Kiss Me In The Snow

Chapter 3 - Nightlife

I rush into the hospital room as soon as the nurses say I can. Geoff and Tanya are already waiting by Chelsea’s bed.

“Oh my god! Are you okay?” I say worriedly. I look her up and down for signs of pain.

“I’m fine. Actually, I’m better than fine! They gave me a shit load of pain killers. I’m loving this high.” she winks to me, and I shake my head disapprovingly with a smile.

“Well, we better be off then…” Tanya says, nudging Geoff with her elbow. She swiftly leaves the room with Chelsea’s dad in tow.

I scan Chelsea’s face for any signs of trauma. “But... are you sure you’re okay?” I ask her guiltily. I should have been paying more attention to her on the run instead of going off into my own world.

“Yes, honestly, Annie. I’m fine.”

“But you broke your arm for crying out loud! Shouldn’t you be, uh… I don’t know? Rolling around and screaming?” I ask, still worried.

She laughs. “Well you obviously haven’t broken a bone before. I don’t feel a thing.” To prove her point, she lifts up her arm – clad in a cast – and bangs it against the side of the bed.

I instinctively reach out my hand, as if it would help her. “It’s all my fault,” I say.

Chelsea looks shocked. “Why would you say that?”

“Because I ignored you when you said you weren’t concentrating. I should have stayed near you on the slope and made sure you were fine.”

“But that wouldn’t have stopped me from falling now, would it have? It was just my clumsiness that led me to this.” She holds up her arm. “Besides, I couldn’t get my mind off that guy!” she adds, making me laugh.

“Only you would break your arm thinking about a boy,” I say, laughing.

She fakes a guilty look, then laughs as well. “Do we even still have his number? I can’t remember where I put that envelope.”

I shake my head. “We can look for it. If we can’t find it – and you haven’t found another boy by tomorrow morning – we could go back there and see if he’s there. Maybe you could flirt your way into getting a full refund for your ski pass.”

She suddenly looks sad. “Oh yeah, I forgot about that…” she says, looking off at one of the blank walls in her room. “I’m not going to be able to ski now, am I?”

“I guess not,” I say. We share a moment of disappointment.

“Who are you going to ski with then if I can’t?” she asks.

“I could stay in the chalet with you?” I suggest, saddened to think that today might’ve been the last time I ski this season.

“No, of course you can’t!” She looks around the room as if that would provide some sort of answer. “You can’t ski with my parents because they ski for about an hour and then go some place for lunch. You’d hardly get any runs in.”

“I don’t mind,” I say.

“Of course you do! You love skiing!” She looks thoughtful for a moment. “I guess you could ski with Deluca. At least until we find you someone else to ski with. He snowboards but he’s much better than me, and pretty fast. He should be about as good as you.”

I hesitate, growing nervous as I remember what happened this morning. But of course I couldn’t tell Chelsea I didn’t want to ski with Deluca. I’d have to tell her first about what happened this morning. I wouldn’t want to ruin her relationship with her brother.