Page 12 of Head Over Skis

I catch Mum calling goodbye in the background, then I hang up and slip the phone back into my pocket.

While following the others towards the gate, I can sense Adam lurking right behind me, but I continue staring straight ahead.

‘Are you really going to ignore me for the whole holiday?’

I reply with no words, only a sharp glare in his direction.

‘Okay fine, I deserve the silent treatment. You have every right to be annoyed, and if you’re going to make me work for it, fine. But do you really think you’ll be able to keep this up for a fortnight?’

I scoff at the sarcastic tone of his question, not letting him suspect he may be right. This time I can’t resist responding, if only to knock him down a peg.

‘If you think I’ll be running back to you in a week because you plan on giving me some extra compliments, you’re delusional.’ I spit the words back at him, pushing my way forwards until I’m leading the group.

We’re separated now by the other four, and I need that space because being around him is too confusing. I had wondered whether coming on this holiday with him would be awkward, that our break-up would be the elephant in the room that we’d all try to ignore but would feel lingering there all the time.

But he’s acting like nothing’s happened. He’s acting like it’s every other time, diving into operation grovel, convinced that’s all it’ll take. But this time isn’t like the others. He slept with someone else, and now he’s viewing this trip as some sort of redemption opportunity. Fine, let him try, but if he thinks the outcome is predestined, he’s wrong.

I do plan on spending these two weeks figuring some things out about us, but I’m also not going to let thoughts of him dominate my holiday. The only bed other than my own I’ll be ending up in isn’t his, it’s a massage bed in a spa after a successful day on the slopes.

That is, after I learn how to ski in the first place.

5

‘Spill, what did you find out?’ I ask Meghan, who’s barely closed the door let alone come to sit with the rest of us yet.

David, Tilly, Meghan and I are crammed into one of the bedrooms in the chalet whilst Lucas and Adam are out getting some groceries and booze. This is the one Tilly and I will be sharing, so I’ve already gotten very cosy in my Disney pyjamas, fluffy socks and my hair gathered in a loose low bun.

Wooden beams criss-cross the ceiling, which slopes down nearly to the floor on the right-hand side, leaving room for a little mahogany table, which is currently topped with my sketchbook and Tilly’s sudokus. The whole chalet is a very cute set-up, three double bedrooms branching off from a massive living area with a floor-to-ceiling window that has an unobstructed view of the slopes.

There are doors opening out onto the balcony and I’d be lying if I hadn’t already started imagining the time I could spend sitting out there painting. There’s so much snow it’s like I’ve blinked and woken up in a North Pole wonderland. I’m starting to understand why people become obsessed with annual ski holidays, and I hope for the sake of my bank account I hate skiing otherwise I don’t know what I’ll do.

‘Okay,’ Meghan starts, clasping her hands together and causing the feathered cuffs of her pink pyjama top to flutter.

She’s been eavesdropping on Lucas and Adam over the last few days and is very willing to share her findings. Another reason why I love her – she’s a gossip queen.

‘So I heard from Lucas, who heard from Adam, that the blonde girl from work—’

‘The one that he cheated on me with,’ I clarify.

‘Right,’ she agrees, and I know that’s not technically true, I’m glad no one is hitting me with the ‘you were on a break’ line.

‘Apparently, he didn’t tell her you were his girlfriend. He’d told her things were complicated but you were definitely broken up.’

I grimace.

‘Hold up,’ Tilly says, pressing her fingers against her temples. ‘What about that dinner the next day?’

‘It sounds like he was telling the truth. He swore to Lucas he was only there to tell her it wasn’t happening again and that he knew it was a mistake,’ Meghan says with a shrug.

‘Well, at least that’s something,’ David says, grasping for a positive.

‘Regardless, I’ve said it in the past and I’ll say it again, that boy needs to grow a pair and stop messing you around, Lottie,’ Tilly interjects.

‘Oh come off your high horse, Tills, don’t act like you wouldn’t let him and his pretty face do the same to you. You wanted to bang him in Freshers’ Week, and don’t deny it because you told me so yourself,’ David unashamedly adds.

‘Yeah, but that was before I realised he can be as thoughtless as a bin bag,’ she replies before smiling over at me. ‘No offense, babe.’

‘It’s fine,’ I say, because she’s not wrong about that.