Page 114 of After the Siren
‘Finals,’ Theo said.
Jake grinned. ‘I love finals.’
‘We’ve never played real finals,’ Paddy pointed out.
‘Finals footy is different,’ Tenders agreed.
‘You’ll love it,’ Yelks said.
Theo had never heard anything as loud as the crowd during the semi-final. He could barely hear the whistle; he had no chance of hearing what anyone was yelling. The qualifying final the previous week had been loud, but not like this. Tonight a loss would mean their season was over, and the fans were backing them accordingly. The crowd was evenly split between the teams. Whenever anything happened, the nearest pocket of the crowd would erupt, their reaction rippling around the stadium in both directions, half exaltation and half abuse.
Theo managed a couple of deep breaths, watching the stoppage. They were four points down with probably two minutes to go. He’d played a solid game. Set up a couple of good goals. But they’d lost Yelks in the second quarter with a dislocated shoulder, and Tommy had limped off ten minutes later. Raze had definitely broken some ribs in a smother, but he’d had them strapped and was still on the field, pale under his tan. It was a brutal, grinding game that felt like a war of attrition. Theo wasn’t sure he’d ever run harder. It was only determination and pickle juice keeping his legs from cramping.
Tenders had been right. Finals footy was different. Faster, harder, more brutal. Everything ratcheted up a few notches, and the umpires were ready to let a bit more go. The Falcons had missed their chance in the qualifying final by two goals. Missedthe chance of a week off and a home preliminary final. They’d come back swinging in this game, but the Currawongs were a good team, and without Yelks the back line had been battling to keep their two key forwards contained.
Theo stayed on the move, holding his space. The umpire balled it up almost dead in the middle of the ground. The tap went the Falcons’ way and Raze grabbed it, bursting out of the centre. He got it on his boot just in time to get crunched, and Theo couldn’t even look back to check if he was okay. He probably wasn’t. The ball pinged into the forward line, got knocked loose, and Theo was on the edge of the arc, locking it in. Paddy picked it up and immediately got sandwiched by two Currawongs players. The whistle blew and Paddy tossed the ball to the umpire.
Theo could almostfeelthe crowd underneath his sternum. It was like the buzz of bass when you got too close to a speaker. The sign on the bench said forty-five seconds.
The ball went up and the Currawongs’ ruck thumped it towards the arc. Jake was there, running through, scooping the ball up. His back was to the goals and he didn’t have time to get around. Theo led hard, screaming for it, and got a couple of metres on his direct opponent. It should have been impossible for Jake to hear him over the roar of the crowd, but maybe he did hear, or maybe he saw Theo in his peripheral vision, or maybe he just kicked it and hoped, but he got the ball on his boot and it smacked neatly into Theo’s chest. The siren blared and the crowd was howling.
Theo sucked in a breath. For a second, he was a year in the past, the ball in his clammy hands, knowing that this wasit, this wasthemoment.
Then there was a hand on his shoulder, and a familiar voice in his ear.
‘You’ve fucking got this,’ Jake said. Theo looked into his eyes, blue and certain. ‘You’ve fuckinggot this. Breathe.’
Theo glanced across at the bench as he walked back. Kat and Xen were on the edge of the boundary, both shouting. Kat caught his eye and held up two hands to saysteady.Theo could hear Paddy’s accent, though he didn’t know what he was saying. Could see Raze shouting encouragement, one hand pressed against his side, almost doubled over with pain.
He took out his mouthguard and tucked it into his sock. Took a breath, then another. Spun the ball in his hands. The man on the mark was shouting, but Theo didn’t hear it. Didn’t hear anything except Jake’s voice in his head.You’ve fucking got this.He could see Jake out of the corner of his eye, exchanging compliments with a Currawongs player, grinning like Theo had already kicked the goal.
Theo exhaled. Thought about Kat. Thought about Yelks. Thought about lying on the beach on a summer’s day and the way something had shifted these past few months, clicked into place. He let everything wash away in the tide until all he could feel was the ball in his hands, familiar. He looked up at the goals, at the mass of colour and movement behind them.
He inhaled. Exhaled. Started to move.
The moment the ball hit his boot he knew he’d done it.
He struck it perfectly – maybe better than he’d ever struck a ball before. Smashed it through the centre of the posts, the ball clearing the outstretched fingers of the Currawongs fullback by a couple of metres.
He couldn’t hear anything. He was frozen, numb, but it was the opposite of the last time he’d felt the world go still around him. Then the crowd erupted, a tsunami of sound, like someone had turned the volume back up. The elation hit him like a punch and he grabbed the front of his jumper, pulling it away from his chest. Paddy got to him first, actually picked him up and spun him around, and then there were other hands on his back, on his hair, a mess of voices and shouting, a blur of colour and sound.
He looked up. Saw Jake. Couldn’t see anything else. Jake laughing, grinning. Jake in his arms, his legs wrapped around Theo’s waist. His hands were on Theo’s face, and he was leaning close.
‘I wanna kiss you so fucking badly,’ Jake said.
‘Do it, then.’ Theo felt giddy. Felt like time had stopped.
‘What?’
‘Kiss me. If you want to.’
Jake stared down at him, his eyes impossibly blue. Whatever he saw in Theo’s face must have convinced him, because then his mouth was on Theo’s, his hands in Theo’s hair, and they were kissing, hard and hot. It was not the sort of kiss that anyone was going to write off asteammates share a brotherly embrace.Theo wasn’t sure he’d ever been as happy as he was in that moment.
They broke apart after what might have been twenty seconds, might have been twenty minutes. Theo put Jake down but kept hold of his hand.
‘Jesus fucking Christ,’ Paddy said, wrapping an arm around each of them. ‘You don’t do anything by halves, do you?’
There were various people running towards them, Kat in the lead, closely followed by Gabby. Kat grabbed Jake in a fierce hug as Gabby threw her arms around Theo.
