Page 36 of Ski You Later
“What’s wrong? Why are you crying?” His question sounds more like a panicked demand as heexamines me. His eyes are wide as he takes me in, only looking back once as he sits on the stool across from me.
“Did someone make you cry?” He begins to whip his head back and forth around the lodge as if he’ll find what he’s looking for.
I give a pained chuckle as I place my hand on his arm. “You’re being ridiculous; no one made me cry. I’m totally fine.” I give him a tight-lipped smile and then look away as I scrunch my face up in pain.
“What’s your face doing then?” He starts unclipping his gear as he looks at me quizzically.
“It’s nothing. My feet are frozen, and I’m currently in the burning phase of frostbite,” I try to say casually, but my toe accidently knocks against the ground. My entire body tenses on the impact and I turn my wince into a smile in order to convince Roman that I’m fine.
There is an upward tilt to his lips as he leaves to retrieve his ski bag. He removes the rest of the equipment in front of me, but frequently glances my way.
After looking at me three more times, I turn towards him fully. “Why are you sitting over here?” I ask curiously. He always sits a couple of tables over withhis roommates, but they don’t seem too upset he’s sitting here now.
Roman’s shoulders shrug. “I wanted to sit here today,” he says simply.
“Why?”
“Because I wanted to,” he responds immediately.
“But why?”
A small laugh bursts out of him then, his head hanging low as his body starts to convulse. Confusion fills me for a second before I realize that he’s laughing.
He looks up at me, a sheen of water in his eyes as he sends me a smile. His eyes scan the surrounding area before he leans into my space and puts his lips to my ear.
“You are absolutely terrible at this dating thing, Langley,” he drawls. His smile’s so prominent that I can practically hear it in his voice. I blush at that, having forgotten we’re even fake dating in the first place.
He’s still smiling as he leans away from me and against the lodge table. I send him a teasing scowl as I begin packing my equipment. My brain mulls over a witty retort to send Roman’s way, but Liane and Rachel appear before I have any hopes of delivering it.
“Alright, listen up team. Rachel and I are going to go over all the rules for our first official race of the season.” She pulls out her notebook and goes over the general itinerary for the trip.
“The van will leave the school lot at six am, Thursday morning. We’ll drive non-stop until we reach Thistle Mountain. This is a seven-hour drive, so pack lunch, water, and lots of snacks.”
They start to describe the packing list for the race, and at the same moment, I feel my feet being lifted from the ground.
The burning feeling returns in an instant, as the contact of warm hands causing prickling to break out over my toes. The pain immediately lessens with the pressure from those hands, and warmth starts to slowly bleed into my feet.
I turn my head to see Roman holding both my feet in his lap, his warm hands gripping them together as he tries his best to melt the ice from my socks. His brow is furrowed in concentration as he alternates lightly squeezing both my feet between his insanely warm hands.
The tears return to my eyes for a completely different reason as I watch our team captain treat my frozen toes so gently. He’s applying the perfect amountof pressure to slowly warm my feet without crushing them.
Roman glances up periodically so the coaches can see he’s listening, but the majority of his attention remains on the task in front of him.
My eyes are glued to the boy before me, but as I look around the group, I see that his little stunt hasn’t gone unnoticed. Most of the team ignores the coaches and now watches Roman take his time warming up my toes. It hasn’t slipped past my attention that half of them have their jaw hanging open.
I guess hearing that Roman’s my boyfriend versus actually seeing it are two completely different matters at hand.
I don’t miss the look of shock that’s on Jasmine’s face, as well as the enormous grin that Xander and Landon are both wearing.
It suddenly clicks what he’s doing. Roman chose to do this in front of the whole team, ensuring that everyone would be watching and help sell our relationship. It was a great tactical move on his part, and the effort he’s putting in should make me so happy.
Yet, against my better judgement, his intentions cause all the fluttering in my chest to wither up and die. For one split second, I felt giddy at the thought that hewas doing this just because he wanted to. Not because he saw a great opportunity for others to see us acting like a couple.
I don’t let any of my feelings show on my face. This would all go to waste if I looked sad, so I ensure to keep the façade of a loving girlfriend locked in.
Rachel must have noticed the shift in the team’s attention because she suddenly claps loudly to regain the room. “I don’t know why Langley’s feet are more important than your schedule, but we’re not going to be repeating this information.”
I flush crimson for what feels like the millionth time this week and try to pull my feet from Roman’s grasp. His hands quickly shoot to my ankles, holding firm as he keeps them in his lap. The fight goes out of me instantly as I realize he wasn’t willing to grip my frozen feet any tighter.
