Falls Creek Lessons

Chapter 4

I was awoken on Sunday morning by the sound of banging from the kitchen. If I had been hung over, someone would have been copping a blast, albeit a very groggy and shaky one. However, the couple of glasses of water that I had before settling in for the night had done their trick. My head felt clear.

Lifting my head, I saw Diane in the kitchen, dressed in a long T-shirt and a pair of panties. The way she was going through the cupboards, and the expression on her face, quickly conveyed that all was not right in sister-land. The sounds of the shower indicated that Rob was probably up as well.

Slumping back onto my pillow, I let myself finish waking up. As I didn’t know what was upsetting her, and I knew that she had been angry with me last night, even if she did apologise afterwards, I didn’t want to confront her until I was ready to think properly.

Was she still upset about my amateurish imitation of a male stripper? If she was, I would need to work to keep my temper under control as I told her to mind her own business. It’s not as if I’m going to do it again, at least anytime soon, but if she is going to object to every bit of loutish behaviour I experiment with, then I’m going to have to tell her to get lost. Last night was an experience, and one that I probably won’t repeat, but I felt good after going through it. I pushed the boundaries of what I’m comfortable doing and found that I can do more than I thought.

As I heard Diane start to mutter under her breath, I raised myself up slightly so I could observe her discreetly. Listening carefully, I was surprised to hear what appeared to be swearing coming from the kitchen. My big sister, who sometimes acts as if she’s really my mother, was softly swearing as she made herself a cup of coffee!

Quickly reviewing the events of the prior evening, I couldn’t think of anything that I did that would be cause her to still be swearing this morning. Indeed, I couldn’t think of anything at all that would be upsetting her. Disturbed, I rolled off the mattress and stood up.

“Is there something wrong, Sis?” I asked, as I walked towards her.

Her head flicked around as she became aware of my presence. Her mouth dropped open, and she went red with embarrassment, as she realised that I had caught her. I wasn’t trying to score points, however, so, to show her that I was concerned, I reached out gently and pulled her towards me. For a moment she resisted and I almost let her go, but then she collapsed against me. I felt, rather than heard, a sob escape as she rested her head on my shoulder.

Opting to let her speak first, we stood there for several seconds before she gently pulled away and wiped a tear from her eyes.

“I’m sorry, Greg. I didn’t intend for you to see me like that,” she said, looking down at the kitchen floor. Her shoulders were slumped and when she moved her arms, they looked like they were made of lead.

“I’ve seen you now, so do you want to tell me what’s going on? Just talking about it may help,” I offered gently.

It wasn’t often that Diane needed help from me. The last time was when our parents were on the verge of divorcing, or that’s how it seemed at the time. One night she had come into my room distressed, with a crazy story about how it was all her fault because she had said something to Dad that made him yell at Mum. It took quite a while before she accepted that if it hadn’t been that, it would have been something else that started their fight. She had just been the excuse, not the cause, for their arguing.

“I’m sorry about yelling at you last night,” she said, as she looked up at me with eyes brimming brightly with unshed tears.

That threw me. She’s yelled at me so many times, often with cause but many times without, that I can’t see why last night’s would upset her now. I opened my mouth to ask her what she meant, but turning her face to the bathroom where Rob was still showering, she continued.

“It wasn’t you I was really upset with. It was Rob. I just wasn’t ready to take it out on him then, so I took it out on you instead.” Looking back at me, she added, “I didn’t mean for that to happen, it just came out of my mouth before I could stop it.”

So, my sister was having a fight with her lover. They have been living together for a few months now, so I suppose it was due, but I hadn’t seen any signs of strain between them. If anything, they had been a model couple.

“Do you want to tell me about it?” I asked.

Turning back to the kitchen window, she stood and looked at the snow outside. The sun was just rising, and there was a soft, pinkish sheen to the image presented to us. As she rested her palms on the bench and leant forward, she started to speak in a wistful tone.

“Last night’s dinner was magical. They sat us near the fire, and the flickering light reflected beautifully through the crystal ware on the table. The only way it could have been more romantic was if we had been the only ones in the restaurant. Even so, the other diners were all quiet and there was nothing to distract our attention from each other. We had a great conversation filled with plans for the future and expressing how much we loved each other.”

As she paused, I noticed her hands on the bench top close into fists. The anger in her voice when she continued made it clear that those fists were ready to clobber someone, and I didn’t need to hear what she said to know who the target would be.

“I had thought the perfect end to the evening would be for us to have a leisurely stroll back through the snow to our lodge, and finish the night making love in our room. Rob didn’t seem to think so.”

She turned abruptly to face me, and I took a half-step backwards at the fury in her eyes.

“His idea of how to complete our romantic evening was to go to a wet T-shirt competition,” she spat out with derision. “He preferred to spend time drooling over young, slender girls than going home with me.”

She held that fury for a long second before her face fell and her shoulders slumped. It was only because I stepped forward to embrace her again, did I hear her final, agonising, whispered question.

“Have I picked the wrong guy to spend my life with?”

Wrapping my arms around her and pulling her head onto my chest, I struggled to find something to say. My mind was blank; relationship counselling is not something I’ve ever had to do before. All I could think of was the saying Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. I know Rob didn’t mean any harm by going to the Man last night, but hearing Diane describe it from her point of view, he was an absolute idiot for doing it. He had his priorities wrong, and Diane is obviously scared that he’ll do it again in the future. I just didn’t know what to say to my big sister that wouldn’t risk making things worse. As I continued to hug her, I decided that all I could do is to show her that I was there to support her. Words wouldn’t help.

It struck me that Diane used the word “slender” to describe the girls that Rob had been fixated on. My sister isn’t obese, but she is a little plump. To me, she looks healthy, but she’s no model. It has never seemed to bother her in the past, but maybe she’s becoming a little paranoid about it. I didn’t think it bothered Rob either — he certainly has never commented on it in my hearing. Has she always been secretly concerned, or has Rob’s behaviour made her start to worry? I don’t think she needs to lose any weight, and if she has to become more slender just to keep Rob interested in her, I think she may be right — maybe Rob isn’t the right one for her. I wouldn’t have thought he was that shallow, that her outward appearance would be that important to him.

Eventually, Diane pulled out of my embrace. With a grateful look, and a peck on the cheek, she turned back and picked up her neglected cup of coffee. Just by the way she was standing, I could tell that part of the tension had been dispersed. Her problem was still there, but she had been given the chance to step back from it slightly. I was glad I wasn’t in Rob’s shoes.

Shortly afterwards, the sounds of the shower ceased. Quickly downing the dregs of her coffee, Diane turned to me.

“Do you mind if I have the next shower?” she asked, pleadingly.

I could tell that she wasn’t ready to confront Rob yet, so I smiled as I replied. “Go ahead.”

Picking up a knife and raising it theatrically, I added, “Do you want him sliced and diced, ready for when you come out, or would you prefer to do it yourself?”

She froze for a second before relaxing into a weak grin.

“No thanks, Greg. Just leave him for me. I think you’d be too squeamish to cut off his balls properly,” Diane replied.

I winced. She wouldn’t do it literally, at least I hope not, but Rob was in big trouble if she was talking about castrating him, even figuratively.

Diane disappeared into her room, reappearing shortly after carrying a change of clothes. She timed it well, as Rob opened the door from the bathroom as she came out. From where I stood, Diane had her back to me, but I had a clear view of Rob. His face lit up and he gave a tentative smile as Diane approached. As she walked towards him, he started to reach for her, but suddenly snapped back as if he had been slapped. I saw him wince, as his shoulders slumped and his eyes dropped to the floor. He moved slightly to the side to let her pass, and I could tell by the way she eased around him that she was trying to avoid any contact.

As she entered the bathroom, Rob raised his eyes and stared after her. Even with the door closed, he just stood there, unmoving; eyes fixed on, or maybe through, that door. It was only as the sounds of the shower starting penetrated into the main room, did he turn away. Catching my eye, he gave a guilty start of surprise. I think that was the first time he’d even realised that I was there. Not wanting to put any more pressure on him, I gave him a sympathetic smile and then turned away to make myself a cup of coffee. I got out a second cup as well, just in case Rob felt like talking.

Pouring myself a cup, I heard Rob come into the kitchen.

“Could you make me one too, please?” Rob asked, tentatively.

I’ve never heard Rob speak in a tone like that before. Normally, he’s very confident, but it sounded like he wasn’t even sure what planet he was on.

Silently pouring a second cup, I turned and handed it to him. With a half-hearted smile of thanks, he took the cup and had a mouthful of coffee. As I watched, his eyes kept flicking between the view out of the window and back to me. He opened his mouth a few times when he looked at me, as if he was going to say something, and then slammed it closed and looked away.

“Is there something wrong, Rob?” I asked gently, even though I knew the answer already.

He sighed and nodded his head. “Something has upset your sister, but I don’t know what it is. Last night was going really great. Dinner was fantastic and we talked for ages about our hopes and dreams.”

Staring out the window, he added softly, “If I had a ring with me, I think I would’ve proposed last night. It was as if we were planning our lives together, and everything we wanted to do, we would do as a couple.”

Dropping his eyes down to the bench in front of him, he put his cup down and stared at it for moment before looking back at me with a puzzled and worried expression.

“But then something went wrong. We left the Astra and met up with you guys at the Man. We all had a good time there and headed back here. But when I tried to give Diane a cuddle in our room, she went cold on me. She told me to keep my fucking hands to myself, and then rolled over and ignored me.

“What happened?” he asked me, forlornly.

I paused to collect my thoughts before I answered. He obviously has no idea of what he did, or how it looked to my sister. Should I just tell him out straight, or should I try to lead him to working it out for himself? I don’t know how long Diane will be in the shower, so telling him out straight is probably the best approach. I just need to set the scene first.

“Rob, why did you go to the Man after dinner?” I asked. “You didn’t know we’d be there.”

“The Man is one of the major entertainment places up here. There is always something going on. I thought it would be a good place to go to continue the night. It was still early; too early to end the night. I also thought there would be a good chance you would be there,” he answer, obviously puzzled at where I was leading.

“Did you know that there would be a wet T-shirt competition on?”

“Of course. There were advertising leaflets all over the place. It was a bit of harmless fun, and I knew there would be dancing afterwards. Diane loves to dance.”

I sighed. He still wasn’t getting it. I had better make it explicit.

“So, to finish off your romantic dinner for two, you took Diane to see a wet T-shirt competition. Don’t you think you couldn’t have found something a bit better to do? Watching you leer at other girls isn’t exactly something Diane would find romantic” I pointed out.

“I was only looking!” he protested, “It was completely harmless. It’s like looking at new cars. It doesn’t mean I’m going to trade in my old one.”

“How does she know that you weren’t planning a test drive of the new models?” I asked bluntly.

“Of course she knows I won’t do that!” he answered, looking flustered. “I love her. I’d never hurt her like that.”

I decide to change tack. I obviously wasn’t getting through to him this way.

“What were Chris and Paul doing during the wet jock competition?” I asked. I was gambling on the answer, but after spending the evening with them, I was reasonably confident I knew what it was.

“They were making comments about the guys to each other,” Rob said slowly. I think I had confused him with the sudden change of topic.

“Did they ever imply that they preferred someone on the stage to their partner?”

“No, they always found something that wasn’t as good as what they already had,” Rob replied, and then grinned. “Do you want to know what they said about you?”

I blushed. “I think I’ll pass on that, but don’t try to change the topic,” I retorted.

Still grinning, Rob asked, “Are you sure? They had some nice things to say as well.”

I was tempted to ask, but I wanted to get through to Rob first. Overall, I think he’s good for my sister, and I wouldn’t want them to break up because of one act of stupidity on his behalf. Plus, I like looking at him and I’d miss out on that if they split up.

“So, they looked together but always commented that their current partner was better than anything new on display,” I summarised. “What did you and Diane do during the wet T-shirt competition?”

The smile on Rob’s face dropped away as he opened his mouth to reply. Before he said anything, though, he closed his mouth and his eyes lost focus. As he started to bite his lower lip, I could see that the light was beginning to dawn. Waiting a moment to make sure he had a good chance to think about it, I finished off with a figurative knock-out punch.

“So, Diane got to finish her romantic night out, the one she’d organised as a surprise for you, by watching you leer at other girls. A great way of showing you love her,” I ended sarcastically.

Rob’s eyes snapped into focus as he looked at me. The sickly pale colour of his face showed that my blow had struck home. With a look of panic and despair, he turned away to stare out the window.

“Fuck!” he whispered to himself. “What have I done?”

Taking a sip of my coffee, I pondered whether to say anything to Rob about my sister’s use of the word “slender”. My speculations could be wrong and I think Rob had learnt the main lesson, so I decided to not say anything at this point. If she started to change her eating habits I may raise it, but otherwise I don’t think it would be worthwhile.

Leaving Rob to reflect, I finished my drink and went back to sort out what I was going to wear today. Knowing we’d have to check out this morning, I also started to pack things away.

I was still going through my clothes when the bathroom door opened and Diane came out. Pausing, I sat back on my heels and watched to see what Rob would do. As Diane headed into their room, Rob came out of the kitchen. I was startled to see streaks of tears down his cheeks. I honestly think he had forgotten that I was there, as he has always struck me as the sort who would never want to be seen to cry. Eyes fixed on Diane’s retreating back, he followed her into their room and closed the door. The expression of grim determination that I had seen hopefully heralded a resolution to make things right, no matter what it took.

Getting to my feet, I slowly walked to the bathroom for my turn at a shower. I mentally crossed my fingers for them, but Rob had made the mistake of taking my sister for granted. Choosing the worst possible time to have done so, he now had an uphill battle to get the relationship back to where it was.

Breakfast was a tense affair that morning.

Diane was actively ignoring Rob, who was being so solicitous that it was sickening.

Chris and Paul picked up on it straight away, but I signalled to them to leave the warring couple alone. Rob knows what the problem is, and it’s up to him to fix it. The rest of us had to leave them to sort it out themselves.

When Rob and Diane retreated to their room to pack, Chris and Paul turned on me.

“What’s going on, Greg?” Chris asked, concerned.

“Rob made a mistake last night, and Diane took it pretty hard. She hasn’t forgiven him and he’s busy trying to make it up to her,” I explained.

I could tell Chris was still puzzled. Staring at the closed bedroom door, he asked, “What did he do wrong?”

“I think that’s up to Rob or Diane to tell you, if they want to. I’ll just say that he did something without thinking of what it would mean to my sister. There was no malice intended, but she got hurt anyway,” I replied.

Paul looked at me contemplatively, but I just gave him a wry smile and shook my head. I didn’t think it was my place to say anything more.

“Can one of you tell me what the plans are for this morning?” I asked to change the topic.

Chris was still staring at where Rob and Diane had disappeared to. A worried scowl was on his face. I don’t think he heard my question.

“We’ll take our luggage down to the manager’s office and leave it there. We’ll then go and get new lift tickets for the day and wait for the lifts to open,” Paul answered absently, as he watched Chris.

After a perturbed glance in my direction, he got up and grabbed Chris by the arm. “Come on, Chris. Time to finish packing.”

Chris rose to his feet reluctantly. He gave one last concerned look at Rob and Diane’s shut door before he followed Paul into their room.

Left alone, I looked around. I was annoyed to realise that the breakfast dishes still needed to be washed up. The deal was supposed to be that the other guys did the dishes today. As I had already packed, courtesy of my early wake-up call, I tossed up on whether or not to leave them, or to make a start.

With a shrug, I rolled up my sleeves and filled the sink with hot water. I didn’t have much else to do, so I might as well start the chores. I hoped the others would appreciate it when they came out.

I was just finishing doing the washing, and was about to start drying the dishes, when Diane and Rob came out. Diane took one look at me and then turned sharply on her boyfriend.

“You were supposed to clean up this morning,” she hissed at him. “I should’ve realised that you’d be so thoughtless as to leave it to Greg to do, instead. You never think of anyone except yourself!”

I sighed at that incredibly unfair accusation. I hadn’t intended to add fuel to my sister’s anger, but that’s what happened anyway. As Rob hurried over to start drying the dishes, I waved off his apology. It wasn’t really his fault. I started to help him, when Diane spoke up.

“Leave the shithead to do them, Greg. He needs to learn how to do things for himself, for a change,” she said spitefully.

I gave a distressed Rob a sympathetic half-smile before I turned and joined Diane in the main room. I hadn’t heard her call Rob a shithead before. It’s the expression she usually reserves for complete drop-kicks, so for her to call Rob that in front of other people just indicated the depth of her feelings at the moment.

It wasn’t long before everyone was packed and the apartment cleaned. Diane made a point of criticising everything Rob did; nothing was done right, as far as she was concerned. I saw Paul cringe at least once at Diane’s attitude, but Rob was accepting it as if it was all justified. He was so desperate to get back into her good books that he wasn’t game to protest.

When it was time to go, Rob went to pick up Diane’s bag as well as his own. I thought this would help, but it was a case of him being damned if he did, and damned if he didn’t.

“Now you think I’m too weak to carry my own bags? I’m not useless, Rob. I can carry my own weight,” Diane growled.

“That’s enough, Sis!” I exclaimed. As she turned to blast me for interfering, I jumped in first. “Rob is just trying to be nice. If you’re still so angry that you don’t want him to help, then just say so. Don’t be an idiot and make his offer into something it’s not. He doesn’t think you’re too weak, and you know it. He’s trying to make it up to you and you’re just driving him away.”

I held my breath, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw the others doing the same. What was Diane going to do?

Going red with anger, she let me have it. “Keep out of it, Greg. I don’t need my baby brother interfering in my life. Rob stuffed up big-time and I’m not in a mood to forgive!” she shouted.

I had only one trump card to play. I’ll have to apologise to Chris and Paul afterwards for using it.

“As bad a stuff-up as arranging for your baby brother to share a room with a couple of sex-mad gay guys, and not bothering to tell him so he finds out when it’s too late to do anything about it?” I retorted, matching her volume.

That silenced her, though I felt guilty at what I had implied about the two guys. Scowling at me, she grabbed her bag, and stormed out the door. Rob quickly followed her out, but as the other two moved to join them, I called out softly to them.

“Wait, please?”

With a glance at each other that I couldn’t interpret, they stopped. After checking that Diane had gone out the front door, I turned back to them.

“I’m really sorry about what I said about you, but I didn’t know what else to say to stop her. She was going too far, but Rob wasn’t going to say anything. Please forgive me? I didn’t really mean it,” I pleaded, quietly.

Chris smiled with relief, “Nothing to be sorry about. It wasn’t nice, but it was effective.”

Paul grinned and added, “And for the record, we’re not sex-mad; at least not totally.”

Fuck, he’s so sexy when he smiles.

After we left our luggage with the manager, we headed down to the Eagle chairlift to purchase our tickets for the day. To try to distract him from his worries, as we skied down I asked Rob why we didn’t just buy a two-day lift ticket yesterday. He replied that it was more from habit than anything else. When he’s up for a week, he always buys individual day tickets, just in case there is a day when the weather is too bad to ski. If he had bought a five or seven-day ticket, he’d be out of pocket if that happened. Since the forecast was for fine all weekend, they probably could’ve bought two days, but the saving isn’t that much.

I then asked him what he thought of the chances of there being more powder snow today. He laughed at the question. It was a little forced, but it was still a laugh. I really didn’t care about the answer, as I had the result I was after, but he told me that powder snow only occurs after it’s been snowing. As it didn’t snow overnight, there won’t be any powder today.

Diane gave the two of us an angry look, which made Rob go quiet, but I ignored her. Just because she was treating him like dirt, that didn’t mean I couldn’t chat with him.

After we got our tickets, it was time to decide where we were going.

“Where do you want to go, Greg?” Diane asked. “I’ll ski with you today, if you don’t mind.”

I looked over at Rob. I could see I had two choices. Put up with my sister whining at me all day, or work to get her and Rob back together again. I love my sister, but I think she’s going too far. It was an innocent mistake that almost any guy could’ve made. Okay, I wouldn’t have, but that’s because I’m gay, not because I don’t appreciate a good piece of flesh. A wet T-shirt contest just doesn’t do anything for me.

“Where do you recommend, Rob?” I asked. I might as well start by getting him involved.

With a smile of thanks, Rob replied, “How about we start at the Playground on the other side of the mountain? We can warm up there, and then consider where else to go.”

Turning back to my sister, I ignored her look of disgust. “That sounds great to me. I skied there yesterday and I didn’t think it was too hard. Let’s go!”

“We’ll tag along, too, if you don’t mind,” Paul said. “A couple of warm-up runs sound good to me.”

The Eagle is a triple chairlift, which means that up to three can go up at a time. It was obvious that Diane wasn’t going to sit next to Rob, so I made sure I took the far outside position. With Rob sitting next to me, Diane didn’t have a lot of choices. Taking the petty way out, she elected to ride the next lift up with Chris and Paul, letting Rob and I go up by ourselves.

As we headed off, I asked, “Rob, have you and Diane ever had an argument like this before?”

He shook his head as he leant forward and rested his crossed arms on the safety rail. “No. We’ve had a couple of minor disagreements, but she’s never done this to me before. Not that she isn’t justified,” he finished sadly.

“She’s justified in being angry with you,” I agreed, “but she’s not justified in treating you like dirt. Just be patient. When she’s like this, it often takes her a couple of days to calm down. If she’s still being unreasonable at the end of the day, don’t despair. Just keep trying to be nice to her without patronising, and I’m sure she’ll come around.”

“Do you really think so?” Rob asked. The eagerness with which he grabbed at any ray of hope was pathetic to see, but he was so much in love with my sister that I don’t think he can currently conceive of her not being in his life. He said that last night he has been close to proposing!

“Yes, I do,” I said with a smile. Keeping his spirits up is a bit of a chore, but I think it’s worth it. I wouldn’t mind him being my brother-in-law one day.

We sat silent for the next couple of minutes. As the top of the lift came into view the in distance, Rob cleared his throat to attract my attention.

“Er, Greg, you’re being really helpful to me at the moment, and I want to say I really appreciate it. So, please don’t take this the wrong way,” he said hesitantly.

I looked at him blankly. With an introduction like that, this should be interesting. I just had no idea what it was he was going to say.

“You probably didn’t mean to do it, but you were quite cruel to Chris and Paul back in the lodge, just before we left. They’re not sex-mad, and you would’ve been perfectly safe staying in their room. I think you should talk to them about it before we head back,” he said. He was trying hard to not make it sound like an accusation, but I knew what he meant.

As for them not being sex-mad, he didn’t find them cavorting around the lodge, stark naked, in the middle of the day. Okay, it may not be sex-mad, but it certainly looks like they have a healthy sex-life.

“I apologised to them before we left the lodge,” I explained. “I was trying to shock Diane out of her mood, and I knew I was going a little overboard even before I said it. They know I didn’t really mean it.”

Rob looked relieved, as he gave me one of his lopsided smiles. “Thanks, Greg. Chris is one of my best friends, and I get a bit defensive when I think he’s being abused or stereotyped, simply because he’s gay.”

The conversation died at that point. Rob was still wallowing in his private misery, though I was impressed that he made an effort to break out of it long enough to support his gay friend. Hopefully that means he’ll be another person who won’t turn away from me when he finds out I’m gay too.

As we approached the top of the lift, and were getting ready to ski off, I suddenly found myself getting angry. Why did I need to worry so much about what people will do when they find out I’m gay? Why should it matter? It’s just not fair! It’s not like I’ll be any different when they find out. Unless they are planning on sleeping with me, they won’t see a change. For them to alter their opinion based on my sexuality is like forming an opinion on someone based on their favourite sexual position. Unless you’re in bed with the person, what difference does it make?

And so that’s how I learnt yet another important lesson on the ski fields — pay attention to what you’re doing when you get off a ski lift.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts, that I didn’t notice that there were a number of lumps of ice near the exit. As Dan had taught me, to get off the lift I stood up and let the chair push me forward and away. My left ski hit one of these lumps, and it was forced to the right, directly into the path of my other ski. After much practise at falling over the day before, I was mildly glad to see that crossing my skis over each other was still an excellent way to make myself crash.

The embarrassing part was that I was lying directly in the path the other skiers would need to take to get off the chairlift. The towie at the top of the lift was on the ball and stopped the lift before I caused a major pile-up. That left me rushing to get back on my feet and away from the exit as fast as I can, in the full view of the people on the next chair — Diane, Paul and Chris.

Even Rob couldn’t hide the smile he had on his face as I grabbed my skis and clambered off to the side. As I pulled myself back together, I wondered how long I could trade on the phrase, “I’m only a beginner.”

The towie had restarted the lift and the others were off and waiting for me before I had myself organised. With a grin to hide my cringing, and the cold to disguise my blush, I rejoined the group.

“What kept you, Greg? We’ve been waiting here for hours,” Chris quipped.

“Sorry, but I thought I saw a snow bunny, and I had to get down to make a closer examination. Unfortunately, she was a bit too cold for my taste,” I retorted. Skiing yesterday with Dan had been useful in more than one way. He had given me a whole set of excuses to use when I needed them.

With a laugh, we went skiing down the nice, wide Playground run. Paul and Chris went for what I now recognised as a racing tuck to see who could get down to the lift the fastest. Diane, Rob and I took a more leisurely route down, doing slow turns to control our speed as we went down. Concentrating hard, I managed to do the entire run without falling down. I had to stop twice when I started to lose control, but Dan had taught me how and when to do that too. It was just one of those useful tips that Rob hadn’t mentioned. As Dan said the very first time we spoke, Rob has forgotten the little things that a beginner needs to know.

By the time I got to the bottom, Diane and Rob were waiting for me. The sudden appearance of Paul and Chris as they came to a stop startled me and I had to wave my arms wildly to maintain my balance. It seems that they had gone back up the lift and skied down again, all in the time it took me to get down the run once.

“You’re looking good, Greg,” Rob said, admiringly. “Was that just a lucky run, or do you think you can do that again?”

“I think I can do it again, though I may have a fall,” I replied. I had managed to get down the run without falling over once yesterday too, but I was still unable to do it without stopping.

“Why don’t we do another warm-up run, then?” Rob suggested. “If you can do it again, I think we might be able to go over to Towers and ski there for the day.”

“Towers?” I asked, not understanding what he meant, as we joined the line to get on the lift. There were two poma’s running, which was something I was confident about riding.

“The Towers T-bar,” Paul explained. “It’s a blue or intermediate run, rather than a green or beginners’ run. It’s one of the easier ones, though, so while it’ll be challenging, it may not be too hard for you. You’re certainly skiing better than I would have expected for someone who’s only been skiing for a day.”

“So that’s what the colours mean on the map of the ski fields,” I said, as it became clear. “I seem to recall that there was another colour used as well.”

“Yeah, black. That’s for experts. Most people use the colours, rather than the level, so you’ll hear people talking about skiing black runs or blue runs more than expert or intermediate. They also use shapes, with green runs being represented by circles, blue runs by squares and black runs by diamonds. There aren’t any here, but some places have double black diamond runs. They’re for the insane,” Paul said, rolling his eyes.

With that, we were at the front of the line and ready to ride. Carefully remembering all of Dan’s instructions, I grabbed the poma and took off like a pro. That is, apart from the frantic jumping around on my skis to stop them from heading in opposite directions with what would’ve been dire consequences.

My second run didn’t go quite as well as my first. Being generous to myself, I still considered it a run without falling down, but that’s only because I managed to fling my ski poles out in front of me to stop myself from falling flat on my face as my skis did the splits. Still, it was only the once, so that’s an improvement over the multiple crashes at the start of yesterday.

After watching me, Rob was of the opinion that I could probably handle the runs around the Towers T-Bar, and Paul concurred, so off we all went. The last bit of the trail to the run was through a short tunnel, which took us under the line of T-bars that were constantly circling around. As we came out, I felt a momentary panic. While the run was nice and wide, and they had run a grooming machine over it to make it smooth, it looked a lot steeper than I was used to.

I looked at Rob, but his eyes were fixed on my sister as she started down the run. She was moving stiffly, but confidently down the slope. Biting my lip, I took a look around before getting ready to start. If I lost control, this might be the last thing I see.

Suddenly I heard laughter from behind me. Twisting around, I saw Paul smiling and Chris chuckling as they stood there watching me.

“Sorry, Greg,” Chris apologised between laughs, “but you looked like you were preparing to die.”

“I was!” I retorted, “This is slope is almost vertical! How am I supposed to ski it?”

“It’s not that bad,” Paul said, soothingly. “It’s really only a little bit steeper than the Playground, but you’re not used to it. Just do exactly what you were doing before and trust your skis. If you do things right, your skis will do the same thing here as they did before. It’s only if you become hesitant that you’ll get into trouble. You showed that you know what to do if you start to get too fast, so just remember that and go and have fun.”

I appreciated Paul’s comments, but that slope still looked too steep for me. Almost vertical was a bit of an exaggeration but, for a beginner like me, that’s what it looked like. Trusting to the first-aid abilities of the ski patrol after the inevitable crash, I headed off.

It was challenging, but I managed to get to the bottom after four crashes. To the best of my knowledge, I didn’t leave any body parts behind on the way down, and nothing seemed bruised. Paul’s comments were prophetic — at least two of the crashes were because I got nervous during a turn and instinctively leant to the inside instead of keeping my weight to the outside as I had been taught.

Chris pulled up shakily next to me after the third crash. Since I had seen him whiz by earlier, I knew he was on at least his second run down. Paul pulled up smoothly seconds later. It was pretty clear that Paul was beyond Chris in skill, but the two of them were both able to have fun skiing the same runs. Chris was a bit messy, especially compared to Paul’s neat style, but he managed to get down the runs without trouble.

“You’re doing well, Greg! I saw at least two complete turns before you crashed. For only your second day, I think that’s exceptional!” Chris encouraged.

“I agree,” Paul added. “Don’t expect to get all the way down without a crash or two, but you’re improving steadily. Just keep going and you’ll be fine.”

As I watched them shoot off again, I admitted to myself that even though I was crashing often, I was enjoying myself. The fact that I could feel myself getting better didn’t hurt either.

When I managed to reach the bottom, I found Rob and Diane waiting near the lift line. Pulling to a stop next to them, I grinned as wide as I could.

“Sorry to take so long, but that was fun!” I said. I even managed to surprise myself with the realisation that it was true.

“That’s okay, Greg. I didn’t want to ride up the lift by myself, so I thought I’d wait for you anyway,” Diane said.

The wince on Rob’s face as he stood behind here was painfully obvious. My sister looks like she’s moved into the phase of ignoring her boyfriend. It’s a step along from abuse, but only a small one. It doesn’t really help them move on from where they are.

The three of us joined the line. As this was going to be my first time on a T-bar lift, I watched with interest on how it worked.

Just like the poma, the concept of the T-bar was simple: Just a large upside down T on a cable. One person would stand either side of the middle bar with the cross piece behind their bums. The lift would then drag them up the hill. The tricky part was getting two people to move themselves from the line, and into position, without falling over their skis and before the next T-bar came around. It was clear that the more experienced person was best on the far side, as they could get there quicker.

“Hey, it’s Greg, the porn star!”

The loud female voice startled me. Diane and Rob, as well as everyone else in the line who heard it, turned to look at the towie who yelled it out.

“Hi, Kelly,” I smiled, as I transferred my ski poles into my left hand so I could shake her hand with my right. “And I’m a male stripper, not a porn star.”

“Stripper, porn star, what’s the difference? I’m just sorry I missed the show,” she answered with a grin. “How about a quick repeat before you get on the lift?”

“Now, what would your boyfriend say, Kelly?” I admonished.

As she shrugged in response, I saw a slack-jawed Diane and Rob looking at the two of us. I also saw a few girls nearby staring at me with interest, which made me blush. Turning back to Kelly, I waved a hand towards the other two.

“Kelly, this is my sister, Diane, and her boyfriend, Rob.”

“G’day! If you’re related to Greg, I better check your lift tickets. I’ve never met a more shifty looking guy,” Kelly said, as she walked the short distance to the other two.

As Rob showed her his lift ticket, I could see him staring at me in puzzlement. Seeing no point in trying to play any games, I told him the truth.

“Kelly is Dan’s roommate. I met her yesterday in their room before Dan took me skiing. I’m guessing he filled her in on last night’s activities.”

“So, you must be Dan’s girlfriend,” Diane half-stated, half-asked as she held out her ticket to be checked.

Kelly laughed, “No. Dan doesn’t have a girlfriend, at least as far as I know.”

My sister still looked confused, so I thought I’d try to straighten her out. It might also take her mind off her anger with Rob.

“Dan, Kelly and Garret share a room. The lift company decides who is in which room, and those three ended up together. That’s all there is to it. Kelly’s boyfriend is coming up from Melbourne next Friday.” Turning to Kelly, I asked, “Did I get it all right?”

“Spot on!” she grinned. “Now, how about that repeat performance?”

“Sorry, but last night was my farewell show. I’m now retired,” I rebutted firmly.

“Damn! I always seem to miss out on the good stuff,” she grumbled. Before I could say anything else, she looked at me quizzically, “This will be your first time on a T-bar, won’t it, Greg?”

At my nod of agreement, she continued, “Just tell Caleb that when you get to the front of the line. He’ll look after you. Now I have to get back to work. I’ve got a double shift today so I can have time off next weekend.”

With an absentminded wave of her hand, she continued down the line, checking the lift tickets of the other skiers. I felt a small warm glow as I watched her walk off; it’s always nice to be recognised. I could have done without the loud announcement when she came up, but it was good to see another face I recognised.

As Kelly predicted, Caleb was quite helpful when it came to my turn to get on the lift. Rob wanted to ride the lift up with Diane, but she ordered him to go up with me instead. While Caleb was telling me what to do, Rob quickly shuffled his skis over to the far side of the lift track. With a quick warning to be ready for a starting jolt, Caleb placed the bar in position behind our bums and we were off.

I could see why they had two people working the lift. It must put quite a strain on the back to grab the T-bars, then turn and place it in position behind the riders. Doing that constantly for a full shift would leave them crippled. By having two towies, they could keep swapping to get a break.

“She was a nice looking girl,” Rob remarked, interrupting my train of thought.

“Kelly? Yeah, she is. Her boyfriend is a lucky guy,” I replied. If I kept mentioning that she had a boyfriend, it will hopefully explain why I wasn’t paying more attention to her looks. Having a reputation as a nice guy included not preying on other guys girlfriends. That was quite useful when I wanted to avoid mentioning that I hadn’t paid any attention to what they looked like.

“It’s a pity that we’re heading back to Melbourne, today,” he said. “From the looks I saw some of the girls give you, back in the line, you could’ve had a good night tonight. Kelly did you a real favour, calling you a porn star,” he finished with a grin.

I quickly schooled my face into a weak grin to hide the panic I was feeling. Surely he wasn’t going to try to get me to talk to any of those girls! This was not a topic I wanted to continue, but stuck on a lift with Rob, the only option for getting away from him would be to fall off. Searching quickly for something else to talk about, I fell back on the problem of my sister.

“What did you and Diane talk about while you were waiting for me?” I asked.

Rob’s grin fell faster than a peregrine falcon in a dive. When his face twisted into an expression of pain, I immediately felt ashamed at my change of subject. I think it would’ve been better to let Rob tease me about the girls, than to keep reminding him of his breaking heart.

“Nothing,” was his curt response, “She wouldn’t even acknowledge that I was there.”

To that, I had no answer. The rest of the ride was completed in silence.

We skied there for the rest of the morning. Paul and Chris would do two runs to my one, but always stopped for a chat when we were all around at the same time. Rob could have done that as well, but he stayed close to my sister instead — delicately treading the line between hovering annoyingly and just being there if she wanted him. As Diane always waited for me, that meant Rob spent most of his time standing around, waiting.

Diane stayed cold to Rob, but she relaxed with me; her love of skiing slowly eroding her anger and pain. She still wouldn’t ride the lift with Rob; choosing instead to either ride with me, or a stranger.

I decided I had to do something about this. She could still refuse to speak to him, but getting the two of them onto the lift together may just start the two talking again.

So, at the end of the last run before we headed off for lunch, I made sure I was next to Diane in the line, with Rob behind me. Kelly was the one operating the lift at the time, so I knew she would be sympathetic to me. Well, at least to a degree. I had already picked up that she could be a bit bitchy when things were not going her way.

When Diane was distracted by the spectacle of someone falling off the lift — something I had managed to avoid, so far — I leant back and whispered to Rob, “Be ready to get on the lift with Di.”

Not giving him a chance to respond, I shuffled forward in the line so I was next to my sister again.

At last it was our turn. Diane moved over to the far side, but instead of taking my position, I tripped over my skis and crashed to the snow. I made sure I fell away from the lift, as I didn’t want to hold it up.

“Shit! Rob, you take this one,” I called out from where I was sprawled.

Right on cue, Rob neatly moved into position next to Diane, and Kelly positioned the T-bar. Before Diane could open her mouth to protest, they were off.

Happy at having done my good deed for the day, I got back to my feet and started to put my skis back on.

“I would’ve thought a porn star would be more agile than that,” Kelly remarked dryly, as she continued to operate the lift. “Is it only on the stage, and in bed, that you’re able to perform?”

“I told you before, I’m retired,” I replied, wondering how much more grief I was going to get from her.

“You know, that must be the only career where being a little stiff in the morning is a good thing, and not a sign of old age,” she added, as if I hadn’t said anything.

Looking around wildly, I spotted my salvation.

“Kelly, there are kids present. Don’t you think you should cut it out?” I asked, pointing back at the lift line where an overly large number of people were listening intently.

She shrugged, “If you’ve retired, cutting it out won’t hurt your career. Though it means you can’t make a comeback, which I think is a bit drastic.”

Having finished putting my skis back on, and moved back to the front of the line, I elected to reply to that last comment with a dignified silence. I had a sinking feeling that any other response would just land me in more hot water.

For the first time, I ended up being the one to go to the far side of the lift. Moving quickly I got into position before looking back to see who would be joining me. It was with dismay that I saw two girls around my age, arguing about who was to share the ride with me. Kelly didn’t help either, by flicking the T-bar’s over my head instead of letting me ride up by myself.

“Hurry up, girls. Porn stars can’t be left waiting,” she remarked.

The taller of the two girls appeared to accidentally knock the other one off-balance. Taking advantage of the situation, she quickly moved to stand next to me. Giving me a quick grin, she grabbed the T-bar as Kelly put it in position, and we were off.

“Hi! I’m Melissa,” she gushed.

With a fake grin, I said, “Hi, Melissa. I’m Greg.”

“I’m staying at Cedarwood with a couple of friends. Where are you staying, Greg?” she asked, as she leant into me more than strictly necessary.

“I’m heading back home today. I was only up here for the weekend,” I explained gently. As her face fell, I added, “And I’m not a porn star. Kelly was just calling me that because I went in the wet-jock competition last night at the Man.”

“Oh, we missed that. We spent most of the night dancing at the Frying Pan,” she said, her disappointment evident.

The rest of the trip up the lift went quickly. Whether it was because she knew I was disappearing, or that I wasn’t really a porn star, I don’t know, but most of her interest in me quickly evaporated. Being careful to not let any sign of it escape, I internally sighed with relief. Fending off girls was not something I liked doing. Besides being painful for me, it was cruel to them. They shouldn’t have to waste their time trying to chase me when they could be going for some of the more eligible, and willing, guys around. Life would be so much easier if I could just tell them up front that I was gay.

As I left the lift, I skied over to where Rob and Diane waited. Rob was standing in a slumped position. If it wasn’t for the fact that his ski boots were keeping him upright, I think he would have been lying down under the weight of despair he was obviously feeling. Diane, on the other hand, was standing stiffly with self-righteous fury.

“Where have you been?” she shrieked at me. “I’ve just sent Chris and Paul down again to see what had happened to you.”

In an effort to try to defuse her temper, I pasted a content smile onto my face.

“Sorry, but I was busy chatting to a girl called Melissa. That’s who I rode the lift up with. It’s a pity that we’re leaving tonight, as otherwise I think I would’ve had a date for tonight,” I replied amiably.

Diane frowned at me, as if she was trying to decide if she could believe me, before she twisted away with a grunt of disgust.

Rob gave me a wry smile. His heart wasn’t in it, but I could tell he was trying to be happy for me.

“Maybe next time, Greg. That’s if you want to come skiing again, of course,” he said. It would have sounded a lot better if he had managed to inject some enthusiasm into it, but I suppose it was the thought that counted.

Lunch was not a happy occasion.

We were all sitting at a table in Cloud Nine, with Rob and Paul on one side of the table, and Chris, Diane and me on the other. The way Diane carefully sat as far from Rob as possible was insulting, but Rob just took it, as if it was his due. Paul and Chris were in a good mood, but I still caught them exchanging worried looks over the stress in Rob and Diane’s relationship. Apart from making a few comments about how much I was enjoying the skiing, and blushing at the compliments that they gave me on how well I was doing, I kept quiet. Rob was a lot quieter than normal too, though Chris made up for that, to some extent. Diane chatted amiably with Paul, about kitchen cabinets of all things! Paul tried to drag Rob into the conversation by asking his opinion on a couple of items, but Diane would just interrupt and answer for him.

As we finished up, I decided I needed to give Rob a break. He was going through a slow meltdown, being alternatively ignored and belittled by my hot-headed sister.

“Rob, can I ask for a favour?”

“What do you want, Greg? Maybe someone else can help you,” Diane interrupted. I caught Rob’s wince at that putdown, which just reinforced my decision.

Ignoring my sister, I leant forward and spoke directly to Rob. “I promised Dan I’d meet him after he finished his lunch. Can you show me the way down to the Frying Pan? I don’t think I can remember the way Dan took me late yesterday.”

As he tried to work out what to do, Rob gave Diane a forlorn look. From the cold stare he received back in reply, I could tell he was going to be abused, no matter what he decided to do.

With a sigh, he looked back at me and sadly nodded as he rose to his feet, “Okay, Greg. I’ll be with you shortly. I just need to go to the toilet first.”

“I’ll meet you outside,” I called out to his retreating back.

Standing up, I looked back down at others at the table. “Chris, Paul, we’ll meet you back at the Towers.”

Before heading off, I looked down at my sister. Her anger seems to have disappeared at the same time as Rob, but I knew it was still simmering below the surface. I opened my mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Closing my jaw, I just shook my head at her.

“What is it, Greg?” Diane asked. For once that morning, she actually sounded concerned.

“Be angry, if you want, but don’t drive him away. You’ll always regret it, if you do,” I answered softly. Patting her on the shoulder, I added, “I love you both. I don’t want to see either of you hurt.”

Walking away, stiffly because I still wasn’t used to the ski boots I was wearing, I reflected that I had actually said that I loved Rob, as well as my sister. While I’ve always lusted after him, that had just been a mental game. I knew he wasn’t for me. But after seeing the way she had been treating him all morning, and recognising the possibility that she might force him to leave, I realised that he meant more to me than that. He and Diane made a good couple, and I wanted both of them to be happy. Rob was a friend as well as my sister’s boyfriend. I’ll never be close to him — that would risk revealing too much — but I wouldn’t be happy if he dropped out of my life.

Outside, I retrieved my skis and waited for Rob. If nothing else, this little excursion would give me a chance to have a chat with him. I have to make sure he doesn’t give up hope.

“Ready to go, Greg?”

If my boots hadn’t been securely fastened to my skis, I would have jumped as Rob’s voice startled me. I should’ve been paying more attention to what was going on around me. As it was, only a bit of furious arm waving stopped me from falling over, as I recovered my balance just in time.

As Rob watched sardonically, I snarled at him, “Don’t sneak up on me, alright! I’m still learning to stand in these stupid things.”

Rob seemed to collapse within himself. Feeling like a complete louse, I apologised. “Sorry, Rob. I didn’t mean to snap at you. You’ve had enough of that from Diane today.”

The wane smile he gave in response was a poor reflection of his usual sexy grin. He was really suffering.

“Let’s go,” I said, pushing off, “We can talk on the way, if you like.”

It was just as well that I had asked Rob to take me back to the village, as he started by going a completely different way to what I expected. He stayed too far in front of me for a conversation, which I took as a hint that he wasn’t ready to talk yet.

Partway down, we came to a large open section that I found familiar from yesterday’s skiing. Rob was waiting for me, as I skied up to him. Looking around, I realised that there were several trails leading into this point, and that all Rob had done was to take me down one that I hadn’t been on before.

“Can we stop for a bit, Greg,” Rob asked hesitantly.

“Sure, Rob,” I replied calmly, internally cheering. It looked like I might get the chance to keep his spirits up, after all.

There was a large section of orange mesh fencing along the downhill side of the area, protecting skiers from going over the edge, or into the ski lift tower that support the chairlift above us. Rob stuck his poles into the snow and rested his arms on them, as he looked over the mesh and down the hill towards the village below us.

“Have things gone too far?” Rob asked softly.

Moving slightly so that I stood next to him, I watched him instead of the view.

“No,” I stated firmly. “You made a mistake, we both know that, but Diane is blowing it out of all proportion.”

After waiting for him to absorb that, I asked, “Do you know why?”

Straightening up, Rob looked across at me quizzically. “Because I’m a dickhead?” he asked rhetorically.

“No! She’s angry because you hurt her badly. The only reason she got hurt was because she loves you so much. If she wasn’t so deeply and totally in love with you, it wouldn’t have caused so much pain.”

“And because I’m so deeply and totally in love with her, she’s causing me so much pain in return,” Rob stated numbly, as he returned his gaze to the view below us.

“Exactly right!” I exclaimed, a bit louder than I should have. Throttling the volume back a notch, I added, “Now, remember that and keep telling yourself so until she comes around.”

Rob looked confused, “That she’s causing me pain?”

“No, you idiot! That you both love each other, and that’s the only reason it’s hurting.” I explained.

Rob was still standing there, staring out over the open space to the village below, but there was something subtly different in his stance. I was hoping that this meant he was thinking about what I had said, and recognising the fundamental truth in it.

We stood there for a few minutes, as I let Rob think. I was beginning to get a bit anxious about leaving Dan waiting, but making sure Rob didn’t give up was more important. To pass the time, I watched the people riding the chairlift above us. The clothing people wear at the snow makes it hard to work out which guys are sexy, but it was something to do while I waited. That’s why I saw a kid drop a ski from the chairlift.

He was young, probably only eight or nine, and he had been tapping his skis together as he rode the lift with what looked like his mum. He must have tapped too hard, because one of skis came off his boot and fell to the slope below us.

“Noooooo!” I heard him cry, panic in his voice as he twisted around to look at the ski on the ground.

Rob woke up at that. Looking around, he quickly took in the scene. Raising a hand to shield his eyes, he squinted up as the boy and his mother passed overhead.

“I’LL GET IT FOR YOU,” Rob yelled up. “WAIT FOR ME AT THE TOP!”

I saw the mum wave an acknowledgment as the lift took them away and the boy’s distressed crying faded into the distance.

Turning to me, Rob said quickly, “I’ll meet you further down. You should know the way,” as he pointed to the main trail off to our right. Not waiting for a response, he grabbed his poles and skied over to the corner of the clearing. Slipping under the rope there, he headed straight down the hill under the chairlift to where the ski had fallen.

Pulling myself away from admiring how smoothly he tackled the steep and rock-filled slope, I headed off down the trail. As Rob has said, I did know the way. It would have been hard to get lost, as there was only one obvious path downhill.

I found Rob waiting for me a couple of minutes later, holding the kid’s ski in one hand, and both his poles in the other. Pulling up to a shaky stop next to him, I also noticed that he seemed somehow more alive than he had been only shortly before. Whether it was our chat, or simply because he had something positive to do, I don’t know, but I was happy to see it.

“Greg, I’ll take you to where the turn off to the Frying Pan is located, before heading down to the bottom to catch the lift back up,” Rob said. “Will you be okay from there?”

I grinned back, “Sure! I just didn’t know where the turn off the main trail was. Once I’m on it, I’ll be fine.”

With his lopsided smile appearing back on his face, he started moving, “Come on, then. We can’t keep that kid waiting!”

The turn off to the village wasn’t too far away. After making sure I was okay, Rob started racing down the trail to the lift below. Watching him go, the energy with which he moved was the Rob I knew. With my heart a lot happier, I turned and made my way carefully along the trail through the trees until I came out just above the Eagle chair lift. I could see Dan standing outside the Frying Pan, looking around as he held his skis in his left hand. As he spotted me skiing towards him, he started walking over, using the skis like a walking stick.

I decided to try the sliding stop that Paul and Rob used so effectively. It didn’t look too hard. All you had to do was to turn the skis sideways at the last minute so they acted as a brake.

I should’ve known better by now. Coming up to where Dan was, I twisted the skis sideways, and they stopped beautifully. It would have been nice if my body had decided to stop too. Instead, my body kept going and I crashed at Dan’s feet.

“No good, Greg,” Dan said with a grin as he looked down at me. “Your crash yesterday is still the best one that I’ve seen you do. Do you want to go back and try crashing again?”

He reached a hand down and helped me up. Dusting the worst of the snow off, I walked the short distance back to where my skis patiently waited for me. I could almost imagine them laughing at the fun they were having.

“I think I’ll pass,” I replied as I picked up the instruments of embarrassment. “It looks like I’ve been doing too much practising and I’m getting stale. Maybe I should practise something else instead. Say, staying upright?”

“Sounds good to me,” Dan replied happily as he put his skis on the ground and clipped his boots in. “Where would you like to go to do that?”

“The others are going to be at the Towers. How does that sound to you?” I answered, as I started putting my skis back on. “Oh, and sorry for being a bit late, but I had a few problems.”

“That’s okay,” Dan said, waving off my apology, “I was more surprised to see you arriving by the home trail. I didn’t think you’d remember where it was.”

“Actually, I didn’t. Rob showed it to me, and then headed off down to the main chairlift. A kid dropped a ski off the lift and Rob was taking it back for him,” I admitted, as I finally stood back up with my skis on. Hopefully this time they’d behave.

“Dropped a ski?” Dan repeated, surprised. “That doesn’t happen very often. It sounds like someone didn’t adjust the skis properly and the boot was too loose. It happens sometimes, but not if people take their gear to someone who knows what they are doing.”

As we sat down on the Eagle chairlift, I gave Dan a warm smile.

“You know, I’ve had a fantastic time this weekend, Dan. While I’ve got the chance, I want to say thanks for the help you’ve given me. It’s really been appreciated!”

“No problems, mate. I’ve enjoyed getting out and onto slopes I haven’t skied for a long time. I’ve also enjoyed the company. A fresh happy face, even one covered in snow from crashing all the time,” he said with a cheeky grin, “is a welcome sight.”

Looking ahead to where the lift was taking us, I smiled. Dan was right. The good company was a great bonus to the time away.

“I’ve got work to keep me occupied for the next couple of weeks, but I don’t think my boss has anything major scheduled after that. I’m thinking of taking a week off and coming back up here. A weekend just isn’t long enough,” I remarked.

“If you do, let me know. The accommodation is pretty basic, but you can stay in the room with Kelly, Garret and me, if you like. We have a spare bed, but even if the lift company assigns someone to it, which I don’t expect this late in the season, you can always sleep on the floor. Given how seldom Garret sleeps there, you could probably even use his bed as a last resort,” Dan offered.

I looked across at him in surprise. That was a very generous offer to someone who he’s only known for twenty-four hours! Remembering the tiki he gave me to wear for luck last night, I felt a little guilty at how generous he was being. However, the offer was too good to pass up.

“Do you snore?” I asked, pretending suspicion.

“I’ve never heard myself snore,” Dan replied stiffly, before collapsing into a smile, “Why, do you?”

“I can honestly say that I’ve never heard myself snore either,” I laughed. “Okay, it’s a deal. Let me know what I have to bring, and whether there is anything you or your roommates want from Melbourne.”

“Hmmm,” Dan pondered slowly. “If you want Garret to be happy, bring a few large packets of condoms. He goes through so many, it must be getting expensive for him. Kelly’s not very greedy. A big box of chocolates should do the trick there. I’ll let you know if I need anything, but I don’t think I do.

“Now, as for contacting me to get this organised, did you bring any homing pigeons?” he asked, deadpan.

I looked back at him, then let my face fall, “I’m sorry, Dan. I didn’t think to bring any. Can I borrow some of yours?”

He looked worried, “Sorry, no. I’m all out. They all froze and the chef cooked them by accident.” Tilting his head to the side, he asked, “Maybe we should use some old-fashioned technology instead, like a mobile phone. Just make sure I give you my number before you go.”

I sighed with resignation, “I suppose that’s the simplest way, since we don’t have any homing pigeons.”

The rest of the trip up we discussed what I needed to do for a week up here in the snow. Buying my own ski gear seemed the biggest expense. Dan recommended I buy my own boots and clothes. Hiring skis and poles was not too expensive, and it meant that as I improved I could change my skis to suit my ability. The boots, however, were critical; an ill-fitting pair of boots would spell disaster. He gave me a few suggested brands, but recommended that I take an experienced skier with me when I went shopping, if I could.

Arriving at the top, we headed over to the Towers. As we passed Cloud Nine, we were hailed.

“Greg, Dan. Wait up!”

Looking across, we saw Rob skiing up to us from the direction of the building.

“What are you doing here?” I asked him as he caught up with us.

He gave me a wry look. “Did you really think I’d go meet your sister without you? She’d rip me to shreds before she found out what was going on. Then when she did find out, she’d rip me to shreds again for leaving you.”

Dan looked perplexed, so I filled him in. “Rob and Diane are currently fighting. The reason doesn’t matter, but Rob’s in my sister’s bad book at the moment.”

After giving a shrug of the shoulders, as if to say it was none of his business, Dan grinned. “Well now that we’re all together, let’s get going.”

I enjoyed the afternoon. With Dan there, I could ignore the tension between Rob and Diane to some extent. Rob seemed a bit happier, or at least not as miserable, so hopefully our little chat had some impact. Paul challenged Dan to a race at one point, but Dan turned it down. He said that it wasn’t safe to race on that slope because there were too many beginners. Paul narrowed his eyes at that, and I knew he was thinking of calling Dan a coward, but the excuse was too legitimate to ignore.

All too soon, we found ourselves back at Cloud Nine for a farewell drink. no one really wanted to go, and some of the conversation was just to delay our departure. One question, though, attracted my attention.

“Dan, which run do you think is the most challenging at Falls Creek?” Chris asked.

Dan stared him for a moment as he took another sip of his hot chocolate.

“Well, it depends on what you mean by challenging,” he eventually responded in a slow drawl. “Most people would say the runs through the trees off the International Poma near the village. The Valley of the Moon is a particularly popular run. However, that’s not the most challenging one that I’ve done.

“That one would have to be the Wombat’s Ramble,” he said slowly.

“But that’s a green run!” Paul exclaimed, “It’s for beginners. It’s not difficult!”

“Try it blindfolded,” Dan responded dryly.

As everyone’s jaw dropped open in amazement, he explained. “We have a number of disabled skiers who come up here. One of the instructors was training to take blind skiers and he needed a ‘student’. As it was on one of my days off, I volunteered. He put a blindfold on me and off we went.

“Learning to trust his instructions, and trying to feel both the snow and the slope beneath my skis, was terrifying. Several times I felt like ripping the blindfold off, as I felt I was about to go out of control. Eventually we came to a stop and he told me I could look again. I found myself at the bottom of Wombat’s Ramble, covered in sweat. That was definitely the most challenging run I’ve ever done. It’s also one that I’m not sure I’d like to do again,” he finished firmly, shuddering from the memory.

Fresh from skiing that run myself, I could appreciate what he was saying. It wasn’t a hard run, but to do it without being able to see what was ahead must have been nerve-wracking.

Eventually we said good-bye to Dan and we all skied down to get our gear. Rob took me down to the hotel to return my hire gear and then we all wandered down to the car-park to wait for the bus. The mood was sombre, both because of the tension that still remained between Rob and Diane, and also because no one really wanted to leave. It had been a great weekend, but it was time to go back to Melbourne.

We rode the bus back in silence. Instead of the full size coach that we came up in, this one was really just a small mini-bus. Rob quietly explained that the small buses were used for the trips between Mt. Beauty and Falls Creek and the big buses were used for the trips to and from Melbourne.

Before we knew it, we found ourselves back in Rob’s car and on the road home. Rob took the wheel for the first part of the drive, and I took the front passenger seat. I would have been happy to sit in the back, this time, as I was too tired to care, but Diane refused to take the front seat next to Rob. I thought she was being petty, but there was no point telling her that.

As we were driving into Myrtleford, Rob finally broke the silence.

“Well, Greg, how did you enjoy your first trip to the snow?” he asked.

“Fucking fantastic!” I answered with tired enthusiasm. “I’m already planning on coming back up in a couple of week’s time.”

“You are?” Rob asked, surprised, “I hadn’t planned on another trip that early.”

“I was discussing it with Dan earlier. He suggested I catch the bus up from Melbourne and stay with him for the week,” I explained.

“A week? Not just a weekend?” I heard Paul ask from behind me.

Twisting around to look at the people in the back seat, I smiled, “Yep! I’m well and truly hooked, and a weekend just isn’t going to be long enough. I’m sure I can get the time off work, and with Dan providing the accommodation, it shouldn’t be too expensive.”

As I sat back in my seat, Rob flicked me a grin before going back to concentrating on his driving. “So the next time you meet someone like Melissa, you can take advantage of it.”

I carefully kept my face to the front. Given how tired I was, I didn’t want my response to that suggestion to be seen. I’ll leave the Melissas of the world to the Garrets. They would be made for each other.

“I’ll probably be off work around that time as well,” I heard Paul comment, “If I can talk Chris into taking some time off, how about we all go up together? You could stay with us, too.”

At the idea of another extended drive with Paul in the car, I smiled. I knew if Rob saw it, he’d misinterpret it as just enthusiasm for skiing, or maybe fantasizing about the girls.

Twisting around again, I grinned back at Paul and Chris. “That sounds great, Paul, but I’ll pass on the accommodation. I’ll leave you two a chance to get up to all the games you missed out on this weekend,” I replied with a wink

“I’m not sure I can take the time off, Paul,” Chris said hesitantly as he looked at his boyfriend.

Paul leant over and started whispering in Chris’ ear. I made a half-hearted attempt to overhear, but it was too soft to understand anything over the noise of the car.

“Okay, I’ll see what I can do, but no promises,” Chris finally stated. “Greg, I’ll leave you our phone number so we can sort out what we’ll do.”

The rest of the trip was reasonably quiet. Diane drove the section down the Hume, and I sat next to Chris in the back. It took a little bit of quick footwork to make sure it was him, and not Paul, that I sat next too, but that was a lot safer for me.

After they dropped me off at home, I stood on the curb and watched them drive off. I had had a lot of misgivings about the trip at the start, and the trip up was extremely stressful, but the result more than made up for it. I was now addicted! Gaining a new friend was another bonus of the trip. I had Chris and Paul’s phone number, so I had another set of people to talk to when I was ready to come out of the closet. It was a really productive and enjoyable weekend.

I couldn’t wait to see what the next trip would bring.

NEXT CHAPTER