Atlas and Adrian were determined to race each other.

As if they didn't do that enough, they had to take it to the slopes of the French Alps, where I could see their legs dangling off the ski lift in front of us, twitchy and loaded for launch with their Formula One driver reflexes. I was currently riding in the ski lift with Callahan, both of us uninterested in being competitive. I always knew he had the most good sense out of the boys.

There was a stillness to the quiet when we were this high up, and while Atlas's voice carried on the air, it was faint as it swirled amongst the little specks of glistening snowflakes. I glanced over at Callahan, who looked out to the mountain to admire the snow-capped peaks in the distance.

"I wish I could have coaxed her onto the mountain today," I said to Callahan as I lowered my goggles off of my beanie and onto my face. "But I do think she's having a good time."

Callahan turned to me, offering me a soft smile in response. We knew Gemma did not want to be here. We knew she wanted to be with us, but I also knew Gemma did not like to ski, nor did she presently want to be in the French Alps, hence staying behind with Nina to get facials at the resort spa and waiting for us at the bar in the lodge.

Us being apparent gatecrashers to this supposed boys trip that Atlas had planned.

During the gala in Paris, I may have overheard a conversation between Atlas and Callahan about a ski trip that weekend, may have coaxed Atlas into inviting us, and may have not given the other girls a choice in joining. While I learned later on from Atlas that this was the boys' last hurrah before they feud for the next month or so, I knew it was also the last time we'd all be able to hang out like regular 20-somethings for the foreseeable future too. That was what ultimately got Gemma here.

"Gemma can ski." Callahan paused, still sporting a musing smile. "Although, I don't think she's overly keen to throw herself off a mountain."

I snickered into my glove. "Mountains, race tracks, waves, they're all the same to people like us. But tomorrow is a new day - we can double-team her."

"We might not need to. Gem's having a good time, like you said." He paused and pinched his lips together, like he was trying to pick the right words rolling around in his mouth. "Could be one of the last times we're all together for a bit, since she won't make it to Austin in time after her interview," Callahan added, and it sounded almost offhand, like he assumed I knew exactly what he was talking about.

I didn't, and suddenly the silence wasn't so endearing. I knew she wasn't going to the race in Austin, but I didn't know why, and the fact that her presence may have once been an option was new news to me.

"She has another interview?" I asked, trying to sound more curious than accusatory. it wasn't in mine and Gemma's relationship to press each other for information that the other willingly omitted.

It was hard to miss the shift in Callahan's expression as he brought his gaze forward, replying with only a pensive nod. I knew he wasn't being short with me because he wanted to be, but rather because that was all he could be. Knowing Gemma, he probably knew only a little bit more than I did, which was what prompted me to ask, "Do you know if it's for the same position as the one she interviewed for before we went to Miami?"

The kinds of jobs Gemma was gunning for often required several rounds of interviews over several months. I couldn't imagine dealing with such drawn out apprehension for something so important, but Gemma was exactly the kind of person who could weather those things.

I must have done a poor job swallowing down my unease, because he surrendered a bit of a laugh as he turned back to face me. "Honestly, I'm not sure she can tell me. Or either of us, really."

His laugh unwound me a little, and I offered up a faint smile in return, realizing both of us needed to feel a little better about understanding that we'd been left in a bit of the dark. I wanted what was best for Gemma (which was obviously getting big important government jobs), but I didn't want her feeling like she couldn't share that with me, which seemed to be the place I'd also found Callahan. I felt a little weird gossiping about my best friend with her boyfriend, but was it really gossip if we were just sharing our respective information and facts? "Well, you know Gemma. She doesn't like to be vocal about anything until her mind is fully made up."

"Yes," Callahan laughed again. "I learned that the hard way."

Our conversation met a forced end as we reached the top of the mountain and slid off the ski lift, just catching Atlas and Adrian torpedoing down the mountain, kicking up little explosions of frosty, brilliant white snow behind them.

"Okay, I lied," I confessed to Callahan as I rocked back and forth on my snowboard. "I wanna race. You in?" I arched a challenging eyebrow at Callahan.

He smirked back at me, gripping his ski poles tightly. "Oh you're on, Allen."

From the morning into the early afternoon, this went on between the four of us. I was the only one on a snowboard, and I got a twisted satisfaction about being faster than three boys who made a living being fast.

At one point Atlas had tried my snowboard out and tackled Callahan in the process, and I was sure our cackling laughter could be heard up and down the mountain. Nina had already begun to rub off on Adrian as he insisted on taking action selfies of us for Instagram, as well as staging us for an "artsy" couples picture of Atlas and I in our matching black and grey snow gear.

By the time we'd made it back to the lodge, my legs ached from all the snowboarding, and my sides ached from all the laughing. Golden hour light poured through the windows in the high ceiling of the lodge as we walked towards the large oakwood bar, where Gemma and Nina had been waiting for us with hot toddies before we all trekked back to the ski villa we rented on the other side of the resort. Gemma's black puffer jacket was draped over her chair, exposing her stylish white turtleneck. When Callahan approached her at the bar, he planted a gentle kiss to her temple.

Nina looked like she could be in Frozen on Ice, complete with white fuzzy earmuffs and matching cashmere mittens, with Adrian as the suave prince. She'd already begun curating the weekend's Instagram content along with the mountain content from her new heist partner.

"C'mon Gemma, you have to come out tomorrow," I moaned, pulling at her arm as she slipped her jacket back on. "We're in the freakin' French Alps for crying out loud and you're acting like you're allergic to snow."

"We were supposed to be in Paris," Gemma retorted. "I planned that weekend thoroughly."

"Can I bribe you with a hot chocolate?" Callahan gently jabbed Gemma in the side, balancing the skis over his shoulder as we walked back through the lodge towards the valets.

Gemma raised a daring eyebrow. "Is that really the best bribe you can think of?"

"Is that a challenge?"

Atlas whacked Callahan in the shin with a ski pole. "That's gross. Please be mindful that there is one wall separating our rooms."

Callahan sent a suggestive wink in Atlas's direction. "That applies to you too, mate."

I could have intervened, but it was too entertaining. Seeing basically everyone in my life that mattered all in the same room, laughing and joking as if we genuinely were just normal young adults living normal yet spontaneous lives.

Gemma blew out an exacerbated sigh as she tucked her blonde hair behind her ears. "Our dinner booking is at 8." She halted, making sure to shoot her pointed glare in the boys' direction. "Please make attempts to look somewhat presentable."

"Presentable is very subjective, Gemma Frost," Adrian chimed in, hard air quoting presentable.

"Hence the somewhat, Adrian Olsen." Gemma threw sharp air quotes back at him.

After dinner, we'd all gathered back in the living room of our cabin-esque villa in lounge clothes, sitting around the large wooden coffee table in the middle of an intense game of Cards Against Humanity. Gemma sat balanced on Callahan's lap in the black leather armchair, delicately clutching a glass of wine that they shared, while Atlas and I flanked one side of the table on the geometric printed rug, with Nina and Adrian across from us.

"There is undoubtedly some type of collusion going on," Adrian gestured between Atlas and I. "I refuse to believe that Atlas Vaughn is the funniest person at this table."

Atlas smirked and spread his black cards out between his fingers like a winning poker hand. In Cards Against Humanity, you collected the black fill-in-the-blank card if the person judging that round determined what you filled the blank in with was the best of the bunch, and right now, Atlas had the most.

"Oh my god," Nina perked up, nearly whacking her head into Adrian's, who sat strategically behind her in just a way that almost hid his crossed knees pressed up against her backside. Almost.

"What's up?" he asked, scowling. "Besides almost concussing me."

"Do you guys have any idea how obsessed social media is with you?"

Nina directed her question towards Gemma and I. We both looked at each other and gave an offhand shrug.

"I tagged everyone in these pictures, and I've got F1 fans flocking to my Instagram." She paused and glanced back and forth between Gemma and I again. "Not because of the boys, but because of you two."

"It's because we're cuter," I turned to Gemma with a smirk, and she nodded in affirmation.

"Okay slay you fan favs," Nina giggled, and behind her, Adrian shook his head with a sigh.

The night continued with more alcohol-heavy card games, eventually ending in the middle of a game of Bullshit as Adrian fell asleep on the floor, mouth agape and his head pressed into a fluffy white pillow he took from the couch while Nina took a spot on the floor beside him, scrolling through her phone with the softest little smile .

The four of us peeled off to our respective rooms (admittedly more uneasy on our feet than we anticipated), and Atlas and I shared a stifled, liquor-induced laughter as we made it back to our room, shutting the door behind us as we fumbled into a kiss.

"You're being too loud," Atlas told me, grinning against my lips.

"No you're too loud," I retorted before sliding my arms around his neck and leaning up to kiss him again. He still had me backed against the bedroom door, but another wave of giggles forced us to separate.

As much as my pride didn't want anyone else in the villa to hear us, it was almost worth it hearing him laugh like that. I knew he was a little drunk, but he wouldn't have even allowed himself to be if he wasn't comfortable here, and comfortable with us.

"What am I going to do with you?" He mused with a devious smirk.

I bit down on my lip and looked up at him with lust glazed over my eyes. "Whatever you want."

Atlas lifted me up, prompting another giggling squeal from me as he took me over to the bed and dropped me on the plush white comforter. Our room had big floor to ceiling windows that looked out onto the mountain, and the light of the moon and the stars reflected off of the snow and filled the entire room with it. It hit his eyes just right, and I was lost in his galaxy.

Now that I knew what it was like to have him so close for so long, I couldn't possibly be asked to let him go. We gently and deliberately undressed each other, slow and methodical to preserve these kinds of moments between us whenever we could.

I felt him gently run his fingers down my stomach, and I bit down on my lip again to swallow a moan. A chill ran through me when I felt him take his hand away, but it was quickly replaced by his lips, leaving a trail of heat everywhere they touched my bare skin. Lust rolled through me in churning waves.

I reached down and put my hands to the sides of his face, pulling him back up to me as close as possible so our lips could collide once more. I never considered the power the act of simply making out with someone had, but Atlas and I lost ourselves doing nothing but kissing like two high school freshmen playing seven minutes in heaven. Except it wasn't seven minutes, and it wasn't heaven. It was a bed in the French Alps in a tangled mess of clean sheets, and it was an eternity.

"You know you're like...my favorite person in the world right?" he breathed out as he pulled away just slightly, his lips still just brushing my skin.

"Really?" I mused, still feeling a bit of a buzz in my chest.

Atlas reached up to brush a few locks of hair off of my forehead. "I know I'm not always vocal about how I feel, but...I just..."

A boisterous knock at the door cut Atlas short, immediately followed by a boisterous Swedish accent that I could have sworn we left asleep on the floor downstairs.

"I'm not leaving France until I'm photographed in my Prada swim trunks, and it's happening now!" Adrian called from the other side of the door.

Atlas groaned into my shoulder, and as if Adrian could hear it, he added, "You planned this trip, Vaughn. Your presence in your own designer trunks that I know you own is a necessity for a midnight hot tub dip. Don't waste your breath arguing with me, Gemma Frost already did, and yet Jane is on the roof, so you know how that went."

"Where does he get this energy?" I asked with a chuckle.

"I have no idea, but it's a bloody inconvenience." After surrendering another groan, Atlas slid himself off of me and rifled through his suitcase for these apparent designer swim shorts I'd never seen before.

"What were you gonna say before?" I asked as I sat up in bed, realizing I'd been anticipating what he could have said only after he'd been interrupted.

"Ah, nothing important," he sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I think I'm just...drunk. Drunker than I realized."

"Oh," I nodded.

He stood upright after pulling his trunks on, raking a hand through his hair before offering me a soft smile. That same light glistened in his eyes, and it set everything right in the world. "Come up with me?"

"Yeah, of course." I opted against a bathing suit and just pulled my Vuori shorts on so I could sit at the edge of the hot tub with my feet in, where the boys were already deep in discussion about speculation on team seats that hadn't been filled yet for next year.

Gemma joined me at the edge of the hot tub, and eventually Nina did as well after taking the obligatory boy squad photo. Laughter swirled in the air with the steam coming from the hot water, and just through it in the distance was the rest of the resort as it sat at the roots of the mountain. While some of the resort was clearly retired for the night, sporadic lights dotted the sea of villas and rooms, and I wondered what the story was behind each light, and each person that was still awake. I wondered what people thought of us, hearing our raucous laughter as it carried, like maybe we really did pass for just a couple of normal young adults living the damn life. 

all the people round me ride or they die,
gotta watch the time cause it's flying right by

time flies / tori kelly

fun fact, w1ldflow3r and i wrote a good chunk of this chapter sitting next to each other in her london flat. photographic proof of me tackling her into an emo hug when she walked me to the tube station when i left. samma is real, we made it happen and we'll keep making it happen.