Learn to Fly (27 page)

“
Cody!”
Lenny exclaimed, looking around the sound booth nervously. “No!
I work for them and they're my friends.”

“
C'mon,
Luke Casey has a bangin' bod. Totally doable.” She saw Greg
look over his shoulder at her and she winked.

“
Please
stop.” Lenny was blushing uncontrollably at this point and
Cody realized that nothing in that department had changed. Good to
know.

“
Fricken'
virgin,” Cody smirked. “You have got to loosen up,
babe.” She took out her phone and tapped out a short text to
Shane. For a guy who claimed he didn't care if Lenny had moved on,
he definitely needed a lot of reassurance.

“
Can
we not talk about that?” Lenny pinched the bridge of her nose
and Cody wondered if maybe she
was
taking it too far. The headaches hadn't been an issue until after
the accident but Cody always seemed to be trigger. Or maybe it was
talk about sex in general that made Lenny's head hurt.

“
Sure.”
Cody sighed. “When are you coming home?” It was the
question of the year. When would Lenny return to the mountain and
claim it as her own again? Cody found it hard to believe that Lenny
could give it up altogether, not when she had so easily dominated.

“
Maybe
for Christmas.” Lenny replied, relaxing again at the subject
change.

“
I
saw Duke last week, he misses you.” Cody swallowed the gag
that wanted to surface. Those two had always had a much closer
relationship than she cared for. She still didn't know why Duke had
decided to mentor Lenny over his own niece but whatever. Cody didn't
need anyone's help anyway. She'd proved that by winning the gold
medal, hadn't she?

The lights dropped and the show started and Cody felt
relieved that the 'catching-up' was over for the most part. Being
with Lenny was exhausting. Trying to anticipate what may or may not
upset her got old quick. Cody wished they could go back to being
kids, when things weren't so complex.

She would stick
around after the show for a bit and fish for information. If Lenny
had remembered anything surrounding the circumstances of the
accident, it was sure to be obvious during a session of sentimental
reminiscing. And she really wanted to know if Lenny was considering
a comeback anytime soon.

***

Lenny was doubled
over in laughter. She couldn’t breathe at all and sat down on
the floor to try to catch her breath. But Cody wasn’t going to
let her off that easy. She kept going with her story, even as Lenny
tried to wave a ‘time-out’ at her with her hands.

“
So,
Lenny, brilliant as she is, decides we need something edgy to do for
the talent show. I went along with it because, well, let’s
face it, she’s amazing and I trusted her.”

Lenny was wiping
away her tears as Cody brought back some of her best memories.
Pre-accident memories.

“
She
convinces me that we should sing and dance to Salt N Pepa’s
'
Shoop
.'”
She paused as the room exploded in laughter, then continued. “No,
seriously. We practiced for weeks, learning all the words and the
dance routine. We were so proud of ourselves.” She smiled at
Lenny. “Keep in mind, this was a private school that our
parents paid thousands of dollars a year for us to attend.”

“
What
happened?” Harrison asked, wide-eyed.

“
We
got kicked out.” Cody said flatly. “We didn’t
even make it through the first chorus and Mrs. K shut off the power.”

Lenny was finally
catching her breath when Cody dove right in to another story from her
past that she hadn’t thought about in a long time. Maybe she
shouldn't have dreaded seeing her friend after all. This could work.

***

The guys had a lot
of questions and Cody was more than happy to give detailed answers.
She wasn't even a tiny bit surprised that there were five dudes
drooling all over Lenny. It was typical. Lenny always had to have
all the boys to herself.

“
What
about the nickname ‘Freebird’?” Blake nodded a
question at Cody. “Where did that come from?”

“
You
haven’t told them anything, have you?” Cody accused
Lenny playfully.

Lenny shook her head
but kept smiling. Another thing that hadn't changed from the
accident, Lenny didn't talk about snowboarding. And the fake
humility was a nice touch.

“
Um,
let me think, when did that start?” She looked up at the
ceiling as if trying to remember. “We were in high school,
Lenny was starting to gain some attention for her talent on the
mountain.” She sat next to her friend on the floor and leaned
her back against the wall. “Lenny was always taking off to go
test the powder in remote areas of the world. The boys at school
loved her and were always trying to get with her.” Lenny shook
her head to disagree, embarrassment starting to color her neck. “Yes,
Sweetie, you’ve always been hot.” Cody dismissed her
silent argument and sighed, “But Lenny couldn’t be tamed,
just like the song. I think the first time it was used publicly
though it was Shane Brookings, was it not?” She looked to
Lenny for verification. Lenny bit the inside of her cheek and
shrugged. Cody chose her next words carefully.

“
Yeah,
it was. Shane was doing an interview with ESPN and they asked who he
thought had the most potential in the young crowd that was staring to
blaze their trail on the mountain. And he said, ‘Lenny
Freebird Evans, that girl can fly.’”

“
That’s
a pretty hefty endorsement. Isn’t that guy like, the best?”
Mike asked. Cody narrowed her eyes at him. He had been paying way
to close attention and she didn't trust him.

She forced a laugh
in response, “Yeah, he basically rules the effing sport.”

Lenny was quiet; she
was still smiling but had calmed down considerably. Cody watched
heedfully, looking for any telltale signs of grief, heartache,
regret, etc. But Lenny was an oak.

“
And
it stuck, announcers and commentators started talking about this
amazing new talent and they hardly used her first name anymore.”

“
Why
did you say publicly? Was it used before that?” Luke asked.

Cody
calculated his question. She knew men and she knew them well. And
it was more than obvious to her that Luke not only wanted Lenny but
he also wanted to protect her.
How
in the hell does she always make that happen? Hottest guy in the room
and he's her fricken' lap dog.

“
I
started calling her that in high school every time she turned down
another poor boy that had fallen desperately in love with her. I had
mentioned it to Shane the first time we met him. Remember that?”
She elbowed Lenny. “He kept trying to flirt with Lenny but she
wasn’t having it. So I explained that she was a free bird and
she wasn’t gonna be caged.” She smiled at Lenny with
mischief. “Shane liked it so much he got a tattoo of it on his
bicep.”

Luke might as
well know the truth. If he's going to be her whipping boy he should
know he's not the only one.

“
Whoa!
Some dude got your name tattooed on his arm for you?” Sway
gaped.

“
No,
it wasn’t my name, it was a nickname and also a famous song.
It really had nothing to do with me.” Lenny’s expression
was nonchalant and she waved it off. Cody pursed her lips before
changing the subject. The seeds had been planted, the rest was their
fault.

“
Remember
that time Duke got stuck in the tree?” Cody asked Lenny whose
eyes widened at the memory.

“
Yes!
I still can’t believe he did that.” She said, shaking
her head.

“
What
happened?” Harrison egged on.

“
Okay,
Duke, my crazy uncle who taught Lenny everything she knows, he
prefers to find his own line.”

“
What’s
a line?” Sway was confused.

“
The
line is the track you take down the snow to get to the bottom.”
Lenny explained.

“
Anyway,”
Cody continued. “We had gotten way up in to the backwoods area
that is seldom run and decided to be a little more risky with our
chutes.” Cody’s eyes sparkled with humor at the memory.
“The rule has always been: if you can see the bottom, follow
Duke’s line; if you can’t see the bottom, do not follow
Duke.”

Lenny started to
giggle again but tried to keep it quiet so that Cody could finish
telling the best part.

“
Duke
took this wild line down the hill and instead of following the open
area where he could clearly see what was coming; he veered to the
left and went over this small ridge. Well, he thought it was small.”
Cody paused to let Lenny laugh heartily, everyone's eyes were wide in
anticipation. “Turns out, it was this huge cliff that dropped
into nothingness and he ended up in a tree.”

“
It
was really fortunate that tree was there,” Lenny pointed out.
“He could’ve gotten really hurt, otherwise.”

“
Who?
Duke?” Cody rolled her eyes, “That guy is invincible;
he’ll out live us all.” She turned to Lenny, “you
should really call him. Seriously, Lenny,” Cody let out her
aggravation. “No one loves you more, not even your own parents.
The least you could do is give him a call and tell him you’re
okay.”

“
Fine,
I’ll call him.” Lenny conceded with frustration in her
voice. “You’re right, he deserves better.”

Cody
put her arm around Lenny’s neck and hugged her close. “Thank
you. It’ll be good for you, too, ya know.” And now they
all knew that Lenny abandoned those closest to her.
Zing.

They continued to
visit for another hour and then Cody leaned over and kissed the top
of Lenny’s head. “I have to go, Bird. I have an early
morning appointment.” She stood up and Lenny joined her.

“
Hey,
call me if you need anything.” Cody looked into Lenny’s
face with a serious expression. “I’ll see you in Aspen.”
Cody paused. “Or maybe at the Lodge if you decide to go home
for Christmas.”

Lenny nodded but
didn’t speak. Cody left feeling satisfied with her visit. They
were obviously still friends which meant that the memory lapse around
the accident was still intact. Shane always worried for no reason.
Now if Cody could just convince Lenny to come back to competing,
maybe she could find out once and for all who was actually the best.

***

The next few days
all sort of blurred together for Luke. They had a show every night
so they were pretty much on the bus nonstop. Anytime he and Lenny
had a free moment they would make out like high schoolers. In the
back of the bus, behind the bleachers, in the dark behind the venue.
And every night, he would sing his song to her, hoping she would fall
for him just a little bit more.

The weirdness from
Cody's visit had passed but it had taken a few days. Luke had
noticed Lenny's distance but didn't confront it. He wouldn't even
have known where to start. He and Mike had had a conversation that
left Luke feeling leery of Cody and unsure of how to address it. How
do you tell someone that their best friend is a poison in their life?
Besides, he was having too much fun with Lenny to want to spoil it.

The excitement of
sneaking around was new for Luke. His past relationships had all
been very public and nearly completely physical. Not this time. They
talked about everything, all the time. The only one he had ever
shared so much with was Mike. But Luke was still very aware of how
gun-shy Lenny had been even recently. He wasn’t going to push
for anything more than what they had right now. He liked her and she
liked him.

And the kissing was
fantastic.

Luke was making his
way to sound check, his standard grin plastered on his face from
having just spent the most amazing three minutes with Lenny in the
back lounge of the bus. He jumped when Ashton stepped out in front
of him.