Losing at Love

by Jennifer Iacopelli

  She leaned against the fence of the grass practice courts, trying to catch her breath, staring out onto the water as the sun rose over the beach. A perfect moment, the kind you see in movie montages where the athletes are training hard for the upcoming tournament, the big game, scene after scene of wiping sweaty foreheads, taking long sips from water bottles before putting them down and starting again. If only it were like that. If only you could have a training montage and just be better. In real life, you had to work for it, you had to feel every agonizing millisecond of every single training session and even then, sometimes, no matter how hard you pushed, none of it mattered and you had to push out the voices of your parents and coaches and friends who have lower expectations for you than you have for yourself. You just have to do it.

  The chain link fence shifted behind her and a shoulder bumped into hers. “Hey,” Teddy Harrison said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Nice view.”

  “Same as always,” she said with a shrug. “You ready?”

  “To kick your ass? Damn straight I am.”

  They stretched out together, warmed up and fell into their old routine even though they hadn’t met up in the morning like this in a long time, not since before Indy had arrived at OBX. Teddy’s commitment to tennis began and ended with the fact that he happened to be good at it and that it was going to pay for four years at Duke. As soon as he’d given a verbal commitment to the school in the fall of his junior year, his dedication to rising before the sun and meeting her on an empty practice court had waned and so she compromised, moving their sessions to later in the day to allow him to sleep in. Compromise, at least on her end, had pretty much defined their relationship for the last couple of years, right until the moment they’d drunkenly pressed their mouths and less innocent parts of their bodies together a few months ago. Everything had changed that day and they fumbled to try and sort out their friendship. But things were better now and that was the important thing. Even if he didn’t feel about her the way she felt about him, anything was better than losing him completely. At least, that’s what she was able to tell herself while he was three thousand miles away.

  “What do you want to work on today?” he asked, rotating his left arm in large circles.

  “Nothing. I just want to play. Let’s just play, okay?”

  He flashed her a thousand-watt smile and her stomach tightened, but she fought the reaction. “Alright then, it’s on. You serve,” he said, tossing her a ball.

  Jasmine flounced to the baseline. If he was going to be stupid enough to give her the advantage right off the bat, who was she to complain? A few bounces of the ball at her feet, then coiling down, letting her body explode up and through the ball, sending a well-placed serve up and out to his weaker, backhand side immediately. He returned it well enough and Jasmine saw him smile as his return mimicked her serve, forcing her to the backhand as well. It was the look of someone who knew his opponent’s weakness.

  Jasmine crossed over, compelling her shoulder to stay in and fired a backhand up the line and out of his reach for a winner. “15-Love,” she said, not even bothering to check for the shock on his face, instead pulling a ball from the hidden pocket inside the leg of her shorts and striding back to the service line.

  By the time she looked up, ready to start the next point, he’d obviously gotten over it, and was bent over waiting for her to serve. He twisted the racket in his hands once, then twice. It was one of his tells. She’d pissed him off with that winner and played right into her hands.

  Her next serve was straight up the white T in the center of the court and Teddy, letting his aggravation get the best of him, anticipated the serve, stepped around it and fired a forehand ten feet beyond the baseline.

  “30 – Love,” she sang out as he retrieved the ball and tossed it back over to her side of the net.

  “Don’t get cocky,” he shot back, twirling his racket again.

  She piggybacked the serve up the T, then went charging up to the net, finally playing to her own strength, intercepting his return and spinning a short volley. It bounced twice, long before he could reach it.

  A voice, familiar but completely unexpected, rang out from the sidelines. “Three in a row, Harrison. Maybe you should forfeit.”

  Springy black curls and cocoa skin, a bright red t-shirt with a bold white Stanford across the chest, Amy Fitzpatrick, a girl who hadn’t set foot on OBX grounds for two years, was standing at the gate to their court, a huge smile on her face, looking just as gorgeous as the day she left for college and broke Teddy’s heart.

  Jasmine felt her racket slip through her fingers, landing on the grass court with a soft thump. “Amy. Oh my God, what are you…” she trailed off.

  “Dom invited me down to work with the summer camps once school let out and I couldn’t say no. As soon as I got here, I asked Roy where you were. Not surprised to find you here, Jazzy, but Teddy Harrison out of bed at this hour? That’s like some kind of miracle. The Teddy I remember liked to stay in bed as much as he could.”

  Two years at Stanford hadn’t done much for Amy’s subtlety.

  “Amy,” Teddy grunted out. Jasmine flickered her gaze toward him, already knowing what she’d see. His jaw was clenched, the veins in his neck standing out and his shoulders were held up high and tense.

  “Two years and that’s all I get?” Amy asked, finally stepping through the gate and moving onto the court. Not giving Teddy a chance to move away before she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pressed her lips to the corner of his mouth. Teddy stiffened and put his hands on her hips, moving her body away from his gently. The corner of her mouth quirked up as she looked Teddy up and down. “You look good, Harrison.”

  A harsh rasp escaped from Teddy’s throat. “Thanks, Amy, you too.” He looked to Jasmine and she opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out.

  “And Jazzy. Look at you, exactly the same as I left you! Come here!” A split second later, it was Jasmine wrapped up in the arms of her former best friend, the girl who’d dumped Teddy before she left, but simply faded from Jasmine’s life after a week or so away at school. The loss of friendship hurt Jasmine, especially since Amy hadn’t had the decency to at least try and keep in contact, but she’d gotten over it when the other OBX girls started to look up to her the way she had looked up to Amy. Teddy, on the other hand, had been completely devastated and had never settled into a relationship since, keeping things casual with as many girls as would have him.

  “I’ll um, I’ll just leave you guys to it then,” Teddy said, rubbing the back of his neck.

  Amy pulled away from Jasmine and reached out for him, grabbing his wrist. “No, you two were in the middle of a session. Don’t let me interfere.”

  “Nah, you two have catching up to do, I’m sure. I’ll just, I’ll see you later, Jas,” he said, but before he left, he leaned down and kissed her, his lips brushing the corner of her mouth, almost exactly as Amy had kissed him. Jasmine flinched back and blinked at him, but he was already walking off the court, twirling the racket in his hand over and over again.

  Amy watched him go as well but then turned to Jasmine with her eyebrows raised. “If I had known that skinny kid I dumped was going to turn into that fine specimen, I might not have let him go so easily.”

  Jasmine swallowed down the nasty retort that bubbled up from her chest and shook her head. “I’m glad you got here before we left for London. It’ll be nice to catch up.”

  “London?”

  “Yeah, um, Wimbledon? I’m playing juniors and I’m in the qualifying for women’s doubles.”

  Letting out a little laugh, like somehow, that wasn’t a big deal, Amy said, “Oh right. It’s perfect timing. I can’t believe Dom made you play doubles with that girl. Like what did he think, it was going to make up for him letting her train here and stealing your title?”

  Jasmine felt her shoulders grow heavy, every reason why she hadn’t really mourned the end of her friendship with Amy suddenly weighed he
r down.

  “And what was that with Teddy just now? You two are like together now or something?”

  “No. We’re just friends. I don’t know what that was.”

  “But you liked him for so long, even when I was dating him. ”

  “Before,” Jasmine said, softly. “I liked him before you started dating him.”

  “Oh that’s right. We both had a thing for him back then. That was so funny. Good for you though. I mean you and Teddy. That’s such a bad idea. Let’s go to Deuce, I want to hear about everything.”

  As they walked through the academy’s grounds, people stopped to wave and say hello to Amy at nearly every turn. She’d been one of the first students to come and train at OBX and one of its early success stories. Signing a NLI to Stanford and becoming an All American as a freshman, she had helped Stanford to a NCAA Championship.

  “Oh wow, is that her?” Amy asked, drawing to a complete stop just off to the side of one of the half courts where Indy was hitting against the wall, feet flying over the hard court. “She should like model or something, go all Anna Kournikova instead of wasting her time on the court.”

  “She’s good, really good.”

  “Penny good?” Amy asked, practically spitting out the other girl’s name.

  Jasmine chose her words carefully. She knew how Amy worked and she didn’t need rumors swirling around OBX that she’d said Indy’s game sucked. “Different. Less refined, more powerful.”

  “I heard she had a serve on her.”

  “It’s incredible,” Jasmine said and then decided to get a little dig in of her own. “Didn’t you see us in France? We were on ESPN.”

  Amy waved her hand dismissively and shrugged. “A little bit, but not much. I was really busy.”

  “Right, of course,” Jasmine said, knowing she’d hit her mark. “Come on. Let’s go grab some lunch.”

  “Jas!” Indy called and Jasmine groaned. She was hoping to put this off for a little longer. The tall blonde jogged over to the fence and grabbed a sip from her water bottle.

  “Hi there,” Amy said. “Amy Fitzpatrick.”

  “Indi-”

  “Indiana Gaffney, I know.” Indy tilted her head and raised an eyebrow at Jasmine and smirked.

  “Amy used to train here and now she’s at Stanford,” Jasmine said, feeling the air swirling with tension around them, growing thicker by the second.

  “Nice to meet you.”

  “You too. Jazzy and I were just going to get lunch. You should so come with us.”

  Indy’s smirk grew. “Thanks, but I’ve gotta finish up here and then I promised Penny a Skype call.”

  “That’s right. She’s over in London, isn’t she?” Amy asked with a significant look at Jasmine. “Penny the Ice Princess and Alex Russell, who would have guessed that?”

  “Ice Princess?”

  Amy laughed. “Yeah, she barely let anyone near her for years around here let alone a guy.”

  “Right, okay,” Indy said. “I’ll see you guys later I guess. I gotta get this done.”

  They were just a few steps away from the fence when Amy laughed and laced her arm through Jasmine’s. “Wow, what a total bitch. So fake.”

  Jasmine rolled her eyes and pulled away. Indy was one of the most genuine people she’d ever met. What you saw was what you got, good or bad.

  “You know what Amy, I think I’m going to have to take a rain check on lunch.”

  Amy stopped dead in her tracks and stuck her lower lip out. “You’re kidding? Come on, we haven’t seen each other in forever.”

  “I just remembered, I have a meeting with…” she trailed off, stalling for time when just over Amy’s shoulder Jack Harrison stepped into her view. “Jack Harrison. I have a meeting with Jack.”

  “Jack Harrison?” Amy asked, following the line of Jasmine’s eyes.

  “Hi, sorry, do I know you?” Jack asked, politely turning toward her. As far as Jasmine knew, they’d never met before. He’d been away at school when Amy and Teddy dated, but Jack was a pretty recognizable face in tennis nowadays.

  “Jack, this is Amy…Amy Fitzpatrick.” Immediately his usually open and friendly features darkened. He might not know Amy, but he definitely knew of her. “I was just telling her that I had a meeting with you so we couldn’t have lunch.”

  Jack caught on quickly, not even letting his understanding pass over his face. “I was just coming to look for you.”

  “Sorry, Amy, maybe some other time, okay?”

  Her lips were pursed as she looked back and forth between them and shrugged, a smile suddenly overtaking her features, but not reaching her eyes. “No problem at all. I guess I’ll just see you later, Jazzy.”

  She walked away toward the main atrium and Jasmine let out a heavy breath. “Cross Stanford off my list,” she muttered and then turned back to Jack. “Thanks for that, by the way.”

  “Always happy to be of service,” he said with a grin. “So that was the girl who had my baby brother all tied up in knots?”

  “That was her. She found me and Teddy on the grass courts practicing. He…he sort of ran away.”

  Jack nodded. “What he does best.”

  “You don’t have to tell me that.” The words slipped out before she even had time to fully think them. “Um, I mean…”

  “Yeah, you’d know that better than anyone, I guess,” Jack said, reaching out and giving her shoulder a squeeze. “I’m gonna go find him, unless you actually need to meet with me about something?”

  “Actually, I was wondering,” she trailed off. “If you want to, it’s totally cool if you say no, but my parents hired this recruiter, Felix —“

  “Wolner. Yeah, I know him,” Jack said, cutting her off.

  “He mentioned something about Harvard and if you had the time…”

  “You’re thinking about Harvard?”

  “I’m weighing my options,” she said, the words becoming true as she said them. It wasn’t like what her parents and Felix and Dom had said didn’t make sense, but if she was going to make a choice like this, she wanted it to be her choice and not theirs. “And if you can keep that between us, I’d really appreciate it.”

  “Of course. That’s nobody’s business except yours. And if you want to talk about Harvard, Jasmine, then you’ve come to the right place.”

  ~

  They wandered back toward where Indy was hitting, Jack rambling about the amazing experience he had in Cambridge. Three years of tennis, great friendships, the best professors in the world. Even being away from his family, something he thought was going to be rough, actually turned out to be really good for him.

  “That sounds great,” she said and he arched an eyebrow at her. “Not that I don’t love my parents and all, but…”

  “Can’t be easy being their kid around here,” Jack finished for her.

  “Exactly.”

  A bubbly sort of tune rang up from the general vicinity of his shorts pocket as they finally made it back to where Indy was still training, having moved on to backhands.

  Jack checked the screen. “It’s Penny. I gotta take this.”

  “Sure,” she said, leaning her elbows on the fence and watching Indy finish up a set.

  “So, who was that exactly?” Indy asked, as she let the last ball fly past her and bounce into the fence.

  “My best friend,” Jasmine said. “Former best friend. Your boyfriend rescued me. She’s not exactly his favorite person.”

  “Oh, is she the one…. Jack told me a while back about what she did to Teddy.”

  “Yeah, she pretty much destroyed him for any other girl who came after,” she said, remembering the press of Teddy’s lips against hers just a few minutes before, the tension in his entire body. The sooner they all left for London, the better.

  “He’s got to grow up and get over it eventually though. Wasn’t it like two years ago? Maybe her being back’ll be the push he needs toward you, you know…”

  “What?”

  “Shit
or get off the pot.”

  “Ugh, Indy, really?”

  “Well, I’m just saying. You two make sense in all the ways that matter and he’s just being ridiculous.”

  “Whatever. Change of subject please. We’ve beaten this to death, haven’t we?”

  “Fine. What were you and Jack talking about?”

  “He was telling me about Harvard.”

  Indy laughed. “He could talk about that for days if you let him.”

  “You were going to go there, weren’t you?”

  “I was thinking about it. My dad went there and his parents did too, but tennis won’t last forever. I’m pretty sure Harvard will be there if I ever want to try out the college thing.”

  Jasmine felt the words on her tongue, that it might be something she was going to try, that it might be the best option for her at this point. Playing doubles with Indy might be something she had to give up and soon, but instead, she kept silent as Jack made his way back over to them.

  “There is nothing worse than my sister with nothing to do. That poor bastard must be wondering what he saw in her.” Indy snorted. It was easy to tell what Alex saw in Penny, though her older brother probably wouldn’t see it that way. “It’s a good thing we’ll be over there soon, before she drives the entire city of London insane.”

  “We’ll be there soon,” Indy said, smiling widely. “All of us, at Alex’s house, under one roof. Even Teddy.”

  Jasmine rolled her eyes. “Just a couple of days and we’ll be in Wimbledon.”

  Chapter 6

  June 17th

  Penny ended the call with Jack and then scanned through her own messages quickly. She moved around, trying to get more comfortable in her seat on the practice court, shifting back and forth on the wooden bench. At least the weather was cool, a fresh spring breeze swirling the London air around her. Alex was scheduled next for this court, but for the last hour, her attention had been solely fixed on the junior American who’d been granted permission by the board at Queens to use their courts for a practice session.