"Okay, how are we going to do this? Kate and James, I think you guys would prefer to ride with someone closer to your own height this time? It makes it much easier that way."
"Yeah, definitely Brett mate."
"Okay James, how about you ride with Eddy and Kate you ride with me?"
James raised an eyebrow. He looked like he was trying to hide his emotions but Eddy didn't miss the flash of anger and got a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.
I think James is a jealous type..
Luckily Brett caught onto James' expression too and turned to the other 2 girls.
"Or perhaps one of you ladies wouldn't mind riding with me? And the other could ride with Kate?"
The 2 girls looked at each other and giggled. After quickly whispering into each other's ears and giggling some more, the taller one of the two spoke up shyly.
"Well since I'm taller I suppose I should pair up with you Brett? Emma is closer to Kate's height so she can go with her."
"Sounds like a plan. Alright, let's all go."
"Aaah, man this is so much better, mate, I'm going to have to make sure I always pair up with some tall dude when I ride these stupid things."
James looked like he was in a much better mood as the T bar successfully pulled him and Eddy up the slope.
"Yeah, I saw the bar digging into Brett's lower back when I rode that thing with him before, it must have been even trickier with the height difference between you and Kate."
"No shit, mate, look, she pushed the damn thing all the way down here like this..!"
Eddy wasn't prepared for James as the bar got pushed down and slid below Eddy's hip.
"Oh fuc..."
Eddy didn't even get to complete his expletive as he lost his balance and toppled backwards, he instinctively grabbed onto James' jacket and took him down with the fall. They landed in the snow side by side with the wind slightly knocked out of them but they weren't hurt in any way.
"...Oh f*ck. I'm sorry Eddy, man, I shouldn't have moved that bloody T bar, are you okay?"
"It's okay James, I'm sorry I took you down with me. I'm just glad we're both okay... hey, what..??"
OH F*CK, NO
The T bar they had fallen onto had managed to snake its way in between their boot and snowboard and hooked both boys, slowly dragging them up the hill.
"Oh sh*t!!"
"Holly cr*p, Eddy. What do we do now ??"
"Oh geez, um.. look James, I think we'll just have to stay like this and get the liftie up there to untangle us when we get to the top ? Just try to chill, man"
Eddy tried to stay calm. For a second he thought he could just relax with one leg up in the air as the lift dragged them up the hill. They would look pretty stupid and it would be kinda embarrassing if any passing skiers or boarders saw them but what the heck he was wearing snow clothes so it wasn't like he was in any discomfort as the side of his body was dragged along on the snow.
Or so he thought.
What he quickly learnt was that as the T bar increased its pull, Eddy's elevated leg was pulled up higher and higher.
"Oh f*ck! Owwwwwwwww"
James was obviously less flexible than Eddy. Eddy wasn't particularly flexible either, not by a long shot but he was in too much shock to react like James. Besides, just when he thought things couldn't get any worse, he felt his body drifting sideways.
"Oh no... no... no way..."
Both James and Eddy had no time to react as they drifted further and further off track and fell into a pit at the base of one of the lift towers. The pit was about a metre deep and the sudden fall while still having their feet tangled up on the T bar meant that they were both practically made to do the splits. James howled in pain before their body weight managed to dislodge both of them off the T bar as they landed with a dull thump at the bottom of the pit. This time Eddy definitely felt the wind knocked out of him and felt slightly faint.
"James! Eddy! Can you both hear me ?!"
Eddy opened his eyes and saw Brett peering into the pit he had fallen into.
"Eddy !"
"Yeah Brett, I can hear you."
Eddy felt pressure in his chest and found it difficult to breathe. The constriction in his chest started to frighten him and he felt a wave of panic creeping upon him.
"Eddy! how's James? Is he conscious ?"
Only then Eddy realised that James was lying on top of him. No wonder he couldn't breathe properly. Eddy gave out a small sigh of relief as he slowly moved his arm to pat James on his back.
"Um, James? You okay ?"
James wasn't unconscious. He had been whimpering and mumbling the whole time.
"...Man that so f*ckin' hurt so bad, that stupid split."
"Brett, did you heard that? James is conscious, he's just a bit sore but I think he's okay."
"Oh thank f*cking god."
Eddy then heard another guy approaching the pit.
"Sh*t, are they alright ?"
Eddy noticed Brett's expression change.
"Eddy, that's the liftie from the bottom of the hill. I'll be right back."
The next second, Brett's face disappeared as he must have stood up to face the liftie.
"....They're both conscious, we'll check for injuries and then pull them out, yeah? I'm hoping we won't have to radio for a snowmobile."
By the time the liftie from the top of the slope arrived on skis, both Eddy and James were able to wriggle their limbs and confirm that nothing was broken. Three adults were enough to help Eddy and James out of the pit . It was only when Eddy was out of the pit he noticed the T bar lift had been shut down for them.
The liftie from the top of the hill asked what happened.
"All I saw was a T bar gettin' flung up into the air, must have been when these guys fell into the pit"
Brett nodded. He looked like he was trying to stay calm but he wasn't his usual bubbly self. His face was expressionless, some might call it deadpan.
"Yeah you wouldn't have seen much since it happened closer to the base of the slope. Mate, didn't you see anything ?"
Brett was asking the other liftie now, the one closer to the incident.
"Look, Brett, I let those boys on the T bar, gave it three T bars spaces before letting you ride with that girl, right? Then I had another bunch of boarder beginners, I got busy."
"Dude, I was yelling and signalling the minute they fell backwards, you should've stopped the lift at that point anyway because you knew I riding behind them with an absolute beginner. I suspected at least one of them could've been hoisted up... I just didn't expect both of them to get tangled up like that... never seen anything like it."
The liftie from the top interrupted their discussion before it turned into a full-on roast by Brett.
"Okay guys, I think we're all good now. We were pretty lucky, it could've ended much worse. I'll write it up and you guys can check it later okay? Brett, you better continue with your group lesson, your students are waiting."
"So there was a bit of a mishap on the T bars but I am so glad no one was seriously injured. Thank you all for being such a great sport and I hope you enjoy the rest of your time on the snow! Bye!!"
Brett was back being his cheery self again and concluded his lesson on a high note.
After everyone else in the group took turns thanking Brett, Eddy approached him.
"Thanks for the lesson today, Brett. And also for um, rescuing me."
"Hey Eddy, no worries, I'm so sorry about what happened to you. Man, you were quite lucky."
"Yeah ? I didn't feel particularly lucky going through all that."
"Oh, sorry, no of course not. I meant your injuries could've been much worse and I'm so glad they weren't. I almost shat myself when I thought you hit your head down there in the pit. And I'm hoping James can still have kids after the T bar mangled him like how a toddler does to her Barbie doll, y'know ?"
Eddy couldn't help but laugh out loud.
The sense of humour of this guy is something else.
"Yeah I know what you mean. Well thanks anyway, I know you really took good care of us."
"No worries. So, how long are you planning to be at the snow ?"
"I just arrived today and I'm here for another 6 days."
"Ah that's cool. You should consider taking lessons every day, combined with the practice you do afterwards on your own, you could become really good really quickly with boarding. Provided that I haven't put you off from snowboarding lessons, that is."
"Yeah that sounds like a good idea and no you definitely haven't put me off in any way."
Not at all.
"Hmm, glad to hear."
"Yeah."
"So..."
"So...?"
"So, I've got 2 more classes to teach today. You wanna go grab some drinks afterwards ?"
"Um.. yeah sure Brett. I'll be practising while I wait."
A smile of relief and happiness emerged from the corners of Brett's mouth as he softly whispered in a low, velvety voice.
"That's great."
-------------------------------------
A/N: That concludes the story of "Twoset Snowboarders ". Thank you so much for reading my stories. It means a tonne to a new writer like me. If you would like to read more of my stories, I've just created two more books!!
One is called "Twoset Football" which includes the trilogy I wrote in this one-short book titled "Twoset Football Talent, II and III". I am hoping to add more chapters to this book soon.
The other book is called "Twoset Hosts" , It was originally drafted as a one-shot but just like "Twoset Football" it started to write itself so I decided to start it as a new book.
Cheers☆