“Elle, if you don’t get on that thing by the time I count to three, then I will force you on,” Nick threatened. If I didn’t know any better I would say that he may have been a little agitated.
“You sound like a rapist,” I muttered.
“One,” he ignored my comment, “two!”
“Alright, alright! I get it, Sticky!” I finally gave in. Nick scowled at me, pointing one of his gloved fingers towards the ski lift in front of us. I sighed, waddling over to the required area on my skis with Nick doing the same next to me.
Before I knew what was happening, one of the seats slowly came beneath me, and I sat down, realizing exactly what was about to happen. Nick pulled a bar down to add an element of safety to our journey, and my eyes tightly padlocked shut. It wasn’t that I was afraid of heights, per say, I just would rather not look down into a pit of endless snow while up one hundred feet in the air.
“You can open your eyes,” Nick mumbled, as I felt the seat rock slightly.
“I don’t want to,” I said, refusing to unseal my eyelids.
“Elle, open your eyes,” he commanded.
“No,” I shot back stubbornly; my skis making my feet feel as though they weighed more than two boulders. Yup, my calves were definitely going to hurt like a bitch tomorrow.
“Are you scared?” he questioned. I gave no reply, and could practically hear the smirk in his voice as spoke, “Aw! Elle, it’s just a little white powder! Nothing to be scared about!”
“Shut up!” I finally said, slowly opening my eyes to the assault of white being thrown at them.
“There you go!” he encouraged. “Isn’t it pretty?”
“Not as pretty as solid, defrosted ground,” I grunted, staring blankly at the sea of snowflakes both real and artificial that had accumulated beneath our daggling feet.
“Don’t say that! The mountain might hear you!” he cautioned, evoking his inner naturalist.
“And the snow might too!” I mocked.
“Exactly!” he agreed, catching my sarcasm, but going along with it anyways. The expression on his face changed, as he looked me, into a more solemn one oppose to the light, humored one he had previously possessed. “Elle, thanks for coming.”
“I didn’t really have a choice.”
“I know, but still,” he sighed happily. I smiled at him, not needing to say another word to communicate with him.
My eyes glanced ahead, and my breathing hitched as I realized the ride was coming to a stop. We were at the top of the mountain. Nick too noticed, his hands moving up as he lifted the precautionary handle off of us. My leg muscles flexed as they hit the packed down precipitation below. I slid off the bench, my skis transporting me the short distance away from the large machinery, as Nick trailed closely behind me.
“So, I was think that to start off we’d do a double black diamond,” Nick said, naming the most advanced type of trail the big hill had to offer.
“Or the bunny hill,” I suggested, going in the opposite direction and referring to a mound of snow generally reserved for teaching children between the ages of two and seven how to ski.
“That’s cute, Elle, really,” his voice lacked humor.
“How about we compromise,” I proposed, “intermediate.”
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As Long As You're Mine
Teen FictionNick and Elle. They were the perfect couple. Young, cute, smart, rich, spoiled, and different--they were a match made in heaven. Nick let his perfect relationship go when he decided that skiing was more important than Elle. A year later, they're bot...
Chapter Forty-One
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