themselves down, but I refused to say anything and 'rain on their parade,' as Fang so often accuses me of.
Gazzy won against Iggy, which set off a string of complaints revolving around the fact that he's blind and couldn't possibly have been able to steer the sled properly…
Eventually, I played Rock, Paper, Scissors against Fang to see who would race Gazzy.
"I should have known you'd throw rock," I teased, after throwing out two fingers as the scissors.
He positioned the sled and I watched, waiting for him to slide down the side of the hill, but he didn't… Instead he said to me, "Sit down," pointing to the sled.
"It's your turn. Just go," I insisted, waving my hands in dismissal.
He didn't listen, though. He stood there with his arms crossed, waiting for me to give in. I smirked… he'd have to wait a while then.
"Would one of you please just sit on the sled?" Gazzy asked, impatiently. The boy just wanted to race…
Stupid Fang.
I sighed and stepped over to the sled, gingerly sitting down in the center of it with my legs straight out in front of me. I tried to relax, casting my gaze on the panorama of evergreens along the horizon.
Just as I was about to push off, I felt something against my back… Long legs slid out from behind me on either side of my own legs and a familiar arm snaked itself around my torso. Before I had time to turn around and berate him, Fang used his free hand to push against the snow, sending us feet-first down the frosty white slope.
"Fang!" I shrieked, clutching his arm. The cold air whipped at my face, my eyes widening as we accelerated much more rapidly than I'd been expecting.
He fastened his other arm around me, holding me securely to his chest, and I could feel the soft vibrations against my back as he laughed quietly to himself.
A second later, I found myself laughing with him. This was a whole different kind of speed than you feel when you're flying. It was alarming, not having control over the velocity as we continued to ride to the bottom, but it was also an adrenaline rush like no other.
As we were gliding to a halt, I turned my body halfway to face Fang.
"Let's go again," I whispered, unable to keep my eager smile from taking over my entire face.
He smiled back for just a second, a hint of surprise obvious in his expression. We helped each other up and began trudging back to the top of the incline with our sled.
"So what was that? You can fly at speeds of over 200 miles an hour, yet you get scared sledding down a small hill?" he grinned.
"This isn't a small hill… And I wasn't scared," I said, scowling half-heartedly at him as we reached the others.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gazzy running up the slope just a short distance behind us. I had been completely oblivious to the fact that he had even gone down at the same time as us.
"That was awesome!" he shouted, looking excitedly between Fang and me. "You were going so fast!"
"Yeah. You two beat Gazzy to the bottom by, like, an entire half a minute," Ella told us. "I don't think it was fair," she continued in a matter-of-fact kind of tone. "There were two of you, so obviously there was more weight propelling you forward. You should have a rematch, but against two people this time."
I stared at her, trying to figure out if she was serious or not. I didn't mind either way, to be honest, so I figured I'd go along with it. "So then, who wants to try?" I asked, defiantly scanning the faces in front of me…
"Well, Ella," Nudge started with an impish grin, "if you want to be fair, then the two people closest to Max and Fang's sizes need to go. So then… that would be you and Iggy."
Angel giggled beside her brother, who was holding the sled out for one of them to grab.
Ella's cheeks flushed slightly. "Uh… okay. I don't mind."
Iggy cleared his throat and said, "I won't be able to steer. I'm kinda blind, as you may have noticed."
"Fine. To keep it fair, we'll all close our eyes," I suggested. "Is that okay with everyone?"
Ella nodded. Fang just shrugged like he couldn't care less.
Minutes later, Angel was waiting at the bottom of the hill to declare a winner and Fang was behind me on the sled again, this time keeping his hands at my waist instead of wrapping his arms around my stomach. I felt like I needed a hold on something as well, so I used his legs as an anchor…
I closed my eyes…
"Three… Two… ONE!" Gazzy signaled…
"May the best couple win!" Nudge shouted as soon as we pushed off, causing my breath to catch…
Fang and I were most certainly not a couple! The mere thought had knocked me off-balance… Literally.
My whole body leaned over to one side, causing the other side of the sled to tip upwards, launching Fang and me into a rolling heap…
Somehow, he managed to hook an arm around my ribs, keeping me close while we clumsily rolled over one another the entire way down the slope.
And as we came to a complete stop, Fang was on top of me for the second time this week…
I took a deep breath, ignoring my miserable discomfort, and asked, "You okay?"
He nodded. "You?"
"Yeah," I assured, locking my eyes with his. Big mistake…
I really don't know how long we stayed like that, seconds, minutes, but I was pulled from my trance when his face appeared to be getting closer. Without warning, he touched his nose to mine. What was he doing now? I thought to myself, fighting back a shiver.
I became paralyzed. I felt his warm breath on my lips as his eyes softened and he brushed our noses together ever so slightly. His skin was cold… So how did it make sense that his touch felt so warm? Oh, jeez, Fang…
My heart was wildly thumping out of my chest and he started to look very uncomfortable suddenly. "Max, you don't need to hold on anymore. We stopped rolling a while ago."
I stared at him blankly for a moment… Didn't need to hold on anymore? He can't really expect me to make any sense of that right now, can he?
And then I became aware of my arms, the realization of what I'd done sending a burst of color to my face. While we were tumbling together, my arms must have found their way around his torso to hang on because they were still firmly locked in place…
I laughed nervously, freeing him from my grip.
He pulled me up as soon as he was standing, but quickly took off to get our sled.
As I watched him walk away, I wondered, What just happened? I was slightly bewildered by the whole experience, unsure of how to even think straight, for the moment.
Awww! Max, he just gave you an Eskimo kiss! Angel whispered in my head.
I shifted my gaze in her direction. What's an Eskimo ki– He what?!
I whipped my head around to look at Fang back at the top of the hill again, handing the sled over to Nudge, who grabbed at it enthusiastically. I watched as she flung her body onto it, hurling down the slope, but my eyes found their way back to Fang.
His expression was as impassive as ever, or so it would seem. I was sure that no one else noticed the slightest hint of a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. And to think, I'd been freaking out two days ago because I kissed his cheek, thinking I'd destroyed my most valuable friendship, and then he goes and gives me an Eskimo kiss? I didn't even know there was such a thing until now… And if Angel hadn't said it, I probably still wouldn't have known he'd even done it… How dare he try to go around kissing me without my knowledge…
Angel sighed, shaking her head, before scurrying over to where Iggy and Ella's ride ended, leaving me alone to ponder this new quandary…
If Fang was going to be sneaky with his new displays of affection… well then, so was I…
Big thanks to the following people who suggested this chapter:
up and coming writer – jenfan456
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