Page 65 of To Love or to Lose
“Holy shit!” Logan yells in shock, already running down the hill. I follow, and when we reach the girls, I’m shocked we made it down almost the entire slope without falling.
“Winnie!” He yells, watching her flop out of the sled and onto the snowbank.
I say nothing as we slow to a stop in front of the girls. None of them appear to be in distress, but from far away, their collision looked much worse.
“Are you okay?” I ask Genevieve as she sits up. She’s on the ground at my feet, her brown hair tousled over her face, freckles a little less noticeable because of her red cheeks.
I pick her hat up out of the snow, handing it to her after brushing a majority of the snow off it. “Here.”
She rips it from my hand, a little harshly if I must say so myself. “I don’t need your help,” she says, pushing herself up.
Her tone isn’t audacious, and she doesn’t seem as hot-headed as she usually acts around me. Genevieve Alderidge is a shark—one who wants to be independent—and she feels the only way for her to do that is by ripping the heads off anyone who attempts to help her.
“Are you okay?” Logan asks Genevieve and Eloise. Winnifred is standing next to him, looking as disheveled as the other two.
Logan is holding Winnifred and Genevie’s sled, which is now in two pieces. Mutilated and completely unusable.
“I can’t believe we wiped out on the bunny slope,” Eloise groans as she stands. “We look like pussies.”
“Don’t even start,” Genevieve says. “The only reason we wiped out was because you kept trying to get closer to us.”
“Hey!” Winnifred interjects, as if she’s splitting up an impending fight. “We’re fine, it was an accident.”
“I’m sorry,” Eloise says, seeming sincere.
“It’s fine, just try not to killmenext time you want to do something thrill seeking and stupid,” Genevieve replies.
“Gen,” Eloise sighs. “I promise not to kill you. Not anytime soon at least.”
“I’m glad.” She shoves Eloise’s shoulder. “I have more potential than the average person, remember that.”
I laugh at that, not because I didn’t know it was true, but because she felt the need to announce it.As if her potential was the only thing that would make somebody want to keep her alive. I almost want to assure her the reasons extend further than that, but I decide against it.
“What are you laughing about?” She snaps at me.
“Nothing you should be concerned about,” I respond, picking up her sled.
Genevieve wrenches it out of my grasp almost immediately, like she had with the hat. “I got it.”
I find it funny that she only feels the need to carry her own sled once I try to do it for her. Logan has been carrying her sled back up the hill all night, and she had no issue with it.
This is the seesaw we’ve been on since the moment we officially met. Genevieve is either up, or she’s down. There is noin-between.She’s either able to be civil with me, or she’s entirely in tune with her hatred for me and she teeters back and forth between the two without realizing it.
We make it back up the hill with only a few minutes left until the movie plays in the parking lot, so we decide to go down one final time before midnight.
“Okay, E is going on Death Mountain, and Winnie is scared to go, so I told her I would go with her,” Logan tells me with a wince. I know I’m not going to like what he has to say next. “So, can you go with Gen?”
I groan. “Don’t do this to me, man.”
He looks slightly sympathetic. “We only have three sleds now, there’s no other way.”
I sigh, knowing he does really want to go with Winnifred. “Fine, but you’re going to be the one to tell her.”
“Winnie’s already got that covered.”
“Great.” I smirk, the sarcasm dripping from my voice.
“Jameson, if you're riding in a sled with me then you better get over here,” Genevieve yells, her tone full of contempt.
