~ Chapter 38: Go skiing. ~

(A/N: Two chapters for today!! Yayy! So first I woke up to your messages and comments and it put the biggest smile on my face like basically every morning now which is the best thing ever, then I found out The Bucket List is #50 in General Fiction and I was like "Whaaaaaat" because I saw that there are more than a hundred pages of books when you click on the category and mine is on the 4th so I screamed and my mom thought I was crazy. So yeah basically just thank you guys so much for reading and liking and commenting and voting you are amazing!!! <3 I hope you'll like this chapter too!)

                                                                         *

The sunlight woke me up. I blinked a few times and turned around to face Damon but he wasn’t in bed anymore. I got up quickly in a sitting position, worried already and called for him.

“Damon?”

“I’m downstairs!” He shouted back.

Thank God! I thought, putting a hand on my heart to calm its beating. Worrying all the time was pretty exhausting. I tied my hair in a ponytail, put my shirt that had fallen on the floor back on and joined him down. He was sitting at the kitchen table with his laptop, that he closed when he saw me.

“Why did you put your clothes back on?” He asked, frowning and pouting like a child.

I laughed.

“Good morning to you too.”

Damon was only wearing his boxers and I got to him quickly to kiss him and run my hand on his bare stomach. I could feel his playful smile against my lips.

“Let’s go back to bed.” He whispered.

So we did.

We only actually got up at around three in the afternoon. I went to pick up the notebook and scrolled through the pages, looking at all the things we had ticked and at what was left to do.

“It says here we’re supposed to go skiing and dog sledding.” I pointed out.

“We have to look at the places where it’s snowing and we could go. If you want to go I mean.”

“Of course I do! I haven’t been skiing for a long time but I used to love it. And dog sledding sounds pretty fun.”

“Alright then.”

He opened his laptop and searched some things while I was trying to convince him to let me pay for it this time but he wouldn’t have it and made the reservations even though I was insisting.

“Leah, for the hundredth time, I have a lot of money that will be of no use in my grave so let’s just make the most of the time with it ok? You will need it in the future to pay for college and everything so I don’t want you to be broke when I’m gone ok?”

I rolled my eyes and he hit me with a pillow.

“You know I’m right you just don’t want to admit it, just like with the crepes yesterday. You’re so stubborn sometimes.”

I stuck my tongue at him and he pushed me on the bed to get on top of me and tickle me, right before kissing me.

“You’re my sexy, smart, beautiful, funny, caring and stubborn wife in our hearts.” He breathed.

And we ended up naked once again.

Three days later, we had packed our bags and we were leaving for the airport. We were really excited to go skiing that we had bought a whole lot of new clothes perfect for ski-season (even though in our town, it was pretty hot). Damon had checked with his doctors who had still said it was ok and had given him more pills and medicine.

We landed in the morning and made all the reservations we needed for the dog sledding part of the list, then borrowed skis, bought a ski pass and when all the administrative part of the trip was dealt with, we finally put on our ski suits and walked to the ski slops with our horrible and evilly uncomfortable ski shoes. We looked like people walking on the moon with them, putting the back of the foot first then the front, and so on until we would finally reach the slopes. I think the person who had designed the place hated all men on Earth because, to reach the ski lift, there was a terrible hill we had to climb on foot with those freaking shoes that I could feel were already forming blisters on my heel.

It was really cold but we were wearing warm clothes, gloves and hats, which made us look ridiculous but we couldn’t have cared less. Everybody pretty much looked the same, all ski-suited. Damon was snowboarding though so he looked way cooler than me for some reason but I didn’t care.

“You’re so sexy in this suit that I want to take you in this slope, no matter how the snow will freeze my balls to death.” Damon laughed when I closed my suit.

“Shut up!” I punched him in the arm playfully but I don’t think he felt anything since he had multiple layers on.

We finally reached the ski lift and walked on the snow when it was our turn. We turned our head around to watch the lift arrive. It was pretty slow at first but then accelerated at the last minute and hit us in the knees when we sat down to take it.

“Ouch!” I complained when we were lifted in the air and Damon was pulling the security bar down. “I hate those kind of lifts! They accelerate just when they take us then are slow as hell, what kind of logic is that?!”

Damon was laughing and I wanted to punch him in the arm again but I was holding on to my ski sticks and I didn’t want them to fall in the forest we were passing on top of.

“I feel all Christmassy now!” Damon complained when he saw the multiple fir trees covered in snow.

“I think I saw in your list that you wanted to celebrate one last Christmas, we could do it now.” I proposed.

He turned his head like I just announced he had won the lottery.

“Really? You’d be ok to? It’s not December.”

“I don’t mind. There’s snow outside and I’m sure we could find somewhere we could buy ourselves nice food and some gifts.”

“That’d be so awesome! And we could invite our friends. I’d pay of course.”

We were getting really excited about it so we almost missed the ending of the lift. Damon opened the security bar on time and we slid down the little hill then stopped a little further.

“Ok, you’re ready to ski?” Damon asked.

“Totally. Wait for me down the second slope though.”

“Don’t worry.”

So we started skiing. At first, it was a little difficult to find the automatisms back but I remembered my ski lessons and the slope wasn’t a hard one. The snow was good and it felt so good to slide on it after so long. I wanted to go a little faster though but I didn’t want to break my leg on the first day.

We skied all day long until the slopes closed at about five then went back in the little chalet we were renting for the week. It was super cute, like it had been drawn out of a children’s book and there even was a fireplace inside. A little further down the village, there was a sort of common place where you could go meet people if you wanted to but I had other plans for Damon and me tonight and none included Damon and I going outside or putting clothes on for that matter.

“I made hot chocolate.” Damon announced when I came out of the bathroom.

I had been sweating all day long, which was super gross, so I had ran in the bathroom right when we had arrived. My hair was wet so I was a little cold and I put on one of Damon’s jumper that he had bought this week. I loved this one, with deers and a snowman, it was super cute.

“Awesome.”

He handed me a bowl and we sat around the table to drink, listening to Christmas music Damon had put on.

“This feels like a scene in a movie.” I laughed. “But with an old couple.”

Damon smiled and put his bowl down. He had a milk moustache that he wiped with the back of his hand.

“I’m going to call Jenny and Seth to see if they want to celebrate an extra Christmas.” I said, getting up and taking my phone from my pocket.

“Ok. I’ll try to have Mathew but I think he’s on an exam period.”

I went in the other room and called Jenny. I missed my best friend a lot. Not seeing her every day wasn’t new now but it still was weird.

“Hello miss I don’t call for days and just now decides to finally show a sign of life!” Jenny greeted me. I could hear her smile.

“I’m sorry, I meant to return your calls but there’s no signal on the ski slopes. Plus I’ve been pretty busy making sweet, sweet love to my boyfriend.”

“Ooh little Leah isn’t such a prude anymore, is she? Wait. Back up. Ski slopes?”

“Yup. Damon and I went skiing today and we’re there for a week, that’s actually what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Lucky bastards.”

“We were wondering if you’d like to come over and spend an early Christmas with us?”

“What?”

“Damon wants to celebrate a last Christmas so we decided to do it here because it’s kind of perfect since it’s snowing and all. So we thought we needed our friends with us, hence the call.”

“And there I thought you just missed my voice and wanted to hear about my sex life with your brother!” Jenny sighted before laughing.

“I hate you.”

“You looove me.”

“So? Christmas? Could you maybe miss a few days of college and get your ass here?”

“You miss my cute little ass, don’t you?”

I laughed.

“Sure I do! I don’t have enough of my boyfriend’s everyday. So?”

“I’ll have to check my agenda and get back to you.” She paused. “Oh, who am I kidding I have no life lately! Of course I can come!”

“Really?”

“Yes, I know, it’s a shock to me too that I have no life whatsoever but that’s because of your jealous brother who gets upset when I hang out with other guys and then he doesn’t want to have sex and we just…”

“Jenny!!” I cut her. “I meant, really, you can come? But I’m not sure I want you around anymore.”

“Bwahaha, I know you love me. And yes of course. College is so boring and there’s this guy who’s obsessed with me and he’ll pass me his notes for sure.”

“Awesome! Are you with Seth right now?”

“No, he’s rehearsing with his band I think.”

“Oh! He’s still into that idea?”

“Yeah, I heard them play yesterday, they’re pretty good actually!”

“Really?”

“It shocks me the little amount of faith you have on my boyfriend.”

“I have faith in my brother I just haven’t heard his band play for a while and when I did, they kinda sucked to be honest.”

“I guess all the rehearsals paid off then. Look, I would love to chat more but my friends are getting impatient and I’ll see you in a few days anyway so we’ll talk then alright? And I can’t believe we get an extra Christmas this year! And I have for sure been on the naughty list though so Santa must have a crush on me.”

“You’re crazy. See you soon.”

“Yay!! Can’t wait! Byyy-eee!” She screamed before hanging up.

She wasn’t even drunk. I really loved my best friend. I went back in the other room but Damon was still on the phone. I heard him laugh and smiled. There wasn’t a word to describe how much I would miss this laugh. Happy thoughts Leah! Happy thoughts! I reminded myself.

Damon hung up some minutes later and sat next to me, then put his chin on my shoulder.

“So… Mathew can come for a day but Jeremy can’t, he has exams. What about Jenny?”

“She can come. I still have to call Seth though but I had enough crazy for one day.”

“Jenny’s a pretty awesome friend, isn’t she?”

“The greatest but if you repeat it to her, I will deny it to the grave or I will never get to hear the end of it and all she will talk about is how much I love her ass.”

Damon laughed. “What?”

“I don’t know, she’s obsessed with her ass.”

“Well, she got a nice one.”

I slapped him on the back of the head playfully and he laughed.

“But yours is better.” He added.

We stayed a little more inside then decided to take a look at the little village to try to find presents and food for our early Christmas. I doubted they sold Yule logs but we could maybe find another yummy cake for desert. The village was really cute, with little shops, a lot of them for ski clothing but others for souvenirs and other cute stuff.

“Ok, so should we separate to try to find presents for each other?” I suggested.

“Yeah but don’t buy anything expensive. I don’t need anything, really.”

“Sure!” I rolled my eyes at him and he smiled.

He went in another little shop next door and I looked around. There were a lot of things I could buy but I wanted something a little more personal than just a snow globe or a little stuffed reindeer. There was nothing interesting in this shop so I went in another.

“Can I help you?” The salesman asked when he saw me wandering around.

“No thank you, I’m just looking for a gift for my boyfriend.”

“Oh! Maybe I can suggest something?”

“I don’t know… I’m looking for something personal.”

And then I saw it and I knew I wanted that and that it would be perfect. There was a giant map pinned on the wall. I could picture what I could do with it already.

“Hey, how much is that map over there?” I asked the salesman.

“It’s not for sale, it’s part of the shop’s decoration.” He answered.

“Really? Shit this was the perfect present!”

He looked a little confused and rightfully so. I mean, why the hell would a girl buy a map to her boyfriend right? Well I wouldn’t just give him a map, obviously! I had another idea in mind. This map was huge and I wanted to pin a picture of the two of us on the countries we had visited and write some stuff on it that I remembered from our trips and just you know… making it more personal.

“If you really need it I could maybe talk to the manager…” The guy proposed.

“That’d be so awesome, thank you!”

So he left me there, hoping that I could take the map with me. I could see him talk with an older guy who I guessed was the manager. He was eyeing me from time to time and frowning. Yes, I know, buying a map like that was weird, moving on! The salesman came back with a smile.

“You can have it for forty bucks.”

“Really? Thank you!” I was almost doing a happy dance but that would have seemed even weirder, especially for a freaking map. “And just so you know, I won’t just give him the map like that I will make it into something more personal but that’d be a little long to explain.”

“Oh, ok!”

I got the money out of my pockets and gave it to him. He then unpinned the huge map and rolled it like a carpet.

“How are you going to carry it?” He inquired. “It’s a little heavy. And big. I could help you get it to your chalet, I’m guessing you’re not from here.”

“That’d be super nice, thank you! Would you mind just waiting a second while I call my boyfriend to ask him to wait here so that he doesn’t see the map before I can give it to him?”

“No problem, go ahead.”

“Thank you! You’re awesome!”

He was definitely getting a tip, although he wasn’t a waiter. The guy was blushing a little. I went outside to call Damon. He answered on the third ring, luckily. Ugh, I hated worrying all the time!

“Hey, what’s up?”

“I just wanted to warn you that I’m going to bring your present home and I don’t want you to see it yet so can you stay in a shop while I get it there and hide it?”

“Yeah, sure, I haven’t found your present yet anyway. I’ll see you in like thirty minutes? I’ll keep you posted but I think I just saw the perfect present!”

“Ok see you then.” He was about to hang up but I exclaimed. “Hey! Damon!”

“Yeah?”

“You’ll call me if you get a headache of anything, right? Or ask someone to do that for you?”

“Don’t worry about me, I’m fine and I’ve taken my pills. And yes of course I would warn you Leah.” He answered in a nice soothing voice.

“Ok.” I breathed in relief. “Just wanted to be sure.”

“I’m okay. I’ll see you later. Oh, and Leah?”

“Yes?”

“I love you.”

He had said it before, many times actually but every time made my heart flutter with this butterfly sensation.

“I love you too. And please don’t buy me a stuffed reindeer.”

He laughed and I hung up. The super nice salesman, who I learned was named Chris, helped me get the map to the chalet Damon and I were renting. He was right, it was pretty heavy and I never could have transported it on my own. I opened the door then we put it in the bedroom under the big bed. He wouldn’t find it there hopefully and the floor was clean (I had checked before, just to make sure I wouldn’t get my map out all dusty and black from dirt of something. It would have ruined everything. Besides, the paper was in some sort of yellow ancient papyrus-like material and I didn’t want to ruin it.).

“Thank you so much for your help.” I told Chris while handing him a tip.

“It was no problem honestly and you can keep your money, it was a free service.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Thank you then.”

“Will you be coming around again?” He asked, taking me off guard.

“I don’t think so…”

“Oh. Ok. I was just wondering if you’d like to have a tour of the city? I could show you around.”

“That’s very nice but we’re not here for long and we probably will just spend the day either skiing or with our friends who are coming soon.”

“Alright. Well it was nice meeting you anyway.”

He seemed a little disappointed. Well it wasn’t like I had led him on, I had mentioned my boyfriend literally at least ten times! Maybe I was making things up in my head and perhaps he was just a little bored and had thought giving me a tour of the city would be fun, I don’t know. I thanked him again then he went out and I watched him leave by the window. That had been a little weird but whatever, I had my early Christmas present for Damon and that was all that mattered. Well, I did not exactly have the present, more like half of it. I couldn’t exactly print out the photos here, there was no printer around here that I could use. This would require the help of someone and I knew exactly who to call.

“Wow! Two calls in one day! You really did miss my cute little ass didn’t you?” Jenny greeted me.

That girl could never just answer with a simple hello. I smiled.

“Are you busy?” I asked, instead of answering to her previous remark.

“Not really, pretty bored actually; The guys are doing a drinking game but I have a huge test tomorrow, the last one of the season, yay!!! Anyway, so I don’t want to get wasted, I have to ace it.”

“Look at you being all reasonable!”

“Shut up. So what do you need?”

“Could you maybe print out some pictures for me? And bring them with you when you come here.”

“Sure! On special photo paper and everything?”

“Yes, if you can.”

“Of course, it’s no problem! Anything for my best friend!”

“You’re awesome thank you!”

“I know, I know, what is new! So, have you asked Seth if he can come? I haven’t called him yet to ask.”

“I was about to call him.”

“Ok. I’ll let you do that then.”

“Yeah. I’ll send you the pictures by email tonight.”

“Ok.”

“Oh, can you take my red dress with you?”

“The really sexy one you bought and swore you would never wear?”

“Yes, this one. And no perv comments or whatever please.”

“Pff, you’re no fun, I had at least three remarks!”

“Sorry! Go back to your friends now and good luck on your exam tomorrow! We’ll celebrate the end of them when you come by.”

“Sounds fun! Ugh, I don’t even know the meaning of fun anymore, the finals are killing me!!! You’re so lucky to be out of stupid, energy draining college!”

“I’ll have to endure the same thing next year.”

“Right.”

We talked a little more because we had so many tings to say then finally hung up when I heard the door open.

“Leah? Can you close your eyes for a sec’?” Damon called from the living room.

“Ok! But don’t hide your present in the bedroom, it’s where I hid mine and we’d be pretty stupid if we ended up hiding them in the same spot!”

I shut my eyes and heard him laugh because this was actually something we could do. A couple minutes later, he told me I could look. I walked over to him and rose on my tiptoes to kiss him. I could feel his smile against my lips.

“The saleswoman hit on me.” Damon informed me when we sat at the kitchen.

“Really? The salesman kind of acted weird too. He asked if he could take me on a tour of the city.”

“Ugh! Being irresistible is soo annoying!” Damon joked.

He was indeed irresistible. I wanted to have sex with him again, right now, right there, on the table. I wouldn’t mind it being uncomfortable, I just wanted him to kiss me and I wanted to feel him close. I think he was thinking the same kind of thing because he smiled with a knowing smile then got up at the same time I did and we started kissing and I jumped in his arms and things led each other, he was carrying me in the bedroom, already undressed.

I called Seth in the evening, after dinner. He picked up after a few rings and I could hear a guitar playing in the background.

“Hey sis’, what’s up?”

Finally a normal greeting!

“Are you calling to try to talk to me about Jenny’s body shots and me being jealous because the guys are freaking drinking out of her bellybutton and taking a lime between her boobs and me getting back at her by getting a lap dance from this girl I know that worships me?”

Never mind. I couldn’t even stop him, he was rumbling all of that and I didn’t want to hear any of it.

“What? No! God, why are you guys so weird!? I’m calling because I was wondering if you’d like to spend a few days in the ski station I’m staying at right now with Damon, his friend Mathew, Jenny and me? We want to celebrate an extra Christmas.”

“Extra Christmas? Cool! Yeah, of course! But why the hell are you guys in a ski station?”

“We just wanted to ski, don’t make a big deal out of it! So, you’ll come?”

“Yeah, if I can find some money!”

“Damon said he’d pay for it.”

“What? Has he become a billionaire in the last five years we haven’t seen him or what? I didn’t remember him being particularly rich!”

Right. I couldn’t exactly explain to Seth that he didn’t care about spending all of his savings since he couldn’t exactly use them when he’d be dead. I still hadn’t told my brother about Damon’s disease. I needed to. After all, they were sort of friends. They used to hang out a lot back when we lived in Norwood because Seth was always hanging out with me when I was with my friends, especially when Damon was coming over.

“He won the lottery. Can you stop asking questions? Just say yes or no.”

I hadn’t meant to sound pissed, I just was. Because the whole thing was horrible and I didn’t want Seth to learn the truth but he’d have to at some point anyway. But explaining it again would make it even more real, in a way.

“Alright, alright! I’ll come. Should I bring my ski suit and everything?”

“Yeah and we could all ski together. That’d be pretty cool.”

“Totally.” He paused. “Shut up Jason! It’s my sister, not Jenny!” he yelled to someone else.

“What does Jason want with Jenny?” I asked.

“Nothing, he’s a prick. Look, I gotta go but I’ll see you soon then.”

“Yeah. And try to solve things with Jenny before coming, I really don’t want to hear your arguments about body shots and lap dances or whatever the hell you’re fighting over.”

“No worries, I’ll take off my shirt and she’ll just be hypnotized and forced to forgive me.”

“Whatever. Goodbye Seth.”

“Bye sis’. Say hi to Damon and remind him I will kick his ass if he hurts you.”

I laughed and hung up. Seth always tried to play the protective brother with me but he knew Damon was a good guy and he wouldn’t hurt me. At least not intentionally. He would hurt me eventually by dying but that wasn’t like he could do anything about it and I had been warned from the start.

I shook the bad thoughts away and joined Damon in the living room. He was reading something but closed his laptop when I came inside.

“Seth is in. We should probably go to the common room to have the Internet and book the plane tickets for him Mathew and Jenny. “

“Yeah, let’s go and then we’ll go eat fondue because I’m starving and it’s Christmas. Kind of.”

“Mmh! It’s been forever since I’ve eaten fondue!”

We took the laptop with us, went outside in the cold, which reddened our cheeks instantly and then went inside the common room where other people were trying to get back online. This was the only place we could access the Internet and I really wouldn’t have minded not having the Internet for a few days but we needed to book tickets. Damon took care of the reservations then sent a confirmation text to Jenny, Mathew and Seth with their plane tickets attached to a mail. I couldn’t wait to see them again. I didn’t really know Mathew but he had been pretty cool at Damon’s birthday. But then again, how couldn’t have he been, there was freaking Macklemore playing a private concert for us!

After booking everything we needed, including an extra chalet for Jenny and Seth, (Mathew could only stay a day and he would sleep in our living room) we went in a nice restaurant and ate the yummiest fondue ever.