Page 26 of Try Hard

Fia

E ve smiled when I stepped out of the house before she could even finish parking her car.

I didn’t want to risk the fact that she might get out and come to the house.

There would be no stopping Mum from fawning over her while shooting me knowing, encouraging looks that she inexplicably thought Eve wouldn’t pick up on.

“It’s been days since I saw you,” she said after I’d put my bag in the boot and climbed into the passenger seat.

“I sent you a photo yesterday morning.”

“Days and days,” she said, clutching a hand to her heart dramatically.

I shook my head. “You made it twenty years without seeing me, I think you’re fine.”

“Incorrect. I had our leavers’ photo. So I’ve seen you in the interim.”

“Me at eighteen. Is that the same?”

She shrugged. “I had to take what I could get. Despite being somewhat in the public eye, you keep a very low profile.”

I shot her a look. “Not all of us can be sapphic heartthrobs.”

“You think I’m a heartthrob?” she asked, wiggling her eyebrows and clearly delighted.

I laughed and looked away from her piercing eyes. “ I think… we should get going. Don’t want to be late for your game now, do we?”

Her hand found her heart again as she made a noise like she’d been shot with an arrow. “Leaving me hanging, Pendrick.”

“Absolutely.”

She handed me her phone as she chuckled. “Have at it.”

Excitement shot through me. I hadn’t really expected her to simply hand her phone over. I knew I’d done the same thing, but she was Eve Archer. I imagined she got a hell of a lot more interesting communications—and communications in general—than I did.

She clearly saw the emotions on my face but didn’t comment. Instead, she simply pulled away and let me start the music.

I opened the app, surprised she’d handed me an unlocked phone on the homescreen. It wasn’t hard to find, right there on the first page, but still, it was a level of trust I hadn’t been expecting her to give me. My stomach felt like I’d swallowed a sweet, warm pill that was glowing inside of me.

Rather than browsing, I simply opened her liked songs and hit the randomise button. I knew tastes changed and there was a possibility of hearing songs she hadn’t listened to in years, but I wanted to know all the music she’d ever loved.

“So,” she said when a Paramore song that I’d loved when we were at uni kicked in, “are you planning to play too?”

My head whipped in her direction. “Absolutely not. I’d get killed out there.”

She laughed and shot me a soft look. “I wouldn’t do that to you, don’t worry. I’m just wondering about the bag. Looked as big as my kit bag.”

“Oh.” I cleared my throat, shifting as much as the seat belt would allow. “My mum sent soup and tea.”

“Nice one, Lorraine.”

I laughed, unable to help myself. “Said like you know her.”

“I don’t need to know the woman to know she makes amazing soup.”

“You tried one soup, one time.”

“What can I say? I’m easily pleased.”

“Good to know.” I was trying for light and amused, but it hit me that there was a more… intimate interpretation and I felt my insides heating up in embarrassment.

Eve laughed knowingly, but graciously let it go. “I look forward to meeting her and informing her how great her soups are in person.”

“You might want to watch yourself. She’s on a real kick about how wonderful it is that everyone’s getting married and settling down. She’ll be on your back about it if you’re in the same space.”

“Pretty sure Alistair would find it weird if his wife was asking me to settle down with her,” she quipped, mostly managing to keep a grin off her face. I could still see the twitching in her jaw that I knew gave way to an exuberant smile.

“Jesus Christ,” I muttered, hanging my head.

“Not to mention how weird that would make things between us.”

“I didn’t mean like that,” I said through gritted teeth. None of us needed to think about my mum romancing Eve. My parents were still perfectly happy together, and Eve and I…

“I know,” she laughed.

“I’m glad.” Though, of course, the real risk was that my mum would try to tell Eve that I’d had feelings for her, thinking she was helping and, instead, ruining everything.

“I suppose that’s one of the good things about having divorced parents,” she mused, eyes firmly on the road. “They know the value of waiting until you’re really ready.”

“They don’t pressure you to get married?”

“Nah. I don’t remember them doing it much before the divorce, either.

I had a couple of grandparents who were really into talking about how Soph and I would grow up to be heartbreakers and all that stuff elderly relatives don’t need to be saying to kids, but our parents?

Not so much. Then, after the divorce, it was more advice on really taking time to sit with our dreams and pursuing those, ensuring that the people we brought into our lives enriched them and actually made us happy. ”

“That sounds nice,” I said, softer than I’d planned. “I guess it makes sense, and I’m glad you didn’t have to go through the whole… thing . You know how people can be.”

“I absolutely do.” She paused, watching the road carefully for a moment. “Does it bother you that all of that matters to your mum?”

I frowned, considering. As the song changed, all I was really concentrating on was watching her face, the flicker of her muscles as she drove, and the way the fading sun illuminated her like it was made for her.

“Not really,” I said eventually. “She and my dad have been lucky. They’ve had a great marriage. She just wants me to experience that.”

“Is it something you want for yourself?”

I hummed. “I mean, as a concept, it’s had its challenges, what with my job, and then… uh, well, just various reasons.”

She shot a concerned glance my way, like she heard exactly the change in my tone, the way I backed away from the answer.

I was more interested in how easily I’d gone there, been ready to give her my whole personal history without thinking.

But this wasn’t the moment for it. I did feel like I would tell her, though, and that was an odd experience, a level of comfort I wasn’t used to.

I sniffed a little stiffly. “But, you know, recently, I’ve felt like, if the right person came along, it might be nice.”

She smiled, the concern was still evident in the furrow of her brow, but the rest of her face relaxed. “Snap.”

“I guess we’re getting old now.”

“We are not! We’ve just both been busy building our careers and lives and figuring out exactly what it is we want in a partner. Nothing wrong with any of that.”

“Indeed.”

She smirked. “You became a swimmer and everything.”

I sighed. She couldn’t have known that was related to the answer I’d already backed away from, but it felt like a sign from the universe. “Yeah.”

“Sorry,” she said quickly. “We don’t have to talk about that.”

I shook my head, unsure whether she’d actually see. “We can. Just not now. Soon, though.”

“Whenever you want,” she said, and it felt like she really meant it, like she wasn’t just going to disappear after this whole wedding thing. She sounded like I had the time to tell her all the things I wanted to.

◆◆◆

I’d known the whole grey joggers on guys thing was a trend social media lost its soul over, but I hadn’t been prepared for how Eve stepping out of her car in dark grey joggers was going to make me feel—something distant and unfamiliar.

Joggers were not the kind of thing people got tailored, but the things looked like they’d been made for her.

Maybe they had been tailored. Her outfit at Kim’s brunch had very effectively demonstrated she had a skilled tailor, and how else did someone have joggers that skimmed or clung to their legs in all the right places?

“You good?” she asked, a gleam in her eye.

“Yes,” I said quickly, straightening up like a kid who’d been caught stealing.

Eve laughed and pulled both our bags out of the car.

“Oh.” I faltered. “I can take that—”

“I got it,” she said with a wink as she shut the boot and led me towards the pitch. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to everyone.”

It took me longer than it should have to realise she meant the team. She was introducing me to her friends, her teammates.

My heart raced like I’d never met a new person in my life.

When we made it to the field, the whole thing felt almost uncanny.

There were more spectators than a random local sports league would generally bring out, but it wasn’t the crowds I knew Eve had played in front of.

She clearly kept her involvement with the team relatively well hidden, but still, it was Eve Archer playing rugby where anyone could see.

“Dai,” Eve called in greeting as we passed a stand set up for concessions—one man with a folding table covered in boxes of crisps and drinks.

I nodded at Dai when he looked my way and yelled a welcome with a thick Welsh accent.

My eyes ran over the table. He didn’t have Tizer. Shame, really. Greeting Eve at the end of the match with her half a Tizer would have been a nice touch.

Eve beelined for a couple standing by the halfway line, staying close to my side. One of the pair was obviously a player—sitting on the ground tying up their boots. The other, I’d have wagered good money wasn’t playing.

“Eve,” the one on the ground called happily when we were a couple of feet away. Their eyes lit up when they landed on me. “And friend!”

Eve laughed. “Fia, this is Hurley, our fly-half, and their wife Brooke. And this is Fia.”

I shook my head in amusement as Eve made easy work of both our bags to gesture wildly at me. “That’s not necessary,” I said, patting down the arm I could reach.

The three of them laughed and Eve’s hand found my back, resting comfortingly between my shoulder blades.

“It is very nice to meet you,” Hurley said, their eyes bouncing excitedly between me and Eve.

“Eve doesn’t usually bring people to watch her play,” Brooke added, her accent clearly indicating she was from New Zealand.

“Is that right?” I asked, looking away from their speculative gazes. “Got enough fans showing up for you as is, Archer?”

Eve laughed and her thumb rubbed soothingly over my back. I was wearing layers but it felt like she was burning through them straight down into my skin, her essence being absorbed into me.

I was glad she didn’t seem eager to get rid of me the minute Kim’s wedding was done. I’d have happily stood out here watching a match every day of the year if it meant more time with her.

I’d been so desperate to know her back in school, to be part of the groups she interacted with. I hadn’t realised that, twenty years and numerous conversations later, it would feel all the sweeter to be the one she brought to watch her play.

Eve gestured around the pitch. “They show up for all of us.”

“Like hell they do,” Hurley barked with a laugh, holding a hand out to Brooke as they stood back up. “I swear it’s like you forget who you are sometimes.”

Eve groaned. “I know who I am.”

I leaned a little into her side. It was an odd thing seeing Eve flustered or embarrassed.

She was always so sure of who she was—and rightly so—but, here, she obviously just thought of herself as another player.

Not a player with international acclaim and titles.

Just a player, with her friends. I was glad she had that.

“They do too,” Hurley said, gesturing to one particular group, and I saw that they were all wearing shirts with Eve’s name and face on.

“Oh.” I smirked at Eve. “You didn’t offer me your face on a shirt.”

She rolled her eyes, hugging me tighter into her. “You can have my face on whatever you want, but I don’t actually go around handing those out, you know?”

“Should I ask where they got them?”

She growled, leaning in close to my ear, and the whole thing felt overwhelming and electric. “No.”

I laughed, feeling more than a little breathless, and I didn’t miss the looks Hurley and Brooke were exchanging. I pretended I did.

“Maybe Eve will get you one for your birthday,” Hurley suggested, their tone light but their expression mischievous.

Eve looked at them with narrowed eyes. “I don’t give people gifts with my face all over them. My ego’s not that big, thank you.”

Hurley laughed. “But if it’s what the woman wants…”

I laughed, surprised at how easy it was to be around Eve’s friends.

Of course the people she was close with were wonderful, but I’d been around lots of wonderful people.

Everything just felt better with Eve by my side—even when the rest of the team showed up and I was introduced to them and their knowing, accusing, and excited glances.

And, when Eve took a step away to pull her joggers off and reveal the shorts of her kit, I was silently begging none of them saw the way my gaze followed the movement, catching on the hint of a tattoo on her upper thigh.