Page 32 of Begin Again Again

Lara took over the pram, steering Angus back toward the footpath. “I can’t believe you met Derek Hardiman,” she grumbled. “I’d fucking love to meet Derek Hardiman. What does Byron do again?”

“Electrician,” Beth said, though she was sure Lara remembered. “He works with his dad… Hey, so, he can’t play AFL, can he? If he’s a full-time electrician?”

“You don’t know he’s full time. And lots of them do stuff like that. The Players Association pushes the young guys to study and work so they don’t leave the game with less life skills than Angus.”

“Hmmm.”

They walked in silence for a while, Beth replaying everything she and Byron had done the night before.

“The making out was good, though?” Lara asked.

Beth started out of a guilty memory of exactly that. “Uh…”

“I’ll take that as a yes. Shame it didn’t go further…”

“Yeah. Especially after he got me all worked up. I mean, not to sound like a guy, but he promised me a good time. And he did not deliver.”

Lara lowered her shoulder and gave her a sultry look. “Said he’d do you right, huh?”

“You joke, but he told me… well he oversold it, is all I’m saying.”

“By falling asleep though, right? Not because he’s a shit kisser?”

“Yeah, but I mean falling asleep on the job…?”

“Pretty shit,” Lara agreed. “To be fair, I once promised this guy I’d give him the best bj ever and I stopped halfway through because my neck hurt. Just… gave up.”

Beth laughed. “Yeah, I’ve turned in some shoddy work, sex-wise.”

“When were you bored of Stephen and his fidgety little dick?”

“More ‘phoning it in while I was pissed.’ But that too.”

Lara grinned. “Hey, if your boyisa footy player, that makes you his groupie.”

Beth groaned. “I don’t need that. I’ve never gotten the rugby player thing.”

“Don’t talk shit. Footy players are tall, they’re buff, they’re sexy. Most of your guys all have busted faces from jamming their necks together, but there are a tonne of hot dudes in AFL.”

“If they look anything like Byron, I won’t deny it, but I dunno, rugby or football, the culture’s pretty gross. Like there was this All Black a few years ago who was at the airport and he messaged this chick to come fuck in the toilets before he got on a plane. Oh, and he had a girlfriend too. Like I don’t give a fuck how big an athlete you are, do you have to be such a hog of a human being?”

Lara’s eyes were huge. “They got busted having sex?”

“Well, they got caught going into the disabled bathroom together. The chick says they weren’t having sex.”

Lara burst out laughing. “Yeah, well, you would say that, wouldn’t you? But the alternative is you were having a nice chat in the bogs, isn’t it?”

Beth shook her head. “I mean, in some ways, more power to you. If he wasn’t cheating, I’d feel kinda bad for them. But, footy player or not, there’s no one on Earth I want to fuck so bad I’d drive to theairporton a moment’s notice and do them in the toilet while their teammates sit two metres away.”

“Not even this Byron guy? Who youstopped traffic for?”

“It wasonefucking car! Look, I’m not saying I wouldn’t drive out there. I’m not saying I wouldn’t do it with his teammates nearby.”

“So, what are you saying?”

“I’m saying I’m texting them back being like,‘Great opening offer, chief,totallydown to suck you off. One thing—can we consider… like… anywhere but a literal shithole?’”

“That doesn’t seem like too much to ask.”

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