Dalliance (on hold)

Colton

She looked horrified; I thought that was a little extreme, so I smirked at her, because I knew how much it would frustrate her. She scoffed and turned on her heel into a small cafe that we were stood outside. I turned the opposite direction and started to walk. It wasn't that I couldn't stand her, but I couldn't stand her if I knew that she couldn't stand me.

Pete wandered down a small alleyway towards me carrying a set of keys bigger than my head.

"Hey hey hey." He shouted.

"Alright?" I laughed.

"Yup. We've got quite a big group now because I've merged the two groups from last season."

"Yeah, I've noticed."

Pete was a third year student, though he seemed a lot older than me. He had short blonde hair that was slicked down with gel, and a big face with comparatively small features. He headed towards the large cabin on the edge of the river and sifted through his keys for the right one. It didn't take him long considering there were over 100 keys on that thing. The inside was filled with six 4-man rowing boats, four 6-man rowing boats, and four 2-man boats, though we never used those. There were life jackets hanging from all walls, and ores stacked in the corner.

"Grab the 6-man ones first." Pete said, walking to the back of the cabin. I lifted the front end, whilst Pete lifted the back, held it under my left arm, and then lifted another under my right arm. We carried them out through the double doors and placed them by the edge of the river. A few students I recognised from last season were hanging around outside, as well as a couple that I didn't recognise. A few guys helped us lift out the rest of the boats whilst students kept arriving.

"Okay," Pete announced. "Welcome to the new rowing season!"

Nag stood right at the back of the group, purposefully avoiding my gaze. In front of her was a girl I recognised vaguely from around campus. She had short dark hair that fell down to her shoulders at the front, and was shorter at the back. Her large dark eyes settled on me, and I walked over.

"Hi, I'm Colton." I smiled.

"I'm Molly."

I could feel Nag's eyes boring into the side of my head.

"Are you new to the team?" I asked Molly.

"No, I was rowing last year but I think we must have been in different groups." She giggled.

"We must have been. I think I would have noticed if you were in my group." I winked.

"Okay, team!" Pete shouted. "We're gonna work on synchronising ore strokes. Because a lot of you don't know each other, I'm going to mix you up a bit to build up the strength and teamwork of the group." He pulled out a clipboard and started reading off names. "In the first 6-man boat I want the following, in this order from back to front: Max, Jodie, James, Helen, Sam, Tammy."

The names he called out sauntered towards the boat nearest to the river and lifted it in.

"In the next boat I want: Jonny, Molly, Colton, Stephanie, Charlie, Hannah."

I laughed inwardly. This should be fun. We walked over to the next boat along and lifted it into the river. Jonny stepped in first whilst we all held the boat steady. I held onto Molly's arm to steady her as she stepped in, and she smiled gratefully. I got in next, holding onto the concrete edge. I then proceeded to wobble the boat gently as Nag stepped in.

"Piss off!" She shouted. I pursed my lips together to stop myself from laughing.

Once we were all in our boats, Pete shouted from the side, "Everyone row up to the blue flag. Keep your ores in time and make sure you communicate with each other. Go."

We all set off, putting our ores in behind us and pulling them forward. Jonny was shouting from the back to try and keep us in time. "Back. In. Pull. Back. In. Pull."

"Colton! Keep in time!" Pete shouted as he ran down the river bank, in time with us. I wasn't concentrating. I tried to focus on what Jonny was saying.

"Back. In. Pull. Back. In. Pull." I joined in shouting the commands so the front of the boat could hear. I focussed on pulling the ore forward as hard as I could. We started to slip out of time, and I realised it was Nag.

"What are you doing?" I shouted. She ignored me and continued to pull her ore out of time. "You're messing with the timing, Nag. Listen to me and Jonny."

"I won't listen to your orders." She screamed. The boat came to a stop, and everyone turned to face her. Even from behind, I could tell that her face was burning red.

"This isn't about me." I snarled "if you don't want to listen to my orders outside rowing, I don't have a problem with that. But in this class we're teammates, and we've got to put our differences behind us. So stop being such a child and work with the team."

Nag didn't say anything and we all sat in silence for a few moments. "Back." I shouted. "In. Pull. Back. In. Pull." She listened this time.

"Lift the right ores." Jonny shouted. The right ores lifted and we turned to the left, away from the river bank. "All in!" He shouted. "Back. In. Pull. Back. In. Pull!"

We were the last to reach the blue flag, unsurprisingly. We all sat panting for a while, and I could feel beads of sweat collecting on my forehead.

"Nice one." Molly patted me on the shoulder. I turned to look at her and smiled widely.

"Well done, Nag." I squeezed the back of her neck jokingly. She turned and glared at me. Wow.

"Okay, everybody out." Pete shouted. We rowed gently over to the bank and climbed out. Pete went through some techniques with us until the end of the session.

As soon as the session was over, Nag left. I watched her as she walked down the street, her head hanging slightly lower than usual.

"You hungry?" I turned to Molly.

"Yeah."

"I know a great little place not far from here."