SANTA TELL ME ( JOE KEERY ) [SLOW UPDATES]

NINE

CHAPTER NINE - DAY FIVE

ARIANA'S family were surprised with her new confidence in skiing, to say the least. She most definitely wasn't amazing at it, if she was completely honest she was relatively at the same level. But the session with the boy and his comforting presence throughout it made her confidence increase dramatically. For once she was glad for her wavering skiing skill because it could hopefully result in her crashing into him again, and many more reasons for him to mentor her, increasing the chances of the situation repeating. She was teacher, she knew all about cause and effect, and likeliness. She had run the possible scenarios over in her head. And she liked most of them.

She hadn't seen the boy all day, which was quite unusual considering how he seemed to be everywhere, and Ariana had started to worry; thinking maybe he was avoiding her or she'd put him off but she didn't entirely know how.

"Ariana, come on!" Whitney shouted so her sister could hear her over the protective helmet and scarf. Ariana shook herself from her daydream and sighed sadly with a small frown before carefully skiing over to her sister who stood in the little queue for the skiing lift.

As they stood in the middle of the line, Ariana shook slightly and it wasn't due to the frosty cold.

"Whit, I'm not sure" Ariana whispered with a wobbly tone, looking at her older sister with a worried look.

"It'll be fine, come on don't be chicken" She teased with a stuck out tongue like they were impressionable children, as they both stepped forward in the line. Ariana rolled her eyes with a sigh and was about to step out of the line, when they reached the front of the queue; the bearded man hurrying them onto the bench. He gave them a kind smile and pulled his woolly hat down further to ward off the cold that was turning his nose and cheeks pink. Ariana sheepishly smiled back, she was too far gone now to go back down and Whitney knew her sister was like this; she had to go on this skiing lift now.

"Thanks" Ariana said as the man helped her into the seat, and she squirmed in the bench to warm herself up. God, did she hate how shy she was, why couldn't she just tell the man she wanted to get off?

Before Whitney could take a seat beside her sister, a man from behind politely squeezed through and mumbled something to her from beneath his scarf. Whitney nodded in return, smirking slightly beneath her scarf and waving the man in front of her as if she was being kind to an elderly lady at the supermarket. Ariana didn't notice the man fill the space beside her as she gazed over the side of the bar, leaving her sister looking up at them from below and waving crazily as the lift began to rise.

Ariana couldn't say anything, her jaw was clenched tightly shut making her teeth begin to ache and her knuckles whitened beneath her gloves as they gripped harshly to the icy bar.

"You're going to break your fingers if you keep clutching onto that bar so hard"

Her head whipped sharply, almost giving her whiplash, towards the muffled voice beside her that was definitely deeper than anything her sister could manage.

Her wide, blinking eyes met the soft, large ones of Joe Keery; who peered behind his dark scarf that wrapped around his neck multiple times. Like she said, he was everywhere.

"What?" She breathed, the word tickling her nose. She wasn't exactly sure what she was asking 'what' about. She had heard him but hadn't really processed the words. In reply he carefully reached his hand over and pried her stiff one off the bar that rested in front of them and gingerly held it inside his two larger ones; allowing her to have the space and chance to pull away. But she didn't. And after a few seconds he tightened his hands around hers protectively, her eyes not leaving the stare on his face.

"Your fingers" He replied with a gulp as he looked at her in the eye with those large puppy ones she started to adore.

"My fingers?" Her voice was a whisper as she asked, completely confused as her eyes trailed down her arms to her hands that were buried beneath Joe's. She yanked them out quickly and a hot blush bled into her cheeks and nose. His smile faltered and he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck as he looked away from her.

She glanced away and over the railing, they were now at the highest point of the lift and she gulped shakily as she noticed how close they were to the jump.

"I don't like heights. And I'm still not a pro at skiing" She confessed with a forced chuckle as her fingers tightened around the bar again and her breathing began to get so rapid it pounded in her ears and she felt like she might throw up and pass out at the same time.

"It's okay" He soothed, reaching his hands over again as if it was an instinct when he was with this girl "I'm here and you are a pro at skiing"

She laughed for real this time, "That's rich coming from you, you're the pro here"

"Well I'm not going to deny it" He laughed, with a goofy smile and nodded as if to flip his long hair but it was stuck beneath his thick hat. The comment made her loosen up a little, but it didn't last long as soon they were ready to jump and she was being to hyperventilate again.

"Ariana" He soothed, moving so his face was directly in her view so he could calm her "Ariana I'm here, it'll be fine, we'll go together"

She inhaled deeply and exhaled; repeating it a couple of times. Again she began to relax, his hand still carefully holding hers as if he felt he was breaking some unwritten rule but once they reached the end of the line; his grip tightened, and joint together with concentrated faces they jumped into the snow shakily before they glided steady, as if it was second nature to ski with each other; holding hands.