She laughs, “Ha! Don’t jinx me! Knock on wood right now.”
I roll my eyes playfully, but find the nearest tree and knock on its trunk anyway.
“Happy?”
“Very.”
We start our descent, but the darkness creeps in faster than expected. I suggest a light jog the last few minutes down—which is not ideal on full stomachs but better than risking an encounter with a curious bear. I always keep bear spray on me, but still, no need to test our luck.
We reach the bottom safely, out of breath and laughing. Her cheeks are flushed, her eyes bright, and I can tell she’s wiped.
Back at the apartment, Genevieve looks beat—understandable, considering she just finished her first real day of work, probably ever.
“I’m gonna shower,” she mumbles. “I smell like grease.”
“Sounds good,” I reply, “I’ll be out here.”
When she disappears into the bathroom, I finally let myself crash onto the couch. Hosting a girl, especially one like Genevieve, is harder than I thought. I have no money to treat her right now, no real food to offer beyond what I get for free, and work keeps stealing away the hours I want to spend with her. I can’t help but wonder if she’s regretting this. Coming here I mean, what could she possibly see in me? She deserves better than this, better than me.
I reach for the remote out of habit before remembering Derek broke our damn TV. Right. Perfect. It’s still sitting like a corpse on the shitty entertainment stand we picked off the curb lastsummer. In a burst of motivation, I yank it off and haul it out to the dumpster. Screw it.
Then I remember something, my old projector. I dig around the back of my closet and there it is, collecting dust on the top shelf. I set it up, connect it to my laptop, and test it against the blank wall where the TV used to be. To my surprise, the picture’s crystal clear. Honestly? It’s kind of perfect. Romantic, even. Girls love this kind of thing, right?
I start scrolling for a movie. The Notebook catches my eye. A little cheesy, sure, but it’s a classic. And yeah… I kind of like it too, sue me.
Just as I hit play, I hear the water turn off. Genevieve steps out—naked except for a towel twisted in her hair, and my brain short circuits.
“Whoa,” I say, that’s all I can manage at the moment.
She raises an eyebrow, amused. “The Notebook?” She asks grinning. “Don’t put that on just for me, I’m not really into cheesy romance movies.”
Of course she’s not.
“Oh. Well, uh—I’m gonna shower. You can pick something else while I’m in there,” I say, pointing at the laptop, but not really looking away from her. She’s glowing.
“Sounds good. I’ll be here,” she says winking at me.
I tear my eyes away, barely, and escape to the bathroom before I do something stupid. In the privacy of the steamy shower, I do the only thing I can do to calm down now that I don’t have coke. I jerk off.
Because honestly? If she keeps looking at me the way she does, I’m not going to make it through this week without completely losing my mind.
29
Genevieve
I glance at the bathroom door again, wondering what’s taking Aspen so long. The water’s been running forever and I’ve had the movie ready for at least fifteen minutes now. I settled onThe Fast and the Furious, a classic, at least in my book. I know, not exactly a “cozy mountain night in” type of film, but Vin Diesel? Come on. That man is my ultimate guilty pleasure. It’s a crush I’ve kept locked away like state secrets. I grew up surrounded by brothers, so action movies became second nature to me. Explosions, fast cars, the kind of adrenaline that makes your heart race. It’s my version of comfort cinema.
Rom-coms never really stuck. Lana and I always clash when it’s movie night, so we compromise with TV series. We just finishedSex and the City—a wild ride in itself—and now we’re knee-deep inGossip Girlrewatch territory. There’s something oddly comforting about watching beautiful disasters unfold from a cushy couch.
While Aspen’s been in the shower, I threw on some comfy clothes: oversized hoodie, fluffy socks, the works. I could’ve stayed out here wrapped in a towel, but I wasn’t sure what mood he’d be in after such a long day. I know I’m wiped and I didn’t even snowboard. He spent the day throwing himself down a mountain for fun, while I was just trying to keep up in the bar with a handful of guests. Raul was cracking jokes about how his cooking scared off customers. At least he’s self-aware. And honestly? Working with him felt… warm.There’s something about Raul that makes you feel taken care of. He has that same grounding energy Aspen does—steady, kind, real.
And maybe that’s why Aspen terrifies me. Because… what if he’sit? What if I was meant to come on this trip; to end up at that party, to meet him, to feel this? I’ve always believed everything happens for a reason, but it’s hard to make sense of things when they move this fast. I wasn’t supposed to catch feelings. I didn’t come here looking for love; I just wanted a break, a little time away, a quick fuck. And yet, here he is.
The scariest part is… I’m falling for him.
Aspen makes me feel soft in a way I’m not used to. He doesn’t need me to mother him, doesn’t lean on me like so many guys do. With Aspen, I’m not the one holding things together. He makesmefeel held. He makes me feel like a girl in a fairy tale minus the glass slippers and plus a few layers of snow gear.
But there’s always that voice in the back of my head.What happens when I leave?
