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

“Wake up!” a pillow to the face dragged me from my peaceful slumber.

“JESUS CHRIST!” I yelled, kicking and failing wildly hoping that one of my appendages would make forceful and painful contact with Carter.

“Come on sleepy head,” Carter dragged the covers of my body, forcing me to curl up into a ball to keep the cold from wracking my unprepared body.

“No!” I fumbled for the sheet, refusing to open my eyes.

“It’s time to learn a new skill.”

“The art of strangling someone to death?”

“You’d have to get up to do that.”


Finally relenting to Carter’s persistent annoyance, I sat up and rubbed my eyes. I knew that sleep would no longer be an option. Carter wasn’t many things, but he was gifted with the patients of a Buddhist monk when it came to annoying people. That was probably the reason why his mother was so happy to be rid of him for a weekend, and why I was the only girl stupid enough to date him.

“What time is it?” I questioned fumbling around from my phone.

“Eight.”

“IN THE MORNING?”


“No, at night! They just keep the place lit so well it always looks bright out.”

“Your sarcasm is not appreciated at this time, or anytime for that matter, of the day!”


“Whatever! Just get ready! The slopes are calling out to us!”

“Yeah, yeah,” I mumbled before a screech as Carter smacked my bum in an attempt to get me to the bathroom faster.

“Violence is not the answer!” I screamed as I slammed my foot into his stomach.

“Hypocrite, much?” he groaned as I left him doubled over in our room.

***

“Okay,” Carter stood in front of me as we stood on flat ground. “You point your skis in to go faster and you turn them out to slow down,” he demonstrated both with easy. “Pizza,” he turned his skis in. “Fast. French fries,” he turned he skis out and positioned them perfectly parallel to each other. “Slow. Got it?”

“Well, it sounds easy enough,” I snorted, knowing that things were going to be way more complicated with an incline involved.

“Try it right now.”

I tried my best to mimic his moves. He made the simple act of shift one’s skis from a point to parallel seem so easy. However, I awkwardly shifted from pizza to french fries, not quite successfully doing either.

“Well, you’ll get better at that,” he smiled unconvincingly. “You just have to build up some strength in your knees.”

“Joy.”

“Shall we try going to down a bit of a hill?”

“No.”

Carter gave me an annoyed look.

“Ellis,” he scolded.

“Fine!” I threw my hands up in the air, side stepping in the manner in which he showed me to move up the small incline a few feet.

“Now turn your body to start! Remember you won’t slide if you’re facing the side.”

I complied with his command, and tried to make a pizza with my skis. I quickly slid the length of the incline without falling over, laughing in the light of my miniscule success.

“Great!” he cheered, clapping and giving me a quick hug. “Let go up further,” he pointed to a spot roughly half way up the bunny slope.

“I don’t know,” I grimaced at the thought of falling my way down the mountain.

“Come on!” he grabbed my hand a led me to the ski lift.

“This is the lift?” I stared skeptically at the bar that one was meant to sit on and be transported up the mountain.

“Don’t worry, just hold on and you’ll be safe.”

“Right,” I gave him a narrowed glance before setting myself on one of the poles and holding on for dear life.

Carter took the spot next to me, advising me of the next move while we slowly moved up the slope. I had to quickly jump off and move to the side so I wouldn’t get hit by the next lift.

“This seems complicated,” I mused as we inched closer to our destination.

“Nonsense,” Carter grabbed my hand, and helped me from the lift.

I managed to get off of it and out of the way with no minor problems. The only issue was I was sure I looked like a complete buffoon, but that was to expected on my first day.

“Ready?” Carter, asked as he began to turn his skis in the direction of the incline.

“No, but when has that ever stopped me.”

“Good attitude!”

I sighed, and began the slow slide down the hill. However, Carter failed to mention that once you built up momentum it was hard to move from pizza to triangle, and I found myself stuck in speed up mode. Seeing no other way around it, I threw myself to the ground, grabbing on the fluffy snow for support from gliding further. The dull ache in my butt and knees, told me I was definitely going to be feeling this one tomorrow.

“Nice try!” Carter gave me two thumbs up as he easily stopped beside me. How he was able to control his speed well enough to keep next to me was one of life’s mysteries. “You made it pretty far for your first time,” he smiled as he helped me up.

The day was spent in this very same vain. Me skiing a little before bailing and falling to the ground, making it down the mountain bit by bit. Carter, moving us up ever so slightly after he felt that I had mastered skiing from a certain distance. By the end of the day I was able to make it half way down the bunny slope before wiping out.

“Carter, I’m tired,” I whined as he pulled me over to the ski lift for another go. “And my butt hurts and I’m hungry!”

“Last time, okay?” he gave me a reassuring grin. “This time you’re going to do it! I can feel it!”


“Well, I can feel my seventy-seven failures, and they’re telling me that I can’t.”

“If you think like that you won’t. You’ve improved so much over the course of one day! Just one more try, okay?”


“Fine,” I sighed, slumping tiredly but shimming onto the lift anyway.

“Ready?” Carter asked once were in position.

“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I sighed, turning my skis to pizza mode.

The wind ran through my hair as the world quickly brushed past me. I gained speed quickly, a smile forming on my face as I glided down the slope. Even if this speed resulted in imminent pain, the feeling of adrenaline and the wind rushing by me kind of made it worth it. It now made sense why people love skiing so much. One almost felt completely invincible sliding down the slope. However, that was until you crashed into the ground did you realize you’re not invincible at all.

The feeling of dread began to set back in as I felt I was beginning to go to fast. I began to move my skis into french fry formation, hoping that my knees would cooperate with me and the move would be smooth enough to keep me balanced. I let out a whoop as I made the shift somewhat effortlessly, and I settled back into the comfortable speed I loved so much. I didn’t realize that I had made it to the bottom of the hill successfully until I was completely stopped and staring at the lodge right in front of me.

“YEAH!” I screamed, punching my arms into the air.

I clumsily unlocked my boots from the skis, feeling like I needed at least one victory lap for my success. I cheered and jumped around in a circle.

“I DID IT!” I cried when I noticed Carter, standing beside him in a state of joyous shock.

I ran to him and jumped into his arms, causing both of us to crash to the ground.

“Oof!” Carter grunted as I knocked him over. “You did it!” he chuckled as we laid in each others arms in the fluffy snow. “Told ya so!”

“Yeah, yeah!” I pushed off of him, standing up to brush myself off. “Let’s eat! I’m starving.”

“Couldn’t have said it better myself!” Carter sat up and released himself from his skis.

“Did I look totally awesome?” I jumped beside him as we made our way to the lodge.

“Totally,” he replied with an amused smile.

“That was super fun! I can’t believe I actually skied! This was a personal best!”

“I’m glad you enjoyed yourself,” Carter rumpled my hair before wrapping me into a hug. “Of course, part of the credit must go to your awesome and devilishly handsome ski instructor!”


“Maybe. I suppose the awesome part is true, but the handsome part is so off the mark.”

“Oh yeah?”


“Yeah!”

“Well,” Carter replied by pushing me into a snow bank as we trudged past it.

“HEY!” I called after him as he ran from me.

I followed him, quickly gaining as revenge powered me, and pushed him into an even bigger snow bank.

“You’re paying for that one!” he cried, pulling on my arm and dragging me into the snow bank with him.

“You fool! Now you’ve done it!” I yelled as I launched myself at him.

We rolled back and forth wrestling in the snow until we were too tired to do anything but lay next to each other and laugh.

“We should probably get our skis and eat,” I suggested after a few minutes.

Carter nodded and I began to sit up, but Carter pulled me back down.

“Hey!” I screamed with a giggle.

“Ellis,” Carter sat up and stared down at me. “I’m going to kiss you now,” he warned before crashing his lips against mine.

And just like that all my plans went out the window.