Chapter 4- Into the Mountains on a Favor..

“Oh come on Charles,” Christian begged. “You have to go!”

“Ugh seriously?” Charles asked. His friend was asking him to come snowboarding with him in two days. “You’ve given me no time to prepare,” Charles said annoyed.

“Call it a one time I owe you,” Christian said. He needed Charles to come with him.

“Seriously?” Charles asked again. “Why do you want me to go so bad?”

“I need another friend to go with us or we don’t get the free package,” Christian explained.

“Fine I’ll go,” Charles said. “But you will owe me one.”

“Ok I’ll owe you one,” Christian said. “But you’ll thank me later,” he thought.

 

 

Two days later, Sasha was lugging her suitcase up the steps of the cabin when she saw a white jeep pull into the cabin driveway. A man wearing all black stepped out of the car and looked up at her.

“Sasha?? Is that you??” He asked.

Recognizing the voice, Sasha replied jokingly “Depends. Is that Chawlie?”

Smiling at their old time banter, Charles shouted up “Yeah this is Chawlie if that’s Sash the squash!”

Laughing, Sasha ran and jumped into a Charles’ hug.

“I missed you goofy,” Charles said.

“Likewise,” Sasha replied, smiling hugely at her best guy friend. “What brings you up here?”

“Well, amazingly, your brother invited me here,” Charles said.

“Christian invited you? He didn’t tell me,” Sasha said.

“I thought he did,” Charles replied, trying to soften the sudden shock his appearance had caused her. “Want to come snowboarding with me?”

“Sure!” Sasha said excitedly. Sasha loved to go snowboarding with her friend.

“Let me get unpacked first ok?” Charles asked.

“Sure,” Sasha laughed, realizing that she herself had not even unpacked yet. “Come on inside and pick a room.” Charles stepped inside the cabin and gasped.

“This place is huge!” he thought, and it was. The cabin had six bedrooms, four and a half bathrooms, a game room, a full sized kitchen, a huge living room and a wraparound porch with a hot tub on the back.

“Think this place is big enough?” Charles asked jokingly.

“Oh this?” Sasha asked. “This place is just a small place our parents bought so they could drop us off at times and not have to deal with us.”

“That means Christian lied about needing another person to get the free package,” Charles thought. “Where’s my room?”

“It’s on the second floor, last room on the left,” Sasha replied. “It’s right next to mine,” she realized with a jolt. “I’ll be right back,” Sasha said as she went outside again.

“Wonder what got into her,” Charles said to himself. Suddenly, a big ball of fur hurtled into Charles, knocking him off his feet. There was a loud woofing and then Charles found himself on the receiving end of a large German Sheppard who began to lick his face over and over.

“Lena!” Charles laughed rubbing the big dog’s head. “I haven’t seen you for a while.” Standing at the door, Sasha watched Charles and her dog roughhousing on the floor. Lena had been a graduation present from Charles four years ago and she loved her dearly.

“Alright Lena,” Sasha said, smiling. “Let him up.”

“Awww we were just having fun,” Charles said.

Smiling, Sasha held out her hand to help Charles up. Charles grabbed it and tried to pull himself up, instead managing to pull Sasha down on top of him which resulted in lots of laughing on both sides and Lena took the laughing as an ok to jump back in and play again. Soon there was a laughing pair of people and a happily barking dog lying, exhausted, on the floor.

“Well that was fun,” Sasha said while Charles laughed and laughed until his sides hurt. The shrill ring of the telephone snapped them both back to the real world and Sasha got up to answer it.

“Hello,” Sasha said.

“Sash? It’s Christian,” he said.

“Oh hey Chrisy,” Sasha replied. “When will you be getting here?”

“Yeah about that,” Christian began. “I got a phone call earlier about a client who was highly upset about her son’s condition and won’t be up there until Saturday. Think you can handle yourself until then?”

“Yeah I’ll be fine Christian,” Sasha replied. “Thanks for calling and telling us. Love you brother.”

“Love you too little sis. I’ll be on my way as soon as I can,” Christian said and hung up.

“Well then,” Charles said.

“Total well then,” Sasha answered, laughing.

“What was that about?” Charles asked.

“Christian got a call from the office and said he can’t be here until Saturday,” Sasha replied.

“Think we can manage until then?” Charles asked jokingly, with a smile on his face.

“I don’t know,” Sasha teased. “Can we?”

“I think so,” Charles replied, smiling. “Want to help me up?”

“And risk being pulled into the floor again?” Sasha asked. “No thanks.” And she dodged trying to escape her friend’s playful antics.

“Oh no you don’t,” Charles laughed and began chasing her around the huge cabin.

 Sasha, laughing so hard, collapsed on the floor around the corner of the next hallway. “I’ve got a plan,” Sasha thought to herself, grinning evilly. She got up and hid behind the door, waiting for Charles to come running in. Sure enough, about twenty seconds later, Charles came running through the house searching for her.

“Wait for it. Wait for it,” Sasha thought. “NOW!”  And she jumped on Charles just as he rounded the corner, Yelling GOTCHA! Charles was caught completely unawares and tumbled to the ground with Sasha on top of him.

“Caught you,” Sasha said, laughing.

“Or did I catch you?” Charles asked as he flipped and grabbed Sasha, tickling her as they rolled. Rolling across the floor, Sasha landed on top of Charles with such force that their lips met and they shared a brief but passionate kiss. Totally unprepared for this, both Sasha and Charles blushed a deep crimson color as they each looked into each other’s eyes, for once not seeing a friend, but seeing a long lost love…