by M. F. Lorson
Chapter Seventeen
Rachel was serious when she said she had prepared for today’s excursion. Although she announced that everyone would go skiing, she held Lydia back, peppering her with questions about Cassius Society. Picking up on an opportunity to help, Andrew jumped right in beside her. I didn’t think it would work, but Lydia got super into talking to Andrew about his public school perspective.
My job, once Lydia was engaged, was to impatiently suggest that Christopher and I head out early, seeing as how I had no experience skiing and would end up lagging behind otherwise.
“This way we won’t leave Anne in the dust,” coaxed Ashley. “What do you think—twenty, thirty minutes to teach her?”
Christopher pointed at his chest, bewildered. “I’m going to teach her?”
“Unless you’d rather not,” I said. It was giving him an easy out, but I couldn’t help myself. Rachel shot me a look. I knew she had a master plan and that we both wanted the same outcome, but that didn’t mean I didn’t feel like a total fool going through with all of this.
Christopher looked flustered. “I don’t mind. It’s just...” He looked toward Lydia, but she was so wound up in her conversation that she barely noticed we were in the room.
“She’ll be fine,” said Ashley, motioning to Lydia. “It will give us some time to bond anyway.” I could tell that Christopher knew something was off, but it didn’t appear he had figured out just what it was yet.
He shook his head. “Alright. I guess that’s fine.”
“Great!” said Ashley, clasping her hands together in front of her. “We’ll catch up with you guys in a bit.”
Christopher and I left out the back door. Our snow pants rubbed together, making a swooshing sound as we made our way down the path to the base of the lake where Rachel’s parents’ boathouse waited. It wasn’t much more than the potting shed really, just a one-room structure with recreation equipment. Inside was a jet ski I was pretty sure hadn’t seen the water in years and a couple of old bikes from when Rachel was little. We spotted the skis hanging on the wall toward the back. I noticed that there were only two sets, but I didn’t say anything as Christopher pulled each pair from its hook and carried them outside.
The ski boots fit me alright, a little big, but Christopher said that was normal, and that I wouldn’t want them tight like regular shoes anyway. Having never skied before, I didn’t question his judgment.
It wasn’t like we planned to do a bunch of downhill skiing, but it still freaked me out when Christopher explained that I needed to tilt my knees together to break if I got going too fast.
“The trick is not to cross your skis, or you’ll end up face first in the snow,” said Christopher.
“I’ve actually got my own strategy for that,” I said, chewing on the bottom corner of my lip.
“You’ve got a strategy even though you’ve never skied before,” said Christopher looking at me doubtfully.
“Yeah, don’t go down hills. Or up them. No hills at all,” I said with a confident smile.
Christopher laughed. “There are going to be a few little hills. It’s better to be prepared.”
“Right. I was just joking,” I said. “Sort of.” I wondered if Rachel considered the very real possibility that I met an untimely death in pursuit of seeming like a helpless female in need of instruction. What a way to go, I thought. My obit would say ‘Died because of a Hallmark movie.’
With our boots on and scarves tucked tightly inside of our jackets, Christopher explained how to push off my back foot for momentum. The two of us began to glide around the lake. My ski poles felt awkward at my sides, like roller skating with two big sticks in my way, but I knew without them I wouldn’t be nearly as successful moving forward.
Christopher, on the other hand, was a pro, gliding a good fifty paces ahead of me. At this rate, I was going to be staring at his butt all morning. I was game to spend the morning that way, but it wasn’t going to help when it came to making him fall head over heels in love with me.
I dug my poles into the snow and pulled to a stop.
“Wait up!” I called, cupping my mouth with my hands to help my voice carry through the trees and wind. At first, I thought he didn’t hear me, but soon Christopher was slowly arcing around, heading back in my direction.
“You know, part of teaching is like being in the same vicinity as your student,” I said, once Christopher had finally reached me and was once again skiing at my side.
Christopher smiled, raising one eyebrow. “My apologies. This is my first outing as an uncertified amateur ski instructor.”
I was utterly transfixed by the little dots of snow that hung on his eyelashes, the rosy color on the tip of his nose and the way that his eyes were somehow even more ensnaring when surrounded by a backdrop of winter.
“Earth to Anne!” said Christopher. I felt my face turning scarlet as I realized his lips had been moving, but I hadn’t heard a thing he’s said.
“Sorry,” I said, shaking my head, “I drifted off there.”
“That’s for sure,” said Christopher, smiling and looking at me in a way that did not improve my concentration. “I was just saying you’ll go faster if you intensify the kick and glide cycle.”
I scrunched my face up. “What the H. E. double hockey sticks does that mean?”
Christopher laughed. “Try to match the push on your poles to the glide of your skis.” I shook my head and pushed forward, attempting to do what he said.
“Why didn’t you just say that then?”
“Also,” he said with a smirk, “it should be easier for you, seeing as how I’ve already laid the path ahead. All you have to do is ski in my wake.”
If we were on solid ground, I would have smacked him, but since we were skiing and I could barely keep upright, I grumbled under my breath instead.
Christopher stayed by my side as we continued along the perimeter of the lake. Now I understood what he meant by ‘it was easier for me’ before. Without him skiing ahead, the path was a lot more strenuous. We had been out for well past thirty minutes. If Christopher noticed the others weren’t catching up with us, he was keeping it to himself.
My stocking cap caught on the branch of a tree as we skied underneath, causing my hair to come spilling out around me. I pulled to a stop reaching for the elastic band on my wrist to pull my hair into a quick ponytail.
“You should leave it,” said Christopher, reaching up to grasp a curl as it blew backward. “It reminds me…” and then he stopped himself as if continuing was breaking some unwritten rule he’d created for himself where we couldn’t admit there was ever an us.
“Reminds you of what?” I probed.
Christopher shook his head. “I shouldn’t be thinking about that.”
“Come on, Christopher,” I said softly. “It’s just the two of us.”
“It reminds me of all those trips across the harbor,” he said, the words spilling out fast. “I liked it best on the days you forgot to tie your hair back and just let it fly wild in the wind.” My mouth went dry. This was exactly the sort of thing Rachel and Ashley hoped he would say. Exactly, what I hoped he would say, but now that it was happening, I didn’t know how to respond.
Christopher picked up the pace, and I struggled to keep up. I wanted to tell him I remembered lots of things about those days too. But I didn’t. We were making progress, but I was afraid if I pushed too hard too fast, he would back off. The fact that he was literally skiing away from me at the moment confirmed my suspicion. I caught up with him again, but it took some effort. By the time I turned toward the break to rest, I was huffing and puffing worse than any run I’d done in the last few months. Together we plopped down at the edge of the shore. I was grateful for the snow pants Rachel had lent me because there wasn’t a bit of dry ground as far as we could see.
“I thought the others would catch up by now,” said Christopher, his eyes cast across the frozen lake.
“Maybe they decided not to come a
fter all,” I offered, feeling guilty that I didn’t have to wonder what happened to everyone else, and he did.
“Maybe,” said Christopher. He had been quiet much of our ski. I knew something was on his mind. I just didn’t know how to convince him he could talk to me.
“I know we aren’t supposed to talk about it, but how are things going with Lydia?” I asked. It was a risky choice for a conversation starter, but part of convincing him I was the right girl meant showing him he was with the wrong one.
Christopher pulled the stocking cap from his head and ruffled his shaggy damp hair.
“Truthfully?”
“Yes,” I replied, although part of me wondered if I could really take it if he responded with anything less than, ‘not for me.’
“I like her, but sometimes she scares me.”
I cracked up. “I think I feel the same way about her. Only we’re not dating.”
Christopher rested his elbows on his knees. “I don’t know. It’s kind of just obvious that we jumped in too quickly. She is a lot of fun, don’t get me wrong, but I barely know her.”
I nodded, encouraging him to go on while refraining from saying anything negative about Lydia. Ashley had warned me in advance that the biggest way to turn him off would be to put someone else down.
“Like right now,” he continued. “Where is she? We’re on this trip together, and I don’t even know where she’s at. We don’t talk much.”
The way he said it gave me the impression they used their lips for other things, and I had to channel all of my energy into not making a gross-out face.
“Do you think you’ll stay together?” I asked, digging my toes into the snow in front of us. Christopher turned to look at me for a second, a perplexed expression on his face.
“I don’t know, Anne. Right now, I have all sorts of feelings about who I should or shouldn’t be with.” I didn’t say anything in response. I had to carefully tow that line between shouting, ‘pick me pick me!’ and letting him come to terms with his feelings on his own.
“What about you and Will?” asked Christopher.
I grimaced. “What about us?”
“He seems to think there is something there.”
“Ugh,” I groaned. “We dated for a short time. It didn’t work out. He’s not my favorite person, but seeing as how I broke it off, I feel bad telling him to get lost.”
“Funny. I wouldn’t feel bad watching you tell him to get lost.”
I pressed my lips together, wanting to go off on the one million reasons I thought Will was scum. But that wouldn’t exactly help him like Will anymore, and if he couldn’t at least tolerate Will, the lacrosse season as well as Christopher’s time at Shelfbrooke was going to be short-lived.
“He’s not the worst, you know,” I said, struggling to sound like I believed any part of that sentence. “And he’s actually pretty good at lacrosse.” That part I could say without feeling like a liar. “I’m not saying you should make him best man at your wedding, but you two are going to have to ease up on the competition if you want to work together in the spring.”
“Now you sound like Ashley,” said Christopher, pushing up from his spot in the snow. “Next, you’ll be checking my homework for grammatical errors.”
“I was just going to ask,” I said with a grin.
Christopher reached down to pull me up like it was the most natural thing in the world. Like touching my skin didn’t set his whole body on fire, the way it did mine. I couldn’t help it. I gave his hand a little squeeze as he helped me up.
On the ski back to the house, neither of us said much, but it wasn’t awkward. It was that nice sort of silence, the kind you lean into and share with the other person. Back at the house, everyone was watching a movie in the den. We’d been gone for more than an hour. I expected Will and Lydia to be steamed, but the two were laughing on one end of the couch when we entered the room.
Rachel apologized to Christopher and me immediately, saying she had miscounted skis. Her whoopsie face wasn’t very convincing, but Christopher didn’t seem to notice. He wasn’t looking at Rachel. He was looking at me.
Chapter Eighteen
Rachel pulled an ancient game of Taboo out of the game closet in the front room.
“This was my favorite game as a kid. Plus it’s the only one that won’t take all night,” she said, glancing back at the stack of Cribbage, Monopoly, and Risk that took up the rest of the shelf.
“I don’t think I’ve ever played this one,” said Lydia.
“You wouldn’t have,” said Will, the corners of his mouth curving into a smile. “Our families have moved on from the dark age of board games.”
Lydia shook with laughter. Their upbringing had been so different from mine. I wasn’t poor or anything, but sheesh, my family had a game or two stashed away for power outages and camping trips.
Rachel set the box down on the coffee table in front of us. “You’ll have to lower yourselves to participate, but I’m sure you can manage.”
A light blush rose on Lydia’s cheeks. “I was just saying I don’t know how to play.”
“Not a problem,” said Rachel, lightening the mood. “First, we have to break into teams of four. Siblings can’t be on the same team. So, Ashley and Christopher, you two can be team captains. Ashley picks first because she’s the prettiest.”
Christopher batted his eyelashes. “That’s a matter of opinion, but I’m happy to let my little sister go first.” Ashley chose Andrew, Lydia, and Will, leaving me with Christopher, Charles, and Rachel.
Rachel quickly explained the object of the game, which was to get your team to guess a word you were describing as quickly as possible. The catch was, you also had a list of words you could not say. So for example, if my word was Thanksgiving, I might not be able to say turkey, pilgrims, or feast. Each person had three minutes to get their team to guess as many words as possible.
Will and Lydia were surprisingly good at the game. Whenever one of them was doing the describing, the other absolutely slayed at guessing. Watching them made me feel damn good about our matchmaking plan. I was going to have to thank Ashley for putting them on the same team the next time I had a minute alone with her.
Sadly, Rachel and Charles did not share the same chemistry. I wasn’t sure what made them so bad, but it was like as soon as the timer started they lost the ability to speak coherently. If my team wanted to win, Christopher and I were going to have to do all of the heavy lifting.
The moment the timer started, I flipped over my first card and quickly read the word: horn. I didn’t have to think for a second I knew exactly what to say to get Christopher to guess correctly. “How they warn us the ferry is about to leave.”
“Horn,” shouted Christopher, and I flipped another card.
“We had one of these on the last night at Fort Warren. I brought Triscuits and goat cheese.”
“Picnic!” he cried.
From that point on, Christopher and I gave Lydia and Will a run for their money. They were better at explaining any word in general terms, but we had mastered the art of using associations from things we had done together. By the final round, it was tied: 45 to 45. I looked down at the card in my hand and took a sharp breath. I knew exactly what to say to get him to guess the word, I just didn’t know if I should say it.
“Come on!” begged Rachel, growing impatient. “This is it!”
I looked up at Christopher through my lashes and bit the bullet. “The first time was in the alcove at the top of the stone staircase when we hid from the day camp.”
Christopher’s eyes met mine. “Kiss,” he said quietly.
For a moment no one spoke, not even me, and I was supposed to keep flipping cards until the timer ran out. By the time my nerves subsided, Will was smacking the buzzer to indicate our time was up.
Ashley’s team took their final turn, with Lydia correctly guessing six of Will’s words; we lost.
But it didn’t really matter. I wasn’t here to win board g
ames. I had come to make Christopher remember what it was like between us, and judging by the way his eyes lingered on my lips, he was remembering.
“How about a different game?” suggested Will.
Rachel yawned. “It’s too late for Monopoly. Besides, you have way too much practice scooping up properties and overcharging for rent.”
I covered my mouth to keep a snort from escaping. Will’s dad owned an awful lot of buildings in Boston, and rumor had it he wasn’t the fairest landlord to deal with.
“Very funny,” said Will. “But I was thinking of another kind of game. One without any winners and losers.”
“No more spin the bottle,” interjected Lydia. “I’m over that one.” I kept my eyes down, knowing exactly why she didn’t want to play.
“Not spin the bottle,” said Will. “Although I am rather disheartened to hear you played without me.” Lydia smiled at Will across the table. “I was thinking more like Truth or Dare,” he said, his eyes blazing with mischief.
“I’m up for it,” said Charles, not surprising anyone. He was just about the most agreeable boy I had ever met.
“Sure,” added Ashley. “Why not? That’s actually an excellent idea. We can all get to know one another better.”
“Right,” said Will. I didn’t like the tone he used next when he replied, “That is exactly what I was thinking.”
“I’ll start,” said Andrew jumping up to dim the lights. “Ashley, truth or dare?”
Ashley pretended to mull it over for a minute. “Hmm, tough call, but I’ma go with dare.”
Andrew smirked. “I dare you to escort your boyfriend to the nearest broom closet for two minutes of rowdy uninterrupted making out.”
