Page 62 of Oar Than Friends

‘Quiet. Listen up,’ shouted Coach Lassiter, ‘you know what you have to do. Same partners as last week, different stretch of the river. Presidents have the lists. Presidents? Where are they? Norris? Cloud?’

He looked around, calling over to a couple of the assistant coaches who shrugged back at him. Naturally everyone else lost interest as he continued searching for the two missing presidents, and the volume levels of the crews standing around in the cold increased. Someone started doing jumping jacks, and I heard several shouts for a coffee trip. Imogen had run back to the bus where she’d left her headphones, and I was just about to follow her to grab a packet of gum when there he was, jogging out of the shadows of the boathouse, Will Norris by his side.

Time could have stood still if I didn’t know better, or maybe I didn’t. All I knew was my mouth dried up, and my tongue would have fallen out if it hadn’t been stuck to the roof of it. He appeared in slow motion like every Hollywood movie I’d ever seen, dressed entirely in navy blue. His short black curls bounced so smoothly with each stride it could have been choreographed, and even from this distance his eyes gleamed bright blue as though he’d woken up and decided to coordinate with the cloudless sky. For the first time I noticed the reaction of every otherwoman present; for a split second they all stopped what they were doing and looked at him before resuming their conversations or stretches or whatever they’d been engaged in before Oz had appeared.

‘Shit, even if he isn’t Captain Perfect, you are one fucking lucky lady. How does anyone look that good? It’s obscene. It’s like a Disney prince was brought to life.’

I startled as Imogen reappeared at my side, the sensation of her whispering so close to me sending shivers down my spine.

I pulled a face, trying to stop the ringing now circling my ear. ‘Does that mean I’m the one who needs saving?’

‘Hell, no! You save yourself, Asters.’

Our eyes were still glued onto Oz and Will Norris walking over to where the coaches were standing.

‘We’re here. Just discussing tactics with my fellow pres,’ grinned Will, making Coach Lassiter frown. ‘We’re ready.’

‘Good. Everyone get on with it.’

I stayed where I was. It could have been that I was glued to the spot, or maybe it was that I was seeing him for the first time with my new Oz-tinted glasses, and wanted a second to myself where people were too preoccupied to look at him. I was also capable of admitting I wanted him to find me, that a teeny-tiny, insecure piece of me wanted to know he was as excited to see me as I was to see him.

It took him less than ten seconds, and when he did a slow grin spread across his face. Every inch of my body curled under his gaze until I was on the verge of combustion, while he collected our supplies on his march over to me.

‘Stop being so obvious,’ hissed Imogen in my ear again. ‘You need to stop salivating every time you see him if you’re going to be sneaking around.’

I looked at the ground, because I was finding it too hard to hold in the smile and the girl had a point. I needed to keep my shit together.

‘Mr President,’ Imogen drawled at Oz, announcing his arrival.

‘Hello,’ he replied, his eyes flicking between the two of us, before finally sticking on me. ‘Ready, Yanks?’

‘What did you call her?’ Hannah’s head tilted with a slight frown.

‘Yanks. Short for Yankee Doodle. Because she’s American.’

He grinned at the girls standing either side of him, but they were now staring at me like Christmas had come early. Hannah was definitely wearing heart eyes, while Imogen was gawping like a goldfish.

‘Come on. Let’s get cleaning.’ I pulled him away, turning back to my two friends before we were out of sight, to find them still staring at our retreating backs. Imogen had joined her fingers together in a little heart. ‘See you back here for lunch.’

‘Alone at last. It felt like the journey here took forever.’ He bent closer to me, so close that his lips almost brushed against the top of my head, ‘Your friends seem nice. Which one is which?’

‘Imogen is the taller one with auburn hair. Hannah is the blonde.’

He chuckled, ‘Ahh, Imogen is the one Brooks was asking about.’

One topic of discussion during the week had been our friends, where he’d let slip that one of his roommates had a crush, though he couldn’t remember on whom.

‘He’ll have to get in line, all the guys have the hots for her,’ I smirked up at him.

‘Not all the guys, Kate Astley,’ he replied, a smile curling up his lip, ‘I’ll let him down gently, don’t worry.’

‘Actually, there’s something else I should have told you this week.’ I stopped walking, forcing him to stop with me, his brow already tensed in anticipation of what I was going to say, ‘I know we’re keeping this a secret, but …. well, they asked about you. They saw me shouting at you after the heist meeting, and I told them we were friends …’ My smile turned into a grimace. ‘I’m sorry. I promise they won’t say anything.’

‘God, I thought you were going to tell me you’d changed your mind about us.’ His hand shot to his chest, but his mouth spread wide, showing off straight white teeth. ‘Hey, you can tell whomever you’d like, I have nothing to hide. Kate, I don’t care who knows.’

I sighed, because I didn’t want to care either. But I did, and not because of his reputation, it was because I felt like I was letting down my crew, except I’d only have to look into his eyes and I’d forget why.

‘Hey,’ he peered down at me, ‘we’re doing nothing wrong. But I won’t say anything, don’t worry. Brooks and Charlie won’t either.’

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