Page 35 of Begin Again Again

Beth jogged faster, trying to shake off her frustration. She was in no mood to play sport or meet new people. More than anything she wanted to curl into bed and sleep until tomorrow.

She side-stepped a couple of young guys nursing cans of beer. For the first time in a long time, she could practically taste the hoppy coldness on her tongue. Her pace slowed as she saw, clear as day, the dark booths in Martin’s sports bar. She and Stephen had ducked into one before every touch game, sipping pints of IPA until five minutes before play. After the game, the whole team headed to Martin’s for wings, more beer and a debrief.

Beth lasted a single season sober. Every time she drank sparkling water, half the team got butthurt. Was she judging them? Being boring on purpose? No one gave a fuck when she was dry heaving in alleyways, but when she ordered a Diet Coke with her burger, she wasbeing weird.

Beer and touch rugby. Touch rugby and beer. Another fun thing that wasn’t so fun as soon as she subtracted alcohol. Beth gritted her teeth and picked up the pace.

She reached Princes Park, breathing hard, sweat beading on her forehead. She shouldn’t have sprinted to a touch rugby match, but it was better than rushing to the nearest pub for a nostalgia pint. She walked to the touch fields and saw a few teams scattered around in different coloured jerseys with team names on the back. She craned her neck, looking for ‘No Woman, No Try.’

“Hey!”

Beth turned to see a pretty black-haired girl with a toy poodle. “Hey?”

“Are you Beth?”

She had a South Island accent. Beth grinned. Lara was right, this whole teamwasgoing to be full of kiwis. “Yeah, I’m Beth. Are you part of ‘No Woman, No Try?’”

The girl turned, showing off the back of her red and blue jersey. Written on it in big yellow letters was NWNT.

“That’s us,” she said, turning back around. “I’m Daisy, come meet everyone else.”

“Sure.” Beth fell into step beside Daisy. “Cute dog.”

“Urgh, he’s a little nightmare, but I love him.” She laughed loud and high.

Beth smiled, feeling a little socially overwhelmed. It had been such a long time since she made small talk with someone who wasn’t Nathan. Unless you counted Byron. And she didn’t count Byron.

“Where are you from?” Daisy asked, walking her toward a cluster of people in red, blue and yellow jerseys.

“Auckland,” Beth said, then remembered she was talking to a kiwi. “Mount Albert. You?”

“Hawks Bay, but my fiancé, Luke, is from the Waikato. That’s him over there.” She pointed to a square-headed guy tossing a touch ball in the air. Beth felt a rush of déjà vu. She didn’t know him, but she’d met a thousand guys like him before. “Cool.”

“Yeah, we’re so glad you’re here, we need more girl subs. And everyone on the team is so nice.”

“Excellent.”

“Everyone!” Daisy called as they reached the rest of her teammates. “This is Beth! Say hello to Beth!”

As one, the group turned and smiled at her. She gave a small wave. “Hi, all.”

Daisy clapped her hands together. “So, this is Murphy, Jessica, Clive, Sharmin, Steph…”

Beth smiled around at everyone, failing to match faces to names. Daisy seemed right though; theydidlook nice.

“Here,” a British blonde handed her a red and blue jersey. “You can wear this.”

It was number five with ‘Spinner’ emblazoned on the back. Hoping that wasn’t a sex thing, Beth pulled the jersey over her head. A whistle blew somewhere, and a muscly Asian guy stepped forward. “Right, who wants to start?”

Beth looked around. All the girls were making ‘eh?’ faces.

Daisy massaged her stomach. “I just had dinner. I’ll be first sub?”

The ripped guy rolled his eyes. He turned to Beth. “New girl, you played before?”

Another kiwi. Somewhere closer to home, she was sure. “Yeah?”

“You’re up then.” He flashed her a wide smile. “I’m Joshua—Josh—in case you didn’t catch it.”

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