A Beautiful Dark

friends—”
    “Please don’t give me the ‘let’s be friends’ talk. Guys hate that, and all it does is make us feel stupid that we wanted more.”
    My heart felt as though it was going to cave in on itself. “But we are friends, and I need to make sure that we’re going to stay friends. Next to Cassie and Dan, you’re the best friend I have. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
    He shoved his hands into his pockets. “You like Asher, don’t you?”
    “I don’t know. It doesn’t make any sense, but something about him . . . I can’t explain it.”
    “He’s a player. He’s going to hurt you.”
    “Are we okay?” I asked. I didn’t want to talk about Asher.
    He shook his head and smiled. “Yeah, we’re okay.”
    I leaned forward, folded my arms on the railing, and gazed out on the snow glistening in the moonlight. “It’s going to be a good day for skiing tomorrow.”
    Ian joined me, our shoulders touching. It was comfortable, standing so close like that.
    Then something snagged my gaze. Devin was trudging toward the trees. Alone. He was always alone. I had this insane desire to join him, to escape the confines of the lodge. Ian’s eyes followed mine.
    “Unless . . . ?” Ian said, his voice trailing up at the end. He shook his head. “I’ll never get girls.”
    “Have you ever noticed how tranquil he seems whenever Asher isn’t around? He stays so calm. I wonder how he does it.”
    “I think I’d get bored being that calm.”
    “Maybe I wish DeNardo and Manning hadn’t veteod your idea for night skiing,” I said. “Think we could sneak off and do it anyway?”
    Ian laughed. “Not really wanting to get into trouble here. Cassie’s flask is only about as far as I’m willing to go. If it was a group out there, I’d do it. But just you and me . . . If one of us got hurt . . . I don’t want to think about what would happen.”
    Asher would do it , I thought. He’d go with me. He’d break the rules. But he was with Ellie.
    Ian and I stood out there for a while longer, until I couldn’t feel my toes. Then I had to say good night.
    Cassie and Dan were still with the group gathered near the fireplace, but I was no longer in the mood for a crowd.
    I took the stairs two at a time up to the room I was sharing with Cassie, where I crawled under the covers and lay there, staring into the darkness. Even when she came in and called my name softly, I didn’t answer. I just listened to her getting ready for bed as I lay there, stiff, unable to move, unable to sleep, unable to think about anything but Asher, and how much I hated seeing him with Ellie. Why do I care so much? Didn’t I already learn my lesson with Jordan?
    Somewhere, at some point, I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew it was morning and Cassie was nudging me awake.

Chapter 11

    B reakfast was torture.
    Ian was distant again, and I wouldn’t even make eye contact with Asher, though it didn’t stop him from trying. Devin avoided all of us. I wondered if Asher had told him what had happened. They were cousins, right? Didn’t cousins tell each other things?
    Maybe soon the whole school would find out how I’d made a fool of myself in the stupid ice vestibule.
    All I wanted was to put on my skis and fly away.
    After breakfast, we went outside and Mr. DeNardo organized us into groups based on skill. Cassie was in the bunny slope group. She’d worn a special hat with little bunny ears on it in honor of the occasion. I couldn’t help laughing. Despite the fact that Dan was a great skier, he opted to be in her group.
    I was grouped with the advanced skiers, along with Ian—who looked surprisingly serious in a pair of dark goggles and a helmet—Ellie, Maggie, Asher, and Devin. The moment we were grouped together, Asher scooted around to stand next to me. “Skye,” he whispered. I moved away.
    Ian eyed me doubtfully as we made our way to the chairlift.
    “You and me today?” I asked.
    “Sure,” he replied.
    I stuck by his side, making sure to sit with him on the way up. There was no way I was sitting with Ellie after the whole debacle from the night before. And if Asher thought I was going to ride up the mountain with him, he was crazy. They could sit together for all I cared.
    It was cold and white at the top of the slope. Looking down from where I stood, the people below resembled the multicolored pixels of a TV screen arranging and rearranging themselves into all kinds of