Kylie looked at the costs for each item and tallied them up, “Crikey, all this is a bit steep!” she said.
“It is a big outlay Kylie but most of it is a one off as your paddle and your uniform will last you years, so I guess it’s a similar story to any sport. When did you play sport last?” Shooters asked.
“Back when Mum paid for everything!” Kylie replied.
“Oh, then this is going to hurt!” Shooters laughed. “Well you have a week to think about it and another two training sessions in between that to make your decision. How’s that grab you?”
“Yeah, righto. What do you reckon Mila?” Kylie, said hoping that she wouldn’t let the cost affect her decision.
“Well, when we did actually get to paddle I thought it was fun. I’m in!”
“Yeah, I was always going to be in, one in all in!” Kylie said happy with her decision.
Jess, Jenna and Ashley stood silently perusing their paperwork with mouths wide open from cost shock as they added up the figures.
“C’mon ladies, this looks like the start of a bee-yooo-di-full friendship. Me, you, a capsized canoe? Wasn’t that ore-some?” Kylie laughed.
“They are paddles not oars you smart arse,” Jess noted. “Stuff it, I’m in. I haven’t had that much fun in ages.”
“Yep, me too. And I heard there’s a men’s team, I’m looking forward to training with them!” Ashley said.
“Bit of sexercise Ash? Team bondage? You gonna let ‘em do a few naked push ups on top of you mate?” Kylie said, making her blush.
“Sounds like a plan!” Ashley answered with a giggle.
“Righto. That’s that then,” Shooters said. “We really do have a new team! Oh, one last form here ladies. We need everyone’s contact details and addresses for the bible, in case we need to reach you regarding training time sessions, should they change for whatever reason. Please write down your details before you go.”
Everyone filled out their details and then headed off after saying goodbye to each other. Kylie walked Mila to her car.
“I’m excited!” Kylie said.
“Yeah! That was great. I’m really glad I came down. I’m not really into team sports so thanks for getting me into it.”
“Not a team player Mila?” Kylie said surprised.
“Nooooooo, not really. I mean I think I am at work but I’ve always just relied on myself for keeping fit, you know. Jogging alone, swimming alone, going to the gym alone. I don’t like to use other people as an excuse if they don’t commit to something and pull out so I just tend to go on my own.”
“What about friends? You must have a lot of mates?”
“Um, I have a few close friends but not a group, you know what I mean? I have a friend from university, and a close friend from high school. I keep it pretty simple and generally only have one friend at a time wherever I live. That’s just the way it’s worked out and it’s worked out alright.”
Kylie was noticeably taken aback. “One mate? At a time? For such a long period? What?”
“What do you mean?” Mila asked.
“Well, high school is like five years, uni is four years, and you only hang out with that one person pretty much for all that time?”
“Yeah.”
“Talk about hedging your bets. Don’t you get energy from people? And the more you hang out with the more energy you get?”
“I don’t think I know what you mean.”
“Oh okay. Might be just me. I’m not having a go, I’m just used to knowing everyone. So, going out alone is okay because you know that everyone you know is going to be out, and that there will be at least fifty people where you are headed that you can catch up with, and of course your girlfriends are out too.”
“Fifty people? How do you know fifty people to chat to? What do you talk about to fifty people?”
“Flamin’ anything, everything? Tell you what, people LOVE talking about themselves. You could walk up to anyone and ask them about themselves, they’ll flamin talk and talk and talk. I thought everyone did that?”
“Sounds like you have no shame, I bet you even talk to strangers.”
“Shit yeah! I don’t care. I was so lonely when I moved to Townsville I just got on a Sunbus and went for a mystery tour for about three hours every weekend, and I was so lonely from living alone and sick of talking to myself I just got on that bus and chatted to whoever would sit next to me!”
Mila started laughing. “Who does that?”
“Me baby! Tell ya what, there’s some flamin’ weirdo’s that ride the Sunbus!”
“Yeah YOU! You are the reason why I don’t ride the bus!”
“Hey, don’t be mean. The bus drivers were really nice. But I had to get off when they started to realise I was heading nowhere and just pestering them as they were trying to drive.”
“You’re a riot!”
“Nah, I’m harmless. It was an experience. Anyway, looks like I’ll be leaving the buses alone and hanging out with our new team now!” Kylie started hand clapping to herself. She could no longer contain her excitement.
“Yeah, you look pretty happy with yourself. The bus mob will be able to take your photo off their suspicious characters watch list too.”
“Don’t worry, there’s plenty more photos on that board that’ll keep ‘em busy!”
“I’m gonna head off. I’ll catch you at work Smiley,” Mila said getting into her car smiling.
“Rogerhhhhhh,” Kylie said waving her goodbye, then she smiled as she skipped all the way home. She had a new energy, one fuelled by the people she had just spent the last hour and a half with. “Wow, time flies when you’re having fun,” she thought. As soon as she got home she filled out the forms and left a note to remind herself how much money she needed to get out of the bank. “This is my stepping stone to my Townsville friends base,” she thought. She was about to work the canoe club, in a similar fashion to how she had always worked the room. Those girls had no idea how much fun they were about to have with Kylie at the helm!
Dough!
After the girls realised how much they had in common during their night out at the football, Kylie and Mila quickly became inseparable. It was rare for a day to go by when they weren’t in contact via text messages, phone calls or emails to discuss plans for the week, whether to meet for lunch during the working week, go out on Friday night, shop together on Saturday afternoon, head out on Saturday evening, or have a lazy Sunday lunch that always seemed to end with a Sunday Session at either the Seaview or The Watermark on the Strand. Not everything they did involved drinking cups of coffee or alcohol. The girls would sometimes have so much fun chatting away while they listened to and sang the wrong words to Top Forty pop music or would sit around and make jewellery at Kylie’s place until the wee hours of the morning then meet up for lunch the next day. Kylie had never met anyone else who liked as many things as she did and they blossomed from each other’s creativity whether it was making their own cards to send to other girlfriends or beading jewellery. They really clicked.
“So how come we took so long to fall in love Mila?” Kylie asked one day as the girls sat beading on the lounge room floor of Kylie’s apartment.