Steve navigated the SUV into a parking spot, and we all climbed out. Marissa, Mike, Travis, and I walked over to the rental area. Elizabeth and Steve skied a lot, so they were busy removing their equipment from the roof rack. Marissa explained to me how they would fit us for boots and skis. I filled out the information sheet provided, noticing that we had to sign a waiver for the risks involved. Great—even the people who owned the place were acknowledging the inherent danger. I sighed as I signed the form, hoping that I wouldn’t break any bones in my quest to spend a day skiing with the others.
After getting fitted, we each carried our gear outside. I awkwardly tried to manage my skis and poles, unsuccessfully, as one pole clamored to the ground. Travis reached down and grabbed it for me, easily gripping his own skiing equipment in one arm.
“Need some help?” he asked, offering to take something else from me.
“No, I think I can manage,” I said with a wry smile. “Thanks, though.”
I reached out and took the pole back from him, then nervously looked around. Through the trees I noticed skiers effortlessly gliding down the gentle slopes. They were obviously on a beginner run, but it didn’t look as bad as I thought it would. It wasn’t like they were racing straight down a steep hill like all the skiers that I’d seen on TV. It actually looked like it could be fun.
“You’re sure you’ll be okay if we go skiing while you’re in class?” Marissa asked. She was practically bouncing up and down with excitement, and I could tell that she was eager to get going.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. Travis said he’ll help me.”
“We’ll catch up with you guys later then,” Mike said with a wave. He pulled his mirrored goggles down and grinned at Marissa. “Race you to the ski lift,” he said before taking off.
“You are so not beating me,” she called out as she hurried after him. “Bye Maddy!” she shouted, glancing back at me. “Call my cell when your class is over.”
“Bye!”
As the others headed off in the direction of the ski lift, Travis and I walked over to where the beginner’s lesson would be held.
“Why don’t you try putting your skis on before class starts,” Travis suggested. “You can start to get used to the way they feel.”
“Okay,” I said, laying my skis down on the snow. Travis showed me how to step into my skis so the boots would latch in. I didn’t realize it would be so hard just to put my skis on, but after a few tries of stomping my boot onto the ski, I finally got it. Once I got them on, I tried to move forward, copying his movements, and immediately fell over. Although the ground looked flat, it was sloping slightly downward. I hadn’t expected to slide forward so easily in the smooth snow.
“It’s okay,” Travis called out to me. “It will take a little getting used to.”
I struggled to stand up in my skis but couldn’t figure out how to without completely losing my balance. Travis easily glided over to me and held out his gloved hands. I reached out to grasp them, and he was suddenly pulling me to my feet in one swift movement.
“Thanks,” I said, clutching onto his arms as I steadied myself. “I didn’t expect to just start sliding like that.”
“I know; it’s something that takes a little practice,” he said, smiling down at me. I looked up at him in his black ski jacket, black wool cap, and mirrored goggles perched atop his head, noticing again how handsome he was. He hadn’t shaved that morning, so there was a dark shadow of stubble along his chin and jaw line. Travis seemed so self-assured, but then again, he’d said that he’d been skiing all his life. There was nothing for him to worry about today. I’d even noticed the first day that I met him how athletic he looked. Hopefully I wouldn’t embarrass myself too much by letting him teach me how to ski.
I let go of him after I regained my balance, and we continued to practice before the beginner’s lesson started. Travis showed me how to stop, bringing my skis into a V-shape in the snow. I watched him for a minute before trying it out myself. I was nervous that my skis would cross and I would fall over. It was so hard to control these gigantic sticks beneath my feet. They felt so long and awkward to me, and I wished I could have the short skis that I had seen the little kids using. They looked so much easier to maneuver, but I didn’t think they made those in my size. Somehow I managed not to fall over this time as I glided forward and came to a stop beside Travis.
“See, nothing to it!” Travis said.
“Well, I was hardly moving,” I muttered.
“Maybe,” he said, giving me that, “but knowing how to stop is the most important thing.”
I unsteadily practiced for a while longer, and before I knew it the beginner’s ski class was starting. There were seven other students, not including Travis, most of them looking as shaky as me. The instructor, Sue, introduced herself and announced the goals for the class. She looked to be in her late twenties and had tangled curly brown hair and ruddy cheeks—probably from being out in the elements each day. She wore a bright green cap and parka, and I wondered if it was so she could stand out among the students. Then again, maybe she just liked that color. Sue showed us some of the basics that Travis had already taught me, such as the proper position to stand in and how to stop. She had us practice bringing our skis into a V-shape several times. Watching Travis as he came to a clean stop, she commented, “You’ve obviously skied before.”
“Yes,” he said grinning. “I’m just here to keep her company.” He gestured toward me, his hand still gripping his ski pole, as he spoke.
“You’ve got a nice boyfriend,” Sue called over to me.
“He’s not—” I started to say, but she had already turned away to help someone else. I looked at Travis and shrugged, and he just laughed.
The rest of the lesson passed quickly. We learned a few other basics, such as how to turn and how to stand back up if we fell on a hill, but I didn’t feel like an hour was nearly enough time to get a handle on everything. I was shocked when Sue suggested that we all take a run down one of the beginner slopes. I could hardly control my skis on flat ground and figured she would just send us off on our own to continue practicing. How did she expect us to navigate down an actual ski slope?
The class made our way over to the ski lift, and Sue rounded up a few other instructors along the way to assist us with riding the chair lift and navigating down our first run. Travis and I were near the back of the line, and I watched as instructor and student paired off and hopped onto the chairs as they came by. As the line crept forward, it appeared there weren’t enough coaches for someone to ride with me. Sue was standing directly in front of us with another student, and she turned around to look at us, assessing the situation. “Travis, you can probably ride up with Maddy, right?” she asked. “It looks like we’re one instructor short.”
“Sure, we’ll be fine.”
“Okay, great,” Sue replied. She looked toward me now. “He’ll be able to show you how to get on and off.”
“Okay,” I said, nodding nervously. My palms felt sweaty in my gloves as we got closer to the beginning of the line. I watched as Sue got on the chairlift with the last remaining student from our class and felt a pit in my stomach as I realized that Travis and I were next. We got into position, standing side by side, and as the chair came from behind us, suddenly I was seated next to Travis, rising up into the air. I watched as the ground moved farther away from us, everything getting smaller by the second, and felt my skis dangling beneath me. What on earth had I gotten myself into? I clutched my ski poles, feeling my heartbeat rapidly increase, and I realized that I would somehow have to get back off of the chairlift with my skis on when we reached the top.
“How are we supposed to get off this?” I asked frantically.
“It’s okay,” Travis said, reaching over to touch my arm, obviously hearing the panic in my voice. His gloved hand rested on the waterproof fabric of my parka, and he leaned his head down slightly toward me. I couldn’t see his eyes though his mirrored goggles, and I didn’t feel
any calmer at his touch through our bulky winter clothes. “When we get to the top you just stand up and glide away. It’s really easy.”
“I hope so,” I said uncertainly, still completely terrified.
“Just watch the people in front of us when we get close. You’ll have no problem.”
We continued to rise, and I looked down at the people beneath us, skiing down the hill. I watched as a snowboarder fell over and thought that snowboarding looked even harder than skiing. The other people on the slopes did not seem to be having any problems though. They were skiing down easily, looking like they were having a great time. Before I knew it, we had reached the top. Sue and the student in the chair ahead of us each stood as their skis came into contact with solid ground, and they slid down the small incline, coming to a stop. When Travis’s and my turn came, I was so relieved to be getting off the chairlift that I had no time to worry about balancing on my skis, and I effortlessly glided down behind them, even coming to a decent, if wobbly, stop.
“See, you did great!” Travis said from beside me. He had stayed right next to me, and I wondered if he would have been able to catch me if I did fall.
“Yeah, that wasn’t too bad.”
I managed to maneuver around to the hill sloping down in front of me. Others were skiing gracefully down it, gently swerving from side to side. A few kids were whizzing straight down on their tiny little skis, not using any ski poles.
“Are you ready?” Travis asked.
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I said hesitantly. He waited for me, so I pushed off and started skiing down the hill. I was moving so slowly that practically everyone else was passing by us as we made our way down. I had to fight to keep my skis straight—I was trying to go so slowly, to remain in control, that it was actually hard to straighten my skis out and move forward. Travis patiently skied at my side, in no rush to get down.
“Try to look where you want to go,” Travis encouraged. “Don’t keep looking down.”
“Okay, it’s just hard to turn in these.”
“I know, just keep focusing on the direction that you want to be going, and it will be easier for you.”
I finally made my way to the bottom of the hill, feeling pumped full of adrenaline. I was happy and relieved to be down the slope but also ready to try it again. I looked over at Travis, wondering what he thought of my slow descent down the bunny slope. He lifted his ski goggles up, and I could see the warmth of his brown eyes as he looked over at me.
“What’d you think? You did great!” Travis said, happy that despite my protests, I had actually been able to ski.
“It wasn’t as bad as I thought—except for all those little kids whizzing by me,” I said with a grin.
“It’s easier for them—they’re closer to the ground!”
“Maybe,” I said reluctantly. It felt like I was the slowest skier out there. He was obviously just trying to be nice.
“Are you ready to try again?”
“Might as well,” I said, smiling. “I won’t get any better without any practice.”
“Come on,” he said, tilting his head toward the ski lift.
I followed Travis back to where we’d started from, noticing the easy way he glided through the snow, the effortless way that he carried himself. I heard my cell phone beeping in my jacket pocket and called out to Travis to wait.
I flipped open the phone and saw a new text message from Marissa.
Lunch in an hour?
“They want to meet for lunch in an hour,” I said.
“Okay, that sounds good. We can do a few more runs—you’ll be an expert by lunchtime.”
“Yeah, right. I’ll let her know we’re up for lunch though.” I pulled off one glove and sent Marissa a quick reply, before tucking the phone back into my parka. Pulling the glove back on, I looked up at Travis.
“Ready to go?”
“I guess it’s now or never,” I replied.
We did a few more runs down the beginner’s slope, but I was already getting exhausted and dragging behind Travis as we finished another descent. “Do you want to head back to the lodge early to wait for the others?” Travis asked.
“Yeah, I could use a break,” I said gratefully.
I followed him over to the wooden chalet, and while he gracefully came to a stop and popped off his skis, I struggled to get mine off while trying to maintain upright. Travis came over to help, offering his arm for me to hold onto. I stabbed at one ski with my pole again, trying to hit the release, and fell against Travis in the process. His arms came around me as he steadied me, and I laughed in embarrassment. Travis grinned back, seemingly amused by my predicament. After I straightened myself out, we propped our skis up against the outside wall and walked into the lodge—Travis easily striding across the floor, while I followed a bit more unsteadily as I got used to walking in ski boots.
The room was cozy and warm, with exposed ceiling beams and dark wood paneled walls. A pair of old wooden skis were hung in a crisscross pattern near the entrance, and I noticed snowshoes and other alpine equipment decorating the interior. There was a roaring fire at the center of the room, and a folksy, bluegrass trio playing music at the far end. A few people were seated at the tables and bar, but it was still early, so it was mostly empty. I pulled off my wool cap and ran my fingers through my hair to fluff it up a bit and then pressed my hands to my cold cheeks.
Travis sat down at the bar and pulled out the barstool next to him for me to take a seat. “Do you want some hot chocolate?” he asked as he watched me.
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
“Two hot chocolates, please,” Travis said to the bartender.
I took off my parka and slid onto the barstool next to Travis. It felt really good to sit down and relax. Muscles I didn’t even know I had would probably be sore tomorrow if I was already this tired from a couple hours of learning to ski. The bartender brought over two steaming mugs of hot chocolate and then squeezed fresh whipped cream from what looked like a pastry bag onto the top of our drinks. She slid them over toward us, and I wrapped my fingers around the warm mug, lifting it up for a sip.
“This is really good,” I said happily.
“You looked cold,” Travis replied with a grin. “Your cheeks are rosy.”
“I am cold,” I said with a laugh. “The rest of them can stay out there freezing, but they are missing out on this.”
Travis finished taking a sip and set his mug down on the bar. “You’re right, this is really good,” he agreed. We both turned toward the music playing, looking over at the bluegrass band, which had just started a new song. We listened to them and continued talking for a good half hour or so as we waited for the others to arrive. They showed up at 12:30 on the dot and came loudly over to where we were sitting. Rather, Marissa and Mike came loudly laughing and joking around as they walked over. Elizabeth and Steve were following behind them, seemingly amused at whatever story they had been telling.
“Hi guys!” I said, waving at them.
“Maddy, you survived!” Marissa squealed, coming over to give me a hug. “How’d you like skiing?”
“It was fun,” I said. “It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. Luckily, Travis helped me—he’s definitely a patient teacher.”
“How’d she do, Travis?” Marissa asked, turning to him.
“Oh, Maddy did great,” he said in his deep voice, a smile on his face.
“Do you guys want to get a table?” Elizabeth asked. She and Steve were shuffling in their places, looking like they really wanted to sit down and peel off some of their layers of heavy clothes.
“Sure, I think there’s one over there,” I said, pointing to an empty round table near the middle of the room. I pulled some money out of my pocket and turned back to Travis. “How much were the hot chocolates?”
“I already paid for them.”
“Oh, well here you go,” I said, starting to hand him some of the money in my hand.
“Don’t worry about
it,” he said easily, waving my hand away. He stood up, grabbing his jacket off the stool next to me. “Let’s go order some food—I’m starving.”
We all gathered at the table and ordered drinks and appetizers. I could tell everyone was hungry, because there was more eating than talking once the food arrived. Marissa said she’d hit the beginner slopes with me after lunch so that Travis could go down the more advanced runs with the others. When he protested that he didn’t want to desert me, I insisted that he go and have some fun. I was pretty worn out anyway, and I think Marissa was as well, because we lingered at the table as the others stood to go.
“You’re sure you don’t mind?” Travis asked as they got ready to head back out into the cold.
“No really, go ahead,” I said.
He flashed me a grin and then pulled on his black wool cap. “You two stay out of trouble,” he said before following Mike outside.
We remained seated at the table, sipping on our sodas, unwilling to move from the warmth inside the room. I took off my wool sweater, placing it next to my parka, and was now left wearing my black thermal undershirt. Marissa, however, still managed to look elegant and sophisticated in ski wear. She’d taken off her patterned wool sweater as well but was wearing a silk turtleneck beneath it. The cream color of her top set off her blonde hair, and a few males walking by had appreciatively noticed her sitting there.
“So, what was that about?” Marissa asked as soon as the others had left. “I think someone likes you….”
“I don’t know,” I said, fiddling with my straw. “He probably just didn’t want me to think that he was abandoning me or anything. I needed a lot of help skiing,” I reflected with a laugh.
“So he’s hot and sweet,” Marissa said with a grin.
“He even took the beginner’s ski lesson with me this morning.”
“Really?” Her eyes grew wide. “What did I tell you the first day he started working here? You two should go out!”
“Marissa, please,” I said rolling my eyes. “We’re just friends. I barely know him.”
First Sight Page 3