Page 23 of Catch Yourself a Snowmance
“Are you okay?” Alyssa asks again.
I lift my head to look up at her. “I’m great. My ego, not so good. But I’m fine.”
She smiles down at me and extends her hand.
“Maybe I should ski,” I suggest once I’m standing.
“You can,” she offers. “But just know that anytime you try to learn to snowboard is going to go like this. It’s a mess starting out. You’ll get the hang, though, and then you’ll be hooked. I promise.”
I smile at her. “Pinky promise?”
She looks suddenly shy. She stares at me through her lashes. “Mm hmm.”
I feel emboldened. I want to impress her, for some reason. Skiing would definitely be the way to do that, but trying to snowboard when she encouraged me seems important, so I stick it out.
I manage to master the magic carpet, remaining upright every ride up after the first one. I even make it off at the end without falling flat on my face. The hill is another story. I’m sitting on my rear in the snow for what’s got to be the twentieth time. Alyssa slides up next to me.
The rest of our friends took off a while ago. She insisted on staying behind while I worked on improving. I keep telling her she can go find the rest of the group. I hate feeling like I’m holding her back.
“You’re getting better,” Alyssa says with a smile.
“I’m getting better at falling? Or better at staying upright?”
“Both, I think.”
She extends me her hand for the hundredth time in the past few hours.
“Want to try a bigger hill?” she asks. “I think you’re ready.”
“And what part of this amazing performance of mine makes you say that?”
“Trust me,” she says. “It doesn’t get better until you keep at it. And then you get the hang of things, and before you know it, you’ll be as proficient at snowboarding as you are with skis.”
“You’re taking my word for the fact that I’m proficient on skis. If only you could see me.”
“Maybe next time.”
The words slip out of her mouth so easily. She’s already said she’s going to bake me a dessert. Now she’s talking about the next time we hit the slopes together. Maybe she means during this trip. Her tone didn’t sound like that, though. Itsounded like a certainty for some future date when we’d be enjoying a snowy day together. Maybe with this same group of friends—of course with them. Of course.
“Okay, you’ve got this,” I say out loud, to myself. I take a deep breath, put my weight forward slightly, and go for it. I feel the moment something clicks and I find my rhythm. I manage to link a few turns together.
Alyssa’s right behind me, whooping like she’s at a game and it’s fourth quarter, no time outs, and her team has to pull a hail Mary and they make the winning touchdown.
“Wooooo hooooo! That’s the way! Go Carson! You’ve got this!”
I keep sliding down the hill, upright, attached to my board—not falling, but actually snowboarding. My movements feel tight and unnatural. It’s nothing like the smooth, effortless way I maneuver down a hill ten times more challenging than this one on skis. But I’m turning left and staying upright. Then I lean a little and go right. I wobble, but I don’t fall. It’s far from glamorous. But I’m making it work.
That kid from the first ride up the magic carpet comes zipping past me, not even looking where he’s going. I nearly fall from the shift in my concentration. But I don’t. I make it all the way to the bottom. Alyssa slides in right behind me. She’s been controlling her speed just to stay with me. I’m half grateful, half humiliated.
“You did great!” she smiles over at me. “Now let’s catch a lift!”
Chapter 8
Alyssa
It's not what's under the Christmas tree
that matters, but who's around it.
