A Season of Firsts

Chapter 5

As soon as the words leave my mouth, Mabel spots me and comes bounding over, Rory following closely behind.

"Hey girl!" she says in greeting as she leaps on me to give me a hug. I laugh at her eagerness; we've only known each other for a matter of hours, but it's like it's been years.

"Hey Mabel," I reply, laughing and struggling out of her grasp. "Hey Rory," I add, addressing him as he stands next to Mabel waiting to be formally introduced.

"What? How do you two know each other?" Mabel exclaims, dumbfounded.

"We met when we were both out on the mountain. Addy here is going to let me teach her how to board, because she can't seem to get the hang of skiing," he explains, a teasing grin on his face.

"That's false actually, I never agreed to the snowboarding lessons, your brother here is just too cocky for his own good."

"Tell me about it," Mabel says, rolling her eyes. "But this is so good that you already know each other! I thought he was just going to be an awkward tag-along."

"Hey, I'm not awkward!" Rory protests, before Mabel butts back in, "So that's why you were insisting on coming when I mentioned Addy earlier - you already knew who she was! It all makes sense now," she says, winking at him with a knowing smile on her face.

As I look at them standing side by side, you can definitely tell they're twins. They have the same hair, same easy smile and confidence, same big brown eyes.

"So," Rory says, steering Mabel away from that line of conversation, "what are we drinking?"

"I'm on cocktails," I reply, "want to share a pitcher with me, Mabel?"

"Uh, do you even have to ask?" she replies incredulously, making me laugh as we move closer to the bar. Hallie chooses that moment to come over and introduce herself; she was probably dying to for the whole two minutes I was talking to the twins.

"Hey, I'm Hallie! And you must be Mabel?"

"That's me! And this is my brother, Rory," she says, and Rory adds, "Hey Hallie, nice to meet you – I've heard great things about your ski instructing skills."

"Oh, you're the Rory?" she says as she puts two and two together, making it obvious that I have told her about our encounter yesterday. I decide then that she is not getting any drinks off me tonight.

Before he can say anything in response, I hastily make the rest of the introductions, trying to cool my burning cheeks. Mabel is already at the bar placing our drink order with Clive.

"Mabel, Rory, this is Chase, Leo, Henry, Millie and Jenna." We have increased in numbers tonight, Jenna being one of Millie's work friends.

"Hey guys!" Mabel says, and a round of enthusiastic introductions follows. Everyone is very welcoming to new people, because most of us are travelling solo and have just met people along the way, so new friends are always a bonus.

Mabel picks up our giant pitcher of strawberry daiquiri along with two glasses as Clive places them on the shiny wooden bar top.

"We'll go and grab a booth," I address the group as me, Hallie and Mabel make our way across the room, Rory staying behind to chat to the guys, because he seems to already know Chase and Leo.

As we're sitting down, Mabel says, "So, you need to tell me more about how you met my brother."

"There's really not much to tell. I was just taking a break on the run after I fell, and he came and sat down next to me and started bothering me about teaching me how to snowboard, because he clearly saw how lacking I was in skiing prowess. Then we went to your parents' shop after, so he could loan me a board. It makes sense now, because he seemed weirdly comfortable with just walking in and robbing one for me to use."