Page 4 of Catch Yourself a Snowmance
“With you two? That’s a hard pass, man. I love you and all, and Noelle is awesome. But I don’t do third wheel. Why would you want me to come anyway? That’s just weird.”
Liam laughs hard. “No. We want all three of you to come. And her four closest friends. Like a friendsgiving, but over the winter break. We’d be less than five minutes from Beech Mountain. The views are incredible from the deck of the cabin. Hot tub. Firepit. Massive stone fireplace. The works.”
He whips out his phone to the page on the rental site and starts scrolling through photos of the place.
“What’s that?” Mitch asks.
“Some deluxe mountain home Liam’s referring to as a cabin. He’s taking Noelle there the week before Christmas.”
“Now you’re an overnight cabin enthusiast?” Mitch teases Liam.
“Another one bites the dust,” Gage says. “Once they find a girlfriend, the bros are forgotten for good.”
“It’s not like that,” Liam says. “I’m actually hoping you all will come. We’ll have more time together, not less.”
“I’m down!” Gage says without even seeing the photos or hearing the whole plan.
“With Noelle and her friends,” I add, looking at Liam and then glancing over at Gage and Mitch. “It would be a co-ed trip.”
Mitch looks at Liam. “I only met one of her friends so far. That brown haired girl who came here to drop off a gift for your mom with Noelle. She’s nice looking. A little uptight, but cute.”
Liam groans, drags his hand down his face and turns to Mitch. “This. Isn’t that. I’m not inviting you three up there so you can hit on my girlfriend’s friends. You’re all in the wedding. They’re all in the wedding. We thought it would be good for our two friend groups to finally get to know one another since we’ve been dating a whole year and never really introduced you to each other.”
“And why exactly is that?” Mitch asks. “I always thought it was strange that you kept us away from her friends, honestly.”
Mitch pulls his shirt up and scratches his belly. Granted, it’s a six-pack, but still.
“And none of that while we’re there.” Liam sounds like his dad. It’s almost eerie how much he sounds like him.
“None of what while we’re where?” Mitch asks Liam. “Nah! No! Dodge him! What do you think they pay you in the millions for? Weave around that D!”
Yes. The game is still on. Yes. We’re totally multitasking, discussing this vacation idea while cheering on our team, the Tennessee Trojans.
“None of you lifting your shirt and scratching yourself like some primate while we’re staying with Noelle’s friends at this cabin. I want you all on your best behavior.”
Mitch glances at Liam and back at the screen. “That was my best behavior.” Then he chuckles with amusement.
“Seriously, though. I really want to pull this off.” Liam’s voice has a slight pleading to it now. “Noelle has her heart set on this idea of the nine of us hanging out for barbecues andswim parties in the future. She even talks about us all going on the occasional trip as a group.”
Gage burps. “And why haven’t you tried to make this happen sooner?”
Liam and I look at one another and share a smile.
“As if that burp wasn’t your answer,” I tell Gage.
“I’m down,” Mitch says. “I’ve got nothing going the week before Christmas. No one’s buying trucks and cars when they’re spending up their credit cards on gifts. It’s a lull in my business anyway.”
“I’m in,” Gage says. “As long as I’m around for the actual day of Christmas, my mom doesn’t care what I do the week before. I’ve got vacation accrued with the flight school.”
Gage is a helicopter flight instructor and does courier work under contract for a few companies. He’s a daredevil and always up for an adventure.
All eyes are on me.
“Yeah. Sure. I’ll go. Why not? I haven’t been skiing in ages. And I love making Noelle happy.”
“She’ll be so happy,” Liam assures me.
“Then I’m down.”
