We did Pine Bluffs.
“Woo-hoo!” Ashley yelled.
“Woo-hoo,” I answered, even though it sounded pretty weak.
Then we tried Mountain Vista Trail, which had amazing mountain vistas (duh). And one called Western Ridge, which I guess was on the west side of the mountain range. To be honest, I wasn’t looking that much at the views today. I was concentrating more on yelling and yodeling with Ashley the whole way down. And I was going pretty fast now. I leaned lower and really caught some speed.
“Tote fabu!” she drawled at the bottom of our fourth run of the morning. “Man, I could use some grub!”
“Me, too.” I knew there was a good chance that I would see Drew at the chalet, but I had to face him sometime, right? I still wasn’t sure what I was going to say, but I would cross that bridge when I came to it.
I picked out a slice of pizza and a cup of chicken noodle soup and put down my tray of food next to Ashley’s. She had gotten a meatball sub and a side of mozzarella sticks. Yeah, I liked this girl. We got each other. Dad, Kathy, and Jeremy found us. Jeremy’s face was bright red and his freckles looked like they were on fire. He had gone snowboarding in some canyon out past the Basin.
“Greatest morning ever!” he announced, his mouth full of chicken Parmesan. I rolled my eyes at Ashley and we both laughed. All during lunch we chatted about food, school, life in Texas. Ashley was charming the pants off Dad. I could tell he was glad to see I had made a good friend out here. She told us she was from a little town called Lubbock. Her dad was a farmer and she had four older brothers. Her mom was a secretary at their church.
“What church do y’all go to?” she asked.
I saw Jeremy laugh into his sandwich.
“Actually, we’re Jewish,” I said.
“That is awesome! We have a couple of Jewish kids in my school. Ari Nussbaum and Peter — something. They read a lot! Do y’all read a lot, too?”
Now I laughed. So did Dad and Kathy. To a total stranger, I bet it looked like we were one big happy family. I wasn’t about to explain.
After lunch, Ashley and I headed back out to the slopes.
“See you suckers later,” said Jeremy. Aaron was waiting for him with some of their new buddies from snowboarding class.
“Usual time? At the chalet?” asked Dad.
“Sure,” I said.
“Ashley, it was a pleasure. Hope to see you later.”
“Thanks, Mr. and Mrs. Levy. You take care now,” she said with her endearing smile.
Yeah. Keep the mouth shut, Levy. Not worth it.
I watched Dad and Kathy take hands and head off to the cross-country trails. Then Ashley and I got in line for the lift. Ashley was talking about how sweet my family was, and how it was so funny that the cheese here tasted different than the cheese in Texas, but that made sense, didn’t it? Because it was different milk or at least different cows, right? And I think I said sure, but to be honest, I was having trouble concentrating now because a few feet behind us I could hear, “No, you’re doing great, doll. You just have to remember —”
“Keep your behind behind. I know. I was trying, but I just couldn’t get it. Oops!” Giggle giggle.
Well, I guess it was time to cross that bridge. I needed to get a good look, though, just to make sure. I tried to act really subtle, like I had gotten something on my shoulder, craning my neck around to wipe off an imaginary dust ball. Yup. Light blue hooded jacket with fuzzy white trim, and a matching fuzzy scarf that was sprouting out of her neck. She looked cute enough. Small. Upturned nose. And right next to her was that shock of blond hair.
“That’s all right. We’ll get some time up there just you and me this afternoon,” Drew said.
I felt my jaw tighten. My hands were balled up into fists.
“Sammy, what do you think?” Ashley was saying.
I turned back around. “Um, I think …”
“Wow! The Olympics! Are you for real? That is so totally awesome and inspiring!” Fuzzy yammered behind me.
“Weeeelllll?” said Ashley.
“Yeah, well. It was only the trials. I’m hoping next time — you know, I’ll actually get to compete,” he said, and I could just imagine his lips stretching into that seductive grin.
“You okay, darlin’?” asked Ashley. Her voice was soft and concerned now. “You look a little pale.”
“Yeah. Um, Ashley, I think there’s something I have to do before I can go up again. Is that okay?”
“Sure! I thought you just went after lunch, though. Oh, well. Whatever. Sometimes I think that I’ve gone all the way and then as soon as I zip my pants up I have to go again. I think a lot of girls are like that. I try to drink a lot of cranberry juice. I heard that’s good for your kidneys. I don’t know. Have you ever tried it?”
“No, I just have to talk to someone. About … something.” I really didn’t want to go into it. I didn’t want to be doing this at all. But I knew I had to do it now. Before I lost my nerve.
“Well sure, Sam,” Ashley said. “You do what you need to do.”
“Be right back.” I dug my poles firmly into the ground and shook my hair out behind me. I marched over toward him. Or rather, I skidded. It’s kind of hard to do anything else on skis.
“Um, Drew?”
His face turned around slowly. Like he was taking his time. Like he had been expecting me.
“Hey, what’s up, Sam?”
“Well, I was just wondering if maybe we could talk or something?”
“Sure, what about?”
Fuzzy Wuzzy was playing with her zipper, but I could tell she was listening.
“Um, I mean, maybe we could talk somewhere else?”
“Well, I’m kinda busy right now,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. There were just a few people left ahead of him now in line.
You can do this, Levy.
“No, I know. Not now. I meant, like after your …” I looked at Fuzzy. “Your class. Maybe we could grab some hot chocolate?”
He sighed.
“Hmm, I’ve got plans already.”
“Really?” I sounded like someone had just punched me in the gut. Maybe because that’s what it felt like, too.
“Yeah,” he said.
“Are your plans … all night?” Ugh. This was not how I had envisioned it at all. Fuzzy was practicing sticking her behind behind.
“Sam?! We’re up!” It was Ashley. The chair was coming toward her. I looked at Drew. His eyes were clear and totally blank.
“Just go on up!” I called to her.
“You sure?” she hollered back.
“Yeah, I’ll meet you up —”
“Whoa! Okeydoke! See ya up there, darlin’!” I heard, and then I saw her honey-colored braids swinging up in the air. Who was that next to her? It looked like an older man with gray hair. Why had I done that to Ashley? Especially after she’d been so good to me. I never wanted to be someone who chose a guy over a friend. That would be like — and now my chest tightened even more. That would be like Phoebe.
“Um, Sam?” said Drew. “We’re gonna be up in a sec, too. So, was there something else you wanted to say or are we done here?”
Are we done here? I felt my nostrils flaring.
“No,” I said. “Actually, there is something.”
“Okay, well …”
I took a deep breath, puffed out my chest, and said, “Drew, I know you’re a busy man and you need to give a private lesson to Fuzzy here, but you should think about what you’re doing, because I was totally into you and I thought you were into me but if this is just about me not wanting to have sex then that’s really immature. There’s a lot more to a relationship than just sex, you know? There’s cuddling and conversation and just hanging out and being in the same moment together. And one day I’m gonna have sex, too, with someone I truly love. Yes, maybe it’ll be when I’m forty-eight, but that’s fine with me. Well, I hope it’s before then, but whatever. The point is, you made a really stupid, shallow mistake and your Jetta smells like gym shoes.”