Page 46 of Oar Than Friends

‘Great,’ I clapped my hands together with renewed enthusiasm. ‘Let’s get this show on the road. Coach, you want to do the honours, and let everyone know?’

Coach frowned but he clearly wanted to get this over with as quickly as everyone else did, and the sooner we started the sooner we got to go home.

I leaned into Norris as Coach barked out his instructions to everyone standing around. ‘I’ll give you the hundred pounds if you put me with your new Blondie cox.’

He turned, his face filled with confusion. ‘What? Why?’

‘Please, mate,’ I begged as quietly as I could. ‘I’ll explain later.’

‘Okay,’ he shrugged, and I tried not to jump for joy, settling instead for a smile.

‘Great! You go first.’

‘Fine.’ He stepped forward once Coach had finished speaking. I looked around the group; it was clear most of them would rather be anywhere else. Yet as I watched Kate’s name being called with mine, I didn’t think there was anywhere I’d rather be.

I took my time collecting the cleaning supplies and disposable gloves from the table, and walked over to her standing by the railings, her entire body stiff with annoyance. ‘Hi, cleaning buddy.’

‘Did you do this too?’ she hissed, trying to ensure no one else overheard her.

‘Do what?’

She waved her hand between us. ‘This. Working together?’

‘Yes.’ I smiled broadly, even more so when my admission left her momentarily speechless. It was clear from the way her shoulder jerked back slightly that she’d expected me to say no.

‘You’re wasting your time. We don’t have anything to say to each other.’

‘On the contrary, I think we have a lot to say to each other. And haven’t you heard …’ I swept my arm through the air to our fellow students all moving off to clean their designated patches of river, ‘today’s all about comradeship.’

Her dimple flexed as she ground her jaw, which only made me chuckle.

‘Let’s go then, shall we? I’ve managed to get us the spot by Putney Bridge, so we don’t have to walk far.’ I nodded over in the direction we needed to go, following a couple of other pairs who were heading the same way. ‘Let’s find a good dirty spot. I want to make sure we fill more rubbish sacks than anyone else. There’s a wager on who can collect the most.’

Her eyes rolled, but I knew her competitiveness wouldn’t let me down.

‘Fine,’ she huffed.

We walked in silence along the bank of the Thames; I waited for her to say something but then realized that she was too busy looking out to the water. The spot of the river at Putney Bridge was quieter than usual, given it was a Saturday. During the week the Tideway waters bustled with the Thames Clipper commuters, private passenger boats, ferries, the occasional cargo barges carrying logs or fuel, and rowers to name a few, but today it was mostly rowing shells from the local clubs and runners along the bank.

‘Have you ever been to London?’ I asked her quietly, and she reluctantly shook her head. ‘So you’ve never seen the River Thames before?’

She turned to look up at me and her eyes darkened as they widened, ‘No, only on television when I’ve watched the Boat Race, or in movies.’

‘Then let me officially welcome you to the best river in the world.’

She smiled softly, even though her tone still dripped in annoyance, ‘Thank you.’

We continued on until we reached the spot on the riverbank allocated to us. Fifty metres up I could see Joshi and a girl I didn’t recognize, fifty metres beyond him was our Isis cox and that awful girlfriend of Will Norris, who already appeared to have filled a rubbish bag.

‘This is us.’ I peeled off a bag from the roll and passed it to her, along with gloves and a mechanical claw gripper thing I’d spotted on the table and snatched up before anyone else could.

‘Thank you.’

‘So, if you’ve not seen London yet, I take it your Tideway training hasn’t started?’

She glanced over to me, a heavy scowl set on her face. ‘Are you trying to pump me for information? Because I’m happy to spend all day in silence.’

I shook my head, ‘No. Just making conversation and trying to find that sweet American who stepped on my nuts.’

---