We “dated” since the first time I saw him at club night. All the student clubs recruit for the year ahead. Chess, photo, rugby, soccer, rowing, you name it we were there.
I spotted him eyeing the single we had brought in to attract attention to our station and he looked right at me.
“You’d look really good in one of these.” I smiled and pointed to the boat.
“I’ve never been on anything like that.” He smiled back and tried to speak Soft and shy but it only came across as being, well, a little sultry.
“You look like the type that wouldn’t have any problem with it.”
“You think?” His eyes rolled a little and he pushed his hair back. “I’m not a real competitor sort of guy though – you’d probably hate me after a week.”
“Well – give it a week and we’ll see who hates who.”
///
He was right. Sort of. He didn’t like competing but he was very competitive. In fact he was a fucking natural at rowing.
Dating a boy like this wasn’t simple. You chat with him and you toss him compliments and praise whenever you can and hope he catches on and responds. He caught on and he responded but he wasn’t very sneaky. He was shy and he was easy to embarrass and easy to scramble.
We had to be careful not to be too obvious or the others would catch on pretty quickly. I don’t think they would have cared – they’d seen this ritual so many times before some of them probably didn’t even notice it anymore. But still, it was our game and we were determined to play it well.
He was going to be my rower and he had to be good – beyond question. I drove him, and all the new recruits, hard. Panting, sweating, spitting and near throwing up. I worked them relentlessly for a solid week and then there it was – he gave me that look.
‘Don’t make me do it! Don’t make me prove it here in front everyone!’ Is what his look said to me as the guys hit a wall that anyone of them could have faded at and let some one else take over but not him. He knew he couldn’t back off – it wasn’t in him.
He sucked it up. Cleared his watery eyes and led the squad through another half mile of road work and a couple 2000 meter erg pieces.
It was a beautiful thing to watch. Everyone knew what had happened. Well – everyone who understood the game he and I were playing. As we finished up practice that Friday afternoon he looked over at me with his glare and a smile – I knew I was going to pay the price for driving him so hard that week – there would be no rest for either of us that first weekend.
Sebastion Cooper 