Exploring

I watched my breath create a giant plume of white air in front of me before bringing my cup of hot chocolate to my lips. I winced slightly at the heat before taking a sip. “You come here every year?” I asked, pulling my gaze from the people waddling through the snow below us.

“Yep.” She was so bundled up, I could barely see her face. Thick snowflakes fell around us. The few that managed to sneak through her assortment of heavy clothes quickly melted against her skin. “I love it here. They always have great conditions and they are constantly adding new things to do. Slopes are fun too. Too bad you’re a virgin.” I nearly dumped my hot chocolate over my face. She continued, oblivious to my reaction. “The more difficult slopes have some great scenery, but those are way too difficult for you.”

I glanced over at her. Did she really have to phrase it that way? “So I’m going to be dead weight on this?”

She laughed. “Pretty much. Don’t feel bad though, it’ll be fun watching you make an ass of yourself on the bunny slope.”

“What about your parents?”

“Dad is on my level and you’ll never see Mom out here. Usually it’s Dad and me out on the slopes and Mom lounging around and enjoying the various spa things. Glad you’re here though. She usually drags me through a mandatory mother-daughter spa day. With you here, I’m hoping to avoid it.”

“Here I thought you would love getting pampered.”

“Oh, I love it. Mom always makes it awkward though.” She took a sip of her hot chocolate. “It’s not bad, but I think she feels bad for always traveling. She uses times like this to do the whole ‘mom’ thing. The problem is she tries too hard and it feels ****. I love her anyway though. Your parents seem cool though.”

“The word you are looking for is boring.”

“Aw, I enjoyed dinner with them. I really got that ‘family’ feel. Don’t get me wrong, I love my parents, but it can always seem…” She thought for a moment, trying to find the right word.

“Energetic?”

“That works! Way better than what I was going to use.” She nodded. “Energetic certainly describes them. It can be a bit overwhelming. Sometimes, it's great to just relax with the people you care about and have a few laughs along the way.”

“Well, I suppose you’ll be seeing them a lot more often.” Kaylee looked happy at that, looking at me with raised eyebrows. “If you think I’m going to squeeze into your bed in the future…”

Laughing, she gave me a small hip bump. “Here I was thinking we were going to continue our little Warriors and Wizards game…” The heat in my cheeks had nothing to do with the hot chocolate. Laughing, she backed away. “Come on. We better head back to see about dinner.”