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33

"So, ready to go skiing, guys?" Liam asks after we finish our coffees.

We are all sitting in a very cozy coffee shop near Tina's house, which happens to be at the base of the slope. The place smells like I imagine Santa's house would smell and the nice lady who owns the place, Mrs. Almond, took our order giving us, on the house, a huge plate with cookies. She served me a delicious cinnamon coffee and the best peanut butter cookies I ever had, plus she has mulled wine. Who doesn't love mulled wine in winter? 

"Why do we have to go now?" Alicia asks clearly not wanting to leave into the cold outside this place.

"Because tomorrow is New Year's Eve, we will have to get ready for the party, the club is 30 minutes away from the cabin and the day after tomorrow when we wake up we will have to leave."

I explain for the fourth time today. Liam looks at me smiling clearly amused by my attitude, but I don't plan to be mean, I simply want to go skiing since I haven't done it in a while, and back home everyone was excited to do it, now they don't want to anymore. I don't want to go to that stupid club tomorrow night, I would very much prefer a nice, quiet night in the cabin, but I will go for them. 

'Let's go!" Alicia says not very happy about it, getting up. "We will come back, Mrs. Almond, don't let the wine get cold. "

She says smiling at the gray-haired woman, as we all put our jackets on. Mrs. Almond waives us goodbye as we get out of the coffee shop.

It's a cold day here, it doesn't snow anymore, but it did all night, so the slope should be perfect for skiing. I don't particularly enjoy the freezing sensation I have as soon as I am outside, but I love how the air smells in this place, clean and piney and pure. We don't have this kind of air in our town so I take a deep breath trying to get into my lungs as much fresh air as I can. 

As we get on top of the slope we decide to make a little competition out of the first tour so we all line up ready to ski down the mountain as soon as Freddie says 'Go'. Liam and I are shoulders to shoulder when he takes my hand making me turn to face him.

"Fuck their stupid competition, ok? Just keep close to me the first round, you haven't skied in a lot of time..."

But before he could finish his sentence Freddie gives us the sign that the competition is on and I bolt down the mountain smiling at Liam who was left behind. 

God, I missed skiing so damn much. The rush gives you, the feeling of freedom, the adrenaline it's like nothing I ever experienced in my life. There's nothing that could remotely compare to this.  It's the combination of excitement, loss of control, exhilaration, and the sense of freedom all wrapped up in one, that makes skiing such an amazing sport. 

I don't see any of my friends anywhere in front of me or beside me, so I turn my head to search for them, feeling happier than ever that I am about to actually win. I never won anything sport-related, books being more like my kind of thing. But behind me the only one I see is Liam, he's quite away from me but getting closer, no sight of the others. 

Just as I turn planning to slow down so he could reach me, I lose control of the skies. My feet start to shake due to the speed and I can't seem to stop or slow down, on the contrary, the speed gets higher and higher. Pointing the ski tips together and trying to go use the mountain, skiing perpendicular to the base of the hill, I start slow down but not enough to actually regain control or stop. 

Someone outruns me going down the mountain faster than I thought was actually possible. I recognize him instantly, and for a second I am sure Liam lost control too and I get scared. But before I could process the fact that we are both probably get very injured, he suddenly stops, turning around just before I bump into him making both of us roll down the hill.