Written Mine on my Upper Thigh

009

I wake up to the bright white rays peeking brightly through the curtains and Taylor's fist banging on my door. I groan as I rub my eyes in frustration, it feels too early. I roll over and glance at the clock, it reads 8:32. Really? It feels like just 6. 

"I'm awake!" I call to cease Taylor's banging on the door. 

"Alright, come to breakfast, we got room service" she calls back, her voice fading as she walks away. 

I drag myself off the bed and into the bathroom, god I look monstrous, my hair's sticking out in 6 different directions and my eyes look like death itself. I splash cold water on my face. Regret immediately followed by relief fills me as I feel 10 times more refreshed. I quickly brush my teeth and wash my face, I figure I'll do my makeup after breakfast as I can just about hear my stomach growling. I pull a Calvin Klein shirt over my head and some dressy sweatpants so I don't look like I just rolled out of bed even though I did. I gather my hair up with a claw clip as I exit my room. 

Taylor is sipping a cup of coffee on the sofa while Cara is busying herself with croissants and yogurt. Gigi doesn't seem to be here yet, or perhaps she's already eaten. Taylor hands me a cup of coffee and gestures to the tray of assorted foods on the coffee table. 

"I didn't know how much sugar you wanted so I didn't add any, there's some on the tray by the salt"

"Thanks," I reply dumping 2 teaspoons of sugar in the mug and stirring. "Where's Gigi?" 

"Oh, she's at the gym, she said she wanted to do a few miles," Cara replies,

"Damn, even on vacation?"

"Even on vacation," Cara replies with a sigh mixed with a chuckled

I grab some avo on toast and pull up a chair as Taylor goes over the day's itinerary which was really just, ski, eat, ski, eat, chill. I am so prepared to fully face plant 8 out of 10 times and probably will slip while attempting to get on and off the lifts. I haven't skied in years and when I did, I can't say I was good. 

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It's now 10:00am, we're all in our ski suits and not gonna lie here, we look fucking hot. Or as hot as you can look when you look like an overdecorated marshmallow. We're about 3 steps into the snow and I'm already struggling to walk, in some areas it's so thick my foot sinks up to my shins. Hopefully it's better on the slope. 

"Dude, let's go up there," Gigi points up a steep as fuck slope with what looks like a billion possible death traps. 

"uh, I can barely stand, I don't think that's a good idea for me," I say motioning to my feet. Taylor laughs.

"Alright, come on, let's go to the baby slope! " she giggles as she started trudging through the snow towards a basically flat hill. Perfect. Gigi and Cara chuckle playfully behind me giving me a nudge to follow. We get to the bottom of the hill at the entrance to the ski lift which are, to my complete and utter disappointment,  individual round seats attached to a rod that's attached to a wire to transport you to the top and looks exactly like my downfall. Don't get me wrong I'm usually quite a agile and athletic person, I've done dance and competitive sports my whole life, I still spend a significant portion of my life at the studio and the gym. But one thing I can't do, snow. I can bend myself in half and do 10 plus turns without getting dizzy but snow? hell nah. We can't be good at everything right? Wrong. Because apparently Taylor is. I've seen her dance, she's not amazing but she is better than many and right now she is effortlessly getting onto the ski lift while I'm standing here drowning in a puddle of nerves. I don't think my ego can take me falling off that lift. Gigi is behind me as I watch Cara get on the next one. Fuck. A technician passes me the rod and I hold on for dear life as I mimic their movements and tuck it between my thighs shifting my weight onto the seat and praying to whoever's up there that I don't fall off. Cara takes one look at me and bursts out laughing, making the corners of my mouth lift into a smile before also bursting into a fit of laughter almost making me lose my grip. ALMOST, because I didn't and honestly pretty proud of myself. 

By the time we get to the top I've been clenching the thing so hard my thighs are on fire, honestly I wish they hurt for a different reason. I stumble, but not fall, off the lift, trailing like a lost puppy after Taylor and Cara. They laugh as they guide me to the edge, and start spewing a shit ton of instruction. 

"Make sure they you look up, you don't wanna crash into a kid,"

"Make a V to stop or turn to the side,"

"Keep your weight forward"

My head is spinning as I follow them to where it really starts to slope. Cara speeds off first and Gigi follows closely behind. I hesitate and glance at Taylor who has a fat grin plastered over her face. 

"It's ok, I'm right behind you," she reassures me as I finally push off onto the slope. 

Not even half way down the slope and I accidentally lean back and now I'm in the snow. At least it was my ass not my face. Taylor slows beside me and offers a hand. 

"Get one ski in front of you first then get up," she suggests 

I struggle but eventually am back on my feet. She reaches behind me and brushes the snow off my back and my ass.

"Thanks," I say and she replies with a smile and nods for me to continue. 

Thankfully the rest of the slope proved to be less of a struggle, I only fell once and I got up on my own and dusted off my own ass. We decide to go back up as I need a little of practice and learn how to turn before attempting any of the steeper slopes. 

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We're in the middle of the ski slope and Taylor is guiding me in zigzags in an attempt to teach me how to turn. My skis catch on each other and I fall forwards, my gloved palms slamming into the snow but not before I sweep Taylor's skis from under her and she lands under me bracing herself with her own palms. She's so close I can feel the warmth of her breath on my face. This is probably the 6th time this has happened in the last 20 minutes. My ego is beyond repair.

"fuck, I'm sorry,"

"hey, it's ok," she laughs, standing up and pulling me with her as crimson rises in my cheeks from embarrassment, luckily it's not too obvious against the red that was already there due to the cold. She grabs both my hands again and turn around to face me. She starts gliding backwards again pulling me with her as I try to zigzag. This time I do so, semi-successfully and I look up to see Taylor with a smile wide on her face. 

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It's around 7 when we're finally changed and in the dining hall for dinner. Today was exhausting and I don't think my legs have hurt this much since the time I assisted a dance intensive masterclass for conditioning. Although when we were returning our skis a guy who looked to be in his 30s walked up to us and said that from my stance he thought I might find snowboarding easier than skiing in the long run despite having a steeper learning curve at the beginning. I thanked him but told him that I was only here for a couple more days so I'll just stick to skiing but maybe I'll check it out tomorrow. I ordered some kind of Pelmeni but now looking at Taylor's crispy chicken with rice I'm kinda wishing I got that instead although I'm not really paying attention to what is going in my mouth as I am currently being made fun of by all three of the women sitting in front of me. Lovingly of course. 

"So how many bruises have you got, Elle?" Gigi chuckles 

"I doesn't really hurt to fall in snow. but I did knock my shins with my skis a few times so I gotta guess my skins be looking pretty fucked right now." 

"Hey Elle, if you give me a few Pelmenis I'll give you some of my chicken," Taylor offers as she catches me eyeing her chicken. 

"deal" I reply, maybe too excitedly as I drop a few Pelmenis onto her plate as she puts a few bits of chicken in mine. 

A/N: do y'all want me to condense the filler chapters and get to the juicy stuff faster or do y'all like it? anyways enjoy, this ones kinda shit but-