AU

Ski Trip

i find it hard to believe we've never gone to a ski resort together. i mean, out of all the activities the gang does- you'd think winter sports would be up on the list. it's been in the plans for years, but we've somehow never gotten around to it. about a year ago we were supposed to go with me, atticus, ash, and kate. but when kate and ash broke up, things got put on hold for a very long time. i don't know if ash is over it or not. it happened last winter and now that the snow has fallen again, i wonder if he's feeling reminiscent. nonetheless he's been dying to go on this ski trip with atticus and i. and because we didn't want ash to be sad, and because we love them, we decided to bring casper along as well. the only concern is that they will pay for absolutely nothing. flashback to when we brought casper with us to the beach.
"i don't see what you guys are making such a big deal over. we absolutely need this!" casper exclaimed as we stood around in one of the cute little beach shops on the boardwalk. they were holding an ugly green surfboard.
"here, there's one for all of us. ash, yours is the blue one!"
"ooh!"
"sim, the pink one suits you so well. and atticus, the black one is for you."
"casper," atticus sighed, "this beach doesn't even get high waves."
"then why would they sell them here? hmm?" he cocked his head to the side and gave atticus big eyes.
"because of suckers like you. now put those back, you don't have the money for it anyway." atticus said and took the green surfboard away from them and put it back against the wall. casper pouted as we left the shop. they strayed behind us and kicked ricks along the pavement. eventually he got bored and told us to go on ahead and look at other shops while they go back and look at the surf one some more.
about twenty five minutes passed and casper still hasn't joined up with us yet. maybe he got lost, i thought. almost as if on que, casper showed up behind us out of breath.
"jeez, you guys really went far- *huff* come with me!" they said, pulling our arms. we followed an unusually happy casper suspiciously.
"what is there to be so happy about? he couldn't buy the surfboards." ash whispered to me and atticus. the moment we got to the surf shop there was a rolling cart with four surfboards piled on it.
"i told you we're not buying them! put them back!"
"sir these are already purchased." a worker said monotonously to atticus.
"see? someone already bought them, let's go." he grabbed casper's wrist to walk out but casper halted firmly.
"no they're ours!"
"..what."
"i bought them!"
atticus laughed sarcastically, "with what money?"
casper smiled deviantly and scuffled around in the pocket of their jean shorts. i could hear the jingle of dirty coins and crumpled receipts in their pocket. he pulled out atticus' wallet and dropped it into my husband's hands. my mouth hung agape as i watched this entire scene happen. before any of us could react atticus softly told the three of us to wait outside. ash and i know what happens when atticus is frustrated, but casper's oblivious. i knew they'd get in trouble as soon as atticus comes back.
the three of us leaned around the hot porch awaiting his return. my eyes wandered around noticing the cute beach-y decor like old life rings and driftwood. my view floated to the wooden sign above the entrance that said no refunds.. after the stomps i just heard, i'm sure atticus just found out as well.
long story short, ash ended up bargaining with the shop owner to let atticus have his money back and that he'd pay for it instead. i agreed with this idea since ash was loaded anyway. i agreed even more when i found out how much money casper had spent with atticus' card. 2 thousand dollars for just 4 surfboards. atticus got over his upsetness towards casper after making them stand unfront of the sun to shade atticus for the duration of our stay. also there is currently 4 unused surfboards in our shed.

~

"man it is SO refreshing to be here!" ash sighed and smiled as we arrived in the lobby of the ski resort. ash and i carried our own bags in but i noticed casper grinning next to me with no bags at all. i turned around and saw atticus juggling casper's unnecessarily large amount of luggage as well as his own stuff. as he caught up with us he plopped all the bags in front of them and went to the desk to check in. i shrugged- at least it's not my skinny muscles that have to carry all those bags.
it was mid-day by the time we got settled in and ash was itching to get out on the slopes. i find it fascinating how many skills ash possesses. he's a learner by nature but i never expected him to be good at literally everything. expect bench pressing- i've never seen anyone lift more than atticus. anyway, ash grew up in a family who took a lot of vacations, so naturally he was able to learn many different hobbies. not only that but his extracurriculars throughout school were nothing but incredibly extensive.