NeverMind © 2004
Dom didn’t ask Sophia to go with him to the game – he showed up at her flat on Saturday morning and dragged her with him.
“I hate your guts, you know that, right?” she said bitterly as they drove over to Leeds U.
“I know. Thank god you love me more,” Dom said.
“Where are we going, anyway?” she asked.
“Leeds U.”
“What for?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
“You’re telling me you dragged me away from my cleaning frenzy to go all the way to Leeds U for something you’re not sure about? You’re fucking infuriating.”
“Look, Nila told me to be there. That’s all I know.”
“Nila?” Sophia asked, then sat back thoughtfully. “I see.”
“I just – I just need to know how badly I’ve fucked this up.”
“Pretty bad, would be my guess.”
“Thanks, you’re so encouraging.”
“I do my best.”
They drove in silence for a little while.
“So, uh, do you know where Elijah’s gone? I haven’t seen him in a week,” Sophia said.
“He’s avoiding you.”
“Really?”
“Yup. Feels like an arse. Can’t bring himself to be in the same room as you.”
“Chicken shit.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“I told him it was all right.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t jump him.”
“Why do I need to jump him to make it obvious that I like the guy?”
Dom shrugged. “Just the way it works.”
“You know what? That’s the last straw. I’m over my crush. Done. Finished. He’s obviously not man enough for me.”
Dom looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “Don’t jump to conclusions just yet, love.”
“Jump to conclusions my arse. I’ve hung around him enough to know what I’m talking about.”
“Don’t be so sure.”
“Whatever. Let’s change the subject.”
“Fine.”
“Fine.”
They didn’t talk for the rest of the trip.
“Do you have any idea where you’re supposed to find her?” Sophia asked when they got to Leeds.
“Nope.”
“Aw fuck.”
“What?”
“He’s here.”
Dom saw Elijah then. He was leaning against the door of his car with a cigarette dangling from his lips. Dom pulled up and parked next to him.
“She’s a rugby player,” Elijah said.
“Rugby?” Dom was incredulous. For some reason he could not imagine Nila as a rugby player.
“Yup. Got here early and bumped into her. She’s just over on that field there.” He paused and looked at Sophia as she finally dragged herself out of the car.
“Hi, Sophia.”
“Hi.” She slammed the door and started walking over to the rugby field.
“Ouch,” Elijah said, stubbing out his cigarette. “So I guess she’s pissed at me?”
“You could say that. Thinks you’re a chicken shit at the very least.”
“Great. Wonderful.” He dug around in his pocket and pulled out another cigarette. He lit it and then jogged to catch up with Sophia. “Soph, wait!” he called to her.
Dom meandered behind, wondering how exactly he was going to approach Nila – or if he would in fact approach Nila. He lost track of Lij and Sophia, so he found himself a spot on the stands and sat down. It occurred to him that he didn’t even know which team she played for.
The two teams had lined up for a scrum when he finally spotted her. “A full-back,” he said to himself.
It didn’t take long for him to get wrapped up in the game, even if he was cringing every time Nila got hit. He was starting to think the other team had it out for her. She was good, though. She was fast and small enough to weave her way around the bigger players. She’d scored two tries when Elijah and Sophia came back. Sophia made sure Dom was between her and Elijah.
Dom leaned over to his friend to talk in his ear. “Guess it didn’t go so well?”
Elijah smiled coyly. “Better than you’d think.”
“Watch your step, man, or she’ll have your nuts for dinner before Orli gets a chance.”
Elijah just shrugged. “Ball’s in her court now, so to speak.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” Dom said, shaking his head and putting an arm around Sophia. “Do you see her?” he asked.
“Yeah. She’s fast.”
“She’s a full-back. The other team wants to annihilate her – she’d better be fast!”
“Have you figured out what you’re gonna say to her?”
“Nope. Have you figured out what you’re gonna do with this wanker?”
“Have his nuts for dinner.”
“Sucks to be him.”
“He’s a fucking cocky bastard,” she muttered under her breath.
“I’d believe you, except you’re drooling.”
“Fuck off.”
“He’s not as bad as all that, you know. Just never really had to chase anyone before.”
“Whatever. Shut up and watch the game.”
Elijah was standing up and cheering at the top of his lungs. “Yeah! Run, Nila, run!”
Dom looked up and saw she was just about to get creamed by a girl two times her size and jumped up himself. “Watch out!” he cried.
But she veered to the right and left the girl in her wake. She tossed the ball to the girl behind her then scooted around behind her to get the ball again from the other side. She dodged two or three more brutes and was just about on the home stretch.
Even Sophia couldn’t resist the excitement. “Yeah! Go! You’re almost there!” she yelled.
The other team’s scrumhalf was right on her heels and seemed to be reaching out to pull Nila down by her ponytail. “Oh no, you don’t!” Dom said, willing Nila to run just a little faster.
But Nila was too quick for the girl. With a quick fake and a sudden burst of speed, she was across the line and putting the ball firmly on the ground for a try. The referee blew the whistle and her teammates ran to give her a big group hug and a little victory dance.
They lined up for the conversion and nailed it. “This is awesome!” Elijah said, almost breathless. “I wish we knew about this before! She’s really good.”
After another 10 minutes of intense play, the game finally broke for half time. Elijah went to find a bathroom and Sophia went to find some soft drinks. Dom stayed and people watched.
Nila had spotted the threesome from across the field and decided to wander over to say hi. She kept telling herself not to think about everything that had happened in the last week. He was just being nice, she reminded herself. Nothing to it. Just be nice back – he made the effort to come all the way out here after all. Dear god, he looks good, she thought to herself. He was wearing a hoodie with the hood up and big aviator sunglasses.
“Your team winning?” she asked him.
He looked beside him and saw her sitting there. “Yeah,” he smiled, “and my favorite player is kicking ass.”
She laughed. “I’m glad you could make it.”
“Can’t say I ever pictured you as a rugby player.”
“No? How did you figure I was able to stay so calm at the pub all the time?”
“Guess I never thought about it before.”
“I see you forced your lovesick friends to face each other,” she commented. Her skin was glistening from sweat and she had a huge cleat-shaped bruise on her calf, but Dom thought she’d never looked better.
“Well, yes and no.”
“Yes and no?” she asked.
“Yeah, it’s just, I…”
“Nila!” Elijah exclaimed just then. Perfect timing, as always. “Awesome game! You totally rock!”
She laughed again. “Thanks. You caught me during one of my better games, fortunately.”
“How come you never told us about this before?” he asked.
“You never asked before.”
“Hey, Nila,” Sophia said, returning from the canteen with three sodas.
“Hi Sophia! Good to see you. Hope these plighters didn’t drag you away from anything important.”
Sophia gave Dom a sardonic smile. “Oh no, I wasn’t doing anything at all.”
Nila let her sarcasm pass. “I gotta run. I’ll catch up with you guys after the game.”
“Don’t get tackled!” Elijah called after her.
“I’ll try not to,” she called back, waving to them.
“Did you talk to her?” Elijah asked Dom.
“I was about to, till you butted in.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
They let themselves get caught up in the last half of the game. At first, it seemed like Nila’s team had given up a bit. The other team scored two tries on them in the first ten minutes. A quick time-out was called (because in rugby, everything goes quick – if you die on the field, they have about 2 minutes to drag you off before they start playing over top of you) and Nila’s team seemed to get their second wind. When all was said and done, Nila’s team soundly squashed the other team 37 to 25.
Dom, Elijah and Sophia waited around for Nila to finish up. When she finally came over to join them, they saw that she looked tired and energized all at the same time.
“Thanks again for coming,” she said.
“It’s weird not seeing you behind a bar,” Elijah said.
Nila laughed. “Tell me about it. Never mind when I’m all sweaty and gross. Let me walk you to your cars,” she suggested.
They walked and chatted for a while, Sophia avoided Elijah the whole time.
“Hey,” Dom said when they’d stood at their cars talking for a while, “Don’t you two have somewhere to be?” he asked Sophia and Elijah.
“Nope, not that I can think of,” Elijah said.
“You know, I was sure you did,” Dom hinted a little harder. Sophia was giving him a lethal stare, but he ignored her.
“Oh,” Elijah said, catching on, “Right. We do. Come, on Sophia, we, uh, we have some errands to run.”
“No we don’t,” she protested.
“Yes,” Dom said forcefully, taking her arm and almost physically putting her in Lij’s car. “You do.”
“I am going to kill you for this,” Sophia hissed at him.
“Please, Soph. Do this for me. I need your help on this one, please!” he was starting to feel desperate.
She was obviously feeling desperate too. “Don’t do this to me, Dom. I’ll walk home.”
He looked at her sympathetically. “Avoiding it is not going to make it better.”
“Yes, it will.”
Dom kissed her forehead. “You’ll be fine. Nuts for dinner, remember?”
She groaned and leaned her head back on the headrest. Dom shut the door and stood up to look at Elijah. “Be nice,” he told his friend.
“Is this really such a good idea? I feel like you’re locking me in a car with a caged animal,” he said, his confidence slipping considerably.
“I am. Good luck.”
Nila stood against Dom’s car, watching the scene unfold. She was smiling, but her heart was racing about a million miles a minute. What was he doing? She could tell he was deliberately sending his friends away, which meant – well, which meant that he wanted to talk to her alone. About what? She wondered. She suddenly felt very cold, in spite of the fact that she’d been running for 40 minutes straight.
When Elijah’s car had pulled away, she decided to just be up front about it. “You’ve sent your friends away,” she said.
“I have.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought it would be easier to ask if I could take you out today without them hovering over me.”
She raised an eyebrow at him. “Take me out today?”
“Yeah, I mean, if you’re free.”
“I hope you were planning on giving me some time to shower,” she said.
“No. I find sweat very arousing.”
“Hmm. Can’t say I share that sentiment,” she said, making a face as she sniffed at her jersey.
“So you’re free then?” he asked, tentatively.
She looked at him intently for a minute. “I have to admit that I wasn’t really expecting this.”
He was starting to feel incredibly awkward. Maybe this was a mistake. “You, uh, you don’t have to if you don’t want to…”
“Oh, it’s not that,” she said, praying to herself that he wouldn’t change his mind. “It’s just, I don’t know, I wasn’t expecting it, that’s all.”
They just stood there staring at each other for a few minutes.
“So, uh,” Dom said, rubbing the back of his neck. “This is kind of awkward.”
She grinned. “Tell you what, if you meet me back at the Kiwi in an hour, I promise you can ask me again and I’ll say, ‘Sure, where would you like to go?’”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Shake on it?” he asked, holding out a hand.
She took it in her own.
“Well then, I guess I’ll see you in an hour,” Dom said.
“I guess you will.” She gave his hand a soft squeeze as she walked away.
His brain, which felt like it had been missing a cog throughout the whole conversation, suddenly kicked into high gear. “Change, flowers, reservation,” was what it was demanding. He hopped into his car and raced back to his flat.
Return to Relative Nonsense Chapter Six