To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: Are you completely mental?

What has happened to the raring-to-go Lexie McGinty that I left at the airport three months ago? Because she would not be asking me if she should start shagging the sexy Ski Patrol man… she’d just get on and do it, kicking this pathetic little upstart Emily what’s-her-chops to one side?

I bet you a fiver Aaron looks like that Calvin Klein model now that the beard’s gone A.W.O.L.

So, I have one question? What in the hell are you waiting for?

V

Xxx

PS. And don’t tell me about bloody avalanches… are you trying to scare the crap out of me? Probably a good idea not to mention that to your Mum either.

PPS – the dog sounds adorable, BTW. Can you smuggle him back to the UK in your board bag?

I’m about to hit the reply button when I hear someone downstairs, taking to Jenn in a loud voice. There’s the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs, followed by the unmistakable voice of Dan hollering.

‘G’Day!? You decent?’

I jump up from the bed and smile as he strolls into my room, giving me a tight hug. He smells ever so faintly of stale beer and the stubble on his chin tickles my skin. He looks like he hasn’t shaved in a few days.

‘Well, as I live and breath it’s Dan the Man… where the hell have you been hiding for the last few days?’ I ask, letting him go.

‘Oh, you know. The usual places.’ he replies, shrugging off his jacket and flopping down on my bed. ‘It’s been mental at work… what with the avalanche and about a gazillion tourists wanting lessons, I’ve been a busy dude. How’s Azzo doing? I went to see him in the hospital but I must’ve just missed you?’

‘He seems to be fine. I dropped him off at home yesterday but I would imagine he’s crawling up the walls by now with boredom. You should pop in and see him on the way home.’ I suggest.

‘Might just do that. Why don’t you come with?’

That would hardly fit into my new Avoid-Aaron-Irving-At-All-Costs plan, so I decide to get economical with the truth. ‘Oh… I’m pretty settled here actually. I just got a funny email from Evie and I want to write back.’

‘Cool, what’d she say?’

‘Oh, nothing much…. Just telling me about stuff back at home…’ I avoid looking at him as I suddenly spot a stray pair of socks on the floor and pick them up.

‘Yeah, righto…’ He says, giving me a funny look. I can’t put much past Dan, perceptive little bastard that he is. He’s honestly like a male version of Evie. It’s great, but also really annoying that he can already read me like a book.

‘So!’ I exclaim, desperate to avoid any conversation involving sexy ski patrollers. ‘A little bird told me that you’d be hanging out with local rednecks in The Royal… care to elaborate?’

Now it’s his turn to look shifty. He refuses to meet my eyes, fiddling with a stray thread on my quilt. ‘Oh… you know.’ He shrugs. ‘They’ve got some really nice beers in there. It’s not as bad as everyone makes out.’

‘Okay…’ I reply. He’s definitely not telling me the whole story. I wonder what’s going on? Maybe he’s met someone and he’s keeping it private, which is completely fair enough. I sometimes have to remind myself that even though I feel like I’ve known him for years, I haven’t. He gets up from the bed and picks up one of my books absentmindedly. ‘So, the reason I came over is that we’re doing a Pot Luck at our place tonight. You in? Tazzy and Trav are coming.’

‘Absolutely! What should I cook?’

He raises an eyebrow. ‘Wouldn’t be much of a Pot Luck if we all knew what we were bringing, eh?’

I throw Pot Belly Bear at him. ‘Alright, smartarse. What time do you want me?’

‘Come over about six? And bring some booze.’

I spend the next few hours pottering around my room until it gets dark, trying to put Evie’s email to the back of my mind and concentrating on what to cook for the party instead. I love a Pot Luck party - you might get fifteen starters and no main course or pudding, or you might get a brilliant selection of main courses and no starters, or, as is usually the case, it all works out fine and there’s loads of yummy food to eat. I’m not sure if it’s a Canadian thing, per se, but it’s definitely popular in Fraser. I’ve been to a few of them already and they’ve always been brilliant fun. I always end up rolling home like a weeble afterwards, full of good food.

I knock on the boys’ front door, carrying a large casserole dish full of chicken and veggie curry. There’s nothing like a cracking good curry to warm your cockles.That’s another thing that Fraser is missing – a really good Indian restaurant. Tim opens the door with a wide grin and a flourish, taking a look at my offering.

‘If that’s what I think it is, I’m a happy man.’ He smiles, taking the dish from me as I follow him through to the kitchen. ‘It’s so good to see you, mate.’

‘I know! Where’ve you been? You hardly ever come out riding?’

‘It’s called working, Lex.’ He grins, giving me a quick wink. ‘Ever heard of it?’

‘Alright, cheeky!’ I laugh. ‘I’ve been working too, you know!’

‘Okay, Okay… I’m sorry, Ms Best Barista In Fraser. Anyway, I’ve just been playing catch-up with everyone in the front room. Wade and Kendra are here with that Jessie guy. Have you met him?

I nod. ‘…and Tazzy and Trav were telling me all about the conditions being crap so I’m not missing much, apparently. How about that slide, eh? Jim Galbraith told me you met at the hospital?’

‘Yeah, we did. Is Lisa home now?’

‘Apparently. Here, let me take your coat. What do you want to drink?’

I walk through to the living room and spot an empty space on the couch next to Jessie, who looks a wet weekend in Bognor. Kendra and I exchange a quick hug before I sit down with them.

‘Hello, Jessie!’ I smile. ‘How was the park today? Did you go out riding?’

‘Hey….’ He sighs, taking a sip of his beer and barely glancing at me. ‘I guess… it was okay.’

‘Did you hear about the new rainbow rail they’re building? Apparently it’s going to be pretty gnarly. Travis told me it was going up next week. Will you still be here then?’

‘Doubt it… might be heading back to Moosejaw sooner than I thought.’ He mutters.

‘Oh…that’s a shame…’ I say, wondering if I just met him on a good night last week if he’s normally this miserable. Kendra and Wade both shoot me sympathetic looks as I try again. ‘So, did you enjoy Luc’s party at the weekend? I heard it was pretty fun?’

‘It sucked.’ He replies, crushing his empty and throwing it into the nearby wastepaper basket.

‘Oh dear…’ I tail off, suddenly remembering my conversation with Taz on the chairlift. Guess he must still be cut-up over Emily. Kendra comes to my rescue.

‘Hey, Lex. How are you?’ she smiles, coming to join us. Her teeth are almost blinding me. I really need to ask how she gets them looking that bright… it’s almost mesmerising.

‘Hi! Just been asking Jessie about the park.’

‘We were up there today. Wade was showing off on the top kicker. He goes like, super high and I get so freaked when I do a little bunny hop off the baby jump… I’mlike, so lame!’ she giggles.

‘Not at all!’ I smile, giving her arm a comforting squeeze. I really like Kendra. She may not be the brightest of girls, but she has a really good heart and she adores Wade. ‘I tried to do a 180 on the baby kicker the other day and ended up landing on my face in front of a bunch of 12-year-olds who were all a million times better than me. They almost crapped themselves, they were laughing so hard.’

I hear a small snort come from Jessie and a ghost of a smile appears on his face so I carry on. ‘I feel like a groovy Granny in that park… I think I’m the oldest by miles.’

‘Hardly!’ Kendra laughs. ‘You’re hilarious, Lex. You always make me laugh.’

‘Ah, well… that’d be my famous British humour.’

‘At least you’re having a go, right?’ Jessie replies, looking brighter and joining in our conversation again. ‘When I was in California, there was this crazy motherfucker and he just went huge off everything… I mean, the guy was freakin’ nuts…’

I listen as Jessie prattles on about his time at Mammoth, happy to see his mood seems to have improved. He’s completely obsessed with freestyle. He’d have a field day with Joe and Sam if he ever came to Milton Keynes. I remind myself to pass Joe’s email address to him if he ever makes it to Utah.

My Pot Luck theory goes unchallenged. There’s a plethora of amazing food and I eat way too much. It’s nice to hang out with Tim and the other boys, having not seen them much over the last few weeks. Everyone seems to be much happier – and healthier. The mid-season blues seem to have been swept away with the avalanche. Kendra and I laze on the sofa, watching Wade and Jessie play an epic game of ping-pong.

‘Wow, that was a good Pot Luck.’ I sigh, patting my stomach. ‘What’d you bring again?’

‘Perogies. Gotta love’ em!’ Kendra grins. ‘You were real nice to Jessie earlier. Thanks…’ she smiles.

‘No need to thank me… He’s a nice bloke.’ I smile. ‘I hope he stays a bit longer. He’s really into the park, huh?’

‘Like, totally. He really looks up to Wade too. His brother went to college with us but he…well, he died last year in a car accident, so we were really stoked when Jessie decided to come visit. We kinda look after him, y’know?’

‘Wow… poor Jessie. That must’ve been rough.’

‘Yeah. It was totally horrific…’

I get the feeling she doesn’t want to talk about it, so I don’t ask for details. She smiles thinly and changes the subject. ‘Do you want another drink?’

‘Sure, but I’ll get them.’ I reply, hauling myself up. I haven’t seen Dan all night, and much as I could happily imprint myself on his sofa for the rest of the evening, I should mingle. ‘Another soda?’

‘Thanks. I’ll stay here and make sure Jessie doesn’t cheat.’

I walk into the kitchen and my happy mood suddenly disintegrates when I spot Emily standing very close to Aaron, pressing her hand on his arm as if to emphasize what she’s saying. I turn right back around and walk out before they see me. So much for my avoiding Aaron plan. As for Emily... I didn’t even know she’d been invited. I can’t imagine any of the boys asking her to come, so who on earth did?

‘Everything okay?’ Kendra asks, looking a bit puzzled as I sit back down next to her empty handed.

‘Sorry… I just saw Emily in the kitchen and…’

‘She’s here?’ She exclaims, her eyes blazing. She crosses her arms across her chest and leans back against the cushions. ‘I can’t believe it. I’m gonna kick his ass if he invited her.’

‘You mean Jessie?’

‘Who else… he’s, like, totally obsessed with her and she doesn’t give a shit about him… excuse my language. Ever since the party, he’s been in a crappy mood. I hoped he’d got over it, but no…’

‘Oh… don’t worry.’ I sigh, wishing I had a stiff vodka to knock back. ‘She looks like she’s concentrating all her efforts on Aaron right now.’

‘You’re kidding me? Surely he’s not interested?’

‘Looks like he might be.’ I say, my heart trembling inside my chest. ‘Aaron doesn’t know the half of what she’s been up to this season. He just thinks she’s a nice girl…’

‘And he’s a man!’ Kendra adds. ‘God, why are they dumb?’

‘Search me.’ I shrug.

I avoid the kitchen and try to find Dan, walking upstairs and knocking on his bedroom door.

‘Hang on!’ I hear his muffled voice on the other side. I wait a few seconds, kicking my trainer against the skirting board. I can hear voices so he must have someone in his room. I wonder if I should head back down to the party and find Taz and Travis, seeing as I’ve hardly seen them all evening either. I’m just about to walk back down the stairs when Dan’s door opens and Rick walks out.

‘Hi.’ He says, quickly walking past me and practically running down the stairs before slamming the porch door behind him as he leaves in one hell of a hurry. Of all the people I expected to come out of Dan’s room, I would have been less surprised if the Pope had appeared. I barely have time to register what just happened before Dan grabs me by me fleece and pulls me into his room, shutting the door behind us.

‘Was that who I think it was?’ I ask, a little bit dazed as I sit down on his unmade bed.

‘Fuck…. Fuck.’ he mutters, pacing up and down in front of me. I notice he’s not wearing any jeans… just a t-shirt and some boxers… Hold on a minute… surely not?

‘I never meant for you to find out this way...’ he pleads, coming to sit down next to me and trying to take my hand.

‘Hang on…You… and Rick? Since when?’

‘We’ve been seeing each other for a few weeks.’ he sighs. ‘He was dropping hints that he was interested at Wades’ party, but I tried to ignore them. That’s why I was so relieved you weren’t interested, knowing that he was cracking onto me too. I almost told you when we saw him arguing with Emily on the street that day? You remember?’

‘Sure… wow…But, Dan…he’s such a bastard! How can you want to date a bloke like Rick?!’

‘I swear, Lex. He’s really not. He’s… he’s incredible.’

I sit in silence, completely stunned. I take a deep breath and exhale through my nose. ‘Is this why you’ve been drinking in The Royal?’ I say. ‘To avoid us giving you a hard time about seeing him?’

‘I’m really sorry for not telling you... Please don’t hate me!’ he pleads, his face really pale.

‘I don’t know what to say…’ I’m genuinely lost for words. ‘Of course I don’t hate you… I’m just not exactly thrilled at your choice of boyfriend.’

‘I need to tell you something else. And please don’t freak out… I only just found out.’

I fiddle with my watch-strap as my poor brain tries to keep up. This is all way too crazy. And when people say ‘Please don’t freak out’ that’s usually a bad sign.

‘Jesus… what else?’

‘You remember getting drunk at Wades’ party?’

‘Or not…’ I smile ruefully. ‘We both know I hardly remember a thing.’

‘There’s a reason for that…’

‘Yeah, Dan…’ I snort. ‘It’s called beer.’

‘No… it’s called Emily. She was freaking out that Rick really fancied you so she wanted to make sure you didn’t hook up at the party. He just told me all about it. She spiked your drink with that Rohypnol stuff so that you’d pass out.’