by Rosie Praks
Maybe it wasn’t so bad after all, this skiing expedition, this wedding trip.
This wedding trip… Whitney found herself thinking. It had blown into a monstrosity of surprises. Although, pleasant surprises, nonetheless.
She supposed she should have known—everything came as a surprise to her. This trip, the amount of snow at the resort. And even seeing Darcy in his skiing suit, all thick fur jacket and skiing gear, face flushed with a pink tinge, standing not five meters from her, conversing with Hunter about man stuff and talking to Elise, Fern, and Anton about snow.
She halted that thought. Darcy? What is Darcy doing here? She thought their charade had ended after he hightailed out of their room like a hurricane. She didn’t expect to see him on this trip, this trip that was meant to be about friends bonding.
Oh, this was a surprise all right. Of monstrous proportions.
Whitney stole a quick glance at Darcy, wanting to snigger at his attire. She guessed she wasn’t the only one who resembled a winter bear. Darcy was her male counterpart.
Whitney took her time to assess her PA, running her eyes across his handsome face and spiked mohawk hairdo that could only be achieve with at least three jars of hair gel.
Darcy looked like he’d just won a lottery. He was grinning like there’d be no tomorrow, his smile brightening his hazel eyes. A little thought ran through her mind. Is he into extreme sports? Would he hold my hand and we would glide together along the slope like a prince and princess in love?
What the fudge was that? Whitney tossed that thought out of her head and stamped her foot on it. This wasn’t the time to get all sentimental and romantic about a man. What happened prior to Clarice’s arrival was just a little game they concocted between them, just so Johnathan wouldn’t harass her. Now everything would go back to normal again.
If only that could easily be done. While the introductions between Fern, Anton, Elise, and Darcy took place, orchestrated by Hunter, Whitney kept taking small glances at him. Then she kicked herself in the backside when she found out she was ogling him. Again.
Something was definitely not right with her since she’d found Darcy in her bed earlier that morning. She no longer looked at him as her PA. He was a man. A hot man all filled with testosterone. And she suddenly remembered that night. Of their time together. Of his dominant self in bed while she was the submissive, lying with his tie around her wrists, not making a move as he made sweet, exotic love to her body.
Whitney swallowed and licked her lips, at the same moment Darcy looked up. He caught her eyes and smiled at her.
Whitney shuddered, taking a step back.
He actually smiled at her. Not the meek and guarded smile like a little mouse wanting a sneak peek at a piece of cheese guarded by the cat. No, this was a bright, intense smile, with teeth on display for her.
Her heart shook, and she dropped her gaze. How could this be? Darcy could never look at her straight in the eyes when they were at work. So what changed?
To her, Darcy was still the same nosy, lazy PA. He was still as irritating as ever, but she knew deep inside her soul, if she were to be honest with herself, something had changed. Maybe it wasn’t Darcy that had changed, but herself.
Whitney had to admit the militant and tyrant persona she adopted in front of her staff was starting to become a blurred grey line while she was here in Queenstown. She just couldn’t act all hostile around him anymore. He seemed to see something beyond that no other man had seen before, or maybe he broke through her barricade she’d put up to warn men off.
“Whitney!” Clarice’s sudden attack from behind kicked her mind back to reality.
“Fudge! You surprised me, Clarice.” Whitney almost jumped out of her skin when those hands slammed on her back.
Clarice just giggled when she saw her distraught face. “Where were you off to? Darcy Land?”
Whitney frowned, confused at her friend’s comment. “You mean Disneyland?” she corrected.
“No, Darcy Land.” Clarice winked at her. “You know, Darcy…”
“Shut up!” Whitney slapped her friend’s shoulder as revenge for that previous slam on her back and for acting like an unwanted friend. “Who are you? I don’t know you anymore. You must be an alien. I demand you give me back my friend, right now.”
“But I am your friend. The annoying alien friend of course.” Clarice laughed and batted her eyelashes.
“You’re not cute, Clarice. So stop that. If Hunter thinks you’re cute with that blinking, then by all means, but my God, don’t do it to me. And please give me back my nice old friend, you alien.”
Her effort of reprimanding her friend only resulted in Clarice laughing even more. But this soothed her mood a bit. And as always, Clarice jumped forward to apologize anyway. “So sorry, Whitney. I won’t tease you anymore.”
She relaxed, her foul mood draining away. “It’s fine. I’m just annoyed I didn’t wear an extra layer before coming here.”
“Don’t worry. You’ll warm up soon enough. Once the others arrive, we’ll board the cable car to the top of the slope. Then the fun shall begin.”
“I’m not sure if I want to ski anymore,” Whitney glumly commented, looking up at the steep slope they were about to ascend on those boxlike containers.
“Don’t worry. You’ll be fine.” Clarice cheered her up.
Whitney made a groaning sound, then flicked her eyes at the circle of people conversing again, trained specifically on one male.
Clarice sniggered. “So… you’ve been looking at Darcy for a while now.”
Whitney caught herself and blinked, turning to Clarice, her face aghast. “I wasn’t looking at him.” She leaped to her own defense.
“So you were looking at Anton, then?” Clarice said instead, juggling the truth so she wouldn’t answer in defensive mode again. “You know Fern is very possessive of her fiancé. She doesn’t like anyone staring at him.”
“I’m well aware of that fact,” Whitney said.
Whitney didn’t need to be reminded of how possessive Fern was. The last she saw them, Fern was kneeling on the floor, proposing to her man.
Now that was something she could never do. No man was ever worth enough to kneel on the floor for a proposal.
Minutes later, their friend Elise came over, once again commenting how Darcy was such a wonderful man. Whitney had to roll her eyes at that statement. Now why was everyone teasing her about her PA? Maybe she should demote Elise to the normal friend zone, too, with Clarice.
“I’ve never actually spoken to him before, but he’s very nice and polite,” Elise commented. Now all three of them were assessing Darcy.
“In front of new people, yes, Elise, but when he’s in front of me, he acts like a kid.” Whitney gave her opinion. Her true opinion, actually.
Clarice snorted.
“What was that for?” Whitney whipped her attention to her friend.
“Yeah right, Whitney.”
“Okay, what do you mean by that?”
“You, my darling friend, have the hots for your PA.”
“Clarice, do you want me to remain your bridesmaid? Because one more word about Darcy and I’m out of here.”
“Wow, wow. Calm down. My mouth is zipped. Happy?”
Whitney snorted in return.
“I say he’s very nice,” Elise commented softly to herself again, drawing all attention back to the man in assessment.
“Elise, everyone is nice to you,” Whitney told her quiet friend. “Even the grumpy bear postman who delivers your letters to the wrong address.”
Elise laughed softly. Suddenly, a shout, or more like a coyote howling from a mile away, was heard by all three friends.
It was Max, half trudging, half running to their circle. He didn’t stop until almost half a meter away and then he jumped right into Elise’s arms. Elise couldn’t support the robust teen, and she toppled over into the snow with Max on top.
Max was pure sunshine. He couldn’t stop the grin on his face.
He was so happy to see Elise again, his brown eyes sparkling.
“Elise,” he shouted, arms embracing her slim body. “I missed you so much.” And he had to nestle his head at the crook of her shoulder.
Elise didn’t move. Her heart was thumping. Not for the young teen lying on top of her, but for someone else, a distant past and haunting memory from when she was in Australia.
“Max, I can’t breathe,” she quietly said, schooling her expression back to her passive self.
“Oh, sorry, Elise. Wouldn’t want to squash you. You’re too precious to me.” With this said, Max got up on his feet and held out his hand to help Elise up, once again all smiles and sunshine.
Elise looked at that hand, her heart resounding so sadly in her chest. She must stop this feeling from possessing her. She took hold of Max’s hand. He in turn hauled her upright until they stood feet to feet and eye to eye.
How did she not notice Max had grown this past year? Had she neglected to look at her surroundings? Had her guilt eaten up all her senses, making her live like an ostrich who refused to dig her head out of the sand? She had to let this feeling go. An overwhelming sadness swarmed her again.
“All right, Maxy boy. Stop acting all possessive over Elise.” Whitney saw the strange facial expression her friend made and decided to intervene.
Max snatched Elise’s hand and wound it around his possessively, eyes firing at her. “What, the witch is jealous? I thought you’d already found your man. Hugging him like two buns in a steamer earlier this morning.”
“Ah, Max, you’re really grating on my nerves.” Whitney gritted her teeth, invisible steam blowing out of her ears.
“Max, you’re not going to hug me, too?” Fern came into their circle as soon as she saw Max arrive. Just as well, because right now Whitney felt like he really deserved a boxing to the ears.
“Oh, Fern, of course I’m going to hug you.” And just when Max was about to torpedo into Fern’s arms, Whitney smacked him in the head. She really was reaching her limit with that boy.
“What did I say about the head?” Max swung around, giving Whitney an evil glare, one hand rubbing his sore head to ease the pain. “This head is sacred. Don’t ever touch it again.”
“That’s enough. Stop acting like a kid, Max. You’re seventeen now.”
At the mere mention of his age, Max suddenly grinned. “Thanks for telling everyone.” He boldly moved to stand beside Elise, until they were shoulder to shoulder. “Elise, check this out. I’m slightly taller than you now. My growth spurt has finally been activated. Hallelujah!”
“Yes, you are,” she said, mussing Max’s mop of brown hair, a soft, subtle expression now present on her face.
Max snatched her hand, holding it gently with his fingers, surprising all the girls. “I’m old now. So don’t rub my hair anymore. Treat me like a man.”
Okay. This is awkward, Whitney thought, sensing the tension between the two.
Clarice and Fern could also feel the tension between Elise and Max as they locked eyes with one another. In fact, the atmosphere was so tense Clarice had to laugh just to break tension.
“What are you laughing at, Clarice?” Whitney asked, drawing everyone’s focus to her friend.
Clarice sighed and spoke cheerfully. “I’m laughing at you, Whitney. You look like a polar bear.”
Whitney, too, was glad the group was all happy again. “So what? I’m cold.” She continued the act. “And it’s not my idea to ski. Where’s Conrad? Why are you out here skiing with us?”
Whitney tried her best to diffuse the atmosphere. And Clarice caught on to the message. So both conversed with each other animatedly to lift the tense atmosphere around them. With the addition of Fern, who knew what the two were trying to achieve.
“Yes, Clarice, where is little Conrad? I want to hold him.”
“Conrad’s with Mum and Dad,” Clarice relayed immediately.
At this point, Max got the idea and slowly released Elise from his grasp, his eyes lingering on hers. Elise didn’t look at him. Her thoughts were elsewhere.
The hyper-energetic, animated conversation soon came to an abrupt end. Silence fell upon them.
After minutes of waiting for the boys to join their circle and with no one uttering a single word—only more stares from Max to Elise, Elise to the mountains, Whitney, Clarice and Fern to Elise and Max—Whitney had had enough and decided to break the silence once and for all.
“All right! Enough of this. How long are we going to just hang around here? I’m cold,” she gasped out, adding an extra notch to her volume.
Darcy glanced up at her. She silently screeched, not realizing her voice reached the men’s circle.
Not a moment later, Darcy paced into their small circle, followed by Hunter and Anton.
“Sorry, everyone.” Hunter went ahead and apologized. “Got caught up in the subject of snow.”
Snow?
The strange electric current between Elise and Max, the cold, and now the subject of snow made Whitney want to run.
“Are we going to spend another half hour talking about snow?” Whitney asked, mood taking a turn toward the sour side.
“Sorry, Whitney.” Hunter turned to everyone. “For this skiing trip, everyone will get paired off. We’ll go up the slope on the cable car, then meet down here before five to head back to the hotel. Baby.” Hunter turned to his partner. “You’re pairing with me.” Hunter grabbed Clarice and pulled her to his side. “The rest of you can sort yourselves out.”
It was Whitney’s turn to pick. She glanced from left to right, or more specifically, from Darcy to Max, since there was no way she would pair up with Anton. She already heard the news upfront that Fern was like a rooster who would fight in order to get her man. And Darcy… well, Darcy…
Holy cupcake! The minute she thought his name, her heart went on a thumping spree. She wasn’t comfortable with spending any more time with him. So before anyone could say another word, she yanked Max from Elise’s side.
“Max, you’re good at skiing. Pair up with me.” She looped her arm around his.
“What? No.” Max was aghast and immediately tugged Whitney’s hands away. “I’m pairing with Elise. Elise said she couldn’t ski, so I’m teaching her.”
“But her skill is more advanced than mine.” Whitney reasoned. “Teach me.”
“It’s okay, Max,” Elise said quietly. “You go to Whitney. I’m—”
“No!” Max immediately turned his attention to Elise and locked eyes with her. Again. And now the tension was back. “Elise. I’m a man. And a man keeps his word. One hundred percent. So I’m yours. Now let’s go.”
Was there a double meaning to that? Whitney analyzed. But before anyone could say another word, Max took Elise’s hand and they both took the cable car up the slope.
“What a perfect exit,” Whitney said, blinking at that strange, tense scene. “That boy has a thing for Elise, Clarice. Did you know that?”
“No, I didn’t know that. Well, not until now anyway.” Clarice nodded, knowing something was up.
“Teenage crush.” Whitney warned. “Better watch out for him.”
“Yes,” Clarice said, looking at her cousin, all grown up and being a gentleman to her close friend. “I guess I’ll have to, won’t I?”
“Don’t worry, baby.” Hunter came and swung his arm around Clarice’s waist to pull his partner closer to him. “It’s just a kid’s crush. Every boy goes through that phase. I’m sure he’ll get over it.”
Clarice whipped her head to Hunter. “You mean you had a crush like that once. On an older woman?”
“Yeah. With you.”
“With me?”
“Yeah. A crush turned into love, which resulted in our Conrad. Even though I didn’t know it at the time.”
“You think Max’s crush could turn to love, too?” Clarice asked uneasily.
“I don’t know. It depends. He is still young.”
“Hunter, seventeen is not that young,” Whit
ney added. “That boy likes Elise.”
“I really hope it’s only a small crush, though,” Clarice commented, eyes gazing with worry.
“Fern.” Anton interrupted. “Ski with me?”
Fern brightened like the sun in the sky. “Yes, Anton,” she said, smiling sheepishly at her fiancé. “Shall we go?”
Linking hands, both Fern and Anton also disappeared into one of the cable cars.
“Well, Darcy, Whitney, it’s just you two,” Hunter commented, taking Clarice’s hand, the subject about Max and his strange behavior with Elise at the back of everyone’s minds. “Baby, I’ll hold your hand. Let’s go.”
“Don’t let me go, Hunter.” Clarice wobbled through the snow. “I’m freaked out here.”
“I won’t.” Hunter caressed her hand. “But if you fall, I’ll make sure to land underneath.”
“Dear heaven. Don’t make jokes like that.” Clarice rolled her eyes. “Let’s go.”
“Bye, guys,” Hunter said before he set sail with Clarice in his arms into another of the cable cars, leaving Whitney and Darcy alone together.
Whitney sighed, not looking forward to the cable car ride one bit. And especially not with Darcy as her partner. Talking about Darcy, he slowly made his way toward her.
“Hi, Whitney. Me again,” Darcy said, standing right in front of her.
Whitney blinked and tried to suppress her thundering heartbeat. “Yes. You again.”
“Well, give it your best shot, then. Let’s have fun.” Darcy held out his hand, as Max had a couple minutes ago.
Whitney looked at that hand as if it were about to attack her.
“I’m good.” She took off and walked ahead.
Darcy ran after her, falling into step beside her, until they both reached the cable car at the same time. Then he held out his hand again.
“Let me help you up.”
How do I refuse this time? she thought to herself. The cable car was suspended in the air slightly. A good lift would help her heaps.