Match Point (ASOUE)

Chapter Eight

Klaus and I didn't speak for the rest of the day. But not in a way that was overly noticeable until dinner, when Violet commented on him being quieter than usual, to which he gave some vague reply good enough to set her at ease and take the attention off of him. I couldn't be sure if that was down to Klaus just being Klaus (after all, I hadn't been privy to his life in the time between our youth and now and so I couldn't be sure what was normal for him) or if there was still some lingering discordance from our shared practise earlier on. The curious part of me wanted to find out, though to what end? If he was truly still hung up about something that didn't even involve him- nor was anything outside of the norm- then maybe there were bigger issues at hand.

And the fact I was even stopping to consider that his slightly strange mood might even possibly be down to something to do with me, made me wonder if there was something wrong with me as well. Maybe that was the aforementioned bigger issue.

Either way, we moved around each other in the house seamlessly, in a way that meant we didn't have to say a single word to one another, other than a polite "excuse me," or "could you please pass me that" if the situation naturally occurred.

Come morning, it was more of the same. We exchanged brief words about running before actually going out and doing the activity, and then we took a joint uber to the training centre for what was looking like a rehashed version of the day before- hopefully lacking the strange aggravation from his side, though.

By the time the car pulled up and deposited us at the centre, I had almost convinced myself that this was just normal Klaus behaviour and that I had imagined the stints of chattiness, the bickering, the easier-than-expected conversation.

Then we stepped onto a court and Klaus opened his mouth and I realised that no, the silent treatment wasn't his normal behaviour but yes, it was now over.

"I wonder how Violet and Quigley got so good," he said, his tone light, conversational.

I set my bag on a bench, opened it up and began pulling out everything I would need. The two coaches were nowhere to be seen but I was itching to begin and hoped they would hurry up. "What do you mean?" I replied, a little distracted.

"Like obviously they trained," Klaus said. "But I feel like for as long as I can remember, they've always been really good. I don't remember a time when they weren't super in sync. It makes me wonder... how long does it take to get to that point?"

I frowned. I couldn't tell if he was just making conversation or if that was something he was actually concerned about: us not being as good as our siblings. I mean, we hadn't even practised as a team yet. If he was already having doubts...

But I wasn't in the mood to attempt to make him feel better. Plus, I had no idea what I could say. It wasn't like I could pull out a trophy we'd earned together to prove we were a good team. So I went for a different route. "Well, for as long as I can remember they've always fancied each other," I said. "That has to count for something, right? It probably made it easier for them to work together since they clearly liked each others' company."

I thought he might've laughed or made some comment about Violet when she liked Quigley, before the two of them got together. Something where I could've pulled out a similar anecdote about my brother and we could've... I don't know, enjoyed the fact our siblings were very much in love and being very cute about it.

But when I glanced over, Klaus was busy with his own bag, showing no recollection that I had even spoken. Conversation over. Right. I decided to get on with stretching.

I had strapped up my wrists before coming out, having felt a bit of a twinge yesterday. Today, they were sore but not uncomfortably so, though that would be sure to change once Klaus and I played a match. And we would be playing a match, no matter what the coaches had in store for us- even if I had to convince Klaus to stay behind or, if there wasn't time before we had to head off to watch Violet's singles match, come back afterwards. Yesterday had offered up too much valuable information. And if Klaus had one tell that I had figured out within a couple matches then there were bound to be more for me to find. Though years had passed and I was older and- supposedly- wiser, it was still satisfying to think that I had something up on Klaus. I just had to hope he hadn't picked apart some awful tennis habit of my own to throw back in my face.