fourteen

Sometimes the steady drizzle seemed as if it would never end. Aberystwyth's position on the west coast of Wales subjected the town to more than its fair share of bad weather. But it was nothing compared to the storm of the fifth of November.

The gale that blew in from the west whipped the incessant rain into a veritable maelstrom. The thunder was almost continuous, rolling in from the Irish Sea, and those that cared to look could see lightning illuminate the night sky.

The storm lasted all-night and into the morning, finally stopping around midday. That was about the time that Toni left Dylan's room and returned to her own. She had snuck upstairs the previous evening, just after Meg Ryan had faked orgasm, to remove the contact lenses that were beginning to dry out her eyes. She then returned to Dylan and they ignored the rest of the film, buried themselves under the covers and turned out the lights.

Julie was waiting for her. She sat in her chair with her door open. Toni had to pass by to get to her room.

"I thought you would be back earlier than this," Julie said as Toni flew past.

Toni doubled back. "What?"

"Did you enjoy yourself?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you how much," Toni replied. "Look, Jules, I'm sorry but I really need a shower, can we talk later."

"Of course, don't mind me. I'll have cuppa waiting for you."

"You're a gem, Jules."

Twenty minutes later Toni sat on the edge of Julie's bed in her short, pink, towelling robe, rubbing her hair dry. She told Julie everything.

"He's right about taking things slowly," Julie said. "You'll have more chance of it lasting if you do."

"I know," replied Toni. "But we've wasted so much time already. I don't need to get to know him anymore; I already know that I love him. Isn't that enough?"

"If only it was."

The storm returned that night, and seemed to continue every day for the next week, stopping intermittently as if taking a break from the hard work of soaking everyone and everything. Despite Dylan's insistence that he and Toni should take their relationship slowly, the new couple spent every spare moment together.

Toni's bed lay un-slept in until Dylan stunned her on Friday evening. As they got back to the hall from Cwrt Mawr, he insisted that he was facing the biggest match of the year the next day, a home game against his native Swansea. Toni reluctantly agreed to his request to 'get a good night's sleep'. She even promised to go and watch him perform the next day.

The rain was due to hold off for the match. Dylan was desperate to win. He had no affiliation with the university in his hometown, and felt that it would be a shot in the arm for his adopted town if he could help to achieve victory. His team captain, Mike, was less sure where Dylan's lay.

"Hey, DT!" Mike called to him as he headed to the changing rooms. "A word, please."

"Sure, Skip." Dylan left Mark and joined Mike.

"Now, I want one hundred and ten percent from you today."

"I always do, Skip, you know that."

"I know. But I don't want you to ease up just 'cause these guys are from your backyard."

"Oh please. Give me some credit, Mike. I want to beat this lot probably more than anyone else on the team."

"Well, I'm just letting you know that if it looks any other way to me, you'll be off in a flash."

The two teams were taking the sodden field as Toni and Julie sat down in the stands next to Dave and Kerry. Many of Mark and Dylan's other friends were also there.

Swansea lined up in white shirts and black shorts, waiting for Aber to start the game. Dylan took his place on the right side of midfield. He was on the opposite side of the pitch to his supportive hall mates, and Toni had to point him out to Julie.

Julie squinted. "They all look the same to me. Those green and red stripes aren't very flattering."

"Dylan has the number seven on is back," Toni.

"How can you make out those numbers from here?"

"When was the last time you had your eyes checked, Jules?"

Mark and his co-striker, Nick, began the game. He immediately put the ball out wide to Dylan.

A Swansea player quickly closed down Dylan and he had to play safe and knock the ball back to Mike in central defence.

With the air of calm that permeated every facet of his game, Mike began the slow build up that had quickly become the team's style of play.

The rotten weather of the previous six days had made the pitch heavy, but playable. It was difficult for Aber to string passes together. Swansea players chased the ball, trying to force mistakes.

At times, Aber were reduced to humping the ball forward for Mark and Nick to chase.

When Swansea had the ball they proved less adept at keeping it. But they never gave it away in any dangerous positions. For the first half an hour the teams played out a tactically fascinating, but not very action filled, draw.

"I'm bored," said Julie. "This is boring. There are so many other things I could be doing."

"Shush," Toni said. "Dylan's got the ball."

Dylan had picked up the ball and found himself in considerable space on the right. The heavy pitch was taking its toll, but his desire to beat the Swans spurred Dylan on. He looked to see where Mark and Nick were, but was disappointed to find that they were well out of position. A pass to either of them would have been pointless. Instead, he darted down the wing, leaving the advancing defender in his wake. He cut inside and dashed towards the box. Another defender came towards him, but the hapless fool committed himself too early. He telegraphed his lunge for the ball and allowed Dylan to drag the ball out of his way and side step into space.

Dylan looked up and made an instinctive, split-second decision. He hammered a shot towards the top left hand corner of the goal. He hit it with such venom that the keeper floundered as the ball bulged in the back of the net.

"Yes," screamed Toni.

She and those around her leapt from their seats. On the pitch, Dylan thumped the air before Mark, Nick, Mike and the rest of the team mobbed him.

"Did you see that?" Toni said to Julie. "Did you see that?"

"Fantastic," said Dave, who was in the seat behind Toni. To his left Rich, Frank, and Andy were uttering similar superlatives.

In the row behind them, Jo smiled to herself and clapped along with everyone else. She hadn't spoken to Dylan in the last week because Toni monopolised his time. But she had a fair idea of how important that goal must have been to him. Ever since Jo had rescued him from his solitude after Claire had walked out, Dylan had been talking about this match. Talking about how much he wanted to win it.

It had seemed to Jo as if Swansea somehow represented Claire in Dylan's eyes. The spectre of his rejection by her hung over the town, and Jo had feared for how he would cope having to return there at Christmas. But the sheer jubilation that Dylan had shown as the ball struck the net told her that whatever demons there were, had been well and truly slain. By scoring in this game, Dylan's psyche must have felt that it had got one over on Claire, and perhaps he would be able to get over her after all.

On the pitch, the Aber players returned to their half for the kick off. Mike put his arm around Dylan's neck and whispered to him, "That's the stuff DT. That's the stuff."

Dylan's goal changed the game completely. Swansea had to chase the game if they were to get anything out of it. They had lost both games they had played previously, and they desperately wanted at least a draw. For the final quarter of an hour of the half Swansea wearily pushed forwards. Gaps appeared in their defence and first Mark, and then Nick took full advantage of them.

Aber left the field at half time three goals to the good.

The two teams came out with contrasting attitudes after the break. Swansea were dejected and downcast, while Mike had stirred up Aber and convinced them that they could run up a cricket score.

Mike's words worked. Aber scored a further five times in the second half, with Mark completing his hat-trick. An already good day got even better when Mike got a call from the spy he had set to watch Aber's main rivals for the title, Cardiff Institute of Higher Education.

"Good news, lads," he told the team in the dressing room. "Institute just got beat by Bangor. That's the only other one hundred percent record gone, and it puts us top by 3 points."

A small crowd waited jubilantly for their friends after the game. Toni wasn't one of them. She had spoken to Dylan at half time to tell him that she had to race back to halls or be last in the showers. That would make her late for the evening celebrations. This gave Jo the opportunity to talk to Dylan as they walked back up hill.

"You looked like you enjoyed that goal."

"Yeah, I did. It was my first in proper game. It's one thing setting up other people, but there's no feeling like slamming one home yourself."

"And it was against Swansea."

"There is that."

"I could almost hear you saying 'take that Claire' as you kicked it."

"Who?" Dylan and Jo both laughed. "I've never thought of it like that, but I suppose you might be right. Maybe that is why I wanted to beat them so bad."

They came to one of Aber's busiest roads and tried to cross. Once on the other side they made small talk. They covered work, the horrible recent weather and the plans for the evening.

"I'm taking Toni out for dinner," Dylan said. "That's why she had to rush off. I've warned her that if she's late all she'll get is a Burger King."

"Typical man," replied Jo. "So where are you two going?"

"I've been told that they do nice food in the Cambrian, opposite the bar we usually go in. I thought we could go there."

"No, Dylan. I meant where do you think this whole thing with you and Toni will go? Do you think you might just be on the rebound?"

"In all honesty, I don't know. And right now, I don't care. I just plan to take it slowly and see where we end up. If it is a rebound then it won't matter as long as we both enjoy it along the way."

"I wouldn't say that you've taken this past week particularly slowly, you've been in each other's pockets."

"I know. I think she's just a little excited. She wanted us to get together earlier. She'll calm down."

"If you say so. Just be careful, Dil. I think you'll find that Toni is taking this thing a little more seriously than you imagine."

In the weeks that followed, Dylan's workload increased dramatically. The end of term and Christmas were in sight. The mid-term exams were scheduled for the students' return after Christmas. First years had to pass the exams to stay on the course for the second year. Even so, Toni was willing to spend every second that she wasn't in lectures with Dylan. It was only through his insistence that she got any work done on her impending essays. She wouldn't work in her room alone, but fortunately, Julie had a solution.

"We can all work in the Library. It's perfect. I need your and Dave's help with the maths in these assignments, and Toni and Kerry can work on their essays at the same time."

They were in the canteen for evening meal. Dylan smiled. "I must admit, Jules, it seems perfect. I work better with someone to bounce ideas off anyway."

The library was opening until eight, and the small study group stayed until the Librarian threw them out. Then they returned to the hall via Rosser bar.

Along with his football training, and badminton sessions, Dylan found that his life had become suddenly full. It was only mid November, but he found it strange to think that his life had once not been like this, and that these people hadn't always been part of his life.

The weekend following their glorious win against Swansea, the football club travelled north to Bangor, and kept up their one hundred percent record. The weekend after that, they continued their splendid run with a home win against Glamorgan.

The next day, Dylan and Mark found out about the latest effort by the Hall committee to help their social lives. Phil and Jez had organised a pub-crawl followed by a party at the Footy club.