Iced Cocoa

December 1st

Magnus POV

"It's so beautiful here!", I sighed. The firs were covered in snow- we never have that in Los Angeles, where Simon and I are from. "It was the right choice to come."; Simon replied and got out of my car. We were surrounded by the beautiful mountains of Aspen, Colorado. It was a very long ride but I have already realized that it was worth it. "All of this is so gigantic!", I sighed and breathed in the freezing air. 

"Are you Magnus Bane and Simon Lewis?", a middle-aged man in jeans and a polo-sweater asked. The cold weather left undeniable marks on his relatively tanned face, his nose was red as if he has been in the cold for quite some time by now. "Yes!", I replied and shook his hand. "Hi, I am William, the owner of the hotel you have booked. I will help you unpack your luggage and accompany you on our way up to the hotel.", he said with a wide, perfect smile. "Thank you!", I said an opened the trunk to unload our bags. "You can leave the car in this garage for your entire stay.", William informed us. "That's perfect, otherwise our car will turn into a block of ice, I think.", Simon joked. "That's Colorado!", William laughed and we followed him to the ropeway. 

"This ropeway has three stops- right now you're at the first stop, the very bottom. This is basically where the civilization is. Then you ride it up half-way to reach the second stop, that's where our and a few other hotels are. You are half-up the mountain which makes the atmosphere a lot more private, exclusive and definitely authentic. You can watch the sun rise and set every day and you are in the middle of aspen so it's only one more ropeway ride up to the third station, the highest one. That's where all the slopes and ski lifts are.", William explained and I listened carefully- it seemed to be pretty easy, there were only two ways afterall- up or down. Soon, we reached the ropeway. 

"Is this your first time skiing?", William asked and both Simon and I nodded. "Well, then you came to the right place!", he laughed, "Do you have private instructors? I saw you booked the hotel for the entire December." "That's right.", I said, "We both got assigned one instructor by the Lightwoods- apparently their names are Alexander and Isabelle." "Oh, Alec and Izzy! I know them very well, actually. They are siblings and the Lightwoods' two oldest kids. You're definitely going to have fun with them, they are really good a what they do.", William said and the gondola started driving. It was only me, Simon, William and our luggage in there- the gondolas were quite spacious which explained the 20 people sign. "That's calming to hear.", Simon replied, "We are both a little nervous." I laughed:" We're from LA, Snow is not really our element-yet." "Well this is going to change, I promise.", Willian replied. 

With a sigh, I looked outside of the gondola- The snowy tips of the firs stroke against the bottom of the gondola, snowflakes got stuck at the glass windows and it seemed like they were stuck in a cloud of white. "The weather is not as good today.", William said, "But it is going to be better." "What is it usually like?", Simon asked. "When the sun shines, the snow actually sparkles and you can see the views- right now its all just white." "Well, I am looking forwards to that.", I replied. As we got out of the gondola, the freezing wind hit us right in the face. "God, it's really a lot colder up here than down there.", Simon said and William laughed:" It's always colder the further up you go. Anyways, this is the hotel!" 

In front of us was a huge wooden building, looked a little like traditional Austrian houses in mountain regions. It was definitely very beautiful and had that mountain-ish flair I was looking for while searching for a hotel. "Make yourselves a home!", William welcomed us as he pushed the heavy wooden door open. To my relief it was very warm inside. "I love how cozy it is in here!", Simon sighed. He wasn't wrong- the inside smelled like cinnamon and wood, there were wooden benches scattered around, red and white fuzzy blankets everywhere, inviting everyone to cuddle with them. "It's already quite Christmas-ish.", William grinned, "It's December already anyways." "I love it.", I chuckled- I really did. It already felt like home. 

Not without acknowledging the coziness for a couple more seconds, we followed William to our hotel room. It was more like a little apartment, actually. "Your room number is 113. It's easy to remember.", Will said as he unlocked the room. I could see a bedroom with two separate beds out of woods, lovely red blankets which were matching the curtains. "There's the balcony.", Will said and guided us through the apartment. Apart from the bedroom and the balcony, there was a bathroom including a hot tub, a small kitchen and a random room with some sofas and a TV to relax in. "The tub looks fantastic.", I sighed- I loved bathing. There was something romantic about filling it with hot water, throwing a bath bomb in it and just enjoying the whole process by laying in there for a solid forty minutes and looking through a fashion magazine. "Especially after a long day of hitting the slopes in the cold, a good bath is all you could ask for.", William added. "We are going to find out tomorrow, then.", I sighed and accompanied Will to the door. "Okay but how am I now even more excited about this whole trip? I mean look at how cute everything here is.", Simon squeaked. "I mean so far everything is looking fantastic.", I laughed and let myself fall onto the cozy bed, "I just hope our instructors are nice."