Downhills From Here

Part 8: Sounds like something I would do

"Oh no, what happened?" I said as Kenny spotted me approaching him. I gestured towards his foot and he rolled his eyes at himself with a lopsided grin, his brown hair falling over his forehead in curls.

"I fell off one of the ski lifts halfway up." He gestured for me to take a seat and I wasn't late in complying.

I grinned. "That sounds like something I would do," I said and told him about my brush with death off-piste. He didn't get the edited version my mom got, he got the real deal. I even hiked up my t-shirt to show my deep-blue and purple bruises on my side.

"Wait!" Kenny leaned forward over the table towards me. "You're the one who mowed down the skiing instructor?" A grin spread across his face, showing off his good looks. His amber eyes glittered golden in the sunlight. And he had a dimple. A dimple!

"I overheard them talking when I went to return my skis." He explained as I stared at him. "Seriously, I thought it was some lonely old woman who had a cougar crush on him..."

"Gee, thanks." I deadpanned. "I'm no cougar. Sorry to burst your bubble."

Kenny chuckled and shook his head. "It might turn in my favor, join me for lunch?" He winked at me and then waved at one of the servers who was serving lunch to other skiers.

"Eva, could I order a burger and fries, please. And a..." he looked at me and gestured with his hand. "You vegetarian or something?"

"Nah, I'll have the same he's having," I told Eva.

"Right, and a coke and..." He looked at me again.

"Make that two."

"Right," he said and gave his card to Eva who disappeared with it. "I thought I had you pinned as a yoga health freak." He did a big show of leaning to the side to look me up and down where I was sitting. He gave me an appreciative nod.

"A yoga health freak?" I squeaked, and I couldn't stop myself from looking down to check what I was wearing. Baggy pink sweatpants and a matching zipped-up hoodie. Didn't really scream health freak to me.

Kenny waved his hand, indicating my whole body. "It's just the vibe you give off, like one of those girls who put up selfies on Instagram and take photos of their healthy food." He pouted his lips and lifted his phone as if he was taking a selfie. I leaned over and smacked his shoulder.

"Have you seen what I've been eating over there?" I asked him, jabbing my thumb towards where I sat before. This whole time here I had probably stuffed myself with more calories than I had in a week at home.

He grinned. "Haven't really seen you eat something that would refute your healthy-selfie-vibe either." He wiggled his eyebrows at me and now it was my turn to roll my eyes at him.

"You saw what I ate for breakfast."

"Your breakfast looked quite healthy."

"Well, so did yours, Mr Egghead." I stuck my tongue out at him and he laughed. We talked some more about our misfortunes on the slope and after lunch, we decided to go and hang out in the city instead of at the skiing lodge since neither of us was skiing anymore. He was really easy to talk to and he was cute with his brown hair hanging in front of his eyes in that kind of boy band look. He paid for a taxi downtown and we ended up finding a movie to watch and then we shared a pizza in a famous Italian restaurant in the little town center before we shared a cab back to the hotel.

I had almost completely forgotten all about Jonathan until I got back to the hotel and spotted the three blondies, all dolled up and giggling. They were going to an after-ski party by the looks of it. They didn't even give me a glance as we passed each other on their way out. I was the odd one out. Emma would have fit into their gang, like a hand in glove.