Hold Me Close

Chapter Thirty Five: Ski Trip Part II

-=Alex=-

Ding! The elevator chimed, and the two heavy metal doors in front of us parted to let us pass. We had rented all of the gear we would need and also gotten our lift tickets, so this morning we left the main building and I clipped on my snowboard while Evan put on his skis.

"Ah it's been too long." Evan happily sighed, his black furry face glistening under the morning sun. We patiently waited in the small line gathered at he base of the lift until it was our turn and then we got on, swinging the rail down on top of us as we were lifted up the mountain like an angel soaring. The lift was probably five minutes long, which was perfectly fine by me because it gave me time to look out at the view under us. It was amazing, I do have to say. Snow covered the tree tops, snow packed into the ground, snow falling from the sky, pretty much snow all over the fucking place. But I loved it. Every second. I was built for winter, Evan on the other hand, was not. He tried to hide it as best as he could, but I could see that he was subtely shivering. Taking this as my cue, I reached over and pulled him over to my side, embracing him as we slowly made it up the mountain.

When we finally summitted to the peak and had hopped off of the lift, we just picked a trail and headed for it, not bothering to look at the difficulty. Which was probably a mistake. It takes a little bit of time to warm up, and we were both most certainly not warmed up. Luckily we pulled through the steep and icy trail, hitting the bottom at a very unstabe, barely controlled break-neck speed and right over into the next lift's line.

"That was so much fun!" Evan yipped, holding out his lift pass for the employee checking them to let people on.

"You're telling me. I almost did wipe out one or two times, but still, super fun." I replied, also flashing the pass attached to my jacket to the employee. We did a few more runs before deciding to take a break and stop at the mountain lodge at the bottom. We got two bowls of chili and mugs of hot chocolate, sat at a wooden table, and ate lunch.

"I fucking love chili." I said, pushing my empty tray and bowl off to the side and leaning back in my chair.

"Same here." Evan agreed, also finishing up.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

-=Evan=-

Later that afternoon, on another run down the mountain, Alex and I were whipping through the trees alongside the trail. Nothing is more rnjoyable than the intense rush of adrenaline you experience when you happen to be going the speed of a car on the highway...on ice...on two sticks...weaving in between tall standing sentries of death, also known as huge fucking pine trees in my way. I mean, I was wearing a helmet adter all, what could possibly go wrong? Almost instantly after the thought had crossed my mind it was answered. Not by me, I had just recently crossed back onto the icy trail, but by Alex. A loud crack-like sound came from my right. Instinctively, I made a hard 90 degree turn sideways as to stop myself, looking up the mountain a little bit to see Alex sprawled out on the ground face-first, halfway on the trail again and halfway pressed up against a tree.

"Fuck!" He yelled out, yelping in agony as he tried to push himself back up again. Wait a sec, arms aren't supposed to be bent that way, are they? I thought, noticing his arm bent at an odd angle as I rushed back up the mountain, which believe me, is a lot harder than trying to get down it. When I reached him, still on the ground I imediately started examining him.

"Jesus Christ Alex, what the hell happened?!" I asked worridly, gingerly tracing my paw pad across his funky-looking arm.

"I have no idea! One second I had a clear-cut path back onto the trail and the next a tree just popped up and right in front of my face out of nowhere." Alex groaned, softly clutching his arm.

"Well shit Alex. You can't ride back down, nor can I carry you so there's only one other option." I said, reaching into my coat pocket.

"Ah ski patrol." Alex sighed, teeth gritted from the hurt he was experiencing at the time. I nodded my head, calling the standard ski patrol number, and lucky for me, well us I should say is that they picked right up and answered. When I explained our situation to them, the instructed us to stay off to the side of the trail and that a ranger would be heading down to pick Alex up any minute now.

"And?" Alex asked, rocking slowly to try and distract him from his arm.

"They said that they will be here very soon, just hold on." I said, sitting down on the ground next to him and rubbing citcles into his back. No shit maybe twenty seconds later a snowmobile roared down the mountain from above. Only the headlights were visable until it was right upon us, a ranger in a bright red jacket with a big white cross embroidered into it.

"Jeez man that looks painful. Can you stand?" The ranger (a wolf) asked Alex.

"I think so, but I can't ride down." Alex replied.

"Oh no no no, you're done riding for a while by the looks of it, I just need you to stand for a second so you can get into the sled." He explained, gesturing with his thumb over his shoulder to a sled attached to the snowmobile which was also bright red and had a couple of straps on it.

"Alright, time to go." The ranger said, revving the snowmobile as Alex clipped into the sked with my help.

"Wait. What about you Evan?" Alex asked, realizing that he was in fact in a one person sled.

"I'm skiing down...?" I questioned.

"I don't want to leave you here all alone." Alex whimpered.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Now go." I said, ushering them on and the snowmobile left, carrying Alex and his board off with it. Alone, I manuvered my way down the rest of the trail and to the ski patrol lodge, staying on the cut path and avoiding the trees. Truly no one to help me out if I fall now.