She didn’t refute his wording, she just let it hang there. Girlfriend. She hadn’t been anybody’s anything in a while. Did he mean to say that?
‘And another one, about the fact that I just called you my girlfriend, and you said nothing. You didn’t try to stab me, or push me off this thing straight to my death.’ He raised his hands around his body when she turned to him. ‘Oops, spoke too soon. Tell my dad I tried!’
She pulled his hands down. ‘I didn’t say anything to give you chance to take it back.’
‘Pfft.’ He pushed out of his lips. ‘Not a chance. I think that’s what we are, isn’t it? I just wanted to slip it out there, not make it a thing.’
‘But a thing is something that comes up and makes people need to have a conversation.’
‘That sounds like a penis. Or a molehill.’ He jabbed his finger at the mountains, making the chair shake. ‘Or a mountain!’ He clicked his fingers together, or tried to, at least, whilst gloved up. ‘I didn’t want to make a mountain out of a molehill. I just wanted to see what you thought.’
‘So where does the penis come into all this?’
‘Ahh!’ He raised one finger. ‘Well, that depends on your answer.’ He looked down at his groin. ‘Doesn’t it, little Wilbur?’
Rebecca had no words. He laughed again. ‘Don’t take the mick. I was raised single handed by a man, he had his ways of getting around awkward words and conversations. He still mutes Bake Off when they say “moist”.’ Rebecca’s lip twitched. He’d get on well with Hans and Holly.
‘Please tell me,’ she asked seriously, ‘what part of all this is supposed to make me want to own up to being associated with you?’
They neared the top, and jumped off, skiing off to the side.
‘All of it! Did you not hear the little Wilbur part?’
‘Please, please, never say that again.’
‘I won’t, if you’ll just say you’ll be my girlfriend. I know that sounds like a twelve-year-old thing, but we are going to this baby shower today. People are going to ask me why I keep kissing you. I don’t think “I met her through a hairy pen pal” sounds good. I just want to know what to call you when they ask.’
Pulling down her visor, she gave herself a minute. Looking down the slope, she felt the usual thrill she had always felt before her accident. She looked back at him then got ready to push off.
‘I tell you what, you make it to the bottom, without falling over.’ She blew him a kiss, and off she went. ‘And you’re on! Catch me if you can!’
She could hear Luke whoop for joy halfway down, and she laughed her head off. If her mother could see her now. Tomorrow, after they’d been skiing, and the party hangover was gone, she’d call her mother. And she might even tell her about Luke. Fair’s fair, and a bet was a bet. If she had a boyfriend at the end of this slope, then she should tell her mother. It made a change to say something she might actually be happy to hear.
Slowing at the bottom, she didn’t need to turn around. She could hear him coming. At the top of his lungs, whilst coming to a very awkward and rather lucky stop, he was singing a Pussycat Dolls song, the one about having a hot girlfriend. She pulled her visor up, and looked around as the skiers around clapped and laughed. A couple of people took camera shots, she could see camera phones being taken out, and she looked around, but all she could see were people cheering them on. One of them shouted ‘go Becks’ and Luke came to her side. Rebecca flinched at her name, but tried not to react.
‘Take a bow, Becks.’ He nudged her arm, and she bowed with him, making them clap harder. ‘Come on, let’s go get ready for this baby shower. I have a hankering to decorate a onesie after all that hard work.’
He steered her back towards the café, and they took just a little too long to get ready. It was quite hard to get out of all the gear, after all.
*
‘We are late,’ she whispered to him as they headed to Hans’s place. Luke was about to knock at the door when Holly opened it, looking even bigger on her feet now. She was wearing a loose floaty dress, and she looked amazing. ‘It’s your fault.’
‘Whose fault?’ Holly asked, hearing. ‘This?’ She put her hands around her bump laughing. ‘This is your fault in a way. Who introduced me to Hans in the first place?’
‘You did that?’ Luke looked across at her, astonished. ‘I never knew that.’ He leaned forward, hugging Holly tight to him. ‘You have my sympathy. You do look lovely though. Excited for today?’ She went to take their coats, but Luke waved her off and took both of them to hang on the rail behind them.
Holly squeezed him tight. ‘I am excited! Aww, why didn’t you come over before Luke, I need you here. You’re so polite and lovely, nothing like those two.’
Luke blew on his nails and polished them on his suit lapel. The suit, well. He looked gorgeous in it as usual, his glasses making him look like an extra from Suits. A hot extra.
‘Why, thank you. I had to ski down a mountain to get a nice gesture from Rebecca this morning.’ He prodded Rebecca, who was wearing her Eloise dress, the one with the flowers that she loved. She jabbed him right back with her elbow, balancing the nappy cake in her hands. He took it from her. ‘I’ll take this in, shall I?’
Rebecca glared at him, and he bent down, kissing her like he’d never seen a woman before. A slow, full of promise
