To be or not to be? (Book #1)

Chapter 12

The first few days of the trip went by pretty quickly, because they skied for 2 days straight. On the 3rd day, only Megan and Mike wanted to go skiing again, so they headed out early in the morning and Madison, Mark, Ashley and Alex stayed in bed until around 11am. Madison woke up first and began cooking breakfast for the four of them. Ashley awoke to the smell of bacon and french toast. She opened her eyes to see Alex looking at her, a small smile on her face. She grimaced at her sore muscles when she tried to stretch. Alex laughed.

"Good morning sunshine." He said with a teasing tone in his voice. Ashley rolled her eyes and threw the covers off, sitting up in bed. She got up and bent over her drawers, finding sweatpants and a sweatshirt to throw on over her tank top and shorts. Her shorts! She straightened up quickly, turning to face Alex with the sweats covering up her booty shorts that she had completely forgotten about, embarrassed that he had no doubt seen half of her butt. He just smirked as she rushed past his bed into the bathroom that connected Madison and Mark's room with theirs. She slammed both of the doors, her cheeks on fire. She quickly jumped into the sweatpants and tamed her unruly hair before putting the sweatshirt on. She took a deep breath and walked back into her room, only to find Alex shirtless, rummaging through his drawers with only a pair of basketball shorts on.

"Don't you get cold at night?" She asked him curiously, inspecting his muscles from a distance as she watched his back.

"I could ask you the same thing." He said smugly, Ashley's cheeks burning again.

"Touche." She said, pretending not to be embarrassed, and walked out of the room to see what Madison was up to.

"Good morning Ash" Madison said happily. Ashley smiled at her friend.

"Need any help?" Ashley asked. Madison shook her head.

"Almost finished. I may need help waking Mark up, but not for a couple minutes." She joked. Ashley laughed and then lowered her voice almost to a whisper.

"Alex just saw me in my booty shorts and a tank top! I totally forgot and I was bent over my drawers for like a full minute, I swear!" Ashley whispered in a panicky voice. Madison laughed at her.

"Your shorts from cheer?" She asked quietly. Ashley nodded, eyes wide. Madison groaned.

"Oh, those are the worst. At least you have a nice ass." She said, laughing even harder. Ashley hit her arm lightly.

"Shut up." She said, but smiled at the comment. She knew she had a nice body. She was 5'3", barely 100 pounds, and incredibly toned from cheer and the gymnastics she did up until last year. She wasn't afraid to show her body off, but she was embarrassed that she had accidentally done it.. To her best friend, no less. Mark then stumbled out of his room, still half asleep, but Ashley was grateful that she didn't have to wake him and see him and Madison get all soppy and cute. Alex walked out shortly after, as well, and they all sat around the table to eat breakfast.

"So who's up for sledding today?" Alex asked, and Ashley groaned, too sore to even think about climbing a hill all day.

"Oh, come on, miss cheerleader. You can handle it." Madison teased. The boys agreed, and Ashley finally gave in. After they finished breakfast, they cleaned up and went back to their rooms to change. Alex grabbed clothes and went into the bathroom to change. Ashley quickly changed into some jeans and then put her snow pants over the jeans and her sweatshirt, sliding her giant boots over her feet, and finally, pulling her jacket, hat, and gloves on. She walked out just as Madison and Mark did. They waited for Alex and soon, all four of them headed outside to go sledding. After about 4 hours, Ashley was freezing, achy, and tired. She wanted to head inside, but her friends forced her to stay for another hour, until they all went inside. Ashley quickly grabbed a towel and bolted to the bathroom, longing for a lengthy, hot shower. After she had finished with her shower, she didn't feel better like she wished. She somehow felt worse. She was cold, aching all over, dizzy, and her throat was on fire. She grabbed her towel, and realized that she hadn't brought a change of clothes with her into the bathroom. She mentally swore at herself, gathered up her wet snow gear and opened to door, hoping that Alex wasn't in the room. To her dismay, he was, and he looked up at her from his phone at once. He half smiled at the towel around her body and got up off the bed.