It worked because Jaxson turned on her once again. “I saw the area code. It was our area code!”
Jemmy nodded trying to look repentant. “It was.”
Gavin looked momentarily hurt and surprised, before she quickly added. “With your number.” She said with a gleeful smile.
Jaxson’s jaw dropped. “My number? You gave that dude my number?”
“Why are we saying dude now?” Troy said with laughter lurking in his eyes.
“Dude started it,” Kade chuckled as he unloaded some groceries.
“Time out! Did you really give him my number?” Jaxson exclaimed.
Jemmy batted her eyelashes at him and smiled sweetly. “Did you really make me wake up to a clown sitting next to me? You know what they say about paybacks!”
Jace began to laugh. “You deserved that one, Jax.”
Sierra and Gavin began to laugh with Jace.
“What did we miss?” Kade asked with a smile.
“Jemmy’s deathly afraid of clowns-” Gavin began.
“For a reason!” Jemmy inserted loudly. “The guys made Jaxson and I watch IT when we were younger! I had to sleep with a nightlight for months, and I still can’t go to the circus.” She shuddered dramatically.
“She fell asleep in the SUV,” Gavin continued with a laugh. “-and Jaxson thought it would be cute to cast the illusion that I was a clown,” Gavin said wiping tears from his eyes. “She hits hard when she freaks out,” Gavin gingerly rubbed a spot on his chest.
We all began to laugh once more.
“What am I supposed to do when this guy starts texting me?” Jaxson asked in exasperation.
“Sext him back?” I asked as I smirked him.
He wasn’t amused by my answer.
“I don’t know about this,” I said skeptically as peered down the ‘bunny’ hill. It still seemed really steep for a beginner’s slope.
“You can do it,” Troy said encouragingly as he glided next to me.
“Just remember pizza when you want to slow down,” Noah smiled as he glided to the other side of me.
I looked at both of them wearily. They had volunteered to keep me company for the first few hours. It was clear to me that this family was no stranger to skiing or snowboarding. We had dropped an outrageous sum at the sporting good store. They even went as far as to buy brand new boards and skis. I had elected to rent my pair.
I couldn’t imagine dropping that kind of cash on something I might not like. I was willing to try it out, and it looked like a lot of fun, but I didn’t want to waste the money without trying it out first. I had tried to be cheap with my apparel too, but in the end, I reluctantly took the kelly green and white outfit that Jemmy insisted I get.
“Okay,” I took a deep breath.
“Wait,” Troy stopped me. “First a picture,” he insisted as he pulled out his phone.
I really needed to get better with capturing these moments. Troy, Jemmy, Jaxson, Rachel, and Noah were always on the top of their game when it came to taking pictures.
I leaned into him and smiled at the image of the three of us. I don’t think the guys could wear anything that looked bad on them. Troy had chosen a white and black snowboarding outfit. Noah had chosen an orange and white outfit. Both of the colors they had chosen flattered their complexions and coloring.
“We’re going to run out of room on the gallery wall,” I laughed.
“When all this blows over, we can find a place large enough to have several gallery walls,” Noah joked.
“Oh yeah?” I prodded back. “Where would that be? Jace’s place? Remy’s? Maybe the penthouse Troy wants?”