Page 43 of The Season
“This looks amazing,” Seth wheezes, wrapping one arm around Matty’s shoulder and looking around the scenery with awe. “Man, I gotta do this more often. I’m so outa shape.”
I grimace in sympathy. That’s the downside of working in the rental shop, I guess. He’s basically stuck in a sweaty, windowless pit all day long, helping whiny tourists get boots that fit and skis that will be calibrated to their weight so they don’t break a leg when they invariably wipe out.
“Where are Antoine and Liam?” Lily asks, leaning against me to peer around Seth, down the trail snaking along the ridgeline behind him. “What’s taking them so long?”
I follow her gaze, my lips curling with smug satisfaction when I see Liam and Antoine have stopped walking. They’re standing close enough to kiss, but judging by the expressions on their faces, it looks like they’re more likely to deck each other. Liam’s face mask is pulled down, his teeth bared and face red as he says something to Antoine.
A lot of somethings, judging by Antoine’s slack-jawed expression, though they’re too far away for me to hear.
“Shoot, Liam looks mad,” Matty observes. “What do you think happened?”
“Who the fuck knows,” I say, feeling suddenly defensive of Liam’s privacy. Which is probably hypocritical of me, since I’m the one who was wanting to shove him and Antoine together in the first place.
I can practically hear my grandpa now.Such a shit-stirrer, Eddie. One of these days, someone much bigger than you isn’t going to put up with that mouth of yours.
At which point, he’d remind me that nearly everyone is bigger than me, because apparently stopping growing at five foot seven was just one of the many ways I’d let my family down.
By the time Antoine and Liam reach us, Liam’s face mask is up, his goggles down, and his expression shuttered. Antoine is easier to read—his stark green eyes are red rimmed, his full lips pressed into a tight line, his jaw clenched. Clearly, he’s pissed.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t give me any insight into what they were arguing about.
“What are you waiting for?” Liam snaps, voice icy as the wind beating against our backs. Wisps of snow rise up around our feet, dancing over the edge of the cornice, sparkling. “Are we dropping in, or are we having a picnic up here?”
Seth gives a nervous chuckle, then pushes off with his poles toward the cornice’s edge. “See you guys at the bottom,” he says, then pauses with the tips of his skis hanging precariously over the lip, looking between me and Liam. “You guys will stay with Lily and Matty, right?”
“Yah, mate,” I tell him, and for once, I don’t smile. “We’ll look after them.” I give Liam a hard look, daring him to argue, but he just gives a curt nod in reply.
“Okay. Good.” Seth flashes Lily a tentative smile, then pushes forward, dropping soundlessly, momentarily disappearing from view.
Liam, Lily, and Matty have all strapped on their boards now, and Lily peers nervously over the edge, craning her neck to try and see Seth’s landing. She won’t be able to though, not from here.
“Clear!” Seth’s voice calls up, distant and muffled sounding, letting us know he’s made it out of the landing zone.
“Right. Matty, you go next,” Liam orders.
Matty shoots him a panicked look, but then something changes in his face, a look of grim resolve that has his already-pale skin going almost as white as the snow.
“You can do it, Matty,” Lily urges, her own voice thready with nerves. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Matty doesn’t reply, just leans forward, putting his massive weight onto his front foot until he’s sliding toward the edge, then dropping over it.
We hear a muffled shout, followed by a soft thud as he hits the powder, and then an almost hystericalwhoopof joy. I grin despite myself, that familiar sense of pride welling up in me. It’s the same feeling I get when I coach a student down a black run for the first time, when I see that look of satisfaction on their face, thatI can do itlook.
“Clear!” Matty’s voice comes up to us, an almost hysterical laughing sound.
“Your turn.” Liam’s voice is gentler this time, and he grips Lily’s shoulders with his hands, guiding her toward the edge. “You don’t have to drop it. You can take it on your heel edge if you’re nervous, just like traversing. Like doing a falling leaf.”
I feel my eyes widen. I can’t tell you the number of times Liam has bitched and moaned about inexperienced riders ‘wrecking the snow’ by doing just what he suggests.
“They shouldn’t be riding backcountry if they can’t handle it,”he’d say.“Look at that flattened cornice. Look at all that powder, scraped away. Such fucking muppets.”
“I’ll be right behind you,” he murmurs. “I’ll drop in the moment I know it’s clear, and I’ll be right behind you.”
Is he… is he actuallycomfortingher?
I blink in surprise, staring at my friend. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him comfort someone in his entire life. In fact, that’s one of the things he’s known for—being a hard coach who pushes his students to greatness, or whatever.
“I got this,” I hear Lily say, so soft it’s almost inaudible, and I’m not sure if the words are for him, or for herself. “I got this.”
