Colorado Game - 6. Chapter 6

After I had taken a shower and got into bed, I lay awake. That... ‘kiss' and the shower had pretty much sobered me up, leaving only a dull throb behind. The image of myself in the mirror, my lips swollen and my eyes bright with small pupils; I had looked like a ghost. Why the hell had he done that? All that because I told him to fuck off? I turned onto my side and tried to go to sleep but it simply wouldn't come. My head was filled with the images of what had happened. I was still trying to get them out of my head an hour later, when the door softly opened and Ross came inside. It clicked softly behind him and I looked up. He was about to say something but I sent him a warning glare, turned around and said nothing. I listened as he undressed and when he walked to the bathroom, I started to turn around again; I wasn't going to speak to him. He hung his head and sighed.

"Come on... can we talk about it?" He went into the bathroom when I didn't reply and I heard that he brushed his teeth. Then, when he came back and walked around the bed to the empty side, I turned again.

"You're gonna have to talk to me at some point you know," he said softly. He sighed again, mumbling something and got in bed. A few seconds past when he finally lay still; then he spoke again. "Mark?" I kept silent. "Mark... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

"Damn straight you shouldn't have."

"Oh, so you are still speaking to me. Good. Could you turn around, please?" When I didn't, he simply pulled me on the shoulder until I rolled onto my back. "I still think you were being a shit and deserved it. But I went too far."

I've been told before that when I've had a bit too much to drink, I'm very much present; loud, giggling and so forth. Not annoying or anything, just... present. Maybe he was right but that didn't give him the right to have done what he did. He wasn't my boyfriend; he couldn't just ‘punish' me in such a way.

"Maybe I was being a dick," I said, conceding the point, "but you had no right doing that." Ross turned onto his side as well and he smiled sourly.

"No, I didn't. But it was the only thing other than to hit you. You told me to fuck off. No one tells me to do that and just gets away with it."

"How butch," I said, yawning. He grinned and reached behind him, turning off the light. Then he returned to his original position; on his side, facing me. I closed my eyes because I didn't want to look at him, even at his contours; and why was he lying so close? The bed was roomy enough. Damn it... why did he have to be so damn handsome. Why couldn't he be anyone else but my employer?

"Mark?" he whispered, suddenly.

"Hmm?"

"Tomorrow... you wanna try a more difficult slope?" His voice skipped a little, sounding low. I opened my eyes and saw his glimmer in the dark. What was with the weird voice?

"Sure. If I can get out of bed, that is," I replied. He snickered and then held his breath for a few seconds before he spoke again.

"Just the two of us, okay?"

"Sure..." I answered, slowly.

"Great. G'night."

"Night."

**********

That night I experienced a dream that can only be described as highly erotic. It started pretty much the same as earlier in the evening, only it was just Ross and me. I did get a little tipsy and went to bed, but instead of the whole scene that had followed in real life, it took a different course there. Instead, he helped me undress, touching every revealed part of my body with his hands. And when he pulled up my T-shirt, he kissed my chest and then up, to my throat, chin and finally my mouth. Then he pressed his lips onto mine and slowly lowered himself half on top of me. I wrapped my arms around to his broad back and his hands freely roamed my body, creeping down my belly and into my shorts, and finally touching my.... I started awake at that point, feeling hot.

My heart was thudding like mad and I had a massive hard-on. I was lying in the middle of the bed, alone, and bright light was streaming through the window. Normally, I'd beat the monkey after a dream such as this, but I thought the better of it; I wouldn't put it past Ross to come in and find me in a state of climactic orgasm. Instead, I got out of bed and into the shower, locking the door behind me. In this relatively safe place, I felt at ease enough to take care of it. Release came quickly, explosively, and I enjoyed the relaxing feeling after as hot water and soap streamed down my body.

It was 9am when I got downstairs and found the place all to myself. I guess the others were either still in bed or already out. It proved to be the latter; the coffee table was littered with empty mugs. I got a mug full myself and sat down on one of the barstools, slowly sipping the hot beverage. I partly turned when the door opened and Ross came in. I felt my cheeks warm up, courtesy of that dream, and nodded when he wished me good morning.

"The others went up the mountain early. Is there some coffee left?"
I shook my head, downing the last. His face fell a little and I grinned.

"Sorry," I said, but I wasn't. I guess that was obvious enough because he made a face at me.

"No you're not. Doesn't matter; I had enough when you were still rotting in bed."

"Rotting?" I echoed. "How rude."

"I was up at seven."

"Why so early?"

"Oh, ehm... would that be because you were, I dunno, calling my name maybe?" he said, sarcastically. Oh shit. That dream... "I tried to wake you but you were completely out of it. Bad dream?"

"Obviously; you were in it," I bit back, a little annoyed with myself.

"Funny, haha," he replied, making a face. "Are you ready to go? I don't wanna wait too long to get up there or it'll be too busy."
I set the mug on the bar and hopped off the chair, walking towards the stairs.

"Gimme five minutes."

**********

The five turned into fifteen but when we got to the slope, there were just five people before us so we only had to wait a few minutes. Then we went up by way of a pulling cable, all the way up. Ross turned out to be a pretty good teacher, something I hadn't really seen the day before. He had a lot of patience because, well... I was scared shitless once we were up there. It was way higher than the slope we'd been on, much steeper and more turns in it.

"I can't do this," I said, shaking my head. "No way. I'll break my legs for sure."

"Too bad, because it's the only way down. You can do it. I'll be right behind you, okay?" I shook my head vehemently. "Yes you can. Okay, I‘ll go first. We'll take it slow. And don't push off like you did yesterday, okay?" I gave another shake of my head.

"No. I can't. You go. I'll walk down."

"Don't be ridiculous. It's easy. Watch me."

"Ross, I could watch you until the cows come home; I'm not going down that slope."
He narrowed his eyes at me.

"You're really scared, aren't you?"

"Seven colors of shit," I nodded. He smiled and thought for a moment.

"Alright, how about this; you grab my stick, we'll go down together. I can break if we go too fast."
I looked from him to the slope and back again. It was a long way down. Then I sighed.

"Okay... but slow, okay? Very slow; old-lady-with-a-walker slow."
He nodded reassuringly.

"As slow as you want. I promise, when we're down, you wanna go back up and go alone."

"I assure you; I won't," I replied, taking hold of the stick he held out to me.

It turned out that he was right. About half way down, I began to enjoy it. I guess he saw it because we picked up a bit more speed. I still clutched that stick though, but once we were down, I admitted that I would like to go again.

"See? Come on, before we have to wait in line."
It was getting more crowded now.

We went for a total of five trips that morning, the last of which I finally went by myself without any help. I didn't go as fast as some of the people, who whooshed past me on the way down, but I did it by myself. It was reason enough for Ross to hug me when I got down with a triumphant grin on my face. And it got me enthusiastic enough to press my lips on his for a second. I didn't really think about it; it was just the moment, to thank him. I felt that I could thank him that way, so I didn't really give it much thought. He blinked a few times while looking at me, saying nothing; then he smiled.

"You wanna go get something to eat?"

"Yeah, I'm starving," I said, taking off the skis. "I haven't had anything yet."

"You didn't eat this morning?" he asked, frowning. I shook my head. "You have to eat something!"

"Well, you told me to hurry up, eh? Don't blame me for not eating; blame yourself."
He sighed and held up his hand.

"Forget I said anything."

"You're getting the hang of it," I replied. "Never argue with me; it's useless."

"Yeah, I'm beginning to see that."