Four days until Christmas.
I slipped on my gloves pressing down my helmet again before looking up at my brother. He lifted my helmet up a little as it was covering my eyes and chuckled, buckling the buckle at the bottom of my chin.
Today was a big day! It was the day my family and I were going snowboarding. Ace says he prefers skiing but it's just easier if we're all doing the same thing as Cal only knows how to snowboard. That, and Caleb has also been bragging about his snowboarding abilities (in addition to his hockey ones) so Ace said he also had to take him down a few pegs.
Cal assured me that snowboarding is also easier to learn than skiing so that made me feel a lot better.
"So which foot do I put in?" I questioned, seeing as both of my brothers had one foot attached to their snowboard and they both have different ones!
We had already rented all of the gear and signed any necessary wavers so my family and I were good to go! As long as I didn't die.
"Whichever one you ride with?" Caleb responded simply.
I deadpanned him. "Which is?"
"What foot goes on the board when you skateboard?"
"I don't skateboard."
"How about when you wakesurf? Which foot goes forward?"
"Haven't done that either?"
"Oh. Really?"
"Yes, Cal."
"Alright.... How about when you surf!?"
I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath before looking back up at Caleb. Was this guy serious?
"Shut up." Ace told his best friend, clipping him harshly on the back of his head.
"What?!" Caleb looked around like he was genuinely confused. Sometimes I wonder if he was dropped too much as a kid or what happened there...
"Watch." Ace said simply. He reached out and pushed my shoulder, causing me to stumble, but ultimately catch my balance.
"Ace!" I exclaimed. What the heck? This is a Caleb thing to do, not an Ace thing to do!
"You're goofy." He declared.
"What does that mean?" I asked, quietly, but my words were outshined by Caleb pouting.
"Hey! You're like Ace. Not me." He crossed his arms over his chest.
"We are siblings." Ace said as a response, not even bothering to look up at Caleb.
"That's not the reason, dumbass. She's left handed," Caleb retorted.
Ace got down on one knee — completely ignoring Cal —, grabbing my foot and helping me to secure my right foot tightly within the straps, showing me all of the intricate binding so that I can do it later.
Caleb seems to have gotten over his pity party as he has now come up to us and is helping Ace explain.
"Your right foot will always stay strapped in and you will need to unstrap and strap into your left foot fairly quickly when you are going down the hill. Both feet should always be strapped when going down, but only one when on the chair lift and only one if we are on flat ground or not currently moving so that if you lose your balance you can catch yourself and not fall straight on your ass or face."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence." I gritted out.
"I'm not saying you're going to do it, JD, I'm just saying it has happened before."
"To you!" I shot back.
I may be a very sweet teenage girl. But trust me growing up with two brothers — one of them being someone like Caleb — I have quite the attitude and can have good comebacks if I really want to.
"Funny." He offset my helmet before continuing to walk.
Ace motioned for me to follow them as we came to stand at the top most part of the hill. It was still flat over here which I was grateful for because I wouldn't want to be rolling/sliding down the hill when I didn't know what I was doing or how to snowboard.
"So what you're going to do is just put your right foot in front of yourself — just like Ace." Caleb started to explain.
It was like I was in a school lesson. Ace was the board that showed me exactly what I was doing — as he's "goofy" and has the same stance as I have. And Caleb is the teacher who explains things with words and points to the board when he feels like it.
Ace's back was turned towards me with his right foot in front and his left foot in back. But his left foot wasn't strapped into his board.
"Your foot is going to be strapped in" — Cal said as Ace set his foot onto the straps to pretend that that is where his foot will be — "and you can put your arms out to balance. But balancing isn't that hard, so don't worry about it. And then you just kinda ride down! And of course, stop at the bottom and stay on the course." Caleb said nonchalantly.
"It's kinda a steep hill, what if I start going too fast?"
I think in Caleb's explanation he missed out on quite a few crucial steps to this entire process....
"It's a kiddy hill for one," Cal laughed. "Not even a green yet! But I'll show you how to stop. Watch; I'm just going to level out my board so I am now facing forward." He explains.
Cal reached down to strap in one of the straps — of many — around his right foot before itching himself off of the hill. He went down only a couple feet before his left leg straightened up instead of going downhill so his chest was now facing down the hill instead of his shoulder. Cal's feet lifted up ever so slightly as some snow caught around his board and he was able to stop flawlessly after itching himself down the hill a little more. My brother's best friend smiled as he turned back to us, taking his right foot out again so he could slide himself up the hill.
"Got it?"
I bit my lip, replaying everything that I had just seen. "I think so?"
"Alright. Let's practice. Ace is gonna go down the hill, just a little" — the second those words left his mouth Ace was already sliding down the hill and stopping a little further than where Caleb had stopped — "and I'll couch you from here. So just do as I did and go down as far and as fast as you're comfortable with and when you want to stop or slow down turn your board like I showed you."
"Am I gonna fall?" I asked abruptly, whipping my head towards the blonde haired boy whose hair was almost white at this stage.
"You might fall on your butt if you pull up your toes too much, but those falls at this speed won't hurt, trust me."
I haven't left yet.
"Do I just go?"
"Yep!"
Oh.
I told myself to do it, hitting my helmet once to make sure that it was nice and secure before inching my way to the part of the hill that actually starts to go down hill. I was already diagnall to the hill so that part was fine and I didn't have to move.
The part that was not fine, however, was when two seconds after I was already gaining speed. And a lot of speed. I thought Cal said this was a "kiddy hill" aren't kiddy hills supposed to be super easy? Without a second thought I yelped and jerked my right foot to the right, falling right on my butt and my hands with a thump.
"You alright?" Cal's husky vice asked me, grabbing the back of my arms and hosing me up as Ace also appeared in front of me.
"I was going so fast!" I exclaimed.
Ace laughed slightly, "You weren't." He shook his head.
I scowled at him. "Yes I was! I went from 0 to 1000 miles per second in under a second."
"You just need to let yourself go down the hill, not stop and close your eyes after a foot." Caleb's brilliant coaching came into play.
"But it's scary!" I whined, looking up at my brothers with the puppy dog eyes. But this and this time only they did not seem to work.
My entire life the puppy dog—sweet eyes have always worked for me. Especially because my eyes are just naturally big and a deep brown (doe eyes as my brother and his friend call them) so it's not that hard to make them even bigger.
When I was super small, no matter how trivial my wish was, these eyes worked every time. As I got older it stopped working as much — both because I was older and therefore less cute and because my brother got older and stopped falling for my tricks.
It's like he has immunity to them. I distinctly remember Caleb falling for my puppy dog eyes every time when Ace first introduced us and Ace kept on telling him to ignore me but Cal couldn't. It's the Jodee Effect!
"It's not."
"Yes it is!" I started to argue before Ace put a hand on my back telling me to calm down so I took a step backward.
"You come down. No stopping. I'll catch you." He said.
"Ummmmmm, I think I already said this — I'm going 1000 miles a second, you won't be able to catch me! I'll hurt you or I'll go flying down off of the cliff." I waved my hands around sporadically.
"I'll manage." Ace responded, flashing me with a light tipped smile.
I sighed before nodding and Ace pushed off, skating down the hill a little before stopping.
"That's too far!" If I couldn't make it to him the time before this, I don't know who he thinks he is going further than before.
"You got this!" He yelled back, holding two thumbs up towards me — something childish for a refined guy like Ace.
I looked at Caleb.
"I'll give you a boost." He teased, his arms coming up as he slowly stalked towards me.
Go to my death, have Caleb push me. Go to my death, have Caleb push me. Such a hard decision!
With one last huge breath I push off from the ground, inching my way down the mountain. I put my hands out for balance and squeeze my eyes shut as the wind starts to harshly wip my face. I start to scream when I really start to pick up speed, but my screams are short lived before two strong arms are wrapped around my waist, effectively stopping me in my tracks.
"Open eyes, silly girl." Ace told me with a stern look on my face, hitting the back of my helmet playfully.
I sheepishly grinned up at him. "Sorry?"
"Look, JD, you've made it down!"
I look around to realize that we have in fact made it down the entire hill to where a bunch of people are lined up — most of them kids or parents with kids, great.
I throw my head back, groaning. "Ugh. Now we've got to walk all the way up the hill."
Caleb and Ace both share a look of disbelief.
"Are you serious?" Caleb demands.
"What?" I asked, just as confused.
"For someone so smart, you can sure me du—not so observative" — Cal changed his language from the look he's getting from his best friend. "What do you think the freaking chair lift is for?" He reached over and forcefully moved my head.
Now I understand that the line is to get onto some sort of pulley system that will take us up the hill so you can restart. Now I feel dumb.
"Ohhhhh..." I trail off, my cheeks heating with crimson.
"Yep. Let's get in line." Cal says, also brushing off my mistake which I am thankful for.
It is only about three minutes, maybe less — as the line goes surprisingly fast despite the amount of people that are in it — until my brothers and I are almost all the way up to the front of the line.
"C'mon, this one's us." Cal said, wrapping one arm around my waist and hosting me up and over so that I was in the middle of him and Ace.
I nodded my head and took my left foot off of my board so I could scoot my way to stand in a line next to Ace and Cal as we waited for the chair to come near us.
"Three, two, one ... sit." Caleb encourages, watching the chair coming towards us before more-or-less pushing me down on top of the chair.
We all lift our feet up as the lift pulls us into the air and Ace and Caleb simultaneously reach up to pull down the bar that will secure us in place. Sometimes it's creepy how in sync they are... like twins.
"Oww." I complain once we are a little up in the air. "My ankle hurts."
Seeing as the snowboard is just hanging off of my foot with nothing else supporting it there is some unusual weight on my right ankle which kinda hurts! I've never broken any bones but I think this feels like it's pretty close to that.
Caleb laughed, wrapping an arm around the back of the lift. "Yeah. You'll get used to it ... Anyways this is a very short ride cause the hill isn't that long so we need to prepare you to get off."
"Aren't they just going to stop it and we'll just kinda walk off." I mutter sarcastically.
Why would I need preparation for that? Think Cal!
"No, wise ass." He responds. "It keeps moving and there's a hill at the end so it's super easy to lose balance. I'd say the hardest part of snowboarding."
"You would!" My eyes, roundabout, pop out of their sockets. I am so surprised at Caleb's words.
I'm so fucked.
"Yep." He shrugs, not sensing the distress in my voice. "All you gotta do is be ready when the lift comes near the mountain. Time it right. And keep your balance."
I think I start to sweat even though it is so cold here.
"Relax." Ace whispers in my ear. "We'll help. It'll be fine."
I nod my head, a little squeak coming out of my mouth as I now come to realize that the end of the lift is coming up and fast.
"Put your left foot on your snowboard and touch it to the ground. Don't fall down, try to keep your balance." Cal speaks a thousand miles a minute as there's no time to explain when we have to get off. "Now." He says.
I quickly put my left foot back on its spot on my snowboard when it's not strapped in. Touching both the front and the back onto the snow.
Everything was going great until I realized that I am way too slow and the lift kinda hits my butt, causing me to go off balance and dip forward.
Before I can fall straight onto my face Caleb and Ace each grab ahold of my upper arms in their firm grips and keep me upright. They effortlessly make it out of the way of the lift rapidly kicking people off while I am struggling the entire time.
"There ya go! Didn't fall. Pretty good for your first time, huh?" Caleb grins, but then his ADHD kicks in and he turns around, moving his board far away. "Let's go again!"
I shake my head at his antics, my brother and I sharing a look.
"More fun, more practice." It'll be more fun with more practice, Ace tells me before he grabs my hand and helps me to follow after our honorary brother.
A/N - I had originally planned to have this book finished by Christmas ... but of course, life got in the way. So it'll probably bleed into the new year, pushing back progress of my two main books. Thank you all for understanding!