Beth bites her lip. It only took 2 or 3 minutes for the coach's small boat to catch up with the men's team, but it's cold and the wind's made her eyes water. They slow and keep pace with the rowing shell, riding just off their stern so the waves from their wake wouldn't disturb the crew boat.
Beth stretches one of her legs out, enjoying the feeling in her hamstrings.
Damn. Even Erging would be better than wasting 2 hours in the launch, she thinks. Beth glances at the girl next to her- the awkward, pink-clad newbie that she was now in charge of making into a real coxswain. Like I need another project.
Beth glances to her side once again. She is kinda cute though… No. Stop. The though pops up completely unbidden and she chastises herself silently, gritting her teeth. What the hell Childs? She's clearly straight and you have enough to worry about just teaching her…
She sighs, and turns to Alison and begins. "So… this is it. Rowing." She pauses.
"That's it? All you have to offer is 'Here's rowing'?"
"Sorry. It's just- there's so much, it's kinda hard to begin…" Beth rubs the back of her neck awkwardly, while she searches for a starting point. "Um, yeah. Let's just… okay, we'll start with the obvious. This is an 8. 8 rowers, one coxswain. For you, and for all intents and purposes, just know that those 8 people in front of you, are basically reindeer."
"Reindeer?"
"Yeah. We're not there to think- we're there just there to pull the sleigh and do whatever you tell us to do. You're the one in control."
"So are you saying I'm Santa Claus in the scenario?"
"Well, you are wearing a fluffy red coat…"
"It's pink."
"Whatever. The point is, the coxswain is in charge. You're the leader. You steer the boat, literally. You get the team pumped and motivated to keep working hard. You call people out when they're messing up and tell them how to fix it, and you keep track of splits and ratings-" Beth raises a finger, shushing Alison's already proposed question "-don't worry, I'll get back to that later. The point is- the coxswain is essential. You guys do all the thinking, so we don't have to. We've got enough to worry about with our own technique. Got it?"
The girl next to her nods her head in understanding, her bangs fluffing in the wind. She looks… overwhelmed. Okay, maybe it was a bit much… Beth decides to soften things a bit.
"Look, I know you just got thrown into this and I know it's a lot, but it's really not so bad once you get it. You'll just have to trust me."
Alison's brow furrows at this and for a moment, Beth and it feels like Alison is looking at her like she's an equation she's trying to solve. After a brief pause, the girl with the bangs nods and says, "Okay. I will. I'll trust you," before turning her attention back to the men's team rowing beside them.
Beth isn't exactly sure why she should be so pleased with the idea of this new girl, all in pink, trusting her, but she can't deny the smile that's slowly spread across her face.
The rest of the morning was a blur to Alison. After an awkward start, it seemed like Beth had finally come around to being a bit more...helpful, and was able to give her an overview of a lot more rowing basics. She had no idea there was so much to rowing. Alison was doubtful, when she got up this morning, if the sport would be something she could truly get invested in. Honsetly she still wasn't sure, but she WAS sure of was that if anyone could get her excited about it, it was this girl Beth.
Beth talked about crew like it magic. The sheer passion she had for it came accross in her face, the way it lit up. Alison suspected Beth could be talking about the materials the boats were made out of and Alison would be rivited- that's the kind of furvor she expressed.
As it were, Alison was just trying to keep up with all the information. Beth told her about what proper technique looked like- what to look for, where someone's body and oar blade should be at what point. She learned that when a rower's compressed all the way at the front of their slide (apparently the seats in the boat slide!) right as they first drop their blade in the water, that it's called the "catch". And she learned that at the end of the stroke, when the blade comes out of the water, it's called the "release"- at that everyone needs to be doing this at the exact same time.
"That's huge," Beth emphasized. "Because if the timing is off, the boat's set is off- meaning we rock side to side, unbalanced, and that we're generally not being very efficient…" She looks to Alison again. She leans closer, smiling, and adds almost conspiratorially, "And basically that's your cue as cox to tell us we suck and to pull our shit together."
Alison nods again, blushing at the swear. She's finding herself at a loss for words more often than usual this morning, for some reason. It's probably just because it's intimidating, so much new information. Alison silently hopes that she doesn't look like an idiot- that Beth doesn't take her silence for supidity and that she can manage to actually remember any of this stuff.
Practice comes to a close, and Coach S pulls their small motor boat up to the dock once more. Beth doesn't even wait for it to come to a stop, she simply stands- as steady as if she were in an empty parking lot- and hops out of the still gliding boat. As the coach cuts the motor and gathers her things, Beth moors it, and Alison feels a tiny fleck of nervousness- remembering her rather uncoordinated transfer INTO the boat.
She manages though- moving quickly on to the dock this time- having learned her lesson. Ramon's still on the dock with his crew and unsure of what exactly to do next, she follows Beth and the coach back up the ramp to the boat house.
Beth goes to gather her stuff, and Alison follows, standing behind her as she packs her bag. Beth stands up, and the two girls are facing each other now, in silence. A very awkward silence.
"I just wanted to-"
"I hope that it was-"
They both speak at the same time, talking over each other and stopping, chuckling.
Alison smiles again. Something about Beth makes her feel… well she's not sure exactly. At ease maybe? No, but at the same time nervous and excited. Like the feeling you get when you got to bed on Christmas Eve as a kid. Beth also felt so familiar to her somehow... it was strange. All Alison knows for sure is that this girl seems to go back and forth between cocky and awkward at the drop of a hat and that vacillation is… appealing. Alison liked talking to her- and despite the awkwardness on and off, she's easy to talk to. So Alison starts again. "Sorry- I just wanted to say thank you. For today. For being patient."
The slightly taller girl in front of her nervously runs her hand through her hair again. She looks off towards the other end of the building, not meeting Alison's eyes, and replies. "Yeah, I mean, it's no problem. I hope it wasn't too overwhelming…"
Alison pauses, thinking. "Well, it's a lot, but no. Not overwhelming. I think you explaining it firsthand helped."
There's another small pause, and Alison's about the excuse herself to go find Ramon when Beth bursts out, "CanIgetyourphonenumber?"
Alison almost stepped back from the force of it and she can actually see Beth recoil from her own exuberance. Beth settles herself and backpedals- clearly consciously taking it down a notch, before speaking again. "I was just thinking there's a bunch of paperwork-ish stuff you have to do- swim test, waivers, etc- stuff I don't have on me right now…I thought maybe I could text you and maybe meet up later? Go over that, and give you some more, uh, technique stuff I could print too?"
"Sure." Alison replies brightly. This making new friends thing is going much smoother than I anticipated, She thinks.
"Cool-hang on." Beth rummages in her bag for a moment, before coming up with a pen.
Alison pauses, waiting for Beth to find a piece of paper. After a moment, she adds "Are you going to write it down somewhere?"
"Oh- yeah," Beth says, absentmindedly holding up her palm, like a piece of paper, and poises her pen ready to write on it. "I don't usually bring a notebook to practice…"
"Of course. Yes. It's 416-338-0685."
Beth writes the number on her palm in large, blocky letters. "Perfect... Lemmie give you my number too..."
Alison is surprised when Beth takes her hand and more suprised she doesn't stop her. Beth holds Alison's hand in hers, palm up. Beth's thumb absentmindedly graces a few centimeter's back and forth over Alison's wrist- like a swimmer unconsciously treading water. The sensation is... very appealing, and Alison feels another little flutter of something in her stomach as Beth finishes up slowly inscribes her cell number in the same deliberate blocky letters as before. "There," the rower says, finishing. "Perfect," She looks up and smiles at Alison.
They stand there for one more prolonged moment, before Beth realizes she's still holding Alison's hand, "Oh, sorry. So yeah, I'll text you later?- I mean if that's cool with you?"
Alison is still holding her hand in the same place, puzzled over why Beth took her hand away, and why on Earth she wanted it back. She blinks though, and realizes Beth's waiting for answer. Over Beth's shoulder, Alison sees Ramon is gathering his stuff too, finally ready to go. "Yes, that would be lovely," She manges to reply. "And I have to go now. I'll see you later then." She says, moving to go.
"Cool. Yeah. See ya!" Beth makes a little wave, before turning quickly and walking out of the boathouse ahead of them. Alison watches as Beth disappears out the door at the other end as Ramon arrives at her side. "So how'd it go today?" He asks.
She turns to Ramon. "I think I'm going to like crewing." She smiles brightly.
Ramon smirks, "Rowing, Hon. It's just rowing," and the two begin their walk back to his car.
Beth looks at her hand for the millionth time in the 30 minutes or so since she'd written the number there, and once again mentally slaps herself in the head. Could a human being possibly been any more awkward? It was like I was back in middle school…What is wrong with me?
Beth finishes pouring milk into her cereal bowl, and begins walking back to her usual seat in the cafeteria. Getting up at 5 am had its advantages. By the time they got off the water and back to campus, it was still early enough- 8am usually- that she didn't have to fight the pre-class breakfast crowd.
Arriving at her usual booth next to the front windows, she sits, and tries to piece together exactly what about this petite newbie got under her skin. Alison was nice. She was polite. And she had absolutely no idea about rowing or coxing and there was absolutely no reason for Beth to be reacting this way. If anything, roles should be reversed.
Beth smirks, thinking of Alison tripping and all but crashing landing into the launch boat this morning. Luckily Beth had broken her fall. I can appreciate she tried to brush it off, like it was nothing. Keeping it together- that's a good coxswain trait… She reasons down into the cereal in front of her.
"So, how'd it go wit' Barbie there?"
"Huh?" Beth glances up from the bowl, meeting her teammate's eyes.
"Barbie. Y' know- that straight-laced, pink abomination you toted around all morning. Did you scare her off yet?" Sarah asks, sitting down across from her.
"No, I didn't scare her off…" Beth replies, though chuckling at Sarah's comment. "Pink abomination?"
"Yah. You saw 'er? I don't know wha' was more ridiculous- the pink ear muffs or her fuckin' yoga pants. She looked like a bloody soccer mom…"
"It wasn't that bad," Beth rolls her eyes at her friend, and smiles, thinking of Alison's outfit. "I mean, I thought she looked nice…" She looks down at her bowl and takes another large bite. When she looks back up, she's met with Sarah's raised eyebrows and smirk. "What?"
Sarah chuckles. "You like her."
"Well, I mean, she seems nice enough..."
"No... I mean, you like her. Oh my god- with the pink an' everything?" Sarah gapes.
"What? No, I don't."
"Oooooh buddy, yes. Yes you do," Sarah says, gesturing pointedly at Beth with her fork.
"Quite the conclusion to jump to. I just said I thought she looked nice- I didn't say I wanted to, like, jump her bones or whatever…" she says, trying to make light of it.
"OooOOOoooh, so now you're thinkin' about jumpin' her bones, are ya?" Sarah says with a devilish smile.
"I didn't. Say. That." Beth growls, but it's too late. She can feel the slight flush in her cheeks betraying…something… and she knows from Sarah's satisfied expression, she's caught it.
"Who is jumping bones?" Helena, Sarah's adoptive sister, asks, joining them at the table. Her wild, blonde hair sticks out in every direction, and her tray is piled high with one of basically everything the cafeteria has to offer
"Childs is. With our new Coxie-cox."
"Oh." Helena states, pausing a moment to think before finally adding, "She is very pink," Helena shoves an entire piece of toast in her mouth and Sarah bursts out laughing at the observation- only irritating Beth further.
"There will be no jumping of bones! I didn't- UGH. You guys are ridiculous…"
"I mean, I know you told me you like the ladies and all, but I must say I was not expecting her to be your type…Where's your first date gonna be? The Country Club?" Sarah continues, the shit-eating grin showing no signs of laying off anytime soon.
Beth rubs her face, as if she could just rub away the conversation. She gathers her plates, stacking on her tray and stands up. "I gotta go. Class," she mumbles. Done with Sarah for now.
"Geez- I was just kidding around is all. Take a chill-pill…"
"Fine, it's fine. I'll see ya," Beth says, trying to brush it off.
"Riiight. See ya later Childs." Sarah says, before cramming a fork full of egg in her mouth.
"Goodbye Elizabeth," Helena mumbles, as Beth makes her way out of the cafeteria.