Page 69 of Full Send

No. There’s no fucking way!

“Guys. Seriously,” my voice is loud and shocked, “what in the actual fuck?”

Tanner hears me from the kitchen and makes his way to us, stopping just short of the landing but still able to see the bedroom door.

“What’s wrong?” he asks as he reaches me, stopping as he sees the scene in front of us. He pauses, eyeing them carefully. “Wait a second, did they?” He gestures between Collin and Lizzy with a smirk.

Lizzy is the first to address the elephant, well cowboy, in the room.

“Ugh. Oh my god you guys. Collin and I didn’t fuck. We just shared the cowboy, ok?” she says as if theirwhateverwas some trivial matter that didn’t warrant acknowledgment or shock.

“Yeah. I mean… I guess it was more of a cowboy sandwich. We didn’t touch ea-,” Collin starts, before I cut him off.

“Nope. Nope. Nope,” I say, extending a hand toward them, making a stop motion with my hand. “I haven’t even finished my coffee yet. Just get dressed and come to the dining room.”

I look back to Tanner who is trying his best to not burst into laughter, holding it in for my sake.

A few minutes later, Collin and then Lizzy join Tanner and me at the table in awkward silence, grabbing their coffees and a pastry.

“You guys have a good night ringing in the new year? Any fireworks?” Collin asks, winking before taking a bite of his croissant.

“Yeah, it was nice. Got to bed early,” Tanner starts. “I’d ask about yours but-” he trails off, finally unable to contain his laughter. “Dude, this has to be at the top of your list of shenanigans and I wasn’t even involved,” he continues between his booming laughs. “But cowboys aren’t really my thing. Nowcowgirlson the other hand…” Tanner looks back at me and winks.

I roll my eyes at Tanner, his laughter stopping when he senses my lack of amusement. I mean… he’s right though. I never would have thought that they would be just as wild of a duo as Collin and Tanner.

“I mean,” I start, “just like… how?”

“Oh, don’t be so surprised, V,” Lizzy says defiantly. “I got his number at the bar and he texted me right after you two left us. He asked what we were up to the rest of the night.”

She cocks her head to the side, shrugging.

“Yolo, I guess,” she continues, before taking a bite of her chocolate croissant.

I palm my face, finally letting out a laugh I’ve been holding back. I can hear Collin and Lizzy exhale at my reaction, the tension in the room taken down a notch.

“Well, I don’t know about you guys but I’m ready for the first chair of the new year. So can you two get ready and moving?” Tanner asks, eyeing Collin and Lizzy, still shaking his head and laughing.

Fortunately, the rest of the day is far less dramatic. After the morning’shappenings, we get out on the slopes. As expected, the place feels empty, all the tourists and even locals sleeping in after a hard night of partying. I always love skiing the day of a holiday or after for this reason. It feels like we have the mountain entirely to ourselves, or at least until people sleep off their hangovers and come out later in the day.

After a couple mellow warm up runs, I realize I have a shadow today. I don’t know if I’m skiing harder and faster or if Tanner is skiing slower, but he’s been lagging behind me.

We all reach the next chair, Tanner and Collin sitting on the outside seats with Lizzy and I between them. As the lift takes us back up the mountain, I give Tanner a playful punch on the thigh with my mitten.

“So what’s up, slow poke? You taking it easy today or am I actually kicking your ass?” I ask, trying to gauge his reaction through our goggles.

He snorts a laugh, “Nope, just decided I want to enjoy the view and watch mygirlfriendshred a few runs.”

Girlfriend. There’s something about hearing that word from him, on the slopes here, that makes my heart melt and my body warm. I know we started this without labels, but it just feels so good now to be out in the open and acknowledge the feelings are clearly mutual.

“Bro, tone it down like two notches,” Collin says from the far end of the chair, before letting out a laugh.

“Awww, you two are so cute,” Lizzy says, with a mocking tone.

Ugh. I’ve had enough of the threesome buddies already today. Like they have room to judge aftertheirnight.

I place my hand on Tanner’s thigh, resting my head on his shoulder. Even with heavy ski mittens and a helmet on, it feels good to be close to him. Nope, not even Collin and Lizzy’s teasing can ruin this.

“So, what’s next y’all?” Tanner asks. “You feel up for some tree runs? I was thinking we could head over to Grizzly Glade.”

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