The Doubles Match

01

It was a foggy fall morning, had it rained the night before. The windshield window was engulfed in mist and the windshield wipers were swishing back and forth like a lullaby for a soothing nap.

Olivia inserted her AirPods into her ears and leaned against the window in the passenger seat, in an attempt to cure her headache.

She was tapped awake by her father once they reached their new home. I hate this. I hate this. I hate this. I hate my parent's divorce, I hate having to be separated from Zach, she thought to herself. She stole a glance at her dad, and decided to quit mumbling, not wanting to add more stress to his plate.

Shutting the car door behind her, she decided that she was going to take a walk around the neighborhood, while her dad set up things like the electricity and basic needs.

As she strolled downtown, a gust of wind blew in her face, and that's when she spotted it.

A flier about to be carried away by the wind.

Scanning the text on the paper, she was suddenly interested. Tennis? Hmm, I could try a new sport. And it's a school program. I could make some friends. Oh! It has a phone number. She snapped a picture of the flier for later, and gave it more thought.

As she pondered, a trio of girls approached her. They each had a different hair color; one was a brunette, one had blonde hair, and one had black hair. They were all wearing the same workout outfit, just in different colors.

The brunette, clearly the leader of the three, wearing sky blue, cleared her throat. "Hi! I've never seen you around here before. Are you new?"

Olivia looked up and smiled. "Yeah, I just moved today."

"Are you thinking of joining the tennis program?" the blonde girl, wearing purple, piped up. "Because if you are, we could help you out. We've been playing tennis together ever since we were toddlers, so we know everything."

"Yeah. I'm Blake, the blonde one's Mackenzie, and to my left is Kiko." Blake, the brunette, said.

"Hi! You should definitely join the tennis program. The new season starts tomorrow, and it would be so fun. We could do doubles matches together, or I could cheer you on when you play singles! For doubles, we need another to make four, anyway." Kiko, wearing mint green, said.

Blake and Mackenzie glanced at each other. "Um, Kiko, I thought playing doubles together was our thing." Blake said.

"So? It'll be fun, I swear!" Kiko beamed at Olivia.

"Well, we were going to get ice cream together so I guess..." Mackenzie said.

Kiko interrupted. "Oh! We never got your name!"

"Olivia."

"Aww, that's a beautiful name."

"Kiko. I was going to invite Olivia here to join us for ice cream." Mackenzie said, looking quite annoyed. She glanced at Blake again.

Kiko's smile faded.

Olivia, sensing the tension, said, "Oh, thank you, but I need to get back home anyway. See you around?" With that, she walked back up the hill towards her new residence.

After telling her dad about the program, she went up to her new bedroom and rebuilt her bed frame, since it had been taken apart for the move. Once she completed her sleeping corner, she brought up a few more boxes and started digging through them.

When she got bored with that, she scrolled through the images on her phone, and memories of her twin brother came rushing back. Ever since her parents' divorce, Olivia had tried to avoid thinking about Zach. She kept telling herself that their separation was out of her hands, so there was no point in dwelling over it. Her eyes began to tear up.

"Olivia! Lunch's ready! I made pasta bolognese, your favorite!" her dad hollered from the kitchen.

"Okay, coming!" she responded as she gathered herself and got up. She ran down the stairs and took her seat in the dining room.

"So, how's the town?" her father asked.

"It's alright, I guess? I met some girls, they seem nice enough." she said, thinking of Kiko.

"When's the first tennis practice?" he asked.

"Tomorrow, I think."

"Okay. I already signed you up for it so we're good to go," he said.

"Thank you, Dad."

"I'm happy that you're trying a new sport. I'll drive you there tomorrow." he said, cleaning up the meal.

Olivia headed back upstairs to her new room and decided to take a nap. She was really tired; after all, she had waken up at 4:30 in the morning to drive to her new home. She began to close her newly installed curtains, since she liked sleeping in the dark.

As she approached one of the windows, the one that faced her neighbor's, she saw someone staring at her.

He was cute.

He had warm brown eyes that pierced into her blue ones, a mop of dark brown hair that she felt an urge to slide her hand through, and when they made eye contact, he smiled and Olivia felt herself melt into the floor. She felt heat rushing to her cheeks.

Then the boy opened his window and called out to her. "Hey! You're new, right?"

When she heard his voice, she got confused. Had she heard a voice like that before?

And that's when it hit her.

The neighbor who she thought was cute was Zach's childhood best friend.

The best friend who abandoned him.