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

He pulled back slowly, licking his lips with a satisfied grin. I bit my lip and stared up at Carter through my eyelashes, my snow gear suddenly making me very hot. Carter’s kiss was slow and sensual, lingering romantically on my lips.

“You didn’t even give me a chance to stop you,” I murmured, smiling with my eyes closed. It was at that moment that I realized how much I missed kissing the old boy.

“It wasn’t an option,” his voice was husky as he leaned in once more to give me another soft kiss. “Let’s eat,” he stood up, brushed the snow from him, and reached a hand out to me.

I took his hand, giving a slight yelp as he pulled me up with ease. I gave him a smile as I brushed the snow from my body before snuggling my body next to his. He wrapped an arm around my waist, and we walked in step to the lodge.

“This has been a good day,” Carter mused as we neared the large wooden paneled building.

“And it’s not over yet! We haven’t even eaten dinner!”

“You are so right! Why are we just ambling along like we’ve got all the time in the world?” Carter slipped his hand from my waist to my wrist as he sped up to a maniacal run, dragging me behind him.

“Carter!” I screamed, half-laughing half-begging for him to slow down. Carter seemed to fail to remember that I was about a foot shorter and slightly less athletic than him, making running while attached to him near impossible.

“No time! FOOD!” he turned and threw me over his shoulder in movement.

“CARTER!” I screeched pounding his back with all my might.

He just chuckled in response, clearly trying to annoy me in his quest to get to the dinning hall. It worked wonders. He knew my one weakness, and now that he was much stronger than me, he knew he could do it whenever he damn well pleased.

“Calm yourself woman!” he chided, not relenting to my cries. “This will get us to the dining hall faster.”

“I don’t want to get the faster. I want to get there alive.”

“You’re safe with..WHOA WHOA!” Carter flung himself forward in a mock fall, flipping me further down my back.

“CARTER!” I screamed like he was about to shoot me in the face, causing several people to stare at us.

“Jeez woman!” Carter set me down gently, giving me a dirty look. “No need to create a scene. We can’t take you anywhere,” he turned his nose up in the air and stomped away.

“I hate you,” I called after him as I jogged to catch up with him.

“Then why’d you let me kiss you?” he stuck his tongue out at me.

“I didn’t. You just did.”

“Please girl. I saw the way you were flirting with me. Pushing me into snowbanks all over town. I know your game!”

“I believe you started that too.”

“Fine!” Carter stared at me, his eyes slits. “You win… this time.”

“Can you do one marginally cute thing without reverting back to complete weirdo for once? Like once? Ever?”


 “No way. I’ll lose my cred.”

“Where? The Mental Institution?”

“Not funny, Ellis. People with Mental Diseases are not something to make fun of.”

“It was a serious question.”

“Pft,” Carter raised an eyebrow and rolled his eyes. “I know your game.”

“Do you know? Because I’d really like to know what my game is.”

“You play all innocent to draw me in, and then BAM: the insults!”

“I really, really hate you,” I huffed, taking a seat across from Carmen and Brian.

“It’s nice to see you two getting a long so well,” Brian chuckled, leaning back in his chair and wrapping an arm around Carmen.

“It’s been an entire day. We can only stay nice to each other for… two minutes.”

“Well, it’s good to see you’re trying.”


“Did you guys already eat?” Carter asked.

“No. We just got here,” Carmen replied. “We’ve been skiing together all day.”


“OH!” Carter slammed his hand on the table. “Ellis successfully skied today!”


Carmen and Brian errupted into whoops and hollars, congratulating my miniscule success. Carter clapped me on the back, and beamed down at me as if I had just won an Olympic Gold Medal. I smiled sheepishly and brushed off the compliments even if it did slightly boost my ego. Personally, I was quite thrilled that I managed to learn how to ski. I didn’t think he had it in me.

“Now, now,” I flipped my wrist with in embarrassment. “You guys are making me blush. Let’s forget about this and eat! I’m starving!”

“And this is why I love you,” Carter pecked me on the cheek as we pushed back our seats.

***

“Don’t think I was going to let that kiss on the cheek slip,” Carmen stated as we ambled back to the cabin. The boys had moved ahead of us, giving us time to chat.

“I didn’t think that at all. Nothing gets past you.”

“You got that right! So, you’ve decided to stop ‘torturing’ Carter?”

“He’s always being cute and ruining my plans,” I crossed my arms over my chest with a scowl.

Carmen laughed loudly before saying, “They tend to do that. It sounds like you two spent a nice day together.”

“We did. Carter was an awesome teacher believe it or not. He barely even made fun of me!”

“That’s good. You know it must’ve been very hard for him.”

“I’m sure he’ll make up for it later. How was your day?” I asked after a beat.”

“A-MAZ-ING!” Carmen exclaimed, accenting every syllable. “We woke up late in each other’s arms, and then hit the slopes. We spend all day skiing together. The best part though was that the slope we chose was pretty much empty. It was like we had a whole mountain to ourselves.”

“Sounds romantic.”

“I can’t even begin to explain! Brian is the best guy in the world!” she hugged her clasped hands to her chest.

I chuckled and rolled my eyes. The girl was in complete and total love.

***

“Hey,” Carter placed gentle kisses along my neck and cheek, forcing my eyes to flutter open. “You fell asleep,” he explained once I had fully regained consciousness.

“Ugh!” I groaned, attempting to sit up. “Oh god!” I moaned, my entire body feeling like I had been flung down a mountain...oh wait.

“Come on,” Carter kissed me on the cheek. “Let’s get to bed.”

“I think I want to sleep here,” I murmured.

My body was in serious pain and I was located by the warm fire. It seemed like a good place to spend the night.

“I’ll carry you,” Carter offered, knowing I couldn’t refuse.

“Mmm fine,” I nuzzled my nose into his neck as he slipped his arms under me and lifted me from the ground.

“I’ll be right back,” he whispered, pulling me out of sleep once more as I had dozed off on the short move from the living room floor to the bedroom.

“You’re one tired puppy huh?” he asked, reentering the room several minutes after he left.

“Mhmm,” I nodded, barely awake.

“Well, sleep tight,” he chuckled and kissed me once on the forehead and once on the lips.

“Wait,” I lazily grasped his wrist, between consciousness and sleep. “Sleep with me?”


I felt Carter’s breath catch.

“You sure?” he questioned.

I nodded in reply, moving to wrap my arms around his waist.

He chuckled once more, lightly peeling my arms from my body.

“Let me just change,” he murmured.

I was awoken once again by Carter slipping into the small bed next to me, his body instantly warming the space. I turned to nuzzled into his chest as he wrapped his arms around me. I had my own personal heater, and he was the best looking heater in the entire world.

“I love you,” I mumbled as fell to sleep.