Playing His Game

Chapter Twenty-One | Anybody Seen My Baby?

Twenty-One:

As It turns out, I'm more of a sunny, white-sand beach type of girl.

I'm not gonna lie and say that I had a hidden talent for skiing because, quite frankly, just the opposite was true. Half the time I spent wobbling my way down the bunny hill, the same hill beginning children use, and the other half I spent falling in every way you can imagine. But hey, I caught some air once and sailed a good three feet before crashing face-first into the snow.

The hill we first got out of the ski lift at had turned out to be for intermediate to advanced skiers and, after taking one look at the steep drop off, I slid down it...on my butt.

It didn't help to see almost every one of our friends maneuvering the slopes like a pro; even Lily seemed to have picked it up with no problem.

Austin took pity on me and spent the morning with me, teaching me the basics and helping me down a much milder slope.

At about 2:00 PM, I had finally decided to stop bringing him down and drug my pitiful, exhausted self back to our cabin. After ridding myself of the heavy clothes and cumbersome equipment, I decided to go explore and stop at one of the café-lodge thingys.

It was a large room, filled with various leather chairs and couches that surrounded a huge flat-screen TV. A pool table sat deserted in the corner of the room, along with the juke-box that had soft music playing from it.

I was currently seated on the couch directly across from the TV, fully content with reading my book and listening to the crackling of the fireplace. It was warm and cozy, and my toes had finally thawed enough to move them again.

On the other side of the room was a huge bar where many middle-aged to old people sat, laughing and drinking. I tuned them out, focusing on reading my book.

...

The sky outside the windows was turning a deep orange, preparing to set, by the time I reached the last chapter.

More people had entered the lodge as they finished skiing for the day. The couches surrounding me were now full of laughing friends as some football game played on the flatscreen.

I tried to tune out the TV and focus on reading, forcing my eyes to scan over the lines when I spaced-out the first time.

"Audrey, right?" A female voice said, just as I felt a weight dip at the other end of the couch.

I looked up to see a girl looking at me curiously. "Um, yeah. Do I know you from somewhere?" The girls long, strawberry-blonde hair was hard to forget and she seemed very familiar.

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, her green eyes twinkling with a smile. "I'm Grace. I'm one of the girls staying in the cabin."

I sat up straighter, closing the cover of my book and smiling back. "That's it, I knew I recognized you!"

She nodded, crossing one legging-clad leg over the other. "Yep! So... skiing's not your thing, either?"

I laughed. "How could you tell?"

"I saw you earlier on the bunny slope," she started, pausing when she saw me cringing in embarrassment. "Oh, don't worry, I'm probably worse than you!" She reassured me.

I recalled stumbling over my own skis, barely avoiding a collision with a 10 year old girl. "I highly doubt that, but thanks."

She just grinned, her eyes flickering around the room to examine our surroundings. "I guess we'll both just stay in here, where it's warm...and safe, for that matter!"