The One We Fell in Love With by Paige Toon

haven’t been to Chamonix as much as I would have liked.’
    ‘Why is that? You seemed to be here every weekend earlier in the year.’
    ‘Mmm. My girlfriend, Cristina, wanted me at home more. It’s part of the reason why we broke up.’
    ‘Aah.’
    I wanted to ask him more, but our food would’ve gone cold so I grudgingly put my questions on hold.
    Amelie was in high spirits during dinner, which was amazing considering the state of her ankle. She stayed on the sofa with her foot on a chair, nursing her plate on her lap. If it weren’t
for her injury, we could have been four friends chatting merrily away, but I soon became distracted thinking about our forthcoming sleeping arrangements.
    In the summer months, we encouraged stranded climbers to walk back down the ridge to the Refuge du Cosmique, which is about a forty-five-minute trek on the glacier. But if they were injured or
didn’t want to, then we would let them sleep on the floor of the public toilets. It might sound mean, but some people stayed at the top on purpose to avoid paying the refuge charges, and
frankly, the Aiguille was not a hotel.
    That evening, though, I couldn’t bear the thought of sending our two new friends to the other side of the footbridge to sleep in the loos, however warm they might’ve been.
    I could’ve kissed Cécile when we were alone in the kitchen and she made a different suggestion.
    ‘I suppose they could sleep on the sofas,’ she whispered.
    ‘Really? Well, no, Amelie can have my bed. I’ll take the sofa.’
    ‘I bet you will.’ She gave me a mischievous look.
    ‘Cut it out.’ My cheeks flamed. ‘Are you serious, though? Can we let them stay here?’ I asked hopefully.
    ‘I won’t tell if you don’t,’ she replied with a comedy wink.
    Amelie was extremely grateful and really didn’t take much convincing to sleep in my room. She was so exhausted that she went to bed straight after dinner. Cécile stayed up only a
little while longer before calling it a night.
    ‘What about the sunset?’ I frowned at her as she stretched her arms over her head. Surely she didn’t want to miss it – she was always going on about the fact that we got
the last of the sun up here.
    ‘Take Remy. I’ve seen enough sunsets. I’m shattered.’
    It wasn’t that late, but while her yawn looked genuine, I couldn’t believe she was really that tired. She was meddling.
    As soon as she went, I felt a flurry of nerves at being alone with Remy. I smiled across at him from my position on the second sofa.
    ‘Do you think Amelie is feeling okay?’
    I regretted my chosen topic of conversation when his face fell. He shook his head with dismay, but didn’t answer.
    ‘It could have been a lot worse,’ I pointed out, soon regretting that comment, too.
    He shuddered visibly. ‘I keep imagining having to tell her mother that she’d...’ He shuddered again, a morose look in his eyes. ‘I can’t believe I messed up so
badly.’ He looked utterly miserable.
    ‘Hey.’ Impulsively I moved to sit beside him.
    ‘I should have insisted we turn back sooner, but I didn’t, and then I rushed her...’
    ‘You were just trying to get down in time,’ I said, squeezing his shoulder consolingly.
    ‘Better late than never,’ he replied darkly.
    We both fell silent, deep in thought. I let my hand drop, but didn’t move back to the other sofa.
    ‘You two are close, aren’t you?’ I said.
    He nodded. ‘We grew up in the same village. Our mothers are sisters.’
    ‘How old are you both?’ I asked curiously.
    ‘She’s twenty; I’m twenty-three. And you?’
    ‘Eighteen.’
    He reached forward and picked up his glass, taking a sip of his water. We weren’t allowed to drink alcohol.
    ‘Do you climb?’ he asked casually.
    ‘Ever since I was small.’ He turned to face me with interest. ‘We had a climbing wall around the corner from where we lived. It isn’t in use any more, sadly. My dad tried
to teach my sisters and me when we were