“Already? I feel like you just got here!” I complain.
“I don’t want to overstep Ted's good graces when it comes to babysitting, or be hungover for my shift at his diner,” she scolds me with a little know-it-all smile.
“Fine, oh responsible one,” I scoff. “Hey—I meant to ask you, have you seen Josh yet?” I was sure he’d arrived and unpacked by now, I didn’t know why he wasn’t at the party.
“Josh? Andri, you’re joking, right?” With quickly crossed arms, she gives me a disapproving look.
“What do you mean?”
“He graduated from college last spring, got married this summer…his announcement is back on the break room fridge. You didn’t think he was coming back, did you?”
My stomach tightens. Josh won’t be here.
“I hadn’t really thought about it like that. Wouldn’t he have let me know if he wasn’t coming this year?”
Lerana’s eyes soften, and she takes me by my arm.
“He’s a real adult now. He doesn't have whole winters to just party and hit the slopes anymore. Everyone has to grow up sometime, Andri. Even you.” She’s being as kind as she can, but I know deep down she’s right.
I’ve gotta get my shit together.
Chapter three
Daphne
Evenonthemovingramp up the bunny hill, I realize I am in over my head. Sporty six-year-olds in neon-colored snowsuits side-eye me as I waddle like a newborn giraffe in my shiny skis. I expected Gerald to come up here with me, but instead he visibly cringed as I toddled onto the conveyor belt contraption.
Just getting onto this stepless escalator had my stomach turning, and now as we approach the apex of the hill, I realize that I’m expected to get off and not disturb the flow of traffic behind me. The children ahead of me manage without much fuss, but as I see those same tiny people glide down the hill, I realize how much more advanced their skills are.
I’m fucked.
Right as my turn to disembark the moving walkway comes up, I try desperately to get up my gumption and jump off. I overshoot the landing, and the tip of my ski bounces off the snow, twisting my legs in opposite directions and forcing my body forward into the ground.
Or what should have been the ground.
Instead of a blast of icy snow, my face plops into something warm and so incredibly soft. I grip at the strange texture, trying to pull myself to rights, and a pair of strong hands lifts me up by my armpits.
“Well, hello there, stranger,” a baritone voice echoes around me. Only when I finally am able to lift my head from the warmth it rests in do I realize that it’s the voice’s fur. I wipe the condensation off my glasses with my gloved hand and take him in.
I’m clinging to the front of his abdomen. The monster, seven feet tall and covered in downy white fur, has a kind blue face that's smiling down at me. His teeth gleam as white as his fur, accented by a pair of large canines. Not quite fangs, but definitely not something a human would possess. A pair of short, sharp horns crowns his head that he tilts to appraise me.
“Are you okay?” The monster's deep brown eyes narrow.
I’m frozen with embarrassment, still clutching my hands in the fur of his abs.
“No, really, are you okay? You didn’t hit your head, did you?” Concern washes over his face. He takes a blue hand from under my arm and touches my cheek, turning my head from side to side to check for injuries.
“I-I’m okay. Sorry!” I push myself a bit further back from him. That move of self-preservation backfires when I quickly slide backward. I flail my arms widely, not even knowing the basics of how to stop myself.
The furry monster’s eyes go wide, and he loops his long arm around the small of my back, stopping me in my tracks.
“You’ve never skied before, have you?” He smiles that same big toothy grin as before.
“What gave me away?” I croak, adrenaline making my mouth go dry.
“I came to that conclusion after seeing how you move on them.” He pulls me to the flat top of the hill again, but this time sets me further back. “Have a seat, you need a helmet.” The nice monster pads across the snow quickly. His bare feet are long and wide and seem to be built to move in the snow. He’s completely uncovered, unlike the marshmallow puff that was formerly my body, save for a pair of light wash jean cutoffs.
It’s a strange kind of overall look, but I can’t say it’s a bad one.
