Blessed (12 page)

As the hot water teased the stress out of her knotted muscles she envisioned all of her issues being carried down the drain along with the soap suds. As her head began to clear, she started to feel her old attitude rise to the surface. A decent outlook for the day bloomed inside of her. By the time that she stepped out of the shower and toweled off, she had decided to call Piper up and ask her to go snowboarding. Dinner afterwards was beginning to look probable as she got dressed.

She placed a quick call to Piper’s cell phone to set her plan in motion and came out of her room into the silence that had become all too familiar since New Years. She made a quick pass through the house and her heart fell a little bit when she realized that her parents had left without saying goodbye.

It was one of the few times in her life that her parents had gone on vacation without her and it was the one and only time they had ever left for longer than nine hours without saying goodbye. She told herself that she was plenty old enough for them to go out of town without her. She also assured herself that they had just left with more important things on their minds. After shaking off the unwelcome feeling of abandonment, she grabbed her purse and a jacket, chained the dog up in the back yard and headed out to meet her best friend.

The excitement of hitting the slopes soon replaced the gloom that had crept inside of her. There was nothing quite like getting a good point on her board and letting gravity do the rest.

She picked Piper up in front of the old house that her sorority leased and headed for the freeway. A quick drive south on Interstate 15 and twenty minutes up Fort Union Boulevard into Big Cottonwood Canyon, she was parking her car in the parking lot of Brighton Ski Resort.

Both of them had season passes, so they bypassed the long line where people stood buying lift tickets. They had decided to start big and work their way down during the drive. Mt. Millicent was the first run on their list.

While riding the lift up to the 10,452 foot peak, Ardra shared the story of her parents leaving without saying goodbye to her. It was all she could do to refrain from chewing her fingernails off through her gloves.

“Really?” her best friend asked before following the rhetorical question with, “They’ve never done that before! Heck! I usually get a goodbye out of them any time they’ve gone anywhere without you! I can see why you had your back up about it.”

“Yeah, but I really was over reacting, right? I mean, I’m an adult after all. If it wasn’t for school, I’d probably be out of the house and married by now. Then it wouldn’t even cross my mind if they left town without calling. I don’t know that saying goodbye to my twenty-one year old daughter would be very high on my list of things to do if I were leaving town under these circumstances either.”

“Yeah, I guess that would be a little low on my list, too. But hey! At least you have me!”

Piper put an arm around Ardra’s shoulders as they continued the ride up the steep slope in silence. Ardra stared down at the board dangling from her left foot and smiled when she saw the erratic movements of the board strapped to her best friend’s left foot.

As kids, they had both been terrified of the ski lifts. Ardra would nearly chew her fingers to nubs by the time they made it to the top of a run and Piper was always swinging her board around nervously, which usually ended up in a twisted ankle before the day had even really started.

Now she found the feeling of being up in the air with nothing to catch her if she fell to be exhilarating. She enjoyed the rush and the slow buildup to the moment they would get their boards back in the snow and plummet back down the slope at breakneck speeds.

Snowboarding was the only form of entertainment during the winter months in Utah as far as she was concerned. Luckily for her; the snowboarding season lasted about seven months.

As they came to the peak, Piper removed her arm from around Ardra’s shoulders and made sure that her jacket was zipped up tight. They both slid out of the lift, leading with their left feet and letting their right foot land on the “stomp pad” at the back of their boards. They slid off to the side so that the next couple could get off without crashing into them and strapped their loose feet into the bindings.

They mounted the lip of the run, the familiar butterflies fluttered around in Ardra’s stomach as she stared down the nearly vertical slope of Mt. Millicent. They touched their fists to each other and leaped off the hard packed snow into the powder.

As Ardra got her bearings and pointed her board in the direction she wanted to go, she caught sight of Piper doing the same thing. The two girls accelerated down the face of the mountain at breakneck speeds. They were always aware of the each other’s location, effortlessly criss-crossing paths like a seasoned figure eight team. They dodged boulders, jumped fallen logs and flew past other boarders and skiers that were taking the run at sane speeds.

The feeling of the icy wind whipping her face and the adrenaline caused by obstacles on the slope were more than enough to keep her mind focused on the task at hand and
off
of all the other things that had been going on in her life. She welcomed the break and embraced the rush that was pumping endorphins through her veins.

As they reached the bottom of the run, both girls turned their boards sideways and dug in their heels. Snow went flying everywhere as they came to a stop.

After some girly gushing about the run, Piper took charge and lead them over to the lift that would take them up to Clayton Peak and the beginning of the run named The Western Trail. It was a mellow trail in comparison to Millicent, so they took it easy and talked back and forth as their boards slid over the soft snow.

“So, that guy in accounting that came and talked to me today, guess what he wanted.” Piper shouted over the wind as they slid a little closer together to take a curve.

“I dunno until you tell me, girlie.” Ardra yelled back to her.

“Well, he started out with talking to me about the assignment, but you know that
no
guy comes up to girls like us to talk about school work. So, after letting him go on for a bit about the assignment, I finally told him to cut to the chase. I hate how guys think that we never know when they have ulterior motives. I mean,
we’re
the ones that are supposed to be mysterious. Isn’t it always the guys saying that they don’t understand women? Women don’t claim to not understand guys, I mean, how hard can it be? If they’re not thinking about sex, they’re thinking about sports. That’s just the way it is. Always has been, and I don’t see it changing any time soon.”

“Hey, Piper!” They cut into another curve, pushing them closer together. “Can you take your own advice here and get to the point? It’s hard enough to hear you over the wind as it is. Even harder when I’m trying to hear you over the wind
and
my snoring!” She sent her best friend a wink.

“My bad. Didn’t realize you had places to be! Anyhow, after I finally told him to get to the point, he asked me to a hockey game with him! I was all braced for an invite to a football game! You know how well that goes over with me! So imagine my surprise when he asked me out to hockey! And
his
surprise when I said yes! It was pretty classic! I wish I would have had a camera so I could capture the look on his face! It was priceless! It always makes me smile on the inside when a guy who is
obviously
fishing outside of his league gets what he wants. It’s the only reason I end up saying yes to most of the guys that ask me out!”

They laughed over her story before focusing on the task at hand. After the third turn, the trail took on a more vertical appearance, and with slope, came speed.

They pointed their boards and powered down the last leg of the run.

Once again, they sent snow flying when they reached the bottom. This time, other people joined in their gushing over their run, commenting on their form and skill.

Six runs later, both girls had their jackets tied around their waists and they were sunburned and exhausted. They unstrapped and headed for the parking lot. With their boards laid out in the back seat and seat belts fastened up, they headed back down the canyon.

Ardra hit the play button on her iPod and they jammed out to the playlist that they both had on their players. They emailed each other new songs to add to it almost every week. What had started out as a few songs had become a monstrosity in a matter of weeks. Every now and then, they’d get sick of a song and vote it out, but not often. More songs were definitely going onto the list than were coming off of it.

They agreed that The Belgain Waffle sounded like a good idea for food. It would be a great carb load and it had been a staple throughout their teenage years.

Ardra took a left nine blocks east of the main highway that ran through the valley and pulled into the parking lot of the waffle house a couple of minutes later. They had never been there with less than ten other people in the dining room. It didn’t matter the time, there were
always
other people there. This time was no different. There were at least two dozen other patrons filling the dining room when they walked through the double glass doors.

After doing a quick scan of the faces that turned towards them, they came to the conclusion that they didn’t know anyone and asked the hostess for a booth for two.

Neither of them needed menus and both ordered Diet Cokes when the waitress came around. When their drinks were delivered, they ordered a single order of Garbage Hash and a side of country gravy.

They stretched out on the vinyl seats, lying with their legs hanging out into the aisle and talked back and forth under the table until the waitress came back. The woman set the giant plate of fried potatoes, onions, peppers, ham, bacon and eggs topped with melted cheese and a bowl of white gravy in front of them without raising an eyebrow in response to their five year old behavior.

“Thank you!” they chimed in unison before pouring the gravy over the top of the concoction and attacking the dish with gusto.

The rest of the meal was spent in silence. Both girls shoveled food into their mouths like it was the last meal they would ever eat, chasing the calories down with Diet Coke. At that moment in time, neither could think of a better way to end a day on the slopes.

When the plate was clean and their drinks had been refilled, they both sat back and exhaled a sigh of relief.

“Oh my gosh Ardra, I think I might explode.” Piper put her hand on her stomach and groaned. “If I do, make sure you get all of my bits off the floor. I don’t want to get sucked up and spend my afterlife in a vacuum bag. That does not sound like fun. I’ve seen the things that get left on the floor under tables in restaurants and I don’t want to be neighbors with them.”

Ardra laughed and gave her word that she would make sure all of her best friend’s body parts would end up in a box with her, six feet under the ground.

They paid their bill and car-danced their way back to the east bench. Piper climbed out of the car and retrieved her board from the back seat before giving a quick wave to Ardra and jogging up the freshly shoveled walk. One more wave over her shoulder and she disappeared inside of the sorority house.

Ardra drove the couple of blocks back to her house where she replaced her snowboard on the rack in the garage and kicked off her boots inside the door. She hit the red button that closed the garage door and folded her jacket over the back of a chair at the center island in the kitchen before letting the dog in through the back door.

He ran around her, wagging his tail and obviously fighting the urge to jump up on her and lick her to death. She scratched between his ears and headed up the stairs to wash off the grime that always coated her skin after a day on the mountain.

Feeling refreshed, she toweled off her hair, pulled a pair of jeans on and tugged a sweater down over her head. Almost without thinking about it, she had her hair pulled up into its usual ponytail before she headed back to the kitchen. The dog sat in front of the fridge waiting for her to find him something to eat.

“Ugh! Dog food! I knew I was forgetting something! Come on!”

She grabbed the leash from its spot near the back door and wrapped it around his neck. They went into the garage and she opened the passenger door for him. He jumped right in the car and sat down in the passenger seat like he belonged there.

She took her place behind the steering wheel and clicked her seat belt into place.

Out the driveway and down the road they went. Natural as can be. Ardra found herself talking to the dog before they even got out of the neighborhood. It was like having Piper in the seat next to her. Without the interjections, of course.

“So, they allow dogs in the pet store right? I’d kind of like to have you there so that you could choose your dog food yourself. How am I supposed to know what you like? It’s not like I have spent a whole lot of time sampling dog food. I’ve never even had the chance to have a dog sample dog food for me. I mean, you guys are probably like humans and have different tastes, so that wouldn’t do much good anyway. But you know what I mean, right?”

She looked over at the big yellow dog who was staring at her attentively, almost smiling. His tongue was hanging out of one side of his mouth and he was panting a little bit. There was a shine in his eyes that seemed to relay the message that he knew exactly what she was talking about and was happy to be along for the ride, so she continued.

“You know, right before you showed up, my life had kinda gone crazy. I had yelled at my grandma, which I would
never
do under normal circumstances. I was haunted by nightmares for weeks, and the strangest thing of all is the one I saved for last! My dad bought me this necklace for my birthday! I know, that in and of itself isn’t all that strange, but, oddly enough, it was also the reason that I had yelled at my grandma! Anyway, this necklace, when I put it on, my body gets all warm and tingly. The tingle starts in my chest and it spreads throughout my whole body until I’m practically vibrating. It’s the freakiest thing I’ve ever felt. Well, one time, I put it on and kinda had this fainting spell. While I was out, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t actually in my body at all. I think I had an out of body experience. Maybe it was astral projection. Either way, it was totally weird! I went to this big garden with a fountain and there was this guy! He was
totally
the hottest guy I have ever seen in my life by the way. But this guy, he stood up and started coming towards me and I kinda freaked. I mean, who wouldn’t? You find yourself in some weird place with some weird guy, I’m pretty sure standard procedure is to freak out a little bit! Anyway, I closed my eyes and kinda screamed at myself to wake up. I guess I took a swipe at him too because I came to with a chunk of his hair in my hand. I know, insane right?”