Learn to Fly (54 page)

“
What?”
Lenny smiled, confused.

“
Well,
it was obvious that Duke was being more reckless to get your
attention. We assumed it was because he got to spend more one on one
time with you.”

“
Oh
,stop,” Lenny made a face. She knew Duke had feelings for her
but it was a shock to find out that everyone else knew before she
did. What else didn't she know?

“
Yeah,
he threatened all of us to back off.” Ben laughed at Lenny’s
face.

“
Don’t
worry, Lenny,” Serge said seriously, “If anyone wrecks
this week, I’ll play nurse.”

Lenny laughed at
Serge’s dry humor. She knew he sensed her awkwardness at this
particular topic and she was thankful for his appropriately timed
joke.

“
Can
I join you guys?”

Lenny looked up to
see Shane standing at the vacant chair. He was addressing Lenny
specifically. His unflinching eye contact made her heart skip
momentarily.

“
I
don’t mind.” Lenny responded with a casual smile and
then looked back to her food. That was weird. She was not going to
let him get under her skin.

Shane took a seat
and began filling his plate. The table was quiet for a few minutes
and Lenny couldn’t help but feel responsible for that. She was
the one who had aired Shane’s horrible transgressions to the
entire world. And these had been his comrades, his teammates. They
shouldn’t have had to choose sides in a personal problem that
was between Lenny, Shane and Cody.

“
Are
you coming with us in the heli, Shane?” Lenny asked awkwardly.
She’d just a soon put the past behind them. If that meant she
had to be the bigger person, than so be it.

“
Yeah,
Nick asked me if I’d go so he could help Smitty with the jump.”
Shane kept his face flat and didn’t look up from his food.
“If that’s okay with you, that is,” he added at the
end.

Lenny swallowed as
Ben and Serge looked at her for a response.

“
Of
course. We’re all here for the same reasons, right?” She
smiled nervously. “To get some good vertical rides in?”

Serge nodded his
approval and went back to eating. Ben studied Lenny’s face
longer than she was comfortable with and she started to chew on the
inside of her cheek.

Shane didn’t
respond at all. He poured himself a cup of coffee and continued
eating. Lenny suddenly felt bad about what she had done to him a few
weeks back. This man at the table was not the same flashy,
egocentric playboy she had spent so much time hating. This was all
new territory.

Before
long, they were waiting outside for the helicopter pilot, Jack. They
had their gear ready and Lenny could feel her pulse quicken. Being
taken to a high peak and dropped off by a helicopter was one of her
favorite experiences. Nothing compared.
Well,
maybe kissing Luke
.
Lenny tried to shake that thought off as quickly as it had crept up
on her.

The heli started to
get warmed up and they loaded their gear inside. Soon they were
cleared to board and take off. The scenery of the Alaskan mountains
was breathtaking. Serge spoke with the pilot and they scouted out a
stately peak. All the passengers disembarked onto the snowy top and
watched the heli fly away.

Lenny pulled her hat
a little lower on her ears as the wind whipped past her face. She
was terrified and excited at the same time. Duke would have never
allowed her to get to a height of this kind. He had always
restricted how much alone time she spent with Serge. He was afraid
Serge was a bad influence on Lenny’s fearlessness and would
encourage her to be more risky than was necessary. Lenny felt like
a rebellious teenager hanging out with the ‘bad boy’ in
home room. She looked at Serge, he was all business. This kind of
extreme was why he had made the trip to begin with.

“
Who
wants to go first?” Serge asked the group of them after the
helicopter had gotten far enough away to hear each other.

Ben looked more
nervous than Lenny had ever seen him. Shane was too. Serge seemed
to be the only one ready for a ride of this magnitude.

“
I’ll
go first.” Lenny found herself volunteering. Her heart was
stuck in her throat. She liked to be first to descend for a lot of
reasons. The main one being to pick your own line without anyone’s
influence. But the added bonus of looking like a badass in front the
boys was cool too.

She couldn’t
see Serge’s expression behind his goggles and face mask but his
approval was apparent in his posture.

“
That’s
insane!” Ben protested. “You haven’t dropped a
line in too long to be the first at this height.” He took a
step to get in front of Lenny to stop her.

Shane put in arm up,
pushing Ben back slightly. Ben frowned at him, perplexed.

“
Dude.
She’s got this.” Shane said confidently.

Lenny looked up ,
surprised at Shane’s sudden support. He was looking at her
with different eyes. She had noticed something strange the first
night at camp but couldn’t quite place it. He was avoiding
direct eye contact most of the time anyway. But not now. Now, he
was looking at Lenny with eyes of a man who had too many regrets and
had decided to do something about it.

“
You're
kidding, right?” Ben was incredulous.

Shane kept his eyes
on Lenny as he answered calmly. “She’s gonna be just
fine, Calloway. She’s the best.” He said it without a
hint of sarcasm and Lenny tried to downplay the shock that ripped
through her.

Ben shook his head
like he thought Shane had lost his mind, Lenny knew how he felt. But
she wasn't going to let anyone else know that.

“
Why’d
you come up here if you didn’t want to play?” Lenny
teased. The adrenaline was starting to kick into high gear.

“
I
just don’t think you should go first.” Ben grumbled when
it was obvious he had lost the argument.

Serge stood back,
completely relaxed, waiting for the squabble to clear. Lenny envied
his cool focus.

She dug out her
chute and fastened her binders. She grinned at the guys and lowered
her goggles, giving a final dramatic salute for beginning her decent.

She started out
slowly on her vertical. The angle was steep, probably fifty degrees
or more. She was careful, feeling her way as she went. She didn’t
want to jump past the hard parts and fly to the end. She wanted to
enjoy this, every death defying, exhilarating moment.

Interestingly
enough, a drum beat started to resonate in her head. It was the
opening song for Double Blind Study on the tour. She didn’t
feel sad or weird, it felt good. And motivating. As her board
started it’s expert curve down the extreme slope she heard the
guitar riff join in and her heartbeat quickened.

The sky was an
overwhelming blue. Deep and clear at the same time. The white
landscape was bare and open, waiting for her to carve a line right
through it. She bent and twisted, feeling the fresh powder cave and
respond, propelling her forward. She would speed up and then slow
down, controlling her movements, controlling her momentum.

Lenny was flying.
She hadn’t felt freedom like this in a long time. Far longer
than she cared to think about. The air was as clean and pristine as
the snow she was slashing in. Her line curved and arced, throwing
clouds of powder around her. Creating a beautiful effect for her
brilliant blue riding suit to burst through.

***

Shane felt a grin
spread across his face behind his mask. He knew she would be fine. He
watched in appreciation. He knew Lenny was good. He had just never
realized how good. It was like the mountain belonged to her and
changed to make her path possible.

“
Alright,
Calloway,” Serge said from behind him and clapped his hand on
the kid's shoulder, “You’re up.”

Ben nodded but he
was still pretty nervous.

“
You
got this, kid.” Shane said with a pat on the shoulder. “You
can follow Lenny’s line all the way down, she’s not as
crazy as Duke.”

Shane waited till
Ben got started and then he turned to Serge.

“
I
assume you’ll be last.” He nodded at the composed
Norwegian. Serge stepped aside in answer, giving Shane room to pick
a chute.

In the past, Shane
would have never taken this trip. He had always preferred to ride
maintained parks and pipes. Back country riding scared him beyond
belief. But after losing Lenny permanently and than having his
idiocy thrown around the media, he realized that even playing it
safe, you can make a mess.

He started small,
little trips to the unpopulated runs, trying out fresh powder and
learning the feel of riding untamed terrain. It didn’t take
long for him to get hooked. And when Federa invited him to come to
Alaska, he jumped at the chance. This was his largest descent as
well but he wasn’t scared of the ride. The thing that scared
Shane was dressed in blue and coming to a stop at the bottom of the
mountain.

***

Lenny came to a halt
and pushed up her goggles. She was breathless and heated up from her
ride so she removed her face mask and hat as well. She turned to
watch Ben cut a smooth line very near hers. It made her feel good,
she had blazed a trail to be proud of.

She
watched in curiosity as Shane started his own run. He was a little
further away from where she had started. She had never seen him ride
big mountains before. All the time they were together, he had made
it abundantly clear that he was
not
into that sort of thing. He was good in the pipe and that had always
been his focus. She was curious as to what had changed his mind.

Ben slid up next to
her, and pushed his coverings off his face. He had a goofy grin
plastered on and he gave Lenny a high-five.

Shane made his
descent with precision and Lenny was impressed. When he reached them
at the bottom she impulsively patted his shoulder in congratulations.
Shane took off his goggles and gave Lenny a warm look.

“
Bet
you didn’t think I could pull it off.” He said with a
sideways smile.

“
I’m
not gonna lie, I was a little surprised.” Lenny tried to read
his expression but he looked away from her inquisitive stare.
Whatever had happened to Shane was a very big deal. He was like a
brand new person.

“
Damn,
check out Serge…” Ben said with awe.

They all turned to
observe the living legend take his turn raging down the face. It was
a thing of beauty. Serge moved with the fluidity of a spider in an
intricate web; in and out, back and forth. The snow bursting from
beneath his board as if announcing his arrival to the rest of the
world.

“
Do
you think he knows how good he is?” Lenny wondered out loud.

“
He’s
definitely fearless,” Shane remarked. “I’m not
that brave.” He glanced at Lenny with adoration. “Lenny
is, though.”

Lenny smiled
wistfully, still staring at Serge’s perfect form and style.

“
Sometimes,”
she agreed noncommittally.

When Serge finished
his run and humbly accepted the group's praise, he radioed the heli
and Jack swung around to pick them up again. They flew a short
distance away to a smaller slope where Nick and Smitty had helped the
‘youngins’ build a jump.

“
You’re
gonna fly a hundred feet off that thing!” Nick was hollering at
Smitty. They were having an argument about the safety of the jump
they’d just finished.

“
That
was the plan, dummy.” Smitty wiped the sweat off his brow and
squinted up the hill. “It ain’t fun unless you can get
hurt.”

“
Maybe
for you and me, that’s true. But they’re just kids.”
Nick protested.

“
Would
you calm down?” Smitty was losing his patience. “They
don’t have to try it if they don’t want to. No one is
forcing them.”