Make My Way

Chapter Forty-Four

Willow's POV

I couldn't believe they left me with Easton. We got into town and saw a gift shop so we stopped there first. Easton went into the back to pick out a shot glass and I waited by the front. Then I saw him. Our snowboarding instructor was right outside the shop. I glanced back at Easton who was still intrigued by the variety of glasses. I snuck out the front door and went over to him. I have to kiss a stranger, right? I thought. I approached him quietly and grabbed his face in my hands. I kissed him and, to my surprise, he kissed back.

"What the hell was that?" he asked when I pulled back.

"Sorry, we're doing a checklist thing, one of them was to kiss a stranger," I told him.

"Well okay then. I mean, I'm not objecting." I felt his eyes scan over me.

"Yeah. Actually, I was also trying to get away from my teammate too. He's in there," I explained.

He craned his neck to see inside. When he saw Easton, he said, "Oh, I can see why." Let's just say Easton is NOT attractive. The greasy blond hair and thick neck are not exactly hot. At all. This snowboarder on the other hand.... He held out his hand to me. "Caleb, nice to meet you."

"Willow, same," I said.

"So, if you want, I was just going out for lunch, care to join me?" he asked and my heart fluttered.

"I'd love to."

So that's how I ditched Easton for a hot snowboarder in a gift shop.

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Vivian's POV

Merrick and I had decided to treat the entire day like a date. We went to an early lunch first and then went shopping. We bought each other matching black souvenir t-shirts that said "Deadwood, SD" and he had found me some cut patterned leggings while I got him a new pair of jeans. Then we took a walk and agreed neither of us would kiss anyone else. We didn't say anything about kissing each other and I hoped that meant it would happen.

Even though we had been dating for a few months now, we hadn't kissed much. We hadn't kissed at all, in fact, since the snowball. I wanted to kiss him,  but I didn't know if he would think its weird if I made the move. So I waited. We did most of the things on the list, but I didn't want to pants someone, and we already knew we wouldn't win, so we didn't.

We found a nice sit-down restaurant and ordered some incredible food. Then we found a hotel that wasn't too expensive and we booked a room with a queen size bed. It was pretty nice, the typical hotel. We sat in our room for a while before it was getting late and we realized we were supposed to sleep in our underwear. Together.

We tried to delay the inevitable by talking. We talked about our friends and who would be cute together and stuff like that but then there was a pause in the conversation where neither of us had anything to say. Merrick leaned closer to me and I could feel his breath on my face before he completed what needed to be done and finally kissed me.

It wasn't long, Aria probably wouldn't even call it making out, but it was more than I'd ever done. And I loved it. It made me want more than that, but it was enough for now. Merrick took out a pencil and the checklist and crossed making out with your teammate off.

Then, we both pulled off our shirts and pants before hopping into bed next to each other.

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Aurora's POV

Blake and I went into the hotel room that we had rented and I froze. We had spent so much money on clothes and food and stuff that we only had $57 left for a hotel. That left us in a tiny motel that smelled like smoke. There were stains on the worn out carpet that I didn't even want to identify and the room itself was empty other that a twin sized bed and a small wooden nightstand holding an ancient looking lamp.

"Well then, who gets the bed?" I asked.

"I mean we could try to share-" Blake started but I cut him off.

"You know what? I'll sleep in the bathtub," I announced.

After we set our bags down and I got my turn in the bathroom, he went in. I sat down on the bed and rubbed my feet. My muscles were still sore from skiing, and walking around all day hadn't helped. Blake had done everything he needed to, but I refused I wasn't going to grind with anyone, much less kiss or pants a stranger! We had everything else done though, except for making out with each other.

Blake came out of the bathroom and sat next to me on the bed. He leaned closer to me and I realized what he was going to do- check something else off the list. I squealed and jumped away. "Bathtub!" I squeaked and ran away to settle myself down in the musty smelling, rust stained tub of our tiny room in that run-down motel. I wish we hadn't spent so much money on clothes.