First Sight (6 page)

“I know;
it’s something that takes a little practice,” he said
,
smiling
down at me.
  I looked up at him in his black ski jacket, black wool cap, and mirrored goggles
perched
atop
his head
, noticing
again
how handsome he was. 
He
hadn’t shaved
that
morning, so
there was
a dark shadow of
stubble
along his chin and
jaw line
. 
Travis
seemed so self-assured, but then
again
, he’d said that he’d been skiing all his life. 
There was nothing for him to worry about today. 
I’d
even noticed the first day that I met
him how athletic he looked. 
Hopefully I wouldn’t
embarrass myself too much by letting him teach me how to ski.

I let go of him
after I regained my balance
,
and we continued to practice before the beginner’
s
lesson started.  Travis
showed me how to stop, bringing my skis into a V-shape in the snow.  I watched him
for a minute before trying it out myself.  I was nervous that my skis would cross and I would fall over
. 
It
was
so hard to control these
gigantic
sticks beneath my feet. 
They
felt
so long and awkward to me, and I wished I could have the short skis that I had seen the little kids using
.  They looked so much easier to maneuver, but I
didn’t think they made those in my size.
  S
omehow I managed
not
to
fall over this time as I glided forward and came to a
stop beside Travis
.

“See, nothing to it!”
Travis said.

“Well, I was hardly moving,” I muttered.

“
Maybe
,” he said, giving me that, “but knowing how to stop is the most important thing.”

I unsteadily practiced for a while longer, and
before I knew it
the beginner’s ski class
was starting
.  There were
seven
other students,
not including Travis,
most of them looking as shaky as me.  The instructor
, Sue, introduced herself and
announced the goals for the class
.  She
looked to be
in her
late
twenties and had tangled
curly
brown hair and ruddy cheeks—probably from being
out
in the elements
each day
.
She wore a bright
green
cap
and parka
, and I wondered if it was
so she could
stand out among the students. 
Then again, maybe she just liked that color. 
Sue
showed us some of the basics that Travis had already taught me, such as
the proper position to
stand in and how to
stop.  She had us practice
bringing our skis into a
V
-shape
several
times
. 
Watching Travis as he came to a clean stop, she commented, “You’ve obviously skied before.”

“Yes,” he said grinning.  “I’m just here to keep her company.”  He gestured toward me
,
his hand still gripping his
ski pole
,
as he spoke.

“
You’ve got a nice
boyfriend,
”
Sue
called over
to me.

“He’s not—
”
I started to say, but she had already turned away to help someone else.
 
I looked at Travis and shrugged, and he just laughed.

The rest of the lesson passed quickly.  We learned a few other
basics,
such as how to turn
and how to stand
back
up if we fell
on a hill
,
but I didn’t feel like an hour was nearly enough time to get a handle on
everything
.  I was shocked when
Sue
suggested that we all take a run down one of the beginner slopes.
  I could hardly control my skis on flat ground
and figured she would just send us off on our own to continue practicing
.  How did she expect us to navigate down a
n actual
ski slope
?

The class
made our way
over to the
ski
lift,
and
Sue rounded
up a few other
instructors
along the way
to assist
us with
riding
the chair lift and navigating down our first run
.  Travis and I were near the back of the line, and
I watched as
instructor and student
paired of
f
and
hopped onto the chair
s
as
they
came by.  As the line crept forward,
it appeared
there weren’t enough coaches for someone to ride with me.
 
Sue was standing directly in front of us with another student, and she turned around to look at us, assessing the situation. 
“Travis, you can
probably
ride
up
with
Maddy
, right?”
she asked.
“It looks like we’re one instructor short.”

“Sure, we’ll be fine.”

“Okay, great
,
”
Sue replied. 
She looked toward me now. 
“
H
e’ll
be able to
sh
ow you how to get on and off.”

“Okay,” I said, nodding nervously.  My palms felt sweaty in my gloves as we got closer to the beginning of the line. 
I watched as
Sue got on the chairlift with the last
remaining
student from our class and felt
a pit in my stomach
as I realized that Travis and I were next.
 
We got into position,
standing side by side,
and as the chair came from behind us, suddenly I was seated next to Travis, rising up into the air.  I watched as the ground moved f
a
rther away from us
,
everything getting
smaller by the second,
and felt my skis dangling beneath me. 
What on earth had I gotten myself into? 
I clutched my ski poles, feeling my heartbeat rapidly increase,
and
I
realized that I would somehow have to get back off of the chair
lift
with my skis on
when we reached the top
.

“How are we supposed to get off this?” I asked frantically.

“It’s okay,” Travis said, reaching over to touch my arm
, obviously hearing the panic in my voice.
  His gloved hand rested on the waterproof fabric of my parka, and he leaned his head down slightly toward me. 
I couldn’t see his eyes though his mirrored
goggles,
and I didn’t feel any calmer at his touch
through our
bulky
winter clothes.
 
“When we get to the top you just stand up and
g
lide away.  It’s really easy.”

“I hope so,” I said
uncertainly
, still completely terrified.

“Just watch the people in front of us when we get close.  You’ll have no problem.”

We continued to rise
,
and I looked down at the people beneath us,
skiing
down the hill
.  I watched as a snowboarder fell over and thought that
snowboarding
looked even harder than skiing.  The other people on the slopes did not seem to be having any problems though. 
They were skiing down easily, looking like they were having a great time.
B
efore I knew it
,
we had reached the top. 
Sue and the student
in the chair ahead of us
each
stood
as their skis came into contact with solid ground,
and
they
slid down the small incline
,
coming
to a stop.  When
Travis’s and my
turn came, I was so relieved to be getting off
the chairlift
that I had no time to worry about balancing
on my skis
, and I effortlessly glided down behind them
, even coming to a decent
, if
wobbly
,
stop.

“See, you did great!” Travis said
from beside me.
  He had stayed right next to me, and I wondered if he would have been able to catch me if I did fall.

“Yeah, that wasn’t too bad.”

I managed to maneuver around to the hill sloping down in front of me.  Others were skiing gracefully down it, gently
swerving
from side to side.  A few kids were whizzing straight down on their tiny little skis, not using any ski poles.

“Are you rea
dy?” Travis asked
.

“
As ready as I’ll ever be,
”
I said hesitantly.
He waited for me, so
I pushed off and started
skiing
down
the hill.  I was moving so slowly that practically everyone else was passing by
us
as
we
made
our
way down.  I had to fight to keep my skis straight—I was trying to go
so
slowly,
to remain in control,
that it was
actually
hard to straighten
my skis
out and move forward. 
Travis patiently skied at my side, in no rush to get down.

“Try to look where you want to go,” Travis encouraged.
  “Don’t keep looking down.”

“Okay, it’s
just
hard to turn in these.”

“I know, just
keep focusing o
n the direction
that
you want to be going
, and it will be easier for you
.”

I finally made my way to the bottom of the hill,
feeling pumped full of adrenaline.  I was
happy
and relieved
to be down
the slope
but also ready to try it again.
  I looked over at Travis, wondering what he thought of my
slow
descent down the bunny slope.
  He lifted his ski goggles up
,
and I could see the warmth of his brown eyes
as he looked over at me
.

“
What’d you think?
Y
ou did great!” Travis said
, happy that despite my protests, I had actually been able to ski.

“
It wasn’t as bad as I thought—except
for all those little kids whizzing by me
,
”
I said with a grin.

“It’s easier for them—they’re closer to the ground!”

“Maybe,” I said reluctantly.
 
It felt like I was the slowest skier out there. 
He was obviously just trying to be nice.

“Are you ready to try again?”

“Might as well,” I said, smiling.
  “I won’t get any better without any practice.”

“Come on,” he said, tilting his head toward the ski lift.

I followed Travis back to
where we’d started from
, noticing the easy way he glided through the snow, the effortless way that he carried
himself
.
  I heard my
cell
phone
beeping
in my
jacket
pocket and called out to Travis to wait.

I flipped open
the
phone
and saw
a new text message from
Marissa
.