Cherish groaned when she woke up to the cacophony of noise that was Ian, Juss and Harper. How in the world did they have the energy to be so awake already? They were sharing the one room, all six of them, due to the number of people staying at Audrey's. She lifted her head and peered at them, blinking repeatedly to clear her vision. They were all on the floor between the two beds, and it looked like they hadn't slept at all. It also looked like Juss had just walked in, and half dressed at that.

Cherish registered some squealing and giggling through the wall, had Juss stayed over night in the Montreal girls' room? She slid her eyes back to her friends, they had made some kind of fort of all the sleeping bags. Ian and Delia sat in the middle giggling and blushing madly, and Harper lay on their other side, leaning against the opposite bed. He was howling laughter as Juss, who sat beside him rubbing at his knee, a stupid grin on his face.

"Oh man!" Harper gasped for air, "You should have seen your face!"

As Juss laughed along, Cherish realized there were no sheets on the bed behind him, they were tangled around his lower half. In a moment of clarity, Cherish realized one of the Montreal girls had spent the night in their room. Well that explained why everyone else had spent the night on the floor, and why the door was wide open. She shuddered at the thought of Juss doing the nasty in the same room she'd been sleeping in. Come to think of it, how had she slept through that?

Another thought popped into her head and her eyes shot open; how had she gotten into bed in their room? She clearly remembered falling asleep in the alcove bar tucked into Seven's side while he sang to her. She hadn't drunk nearly enough to black out, had she?

She sat up fast, her sudden movement eliciting a yelp from Delia and another round of cackles from the guys. There followed a thump and her covers were ripped off in a swift movement; thank God her dress was covering everything! She peered over the edge of the bed and into Seven's scowling, cursing face, "Oops!"

Seven had apparently fallen asleep draped across the foot of the bed; most likely the reason that Delia hadn't slept up on the bed like she was supposed to. "I should have slept on the floor," Seven muttered picking himself up.

"Why were you on the bed with Rish, anyways?" Cherish and Seven both scowled at Ian and the annoyingly suggestive way he said it.

"Because, Juss was fucking the brains out of some chick," Seven growled, and then sighed tiredly. "I sat on the bed to take my shoes off, that's all." He stood and stretched, rolling his shoulders and neck as if he'd kinked them and crossed the room, "I'm going to get dressed."

Yanking up a couple things from his bag, he left the room. Juss chuckled, and gathering the sheets around him like a toga, he followed Seven's lead.

Cherish flopped back onto the bed and then slid down onto the floor with the others, "Did you guys sleep?"

"Barely," Delia smiled tiredly.

"We," Ian gestured to himself and Delia, "went to bed like three hours ago and then Juss' friend woke up and freaked out."

"Yeah, that was my fault," Harper laughed. "I was reading and I might have nudged her foot with the back of my head. She flipped out and took off running with the blanket."

"Harper!" Delia half whined, half laughed. "That poor girl!"

Ian chuckled as he stood and helped Delia up off the floor, "I guess we might as well get dressed and go get breakfast."

Harper and Ian, like Seven and Juss, left the room to use one of the powder rooms on the main level, leaving the en suite to the two girls. Cherish let Delia go first and took the time to chose an outfit. She was trying to figure out what to do with her day when she heard a frenzy of giggles from the room beside theirs again. Seconds later, a shirtless Seven walked in, jeans slung low on his waist, a towel draped over his neck, his hair disheveled and wet.

Without noticing her, he pulled one corner of the towel up and dried his hair rather vigorously while he pondered the things in his bag. Cherish watched in quiet awe as the lithe muscles under his normally smooth arms and torso flexed as he moved, thinking they were kind of perfect. When he crouched to dig a shirt out of his bag, Cherish had to hold in giggle as his back and shoulders rippled under his tattoos.

"Your turn, Cherry-kins!" Delia bounced out of the bathroom and it took everything in Cherish not to shoot and annoyed glare at her. In fact, it took everything to not shove Delia back in there, so she could continue silently admiring Seven. He had looked startled at first, but a slow smirk was making it's way onto his face. That stupid smirk!

Willing herself not to blush, she picked up her things and shuffled into the bathroom, "Thanks, Deals." As she closed the door, she caught sight of Delia's teasing grin and wink.

Cherish emerged into an eerily quiet, empty room; she hadn't taken that long had she? Glancing at the time display on the TV, she found it had only been 10 minutes. With a shrug, she picked up her phone and wasn't surprised to see a text message from Ian.

Juss & Harp couldn't wait...went ahead to Sunset.

Humming as she stuffed her things into her purse, she stepped out of the room and nearly jumped out her skin.

"Shit, Sev!" She clutched at her heart dramatically while Seven laughed at her startled expression from where he stood right beside the door. "What the hell? Were you trying to give me heart attack?!"

"Sorry! I was just coming back to see if you were ready. Everyone else just left."

"I know. Ian texted."

"Oh. Delia offered to wait for you, but..."

Cherish flashed him a tiny shy smile before checking and double checking that their room door was locked. She pretended not to notice him giving her a slow once over as he walked beside her. She'd chosen to wear a pair of tight fitting high-waist jeans tucked into calf length Doc Martens, and a fitted V-neck cardigan under her woolen coat. Her hair was pretty much as it had been the night before, hanging loose in curls, but she'd pulled the front back into three loose victory rolls, and pinned her slouchy hat in place behind them.

There was nothing really overly attractive about her outfit, at least not any more than what she wore on any regular day, but as his gaze dragged over her, she felt awkwardly bare. Especially when his gaze stopped on her face, staring intently at her glossy coral lips. Good grief!

"So, you wanna join them?" Cherish asked as they stepped out into the crisp air.

Seven shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pockets, "Do you?"

"Not particularly, if it means Delia is going to grin at me like the fucking Chesire Cat the whole time." She hadn't said it as under her breath as she'd hoped and he glanced at her with a knowing smirk. "Shutup."

"I didn't say anything," he protested, his ill concealed smirk growing into a full on grin. Cherish glared at him, and headed toward the village ahead of him.

-.-

"Where were you last night, Sev?"

Seven looked up, pancake halfway to his mouth, "Huh?"

"We couldn't find you after we went to get drinks," Ian elaborated, flicking his gaze excitedly between Cherish and Seven. Cherish was beginning to regret joining her friends for breakfast.

"Really, E?" Seven grunted. "I just wanted some quiet. I figured Juss would need the room and I didn't wanna be around for that, so I went out."

"Thanks, man!" Juss grinned, not even having the decency to be ashamed.

"Yeah, that's kind of why we got back to the room so late," Harper laughed.

With a glint in her eye Delia poked at Cherish, "Where'd you go off to, Rish? Did you go out, too?"

"Yeah? Where were you?"

Cherish refrained from glaring or smirking at Seven as he echoed Delia's all to casual question. She rolled her eyes, "Uh, New Years Eve isn't really my thing. I went up to bed pretty early."

Everyone looked to Juss as if waiting for confirmation, but he shrugged, "How would I know if she was there? I was kinda busy!"

"Uh, how'd you sleep through that?" Ian looked dubious.

With a grimace, Cherish deadpanned, "The whole house was noisy and I slept through all of that too."

Delia seemed to accept this answer and waved away any more words Ian would have said.  "Okies, guys! Melanie and Jessline said they checked out that indoor water park yesterday and it was pretty awesome. Did you wanna go?"

Cherish paused and looked at her as if she'd sprung another head. "Deals, that sounds cool but it's winter and we didn't come prepared for going swimming."

"But they did!"

"Are you suggesting we borrow their suits?"

Delia nodded enthusiastically as she chomped on her waffle; the thing was piled high with fruit and ice cream and would take her forever to eat. Cherish didn't know how she could eat that after a night of drinking and so little sleep. "If you really want, Deals. But their suits are very... minimal."

"That's the opposite of a problem, Rish." Seven smirked. "Especially for Ian."

Delia paled and then blushed a variety of reds, "Uh, you're probably right, Rish, we came here to ski anyways..."

"What's the plan, then?" Harper spared Delia any more embarrassment with his question.

"Well, you guys are going to ski and I think I'll go hang out with Audrey and the girls."

"Actually," Delia said around a mouthful of waffle, "I think I want to go sleep."

"Before I do anything, I'm going to go change," Seven proclaimed though no one had asked him, and all eyes at the table swiveled to him in question. "My feet are drenched," he said uncomfortably. Sure enough, when they looked down he wore a very soggy looking pair of Converse chucks.

"Why the hell d'you wear those?"

"I couldn't find my boots," Seven grumbled in answer to their laughter. Tossing some money onto the table, he grumbled a few more things under his breath and left.

Cherish laughed along with everyone else as she dug her phone out of her coat pocket and tapped in a number, "Salut, Audrey! Qu'est ce que vous faites maintenant? Ah ouais? T'es ou? I might join you." She added money to the pile on the table, and eyed Delia's still going strong waffles, "Sleep, huh Deals?"

"Yeah."

"Guys?"

There echoed a chorus of answers and she nodded, "Kay, see you all later."

It was a short walk back to the Chalet, but it seemed longer on her own. Her only consolation was that she knew the rest of them would all stay until Delia had finished eating, and until Juss could scarf down whatever was left. As expected, the front door to the chalet was unlocked, and tired party goers were lazing around all common areas.

Wondering how Seven would get into their room, she dug into her bag for her keys, but came up empty. Apparently that sneak had taken them off of her. Leaning in the open doorway of their room, she raised an eyebrow at him, "Wet shoes, huh?"

Seven grinned up at her as he pulled on the boots that had been sitting in plain sight. "Audrey and the girls, huh?"

"Please!" Cherish scoffed. "That girl has been my alibi for the past 8 years. She knows how it works."

Seven gave her an impressed smile, "Alright! So, where to?"

-.-

Laughter bubbled out of her mouth for what seemed like the hundredth time that hour. Seven was spread-eagled on the ice, sliding along with a very confused look on his face. "I hate you right now."

She might have felt bad if he sounded like he meant it even the tiniest bit. Ignoring the irritated looks they were getting from other skaters who had to avoid Seven's long body, Cherish threw herself down onto the ice with him. "You said you could do this."

Seven grunted when she crashed into his side, "I said I used to skate a lot as a kid. I didn't say I still skate."

"Aww, Bunny."

"Aww, Bunny my ass!" Seven slowly dragged himself up, grabbing onto her like his life depended on it as they stood. "Like that's going to stop you from torturing me with this some more."

Cherish grinned at his feigned accusation, and admitted, "I might find it funny!"

"That's it!" Seven growled playfully, and shoved her off the ice. It backfired instantly as he lost his balance yet again and crashed down into the snowbank beside her.

"Okay, okay! We're done!" Cherish laughed. "If you make me laugh anymore, I might pee myself!" She paled instantly, regretting being so honest, and shrieked as a maniacal look came over his face.

"No! No! Seriously, Sev! Don't tickle me!" Rolling out of the snowbank and back onto the rink, she was out of his reach and on the other side in seconds. After doing a wild victory dance, legs and arms flailing, she waved and blew him a kiss.

Seven grinned as he watched her grab their boots from the other side of the rink and gracefully skate the half lap back to him. She was flushed when she dropped down beside him, and he eyed her pink tinged cheeks with a half smile. Happy to have his feet back in normal shoes again, he stood and shook the snow off, grabbing their skates, "I'll take these back."

By the time he returned holding two hot chocolates, Cherish was relieved to not have to worry about laughing anymore and had secured them a bench alongside the rink. "Thanks!" she chattered and squeezed closer to him with a shiver, as soon as he sat down.

He chuckled and leaned back, "We probably shouldn't have laid in the snow."

"It's not like I had any choice in the matter," she shot him an annoyed look before leaning back beside him. "Anyways," she waved her hand at the rink. "Did that qualify as a date?"

"A date? That torture was supposed to be a date? Sadist!" She giggled as he continued, "People have fun on a dates, not whatever that was."

"People feel awkward and self conscious on dates. People worry about what they're wearing and saying and doing and what the other person thinks about them on dates... Besides, I had fun, didn't you?"

Seven was enjoying making her squirm, enjoying the reaction he was getting, her face reddening, but he finally let up. "Fine, I had fun. But I preferred our Mexican food date."

"That wasn't a date."

"It kind of was, Pumpkin. Think about it."

Cherish did, realising he wasn't wrong; in appearance and substance, it had been a date. It just hadn't been labelled as such, and neither of them had thought of it as such at the time.

"No," she said after a moment. "It wasn't, because I said so."

"Okay, it wasn't!" he said in a patronizing tone. "Can we get out of the cold now?"

* Title song by The Del-Vikings

TRANSLATIONS

Salut, Audrey! Qu'est ce que vous faites maintenant? Ah ouais? T'es ou?- Hey Audrey! What're you doing right now?  Really?  Where are you?