“So.” Hayden turns his head forward, toward the approaching exit. “Is it too late to point out I still have no idea how to get off this thing.”
“At the top let the board drag along the ground while you get your back foot into position, braced in front of the rear binding. When our chair is at the front, right at the top of the ramp, push to standing and let gravity do the rest.”
“Okay.” A tooth nibbles on his bottom lip as he gets ready, and it's so fucking distracting I almost forget to get off the chair. When I finally remember to move, I get the crazy idea to help him by putting my hands on his hips and guiding him down.
“Don’t touch my ass.” He swipes his arm behind him to move mine out of the way.
“I’m not.” I yank my arms back and accelerate down the ramp with ease, muscle memory kicking in while my brain was momentarily offline, and spin around to watch him dismount.
Despite following my instructions, he loses his balance since he’s flailing his arms while he’s not strapped in—saw that coming—and ends up in a heap on the ground.
I don’t even try to hide the knowing smirk on my face.See if I offer to help you again...
Cheeks pink with embarrassment—or maybe cold—Frosty averts his eyes as he tries to right himself, and whether because I’m stung bythe way he waved me off or my subconscious realizes it’s a bad idea to intervene, he does so without any help from me. It’s not until he’s finally vertical, breathing heavily from the effort, I remember I’m not supposed to be acting like a dick.
“Don’t worry, Frosty. You can’t claim to ride if you haven’t fallen off the chair at least once.”
The resulting scowl tells me he didn’t take that the way it was intended.
“I’m serious, we’ve all done it before,” I try again. “You okay?"
“I think so.” He dusts some lingering snow off his knees. “This thing is a whole lot easier to balance on when you’re attached to it.”
That shouldn’t be true given that your front leg does all the work, but since he’s doing better than expected, I don’t feel like knocking him down a peg. I’m actually starting to get curious about how much he can pick up in a day.
We get set again, face-to-face with our hands joined in front of us, and shift our weight forward enough that we start to slide down the hill. I call out what side of his body he should turn to, toe side or heel side, and he leans forward or back with me to complete the turn.
“It’s sort of like dancing, except colder.” He grins as we glide down the hill.
My nose wrinkles with disgust. “It’s nothing like dancing.”
“Sure, it is. You’re leading and we’re turning, only on a mountain instead of a dance floor.”
I don’t care if he does sort of have a point, you can’t make that connection. It’s justwrong. “Compare this to dancing again and I’ll let go so you have to get down on your own.”
“Fine. Ice skating then. All that’s missing is you throwing me over your shoulder and spinning in really fast circles.”
I can’t see his eyes under the goggles, but the wry grin says he’s trying to bait me, as if I won’t really leave him to fend for himself. If he wasn’t getting the hang of boarding I wouldn’t, but since he is…
“Heel side.” I give him a final tip and drop his hands, drifting away so he has to do the turn on his own. His arms circle comically in the air as he struggles for balance, but a second later he finds it and leans back on his heels, completing the turn and coming to a full stop.
“You ass, I wasn’t ready,” he huffs as I glide toward him.
“Since you didn’t land on your ass, I’d say you were.”
His mouth snaps shut as he takes stock of his surroundings, a proud smile spreading across his face. I almost smile in return, but I don’t want to give him a reason to be any more cocky. Besides, he’s still got a lot to learn.
“Toe side,” I bark when we get going again. Hayden goes through the motions to make what’s considered the harder turn to learn, but chickens out and shifts his weight to his back leg before he gets all the way around, recovering only when he rocks back on his heels to slow his speed. I’d have been shocked if he nailed that turn on the first try, but I’d be lying if I said part of me hoped he would. Hayden’s a quick learner, and I appreciate his determination. I won’t tell him that, of course. Admitting I have respect for him is a slippery slope that could make him hate me less, and that’s probably not a good idea, especially since I’m kind of enjoying myself right now.
“Don’t say it. I know what I did wrong,” he warns, knowing all too well the joy I’d get out of pointing out his mistake. The joy hethinksI’d get, if I didn’t approve of his effort.
“Need me to help or are you gonna finish yourself?” I come to a stop in front of him, crossing my arms in front of my chest.Okay, I’m taunting him, but only because I think he can actually do it.
Hayden pushes himself up to standing on his own. “I’ve got it.”
It takes the better part of thirty minutes to cover the last quarter of the hill, but by the time we reach the bottom he’s consistently turning to his heel side without help, and he’s nearly completing the toe side turns.I did not see that coming.
Feeling something like pride in my teaching, or maybe guilt since I’m the reason he’ll be sore as hell—despite the padded pants—I offer to carry his board back to the locker room. He worked hard and deserves a break from my attitude. A little one. I almost don’t even mind him rambling about much fun he had as we walk, and feel myself fighting a reluctant smile, up until I come face-to-face with Blake.Shit - I was too distracted by Frosty to notice where I was going.
