It's Not You. It's Me. And No! He is Not My Boyfriend!

“We’re here!” Carmen threw open the door to cabin number eight: our home for the next three days and two nights.

“Whoo,” I unexcitedly cheered, sarcastically twirling my finger in the air.

“There are two bedrooms in this room. One with a queen bed. Brian and I will take that if you guys don’t mind.”

“Why I’d be offended if you didn’t!” Carter exclaimed, punching the air excitedly.

“I think I’ll sleep in the snow,” I dead-panned.

“Don’t worry,” Carmen placed a reassuring hand upon my shoulder. “The other room has two twin beds, so you’ll only have to share a room with Carter.

“Roomies!” he smiled widely, slinging his arm over my shoulder and dragging me towards the other room.

“Are you sure you don’t want to share a room with me?” I called over my shoulder as I was heading towards my new room whether I wanted to go or not.

I sighed upon entering the small, musty chamber, secretly hoping I was going to be spending the next two days in my bed.

“You really don’t want to be here, huh?” Carter stared at me from the bed he had chose for his own.

“I’m that obvious?”

“Well, you’re always a bit of a pill, but you’re even more so right now.”

“Oh, geez! Thanks!” I muttered, taking serious offense to Carter’s words. Sure, I was sarcastic and generally disgruntled with life, but I was certainly not a pill! PIlls hated everything! I didn’t have everything, I just happened to hate having to spend a weekend doing something I don’t want to so my friend can have a romantic weekend with her boyfriend.

“Oh come on,” Carter sighed after he realized my silence was not just because I was focused on unpacking. “You know I didn’t mean it like that.”


“Whatever,” I mumbled, plopping down on the lumpy mattress. Perhaps I was over reacting, but I couldn’t help it. Winter and I were not friends at all, and here I was stuck in winter’s head quarters.

“It’s going to be a fun weekend!” Carter sitting beside me caused the mattress to sag even further. He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and squeezed me closer to him. “I’ll teach you how to ski! I’m an excellent teacher you know!” he removed his arms from me to place them authoritatively on his hips.

I gave him the stink eye. It wasn’t that I doubted his teaching skills. It was more I doubted his ability to teach someone without making fun of them relentlessly when they fail.

“Are you going to make fun of me constantly?”

“Nah” he flipped his wrist. “Okay maybe a little… just every time you fall… okay, maybe all the time.”

“I’ll just find a cute ski instructor.”

“You could try, but I don’t think you could find one cuter than me!”

“Is that a challenge?”


“… maybe?” Carter shifted his eyes back and forth with confusion.

“You’re on!” I jumped from the bed and began to unpack. Would I really go and find a cute ski instructor? Maybe. A little fling would make the weekend a whole lot more bearable.

“Hey all!” Carmen knocked on our bedroom door as she opened it. “Do you guys wanna head over the lodge to dinner?”

My stomach grumbled with the mention of food. If there was one thing I was willing to brave the cold for it was food. We quickly gathered our things, geared up, and headed out towards the lodge.

“You know,” Carter gently tapped me on the shoulder, as we trudged along the snow laden paths. “Skiing uses food to describe the correct form. So, I think you would like it.”

“I didn’t say I wouldn’t like skiing. I was just saying I wasn’t sure if I wanted you to teach me.”

“Ouch, Ellis,” Carter placed a hand to his chest, furrowing his eyebrows with offense.

I rolled my eyes and smiled at him as the lights of the lodge came into view. Food was within our grasps, and I was always excited about that. If the lodge had good food then the weekend would get better by twofold.

***

“Woo!” Brian sounded as we entered our humble lodgings. “That food sure was delicious.”

“You’re tellin’ me!” I patted my stomach happily. Now, I was considering never leaving the lodge because I just wanted to eat all day.

“Well,” Carmen stretched her hands to the ceiling and yawned loudly. “I think I’m going to head to bed.”

“It’s nine-thirty!” Carter stared at his watch in surprise.

“So? We have a long day of skiing ahead of us. Brian, are you coming?” she gave him a look that meant to communicate more, and the more was quite easy to discern if one thought about the purpose of this trip.

“Oh...yeah!” he followed his immediately. “I’m beat too! All that driving really gets to you!”

“Please don’t moan too loudly!” I called to their backs as they retreated into their room. “Are you tired?” I turned to Carter.

“Nah, I don’t have anyone to have sex with.”

“I asked you if you were tired.”

“I was making a joke!” he rolled his eyes. “Because obviously that’s what Carmen and Brian are going to do. Although, I could be tired if you were,” he wiggled his eyebrows.

“I’m not tired.”

Carter’s shoulders slumped.

“You sure?”

“Yep.”

“Not even a little?”

“No!”

“Fine! You’ll be tired one day!” he shook his fist threateningly.

“Are you now talking about actually being tired?”


“...I don’t rightly know.” he creased his eyebrows in thought before exclaiming, “Let’s make a fire!”


“I do like heat!”

“Well, fires produce a lot of that.”

“Do you know how to do it?” I asked as I followed Carter to the fire place.

“It’s not rocket science if that’s what you mean.”


 “Oh god!” I moaned, taking a place in front of the hearth while Carter fussed with placing wood and kindling into the fire place. “You’re going to set the cabin on fire.”

“Ye of little confidence!” he turned to me to give me a hurt look. “I am in five AP classes, high honor roll, and could quite possibly be one of the top ten in the class, and you don’t trust me to light a fire properly?”


“Touche, touche,” I rolled my eyes, conceding to his point. “You should be able to create the best fire on this side of the Appalachians.”

“Thank you!” he stuck a match, lighting the bits of kindling before dropping it on the log.

The fire quickly sprung to life as he took his spot next to me.

“Ta da!” he wiggled his hands in the air.

“Okay, so I was wrong,” I sighed, lying back and letting the heat from the fire spread over me. Another reason to stay inside the lodge all weekend was the joy of a fire.

Carter lied down too, shimmying his body closer to mine and turning his head to look at me. I too, moved my head to stare at him.

“Hi,” he sighed.

“Hey.”

“Are you really hating this entire trip?”


“Well, I can’t really say that. We’ve only been here for a few hours. It’s not really how I would want to spend two days of my life, however.”

“Maybe you’ll really love skiing.”

“Perhaps.”


“Well, I want you to have fun,” he gave me an adorable crooked smile.

“Sure, sure,” I brushed him off and turned my attention towards the ceiling.

“What?” Carter’s hand upon mine caused me to turn back towards him. “I care about your well being.”


 I snorted. I was still slightly bitter at his less than ideal reaction of my almost being taken advantage of, but I had to give him credit for trying.

“Hey! I said I cared about it, not that I was particularly good at keeping it well.”

“No arguments here,” I chuckled.

“I’m making it my duty to make sure you have fun this weekend!” he nodded as he made his decision aloud.

“Oh, so you’re leaving. Because, you know, the only way I’d have any fun is if you’re gone.”

Carter narrowed his eyes at me before a sly smile spread across his face. His shifted his body, and rolled on top of me crushing my body as he took rest upon me.

“CARTER!” I screeched, fruitlessly pressing my hands against him. “You’re heavy.”


“Oh? So now you’re calling me fat?”

“No!” I gasped. “You’re so buff...and manly. Buff and manly!”


“I like that answer,” Carter swiftly rolled off me with a chuckle.

“Was that an attempt at showing me fun? Because it failed.”

“Really? Why I was having tons of fun.”

“You’re an asshole!” I pushed him in the shoulder.

“A loveable one?” he placed both hands under his chin giving me a wide smile.

“Occasionally,”

“I’ll take what I can get!” he punched an arm into the air. “And on that note, this asshole is tired.”

“I guess I’m tired too,” I stood up and stretched.

“I’m glad we see eye to eye on this. I’ll put out the fire.”


“See you in the bedroom.”

“You’re not even going to stick around for moral support?”

“Moral support?” I raised a skeptical eyebrow.

“Yeah. It can get pretty messy when putting out fires.”

“I think you can handle it. You have a strong constitution.”

“Well, remember the paddle boat? Think about how badly this could end.”

“At least we’d die warm,” I shrugged and turned to head into the bedroom. Sure, he failed at docking a boat, but maybe putting out fires were his forte.

I cuddled down under the cover, making sure to leave the light on for Carter. I shivered under the sheets hoping that my body heat would warm them up quickly. The one issue with beds in the winter time was that they were cold when you first got into them. It was quite horrible really. If only i had thought to purchase an electric blanket before hand.

“The fire was put out successfully!” Carter exclaimed upon entering the room.

“Hurray!” I cheered with a large yawn.

“Awww,” Carter cooed. “You’re cute when you’re tired.”

“I’m cute all the time.”

“This is true,” he gave me another crooked smile. “Can we,” he paused uncomfortably, standing by the foot of my bed. “Push the beds together?”

“I’m already in bed.”

“Please?” he begged, plopping down upon my bed. “I just...I just want to be near you.”

“And that’s the icing on the cake!” I sighed, rolling out of bed.

‘ “What are you talking about?” he looked at me as if I had three heads.

“Whenever I’m mad at you or anything you always do something cute to make me want to be with you again.”


“I’m not an idiot,” he smiled widely.


“And the cake fell on the ground!” I crawled back into bed with a wide smile. I didn’t forget my little plan after all.

“SERIOUSLY? That easily? Last time I had to go out on a date with another girl!”


“There’s a point system.”

“THAT DOESN’T EVEN MAKE SENSE!”


“So...tired...not...able...to,” I stopped talking trying to hide my smile so I could successfully fake drifting off to sleep.

Carter groaned loudly before heading to his bed.

I chuckled lightly as he turned the light off and muttered something about his blue balls. Perhaps this little weekend getaway was going to be more fun than I though.