Page 1 of Ski You Later
CHAPTER 1
Not this again.
New York is nothing but an overpriced pit, and I’ll never understand the appeal. Relaxing against the couch, I shovel another handful of popcorn into my mouth and continue to hate-watch the movie I picked for tonight.
My roommate, who doubles as my best friend, sits across from me. Since she’s an avid action movie fanatic, I had to put on the cheesiest romantic comedy I could find to make her mad. This particular film revolves around a woman with an avid shopping addiction, which is something I know will drive Aurora nuts.
I can’t help but roll my eyes as the main character in the movie marvels at a city full of greed. In my opinion, if someone wants the New York experience, I think a stroll through the sewer would do the trick. Maybe I’m being too harsh, but you don’t grow up in the Rocky Mountains and then yearn to travel to the concretejungle. I grimace when the main character does something embarrassing, but quickly school my features so Aurora doesn’t know I hate this just as much as her.
“She doesn’t need to buy another scarf,” Aurora screams at the movie as pieces of popcorn fly from her mouth. She doesn’t seem too bothered by the mess as she mindlessly reaches into the bowl for another handful.
Her indignation is palpable at this point as she flails her arms at the television, causing more popcorn to fly all over the floor. When the movie gets especially cringy, she tries to use the long strands of her curly black hair to cover her eyes. But eventually just gives up and eats more of her snack.
My sigh reaches her ears, and she shoots me her most vicious glare. “You don’t have to make such a mess,” I complain and look pointedly at her.
“Maybe if we watched a movie that didn’t suck, I wouldn’t be forced to ruin our beautiful couch!” Her words immediately bring me joy, and we both can’t help but smile at each other. While the giant U-shaped couch is our best thrift find to date, it’s still lumpy and old. It’s another one of our many fixer uppers, but now a crucial member of our Friday movie night.
Knowing how to rile up Aurora more, I can’t help but complain about one of the many flaws in thisfilm in an attempt to ignite her rage. “She doesn’t need a single thing we’ve watched her buy; this is insane!” Casting a side long glance as I say it, I see the vein in Auroras temple start to pulse as she tries to keep her feelings to herself.
“I hate this movie! I hate it! Imagine having all this stuff in your home! I can’t keep watching Rho… it hurts me,” she screams into the room.
“Don’t call me Rho,” I deadpan back.
“Rho, I’m dying here!” Aurora throws her hands over her eyes and slouches into the couch cushions. An evil smile graces my face as I look at her hunched over form.
Last Friday when I had begged her to turn off that intense robot fighting movie, she had a fit about how I don’t care about her interests. Since I patiently waited a week for this revenge, I savour in her distress and go back to watching this stupid movie. “Get ready Rora, we’re just getting started!”
Aurora’s groan fills the living room as I turn the volume up and enjoy every minute of sweet justice. As I’m about to pester her further by asking who her favourite character is, our attention goes to our phones as they simultaneously buzz on the table.
Locking eyes across the sectional, I lunge for my phone as I pray it didn’t happen again. Aurora’s at my side in a second and a stream of curses flows out as she reads the message over my shoulder.
New Teamchat update: Training tomorrow at 8:00 am has been scheduled.
“Roman, you suck!” Rora screams at my screen as she jumps off the couch and storms towards the kitchen.
I tip my head back and close my eyes in dismay when I see that it’s already ten at night. We now have eight hours until we need to be awake and in the team van. “Maybe he had no choice but to schedule it this late. The coaches are the ones who book the training time, you know,” I say defensively. I can’t imagine Roman would choose to inform the team so last minute if he had a choice in the matter. It’s common knowledge how lazy our coaches are, but somehow the hate always goes to Roman.
Standing to follow Aurora, it only takes me a couple seconds to join her in our cramped kitchen. The tiny rental is an open concept, with the living space, dining area, and kitchen all being squished together in one big, cozy room. No one’s living in this house for the aesthetic appeal; the house’s age shows in every banisterand windowpane. However, filled with plants and thrifted art pieces, Aurora and I proudly call this home. We were also lucky enough to get the garage, which is basically the equipment room.
Standing on the opposite side of the counter, her brow raises in my direction as she pulls out the sandwich ingredients. “Rhodes, I love you. I really do, but you need to stop defending Roman at every turn.”
Blushing and avoiding her gaze, I drop the subject due to her hostility over the situation. It’s not that I’m Roman’s biggest fan or anything, but I hate bullies, and I have a sick feeling he’s just doing the best he can.
But, since over half the team’s currently out at the bar with the assumption there’s no training tomorrow, it's going to be hard to defend him. It’s not that the training is mandatory or anything, but our race season is approaching fast, and everyone wants as much practice on snow as possible.
With a quick check on the attendance for tomorrow, relief fills me when I see Jasmine has marked herself as not going. Releasing my held breath, I relish in the fact I won’t have to deal with my horrible cousin at training.
I pull out both the lunch bags, and mentally run through a checklist of everything I have to do before bed:pack my ski bag, prepare my skis, make a lunch, lay out my clothes, and set all my alarms. “I’m going to go scrape the wax off my skis,” Aurora grumbles as she saunters to the garage.
It's required that we cover the bottom of our skis with a layer of wax when we know they’ll go more than a couple of days without use. This helps preserve the base of the ski, and the temperature-based wax will react with different snow temperatures. Effectively, this helps us go faster.
My phone starts to ping in my pocket as I frantically fill our lunches with snacks and sandwiches, and I rush to pull it out. Our group chat is flooding my phone with messages and I soon learn how everyone’s feeling about the situation. Aurora changing the chat name toRoman is a fuck faceisn’t filling me with hope that everyone’s understanding his side of things.
Charles: Is this a joke?
Liam: There’s no way he was ballsy enough for this one.
Aurora: I WANT TO BURN DOWN HIS HOUSE!!!
