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think of it.” Jaxon shrugged, glancing at me for just a moment.
    “I’ve been looking forward to hitting the slopes
myself. Be good to have a buddy.” I felt sick to my stomach. Suddenly I didn’t
even want breakfast anymore, much less the coffee I had in my hands.
    “Eat something nourishing before you go,” my mom
said, grinning at Jaxon and me. “As long as you two are out having fun
together, Bob and I can hang out inside by the fire. Keep your phones on you;
call us if you need anything.” Mom practically danced out of the room, ready to
go screw her new husband’s brains out.
    For a moment, I almost decided not to go. The very
last thing I wanted was to have to spend all day with Jaxon, avoiding talking
to him. I just wanted to practice, to go down the mountain over and over again
until I was so exhausted I couldn’t even think. But of course, that wasn’t an
option. If I wanted to get some time out of the house, I’d have to take his
company. “We are not going to talk about anything,” I told Jaxon firmly. He
shrugged.
    “We’ll just hit the slopes and make sure neither of
us breaks a leg,” he said, holding his hands out in a peace-keeping gesture. “Fine by me. I need practice anyway, before competitions
start up.”
    “Fine.” I reached into the open pantry and got out a container of oatmeal. My stomach
was grumbling and roiling with a mixture of hunger and disappointment and
nausea. I knew I had to eat—but I had the definite feeling that whatever I did
eat was just going to end up painting the slopes later in the day.

 
    CHAPTER
7
    I decided that it wasn’t worth the disappointment of
not getting in my slope time to avoid Jaxon, no matter how uncomfortable it
was. I got my gear after breakfast and met Jaxon at the entry of the mansion.
The place was only a couple of miles away from the trails; Jaxon grabbed my
stuff from me and loaded it onto the back of a snow mobile and we set off for
the mountain. “Have you ever been out this way?” Jaxon asked me. I shrugged.
    “Not really,” I said. I didn’t really want to talk
to him. “Look, let’s just…pretend like the other one isn’t here at all.”
    “How are we going to do that and still look out for
each other?” Jaxon called over his shoulder.
    “We’re not.” Jaxon stopped the snowmobile. He turned
in the seat and looked at me.
    “If you’re not willing to at least let me look out
for you—and look out for me in return—then we’re not going. I’ll turn around
and you can hang out with Dad and your Mom.” I sighed.
    “Okay, fine.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “But
like I said before—this isn’t… we’re not going to talk to each other about
anything.” Jaxon looked at me for a long moment before nodding and starting up
the snowmobile again.
    We made it to the trails and I finally began to
relax. I trekked up to the top of the slope, not even waiting for Jaxon; I
decided privately that I would mostly ignore him, just get through some runs,
have a good time, and get the whole situation out of my head. I took it easy
the first time down the trail, jumping the ramps as low as possible, getting a
feel for the conditions and the features. It wasn’t the same as the practice
track, it was a little slower, but it was satisfying to get out on the snow
again. I started to smile, even after I ate powder over-shooting my stop at the
end of the trail. Behind me, Jaxon laughed.
    “Too eager to show off, aren’t you?” he called out,
skidding around to a stop at the base of the trail. I rolled my eyes.
    “I wasn’t even showing off!” I got back up and got
my feet off the board. “I’m going to do it right this time .”
Jaxon nodded, smiling—the way he had before things had gotten so weird between
us, when we were in practices together. We started going down the trails
together, and I found myself getting more and more into it. It was a relief; it
was so good to get past all of the weirdness, to just go