Starlet - Book 2 - Mate Games

25. It Counts

The snow fort is amazing. It looks like a castle with a frozen moat and a wall around it. Then it has snowball shooters instead of bows and arrows. It's the most fun place ever. I run in and climb a little rock wall. I end up looking out a tower. Luke, Mario, Nadine, Thora, everyone is here really. Even some of the boys from the games. We run all over shooting snowballs at each other.

Then Romeo shows up. He stands outside. "I HAVE COME TO CLAIM THE PRINCESS." He's got his advisors and Randal is standing with him laughing.

One of the boys yell, "LIFT THE DRAWBRIDGE."

Luke yells, "WE NEED SERVANTS TO MAKE THE SNOWBALLS."

I crack up laughing. "Send my servants all the same snow clothes I got and tell them to come out and defend the snow fort."

"Yes ma'am."

Randal yells, "WE WILL COME THROUGH YOUR WALL." Then he steps on the frozen moat and falls on his ass. He laughs as some of the advisors get him up. "THE ADVISORS WILL COME THROUGH YOUR WALL FIRST."

Romeo rubs his eyes. "THERE HAS TO BE A SWITCH TO OPEN IT OUT HERE. WE WILL FIND IT."

Then my servants run in the side door. All of us shower them with snowballs while they try to find the switch to open it.

One of the advisors yell, "SCALE THE WALLS."

The advisors get over and drop the bridge. Romeo, Randal, and Elek come in.

Tye yells, "WE'VE BEEN INVADED. DEPLOY ALL THE TROOPS." I didn't even know he was here. I throw so many snowballs at them.

"THE PRINCESS IS THERE, SIR."

"AAAHHHH!" I run over a bridge and climb back up the rock wall into the tower.

"THE EVIL KING IS HERE."

I look out the window as Lionel gets hammered with snowballs.

"ATTENTION: It is dinner time. You are being summoned..."

We join forces and bury the brain as fast as we can.

"I'LL GET HER. THIS IS THE WAY TO HER TOWER."

"YOU CAN'T HAVE THE PRINCESS." Luke takes off running.

Randal is coming up the rock wall into my room. I climb out the window and get on the roof.

"TIME OUT. EVERYONE STOP." Lionel turns to a dragon and lands beside me. Then he switches to human and holds my arm. "How did you even get up here?"

"I climbed out the window."

Tye stands under us on the ground. "Notify Marcus and show him what she did."

"Yes, sir."

Dipak stands beside Tye. "We summoned you all to dinner already." He holds up his hands and I jump for him.

He puts me on my feet and I take off. "GET HIM."

Everyone joins forces and tries to bury him too.

I run back over the bridge and Romeo throws me over his shoulder. "I'VE GOT YOUR PRINCESS. I WIN."

"GAME OVER. IT'S DINNER TIME 30 MINUTES AGO." Dipak laughs and brushes off the snow.

We pile in the dining room, snowsuits and all. My servants take mine, then disappear.

Marcus rubs his eyes. "You even had servants out there?"

I nod. "We needed backup."

Everyone cracks up laughing.

Dipak gets the snow out of his hair. "Romeo won. He invaded and captured the princess."

"Dipak lost. He almost became a snowman."

"I was a snowman momentarily." Dipak hugs Luke and rubs his head.

He laughs and runs to his seat.

"I was informed she was on the roof. Anyone see any other safety issues?"

"I broke my ass on your moat."

Romeo nods. "I lost a couple of advisors on the moat as well. Other than that, it was really solid. I didn't see any issues."

"Thank you for that. I'll add some texture to the ice. I don't want people breaking their heads open." He signals for dinner. "Let's eat."

After dinner, I run to my room and throw my clothes all over. I search the drawers for my swimsuit.

"Mmmm. A sexy naked woman with crazy hair." Collin steps behind me and kisses my neck. "What are you searching for, baby?"

"My swimsuit."

"Bottom drawer."

I smirk and bend over as far as I can to get it.

"Keep teasing, woman."

I giggle and shake my ass a little.

45 minutes later, I make it to the pool. I feel so much better. I needed that.

The pool's inside, and Luke wasn't joking. The place is huge and has so many big slides. I throw my skirt off.

"Hi, I'm Eddie." A boy smiles at me.

"Eddie, do you like slides?" I point at the biggest slide.

"Yes. Let's get a big tube. We can go down it together."

Eddie is suddenly my best friend. We do every slide and pool. He rides in the rivers with me. They even have racing slides. We do those like 10 times. We're in the wave pool when Zeke sits at a table beside it.

I sit at his table. "You missed the snow war."

"I heard about it. Sounded like everyone had fun."

"We did. What did you do?"

"Massages. I'm surprised my muscles work at all."

"You are relaxed. Did you come to swim?"

"There's a hot tub in the grownup part. I wanted to see it. Then I saw you and sat here instead. This is a nice spot."

"There's a grownup part?"

"Yea. Somewhere here. Where's the teen club? I remember something about that too."

"I want to find the grownup part. Then I'll show you."

"Ok."

"EDDIE. THERE'S A GROWNUP PART."

He comes out. "Yea, it's that boring part over there. The pool with a swim-up bar. Then the 2 hot tubs."

"Oh, we saw that already."

"Yep. I'm doing the slides again."

"Have fun."

I find my skirt and dry off as best as I can. Then Zeke and I go to the teens club.

"What is going on with your hair?"

"I don't know. It hasn't been combed since before the mountain. It's been through a lot today."

"Yea, that's not going to be fun to comb."

"This is the teen club."

"It looks like a bar."

"Yep. Some place for teens to be left alone. We can listen to music and get snacks. There are couches and lots of seats." I plop on a couch.

He sits beside me. "I thought they did stuff around the resort. Not an actual club."

"That's part of it." I pick up a paper off the table. "They schedule activities for teens. Archery in the morning. I always wanted to try that. I'm going to do that."

He smiles at me. "So, this campfire and marshmallows with live music, is going on now?"

I shake from head to toe.

"Have the servants put the winter gear back on you and dry your hair fast. I'll meet you by the front door and go over with you."

"GET ME MY SERVANTS." I run for it. I run all the way to my room.

Collin is reading something. He jumps up and tries to comb my hair. The servants flood in and get the wet stuff off and dry me. Then they put the winter gear back on while my hair gets dried. Collin kisses my head before I run for it again.

Zeke is putting his coat on at the front door when I get there. "You don't need the goggles. That's only for going down the mountain."

I throw them at a servant and pull him out the door.

He puts his arm around me. "That was good timing. You went from soaking wet in a swimsuit, to dry and dressed for winter in about 5 minutes."

"Yea. They've gotten good at changing me quickly. I can be a princess in 7 minutes."

He laughs and guides me towards a pavilion. I can hear the music already.

There are quite a few people sitting around drinking. I attack the marshmellows. Once I get enough of them, Zeke dances with me. Then the other boys ask for dances. Romeo dances formally with me, but the rest cuddle me and dance. Then I sit on the couch.

Marcus glances at me, then his eyes glaze over.

I yawn and lay my head down.

Collin picks me up a minute later. I try to argue, but he carries me through a door, right into our room. I fall asleep so fast.

I make it to the archery spot early in the morning.

A girl smiles. "Have you ever done any archery?"

"No."

"We'll start with the basics for now."

We pick out some stuff, and she takes me to a target area. Marcus has Luke and Mario there.

The man who was jumping on the skis stands beside me. "You like archery?"

"Never tried."

He wraps his arms around me and helps me point the bow. He's warm. He keeps saying words and I snuggle him. I like this. His hand touches mine and tingles shoot up my arm. I glance back at him and his eyes go dark when we make eye contact.

"HEY!"

We jump and turn to Marcus.

"Shoot the damn target."

The man chuckles. Then he guides the bow up in my hands. He pulls it back. "You aim through there. See that mark?"

"Yea." I lean into him. He's so strong. I can feel his muscles. I want to feel his skin.

"Aim and let go."

I let go and miss everything.

He rubs my side. "Need to work on aiming a little."

I nod and try to find another arrow while not taking my eyes off him.

"My name's Damascus."

"Evie."

He smirks and pulls me closer.

"Wow." Thora pulls me away. "That's something. Try looking at the target when you shoot." She pushes me to face it. "Come on. Other people are coming. Focus."

I blink a couple of times and try to get him out of my head. Then I shoot and miss again.

Thora nods. "We'll work on it."

Everyone shows up within 15 minutes and the place is full. Damascus stands beside me but no more touching. I keep trying and failing to hit the target. I shoot again. "UUUHHHH."

"Don't get frustrated. Take a deep breath and relax."

I do what he says and aim as best as I can. I let go and get a bullseye. I jump up and down. "I HIT IT."

Thora, Damascus, and Marcus lose it.

"DID YOU SEE?"

Zeke laughs behind me. "We saw. Good job."

Marcus tries to stop laughing. "Were you aiming for that target?"

"No. But I hit it anyway."

Thora nods. "It counts."

An hour later, I get on the lift with skis on. I have to try skiing. I get to the top of the mountain and Damascus is the only person there. He has skis on. I do my best to stand in the same line as him. He raises an eyebrow.

"How do I go?"

"You can walk with skis. Take your time and push them forward. Keep them on top of the snow. Don't let them dig in."

I move forward then I slide. I go down the mountain as slowly as I can. I figure out how to use my skis to control speed. Then I figure out how to lean to turn. It is a lot of fun. I do it 3 more times. I keep going faster and faster. Then I wreck. I bounce around and stop moving. I lay and stare at the sky.

He skis up to me and stops. "You alright?"

"That hurt a little."

"It looked like it did."

He helps me up, and I hobble my ass to the lift.

"You don't use the lift?"

"The jumps are on top. It's not so bad to walk up from them. I saw you crash so I came down. Where is everyone?"

"No idea. I want to try jumping now."

"3 ramps. Start with the smallest."

"Good advice."

We get to the ramps and I find the littlest. I watch him jump a couple of times. Then I try. I lose a ski in the air and face plant the snow. I laugh so hard and run to do it again. Eventually, I find a tree to sit by and watch him. He is amazing at jumps.

Then I wake up with people yelling. He's yelling at Marcus. Marcus is yelling back. Then Collin is picking me up.

"WATCH." I run to the little ramp and find my skis. "WATCH ME."

"We're watching."

I ski off the little ramp and land perfectly. "DID YOU SEE?"

"Good job. You learned that fast."

Damascus smiles. "She's a natural out here."

Collin winks. "Let's ski down and get some lunch."

"You can ski?" I scratch my head.

"I was out here yesterday. I can go forward and down. As long as we do that, I'll be fine."

I laugh and run to the start spot. "I CAN DO THAT TOO."

I wreck halfway down. Collin and Damascus put me back on my feet. Then we make it to lunch.