Page 47 of Ski You Later
“Also! The chairlift has been faulty this year, so do you know how much time was wasted because I was stuck on it. I bet Roman didn’t factor that in when he decided to book us in for the earliest race of the season!” My mood instantly shifts at the casual insult towards Roman, the sympathy I had quickly turning into defense.
“Alright, let’s not go blaming Roman for this. You know that isn’t fair.” I send her my most pointed glance and I see the fight leave her body.
“Yeah, I know. I’m just not ready yet Rho. All the scouts are going to be there, and if they aren’t then they will definitely watch the results online.” She slumps on the couch beside me, stealing half my blanket and finally resting her head on my shoulder.
Her admission dissipates my anger, and I give her the hug she is in desperate need of. “How about we just try and get a good night sleep before we leave tomorrow? There’s no need to stay up all night and stress.” She sighs heavily from beside me, and I wrap my arms around her in a comforting hug. “Don’t worry. It’s all going to work itself out.”
“GET UP! GET UP AND RUN!” Light floods into my room and I’m visually disoriented as I try and fail to comprehend what’s happening.
After rapidly blinking for a couple seconds, I squint my eyes greatly and see Aurora’s panicked face looking back at me. After my eyes adjust to the light, I can’t help but notice that she has on two pairs of pants, which is obvious because the second pair is only pulled up to her knees. Then there’s her sports bra that’s on topof her shirt, as well as the one sleeve of her hoodie that made it onto her body. This is all accented by her hair that rests in a horrid-looking ponytail.
She begins to hurl my once neat-folded clothes at my face, as I still struggle to understand what’s happening. As my rolled-up leggings hit me in the nose, I gain enough consciousness to question Aurora’s actions.
“What on earth is happening?” I ask groggily, my eyes falling closed again on their own accord. I hear Aurora rambling, but the warm sheets lull me back into a daze, and I slowly slip back into my bedding cocoon.
Getting smacked in the face with the last piece of my clothing finally wakes me up enough to say goodbye to the idea of getting anymore sleep. Slipping out of bed before Rora starts throwing more things at me, I register voices coming from the other room. but my brain is too tired to think anything of it.
Aurora’s saying things too, in quite a frantic matter, but I won’t be able to register anything she says until I have some caffeine in me. As I hop off the side of my bed, I make a beeline to the kitchen, with the primary goal of drinking as much coffee as fast as possible. I hear a strangled sound come from Aurora behind me, but I leave my room without listening.
My mood only grows more unpleasant when I find that all the lights have been turned on, and I have to squint my eyes yet again. Making my way to the kitchen, I can’t help but grumble at the fact that Aurora turned our house into the inside of a light bulb.
Using muscle memory to put the coffee pod in the machine, I put my arms on the counter and try to catch a couple more minutes of sleep.
Usually, I’m awake and ready to go at this time, but my sketch of Roman took longer than I anticipated. His jaw has this unique structure that I couldn’t quite figure out how to shade from the angle I drew him. After crafting up some sketches and configuring the correct angle, I was able to be proud of my last sketch.
This angle of the drawing was from underneath, as if the artist was looking up at him. I tried my best to capture the slight feathering that’s always in his jaw. Then I had to ensure the proportions were all correct. It wasn’t until much later in the night, when I pulled the sketch away to get a different angle, that I realized that I drew him from the exact angle I see him.
I quickly put everything away at that point, not needing to read into that fact any further, but my brain wouldn’t shut down. Have we been together enough for it to be normal that I can draw him in that way?
It’s hard to ignore the fact that I drew him with my favourite smile gracing his face. The one that comes to him naturally, but he usually does his best to tamper down. I even had the thought to add the faint smile lines that rest on his cheeks.
Not to mention that damn hair; hair that is screaming for someone’s hands to run through it. As I stared at the ceiling waiting for sleep, all I could think about was how badly I wanted that somebody to be me. My mind reels with these thoughts as I hear the coffee machine start to brew my salvation.
It isn’t a minute later when I feel a comforting hand land on the small of my back and starts rubbing gentle circles with the palm of their hand. It starts to dawn on me that I feel asleep on the counter, but the warmth seeping through my satin pajamas overrides any thoughts I might have had.
“Rhodes, we have to go love,” a deep voice whispers close to my ear.
I lean farther into the warmth and try to bury myself in that lovely sounding voice. “No, five more minutes,” I mumble this into the air, that warm hand still rubbing up and down my back.
“I would love nothing more than to stay in this moment. But we are already cutting it really close, we should get going.”
The words slowly register, and my body slowly tenses as I understand. Aurora’s distress, noises in the hallway, a warm hand on my back and a voice that I would recognize anywhere. Shock eradicates all the tiredness right out of my body, and he must feel this because he removes his beautifully warm hand.
Roman stands in front of me, a dark grey athletic shirt stretching across his shoulders. He has black sweatpants that hug his hips and fall smartly down his legs. After slowly drinking in this beautiful boy in front of me, my eyes quickly dart back to his face.
The smuggest smile I’ve ever seen is plastered there as he crosses his arms over his chest and looks down at me. This does nothing but cause my addled brain to fixate on the veins bulging his forearms and the fact that I have to draw them the next time I get the chance.
“What are you doing here?” I shout in surprise, as I try my best to cover up my embarrassing sleepwear. Of course, I had to wear my satin set with the little snowmen all over it.
“Well, Langley.” He leans in closer to me, so much so that I can feel the warmth practically radiating off him. “I said I would be here at five thirty, and it’s now five forty.” With his body practically pressed up against mine, he just has to slightly raise his wrist between us to display the time.
Horror, fear, and panic rocket through my system as I sprint toward my room. “We have to leave in five minutes!” His familiar chuckle sounds from the kitchen as I fly into my room and slam the door. Aurora’s gone, probably in the garage, loading everything into their car.
Fast as a rabbit on skis, I rush into the bathroom and do my best to make myself presentable. Looking at the slight frizz to my hair, I cringe as I brush it out, but thank the heavens that I didn’t do heatless curls last night. Roman seeing me with two giant sticks in my hair isn’t what I needed today.
Quickly doing my skincare while simultaneously brushing my teeth results in globs of lotion on my face. But, I don’t have time to fix it as I throw everything into my toiletry bag.My clothes, which were once folded nicely, lay strewn across my unmade bed. Letting a loud groan out and a mental promise to get Aurora back, I pick everything up anddress quickly. With everything loaded in my hands, I whip open my door with my foot and see the grump leaning against my door frame.
“You finally ready?” He looks down at me with a smug smile and I can’t help but glare back. Usually, I love making him smile, but this morning has frazzled me beyond belief.
