Page 41 of The Season
And then I’m trapped beside him on the chairlift.
Tom keeps talking, rambling in his whiny voice about his conquests, peppering us with inane anecdotes of chicks he bought drinks for and chicks he’s banged, occasionally taking a break from that to tell us about what a great snowboarder he is. How he won some local competition in New Mexico when he was like thirteen or something.
Of course, Liam is totally silent on my other side. I can hear the faintest hum of music filtering through from his helmet, so I know I won’t get any help from him. Good for him, bringing his earbuds. I left mine at the flat because this was supposed to be a team bonding day. Flat bonding day. Fuck. Whatever.
The only thing that’s going to be bonded are Tom’s lips if he doesn’t shut up.
This is what happens when you’re nice,my inner voice reminds me, sounding irritatingly like my older brother, Nate.You try to help Liam out by hanging back with him, and what does he do? He leaves you to deal with Tom all by yourself.
“Oh, thank god,” I say when the top of the chairlift comes into view.
I think it’s the first time I’ve spoken since we got on, and Tom pauses in surprise at the sound of my voice, like he wasn’t expecting anyone else but himself to be filling the air with noise.
Lily, Matty, Antoine, and Seth are standing off to the side, just past the ramp, and I focus on them. Well, I focus on Lily, pulling down my face mask to flash her a winning smile. Because after the way Liam just threw me under the bus back there—offering up my earholes in unwilling sacrifice to Tom’s monologue—he can count on me putting every ounce of charm I have into absorbing the entirety of Lily’s attention.
And I have a lot of charm.
My grandpa—the dead one—used to tell me that I could charm the pants off a nun. I don’t think he meant it as a compliment, since that particular observation was made after he asked my father whether I really was his offspring, given my height and my status as a high school dropout.
I don’t really want to charm anyone’s pants off, but it wouldn’t hurt if Lily forgot Liam existed for a day or so. Maybe I’ll even find a way to make Liam and Antoine hang out together, force them to sit together at lunch or some shit.
A smile curves my lips, and I push off with my poles toward my less annoying flatmates.
It’s time to remind Liam who he’s dealing with.
* * *
Despite my less-than-stellarperformance at breakfast this morning, it doesn’t take long to make Lily smile. She’s sandwiched between me and Matty on the three-seater lift that will take us to the highest point in the resort, and if I look over my shoulder, I can see Liam sitting between Seth and Antoine on the chair behind us. I throw the happy throuple a little wave, then focus my attention back on Lily.
By the time we reach the top of the lift, Lily’s smiles have become more relaxed, and she occasionally knocks her shoulder against mine when I tell some of my more outrageous stories. She might not be ready to join the Eddie fan club, but I’d like to think the ice around her heart has thawed.
“So this is your first time hiking backcountry?” I ask as I push away from the lift and down the ramp. Lily slides effortlessly beside me, her smile wide, hazel eyes glinting behind her goggles.
“Yep.” She worries her bruised lower lip with her teeth and drags the toe of her boot into the hardpack snow to slow herself to a stop. “It’s not too hard of a run, right? That’s what you guys said?”
I pause, looking up from where I’ve bent to loosen my ski boots, then stand to unclip my skis. I haven’t spoken to Lily much in the handful of days that I’ve known her, but she’s always struck me as confident, sure of herself. It never occurred to me that she would feel nervous about today.
She stares up at the boundary sign, with its overly dramatic skull and crossbones symbol, her lips parted as she no doubt reads the ominous warnings of injury and death for stepping a foot out of the resort.
We don’t have this sort of thing back home—not at the little club fields I grew up skiing at, anyway. The first time I saw one of these boundary markers, I took a bunch of photos next to it, grinning like I’d spotted some celebrity.
“Totally fine, I promise.” I give her what is probably my first genuine smile. “Those signs are just there to keep muppets from going off piste. Don’t take it too seriously.”
“It says ‘risk of death,’” Matty dutifully points out as he bends to unclip his bindings. “That seems pretty serious to me.”
I roll my eyes, then grin as I see Antoine, Seth, and Liam coming down the ramp toward us. Liam’s face is barely visible between his goggles and ski mask, but I can practically feel his glare boring in through my ski jacket as he makes his way over to me.
“Of course there’s a risk of death,” I drawl. “If people don’t know what they’re doing. But we do, so you guys will be fine. Besides…” I pause to give Liam what I hope is an irritating smile. “Coach Liam has ridden with you guys all week. If he thinks you’re capable of going backcountry, then I completely trust his judgment.”
Liam’s shoulders stiffen at the reminder of his position as coach, but my words seem to have the effect of easing Matty’s worries at least. It’s harder to tell with Lily. She doesn’t seem worried, but she also strikes me as one of those people who doesn’t give very much away.
“Where is Tom?” Matty asks, looking at the empty chairs rolling past. “Wasn’t he with you guys?”
Seth looks over his shoulder, as if expecting to see Tom coming up on the next chair, but there’s no sign of him. I shoot Liam a questioning look, and see his eyes tighten with amusement almost imperceptibly behind his goggles, the faintest of chuckles muffled by his face mask.
“I think he had to use the toilet,” Liam says flatly. “Said he’d catch up with us later.”
“You don’t think we should wait for him?” Seth asks, looking at me for some reason. Like maybe he thinks Tom and I are friends. I shudder at the thought. Seth was the one who invited Tom to live with us, not me.
