Christmas Drop # 3

The ride up on the lift was always the longest part of snowboarding but also the part that Ellie didn't mind waiting out. She got to look out at snowy mountains, enjoying the view through her ski goggles. The way the fresh cool air brushed against her face and skin was chilling yet cool and refreshing at the same time.

Of course, the best part after hopping off the lift was the initial dip down the mountain. The first burst of adrenaline was what cured the slow ride up and the way one would slide down the mountain, practically gliding across the snow, was heavenly. It was probably the closest a human could get to flying through the clouds, to be honest in her humble opinion.

There, Ellie would always have this bright grin on her face as she maneuvered her way around. From snowboarding down the path to skidding across man-made obstacles to getting some air time after skidding off a ramp. It was all exhilarating and she always whispered some self-praise when she pulled off a 360 flip or some other trick move.

Shredding up the snow was one of the few stress reliefs in Ellie's life besides playing music, painting, and drawing. There was no pressure, no expectations, just herself and the freedom with the rush of being alive. Feeling alive. It reminded her that life wasn't just filled with school work, grades, and her quarter-life crises.

After riding through a few ramps, she had to come to a quick stop after she snowboarded off course. The main reason though was because she narrowly ate shit but miraculously saved herself from fumbling downhill because she knew for a fact that it would have hurt.

"Oh shit," Ellie exclaimed before pulling down her face mask. "That was a close one." She panted a few times to catch her breath when a sudden shout made her flinch.

"OH FUCK— WATCH OUT!"

The moment Ellie turned around her eyes snapped open.

"Oh shi—"

She immediately twisted her body around, barely raising her arms in time to stop this person from colliding with her head-on. She somehow miraculously managed to catch this person, albeit bridal style, but it was better than a headbutt and possible concussion. She grunted in pain upon impact since it felt like she just rammed into a wall thanks to the sheer force but that ended up jerking Ellie's body and her leg gave out on her, meaning she started sliding down the slope.

There goes taking a breather.

"Shit—"

Hissing at the pain, Ellie quickly readjusted her hold, carrying this stranger more comfortably as she slid down the rest of the trail. Sadly, it was the steeper part of this mountain and frankly wasn't the best place to stop midway through her current dilemma. What normally would have been an amazing ride down turned out to be awkward as shit because she wouldn't dare look down in her arms to make eye contact with whoever was there.

Although judging from their weight and their voice, she had a suspicion that it was probably a female. Better than some burly man she supposed. That would've one hundred percent knocked her out upon impact and probably given her an unwanted concussion.

Ellie ended up playing it safe the rest of the way down. She didn't pull any tricks on parts she would have or slid down a ramp or two. She glided down the mountain as smoothly as possible and after a few minutes, she came to a stop just at the base of the mountain away from the crowds of people.

Now that they had come to a full stop, Ellie was busy catching her breath from the burst of adrenaline. She was huffing harder than she'd like but the moment she looked down to face the stranger in her arms, her eyes widened. The stranger had pulled off her goggles, shaking her sweaty hair out of her face, as she looked Ellie in the eyes and, of course, being the gay lesbian mess she was, Ellie's inner thoughts slipped out.

"Damn… she's cute."

The stranger blinked as she did a double take as if she was confirming what she had heard. She blinked a few more times before giggling and giving her a soft smile.

"Thanks."

Ellie gasped as her face heated up.

"Did I just say that out loud?"

The stranger only nodded. "Mmhmm, you did and for the record, I think you're quite attractive yourself."

Without further prompt, Ellie's lips thinned out before her arms relaxed. And by relaxed, she completely let go of the stranger, dropping her on the floor without any explanation. She was quick to express her pain. "Ow—"

"Oh shit—" Ellie winced before quickly dropping to her knees to help her up. "Sorry!"

The stranger groaned as she pushed herself up. "No, don't be. I deserved that to be honest. You're not the one that got rammed into and was forced to come downhill now are you?" She then took Ellie's hand and pulled herself upright, "I'm Dina by the way."

"Ellie."

Once Dina was on her feet, she shuffled around a little to regain her balance. Since she lost her skiing poles quite a while ago, she struggled to regain her balance and Ellie ended up supporting her until she stood her ground.

"Thanks." Dina looked Ellie in the eyes before smiling. "For the save and all."

"No problem, it was my pleasure." When Dina lifted an eyebrow, Ellie processed the words she had just said. "I mean— not pleasure. I had to uh, come down that slope either way so it was no trouble. Really."

Dina held this blank look before snorting and laughing. "It was one heck of an experience, that's for sure." She then bent over and unlipped her boots from the skis. "I could use a drink and maybe some food though, I think I'm all tapped out for today. You wanna join me? My treat."

Ellie opened her mouth, ready to decline her offer, but then again, a drink did sound nice after an almost horrible experience. "Sure, that sounds great. Thanks."

With that said, Ellie unbuckled her boots from her snowboard. Dina did the same and the two of them walked over to the ski resort with their respective equipment in their hands. They ended up putting away their equipment in some lockers before heading over to the nearest restaurant and after they were settled, they ordered some bread soup bowls and hot cocoa.

Dina was the first to smile and start a conversation. "So, what brings you here? Are you a local or are you visiting?"

Ellie handed off their menus and thanked the waiter before facing Dina. "Visiting for winter break, I'm a freshman at UC Santa Barbara actually."

"Shut up, no way! Me too," Dina beamed with an even brighter smile. "What are you majoring in? I've never seen you around."

"Art and musical studies." She answered with a soft smile while shifting in place. "What about you?"

Dina just shrugged before answering nonchalantly. "Mathematics and mechanical engineering."

"Damn." Ellie whistled, clearly impressed, before leaning back in her seat. "You must be smart as shit."

To her surprise, Dina gave her a cocky (and extremely sexy) grin. "I am."

That made Ellie chuckle with a slight shake of the head. "Humble much are we?"

"What can I say?" Dina tapped the top of her head with her index finger. "Can't stop this sexy brain even if I wanted to."

Ellie laughed even louder at that comment. "Touché."

The waiter came back with their hot cocoa first and after they thanked him, Dina was the first to take a scalding sip.

"Mmh, that's some good crack."

Snorting at her comment, Ellie tried to take a sip of her drink as well but immediately cursed out loud when she burned her tongue.

"Ow fuck, that's hot."

Then, as if Dina was mocking her, she made eye contact with Ellie before taking a sip with this playful smirk.

Ellie blew on it several times before shooting her a look. "How the fuck can you swallow that without burning yourself?"

"With skill obviously duh…" She joked with a charming smile before telling the truth. "I've burned my tongue enough times to feel nothing at this point honestly."

Blinking once, Ellie erupted into laughter. "Cheers to that." She raised her cup and Dina tapped her cup against hers. She then blew on her hot cocoa again before taking a sip. "Damn, that is good crack."

Dina smiled at her warmly before asking, "So what type of art do you draw or paint?"

Rubbing the rim of her cup, Ellie stared at the whipped cream slowly dissolving away in that chocolate goodness. "Well, I tend to draw realistic art with mixed media."

Humming in that notion, Dina continued to ask. "What about music? What do you play or sing?"

"Mostly guitar," she quickly answered with a slight shrug. "And a little singing too I guess."

"That's cool," Dina beamed with a bright smile. "You gotta share me your stuff one day if you get a chance."

Ellie looked Dina in the eyes, picking up at the innuendo of meeting again, before giving her a warm smile as an answer. "Sure, will do." That brought a cute smile to Dina's face which Ellie declared as an unspoken victory in her book. She then took another sip of her hot chocolate before asking, "How about you? Build any cool shit recently?"

"Cool shit?" Dina repeated with an amused tone of voice.

"Yeah, cool shit." Ellie then shifted forward a little before expanding, "You know, like some cool robot that can do your homework or write an essay for you."

Dina immediately laughed before shaking her head. "I wish. That would be amazing," she took a sip of her drink before licking her lips. "But no unfortunately not, I have not made such a device but I made this awesome breakfast dispenser machine."

"Breakfast dispenser machine?"

"Yup." She popped the 'p' with a confident grin, "Gives you the perfect amount of cereal or granola, and I even have one in the fridge for milk and yogurt. Works for snacks too by the way but I got it set up with breakfast foods right now."

"Huh, sounds… convenient."

"It is."

"Cool." Ellie didn't know what to say and she ended up drumming the table with her fingers before the waiter miraculously saved her from getting even more awkward.

"Here you go ladies, your bread bowls."

They both thanked him and Ellie took a sniff of the soup.

"That smells good."

"It does."

Giving her a small smile, Ellie took a healthy bite of her soup before suppressing a moan. She didn't realize how hungry she was until she swallowed that bite and she ended up chowing down for a second before freezing when she remembered she wasn't alone. Dina was clearly holding back whatever reaction she had since her lips were thinned out and Ellie almost wanted to go dunk her head into a pile of snow.

"Sorry, I uh… enjoy food." Was the only excuse Ellie could think of to pardon her messy eating habits.

For better or for worse, Dina giggled. "No worries, I think it's cute."

That made Ellie's eyebrow twitch and only the lord knew how much she wanted to bang her head against the wall. It was all her fault they had such a flirty relationship or whatever this was, which wasn't good for her heart, because of her stupid slip-up when they first met! Now she had to deal with a flirty Dina which wasn't what she was prepared for this winter break.

"Uh… thanks… I guess."

Dina smiled at her before taking a bite of her soup. Once she swallowed the bite, she glanced at Ellie before asking, "So this might be a little weird but I was wondering if you wanted to exchange phone numbers? That way we can keep in contact when the break is over and hopefully we can meet up somewhere on campus."

Ellie gulped before taking a sip of her hot cocoa. Her the left side of her lip twitched upward for whatever reason before she pulled out her phone. "Sure."

"Cool."

They quickly exchanged numbers and after that way down, they ate the rest of their meals getting to know each other. At some point during the conversation, Ellie started gushing about her favorite comic: Savage Starlight, to which Dina called her out for being a big nerd.

"Oh my god, you're such a nerd!" Dina exclaimed with a light chuckle.

"Hey, don't knock it till you try it. It's like the best comic out there."

"Mmhmm? Sure it is."

Ellie scoffed at Dina's teasing reaction. "I bet you're a bigger nerd than me!"

Dina shrugged at that. "Who's to say?"

"Oh come on, you're majoring in math and mechanical engineering. If that doesn't scream nerd, I don't know what does."

"Fine." Dina conceded with a flat face before deadpanning with a half shrug. "You're a dork then." She then flashed her a cocky grin to which Ellie scoffed in offense.

"You just won't let me win, will you?"

"Nope." She popped the 'p' with a bubbly giggle before she rested her arm on the table and propped her chin on her fist. "Just let me know if I'm bullying you too much though, I don't want to make you cry."

"It's gonna take more than just that to make me cry sweet cheeks." When Dina shot her a look, Ellie had a realization of her blunder and no idea where that had come from. She then just cleared her throat and double-downed. "It's the freckles. I wouldn't expect someone like you to have them."

Dina's amused smile only deepened. "Says the one with dimples."

Ellie shook her head with a bashful smile, trying not to blush more than she already had. "You're infuriating."

Her response was as smooth as butter. "Have you met you?"

Okay, that was it. Ellie needed to hide behind her mug even though there was hardly any hot cocoa inside, only some residue of chocolate dust and dried milk. More like, how long had they been talking? They both finished their meals and drinks a while ago so they were just sitting around and chatting. No wonder the waiters were shooting them strange looks. They were hogging the table when they weren't even eating anymore. To her dismay, she sighed when her phone buzzed. It was Joel and Sarah asking where she was. As much as she wanted to ignore it, she knew she couldn't so she set the cup down before shooting Dina a soft look.

"Sorry to do this but I gotta go. My family is asking where I am and the waiters are shooting daggers at us."

Dina followed her line of sight before frowning in understanding. "Yeah, you're right. I didn't realize that much time passed."

They quickly piled up their dishes on the table before making their way to the front. Of course, Ellie still tried paying for half of it but Dina had been persistent and politely declined her offer.

"Don't worry about it, it's on me. You can buy for us the next time."

That unspoken promise made Ellie's heart skip a beat. She cleared her throat before nodding, "Yeah, sure."

They were out the door shortly after and went over to the lockers to grab their stuff. However before they parted ways, Dina faced Ellie one last time with a hopeful smile.

"So… I guess I'll see you around? On campus of course unless I accidentally crash into you again."

Ellie immediately laughed at that before nodding. "Yeah, I'll see you around."

The two of them stared at each other for a tense second before Dina was the first to pull away.

"Well, I'll see you around then. It was nice meeting you Ellie."

"Yeah, same. Enjoy the rest of your break Dina."

Dina nodded again before taking a few steps back. "Don't be a stranger and feel free to text me!"

"I won't," Ellie found herself proclaiming with more oompfh than she expected. "I won't."

Another cute smile later, Dina waved at her before making her way. Ellie waved back and once she was out of sight, she sighed in bliss as if she had been captivated by a fairy. She then smiled to herself before awkwardly limping her way back to where Joel and Sarah said they would be. Sarah was the first to notice her before pointing an observation out.

"Well don't you look swoon, did a pretty girl run into you?"

Ellie's face heated in seconds as her sister gasped.

"No way, for real? What happened? When? Where? Who?" She inched closer with each sentence until she was smack dab in front of Ellie's face.

Fuck. How did she know?

"Nothing happened." Ellie claimed as she limped forward. She managed to play it cool in front of Dina but now that she was gone, her foot was killing her.

Sarah shot her this sleazily look which told Ellie that she was speaking horseshit however, thankfully, Joel noticed her limp.

"What happened kiddo? Are you hurt?"

Ellie cleared her throat before huffing. "I'm fine. I just… got into a little accident that's all."

Her sister only hummed as she gave her the 'I'm so gonna find out later at the hotel' look on her face. At least it wouldn't be in front of Joel.

"You sure baby girl? You should get that checked since it could get worse. We don't mind leaving early—"

"No no no," Ellie quickly interrupted before adding, "I'm fine. You two go have fun and I'll go to the infirmary myself if that makes you feel better."

"But—"

Miraculously, Sarah grabbed Joel's arm and helped her out. "She'll be fine daddy, we can leave after one more round!"

Joel shot her a disapproving look which brought more of Sarah's cutesy plea.

"Please please please pleaseeee! One more dad and then we can head back! We don't come here often." She then batted her eyes which they both knew was Joel's weakness.

Their dad only grumbled before giving in. "Fine. Be careful on your way to the infirmary Ellie. And don't go anywhere, we'll be coming for you after this round."

"Yes, you're the best daddy!" She then topped it off with a crushing hug which made Joel grunt upon impact.

Ellie sighed at the second hand embarrassment before limping her way toward the resort's infirmary. "Yeah yeah, have fun kids."

Joel's eyebrow twitched. "Hey—"

Sarah gave them a bright grin. "See you in a bit Ellie Bellie!"

That immediately made Ellie groan. "Ugh, don't call me that!"

"Sure Elliebear~"

Groaning even louder, Ellie refused to look back. "That's even worse!" As she limped away, all she heard was her sister's laugh.

It took a hot second but once Ellie was inside the infirmary and was being treated, her phone went off. She thought it was her sister since she had been spamming her for a while now but when she saw the sender, her heart skipped a beat.

It was Dina.

Dina: Hey! Looks like I'll be heading back earlier than intended so it looks like I won't get a chance to run into you ;)

That immediately made a smile curl on her lips.

No worries, I was gonna head back soon myself too. My sister and dad are getting in one last ride.

Dina: ;)

Dina: Wouldn't that be funny if we were in the same hotel?

Hahaha, I wish. That would save me from family time.

Dina: Hahaha, anyways hopefully I'll see you soon and have a great rest of your break!

Thanks and you too Dina. I'll see you soon.

Ellie couldn't wipe the smile off her face even if she wanted to. She ended up biting her lips in an attempt to not smile in front of a stranger who was treating her foot. Now, the only thing on her mind was getting back to school and meeting up with Dina.