Page 53 of Head Over Skis

17

‘What the FUCK?’

It sounded like Adam was coming in to apologise to me again, his voice sounding genuinely remorseful, but any hint of that is gone as he shouts across the room. I’m still wrapping my head around what’s going on when suddenly more voices start chiming in.

‘What’s going on?’

‘Lottie can you— oh my god!’

‘Wait, is it what I think it is, woohoo, about fucking time!’

Realising all of my friends are stumbling upon the scene is the cue I need to finally move, and I scramble to reach for the duvet then throw it over myself, which only serves to trap Rory under there too. But not for long.

In the space of a second Adam’s stormed into the room and grabbed Rory by the shoulders, only his attempt to haul him up is useless given that Rory’s clearly the stronger of the two. Instead, he resorts to pushing against Rory’s chest, barely nudging him, but it’s the flare of his nostrils and the white-knuckled clenching of his fists that has me worried.

‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing?’ he spits, and I quickly reach down the side of the bed to grab a pair of pyjama shorts and start wiggling into them under the covers.

‘I think you could see exactly what I was doing, and I’m not thrilled at having been interrupted.’ Rory smirks, drawing to his full height, arms crossed in front of his chest and I could almost laugh if I wasn’t still mortified.

Adam doesn’t like that one bit, his face turning red hot as he takes another step closer to Rory, sizing him up. ‘Do you know who I am? Who I am to her?’

Rory chuffs, head nodding like it’s obvious. ‘Yeah, buddy, I know who you are. And I think you mean what you were to her. It’s clear what you are now is a pain in the arse, so if you don’t mind me asking, fuck off.’

Oh no, I think, as Adam gets more riled up, like a wound-up spring that’s about to be let loose and cause utter chaos. I’ve managed to cover myself, so I jump out of the bed ready to position myself between them, but I’m too late.

Adam launches himself at Rory with enough force to make him stumble but not fall. He rights himself quickly, fast enough to duck and avoid Adam’s swinging fist, and I hear gasps from the doorway where all my friends are still looking on. Their collective heads all peeking into the room.

‘Are you guys planning on helping, or just enjoying the show?’ I ask, throwing my hands in the direction of Rory and Adam as Rory dodges another swing.

The force of it leaves Adam dizzily falling against the wall and nearly punching a hole through that instead.

‘I’m happy watching,’ Tilly says.

The others all nod their heads in agreement, and I groan. They are going to be no help at all.

I inch closer, trying to stay out of the way of Adam’s flailing arms as he moves in a frenzy.

‘How about we all calm down and…’

Adam whirls around to where I’m standing by the bed and I instantly back away.

‘Oh, so now you’re trying to be the peacemaker when the whole reason this is happening is because you’re whoring yourself around!’ he spits back at me, and I’m stunned.

I hear Rory sigh, glancing over at me as he rolls the muscles in his neck and clicks his knuckles.

‘Sorry, but now he’s left me no choice,’ he says.

Then he throws a perfectly timed punch that lands squarely on Adam’s jaw.

His head whips to the side, but before he has time to come back to his senses, Rory’s charged at him, arms wrapped around his middle and they start barrelling towards the doorway. The floating heads of my other friends scatter, jumping away like cartoon characters. I join them and we all chase after the action as Rory keeps pushing Adam backwards.

I keep thinking they’ll stop, but if anything they get faster until they’re suddenly dangerously close to the front door. Rory groans as Adam jams his knee up into his stomach, finally managing to wriggle free, but instead of separating he uses his freedom as a run-up to push Rory out of the doorway. Rory grabs him though at the last second, and together they tumble out of the front door and into the thick snow that surrounds the chalet.

I don’t know what to do as they continue to brawl, Adam shouting expletives I can’t make out whilst Rory continues to dodge any strikes.

I turn to find the others gathered behind me again, Tilly with her phone out, videoing. I move so I’m standing right in front of the camera with my arms folded.

‘Okay, can we agree we’ve all had our fun now and can someone please help me end this craziness?’