She was sitting cross-legged on the floor, threading beads onto a bracelet with the kind of focus she usually reserved for match point. Her damp hair hung loose around her shoulders, and every so often she’d glance up at me, her expression unreadable. It was maddening.
How was it that she could read me so easily, but off court she still felt like a mystery to me?
“Actually, maybe you should be banned from crafts judging from that hot mess,” she said suddenly, smirking as she nodded at my tangled thread, a random assortment of beads strung together.
“I’m notthatbad,” I argued, though my fumbling hands betrayed me.
“You’re worse than Calvin,” she teased. “He couldn’t even figure out how to tie his shoelaces until he was eight.”
My next words slipped out of my mouth without second thought. “Maybe I’m distracted.”
Chloe froze, a bead held between her fingers as her eyes snapped to mine. For a second, neither of us said anything.
“Distracted?” she repeated, her tone light, her gaze anything but.
I focused back on the bracelet as if my life depended on these tiny beads. “By the storm,” I lied. “And being stuck out here. It’s not exactly what I had planned for today. I’m sure Calvin is already plotting how we need to make it up tomorrow.”
Her lips quivered into a knowing smile, but she let it go. Instead, she sent me a wink, adding, “Yeah, well, welcome to life with me.”
We fell into a comfortable silence, both of us working on ourbracelets, hers made up of blue and green beads that looked much better than mine.
“You know,” Chloe said, her voice soft but carrying a weight I wasn’t expecting. “In a few days, we’ll be back out there at the DC Open, competing against each other.”
I glanced up, the knot I was working on suddenly feeling a lot more complicated than it needed to be. “Yeah,” I replied cautiously, unsure where she was going with this. “Back to chasing points.”
Truthfully, I felt more ready for this run of matches than I had in a long time. Something in my body felt more under control, as if the time resting with my friends and the fresh air rolling off the ocean had done me a world of good. It had only been a few weeks since Wimbledon, but I was ready for this new challenge.
Especially if the new challenge was a 5'7" strawberry blonde.
She tilted her head, a faint smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “It’s funny. Out there, we don’t even have to think about it. We just play. But here, it’s different.”
“Different how?” My fingers paused on the thread.
“We don’t usually get this.” She looked between us. “Time to just relax. No crowds. No pressure. Just... us.”
She wasn’t wrong. Before, every interaction had been filtered through the lens of rivalry and ruled on by an umpire. Here, in this quiet little house with the storm raging outside, it was only the two of us.
“I guess it’s kind of nice,” I admitted.
“Kind of?” A grin spread across her face.
“Don’t let it go to your head.”
“Too late.” A playful glint shone in her eyes. Chloe looked down at her half-finished bracelet. “Still, once we’re back out there, I guess it’s all business again. Not much room for this.”
“What is this?”I wanted to ask. “Friendship? A temporary peace accord?”
“Maybe not,” I said carefully, “but it doesn’t mean it has to go away completely.”
Her eyes flicked up to meet mine, and for a moment, the air between us felt charged. “No, I guess it doesn’t.”
“On court, it’s fair game.”
“You think I’d dare to go easy on you?” Chloe asked, a knowing smile across her face. She hesitated. “Does it help if it wasn’t ever personal for me?”
I closed my eyes and sucked in a deep breath. “But every loss, every win, it didn’t mean nothing. It was extremely personal. It was my life, it was everything. I’m not sure if it will stop feeling that way, but I can keep it on court,” I explained.
I thought of Dylan and Scottie. When I played them, I didn’t hold a grudge. I left it all out there. And that was what I was offering her.
