Bruises 3

** Standard disclaimer: All characters involved in sexual situations are at 18 and over. **

___________

"That could have gone better." I grumbled, as I straightened myself out.

I had taken a fast line down what had seemed like an easy run only to discover, halfway down, that it got deceptively steep close to the bottom of the piste. I'd scrubbed off quite a bit of speed, but evidently not enough. I'd made a novice mistake and screwed up a turn. I had misjudged that final turn and the back edge of my board had dug into the groomed surface of the piste and that had been that. The world had spun, and I found myself thrown backwards, my helmet slamming into the surface.

I rolled over and pushed myself back upright. No damage. A fellow snowboarder whooped as he sped passed by, and I waved back. The occasional fall was to be expected, especially when it was your first day back on the slopes in a few years. I dusted myself off, and turned my board downhill, to complete the run.

Mountains. I love mountains, especially in winter. There's a crispness to the air, an inherent cleanliness that you just don't get at sea level. Add in some snow, strap a snowboard to my feet, and I'm happy. People talk about them versus the mountain, like they're competing against it. That might be true for climbers, I wouldn't know, that was never my thing. For me, it was a case of working together with the mountain, a team event. Of course, I was on groomed slopes, with a little off-piste on occasion to spice things up. It wasn't as if I were being dropped out of a helicopter on to mountain peaks and blazing a trail through untamed wilderness to get to the treeline. I knew what I liked, and that was enough. I had the rest of this day, and another five more to go, before it was time to pack up and fly home. Nothing was going to spoil this holiday.

*

Originally, I had planned this holiday with my best friend and housemate. We'd paid up and counted down the days. All our gear checks had been performed. Helmet, boots, bindings, board, all good. Radios to keep in contact, just in case we were separated. All checked out. Then, a month before we were to go, the idiot fell out of bed while asleep and broke his arm. I had checked with all our mutual friends, trying to see if I could find someone to fill his spot, to no avail. I'd resigned myself to having to go on my own, which was fine, but company would have been nice. I was sulking at home, just after Christmas day when my mother had stepped in.

"Take your sister." She suggested.

"But she doesn't know how to snowboard." I objected.

"So, teach her."

"She doesn't have the money to afford to go." I pointed out. "It's not a free trip. Whoever goes needs to pay Jack."

"Don't worry about that, your father and I will pay for it."

"She doesn't have any gear, which means she'll need to rent it when she gets there." I pointed out, trying a different tack. "She doesn't have any thermal gear to keep her warm, and she'll need lessons. I can't teach her everything she needs to know."

"Don't worry about it. She'll have what she needs." My mother reassured me.

I sighed, went to my bedroom, and lay on my bed, cursing silently. A moment later, there was a knock on the door. My mother stepped into my room and smiled.

"Sorry for ambushing you."

I shrugged. "It's fine."

"Look, you know she's had a rough year of it. She needs a break, something different."

"I know." I sighed. "But I had this all planned out with Jack. If I have to teach her how to snowboard, she'll have a holiday, but I won't, because I'll be too busy teaching her."

"There's classes she can do, isn't there?"

"Sure." I said. "But we didn't book any classes for ourselves, we didn't need them. She'd have to book it now, and they won't be cheap."

My mother shrugged. "We don't mind the expense. It's a struggle to get her to leave the house at the moment. Think of how good it would be for her to not have to worry about running into those little bitches."

"It would be good for her, but we only booked one room, we'd have to share it."

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind."

My mother clearly wasn't going to be deterred.

"Have you asked her?" I asked. "Does she even want to go?"

That made my mother pause.

"Well, we didn't ask her yet, but it would be good for her."

"Fine." I said, giving in. "If she wants to come, she can."

"You're a good brother." My mother said, with a smile. "You won't regret it. It'll be like when you were both young and inseparable."

I rolled my eyes, and she left the room.

If it wasn't clear, I wasn't thrilled with the prospect of having my sister on holidays alone with me. It wasn't that she was an unpleasant person, quite the opposite, Rachel had always been a sunny influence on my life. Granted, she'd changed, after I left home, and had had some trouble at school, but I had my reasons for not wanting her along.

My sister had thrown a small fit when she'd heard that they'd signed her up for a holiday without consulting her. She'd shouted at me, like it had been my fault. She'd railed against the system, but the system was without mercy, and she'd been informed that she was going, so make the most of it.

*

The flight had been uneventful and the bus ride up to the resort boring. Rachel had been silent the whole way, a brooding, unhappy, presence, so I'd listened to music and read a book. Finally, we'd arrived, late in the evening, checked in, and scaled the stairs to our room.

"John!" She'd objected when we walked into the room. "There's only one bed."

"I know." I replied. "I tried to tell mom, but she wouldn't listen. It was the last of the reasonably priced rooms. Jack and I have shared beds before, so we didn't care that it was a double instead of two singles."

Rachel sighed heavily and dropped her bags on the bed.

"It's not even that big of a double."

"I'm not blind. Look, we're both here for the week. The way I see it, we can be miserable, or we can just accept things as they are and move on."

"I didn't want to be here; I was happy at home."

"You know what mom is like. Once she makes up her mind about something, there's no changing it. Besides, Rae, you weren't happy. Even I could see you were miserable."

"Hurray!" Rachel sighed. "I get to be miserable somewhere else."

"Or you could try something else." I suggested.

"Like what?"

"Look, you're in a foreign country. No one but me knows you here, they don't know what the last year's been like for you. They'll only know what you show them. So, reinvent yourself."

Rachel snorted. "Like that'd work."

I shrugged. "I don't see why not. Be who you'd like to be."

"I like being me."

"You like being miserable?"

"I am not miserable!" Rachel shouted, the anger clear in her voice.

I ignored the anger. "Rachel, for the last year, you've been miserable. I get it. It's perfectly normal. What I'm saying is that for the next week, pretend it didn't happen. You're a new person, you haven't had a shitty year, and you're excited to be here. Leave the misery at home."

"It's not that easy though."

"Fake being happy." I suggested. "You never know, it might actually happen."

She snorted again. "The old 'fake it till you make it' ploy."

I shrugged again. "It's worth a shot, right? Besides, do you think those bitches are miserable right now? Not a chance, they're probably making life miserable for someone else, right?"

"I guess."

"Damn right they are, so don't let them win."

"Maybe you're right." Rachel said slowly.

I smiled and lightly punched her shoulder. "I know I am. Rae, look at it this way, they're back in school, with no privileges, and you're here, in Austria, up in the mountains. You don't have to worry about running into them, or their friends."

She shrugged and sat down.

"Besides." I added. "You'll have classes here, to keep you busy for a few hours each day. Everyone is here for the same reason, to enjoy themselves. Trust me, once you start, you'll love it. Once the bruises heal."

Rachel glared at me. "Bruises?"

I laughed. "You're going to fall. A lot. Everyone does when they start, but you'll get the hang of it."

"Great." She sighed. "More bruises."

I knelt down in front of her, without even thinking about it and took her hands in mine.

"No." I said, firmly. "There's a difference. You remember when we were young, and we used to run around in the woods near home. Mom would always give out to us because we'd come back filthy. You remember, we'd have bruises from falling out of the trees, but we didn't care, because we were having fun."

She nodded.

"It's like that. I love being on the snow, there's a freedom to it. You get to be in your own headspace, but there's no time for doubts, you have to let it all go. It's just you, the snow, and the mountain. There's nothing like it. Sure, you'll fall, but it's all part of the fun. I think you'll look back at the bruises you'll pick up here and remember them with happiness, just like I do."

"You really think so?" Rachel asked, quietly.

"Absolutely." I replied, with confidence.

I squeezed her hands in mine and she gave me a small, shy smile. My heart thudded in my chest as I saw that little smile bloom. Rachel had always had the sweetest smile and it was a long time since I'd seen it. I let her hands go, stood up, brushed aside a lock of her dark hair, and kissed her forehead. She looked up at me and blushed prettily.

"Thank you."

"For what?"

She gestured around the room. "For the holiday, and for helping me to feel a little better."

"That's what big brothers are supposed do, I guess."

I stepped back as she stood up and put her arms around me.

"Love you." She whispered.

"Love you too, sis." I whispered back.

This was going to be a very long week, but our mother was right. She needed this.

Getting ready for bed that night had been a semi-awkward affair. Normally I'd have just washed my teeth, stripped down to my shorts and climbed into bed. Instead, we'd taken turns to change in the bathroom, I'd even brought a pair of pyjama leggings to sleep in. I was in the bed and reading a book by the time she stepped out of the bathroom.

Since she'd entered her teens, Rachel had become a very private girl, particularly in the last year or two. Her clothes of choice had changed in the last two years, a consequence I now knew, of her experiences. These days, her clothing could be described as concealing. She never wore anything that let you properly see her figure, baggy pants and loose jumpers. Before tonight, my memories of her were from before I left home. Small and thin, with a pretty face, would have been an accurate description of her. She had constantly had to deal with being mistaken for a much younger person. Not anymore it seemed.

Due to weight restrictions on the flight, Rachel had not been able to bring her favourite dressing gown, or any dressing gown for that matter. When she reappeared, sans dressing gown, I discovered that my sister had filled out somewhat in my absence. Somethings hadn't changed, she was still a hair or two more than five feet tall, and her heart shaped face was still pretty. Her long black hair hadn't changed, although it was shorter now than it had been in a very long time, barely reaching below her shoulders. Her body had done the puberty thing, something that it seemed it had been putting off. She was still petite, but she was no longer thin. The pyjamas still concealed the details, but she had some curves now. Not large, mind, but they were there. I silently groaned; this was going to be a very long week.

Rachel hesitated when she looked at our sleeping arrangement. I patted the bed beside me.

"It's fine." I reassured her. "Just like when we used to stay over in Gram's, when she was alive."

"We were kids then." She pointed out, but moved to the bed anyway, and slipped in, pulling the duvet up to her neck.

"You were a kid, I was thirteen, and practically an adult."

She grumbled something that I didn't catch.

"I've set an alarm for the morning." I said, changing the subject. "We can get breakfast, then go get your gear. You still have the vouchers for them?"

"Uh huh." She replied. "They're in my bag."

I put my book aside and lay down.

"Well, good night, I guess."

"Good night." She whispered, as I switched off the light.

*

I woke up the following morning with my sister curled up against my back. Despite being clearly the larger of the two of us, it seemed I had for some reason become the little spoon. It was nice though. Her arm was thrown over me and I could feel her breath against the back of my neck. I was warm and comfortable, and I didn't want to move, but it seemed I needed to pee. Damn it. I slowly extricated myself, trying not to wake Rachel and crept to the small bathroom. I relieved myself, washed my hands and returned to the bed. A quick check of my phone revealed that the alarm would go off in less than five minutes. No point in getting back into bed then. Rachel hadn't moved from when I left the bed, so she was still asleep. I pulled out a new pair of underwear from my bag, quickly dropped my pyjama leggings, and put them on. I dragged on the same jeans I'd been wearing yesterday and pulled on a pair of socks.

Rachel sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes as I tugged on my t-shirt. She eyed me curiously. "You're awake early."

I smiled. "Eager to get up the mountain. Come on lazybones, time to start our day.

She looked oddly sad and nervous at the same time. I sat on the bed beside her and took her hand in mine.

"It'll be fine." I reassured her. "Remember, the old Rachel is at home. The new Rachel is here, confident and ready to kick ass."

"It doesn't feel like it." She whispered, looking away.

"Fake it till you make it." I reminded her.

"Yeah, yeah." She muttered, with a sigh. "I know."

"Come on." I urged her, tugging on her arm. "I want to show you something."

She raised an eyebrow, curiously.

"Come on." I urged again. "Trust me."

She sighed, kicked off the duvet and slid reluctantly out of the bed.

I pulled her over to the curtained window.

"Jack and I booked this room specifically." I told her. "I want you to see why."

She frowned, and I threw open the curtains.

The sun was still low on the horizon, the sky golden, and beyond the window, the ground fell away. Beyond there was mile after mile of snow-covered slopes, leading down to the base of the valley. The floor of the valley, down below us, looked as though it were covered with a soft white duvet, and beyond that, the other side of the valley. We could see more snow-covered peaks beyond the valley, off into the distance.

Rachel gasped. "John, it's beautiful."

"It's why I love coming here." I said, softly. "You never see much when you arrive, it's always too dark. But the first morning, it's something else."

Rachel just stared into the distance her eyes wide.

"The pictures never do it justice." I smiled.

"They really don't." She replied.

"So come on. Let's get a little breakfast and get you ready to take on the mountains."

Rachel actually smiled at that.

"Okay."

*

Breakfast was a quick affair. A buffet was laid out with all sorts of meats and cheeses. There was toast, bagels, breakfast cereals, assorted pastries, sausages, bacon, and eggs. We loaded our plates, grabbed some orange juice, and sat down. Once we were finished, we walked back to our room.

"I think I ate too much." Rachel groaned, as she sat on the bed.

"You'll be hungry again well before lunch." I said, knowingly. "The cold and the activity really take it out of you."

I pulled open my bag and laid out my gear.

"Do we really need all that?" Rachel asked.

I nodded. "We'll be out in the cold all day, and layers are important, they keep you warm."

I passed Rachel her thermals, jacket, and snowboarding pants.

"Do you want to change in the bathroom?" I asked her.

She sighed and shook her head. "No, it's fine. New me, and all that. It's not like we're getting naked or anything."

"Sure?"

"Yeah."

I took her hand again and squeezed it reassuringly. "You're going to love it."

I stripped down to my underwear and started pulling on my thermal leggings.

Rachel hesitated, then slowly pulled her too large hoody over her head. She kicked off her shoes, took a breath, and opened her baggy jeans. She glanced at me, nervously.

"I can go to the bathroom if you prefer." I said, after I tugged my thermal top on.

"No, it's fine." She said as she let her pants fall and stepped out of them.

I tried not to look. I honestly tried. I failed.

Rachel was wearing underwear that more resembled very short and tight boxers than the standard panties I assumed she have, and they were very, very nice on her. Her legs were smooth and shapely, and led all the way up to her wonderfully round ass.

I shook my head a little and finished pulling on my top, as she started on her leggings.

She had her t-shirt off before I'd finished pulling on my socks and found that she was wearing a black sports bra that looked amazing on her.

My sister was a stone-cold fox. I mean, I knew she was pretty, and after seeing her in her pyjamas the night before, I knew she'd filled out a little, but I had no idea.

"What?" Rachel asked, suspiciously, as she reached for her top.

"Uh, nothing." I stammered, blushing as I realised, I'd been staring.

"You were looking at me." Rachel accused, a sharp note in her voice.

"I didn't mean to." I protested. "I just looked up as you looked at me."

"Really." She said, suspicion in her voice.

"Really." I assured her, hoping she'd let it drop.

She did, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

We continued getting dressed and once ready, we headed out.

*

We endured the interminable queues while getting her fitted for her boots and board. I rented a hot pink helmet for her, knowing damn well that she'd hate it, but I couldn't resist.

"Here." I said, handing her the helmet to her.

She glanced at it like I was handing her a fresh pile of dog shit.

"What the hell is that?"

"A helmet."

"Looks more like a beacon."

I shrugged. "That too."

"Do I really have to wear that?" She asked, annoyed. "Don't they have any others?"

"All sold out." I lied.

"God damn it." She muttered.

She grabbed the offending item out of my hand and put it on the bench beside her, while she tied her boots.

"Here." I said, kneeling down. "Let me help."

I got her sorted, then led her to the area where her class would begin. We sat on a snowy bank while we waited.

"So, what am I really in for?" Rachel asked.

"It'll be fun." I promised. "The teachers are usually pretty cool, and willing to help. You'll fall a lot, but you'll get used to the board. By the end of the day, you'll be able to turn the board and stop. You won't be going anywhere fast, but at least you'll be able to move."

"No, you idiot. What sort of people?"

"Oh. The usual I guess, a bit of a mix. You'll have the kid who thinks he or she knows it all and is used to being spoilt by mummy. There'll be a stoner or two, who'll be pretty cool. A couple or two on their second holiday together, and a few singles. Probably be more guys than girls. What you won't have, are thunder-cunts."

Rachel's jaw dropped and she stared at me in shock then started laughing.

"What?" She demanded, while doubled over. "Are thunder-cunts?"

"People who make assholes seem like nice people. You know the sort."

Rachel straightened up and wiped a tear from her eye.

"Thunder-cunt." She smiled, broadly. "I'm going to remember that."

"You're welcome." I said, still grinning.