Alison is still floating from her complement from Beth when Coach S called them together.
"Nice work girls. It's grand to be back on the water, and I'm glad to have a coxswain who can manage to steer a straight course at least. Let's keep it rolling shall we? See you all tomorrow mornin'."
The huddle of girls breaks up, and Alison lets out a small sigh of relief. I made it through the first day at least. She starts towards the parking lot, to find Ramon for her ride home, when a strong hand latches to her forearm, holding her in place.
"And just where do you think you're going?"
Alison turns back and is met by a smirking Beth.
"Heading back to my dorm?"
"No, you're not. You're coming to breakfast with the team."
"I'm not sure that's a good idea after this morning…" Alison says quietly, distracted by Beth's hand- the grip has loosened and has slid down a bit but is still encircling her wrist lightly.
"No, it's a great idea. We all always eat breakfast together. Eating a meal today erases all that tension from practice. It's a time to decompress basically. So, you're going. Come on- I'll give you a ride." Beth lets go of her arm, and stalks towards the parking lot, without even looking back to see if Alison is following.
Alison does follow, as if Beth's hand was still attached, pulling her along. Beth arrives at a beat up Ford Taurus. It's definitely an older model, quite a bit older. The navy blue paint is chipped in places, and rust has been nibbling at the wheel wells. Beth unlocks her side before leaning over and flipping the latch on the passenger side.
Alison opens the door with a creeeeek. The passenger seat is littered with gum wrappers, gym clothes and, oddly enough, cassette tapes.
"Hang on," Beth says, and moves to clean of the passenger seat. She haphazardly scoops the clothes and tapes and tosses them in the backseat, opting to simply brush off the remaining wrappers and miscellaneous debris onto the floor. "There, all set" She grins and Alison hops in hesitantly.
She closes the door and takes a better look at the vehicle. Despite the mess, the car sort of nice. It's like a favorite arm chair- a bit frayed and broken in around the edges but worn in and comfortable. Like home.
"I like your car, it's very... you," Alison says, before she can wonder exactly how she can arrive at this conclusion so soundly about someone she barely knows.
"Thanks, it's my baby," she says, patting the dashboard affectionately before starting the engine. "I've had her since junior year in high school. I had to save up for what felt like forever and I had my dad drive me to like 40 different places, answering ads, before I found her. It was love at first sight..."
"Cool," Alison's not exactly sure how to add to that.
They're quiet for a moment, but as they pull out onto the road again Beth starts chuckling to herself. Before Alison can inquire about what joke she missed, Beth chimes in.
"I'm sorry- I'm sorry," Beth lapses through chuckles "I was just thinking about how perfect that practice ended. Hilarious, and just too perfect. You were just too perfect- you have no idea."
"Thanks?"
"No, lemmie just tell you- I never, ever thought I'd see someone shut down both Sarah AND Rachel in one go. That was like, incredible. It's even more perfect because you paired them up and they HATE each other. Classic..."
"Oh! I didn't know they hate each other…"
"No, no, don't feel bad! That's why it was SO. PERFECT. Once you're on the team a while, you'll start to get to know the dynamics. We're a small team so we're tight but of course there are people that are closer and people that… well aren't." She glances towards Alison, raising an eyebrow.
"Like Sarah and Rachel?"
"Exactly."
Alison nods to herself. "So, why do they hate each other?"
Beth shrugs, "No one knows. It's hilarious though, when they start sniping at each other. I maaaaaaay sometimes, possibly, sort of intentionally do things that I know will spark them off. It's just way, way too much fun when they start going at it... But yeah, the more you hang out, the more you'll start to see those different dynamics. Which is good- you need to get to know these guys. Get to know what motivates them and what doesn't so you sort of unify us on the water…"
"Isn't that your job, Captain…to unify the team. Lead everyone," Alison pokes Beth's shoulder playfully, pushing it a bit.
"It's my job to get them together OFF the water, and sure they follow me in the boat but the rest m'dear, is all you," Beth rolls the car to a stop in front of the building with the cafeteria in it. "Now, come on, let's get some grub."
In the Cafeteria, Alison- always a light eater- grabs some yogurt (plain, non-fat) and some granola. She returned to Beth's side, unsure of exactly where she should sit, while Beth waits for her bagel to toast.
Beth turns to her, "We always sit at those long tables near the windows at the front. Go sit, I'll be there in a sec."
"Okay," and she reluctantly makes her way over. A few of the team are already there- both men's and women's team, though they appeared to choose to sit semi segregated from each other- girls with girls, guys with guys. Alison chooses an open spot on the far side, next to the girl who sat in 5 seat in her boat. The girl has bright red hair, and has sunglasses on. All she has in front of her is a large cup of black coffee.
"Hey, it's Katija, right? Can I sit here?"
The girl with the sunglasses doesn't bother turning towards her. She simply shrugs, makes a flippant, casual hand gesture and says , "Rock and Roll," before taking another long slip of coffee.
Alison hopes that's a 'yes', and sits down. She tries to catch Ramon's eye from the other end of the table, but he seems to be deep in discussion with another rower on the men's team wearing a trucker hat.
"Geez, you're 'ere less than a day and already flirtin' with the men's team…"
Alison turns forward again and sees, much to her dismay, Sarah and her sister sit down directly opposite her at the table. "What?- No. I was just-"
"You were jus'-jus'- jus' what, Pinky?"
"Knock it off Sarah," Beth says lightly, sitting in the empty chair to Alison's right. Thank god, Alison thinks.
"Hey look Helena, it's Pinky's knight in shinin' amour, here to sweep her off her feet…"
Beth rolls her eyes, "Hey, just because you got called out on your shit in the boat this morning, doesn't mean you need to drag me into it."
"What shit? I was jus' havin' a bit of fun, yeah? Right Alison?" She smirks looking at the coxswain. "Besides, I would have given anything to have seen Rachel's sour face when you told her she'd have an 'exceedingly long time' to think about it!"
Rachel, having sat down a moment earlier further down the table, stares down her nose towards Sarah, intoning, "Personally, I'm happy to know that sitting Seven seat allows me to never have to see your face."
"You want to come over here and say that again you bloody turnip?!" Sarah growls, eyes blazing.
"Please, guys let's not fight…" The heavier set girl, 6 seat, says, sitting down.
"Shut your trap Stubbs! This doesn't concern you!"
"Please, sestra…" Helena grumbles through a mouth full of food. She halfheartedly covers her ears, trying to block out Sarah's ranting.
Beth chuckles, turning slightly to Alison and giving her a nudge with her elbow. "Welcome to Team Crazy."
The rest of breakfast went uneventfully. Sarah quieted down, with Helena's insistence, though she kept shooting annoyed glares at Rachel. Alison took the opportunity to get to know the other rowers, just through observation, and Beth added along with a few side whispers here and there, filling in blanks.
She learned a lot.
She learned Katija wears those sunglasses all the time- Indoors, outdoors, rowing and otherwise- and Alison deduced she is in a band of some sort (Janis had asked her something about a gig coming up). Beth adds- very quietly- that there was some sort of minor fight between Katija and Helena when they first met, but that they manage to just stay away from each other now. "That's the other reason Helena's two seat- you know, besides to try and buffer Sarah from everyone- we decided as a team to try and keep them as far away as possible."
Three seat, Danielle… well Alison couldn't learn anything about her really. She is so quiet you'd think she was dead. In fact, Alison tires to think if she's heard her speak yet. Beth tells her it's been months since Danielle's said anything (and then, it was just 'ow' when Helena accidentally hit her in the back). "But, it's cool, you know? She comes to practice, does what's needed so most of us are pretty sure she's either just a bit shy or is just planning on murdering us all..." Beth adds.
Janis appeared to be kind of goth. Who puts on black eyeliner and mascara at 4 in the morning? Alison counted seven piercings in her ears- and that's not including the one in her lip and nose. Beth added that she thought she'd heard Janis was studying to be a forensic pathologist- "Or a mortician, I can't remember". She seemed nice enough, though the f-word seemed to be her favorite adjective. Alison was glad at least it wasn't directed towards her.
The girl they called Stubbs, whom Sarah yelled at earlier, seems to be a bit of a scapegoat for everyone. Alison did appreciate how she just keeps smiling through it all- simply disregarding everyone's disparaging comments. And Rachel… well, Alison can do without her entirely. Rachel is not only completely unpleasant but also just kind of unsettling for some reason. She had a hardboiled egg for breakfast and Alison smirks thinking how apt that seems.
The best part of breakfast, what she had missed initially and had hoped for when joining up, was how cohesive the team seemed to be. Everyone laughed, joked and even with the barbs exchanged they all seemed to get along well. Even with the men's team. Alison didn't have a lot of time to talk with them, but they too laughed a lot and seemed friendly enough.
Before she knew it, it was almost 9 o'clock. "Oh, shoot! I have class soon! Please excuse me, I have to run!" Alison says standing up.
"God, the manners on this one! I feel like I should curtsey!" Sarah laughs.
"See you tomorrow morning," Beth says, ignoring Sarah.
"Yes- absolutely! Bye!" Alison adds, hurrying out of the cafeteria. Though French class could not be half as interesting as her morning has been so far.
Beth keeps moving. The morning was madness, a whirlwind of surprises and feelings- neither she particularly enjoys spending time dealing with. Luckily, Friday's were fully loaded with classes, so downtime was scarce. Just the way she liked it.
Just as she had finally settled into a groove and was en route to her third class of the day, she hears her text alert from inside her backpack. Digging around for a second, she finally comes up with her phone. The text is short, but sets Beth back to square one as far as getting a certain coxswain off her mind.
Alison: Thanks for your faith in me this morning. Couldn't have
imagined doing it without you right there. See you tomorrow morning!
Several emoticons followed the text part of the message- most of which Beth would probably have to bring to some sort of linguist or tech enthusiast to decode (texting, technology in general, was not really her thing) but the words were easy enough to understand, right?
Thank you. Couldn't have imagined doing it without you. See you tomorrow morning.
Beth read it, and slipped her phone into her bag again. I don't have time for this right now.
She only walked another 30 feet before digging around, grabbing the phone back out and reading it again.
Nope, still the same thing.
By the third time she re-read it, she knew this was going to be a long day.
What did she mean by- Couldn't have imagined doing it without you?
So much had transpired between the two of this morning it could be anything. Well, to Beth, so much had transpired… as far as she knew Alison had no idea about the wild roller coaster Beth had been riding. Though Beth could swear that Alison looked like she was feeling something too- that moment... with the headset this morning…
No, you idiot. She was probably just weirded out by the super creeper vibe you were giving off! Beth shook her head, trying to dislodge the thought.
Beth has a history of that- reading too much into things. That, or the opposite- reading too little into things. That's what happened with Paul. She just didn't see what was happening. She didn't take it seriously, so she figured he didn't either. At least she'd thought. How incredibly wrong she was on that one.
That's your problem Childs, you get too close to a situation to see it clearly.
Which is why she needs to really watch herself with Alison. She could admit it- had to admit it since it was so painfully clear after this morning's practice when she could barely contain herself- that she had a crush. She had a major crush in fact, on Alison.
Alison whom she barely knew but felt like she'd known much longer. Alison who wears pink and more pink but is clearly so much more than that stereotype. Alison who gets flustered at a swear but managed to shut up both Sarah AND Rachel in a single, devastatingly awesome power move. Alison who said she wanted to be Beth's friend, to get to know her, and meant it… something no one's really said since she became friends with Art, back in high school.
Yes, there was a lot of appealing traits to Alison Hendrix, and that's why Beth doesn't want to ruin it with something as ridiculous as her feelings. That stuff just gets people hurt. Especially when it's not reciprocated.
So she makes the decision, right then and there, to make sure Alison never finds out about all this.
And no, she's not going to text her back. Just play it cool Childs. You'll see her tomorrow morning anyway right? No need to jump when she says jump right? It takes all she has to put her phone back in her bag again and not text back.
Beth is barely through her bedroom door, before she's changed into running shorts and sneakers. This is what she does. She runs those feelings away.
She rolls her eyes at herself, all too aware of literal it is. Her, running away from her issues.
But Alison makes her smile. And who knows how long it's been since that happened.
Beth shakes her head once more, it's going to be at least 6 miles before she can put enough distance between her and all this.
Alison yet again nervous- about coxing but also about the text she sent yesterday. She's not even sure why she sent it!... Well actually she is.
She sent it because she wanted to talk with Beth. Not just to tell her thank you… she just wanted to talk to her. About anything. Or nothing. Or everything… Or maybe possibly about the certain feelings she's been having and perhaps if Beth maybe, possibly was feeling that too?
Saying thank you seemed like not only a good first step, but also significantly less confusing, awkward and generally creepy than "Hey I've been quietly obsessing about this thing between us. What do you think?"
Alison probably wrote and deleted about 20 or 30 versions of that text before settling on wording (and even now she still isn't fully satisfied) but Beth hadn't sent anything back.
What does that mean?
It meant a whole new thing to obsess about.
Showing up to practice the next morning didn't seem to set her any more at ease. Most of the rowers, including Beth, were already there when she arrived.
The girls were standing around, and as Alison thought Beth looked (extra) intimidating in the morning light. Today she was wearing a backwards baseball cap and aviator glasses, a baggy sweatshirt and spandex shorts that showed off every single muscle in her legs and-
Jiminy Cricket- Pull yourself together! She coached herself to calm as she joined the rest of the group.
Saturday practice started at 8am instead of 5am and the difference was striking. For one, somehow everyone looked more tired. Alison's not exactly sure why- though the fact that Saturday morning practice was proceded by Friday night might be a clue.
They didn't dawdle on the dock, and it wasn't until they were on the water, sparkling and bright in the morning sun, that she realized another difference.
Looking down the line as they pulled out, she realized it wasn't just Katija and Beth in sunglasses this morning. It was all of them. All except herself.
Turns out, 8am on the river creates an absolutely blinding glare off the water.
Alison tries her best- squints for the first half hour. She keeps trying to shade her eyes with her hand, having to take it off the steering, which makes the boat start to drift a bit and is almost more trouble than it's worth. Ahead of her Beth and the other rowers are just fuzzy silhouettes and whenever Alison blinks she's seeing sun spots behind her eyes. Eventually they way-enough and she rubs her eyes. Stupid learning curve.
Beth scoots up, coming back into focus. "Hey, do you want to borrow my sunglasses for today?"
"Uh…" Alison weighs it. She doesn't want to be needy but she's also practically blind. "Yes please."
Beth slides them off, handing them forward to Alison. She turns her own hat around, shading her eyes. "Well, let's have a look…"
Alison puts them on, and instantly the world comes back into a clear, blue tinted, focus.
Beth quirks an eyebrow, the edge of her mouth twitching up. "Shit Ali, you look fucking bad-ass."
Alison is glad Beth can no longer see her eyes, but she's sure she won't miss the blush. She covers her mike to reply and can hardly believe the words that come tumbling out. Unabashedly flirty. "Well you'd better watch your mouth then, shouldn't you?"
Much to Alison's relief, Beth smirks again. Her eyes shaded and hidden now by the bill of her cap. "You're damn right."
Before Alison can recompose herself, Coach S yells through the megaphone for them to pick it up and repeat the drill again. Alison's thankful- she needs to stick to coxswain calls. She's not sure she can trust her own words right now.