' . the underdog . '

like instinct, alfie’s hands moved to squeeze esme’s waist the slightest bit tighter and pull her closer to him while they kissed, then snaked his hands around to her back and resting them on its small. “you say that like it’s a bad thing” he spoke softly before leaning in to kiss her again just as she did. alfie was totally that guy , the one who couldn’t stand to keep his hands and lips off of his girlfriend whenever they were together — his love language was definitely physical affection and he was sure esme knew that. but even so he found himself (reluctantly) pulling away , because god forbid his own roommate walk in on them like this. “i guess we should go huh? we can finish this conversation in the hot tub” he planted one last peck on her lips before letting her go so that he could grab a pair of swim trunks. it was when he looked in his suitcase that he remembered there was something he wanted to give her. “shit—es , close your eyes for a moment will you?” he said , a soft laugh leaving his lips as he pulled a gift bag out of his suitcase and set it on the bed in front of her. “i wasn’t sure if you’d have packed a dress for a trip like this so i went and got you this one that i saw you looking at on your laptop while we were in bed back home , figured it be nice to wear on our first date , yea?” he couldn’t help but let a goofy grin grow across her face as he watched her open it. 

Esme ended up pouting a little when he pulled away, not wanting the moment to stop but she knew it had to or they’d be far too tempted to do any of the grand things he had planned. “You promise we can finish this conversation there?” Once she had caught herself pouting, she did it even more so in a playful manner when asking the question. Her eyebrows furrowed a little in confusion when he told her to close them but still followed the orders after a second, closing her eyes. She only opened them when he started speaking about a dress and blinked a couple of times before setting her eyes on the gorgeous dress she’s been looking at. “Oh my God, Alfie!” She smiled brightly. She barely expected him to be paying attention to anything she was looking at on her phone, let alone go and get the thing for her. Instead of inspecting the dress, first she went up to Alfie and kissed his cheek and then his lips. “You really are the sweetest, you know that?” She told him before actually turning around to pick up the dress and look at it more closely. It was obvious that she loved it from looking at it on the website and in person, it definitely lived up to the expectations. “Yeah, you know what? We needs to get to that hot tub and fast.” 

alfie could feel his heart slightly begin to break as esme told him about her history with the military and therefore the cause of her nightmares. “oh sweetheart” he mumbled , mostly to himself as he shook his head — he hurt for her , how could he not now that she had unveiled this piece of herself to him. he intently listened to every word she said , down the way that the stress in her tone changed as her sentences went on. when alfie had first learned that esme was a former military medic he had admired her for her bravery , it was always so admirable to him that she was willing to put her life on the line in order to deliver help to those who needed it. but he never could have imagined the horror I must have put her through , even as esme stood there describing the details to him he knew he would never even be able to begin to fathom the kinds of things she must have seen. “i’m proud of you es, for putting yourself first and leaving — i won’t ever understand what must be like for you to have to keep those memories with you but just know that i’m here for you when they feel like too much to bare” the one thing alfie knew he could do was offer his support in any way she needed it. “does it ever effect you at work? those types of environments must have some similarities right?” 

       “ oh, definitely. classic lime will always hit, but spicy watermelon is too good to pass up on. ”  summer grins, turning around on her heel to survey her options for tequila.  “ i’m a big fan of strawberry too. maybe even more than watermelon. honestly, i’m a sucker for any fruity mixed drink. ”

“Bit of an obscure one for you that I usually do whenever I’m making one myself but passion fruit. Any passion fruit drink I could drink all the time.” Esme suggested as a future alternative. “I’m usually a whiskey girl but fruit drinks are a very close second.”

Austin and Esme’s past relationship would always be special to him. She was his first love. Thankfully, they’d not broken up on bad terms. He couldn’t imagine arguing with the brunette. “Trained me on a few things? Sheesh. I’ll make sure to credit your name when I give people orgasms from this point on-wards.” Austin laughed out loud as a pillow came flying across the room to hit him square in the chest. He hugged it close to his chest as the smirk kept on growing. “You love it.”

“Look, I know we go to uni and everything but maybe don’t cite your sources when you give orgasms!” She joked back. “Your offer is kind but I’ll stick to the condoms I brought with me and say that ‘I hate it’ to keep myself sane.”

Austin shook his head in pure agreement that he wouldn’t take anybody back to this bedroom. Neither of them wanted to walk in and oppose on something they really didn’t want to see with their exes new partners. “Deal. I’d rather not walk in and see anything that’ll haunt my thoughts.” Austin shrugged his shoulders because nobody seemed interested in him and that was cool. “You have to say that I’m fuckable otherwise I’d feel insulted about the past between us both.” Austin laughed as he sat on the edge of his mattress. “Not in this room, I promise.” He doubted anyone would want to come back with him anyways “Just be careful if you do decide to do anything. I have condoms in my draw that you can take for your new mister if you need too.”  Austin smirked, checking his phone screen, and then looking back to his ex girlfriend with a grin. “They might be a bit big for him though.”

“I don’t have to say it but I stand by the fact that I had a relationship with you and that you were a great boyfriend and I also trained you on a few things in bed so you better be good for others or I’d be offended.” Esme pointed out. Her mouth opened slightly before laughing at his next comment. “Austin!” She grabbed her pillow and threw it over at him. “You’re the worst!”

Alfie was a little startled when esme suddenly went from sleeping to now trying to get out of the bed all while her eyes were still closed. His body relaxed a bit when he noticed esme had finally snapped out of whatever it was, a hand reaching out to rub up and down on her back while he let her gather herself. “It’s okay es, I’m here , you’re okay” he spoke softly, not wanting to smother her in affections but for her to simply know that he was there for whatever she may need. His hand stayed gently repeating the same motion until esme voiced what she needed—a walk, he could do that. “Of course darling, whatever you need”  nodded his head before getting out of the bed, turning his lamp on so that he could find his shirt and put it on along with a pair of sweatpants. He wondered if this was always how esme coped with this kind of thing, by walking—and if it was then he was glad he could be there with her this time, god knows what could have happened to her if she was walking alone so late at night, but alfie didn’t need to worry about that right now. once he got himself dressed he made his way over to Esme’s side of the bed, squatting down in front of her with one of his sweatshirts clutched in his grasp. “can you put this on for me? it’s quite cold outside and I don’t want you to get sick” his voice was gentle, one hand placing itself on her knee while the other extended the sweatshirt up to her. 

After putting his shoes on and grabbing his keys he was leading them out of the house, walking in the direction opposite of of campus so they could get into the more residential area—he figured that was quieter, easier for her to think (or not think if she so pleased). “Do you wanna talk about it? You don’t have to if you don’t want to but can I just ask if that’s something that happens often?” he asked, his hand reaching down to intertwine his fingers with hers as they walked. 

Esme stayed still when Alfie got up, taking a moment to just breathe. Her eyes only looked up from the ground when Alfie was squatted down in front of her. She nodded, taking the sweatshirt from him and wrapping it around her, her hands poking out the sleeves but opting to hide her hands in the sleeves for comfort and warmth. She got up and put her jeans on and her trainers that she’d come in the night before. 

Austin didn’t realise sharing a room with his ex girlfriend was going to be as awkward as it felt. Thankfully, the two of them didn’t dislike each other and the relationship ended pretty mutually. No hard feelings. It just sucked and made him think back to what they use to be like back then. “I’d encourage you to go to his room. I don’t want to walk in on something I shouldn’t be seeing.” He raised his eyebrows as the girl mentioned that she would appreciate the same back from him. “You have too much faith in me, Esme. Who in the hell around here would want to fuck me?” Austin didn’t even think anyone around here thought he was cute. The scenario seemed impossible to him doing anything with anyone.

“And again, I wouldn’t want to walk in on you doing anything either so I think we can both agree not to do anything in the room to begin with.” Esme agreed. She raised an eyebrow at Austin. “Austin, speaking as someone who used to fuck you, I’m pretty sure there will be people on this mountain that would be more than willing to fuck you.... just not in this room.” She replied with a little joke on the end. 

         “  you  have  a  point  ,  girl  !  ”   summer  claps  her  hands  together  ,  laying  her  palms  flat  on  the  bartop  to  hoist  herself  up  and  over  .  sure  ,  there  was  probably  an  easier  to  way  to  get  to  the  other  side  ,  but  where’s  the  fun  in  that  ?   “  classic  lime  for  you  ?   or  ,  i  know  how  to  make  spicy  watermelon  .  ”   she  offers  in  a  singsong  voice  .

alfie: I'm sure I'm gonna need all the luck I can get

alfie: damn I wish I was you right now

alfie: don't get too carried away without me , okay?

esme: you'll be fine, i promise!

esme: do you at least have some alcohol in your bag or something? maybe that will help!

“Yea? Well it’s good you guys aren’t at each other’s throat then—I’m shit at combat you know” he joked, taking her bah from her and hanging it over his shoulder while the two made their way out. “I’m just feeling like spoiling you today , you’re all I’ve been thinking about since we got here so I want to make our time worth it” he smiled, intertwining their fingers as he held the door open for her , not hesitating to kiss her head as they began their walk over to his. alfie had always been a very outwardly affectionate person when he was in a relationship , so keeping his hands and lips all over her was simply like second nature. he let out a sigh as he opened the door to an empty room, thanking all the gods there were that he could have a minute alone with esme. honestly the fact that he couldn’t kiss her before made him all the more eager to shut the door behind them , placing the bag down on his bed in favor of putting his hands on her waist , pulling her closer to him before speaking again. “last I checked, you owed me a kiss or two” he smirked, leaning down to close the gaps between their lips as he finally gave her the kiss he had really been wanting to earlier. 

“Well if you’re teaching me an instrument, I’d happily teach you some fighting moves. I promise I’m a very hands on teacher.” Esme teasingly offered. A smile eased on to her lips when he told her she was all he’d thought about. “It’s like our first vacation together... if you ignore the other students and the fact we aren’t in the same room.” She laughed. She leaned in to his as they walked. Esmeralda loved nothing more than being close to Alfie when they were together. She was going to take her bag from him once they got to the room but before she could, he’d already put it down and had his hands pulling her closer. She didn’t hesitate for a second to kiss him back - even deepening the kiss like having to hold it back had just made her even more hungry to kiss him. Her hands rested on his cheeks until she pulled back and ran her thumb over his lip. “If we keep kissing, I don’t think we’ll make it close to the hot tub for a while.” She warned him but still found herself leaned up to kiss him again. 

Austin nodded his head in agreement about testing out the equipment on the slopes out here. That’d be something exciting to do. He’d probably go check out the pool and hot tub there too. “That’s what I was thinking. I don’t think anybody’s going to be complaining about the hot tub.” Austin was probably going to go and check it out at some point. Maybe even tomorrow night. “Why? The awkwardness? I’m fine as long as you don’t start fucking some guy next to me.” Austin would probably feel weird if she kissed another guy next to him. It’d still kind of hurt him. The relationship between them wasn’t toxic at any point. It’s just something that didn’t work out. “You are more than welcome to do whatever you want when I’m out of the room though. Just don’t get onto my bed and do anything on there. That’s my only ground rule.”

“If anyone did, they’re crazy.” Esme laughed. “Well, yeah, the awkwardness.” She agreed instantly. She listened to his proposal. “I’ll be honest, I’d probably just avoid doing anything with my boyfriend in our room at all. I hate the idea of you walking in even if you’ve said we can do whatever when you’re not here. It just feels like a situation I’d rather avoid.” Esmeralda pointed out. “And I guess I’d appreciate the same. I don’t really want to be walking in on you hooking up or making out with someone either.”

         sure  ,  it  sucked  that  she  couldn’t   try  her  hand  out  at  skiing  right  now  ,  but  summer  still  didn’t  see  what  the  huge  fuss  was  about  .    “   it’s  a  little  bit  funny  .  ”   she  responds  ,  turning  to  the  other  woman  with  a  small  smile  lighting  up  her  features  .   “  could  be  worse  ,  y’know  ?   we  could  be  outside  …  without  a  bar  .  ”   she  says  with  a  tilt  of  her  head  .  if  you  asked  her  ,  they  had  it  pretty  damn  good  right  now  .  a  mischievous  glint  sparks  in  her  eye  as  she  looks  forward  to  the  other  side  of  the  counter  that  the  bartender  had  abandoned  .   “  …  how  much  trouble  do  you  think  i’d  get  in  if  i  hopped  over  and  made  us  both  a  margarita  ?  ”

Alfie was glad to see that esme seemed excited that he had planned a little surprise date for the two of them — through all the time they had spent together alfie still hadn’t gotten the opportunity to take her out on a proper date ( at least , one that they were both very clear on the fact was a date anyways ) . The smile on alfie’s face still lingered when esme sort of pushed him away. Though it maybe wasn’t his ideal situation , he was glad to see that esme was the type of person who could respect boundaries like that and so he complied, dropping his hands back to his sides and moving to sit on the edge of the bed that had her stuff on. “Sorry darling I didn’t know , I can’t believe they’ve got you rooming with the ex though—that had to be strange to walk into huh” he sighed, his hand immediately reaching up to point towards the red bathing suit as she held them out for him. “Have you been around the lodge much? I was looking around trying to find the gym and I opened this door to to a foyer that had a grand piano in it, maybe I can finally teach you how to play a couple of notes later on?” he asked, standing up and extending his hand out to esme once she had finally gathered all of her things. 

“It’s okay, me and Austin are still good friends. We mutually broke up when I got accepted in to the army so we’re on good terms. There are definitely worse people I could be sharing a room with, it’s just kinda weird sharing a room with him.” Esme explained, realising in that moment that they’d never actually talked about exes before. She smiled when he picked the red bikini and put that in to her bag with the towel ready for the hot tub. “I’ve not actually seen too much of it, I’m more looking forward to the outdoor stuff than things in the lodge.” Esmeralda explained. A smile grew on her lips when he mentioned teaching her a few things. “So I get to spend time with you in a hot tub, an actual date and you’re finally going to teach me how to play an instrument? This might already be the best trip of my life.” She commented as she took his hand. “Now let’s get out of here so I can actually kiss you.”