Stray Hearts // Charlie Gillespie

24

"That was a good practice, we have two months until Nationals." Hunter informed all of us.

We all gathered our stuff as we walked out. It was another long practice so I was exhausted.

I'm just happy that I have the weekend off. And since I do, Charlie and I are having a weekend getaway.

I went straight to my house to pack. We were going skiing at Big Bear and we were going to stay in a nearby hotel.

I packed everything I needed, and went straight to bed. My alarm wakes me up early so I can pick up Charlie.

But first I was getting coffee. I had my big sweatshirt on with my snow pants on. I went to Starbucks to get me and Charlie coffee.

I walk in to see only Jasper working. It's weird seeing Jasper here on Saturday. "Hey, what are you doing here?" I ask getting his attention.

"Just trying to get some extra cash. You going snowboarding?" He asked making my order.

No one was in here so I just typed my order in, and Charlies. "Yeah, Charlie and I are spending the weekend up there." I tell him.

He smirks as he hands me my drink. "Nothing's going to happen, you perv." I laugh as he makes Charlie's drink.

"You really like him, don't you?" He asked getting soft. I smiled as I look down. "Don't go all soft on me." He laughs at me.

He hands me Charlie's drink as I pay for it. "No hands!" Jasper yelled as I rolled my eyes. I get in my car and drive to Charlie's.

Knowing him, he's probably still asleep. I grab our coffee and go inside his apartment. "Charlie?" It was quiet.

I look in his room to see him sleeping. I sit the coffees down and go in his room. He looked so peaceful.

"Charlie." I whisper. I move the hair out of his face and behind his ear. "Charlie." I say again a little louder.

He's still not waking up. I start shaking him, causing him to stir. He slowly opens his eyes, looking right at me.

He instantly smiles and stretches. "Hi, beautiful." He sounded really raspy and it sounded really good.

"I brought you coffee. Get dressed." He nodded as he checked his phone. He puts on a sweatshirt and his snow pants.

He drinks his coffee as he gets his things together. He was going to be skiing while I was going to be snowboarding.

We put everything in the back of my car and headed to Big Bear. We had an almost two hour drive.

"You better play some good songs." I tell him as I drive. "What if I play a bad song?" He teased.

"Then you have to embarrass yourself down the bunny trail." We take that as a bet so he started the music.

He played upbeat music the whole time we drove. When we got there, we checked into the hotel so we can keep our bags in there.

"We have a reservation for one night." Charlie spoke to the receptionist. She smiled as she adjusted herself.

"Last name?" She asked looking in between us. "Gillespie." He answered her as she started typing on her computer.

I don't know why, but hearing him say we have a reservation in his name made me blush.

"You're going to be in room two-oh-three." She handed us a key to the door as we thank her.

We grab our things and head to our room. "Do you wanna get IHop before we hit the slopes?" Charlie asked.

I didn't realize I was hungry. I agree as we make sure we have everything. We go and eat, which didn't take long.

And we go to Big Bear. "Owen is going to be so pissed at us." I laugh as we went to pay.

We were going to be here all day so I couldn't wait. I haven't been snowboarding in forever.

We get dressed and put our snow boots on. "You wanna race?" I ask when we sit on the ski lift.

The ski lifts always scared me because I thought I was going to fall off. I wrap my arms around his arm for safety and comfort.

"Hell yeah, you're gonna get your ass beat." He told me. He quickly kissed my forehead making me smile.

"I like being here with you." I admit. It was nice to get away. Have time to ourselves. We don't have to worry about anything.

We can bond even more and enjoy ourselves. "I like being with you anywhere." He admitted.

We got off the ski lift at the peak of the mountain. It would probably take us a little bit to get down to the bottom.

"So, you're trying to race?" He asked while putting his goggles on. "You trying to chicken out?" I joke as he shakes his head.

We stood next to each other and counted off. Once to the last number, we started going down the hill.

It felt good to be snowboarding again. Jasper, Lauren, and I used to come here all the time.

Our families would come and rent out a huge cabin. About halfway, I look over. Charlie had fallen and sat on the ground.

I go over to him to make sure he's okay. "I just ate shit." He laughed when I reached him.

"You okay?" I ask a he nods. He gets up and starts skiing. I follow him as I look at everything.

Even though I love living in California, I wish I lived in a place where the seasons showed more.

I wanna see the leaves change and fall, I wanna wake up to see it had snowed overnight. I've always wanted a snow day.

At least once, I wanna see another season. Charlie spent almost the whole day on the slopes.

We took breaks here and there so we could eat and stay hydrated. We even stayed until it was dark and they had to turn the lights on.

The day couldn't have been more perfect. I feel like we bonded more with skiing.

And I wouldn't want to spent it with anyone else.