Starting Over - (Sascha Zverev)

Chapter 9

To my relief, when Mr Zverev arrived in the court the training session got quite intense. My mom was no longer pushing me to root for Mischa every time he hit a ball, no matter whether the shot was good or went eight miles out of the court. We remained quiet, witnessing an actual professional training session and I was really into it.

To be honest, I was caught up in Sascha's training. Mischa seemed to move more freely, perhaps due to his experience or his age. The exercises he did were much less intense. But Sascha had to do a huge effort. He was forced to hit with Mischa while he was held back by a tight rope. For some time he even had to move with some extra weight attached to his ankles. Not to mention the extreme heat going on at that time of the day. He was sweating like crazy. I couldn't believe how he could cope with all that. I was admiring him until I began feeling suffocated myself.

Mr Zverev told the boys he wanted to have a talk with them after the training session was over. They both had important matches the following day. We didn't want to bother, so we went back to the hotel and later decided to do some shopping for dinner, all four women together.

They were all chatting happily while we chose what to buy to cook dinner. I had a scene stuck in my brain and couldn't seem to think about anything else: little drops rolling down Sascha's bare chest and abs and the sun giving everything a unique glow. The only memory of that scene kind of gave me shivers which I instantaneously chased away. I had never ever been one of those girls who obsessed over guys' bodies, I swear. But I couldn't help it. I had observed a thousand different things this morning but it seemed I was left with that sole image. And it made me feel really uncomfortable.

We got back to the hotel in the afternoon and had some time to chill by the pool. When the sun went down, we all went back to our rooms to get ready for dinner. My mom and Irina went down to the dining room early in order to prepare a really elaborate meal. The dining room had a couple of stoves and ovens so guests could cook if they felt like it. It was really cool, specially considering my mother and Irina cooked really well.

I never had trouble picking out my clothes; I just wore what made me feel comfortable. But guess what. I found myself trying on absolutely everything I had brought to Paris and a couple of things inside my mom's drawer as well. What was happening to me? Did I feel I had to impress someone? I didn't even let myself answer that question.

It got really, really late. I finally went down to the dining room looking like this:

As I went down the stairs, everybody looked at me with their eyes wide open, but said nothing. I returned the same look, as I realized the table was almost empty: Mr and Mrs Zverev, Mr and Mrs Reed with their kids already sleeping in a couple of joint chairs, and my parents. Nobody else. And they were all wearing shorts and really simple beach dresses.

"Oh-la-la" said Mrs Reed. I didn't feel at all flattered, on the contrary. I automatically blushed. I had certainly overdressed and I felt so embarassed about it. What the hell was I thinking?

"Sorry I took so long" I said, looking down. I was feeling really bad. "And sorry for the dress. I thought the dinner would be more formal, like the other day"

"It's okay darling. You look beautiful" answered Irina and she smiled sympathetically. "The formal dinner is on Friday, actually. We are receiving some guests, so maybe you can rock that pretty dress"

"No way" said my mother, automatically. "You should go buy a suitable dress for Friday"

I didn't pay attention to her or the rest of the conversation. I took a seat with my head down and stared at the other side of the table, completely empty. Why was Sascha not here for dinner? And Mischa, of course.

"Did the rest go to sleep already?" I whispered to my dad who was sitting next to me.

"The Reed kids are sleeping over there, they didn't make it to the second course" he answered, joking. "As for the Zverevs, they had dinner really early and went to sleep. They play kind of early tomorrow, so they had to skip this amazing dinner"

How could I not consider that. Of course they wouldn't come down for dinner.

I felt kind of disappointed when I didn't see them there, but actually I would have made a fool of myself coming down all dressed up and with all that make up on, which probably made me look like a clown.

To my surprise, once again, my relief lasted ten minutes. As we were having some ice cream as a dessert, I felt the urge to go to sleep and wake up the next morning already.

To watch him play. To watch him.

MASSIVE SORRY to all of you guys for taking so long to update. December was really tough, but for all of you who asked I finally graduated!! I'm on holidays now so I will have more time to write. Thanks for all the nice messages and patience. Spicy chapters are coming!! Hope you like this one 😀