Page 148 of You Float My Boat

In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t replied to the MP3 email by email, because I had no way of knowing if it had been delivered, and also no way of knowing if he’d read it. But I’d sent it, thanked him for the beautiful poem, cupcakes and play lines, and told him I’d be waiting for him, as requested. I’d broken my own rule of no contact.

However, even with the poem, the cupcakes and the lines, the lack of response to either was enough to stop the anxiety from the past two weeks disappearing completely.

My spiral was halted mid-turn by a voice calling my name. I turned to find Gordon shoving his way through the throng as hard as he could, if his red face was anything to go by. Even his glasses had steamed up.

‘Violet, hello.’

‘Hey Gordon, how are you? What’re you doing here?’ I asked, mostly because I wasn’t even sure he was old enough to drink. Not that the guys on the door seemed to give a shit who they let in.

‘I’m with my sister, but I can’t find her anywhere. She was coming to the bar but that was half an hour ago.’

I swept my arms around the crowded space just as Stella moved into a spot by the bar, ‘She’s probably stuck in this somewhere.’

Gordon jerked forward as someone pushed behind him, and he let out a loud huff, ‘Are you watching the race?’

‘Yeah, we’re going down to the boathouse once we’ve got drinks.’

‘We?’

‘Yeah, Stella’s in front of this guy.’ I thumbed to the person in front of me. ‘You want a drink?’

‘Oh, um … yes please.’ He reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of fifty-pound notes, from which he peeled off the top one. ‘Could you get me a lemonade, and my sister a glass of wine?’

I pushed his hand away, trying to stop my eyes from bugging too much. ‘Jesus, Gordy, put that back in your pocket. Why have you got so much money on you?’

‘Just in case.’

‘In case of what? … Actually, I don’t want to know.’ I peered around the guy in front, ‘Stel, can you add a lemonade and another glass of wine to the order?’

‘Yeah,’ she called back. ‘Rosé?’

‘Rosé.’ I nodded, as a space opened up for Gordon and me to move in next to her.

A huge cheer ripped through the pub just as the bottle was placed on the bar, followed by Gordon’s lemonade. ‘Come on, that must be the reserve crew finished. Let’s go find out who won, and get our space on the terrace. You coming, Gordon? We can text your sister and let her know where you are.’

‘Oh okay, sure. Thank you. Then lead the way.’

Charlie

I was not someone who listened to drum and bass, yet that’s exactly what I was doing.

It all started two days ago when I’d needed to move Oz’s car, and reversed it into a different parking spot right before I remembered I’d dropped my bag in the exact place the back wheel happened to be resting.

The last two dozen cupcakes had been eviscerated, along with my phone.

As every waking minute of the days since had been taken up with training and mandatory Boat Race commitments, I hadn’t had a chance to get another one. Therefore, I was currently borrowing Bitters’ phone to try and zone into the task at hand, and focus on anything but the adrenaline coursing through my body.

Drum and bass had been his only music option.

I’d been racing since before I was a teenager, but in all that time I couldn’t remember a single occasion when I’d been this nervous before. Even with my elbows pressing hard on my knees, my feet were still jittering away. I glanced over at Oz, sitting on the benchopposite me. I wasn’t sure if it made me feel better that he seemed to be going through the exact same thing, but it didn’t make me feel worse.

The rest of the boys were down at the other end of the changing rooms; Brooks was eating his third protein bar in ten minutes, Bitters and Joshi were playing thumb wars, Marshy was talking to Coach, Fellows was on his phone, Drake was playing with a yo-yo and I think Frank was in the loo throwing up for the second time. At least that’s the direction he’d run a few minutes ago.

I’d probably be throwing up too if I wasn’t concentrating so hard on not thinking about Violet or wondering whether she’d be waiting for me. Because somewhere in the 250,000-strong crowds lining the banks of the River Thames, Violet Brooks was out there. I’d had confirmation.

Her brother might like to think he was on par with the world’s most neutral country, but his defence left a lot to be desired. It had only taken a plate of chocolate brownies to crack him enough that I found out Violet would be in attendance today.

But that’s all he knew.

---