Snowbored

Winter was coming and I, as always, was in charge of planning my buddies and I's annual ski trip. Each year, right after Christmas we go out west somewhere for a week. Last year we went to Aspen, year before that Park City, we even went to Whistler a few years back, and this year I was thinking the Canyon's ski resort, one of our favorites. We had been going on these trips since we were first able to drive and now this year will be our tenth year. My sister, Ashley, who's two years younger than I am, started going on her own trip when she went off to college. Normally her friend was in charge but because she was getting married and had too busy planning her wedding my sister took over.

It was early December when I was at work and my sister signed onto messenger.

SknowAngel1988: Jason?

InCogNeedDo: Hey ash. What's up?

SknowAngel1988: LOOK OUTSIDE!!! IT'S SNOWING!

I was a little shocked, so far this season we only had a few flurries, but as I looked out the window of my

office I saw accumulation.

InCogNeedDo: Nice... can't wait for our trip

SknowAngel1988: Yeah, me too. When are you guys going?

InCogNeedDo: The second week in January, you?

SknowAngel1988: Same. We're staying at the Canyons in Utah this year. You guys?

InCogNeedDo: You're shitting me right?!?! That's where we are at.

SknowAngel1988: I'm sorry, I didn't know . I just got a deal through them so I took it

InCogNeedDo: Same. When do you fly out?

SknowAngel1988: Sunday at like 2pm, or something, on United

InCogNeedDo: Wow, I guess we should probably carpool then

SknowAngel1988: Really!? You're on the same flight?

Just then my long time buddy, and now coworker, Greg walked in, "Hey, Jay, you get that email I sent you?"

"Uh," I said, opening my email, "the one about the site specs for the Davidson project?"

"Yeah, that one, but I was talking about the one I just sent," he said, as he entered into my office.

I hit refresh. "You mean this one? The one about the Burton boards?"

"Yeah," Greg said, all excited as he came around my desk. He looked at my screen, "yeah this is my new snowboard, the one I was telling you about. And check out these new bindings," he paused as he pointed out things on my screen telling me where to click. Just then my cell rang so I scooted back and let Greg navigate my computer while I dealt with my work related call.

A few minutes later I got off the phone. "Are you serious? Ashley is going to be out there the same time as us?" said Greg as I returned to my desk.

"Yeah, I'm not sure what to think about it. It could be fun, or really bad."

"Hey, she brings her friends you'll have no complaints from me," Greg said as he jokingly ran his fingers through his hair.

"One of her friends his getting married you know," I said, smiling.

"Yeah, but it's Jen, and she's marrying Dave, so big deal, he'll be out there too. I wonder if he knows yet?" Dave was our good friend and had met Jen back in high school, which is probably the last time I actually hung out with my sister, well; I mean my group of friends and her group.

"I doubt it. He's so laid back he usually doesn't even know or care where we are staying until we pull up to the resort. And Jen is too busy with the wedding to worry about anything else."

"Hey, speaking of which, you going?" said Greg, now standing in the door way.

"What, the wedding?" I asked, wondering what he was talking about.

"Yeah, I know it's not for a couple months but still, I'm looking forward to it."

"Yeah, of course I'm going. That's another thing, I hope Jen will be able to relax on this trip and not bother Dave and us about it."

"Nah, she'll be fine, she takes vacations to heart, from what Dave tells me; leaves business at home when she gets on the plane," Greg reassured me, "Hey, give my best to Ash for me."

"Will do," just as I went back to my computer all of the sudden Greg jumped back into my door way.

"It almost didn't occur to me, if Ash and her friends are going out there, does that mean Kaitlyn will be there?" Greg asked, genuinely sounding worried.

It had never occurred to me either. Kait was a good friend of Ash, if I had t put a label on it I'd say she was her best friend, which made things awkward as I dated Kait my senior year in high school, but ended on sort of a bad note as I ended up cheating on her at college. Not intentionally, it really did just sort of happen. What's worse is she found out when she came down to visit and I thought I could have both girls, but keeping them secret was the problem. When I took Kaitlyn out to dinner I ran into my other girl, Kate, who was also out to dinner with her other boyfriend... needless to say things ended messy on all accounts. I have to hand it to Kaitlyn, however, we both handled it very civil and we chalked it up to long distance relationships just don't work. Since then I've seen her quite a few times, especially when she was Ashley's apartment roommate down in college and I'd come to visit, and she was perfectly fine. There was a little tension, but still very friendly, nothing too weird.

"Shit, I never thought about," I told Greg, "I doubt it'll be a big deal if she is."

"It might to her, and it also might become a problem if we have to spend any sort of real time together."

"Yeah, maybe I'll run it past Ash and see what's what. But even still, there' going to be ten of us there, we can just sort of stay out of each other's way."

"I guess you're right. Well, I gotta run. Talk to you later man," and Greg was gone for good this time.

I returned to my IM chat with Ashley to clear things up about Kaitlyn.

InCogNeedDo: Hey Ash, is Kait going to be on this trip?

SknowAngel1988: Yeah. Which reminds me, you two need to grow up.

InCogNeedDo: What do you mean? I still feel terrible about what I did. In fact, I kinda wish it never happened

SknowAngel1988: You and everyone else...

InCogNeedDo: What do you mean?

SknowAngel1988: nothing... What did you mean?

InCogNeedDo: I meant I still miss her from time to time.

SknowAngel1988: Oh really? I was referring to all the drama that surrounded it. But you two should talk about it when we're out there. She mentioned you the other day too

InCogNeedDo: hmm

SknowAngel1988: hmm? What's that suppose to mean?

InCogNeedDo: nothing. I got to get some work done. I'll talk to you later

SknowAngel1988: wait. Before you go, what rows on the airplane are you guys sitting?

InCogNeedDo: I believe we have all 5 seats in row 16

SknowAngel1988: wow... We have the entire row in row 19, I think. Let me check.

Its close I thought, but not close enough to matter. Maybe have a quick chat on the way to the bathroom or something, but nothing more...

SknowAngel1988: huh, looks like I was wrong. We have row 17. Fun fun fun!!!

Fuck. This trip might end up being a disaster, or just ok. No chance of it being remotely good.

InCogNeedDo: Wow, it's like we booked this trip together or something, lol. I gotta get going, ttyl.

That was the last I spoke to my sister until a day before the trip. The day before we left I got all my gear together. I always brought the most because of the fact we made our own ski videos while out there and I owned all the gear and that I also skied and boarded so I had double in boots, boards and skis, and poles and stuff. I'd finally gotten all my gear together and just started packing when Ashley called. We set up when our vans were picking us up and when she and all her friends should meet at my house.

Finally the day had come for our big trip. As was our tradition, my buddies all came over the night before and stayed over as we stayed up watching ski vids, both our own and professional, and drinking. There was of course me, Greg, and Dave, and then there was Justin and Robert. The next morning we all got up and got ready and awaited for the girls to show up. They showed up in two cars, first my sis, Ash, Jamie and Jen, and shortly after came Kaitlyn and Stefanie. We all helped them unload all their many bags only for moments later to have to load them up into the two large Ford Econoline vans. We kept it simple, guys in one, girls in the other, no need for drama before the flight.

Everything was going great so far. We had a nice flight, though a couple of times the stewardess told us to keep things a little more quiet, as if we were a bunch of school children. Other than that everything was great. The Canyons was kind enough to pick up most of our luggage and bring it to the resort but each group had rented a big ass Expedition so we drove up to the mountains and to the hotel, which is when things turned from crazy coincidence to cosmic joke. My sis and I were both checking in at the same time and we had both rented giant two bedroom condos with plenty of pull out beds; truth is we all could have probably shared the one suite but whatever. I was given my room first, room 321, and then Ash got 322. Not too bad, right across the hall. Well, I was wrong, again. We get up to the room and it turns out they are at the end of the hall, and not across from each other, but rather next to each other. Not only next to each other, but they were adjoining rooms with a door that connect the two, creating a huge four bedroom, two living area, two kitchen, mega suite. By the time we got settled in it was already a little past 5pm, Mountain Time, so we decided to relax a little before heading out. The guys were keeping to our side, the girl to theirs, and the dividing door so far remained closed and locked.

Then the headaches kicked in. About a quarter after 6pm, we get a knock on our dividing door. Already a few beers in me I stumble over and answer it. Standing there is Kaitlyn, looking as beautiful as ever dressed rather fancy. She told me to get the guys ready for dinner.

"What are you talking about, dinner? We're not going to dinner; we still got like a few hours before we hit up the bars in Park City." I stammered.

"Well, Ashley says we have dinner plan," Kait said sternly.

Ash hollered from within the room and I could see that all the girls were in various stages of getting ready, "Come on Jay, we're going to dinner."

"Ok, have fun with that." I said, words slurring. I was talking drunker than I was, must have been from the high elevation and thin air, always get a little drunker faster and easier up here.

Ash came over and took Kait's place at the door, "Come on Jason, I made reservations," she said in a pouty way with puppy dog eyes looking up at me. "Besides," she continued, "this way we can plan our trails for tomorrow."

"Ok, we'll go, but we don't 'plan' anything, especially without actually seeing which runs are doing what. That and we might be doing some off trail stuff, not sure yet, probably not though, not on the first day."

"Thank you Jay, now go, get ready," she said with a smile. I stepped back from the door and back to the guys.

"Ok, so here's the deal, we're going out."

"No shit we are," said Robert, throwing an empty beer can at me, "but the bars aren't even busy yet."

"No, I mean really going out; we're going to dinner with the girls."

"What the fuck, dude? This is the kind of thing you said exactly wouldn't happen," said Justin.

"Listen, I'm sorry but what can I say, it's just one dinner, and then afterwards we can hit up the bars," I said, trying to make some sort of compromise.

"Uh, I hate to be the one to mention this, but we didn't pack any nice clothes or anything, at least I didn't," said Greg, and everyone else agreed.

I went back over to the girl's side. I knocked lightly on the door and was invited in to their room. All the girls were almost done getting ready. They were wearing nice tops and blue jeans. "Hey, Ashley?" she was in the bathroom finishing her makeup and she summoned me in.

She was bending over to get a better look at her eyes in the mirror as she put on eyeliner, which caused her blouse to ride up and I saw the top of a thong riding up above her jeans, which at first grossed me out because this was my sister. Then I thought about it and I realized that the only way she'd wear something like that, especially on a ski trip, was if she planned on getting some action. Which again grossed me out. Even worse was the fact she would just be a room over having sex with some random dude... or worse, one of my friends. I tried to push the thought out of my head.

"Hey Jay, what's up?" said Ash without even looking over at me.

"umm..." I paused, trying to regain my thoughts, "yeah, none of us have nice clothes."

"Oh that's fine. It's a nice restaurant but even the restaurant people said it's no big deal, that jeans a t-shirts are fine, after all, it is a ski resort," Ash said with a cute little laugh... Wait, 'cute'?! Fuck, seeing a panty line, even if it is my sisters, does weird things to a guy.

"Cool," I said and left the room as fast as I could.

"What are you running from," said Jen, laughing.

"Nothing," I said, never missing a beat, "just got to get ready real quick."

I got back to my room and told my buddies just to comb their hair and put some deodorant on; that what we were wearing was fine. No more than 2 minutes later all 10 of us were on our way to the hotel lobby to the restaurant.

After a very cramped elevator ride we were all sitting down together for a dinner. We were at a large round table, that wasn't as cramped as I initially thought it was going to be when they showed us our table. We sat all the guys together and all the girls on the other side, as Jen and Dave sat next to each other, and I was on the other end of the guys as, "luck" would have it, Kaitlyn sat next to me.

I don't know if Kaitlyn felt it, but I felt tension so when the waitress came around to get our drinks we all ordered beers and I decided to order a round of tequila shots to mainly take the edge off and make the night run smoother and be more fun, but what I told everyone was "to celebrate our trip together". As the night went on appetizers came, and went, another round of beers, then soups and salads, some more beer, then the main course, and some more beer. Eventually we were all sitting around talking pretty freely, and loudly, as a result from the beer, when Kaitlyn leaned over and whispered something to me that shocked me.

"I miss you," she said. But when I turned to look at her she was laughing at the joke Greg had just been telling. At first I thought I had been hearing things but then she put her hand on my lap and then moved it to grab my hand at my thigh. And we sat there for a moment hand and hand at dinner with our friends, as though we were a couple again. It was too weird so I pulled away from her. But then I felt guilty and stood up and made a toast... Why a toast, I have no clue, clearly I was drunk and just trying to pass off that the reason I pulled away from Kait was because I was going to do this toast... Either way I stood up and toasted Jen and Dave, Ash for putting this together, and then I suggested we all get a dessert or something. So we did. We got four or five different things and we all shared, as well as a round of Irish coffee. It was at that time I knew the girls were all having a hard time with the booze and the thin air, and the guys weren't too much better, so I called for the check, which I discreetly paid and nobody noticed, which was fine, my plan. We all made good money and were pretty well off and the last thing I wanted was for money to ruin what had so far been a really good night.

As we left the table the girls said they wanted to look at some of the shops in resorts outdoor shop area, and the guys decided to tag along and just sit outside while the girls shopped. While we were walking over to the shops everybody was laughing and having a good time except Kait, who was sort of walking off to the side and had dropped back a little. We got to the shops and the guys took their places on the benches outside and were talking about some new boarding videos and stuff. I looked over and noticed when the girls move to the next store Kait didn't go in so I got up and went to talk to her.

"Everything alright, Kait?"

"I'm sorry about what I said at dinner," she said, looking at the ground.

"It's alright. How you doing though, you feeling fine?" I could tell something wasn't right. She didn't respond. "You had too much to drink?" I asked, lowering my voice, not wanting to embarrass her.

"No," she said just above a whisper, "I just don't feel good, like a stomach ache, and then being drunk isn't helping."

I suggested that getting some air, and take a quick walk would help. So we started over to the rental shack, in the dark cold night.

We were just walking in quiet, when she said, "you ever think about us?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, us, how we were?"

I laughed, not at her, but more like when someone catches you red handed and the only thing you can do is laugh, "well, to be honest, I do. Especially as of late. I think about how we were, how I messed up, where we might be if we were still together, and to be honest I miss you too, sometimes."

We stopped walking, "really?" I nodded. "That means a lot, because I think that's part of why I haven't been feeling good. I mean, I still have feelings for you and then we go on this trip, and sit next to each other at dinner. I was just nervous and worried that here I feel this was and you didn't care at all about me..."

I stopped her, "I'll always care for you. Maybe not the same way as when we were going out, but still."

"Thank you so much, I know what you mean and I agree," she said, hugging me.

We headed back over to the shops, "So, you want to go to the bars with us tonight?"

She replied, "I don't think so, I think I should just go back and rest up for tomorrow."

When we got back the girls were just coming out of the last shop, each had a bag of something they just bought when Greg stood up and said, "Well, ladies, on to the bars?"

They all agreed, but said they had to stop off at the room to drop off their bags.

"I'll take them up, I'm not feeling good," said Kaitlyn.

"You sure?" inquired Ashley.

"Yeah, its fine. Maybe I'll catch up with you guys later."

"Sounds cool, let's go Jason, the bars await us, man," said Greg, waving me on.

"Uh, actually guys I'm going to walk Kait back and help her with the bags," I said, expecting to get shit for it but surprisingly I didn't and they just said they'd see us later.

Kaitlyn and I walked back to room, recounting some of the events of the evening as we walked. When we got to the room I put on a fire and we sat down on opposite chairs. We were sitting in silence, with the only light in the room from the fireplace. I was slumped in the chair, lounging as Kait was curled up. She looked cold so I got up, she asked where I was going, but I just grabbed a blanket off my bed and came back. I wrapped it around her.

"Thank you, Jay," she said as I returned to my chair. "You know, you didn't have to do this."

"Of course I did, you were cold and shivering," I said with a smile.

"No, not that, I mean you didn't have to come back with me."

"Nonsense, no reason you should be alone when the rest of us go have fun without you."

"But now you don't get to have fun," she said with a frown.

What I said in return just sort of came out without really thinking, "But I enjoy spending time with you."

"Aw, that's so sweet of you," Kait said with a smile that was brighter than the fire. "Come over here and get warm under your blanket with me."

"Nah, that's ok, I'm fine. Besides, there's not enough room on that chair."

She scooted down to the floor in front of the fire, "come on, I met you half way, and now there's tons of space. Besides, it's cold down here alone."I gave in and we sat together with the coffee table as our backrest. We began to talk about our relationship again and then scooted in closer and put her head on my shoulder as my eye lids began to feel heavy.