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"So, what do you think", she inquires, trying to hide the eagerness in her voice.

"Sure, why not".

That has her dancing in circles and singing with joy after hugging and squeezing the life out of me. She must have chosen me as her last conquest.

"So, who all are going?" the question was redundant. I'm convinced that the entire valley below the age of thirty was invited.

"Just a couple of us, really. Umm, the Stevens, Joshua and Bennet, your cousin Reid and Prudence, Derek and Jack Monroe, and the Bridges of course."

"Of course. Wonderful! Just a couple of us, huh?”

She wiggles her left eyebrow like a bandit.

"It'll be a nice change, you'll see. Oh Nick, I so wanted to spend some time alone, just us friends. Pre-med is nothing but hectic, and opportunities like these are seldom, it makes our time together more precious."

I give her shoulders a light squeeze and she takes my arm companionably as we walk and discuss her plans. Well technically, she

discusses it. I nod appropriately.

"Are you going to ask her", she suddenly murmurs, letting go of my arm to face me. I don't pretend to not understand, but I do try to evade.

“Won’t it count as bad manners if I don’t?”

"Honestly, manners are overrated, I'm not much of a fan of them myself", she deadpans, making me uncomfortable with this blatant dislike of Beth. She may have been my undoing, but that was
my
cross to bear. No one should be allowed to hate her on my behalf.

"Drew", I admonish quietly and she sighs in resignation.

"Fine, fine! You ask. And what was it this morning? Two weeks in the Valley, and she's raising hell. A notable trouble maker, our Beth."

"I'm sure you witnessed the drama, there's no point dissecting it", I reply, then immediately soften the unintended blow with an affectionate squeeze of her hands and a tickle on the arms. She dances away, laughing merrily as I make my way towards Beth.

"So Beth", she begins and clears her throat, as Beth's gaze alternates between our faces and our hands which were still clasped together. "You should come too. Change of pace, you know. I..uhh.. I should leave Nicholas to it”, she finishes before running away to talk to Kate.

"Do you want to come?" I ask, wishing for her to say yes, fully aware that she'd say no. It was written in her eyes.

Before she could voice her answer and squish my hope, I do something guaranteed to steer her to the complete opposite of her current answer.

“But maybe you should stay here and enjoy
Taylor’s
company. I heard him declare, quite ardently too, that he’d be willing to join us
only
if you did. Besides, what would you do in St Ann's I wonder? All those people and outings, and activities you're quite clumsy at. The last time you attempted ice-skating, we had to rush you to the ER with a sprained ankle and bruised ribs. Here, you can enjoy quiet evenings with mom and late night movies with Taylor". The last one was laying it a bit too thick. Hell could freeze over before I'd let her step a foot outside with that asswipe.

"You want me to come, don't you"? she questions, jumping straight to the heart of the matter. For everything I knew about her, she knew twice as much about me.

I could have denied it, could have laughed it off. In fact, I was about to do just that but something in her voice catches my attention. I look at her carefully, taking in her rigid posture, as if she were poised for the lie and the inevitable rejection that'll come with it. But her eyes were pleading for the truth. She wanted me to say that I wanted her there, wanted me to admit that her presence meant something to me.

While my mind doesn't want to give her that kind of leverage, my heart refuses to hurt her anymore.

"Sure you should come. Like Drew said, it'll be a nice___"

"Please, Nicholas", she interrupts in that strained voice of hers.

"Come, okay? Come", I whisper plead with her.

"I'll have to think about it", she deliberately baits me, making a show of pondering over it. That tease! I spoil it by knocking my knuckles on her forehead, getting her to say yes with a grin. She knocks me back for messing with her earlier. And that's when I note her coatless attire.

“Honest to God, Beth! What do you think you are, winter proof?”, I scowl, letting the displeasure seep onto my face. She really is a careless piece of goods, exquisite though she is. And I'm an ass for thinking along those lines.

I quickly remove my jacket and drape it on her.

"What", I croak annoyingly, as she stands transfixed, her eyes riveted on the jacket as if I was handing over a mini dragon.

I looked at the jacket again, checking for dragon eggs.

In the history of risk taking, had there ever been a better reason to take a chance than genuine, heart-pounding, scary-ass love?”

- Nicki Elson, Vibrizzio

In the history of risk taking, had there ever been a better reason to take a chance than genuine, heart-pounding, scary-ass love?”

- Nicki Elson, Vibrizzio

10. The vacation

It takes us four and a half hours to cover a hundred-mile distance, so dense is the traffic, so miserable the weather. We had decided to take four cars, and since my Cherokee had been standing idly for quite some time, I decide to give it a little exercise. The seating arrangements are a bit of a chaos though, and after watching Taylor use ‘the lack of space' as an excuse to lean towards Beth every other second for the first leg of the journey, I cut off the engine and ask Beth to exchange seats with Reid and come sit in the front, to give Taylor more ‘legroom'. She complies readily, almost tripping in her effort to get away from him while I enjoy the chance to watch his face burn with bitterness. After readjusting my rearview mirror, I take off once again, whistling Broadway tunes on the way.

Thanks to the heavy traffic en route, we make several stops and I get to relieve my bladder at regular intervals. So that's one, off the table.

Luggage takes a long time to unload since we're practically a circus, and the Bridges aka Barbie sisters seem to have packed a mini mall in their bags. Joanna and Heather Bridge bear a freakish resemblance to the toy doll, and rarely miss an opportunity to dress up. In their defense though, they're cordial enough, albeit, a little loose in the head.

"Hello, good morning sir. How may I be of assistance? ", chirps the receptionist, with a professional, state of the art smile, in direct contrast with her semi red eyes and runny red nose.

“Yeah, we have a reservation in the name of Drew, Ms. Hamilton?”

"Let me check that for you sir", she replies with considerably less enthusiasm, eyeing the rest of us.

Brooding about the paperwork, no doubt.

After a few seconds of fiddling with her comp, she looks up, fake smile back in place, and hands us the keys for seven rooms. Wait…. seven rooms?

"I thought you made reservations for eight rooms? six twins, one suite, and a single?"

"Sir, Ms. Hamilton made reservations for seven rooms, seven weeks ago. We simply cannot arrange for a single at such a short notice, this time of the year. I had personally explained it all to Ms. Hamilton when she called yesterday, requesting for an extra room", she drones on like a droid, phony smile in place as she wipes her twitching nose daintily, which is now threatening to spill.

"No problem", Drew speaks, collecting the keys from the desk. I try to intercept her but she shushes me with a ‘we'll talk later' smile before taking a pen from the fancy pen basket and filling up the requisite forms.

The Snow View, all one hundred and sixty acres and seven storeys of it, are three colossal buildings spread out equally and interconnected with a giant conduit, each boasting an indeterminable number of rooms, 16 diners, 5 bars, 3 pubs, two set of lakes, both artificial; one kept frozen all year to serve as a private skating ground and the other as a hot water pool which opens into the doors of all royal suites on the ground floor. Another, comes equipped with its own water rides and is open to the other guests, or so they advertise in the pamphlets in our hands, courtesy of the efficient staff. It's no surprise that The Snow View is fully packed. It also hosted a no of shops, including a veritable Rolex showroom. This I know from my last visit.

“So, Beth, ready for some roller blades”? rambles an overly enthusiastic Taylor in the lobby, and I want to punch him right then and there.

"I think I'm hungry", she blurts, before making a mad dash for the nearest café.

Hmm. Pies Pretzels and More. Sounds delish.

"I think we'll eat first", I decide for all of them before following after her.

“But Nick…”, he begins in that whiny whine of his and I hold up my hand to interrupt the nincompoop.

"Look Taylor, I drove a hundred miles in this weather, cramped up in my winter wear and freezing my nose, with you sitting your ass in the backseat moaning about traffic, the weather, the lack of space and my driving skills in general. I'm tired and I'm hungry, and I'm not interested in fishtailing my ass on the snow when it needs to be thawed", I snap, giving my temper a free, long deserved outlet.

"No one's stopping
you
, though. There are plenty of others to keep you company on the skating arena, so you go right ahead", I conclude and make my way towards the cafe without a backward glance.

From afar, Kate watches the entire exchange with a smirk and sends me a thumbs up sign before walking inside ‘Pies and Pretzels'.

“So we have six rooms.”

I was on my second pie, a very yummy looking, mouth-watering apple pie with my name on it, when Kate begins with the unappetizing conversation.

"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry Beth. I'd made hotel reservations last month back when I didn't know… Anyways, I phoned them yesterday but they just don't have an extra room, double
or
single, available before Christmas", Drew explains to Beth, throwing in an apologetic glance.

"It's perfectly alright, I completely understand. It's the holiday season after all", smiles Beth, absently licking off the pie crumbs from her fingers. Now that's one thing I'd like to do. Lick and lick those pie crumbs from her fingers all day. And speaking of pies…

“It’ll be fine. We’ll adjust her in one of the rooms”, this from Joanna who sat at the far end, daintily and delicately chewing on her chocolate pretzel.

"But which room Jo? We could adjust her in our room, but you flail
like
a bat while sleeping. You'll end up kicking her boo.." contributes Heather, much to my amusement and her sister's very obvious discomfort.

"Shut up! Of course, she cannot sleep on the same bed. Perhaps, they'll provide us with extra bedding?"- Joanna offers generously.

"Fine. But make sure it's nowhere near your end of the bed. You may accidentally fall on her, you know"- chirps Heather, oblivious to the dark glares being sent her way. She opens her mouth again, perhaps to relate some other vital piece of information, when Joanna begins to choke on her thoroughly chewed on pretzel, while I stifle a grin and concentrate on mine.

"I'm sure she can stay with me in my room"- this from Prudence Hathaway, a sweetheart girl and my favorite cousin from my mother's side, who was sharing a room with Jack Monroe, more formally known as Jacqueline.

"But babe, won't it be uncomfortable with her during…. you know…. our late night discussions"-from Derek Monroe, which promptly elicits a wolf howl from Reid, Prudence' brother, while the rest of us watch Derek's Adam's apple bob in fascination, pies forgotten. Priceless.

I take a chance and steal a secretive glance at Beth. Again. She ends up peaking at me at the same time and our gazes collide. Again. We quickly avert our gazes. Again.

"Or she could stay with us", grins Ryder and promptly cringes in pain after receiving a well-deserved kick to the shins from the opposite end, where Kate sits innocently, devouring her pie.

Yeah. No way in hell.

Just as I am about to open my mouth and put an end to all speculations by informing them about the extra beddings that would go in my room, now that I knew about Derek's late night plans, and Reid was willing to partner up with Josh and Bennet, she ,in that calm quietly musical voice of hers I'd come to love-hate, begins a fresh set of arguments by stating "I think it's best if I stay in Grandma Nettie's cottage, under the circumstances".