Rakastan

The moment only lasts about two seconds, before someone has opened the door.
“Yes,” Ville says and smiles down at me as he gently lets me go.
My arms ache, they feel heavy again.
I shake the snow out of my hair and follow numbly behind. Cal and Seppo are waiting.
“What were you two doing?” Seppo asks, without a trace of a smile.
“Probably getting to know one another,” Cal says.
“Yeah,” I say and Ville laughs.
“Seppo, thank-you for arranging this. I got it from here,” Ville says and gives Cal the same dismissal glance.
Seppo and Cal stand.
“It was nice meeting you,” Seppo says and shakes my hand from where I still sit.
Cal just bows his head and Ville returns the gesture.
I realize, Ville and I are sitting next to one another, so I go to sit across from him.
Ville looks at me,
“I thought it’d be better to collaborate from here,” I say, unsure of my own words.
If I had continued to sit next to him, I would have evaporated into the air, the unreality of the situation was still hard to grasp.
“So I’m still not sure what Cal wants,” Ville says eyeing my face and smirking.
“What?” I ask and reach up to touch my face.
“Nothing,” he says and stares down at his folded hands.
“Let’s get out of here,” he suggests and starts placing his jacket on his arm.
“Okay,” I agree without asking where we’re going.
The streets of Turku are starting to crowd as people get out of work, and a few people stare at Ville.
Some even point, a trio of girls giggle and Ville politely nods in their direction which sets off another hysterical fit from them.
“You have admirers,” I say when we have passed them.
“Always,” Ville says. “So if we’re writing about Finland at Christmas, you need to participate in a couple of events today,” he continues to talk as his legs carry his body.
“Events?” I ask. Can’t I just have a breather to realize that I am not in a dream, that this is real?
“Today we shall sled,” he says with a laugh when he sees my face.
“I’ve gone sledding before,” I retort.
“Really? Then this will be a piece of cake for you,” Ville laughs again.
I’m not sure what is so funny. We catch a cab and pass a sled resort.
“Well, are we going sledding or not?” I ask as the cab does not stop.
“Just wait,” Ville says.
We pass out into the rural parts of the outskirts and then leave the villages behind entirely until forests come into view. The cab stops and Ville climbs out paying the driver.
A man comes up to Ville and shakes his hand. They have a discussion in Finnish, nothing of which I understand. Both men look at me and nod their heads.

“What was that about?” I ask.
“You can’t go sledding in that,” Ville says pointing at my outfit.
Twenty minutes later, we are both decked out in ridiculous hats and gloves and boots. I start laughing.
The man comes back with a sled, now I don’t mean a plastic sled, I mean one with running blades underneath.
“Ready?” Ville asks.
I stare at him and laugh.
“You’ve got to be joking. There are trees, and that thing,” I exclaim pointing to the sled, “is a death magnet.”
“This is how they used to do it in the olden days,” Ville says and smiles.
“Yes, too bad they aren’t here to enjoy this now,” I say sarcastically and look at the sled again nervously.
I follow Ville as he treads through the trees. We enter a clearing, and there are small hills. Ville places the sled down.
“I’ll go first,” he indicates as he sits on the sled and pushes off. I cover my eyes with my hands. Ville topples sideways and the sled keeps going, never stopping. Ville starts to race after it. I’m sure he must be joking about this sledding experience. I watch as he finally retrieves the sled and walks the distance back to me.
“Here,” he pants and hands it over to me.
I grab the sled and sit on it and push off. I grab the edges tightly and manage to stay on, a huge snow bank awaits the end, and I crash into it.
“Ahhhhhh,” I say emerging from the snow bank. Ville looks like a spec in the distance.
In the background I can hear engines and I whip my head around. Snowmobiles travel across the snow a few feet from us, and I stare with my mouth wide open.
“Ville,” I yell.
“Yes?” he shouts back.
“Have you ever been on a snowmobile?” I ask.
“A what?” he asks.
This was going to be the perfect payback.
Ville’s POV
Jaclyn trudges back up the bank, and drops the sled into the snow.
“We, yes you and I, are going on one of those,” she says and points her finger into the distance.
“I’m quite alright,” I say and gesture that she should go on without me.
“Please?” she asks.
“That’s not even related to our project,” I say.
“I know, but it’s good clean American fun,” she says and eyes the snowmobiles in the distance. It does look fun.
“Alright, but you’ll have to help me,” I tell her.
“Deal,” she agrees but there’s something in her smile I don’t trust.
We manage to rent one for an hour.
“You will hold onto my back,” she instructs and climbs on. I slide on behind her. The engine starts and before I have secured myself, she lets loose.
“Woah,” she screams and we’re flying on the track.
I can see a huge smile etched onto her face.
“How do you like it?” she asks as she turns her head.
‘Watch out,” I scream just in time for her to swerve.
She’s laughing and I can’t help but laugh too.
She slows down and pulls onto the side of the track.
“Your turn,” she says and climbs off the vehicle.
“What?” I ask.
“It’s alright we can go slow,” she says.
Slow? Hah.
I get on the snowmobile and before she can get on, I take off.
I push the speed to the highest it can go and feel the snow pelt my face.
I turn around and head back her way.
“Want a ride?” I ask.
“How do you know how to drive one of these?” she asks in disbelief.
“It’s not that hard,” I answer and offer her my hand. As she comes closer I take off again. I do it twice, before she looks annoyed.
“C’mon Ville,” she says running to catch up, but can’t. I finally allow her to sit down, and take off again but suddenly I’m afraid to go fast, like I could injure her, and the sudden feeling unnerves me.
“Go faster,” she says.
I push the speed almost reaching the maximum and the whole world blurs past us.
When the hour is done, we return the snowmobile.
“That was awesome,” she says taking off the helmet.
“We’ll do it again sometime,” I promise.
“Great,” she says.
Her whole face is red and her eyes are very green.
“Are you cold?” I ask.
“A little,” she shrugs.
“Perfect,” I say.
“Why?” she asks.
“There’s a sauna here. We can do something that is very Finnish,” I inform her with a daring look in my eye.
“I don’t have shorts or anything to wear in there,” she protests.
“Darling, we don’t wear clothes in a sauna,” I say wickedly.