"Hey Mads! What are you up to today?" I turned to see my cousin walking over to me in the large employee locker room.
"Nothing really. I'm just on call today for whoever wants a lesson." I finished closing the clasps on my boots and grabbed my coat out of my locker.
"Ugh, lucky," she groaned. I laughed at how dramatic she was being. "I have lessons until four today."
"Ah but think of how accomplished you'll feel when they're over!" I nudged her and laughed when she slumped against the locker next to mine.
"Come on let's get going." I shut my locker and we headed out the door, grabbing our radios along the way. Once we were outside, we grabbed our skis and split our separate ways, her heading towards the ski rental area where students waited for their instructor and me toward the lift.
After a few runs on the mountains fresh powder, I found myself riding the lift with a stranger.
"My names Jay," he spoke, extending his gloved hand for me to shake. I lifted my goggles onto my helmet and shook his hand.
"Madison. Are you from around here?" I asked.
"Uh, kind of. I recently bought a place close to town but I'm originally from Colorado. You?"
"Born and raised here."
"That's cool. How long have you worked here?" He pointed toward the resort's logo on my coat.
"I started as a lift kid in high school but I've been teaching for about four seasons now." He nodded and we sat in comfortable silence as we got to the top of the mountain. We pushed off the lift and both turned toward the trail on the mountain.
"Wanna race?" I asked, giving him a challenging look as we sat at the first of the hill.
"I don't know," he spoke and I tilted my head, egging him on. "I'd rather not see you cry." My jaw popped open in fake disbelief and I quickly pulled my goggles back down.
"See you down there," I pushed off, Jay immediately behind me. We raced down the hill, the wind whipping past us, the tops of my cheeks burning slightly with the sting of the cold air. He flew off of a jump to the right of the trail, putting me just a few more feet ahead of him. As the lodge came into view, I suddenly saw Jay out of the corner of my eye gaining on me. I tucked in as much as I could and pushed off of my skis a little hoping to maintain the ground I had on him before sliding to a halt in front of the lodge, him coming in not even a second behind me, accidentally sliding an inch too far and toppling over onto me. I felt the air whoosh out of my lungs as I hit the ground, the padding of the snow and my winter gear not helping in the least.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry are you alright?"
"I'd be better if I could breath," I wheezed, slowly getting my breath back.
"Shoot, here let me help you up," he reached down and helped me sit up before lifting me like I weighed nothing and placing me back onto my feet. He lifted his goggles up over his forehead and pulled his scarf down from over his mouth, letting me see his face.
"Is your head okay?" he looked into my eyes in worry and I noticed how blue his were. Icy, like the snow at the top of the mountains when the sun is setting on them. His lips were a dark red, accented by the dark stubble he was sporting.
"I really hope your lack of response is due to my good looks and not a concussion," he laughed, hands still on my waist, mine gripping his arms, still trying to regain balance.
"Ha," I let out a forced laugh, trying to get myself to form words and failing. "I'm sure I'll be okay, I just need a minute." I let go of his arms so I could take off my goggles and beanie, shaking some of the snow that was clinging to my hair. When I looked back at Jay, he was smiling like he knew a secret.
"What?" I asked. I felt my face heat up but hoped that the slight windburn I already had made it less obvious. "Is there something on my face?"
"No, just something in your hair." He took off a glove and reached out and pulled some of my hair between us, gently untangling a small piece of a pine tree out of it.
"Thanks," I spoke as he dropped the pine needles to the ground and tucked the hair behind my ear.
"I just plowed you over into a pile of snow and pine needles and you're thanking me?" he laughed. I shrugged as a smile took over my face. "I'm afraid that just won't do it for me. Let me buy you lunch," his hand reached for mine.
"Oh I thought you knew?" I smiled jokingly at him, my grin widening when he looked a little confused. "Losers always have to treat the winners."
"Oh, I'm sorry I forgot that I let you win earlier, that's my bad." I raised an eyebrow at him.
"Sure you did," I winked and turned to put my skis up against the rack, Jay following suit before we headed into the lodge. I trudged over to a spot by the fireplace and began taking off my snow clothes so they could start to dry a little then pulled my hair into a ponytail while Jay did the same except leaving on his ski pants and boots.
"You're really going to walk around without your boots on?" Jay asked.
"Why not?" I shrugged before heading over to the deli. "I basically grew up here. It feels like I'm in my own living room." We ordered and sat down, waiting for a minute for our order to be called out.
"So Jay, tell me about yourself. I mean, other than being a sore loser and running over innocent women like me, what do you like to do for fun?"
"I ski and then I ski and then I ski some more."
"Wow. You're so interesting." I spoke in monotone.
"Okay, okay, you caught me. I'm actually new to skiing which is why I completely ran you over at the bottom of the hill."
"I don't believe you for a second." I stood up having heard our names from the counter. We grabbed our food and sat back down.
"What if I said I'm an Olympic skier?" He raised an eyebrow at me tauntingly.
"Sure, and I'm an Oscar nominee." I laughed and he joined a second later. We talked about movies for a bit, figuring out which of the recent ones we loved the most.
"It just wasn't as good as the original, you know?" He spoke. I nodded, about to reply when we were interrupted.
"Scuse me, can I please get your autograph?" A little boy asked Jay. Jay's cheekbones were suddenly dusted with a bright red and I saw him look at me out of the corner of his eye before responding to the little kid.
"Uh, sure. What's your name?"
"Caden." Jay scribbled out a quick note on the kid's phone case before handing it back to him. He said a quick thank you before running back to the table he had been at before.
"Am I missing something?" I asked, my head tilting slightly to the side.
"Like what?" Jay played dumb.
"Why would he want your autograph, Jay?" Jay avoided eye contact for a second, shrugging his shoulders before looking back at me. "Unless you're actually a-" I stopped, something clicking in my head all of a sudden. "Unless you're actually an Olympic skier." I narrowed my eyes as Jay slowly smiled at me like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "Jay Ashton? Really?" He slowly nodded. "I beat Jay Ashton in a race."
"I'd like to point out that I am a freestyle skier, not a speed skier."
"Right. Was running me over one of your tricks then?"
"I mean, I got to have lunch with you so I feel like I won." He gave me a big, cheesy smile.
"You're about as smooth as the slopes aren't you?" I teased, earning a gentle hit to my arm. We kept joking around and I asked him about what it's like to compete in the olympics while we finished our food.
"Want a rematch?" Jay asked as we dumped our trays.
"And what do I get when I win again?" I began putting my snow clothes and boots back on.
"I was thinking we could go grab dinner or something." I glanced at him and noticed how hard he was trying to seem completely chill. He was doing great other than how hard he was blushing.
"Alright." I smiled, standing up. We headed out to our skis, a good silence falling between us while we got clipped in and headed off to the lift. We got on a seat and started heading up the mountain, chatting about when we had started skiing and some of our favorite runs to do. Once we reached the top we stayed next to each other until we were right at the start of the run.
"Ready?" I asked.
"Yep!"
"Go!" We pushed off and sped down the hill, flying past everyone else. We were in tandem with each other for nearly the whole hill, Jay coming in front near the end when I had to swerve to dodge another skier.
"Would you look at that?" Jay spoke, his breath coming out in small puffs of foggy air. "It seems as though I have won! What a turn of events!" His head bent back as he laughed. I rolled my eyes, going to push him but regretting it when he started falling and pulled me down with him.
"How do we keep ending up like this?" Jay teased again, his voice soft and his eyes searching mine.
I was definitely speechless at this point, my eyes having found their way to his lips.
"Uh, I don't know," I finally mumbled, eyes jumping back up to his when I noticed the sly smirk that he was beginning to sport. "I think you are doing it on purpose." I accused.
"Is that a complaint?" he asked.
"Is that a confession?" I raised my eyebrows, trying to not let on to how badly I wanted us to stay right where we were. I could feel his hands burning through the fabric of my snow clothes, making my insides feel like they were melting in the best possible way, warming me all the way to my fingers and toes.
"I confess to liking the view I have right now." My brain malfunctioned for a moment, hoping- praying that he meant that in a good way and that it wasn't because of how ridiculous I may have looked.
"Really?" I asked, my faulty facade dropping for a moment.
"Really." I sucked in a breath, trying to come up with a response or reaction other than staring at him in awkward silence.
"So when are we going out for dinner?" My voice came out much quieter than usual.
"I was thinking tonight?" We both sat up, our faces still close to one another. "I figured if you enjoy going fast on the slopes, I shouldn't plan on you being patient with me." I playfully hit his arm and stood up, kicking a bit of snow onto his lap.
"How rude!" I laughed, bending over to pick up my skis. I felt his arms wrap around my waist and I let out a short scream when he fell back into the powder, snow finding its way into my coat.
"Jay, you got snow in my coat! Now I'm freezing!" I sat up next to him again, taking off my gloves to unzip my coat, finding that the snow had gotten into my hoodie as well that I had been wearing underneath. "Look what you've done!" I couldn't help my smile shining through in my tone. I reached for a handful of snow but was stopped by Jay's hands taking a hold of mine and pulling them close to him, consequently bringing my face closer as well.
I held my breath, waiting for him to make another move. I blinked and he was kissing me. His hands released mine, sliding under my coat and around my waist while mine rested on each side of his face, the contrast of his cheekbones, cold from the wind, and my hands, warm from my gloves, barely registered in the back of my mind.
We leaned away for a moment, puffs of warm air rising between us.
"So, what time are we having dinner?" I asked, and Jay laughed in response.
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