Nonhlanhla - Fortunate

Eight

"Whoow dudes look at that... Now thats hot!", my friend Cole commented, while pulling me by my shoulder and pointing to the nearest rugby field.

A group of us walking were from cricket practice to the parking lot and to say the sun was hot, would be an understatement. I'd been wiping sweat off my face so much that the bottom of my t-shirt was consitently damp.

Cole is the only person I "know" in the group and that's through classes. Everyone else I met when i joined the cricket team and still i don't know them all that well.

I looked up to see what he is pointing at and it was girls playing rugby and at first I thought it was touch rugby until I saw them tackling each other. They must have started parctices that week because I hadn't seen them practicing before.

The guys start whistling loudly and cat calling the girls while their playing. I was a bit put off by it and was about to walk away when I saw her. I had to squint to make sure I was really seeing her. When she lunged at the girl who had the ball and just missed her, the immediately got up and still she charged after the girl holding the ball like her life depended on it, I knew it was her.

It had been 6 weeks since I last saw her. I assumed she has been actively avoiding me because, the odds are, we should have bumped into each other on campus at least a few times but nothing. Not a trace and not a sign of her anywhere...until today.

I hadn't spoken to her over the phone either, I decided to give her what she wanted...space. I let her fade into my past and had not thought of her in a while.

She looked good, really good. Not that she didn't look good before but she looked more fit and slimmer. As quickly as she came into my line of sight, she was gone.

"Yo guys, I think I'm in love, any girl that loves watching and is dedicated enough to practice rugby in this heat, is a woman after my own heart", I hear Ben say and the guys laugh and tease him. From what I've seen he is a joker so we don't take anything he says seriously.

I try to shake off the feelings I have after seeing her as we continue to walk down the road and I tune out what the guys are talking about until I feel a soft backhand on my arm, "you coming right?"

I look up confused and Cole just laughs awkwardly, "the rugby game tonight, you're coming right, we're playing Stellies and we're going to crush them!!" The rest of the guys cheer, hyping themselves up for the game, but Cole looks at me waiting for an answer.

I didn't feel like going, I honestly didn't want to but he is being nice by inviting me and i hadn't gone out much since the incident... "Yeah, sure" and that's how I ended up at a game I had zero interest in, surrounded by drunk university students cheering and shouting and screaming.

I participate in the festivities where appropriate but I would rather be at my place than here. I think another thing that puts me off is the team has almost all white players. There was only one black guy and one coloured guy I'd seen and both are riding the bench tonight. I'd noticed it but I don't want to be 'that guy' who always brings down the mood and it is never a good time to bring things like this up with my friends so I kept quiet.

Except with her...I could talk to her about almost anything and the conversation would just flow. She didn't disregard my opinions or belittle my feelings about the serious stuff, she listened and she would tell me about herself and share her experiences... She understood and cared about my thoughts...

That's when I realised that she was sitting in the front row at the stadium. I had noticed her during one of the many spirit songs being screamed at the stadium. She was very animated and loud and I've been looking at the back of her head for most of the second half. I couldn't believe I didn't realise it was her, she was still wearing her practise gear and with some girls also dressed the same.