Starting Over - (Sascha Zverev)

Chapter 8

I walked towards the tennis court, feeling something burning inside me, like my body wasn't able to get more nervous than that. Thankfully, it was really sunny and I had been walking under the sun for like an hour, so having my face red would make sense. It wouldn't necessarily give away the fact that I was probably blushing like never before.

I couldn't identify why yet. I mean, one minute I was enraged for him being a total jerk and the next minute the view of his eyes seemed to make me feel dizzy. Silly me.

As I approached the court I looked around and saw no one. Was he hitting all by himself? How does that work?

A really tall wire fence surrounded the whole court and I couldn't see where the entrance was.

"Hey there" I said, trying to sound casual as I leaned against the wire fence.

Without a word, he walked my way, his shirttail still in one of his hands, and leaned against the fence as well, resting his forehead on the wires.

"Morning" he whispered. His face was way too close to mine. I couldn't even think.

Gently, I took one step away. I don't think I could have carried on with this conversation being that close to him. I looked around once again

"So...are you hitting on your own?"

"I shouldn't be. I have been waiting for Mischa since 8 am and he still doesn't show up. I bet he slept in because, of course, he couldn't possibly leave the dinner earlier" he replied, ironically. I detected a trace of anger (and maybe jealousy?) in his answer.

"Oh, I see. Is that why you left early? I mean, because you had to train this morning?"

He hesitated, looked away and scratched his nose before answering. "Yeah. I was already tired anyway"

Tired of Mischa being the centre of attention the whole evening? I tried to play it cool, like I hadn't noticed him getting mad the moment his brother walked in.

"You didn't miss anything, don't worry. I wasn't having much fun either"

Sascha seemed to finally soften his expression after hearing my response. He was no longer frowning. As if he was somehow relieved.

"Come in." he said softly, smiling and looking at the ground. He pointed to right, where the wire became lower, so I could walk inside the court.

I really wonder what was my expression at that exact moment. This guy was seriously an umpredictable rollercoaster. His mood went up and down in the course of seconds and you had to be prepared for anything. What did he want now, with me inside the court?

As I walked in, he was already by his tennis bag, taking out a racket.

"Here, hold this". He handed me a racket. I don't know why, but my instincts made me hold it by the upper frame, my fingers on the strings. Sascha burst out laughing as he grabbed it by the grip and handed it in to me once again, so I could hold it properly this time.

Without looking, I placed my hand on his, which was still on the grip. Not again. My blood started to boil and this time I did blush uncontrolably. I could feel it.

Sascha laughed once again. "Easy. First time right?"

I gulped. I hope he really thought I got embarassed by grabbing the racket the wrong way.

"Is it too obvious?"

Next thing, he pointed at the back of the court. "You, stand there"

"Wait what?" I replied in disbelief. "Do you really expect me to hit with you?"

"I really need a hitting partner right now and you are the only one who showed up, so yeah" I kept on staring blankly at him, my nerves once again taking over. "Only thing you need to know: hit the ball with the strings, not the grip"

"Ha-ha, very funny. I know the game, I just don't know how to play it myself" I answered, as Sascha quickly took off his shirt, already soaking wet. Alright, now I was officially out of breath.

Sascha didn't even give me time to process it and shouted "Go" , hitting the first ball gently at me. I moved towards it and hit it back. The ball hit the net and stayed in my side of the court.

Sascha placed his racket against his body and held it with his arm so he was free to start clapping. "Well done, I was sure you would totally miss that one."

We carried on hitting for some minutes. From the training point of view, it was a sheer disaster. I could barely return his balls, I couldn't even run because I was wearing flip flops and he definitely couldn't hit the ball hard because I would drop out immediately. Anyway, Sascha seemed so amused by this teacher-student thing going on that he seemed to completely forget about his obligation to train. Honestly, continued playing because I hadn't seen Sascha have fun since I met him, and it kind of felt good.

Suddenly, someone appeared on the other side of the wire fence.

"Well, well, well, you seemed to have replaced me already". Sascha's expression changed completely the moment he heard and saw Mischa arrive with his tennis bag.

I was making my way out of the court when Mischa grabbed me by the arm. "You don't have to leave. Please, stay. We both need some cheering" he said with a huge smile on his face. I couldn't help but do as he said. He was always so polite it was really hard to say no.

Three minutes had passed since I sat in the stands when my mother appeared on the other side of the fence, together with Mrs. Reed and Irina Zverev, who was carrying a little black poodle I had never seen before.

My mom saw me sitting in the stands and ran towards me, excited as if she had just won the lottery and wanted to share the news. I sighed. I already saw it coming. Me, sitting there, being a  spectator for prince charming Mischa who was unvealing his amazing skills inside the court. Enough to make my mother's hopes skyrocket. As if nothing had happened before that.

I found some time to write another one!! Finally a proper nice moment between them! Hope you like it :) Thanks a lot for the beautiful messages, they really make my day!