I am late! Not by much, but I was still late. I've never been late to the beginners ski class before since it's the best thing ever and I hate to let down anyone's first time skiing. Judging by all the kids around screaming and chasing each other, my student's probably not going to mind much but I still felt really bad.
I look down at my watch again as I rear around the corner knowing that someone's already there waiting for me.
"Sorry I'm late," I say. "I had to drag some Californians out of the snowbank." I look up just before she turns to look at me.
HOLY COW! It's Carrots!
"Lucky for them," she says. I can tell she's giving me a mental eye roll by her expression. I must look like a doof again since I can't believe I'm seeing her again today and I'm going to teach her how to ski!
"So you go around pulling idiots out of the snow and teaching them to ski," she says.
I shrug. "It pays for the season pass," I reply. I try not to let my answer bother me, but I can't help it. Not everyone comes from rich parents who dote on them every second of their lives so their children don't have to work so hard to have fun. I've never been self-conscious about my living situation before and I'm not sure I like feeling that way right now. She can see that I work hard, can't she? C'mon Tuck, you know she isn't really thinking about your living situation. She could care less.
"Are you any good at it?" she asks.
I smile. I know she's talking about teaching people to ski but what's the fun in that answer?
"Pulling idiots out of snow? I'm the best," I say grinning like an idiot again. She does that to me, make me grin like nobody's business.
"Ha-ha. You're hilarious," she says sarcastically. "No-teaching them to ski."
"I guess you'll find out," I say. I was tempted to wink at her, but she'd probably not appreciate me flirting with her when she came her to learn to ski.
I spend the first few minutes showing her the basics-the way to position her skis, how to balance, turn, and stop. I can see her relax as she gets the hang of it. That's the thing about skiing, it looks terrifying but it's actually quite easy. That doesn't last when I tell her to get on the rope tow.
"It's easy," I say to her. "Just hold on to it and let it tug you up the hill. When you get to the top, let go." I don't know why I told her that. She could obviously figure it out with common sense, but I guess it helps me calm down a little to hear everything out and maybe it would do the same for her.
I watch her as she gets to the top of the hill. It's really easy and a great place for beginners to learn. There are no trees and it's not a long way down. The only thing she has to worry about is running into a little kid. When she gets to the top she hesitates. Come of Carrots, you can do this.
"Come on!" I shout to her. Maybe that'll give her some motivation to get down here. "The snow won't bite."
I works cause she starts positioning her skis and she's back to a determined looking girl I see whenever we talk to eat other (which is not as much as I hoped).
She pushes off with the grace of a bird flying through the sky. Her strange carrot orange hair blowing behind her as she zig-zags her way down the hill. She was beautiful and perfect... too perfect. This can't possibly be her first time skiing. She has to have done this before. Even my first time one this hill with Wendy resulted us two falling at least 12 times before we got to the end. But if it isn't her first time, why did she sign up for the class of first timers?
She stops perfectly in front of me with windblown hair and pink cheeks from the cold. She's grinning a lot and I almost forget how jealous I am. Woah woah woah! Me? Jealous? When did that happen? As I think about it more, I am jealous of her. Before long, she'll be skiing with the pros.
"Maybe I could try it the other way," she says. "With my skis straight."
She's looking at me questioningly. Probably wondering why I'm starring and looking a little upset.
"I guess you want me to believe this is your first time skiing," I say.
She seems slightly taken aback by this. I can tell then that she really hasn't skied until today.
"Should I try again?" she asks me.
"Yeah," I say. "I think you should try it again."
I go up with her this time. She still doesn't fall. Everything she's doing is beautiful and graceful and so confident as if she's done this her whole life but she's probably never seen snow until coming to Jackson Hole this year. Why am I so upset about this?
We go a few more times (three more I think) and I watch her closely. She completely rocked the parallel style but it was just weird. If there was even such a thing as a skiing prodigy, they would've fallen at least a thousand times and she hasn't fallen once.
When we're at the bottom of hill on out fifth run, I confront her.
"I've been teaching for two years," I say,"and this is the first time anyone has ever made it through the hour without falling down once."
"I have good balance," she says. "I used to dance. Back in California. Ballet."
I didn't know that and I could just picture her just as graceful and confident on the dance floor. For some reason, this doesn't cheer me up as much as it would if this were just random information from a random conversation. She's not telling me something, I know it. It's just impossible to be this good the first time you ski. I stare at her for a while, narrowing my eyes to see if I could see through her for the truth, but I give up.
"Well, that's it," I suddenly say. "End of lesson." I can tell I surprised her. I felt a little bad. I was treating her like a jerk and I don't like treating people like jerks. Especially girls. Especially her. But this was weird and I just needed to ski and think. I turn to the lodge and start to go.
She calls after me. "What should I do now?"
"Try the chair lift," I call back. I ski away leaving her where she was. I feel bad. All I can think about is how perfect she is and whether or not I deserve her. This wasn't how I planned to end the day with her. I guess Fate did grant my wish to see her again, but sometimes it can be cruel and twisted. Like now. Could she really fall for me? Clara, the perfect new girl who I like so much already? Yes, she can. I think to myself over and over again. Now, I'm even more determined to prove that thought right.