The Winter Games

by Sharp, Dr. Rebecca

  I cupped my gloved hands around my mouth. “Drop!”

  This time when I flew down, I stuck a ten-eighty; I’d had enough torture for one day. We reconvened at the bottom of the slope, my gaze straying over towards the lift for Snowmass like it had done every time we’d finished the run - trying to catch a glimpse of Wyatt.

  “You heading out?” Emmett pulled off his helmet, immediately reaching for a beanie in his jacket pocket and putting it on.

  “Yeah, I have two lessons this afternoon,” I said as I unstrapped from my board.

  Nick pulled off his helmet, running his hands through his dark, matted hair. “I think I’m going to go too; I have a project that was due on Monday that I still haven’t finished.”

  Emmett snickered. Nick was a procrastinator—too busy with women and weed to focus on school especially because it was only because of his parents that he was going. He liked to push the boundaries—or just believe that they didn’t exist for him. He enjoyed getting himself in too deep seemingly for the sole pleasure of getting himself back out again.

  Emmett, on the other hand, was always organized, on-time, and by the books—typical for an engineer. And typical for a control freak. They always took turns taking jabs at one another. Usually, it was Chance who’d stepped in between them both to settle things. Chance was a phenomenal people person when he wanted to be and he was the great mediator between all of us.

  I picked up my board and waved as I walked towards Cup of Joe.

  If there was one other person who’d had a shot of pushing Wyatt from my mind, it was my brother. This was the longest I’d ever gone without talking to him… or seeing him. I know that he didn’t leave to hurt me—but it had. And now that I was back on the slopes practicing the triple again, the hurt in my heart was even worse. Every time I fell, I heard his voice in my head, telling me to get back up, that we would try it again.

  The worst part was that these memories made me angry at him—for leaving, for not contacting anyone, and for not being here when I needed him. I knew it was selfish, but we’d always been there for each other and instead of letting me be there for him through his recovery, he’d decided to do it on his own. And I was angry at him for putting me in a position where I had a rational reason—an arguably necessary reason—to want to spend more time with Wyatt.

  I walked into the coffee shop feeling more frustrated and defeated than when I’d finished my last run.

  “You ok, Channing?” Ally’s voice greeted me immediately as I walked in the door.

  I gave her a soft smile and nodded. “Can I just get my usual?” I set my helmet and gloves on one of the tables. “Maybe with some extra whipped cream on the mocha.”

  She raised an eyebrow, knowing that meant something hadn’t gone well; extra whipped cream was only reserved for emergency pick-me-up situations.

  I sat down while she took the order of a few people who’d walked in behind me before she came over to bring me my coffee and sandwich.

  “What’s up?” She plopped down in the other chair. Even with an apron on, coffee grounds stuck in random places, and her hair loosely contained, my sister looked beautiful. I ran my fingers through my boy-short hair, trying to pull all the strands to one side so that they weren’t sticking up all over the place—a pretty pointless effort. Part of me wished I could look like Ally did all of the time; a different part reminded me that Wyatt made me feel like I did look like that all of the time.

  “Nothing.” I sighed. “Just bailed a lot this morning. And yesterday. And Monday. My head’s been all over the place.”

  “What were you trying to do?”

  “The trick that Chance helped me learn for the Open last year. I need to nail it if I’m going to win.” I bit into my sandwich.

  I didn’t have to say it for her to understand what my problem was—that I needed Chance’s help and he wasn’t here.

  “But, I’m just not getting it anymore and we’re stuck on the crappy park with a thousand other riders, so I’m struggling to focus.”

  “I wish I could help you,” she offered sweetly.

  “I know, sunshine.”

  Ally huffed. “Please, not you too. I hate when Emmett calls me that.” I chuckled and the fact that I was laughing seemed to mitigate some of her annoyance.

  “I thought the place you usually snowboard was going to be even more closed off to regulars so that you could have more privacy to practice?”

  “Yeah, it’s closed off to regulars—that’s the problem. Only competitors are allowed in.”

  Her blank stare was like a smack to the back of my head and I realized what she was about to say just as the words left her mouth. “But, Channing, you are a competitor.” Her hushed whisper was a giant lightbulb in my brain.

  “Oh my God. What the hell was I thinking?” I shook my head. “You are a genius, baby sis, and I would kiss you right now if it wouldn’t cause me unimaginable pain to move at the moment.”

  I had Chance’s pass which meant that I had access to Snowmass; unfortunately, Nick and Emmett wouldn’t be able to get in and I’m sure they’d hold my board hostage until I told them how I’d managed to gain access, but the point was that I did have access. And I was going to need it. Already the thoughts of how I could find time to ride over there were running through my mind.

  She laughed. “Do you have a ride home tonight?”

  “Yeah,” she murmured and her face flushed bright red.

  “Ally?”

  “I have a ride!”

  My eyes narrowed. “Who?”

  “Zack.” An innocent and excited smile crept onto her face. Of course, she had to be seeing Wyatt’s brother.

  If I thought my momentary wish for her effortless beauty was bad, the sharp stab of jealousy I felt now was a hundred times worse. Jealousy over the fact that she could so easily go after what she wanted, whereas both of my wants were conflicting.

  “There you are, Princess.”

  Speak of the devil.

  Zack approached my table and bent down to kiss my sister on her cheek, causing her to blush even more. Woah, seriously? Was it really at that point already?

  Says the one who was up against her car, tongue-deep with his brother the other night.

  I had no justifiable cause to question…

  “Hey, Channing.” He finally noticed me.

  “Hey,” I replied quietly, wondering just how much he knew about what happened between his brother and me.

  “Hey, Little Miss Sunshine, I see your apron, but what I don’t see is why you aren’t over here taking my drink order.” Emmett’s voice wove into our conversation. He was such an ass. I hadn’t even seen him walk in, but he was now standing against the counter, his arms crossed over his chest. Even though I assumed he’d said the words in poor jest, his tone had an edge to it and there was a dark scowl on his face as he looked between my sister and Zack.

  I didn’t blame him, I was feeling a little protective of her, too.

  Ally frowned and rolled her eyes, murmuring ‘Excuse me’ before she abruptly stood and walked back over behind the counter to take his order.

  Zack’s eyes followed her before they narrowed back on me. Well, he knew something, that was for sure.

  “How are you doing this morning?” he asked genially.

  I waited for the other shoe to drop.

  “Alright. Took a few nasty spills this morning so I’m trying to recover before I have to go teach a lesson.” I cut myself off before I started to really ramble. “How’s your brother?”

  Oh, what the hell, Channing?!

  I winced at his look of surprise, hiding my unfortunate awkwardness behind my coffee mug as I took a nice, long sip of my mocha, licking off my whipped-cream mustache.

  “He’s alright.” Oh, good. Short and sweet answer—time to move to a different topic. “He’d be better if you hadn’t decided not to see him anymore.”

  Crap.

  “I… I have a lot going on right now. I’m sure he doe
s too with the Games coming up. He said himself that I was a distraction.”

  He laughed, drawing Ally’s curious attention away from Emmett who was almost completely blocking her view of us.

  “He needs a distraction, trust me.” Zack rubbed his forehead as he continued, “Damn idiot is looking at these games as though they are the end of his life. It’s a game; dude needs to chill and stop putting so much pressure on himself.” He started, realizing who he was talking to and what he was saying. “Sorry. Forget I said all of that.”

  Ally practically skipped back over to us, effectively ending any further conversation about Wyatt which was a good thing on so many levels, not the least of which was that I hadn’t really told Ally that I’d called it quits on whatever was happening between him and me.

  “Guess what we’re doing later today?” Ally giggled, glancing up at Zack. Her voice was a little loud considering that we were all sitting right there—loud enough that even Emmett heard her as he stood waiting for his coffee, his attention jerking to her. I wasn’t sure I really wanted to hear the answer to her question, but it looked like I wasn’t going to have that option—and neither was anyone else in the place. “Zack is going to teach me how to ski!” She let out a squeal and clapped her hands in excitement.

  Oh, that wasn’t too bad. I mean… skiing was… but I guess it was a forgivable sin.

  Emmett let out a bark of laughter and all of our eyes turned towards him.

  “You hate the snow, Sunshine.” He snickered. “Do you even own snow clothes?”

  Her mouth fell open and she turned to me; to her credit, she didn’t respond to his taunts. “Channing, tell your friend to mind his own business.”

  I put my hands up. “I mean, you did kind of announce it to everyone, Al, but I’m not getting in the middle of this. You two are old enough to handle it.”

  My sister huffed, turning back to Emmett who was still quietly laughing to himself. “For your information, I don’t hate the cold or the snow. I don’t even hate snowboarding. I just hate you.”

  Oh, boy. Fighting words.

  “I’m really excited to learn how to ski.” She refocused with a sweet smile on Zack and completely turned her back to Emmett who stood there vibrating with anger from her words.

  “Well then. On that note, I think I should head over to my lessons,” I murmured, recognizing that I’d quickly become the third wheel at my own table. Ally and Zack barely broke their gaze from one another to say goodbye to me as I stood to leave.

  Raising my eyebrows at Emmett, I paused by him on my way out.

  “You’re just going to let her hang out with that douchebag?” he bit out.

  “She’s an adult, Emmett, and I’m not her parent. She can do what she wants. Plus, it’s only skiing.” I sighed. “Maybe if you stopped baiting her, she’d be a little nicer to you.”

  “Chance would never be ok with this,” he practically sneered.

  Guilt washed over me and before I said something that I would regret, I turned and left. Another situation that Chance would have handled with ease—or at least definitively, but I, on the other hand, only seemed to have made things worse.

  For the first time in a month, I pulled out my phone on my way over to the lesson area and dialed Chance’s number. It went immediately to voicemail; I didn’t expect anything different. ‘Hey, this is Chance, leave a message and I’ll drop you a line as soon as I get it! Have a gnarly day!’

  My eyes welled with tears even as I chuckled at his ridiculous recording.

  “Hey, Chance. It’s me. Where the hell are you? Don’t you think it’s time to stop running?” My voice broke, clogged with emotion. I hung up the phone. It was stupid—and I’d probably left him a thousand messages like that over the past three months, but sometimes, I just couldn’t stop myself; I needed him.

  Wiping the tears that had frozen onto my face, I dug deep for a smile that tried to elude me, the corner of my lips finally rising as I saw my group of little riders waiting for me.

  “Hey, Channing,” Tammy, one of the other instructors, greeted me.

  “Hey,” I said, dropping off my board in our breakroom. “Didn’t think I’d see you today.”

  Tammy was the ‘head’ instructor—if there was such a thing. She coordinated all of the schedules and classes and she was whom I reported to on the days she was there. She also worked part-time for the Open Hearts daycare center. She was a skier, but I tried not to hold it against her. She also happened to be one of Ally’s closest friends since she moved back—they’d been friends before Ally moved and I was glad to see how they picked right back up where they left off when she came back. Between her and Jessa Madison—ironically, Chance’s high school ex-girlfriend—Ally had found a group of friends that filled in all the girly gaps that our relationship lacked.

  “Yeah, I know. I just couldn’t stay away,” she said wryly, but I knew she meant it. She loved her job. “You’ve got a full class this afternoon.”

  “Yeah and it looks like mostly girls!” I was always excited when my classes were dominated by girls, for mostly obvious reasons—the biggest being that snowboarding was still a male-dominated sport and this gave me hope that in the coming years, that would change.

  “Actually, Tammy, I’m glad you’re here,” I began. “I wanted to talk to you about the upcoming weeks. I know we have the whole powder clause, but I noticed that some days the lessons are kind of light, so I was thinking about blocking myself off a few afternoons to spend more time out on the slopes…”

  On the resort and even in the town of Aspen, a lot of the local businesses had what was called a ‘Powder Day Clause’ which meant that if it snowed the night before and the powder in the morning was perfect, work got rescheduled; the day was meant for the mountain.

  “For time on the slopes or time with a certain snowboarder?” She winked at me and I swallowed my groan.

  Ally and her freaking big mouth.

  “I don’t think so…” I tried to let her down gently. “Unlike my sister, I’m trying to steer clear of any and all Olsens.” I said the last as I opened the door back outside to the safety of my lesson, filled with little humans who didn’t care about Wyatt or winning, love or losing.

  I TOWEL-DRIED MY HAIR, LISTENING to Ally run frantically back and forth down the hall between her bedroom and the bathroom. Weeks ago, Ally had asked that we do a girl’s pizza-and-movie night tonight. Feeling guilty for not spending a lot of time with her since Chance had left, I agreed; I’d requested off of work and everything - which was a pretty big deal given that it was a Saturday night and all. So, why was she rushing around like a maniac?

  Because she was ditching me for Zack.

  I came home from my lessons this afternoon prepared and ready for some sister-sister time, which I knew would include a discussion about what happened with Wyatt; I still hadn’t found the time to tell her. Although, in my defense, it wasn’t completely my fault. She and Zack had been together literally every second of her free time this past week. So, even when I was around to talk, she wasn’t. And when she was, I wasn’t.

  And even though I was slightly annoyed that I’d taken off of work only to have her bail on me, I couldn’t whole-heartedly complain since I’d just finished taking the most amazing bath.

  I picked up my phone and called our local Papa Don’s pizza, ordering my usual with mushrooms. Looked like I was going to have a Netflix and chill night with myself. I was still debating whether I was going to finish The Crown, the latest Netflix series that I’d started or go straight for the classic chick-flick, The Notebook, and lose myself in the kind of love story that I’d never admit to anyone that I wanted.

  The doorbell rang and I immediately heard Ally’s voice yell to me, “Channing! It’s Zack! Can you please get that!!” It wasn’t a question.

  I pulled on my yoga pants over my lime-green lace boy-shorts and my ‘Evolution of Snowboarding’ t-shirt and skipped down the stairs, haphazardly running my hand through my sh
ort, wet locks.

  The one good thing about super-short hair—dry time was almost non-existent.

  I saw some movement through the glass of our front door, for a second wondering if I heard voices coming from the other side, but I didn’t think twice about it before pulling the door open.

  I should have thought twice.

  “Hi, Zack…” I wasn’t looking at him though, my eyes were trained on the dangerously familiar, delicious chocolate eyes and the even sweeter mouth that came along with them. “Wyatt.”

  I stared, frozen. The question ‘what is he doing here?’ crossed my mind for only a split second before the answer came readily to my mind and out of Zack’s lips.

  “Ally told me to bring him—said she was abandoning you and this would make up for it.” He smiled and I knew it had been a conspiracy between them. I now regretted every moment during the week that I’d spent grateful to have avoided the whole Wyatt-conversation with my sister. “Can we come in?”

  Deep breaths. No reason to be rude. Yet.

  “Of course, sorry. My sister seems to have forgotten to mention that little detail to me earlier.” I stepped back, pulling the door wide and letting the two of them walk inside.

  If it was any consolation, Wyatt seemed marginally uncomfortable as well, although not enough to overshadow the flare of desire in his eyes at seeing me - or the response that it provoked in my body.

  If I thought that a week was enough to dim what I felt for him, well, I was very, very wrong. Just as I shut the door, Ally made her appearance, wrapping her arms around Zack’s neck and kissing him in front of Wyatt and me.

  My face flushed as I looked to the ground—it was the only safe spot; I didn’t want to look at my sister making out with a guy. I also didn’t want to look at the guy that certain aching parts of me wished I was making out with.

  Wyatt cleared his throat and it made me want to kiss him for a whole different reason—it ended the PDA that was going on for far too long in front of us.

  “Sorry,” Ally said, but the smile on her face told me it was more like a ‘sorry-not-sorry’ situation.