Page 46 of The Season
Lily gives an undignified squawk as she instantly plummets downward, until the snow comes up to her armpits. “Oh wow, didn’t realize that would happen.” She gives a self-deprecating laugh, cheeks flushing as she looks between me and Antoine with a sheepish grin.
She still has her board though, the bindings gripped tight in her hands, and her expression hardens, surprise replaced by determination as she starts using it to haul herself up out of the snow.
“Let’s start where you fell,” she suggests, turning to look at me over her shoulder from her half-crawling position. Her arms are stretched out in front of her, and she pushes the base of her board against the snow to keep from sinking back in. “Maybe it snagged on something under the snow, and that’s why you wiped out in the first place?”
It’s such an obvious suggestion, I should be annoyed with her. Shit, Iamannoyed with her, for so many things. For stopping to help me, for being so bloody optimistic, for getting off her board—so now I have to worry about getting her down the mountain as well as myself.
She gives me a grin, like this is some sort of fun adventure, then starts to fight her way through the snow, board out in front, legs behind her, her snowboard pants stretching over her ass in the most distracting way.
My annoyance deepens, twisting and manifesting as something that feels a lot like attraction, only significantly more uncomfortable. Something close to what I imagine Matty feels when he’s mooning at her like a lost puppy.
It’s unfamiliar and un-fucking-welcome.
“Come on, Eddie,” she says, huffing with the effort of wading through powder to find my ski. Her cheeks are flushed now, glowing with exertion, her lips parted and eyes sparking with life as she looks at me over her shoulder. “It’ll be fun.”
Chapter13
Lily
“I passed! I can’t believe it — I passed!”
I sprint across the snow, half stumbling, half hurtling to where Matty and Liam are already waiting for me, Liam leaning against the wooden fence under the Lessonssign, Matty grinning and clutching a paper reverently in his bare hands.
The sight of that paper fills me with instant relief, because it can only mean one thing: Matty passed too.
Liam shoves off the fence, the hint of a smile curving his lips. “I told you you’d nail it,” he says, just as Matty steps forward and wraps me up in an unexpected embrace.
“Congratulations,” he says, squeezing me so hard that air gusts out of my lungs, then releasing me almost as quickly, taking a fumbling step back. He reaches up, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand, cheeks reddening. “I, uh… I passed too.”
“I knew you would,” I say, and I mostly mean it.
Despite all the progress he’d made this past week under Liam’s coaching, I had been a little worried that his nerves would get the better of him. Especially when he ended up in a different exam cohort than me.
“I heard Akiva failed,” Liam notes, and there’s a hint of dry amusement in his voice.
I narrow my eyes at Liam in mock disapproval. “Shouldn’t you be upset about that? Since he was your student?”
Liam huffs, his gray eyes flashing. “Some people just aren’t teachable, I guess.” He gives an unconcerned shrug, then adds. “Besides, it’s not like I get paid by my pass rate or anything. Doesn’t matter to me if my students fail.”
“But you cared if we passed,” I point out, the words coming before I can stop them. “I wouldn’t have passed if it wasn’t for you.”
Liam’s expression shutters, and he looks between me and Matty with an unreadable expression. “Let’s get going.” He tips his goggles down, even though the afternoon sun has dipped behind the mountains, then pulls up the bandana he’s currently wearing as a ski mask, hiding his face from view. “We can stop by the liquor store before it closes.”
“Liquor store?” I ask.
Liam taps the front pocket of his ski jacket, where he usually keeps his phone. “Didn’t you see the group text?”
I shake my head. I’d come running to meet them the moment the results from my exam came in, clutching that little piece of paper certifying me to teach snowboarding like it was the lifeline to my future. Which, all things considered, it pretty much is.
“Tom wants to throw a party.” Liam’s lip curls in distaste, though whether it’s at the mention of Tom or the prospect of a party, it’s hard to say. Could be both, knowing Liam. “Then Matty here said he passed his exam, and Seth got on the party train too, so it looks like it’ll be—as Eddie described it—arager.”
I lean my board against my side and I pull out my phone, skimming over the group chat as we make our way to the parking lot, then stop when Antoine’s name flashes in the thread—a rare occurrence.
Antoine: Could someone give me a lift home please?
Tom: Sry. Drnk already. Hahaha.
Seth: Check with Lily, she’s probably still at the mountain.
