Page 10 of Ski You Later
“Are you okay?” Roman calls up to me, a touch of concern worming its way into his neutral tone. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him talk in any manner that isn’t similar to a bored robot’s way of speaking.
“I’m alright,” I yell back.
“Rhodes, you’re bleeding.” His hand gestures to his mouth as he says this.
I rip off my glove and gently touch my hand to my lip, red saliva sticking to my fingers as I pull it back.
Well, dang it to heck. I’ve had so much dental work in my life that if one single tooth is even slightly loose, I’ll be killing Liam. My decision is final.
“Rhodes, are you hurt?” That concern I’m not used to laces his voice again. I’m slightly taken aback as I reassure the team grump that I’m completely fine.
As team captain, he must feel obligated to check up on me. This being another aspect of him that makes me believe everyone’s harsh words less and less.
“Hey, Langley. Catch!” Did he just call me by my last name? I don’t have time to dwell on it as I look down and see a huge, neon-red bundle flying towards my face. The scream I release is purely out of self-defense as I close my skis together, safely securing his jacket.
Praying that I didn’t rip this extremely expensive team coat with my sharp skis, I reach down and wrap it around myself. It’s the perfect kind of oversized where my arms can stay together in the middle, securing all the warmth.
I lean over the bar to look at this beautiful man below me. “Roman, I’m buying your butt a coffee. I owe you my life!” I yell this down to him, looking ridiculous with the empty arms of his jacket flapping in the wind.
There is a whisper of a deep chuckle that reaches my ears, the sound being dulled by the wind surrounding me.
The red dots that slowly form on Roman’s skis confuse me, but I quickly realize they’re all due to me leaning over the bar. I had completely forgotten about the snowball that shook my entire skull until now. Red creeps up my neck as I think about how embarrassing that was. I almost bled onto his helmet—ugh!
A loud clank echoes in the air, and the whirling of machinery thrums through the chairlift. With a jolt, the lift hums to life and starts to make its steady way to the top.
Moving past Roman, I turn back to see his hands cupped around his mouth, but I can’t make out a single word he’s saying. With my arms wrapped around my body, I have no chance of moving, so I just shake my head vigorously, and hope that conveys the message to him.
As the chairlift whirls away, the last thing I see is an exasperated Roman putting his head in his hands.
CHAPTER 5
I’d never let her do this alone.
My energy this morning was sitting at a comfortable thirty-five percent, but a snowball to the face quickly took it down to ten. I can’t help the storm cloud of grump that settles over my head as I straight-line down to the top of the course. The hill is as good as dead since the chairlift is having issues, and I want to get inside the lodge as soon as possible.
Stopping at the top of the training course, I pop off my skis and make my way to the team radio that’s clipped to the start gate.
“Hey, Liane and Rachel, I was stuck on the chairlift, but I’m at the top now. Should I come down to the lodge?”
“Oh, Rhodes, this is perfect! Can you tear down the course and leave every ten-gates bundled on the side of the hill?” Liane’s staticky voice asks this as if it were no big deal, as if she’s asking for a cup of coffee. As ifit’s acceptable to ask me to tear down a thirty-gate course alone, after I’ve been freezing my butt off on the chair for twenty minutes.
“Um, sorry. Just to clarify, you want me to dismantle the entire course by myself?” I repeat into the radio, with the disbelief apparent in my tone.
“Look, Rhodes. Apparently, the lift needs a whole new piece ordered, and they won't be able to get it until Monday. If you can tear the course, then we don’t need to get the ski patrol involved.” Rachel jumps into the fray with this information.
My silence must convey my reluctance because Liane pipes in with another informative message.
“Rhodes, we’re not asking. You are part of a team, and you’re the only member up there right now. If any other athlete were in your shoes, they would do it for you. So, the longer you stall, the longer you are left outside in the cold.”
This day sucks. It really does. I know that Jasmine would never be asked to do this, and that thought does nothing but cause anger to flood through me. I’m crushed under the double standards held by this team, and I try to tamper down the boiling of my blood.
Ripping the radio off the post, I shut it off before I tell the coaches where I think they can shove it.
A bloody face, a frozen butt, and a sour mood are the key points of my day. The fact that I have to go home and finish my lab report is just icing on this cake of crap.
There are four gates in view from here, the pitch below housing the other twenty-six. Accepting my fate, I push the sleeves of Roman’s jacket up to my elbow, bend at the knees, and begin to yank the frozen plastic poles from the ground. Since we had a decent amount of training before this, the snow surrounding the gates is a sheet of ice, and I ensure my feet are secure before I pull.
I only manage to remove three gates out of the ground with ease, since the fourth refuses to budge even an inch. With a frustrated scream that rattles the trees, I use all my might to kick the base of the gate. It’s frozen itself into the ground, so I repeatedly smack my boot into this plastic gate.
