Chapter Three
“Hey,you must be Louisa. I’m Shawna, pleased to meet you.” A tall girl, about my age, with long brown hair and speckled green and brown eyes, holds out her hand to greet me. I go to shake it, but she pulls me into a hug. “Don’t be silly, we’re not that formal here,” she says, laughing. “Now, where’s your bag? Let’s dump it in the car and getgoing.”
I watch as she pinches her finger and thumb together, puts them in her mouth and whistles. A minute later a black 4x4 pulls up and a man with bronzed skin and white blonde hair gets out. He looks like he should be surfing on a beach, not here in the below freezing weather of the FrenchAlps.
“This is Pierre, he’s my boyfriend,” Shawna says. She passes him my bag and whispers in my ear, “He’s a dream in bed. Like,supersexy.”
“Bonjour, c’est un plaiser de vous recontre. Bienvenue en France. Je suis votre chauffeur,” Pierre says as he puts my suitcase in the boot of the car. I look at Shawna andgrimace.
“I have no idea what he justsaid.”
Shawna laughs. “Nope, me neither, but isn’t it just so damnhot?” She leans in and gives Pierre a passionate kiss. I look away and take in the scenery about me. The air is crisp, and my breath comes out in smoky puffs. Although the roads are clear, the sidings and rooftops of the nearby buildings are covered in a thick layer of powdery snow. The sky itself is grey and full of heavy billowing clouds. In the distance, I can see the white peaks of mountains and wonder whether that’s where we areheading.
“We’re due to get some snow later today, so we’d better get a move on if we don’t want to get stuck in it. Pierre’s a great ski instructor but driving, not so much,” Shawna says, pulling aface.
“How long will it take to get to the resort?” I ask as I slide into the back of the car. Shawna climbs in next to me whilst Pierre starts theengine.
“An hour or so with Pierre’s driving. He’s a bit of a speed freak. Plus, he wants to get back for après-ski.”
“What’s après-ski?” I ask, clicking my seat belt in. For a second I am reminded of Green-eyes, and how he took it upon himself to strap me in on the plane. Now that I think about it, his behaviour was really bloody cocky. He’s the type of bloke who always has a stream of lovers at his beck and call, and entirely the kind of man I avoid like the plague. Thank fuck he and his brothers went on their merry way somewhere else. Pushing thoughts of the three brothers aside I turn to Shawna, waiting for heranswer.
“You don’t know what après-ski is?” Shawna’s mouth drops open, and she gives me a ‘you’ve got to be kidding’ look. “It’s onlythebest part of the day. All the instructors, chalet girls, locals, holidaymakers, we all get together and basically party the night away. You must come, I can introduce you to everyone. It’ll be ablast!”
I look at Shawna warily. “Don’t I have to get the chalet ready for the family that’s staying? I mean, I don’t want to mess up on my first nighthere.”
Pierre pulls out into the traffic, making a sharp turn onto the connectingmotorway.
“Oh, didn’t I say? Your family isn’t arriving until late tomorrow night. Apparently, they’re stopping off in the city before heading to the resort. So, you’re free!” shesings.
I laugh, her enthusiasm is catching. To be honest, I am not much of a drinker; Mum has put me off booze for life, but just the one drink couldn’t hurt. “Alright then, just for a bit,” Isay.
“Awesome!”
For the rest of the drive, I sit and listen to Shawna chatter on about life at the resort. She arrived a month ago, met Pierre the first week and, apparently, they have been inseparable eversince.
“I mean, he’s just the most amazing lover, Louisa, huge co-” Shawna spreads her hands wide, pulling a face. I can’t help butgiggle.
“When I first saw it I was like, what am I supposed to do withthat? Though it didn’t take me long to get used toit!”
I can’t quite believe that Shawna is telling me about her sex life. It’s pretty surreal, given Pierre is sitting in front of us, seemingly ignorant of our conversation. Girls talk about their men, I know that, but not normally right in front of them. I tip my head towards Pierre and pull a face. Shawnalaughs.
“Oh, don’t worry about Pierre. His English is a bit on the rusty side. He can converse enough to instruct but otherwise, nope. It’s just as well, really, because we spend most of our time shagging anyway. How about you, any boyfriends backhome?”
“Not for a while,” I say. “The last boyfriend I had dropped me as soon as he met my mother. It wasn’t a planned meeting, she just happened to come into the pub we were in one night. A half-arsed attempt at giving my boyfriend a lap dance then puking on his jeans pretty much ended ourrelationship.”
“Ah, fuck. Your mum’s like that,huh?”
I shrug my shoulders. “Yeah, prettymuch.”
“Well look, you not having a boyfriend is pretty perfect, actually.You’ll meet loads of hot men at the resort. Just you wait until later. I hope you’ve brought some clubbingoutfits.”
I pull a face; getting away from my mother’s grasp had been foremost on my mind, clubbing not so much. My suitcase is packed full of thermal underwear, winter clothes, and thick, woolly jumpers. None of which are suitable for clubbingin.
“Don’t worry about it. I have plenty of stuff you can borrow. Once you’ve unpacked and settled in, I’ll come to yours with a couple of outfits. We can get readytogether.”
“Um, okay then,” I say, too polite to decline her offer. I don’t really go clubbing or dress up for that matter. I’m a jeans and t-shirt kind ofgirl.
“That’s settled then,” Shawna says, unhooking her seat belt and pointing to the front of the car. “Youmind?”