Head Over Heels

Chapter 36 - The Goodbye

"Don't you dare let me go!" I death grip my hands around Tyler's wrists that are holding me steady. I'm like a baby deer on ice, all gangly and awkward. I can't believe he actually convinced me to come out here.

"Lila, it's just the bunny hill. We're barely even moving. Try to relax your stance a little and enjoy it. You know I won't let you fall." Tyler coaches me "There you go, easy does it...."

Tyler is behind me, guiding my skies down the small practice hill at Twin Peaks Ski Club. I look around us to see toddlers, (like literal three year olds) cruising past me down the practice hill with ease. They look so funny in all their gear that is super oversized for them yet somehow they are far better than I am at skiing.

"This is mortifying. Look at those kids go! I told you I was too old to be trying this. I'm horrible." I grumble.

"Will you stop? It's your first time. Besides, you can't be perfect at everything."

"I'm not perfect at everything." I sass back under my breath.

"Oh really? Need I remind you? Gymnastics, cheerleading, rope climbing, wall sits, poker, heck you even beat me at football over Thanksgiving, even if it was because you were a little cheater." Tyler teases me as we continue slowly cascading down the hill together at a snail speed, his strong hands holding my waiste. "You're lucky I'm so obsessed with you cuz you've beaten me enough times to do some serious damage to my ego if that weren't the case." He says with a smirk, his mouth close to my ear.

"Aww you poor thing. Always so dramatic. You don't want to be the guy that can't handle getting beat by a girl now do you?" I begin to laugh. Even if I'm as coordinated as bambi right now, I can never pass up the chance to banter with Tyler. It's basically our love language.

"Watch your words missy, or else I may just let you go!" Tyler pushes my hips away from him a couple feet, releasing me from his grip. The slight increase in speed throws me off balance.

"Tyler! Stop it! I can't do this without you!" My arms are flailing around as if I'm going to take flight. I almost poke my own eye out with one of my ski poles.

Tyler can't control his laughter as he grabs me again. "Now who's being the overly dramatic one?! Settle down, I was only kidding and was right behind you. I told you, I've got you, babe. You're safe with me. Besides, we've already reached the bottom." I can hear the laughter in his voice.

It takes me a second to realize we did in fact stop moving. I had frozen up in terror and closed my eyes mid freak out. Tyler shifts himself around to the front of me and moves my ski goggles on top of my helmet, kissing my frozen cheek in the process.

"See, safe and sound. I got you." Tyler coaxes.

I open one eye. I see my handsome boyfriend standing directly in front of me, beaming. He looks so happy, maybe even a little proud. I'm not sure if he's proud of me for riding my first hill on skis or for the way he was able to make me freak out just now which he thoroughly enjoyed. It's probably a bit of both. Skiing is something Tyler has done with his family since he was a little kid so of course he's great at it. When he found out back in September that I had never been, he vowed to take me for my first time this winter. Back when he promised to take me I thought he was just trying to be nice and make conversation, I never thought we'd actually be here together for real.

It's a full circle moment for sure. The kind I want ingrained in my memory bank to hold onto the nights when I'm missing Tyler most. We've been spending as much time together as we can since he made his decision to play for Florida a month ago. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, the days we have left together are numbered. We both know it, but neither of us wants to admit it to ourselves. If I think about it for too long I start getting sad, so I do my best to avoid thinking about it when we are together. I don't want my inevitable sadness from missing Tyler to overshadow this crazy opportunity for him or make him feel guilty about his decision. So I do my best to make the most of the time we have left.