Page 64 of To Love or to Lose
I have little time to think about it before Winnifred is bouncing on the balls of her feet. “Come on! We’re leaving in ten minutes.”
I was never planning on declining their offer, and Winnifred’s excitement only makes me more keen on the plan.
“Okay, let’s go.” I smile in return, stepping into the hallway, shutting my door behind me.
Once we arrive at the sledding hill, covered entirely with snow gear, I see almost our entire graduating class is here.
“Wow,” I say while getting out of the car, heading toward the trunk to help Logan get the sleds out. “Is this a tradition or something?”
“Every year, all the seniors go sledding the Friday night before the ski-trip.” He motions toward the giant hill. “There are concessions with pizza and hot chocolate, and they play a movie on a giant screen in the parking lot starting at midnight.”
He hands me two sleds, and I hear one of the girls yell from the other side of the parking lot. “Hurry up, guys!” That was Eloise.
Logan laughs, throwing the other two sleds over his shoulder. “The princesses await.”
I look toward the black, rubber track that allows us to climb up the snow-covered hill where Eloise, Winnifred, and Genevieve are already making their way up. Logan and I have to make that same trek, but while carrying all the sleds.
All I’m thinking isthey really are princesses,but Logan has never seemed to mind.
“Girls!” Logan calls toward them once we reach the top of the hill. “You’re all going down Death Mountain first!” He points to the corresponding sign.
Death Mountain is probably the steepest sledding hill I’ve ever seen, complete with a ramp made from snow a quarter of the way down.
“Already planning on it.” Eloise smiles as we approach.
“Of course, you were.” Logan laughs, rolling his eyes as Eloise grabs a sled and separates from the rest of the group.
We place the sleds on the ground, and get the girls situated in them. “Ready?” Logan asks Winnifred and Genevieve.
They’re both already laughing as we bring them to the edge of the drop-off. This isn’t Death Mountain, but it’s still a pretty intimidating slope.
Neither of them even flinch as they teeter on the edge, and Logan gives them one last shove to send them flying.They squeal in elation as they make their way down the hill.
“They like that more than I’d expect them to.” I grin as I watch them reach the bottom. I find myself more and more shocked by the pair the longer I spend time with them.
“If there is anything to know about those two girls together, it’s that when they’re together, they are unstoppable,” Logan responds, grabbing two more sleds, handing one of them to me. “Come on, let’s go.”
I see the three girls make their way back up the track as Logan and I ready ourselves for the drop. I’m assuming Eloise went down Death Mountain without a thought and met them at the bottom.
“You ready?” Logan asks, and when I pause for a second, looking down at the slope, he adds, “No guts, no glory.”
With that, we push off, sliding down the hillside much faster than the girls did. I can’t lie, it feels fucking fantastic.
It’s ironic, how alive I feel when I allow my heart to skip a few beats.
Adrenaline. The body’s natural drug.
We send the girls down the hill once again, Eloise in one, and Genevieve and Winnifred in another.
Most of my and Logan’s time here has been spent pushing them down, and then helping them back up the mountain after Eloise and Genevieve spiked their hot chocolates.
Logan and I have probably gone down half as many times as they have.
We watch the girls go down, laughing and screaming, until they hit the halfway point.
“Does it look like they’re going to…” Logan trails off, watching them more closely.
Suddenly, Eloise’s sled veers to the right, slamming directly into Genevieve and Winnifred's.
