41. Chapter 40
Chapter 40
Alisha
M y plan for today was to go skiing but I couldn’t go without Felix, as he was teaching me now. His methods were slightly different to Hilde’s, she always encouraged me but with Felix, he just knew what to say and do with me. He was a good teacher. No scrap that, a brilliant teacher and I knew he’d have so much fun with this new role.
I hoped he was okay today, I wanted him to stay in bed and lie in but he was keen to see Mira. When it came to his family, I knew I needed to step aside. Give him some space. He had so much on his mind right now: his new job, and meeting his mum tomorrow. All I needed to do was remind him I was there for him. I was very nervous for tomorrow, meeting a woman I didn’t know anything about and being unsure whether she’d even come.
I didn’t want Felix to be disappointed if she didn’t but I knew part of him still cared about his mum, even if he didn’t want to say it out loud.
I’d pondered in the kitchen for about five minutes, wondering what to do with myself before my phone rang. Felix.
“Hi,” I breathed, elated to hear from him. How cheesy.
“Hello, you. How’s your day going?” Felix’s gorgeous voice rang through the phone and sent tingles down my spine. His Austrian German accent was strong and I loved it. Very quickly, my mind showed multiple images of him, a few of them steamy but some very sweet ones of us too.
“Bored out of my mind. Want to go skiing?” I’d checked the time and it was still decent enough to go skiing for an hour. I wanted to try a red run today at least.
“I’m ready whenever you are. Just got back after seeing Mira,” Felix replied and I could hear him place his keys down on a table. It was sweet that he made time for his sister as well as me.
“Okay, I’ll meet you at the cable car. I just need to get something warm on, the temperature’s dropped outside again.” I observed the weather over the past hour and every so often, it would start to snow. That’s what was great about Austria, it was guaranteed to snow at some point. Especially at this time of the year. I thought about the weather back in England, especially in London. It would usually be very cold but not enough for it to snow and set on the ground.
If I could come to Austria for next Christmas, then I would, or Felix could come to me. I was hoping we’d still be together by then. I really wanted this to work as he was my everything. I definitely could fit him in my life, that was paramount and my siblings would really like him. Kiya kept asking about him whenever I spoke to her on the phone too. My parents didn’t mind who I dated, they wanted me, my brothers and sister to be happy with whoever we ended up with. I’d break the news to them when I got back.
Thinking about my parents, I knew I wanted to be as happy as they were, to build an amazing life and have at least three children. It would take some saving but I was getting there financially. I wouldn’t be living in my apartment forever and if I got a promotion after this article, I didn’t want it to seem far-fetched but it was my dream, I’d want to move somewhere bigger.
Grayson had contacted me this morning to say that he was excited to see the completed draft of my article in two days time. I always made sure I met my deadlines and by tomorrow, I wanted everything to be written up and finalised. The edits would come after but I needed the main body to be complete at least.
I glanced at the first few sentences, reminiscing about the first day Ophelia and I arrived in Ischgl.
To step outside of your comfort zone, you have to face your fears and fly a couple thousand miles. I’d never heard of or been to Ischgl but as soon as I saw the beautiful town, I felt right at home.
Home felt like wherever Felix was now, his gentle embrace, his kisses and calming words. Life without him now seemed impossible. There was no going back. Everything that I knew about love had gone out the window. I’d discovered so much more about what a relationship should look and feel like. I was lucky to have found someone like him. I needed to let him know that. So, my plan was to do so on the last evening before I’d leave to go back to England.
Felix didn’t know as well that I’d start to write another piece, just for him. I hadn’t actually shown Grayson this either so I was nervous. I’d never written so deeply from my heart before so this was going to be received in a different way. I hoped it’d be a nice surprise for Felix, a reaffirmation for him to see how strongly I felt. Writing was how I expressed myself and I’d put it to good use.
Now, I was excited for my future writing. I wanted a more senior position at Culture Horizon and if this article could help me get there, at least to be one of the regular journalists that Grayson wanted, then that would be my dream come true.
Realising the time, I sprinted to my room to put on my skiing gear. A new pair of gloves were waiting for me, the ones I normally used were a bit tattered as I had borrowed them from Ophelia. I was ready to go within a few minutes until my stomach let out a low grumble. I’d make sure to grab an apple before going, to settle my stomach.
Fruit wouldn’t fully satisfy my hunger but it’d do for now. I had a gorgeous man waiting for me.
It wasn’t long before I approached the cable car after a short walk and Felix was already waiting, in his blue puffer jacket and ski poles in one hand. I could see some stubble dusted around his chin and above his upper lip. His hazel eyes were glistening in the afternoon sun and he had a cheeky grin on his face. Of course, my heart and stomach turned to mush when looking at him.
There’s your knight in shining armour. And he’s looking at you like you’re his everything too.
“Hi.” I grinned back at him, and couldn't contain my excitement at seeing him.
Was it always going to be like this with him? It felt like a honeymoon period.
“I like your scarf.” Felix pointed, I was wearing a new pink scarf as well as my new gloves. The scarf felt so soft against my neck, no itchiness at all.
“I like your hat.” I looked up at his head, he was wearing a dark blue beanie with snowmen holding hands in a circle. So bloody cute.
“I like you ,” Felix fired back, taking a few steps closer to me so that he towered over me. I felt so small compared to him. His hand wrapped around my waist as he leant in to kiss me and time stood still when he did. It was just us two, locked in our embrace.
His lips were full and needy against mine and I could taste a hint of raspberry when my tongue touched his. Delicious.
Before it got way too heated, especially as there were people walking around us, we paused the kissing and walked toward the cable cars. At this time in the afternoon, it was nowhere near as busy.
Good, as I wanted a cable car all to ourselves so we could kiss again.
“After you.” Felix let me get inside first, giving me a crooked smile. There was a ‘ je ne sais quoi ’ about him today and whether he wanted to tell me about it, well that was up to him. I just hoped he felt he could communicate with me, about anything.
As we both sat down in the cable car and it was moving upwards at a steady pace, we looked at one another. I wanted to say what I was thinking to Felix, that this was more than just a holiday romance. But I had to bite my lip and wait until the time was right, which wasn’t now. I wanted an afternoon of fun and laughter, to learn some new skiing tricks if I could.
“What’s your impression of Ischgl?” Felix finally asked me as we were halfway up, we had at least two more stops though. We wouldn’t be getting off at the ski school like usual.
“I am in love,” I told him. That was the truth, but it wasn’t the only thing I was in love with.
***
“Look at you!” Felix was clapping his hands and cheering as I skied down the slope, in a quick zigzag. People around me looked impressed and fuck it, I was too.
“Damn, should have taken a video.” I mentally cursed but I still had some time to do one more ski run.
“I’ll film you for the next run. I’ll skill alongside you,” Felix said. This wouldn’t phase him as I know he had good posture and balance when it came to this sport. Skiing was like breathing for him, completely natural. That was what writing was like for me. But I was now able to merge this passion with skiing, to see what Ophelia had been gushing about with me for months.
I wished I had done this sooner. But I was here now and it was wonderful. Truly magical.
And Felix was here too, a proud look on his face as I made my way back to the ski lift with him, so I could have another go. I loved sharing these moments with him, to see these emotions flicker on his face. They mirrored my own, as if we were in sync.
I didn’t need to convince myself otherwise that my emotions were strong for him. I wanted to vocalise all of this to him, to make him see how utterly perfect he was.
“Felix, you’re pretty damn special to me.” I slipped my hand into his own as we took a seat, the bar coming down to keep us locked in. I always had a fear of falling from one of these but I had conquered this.
“You’re a gift to me too, Alisha,” Felix responded. There was a wave of emotion coursing on his face and maybe he wanted to say more. But these words were enough for me at this time.
After twenty more minutes of skiing and laughing until our lungs hurt, we headed back to get ready for the evening. Felix had mentioned we were going to the cinema, to watch this film both him and I had our eyes on. Funny how we had the same tastes in films, Felix hated anything horror related but didn’t mind a bit of action.
We invited Ophelia and Mira to join us, both of them accepted but said they would sit in front of us, not to get in the way of our ‘smooch session’. It made me laugh, as Felix and I weren’t that bad surely? It was hard to resist those lips of his though.
The four of us were paying for our tickets and grabbed a few snacks from the sales booth. Me and Felix decided to share some sweet and salty popcorn and the girls bought a range of chocolates.
“This film better be good, Felix or I’m never coming to the cinema with you again,” Mira teased her brother and then gave me a wink, popping a piece of chocolate in her mouth. She handed a piece to me which I gratefully took and relished the creamy goodness on my tongue.
Once we got inside and took our seats, the cinema was half full and there was some dull chatter filling the room. After about two minutes, the screen turned on and sadly, we had to sit through the adverts. Couldn’t avoid them in Austria, let alone in England too.
When the film finally started, I became more comfortable and rested my head on Felix’s shoulder. His lips kissed my hair and then my forehead and finally he wrapped his arm around me.
The film was actually okay and once the credits rolled, I had been on the edge of my seat. Even Mira and Ophelia were astounded.
“Okay, I take back what I said.” Mira held her hands up as we walked out of the cinema.
“Good choice in film, I was so invested that I didn’t notice the couple making out behind me. Or did I?” Ophelia raised one eyebrow, giving me a gentle nudge with her elbow. She had tied her colourful hair up into two space buns and was wearing an oversized pink jumper paired with dark skinny jeans.
“Ha ha,” I mock laughed. The four of us decided to grab something to eat, since stomachs full of sugar wasn’t something to sleep on.
A local Italian restaurant grabbed our attention and there we resumed our conversation, talking about the film we saw and plans for Christmas. Tomorrow was going to be a big day though and I could see that Felix was thinking about it, as he had gone quiet by the end of the evening. I held his hand tightly in mine and squeezed it reassuringly. I’d be right by his side, through thick and thin.