Chapter 13
Chloe
Under the Blue/Take Me In—Hayley Kiyoko
“You’re still finding your groove as doubles partners,” Henrik said, trying to empathize.
“Sure, that’s the problem,” I huffed, spinning the top off a bottle of rosé, tipping it into the largest wine glass I could find. I might
have been better off adding a straw to the bottle.
He shook his head, opening up a couple of beers to take with him. After today, I was glad we could remain friends despite
our arrangement being over. Coming home to a familiar, friendly face was a guarantee with him around. “I was watching your
match. You both definitely had moments where you almost looked like a team.”
“The key word there is almost.”
He leaned against the counter as I returned the wine bottle to the fridge. “You might make progress if you think before you
act.”
“I’ve been playing on instinct my whole career. It’s worked fine for me.”
“Sure, in singles,” Henrik replied, voice steady. “But in doubles, instinct has to include your partner. If you’re not in
sync, you’re just two people hitting balls, not a team.”
Playing with Inés, it hadn’t been a disaster, but it also wasn’t anything close to a success. We hadn’t spoken a word to each other since we got back.
“So, what’s your brilliant solution? Hold hands and meditate before every game?”
Henrik chuckled. “No, but try to communicate. Inés is a solid partner to play with. If you listen to her, it might help. You’ve
got to know when to pull back and trust each other.”
“Easier said than done.”
“True,” Henrik conceded, both beers in hand as he started to head towards the hallway, “But maybe that’s the whole problem—neither
of you wants to make it easy. And you know, the media loves the rivalry. They’ll eat tomorrow’s final up if you play it right.”
“I need her to get out of my goddamn way.” I gritted my teeth, thinking back to the match. Sure, things had improved after
the break, when we’d agreed not to piss each other off anymore. She was a distraction. All legs and that cruel, sexy smirk.
The irony didn’t escape me as she sauntered into the kitchen at that very moment, her glass of red run dry. The rest of the
gang followed her in, Scottie leading, her arm linked with Dylan. Oliver behind them looked a little wary, as if they could
all sense the tension they’d walked straight into.
I kept my voice low enough so that only Henrik could hear. “Speak of the devil.”
Inés placed her glass on the island counter, refilling her glass as she looked over at me, the warning clear. “If you’re going
to talk about me, at least make it interesting.”
Scottie closed the fridge, a can in hand. “We should do something fun. There’s too much drama in the air.”
“Yeah, we’re on holiday, chill out a little,” Oliver said, his hands wrapped around Dylan’s waist, pulling her backwards against
him, his head resting on her shoulder. “How about a game?”
“Uno!” Dylan said with far too much enthusiasm.
“No,” Nico grumbled. “The last time we all played cards, it did not turn out well.”
“We should do something wild.” Scottie grinned, leaning against the island. “We could go skinny dipping.”
“Absolutely not,” I cried. I loved being near the ocean, feeling the summer heat across my skin, but the Atlantic after the
sun set? It was cold as fuck.
“What? Are you scared of a little water?” Inés challenged.
“Of course not,” I argued. “It’s just freezing cold by now.” The sun had long gone, and even in the middle of summer, the
Atlantic did not hold much heat.
She rolled her eyes, her expression turning into a controlled confidence. “I bet I’ve had colder showers.”
What was she doing? Trying to show me up?
“I doubt that very much,” I argued. “I bet you wouldn’t last a single minute.”
“I bet I at least last longer than you.”
I laughed. “You really think so?”
The rest of the group fell into a deathly silence as they watched us volley for the win.
Inés raised an eyebrow, her tone razor-sharp. “I’m more than happy to prove it if you are.”
I smirked. “Let’s go.” I downed the remainder of my drink for some liquid courage, and without showing another shred of hesitation,
I headed towards the garden and slid the glass open.
Wilson raced ahead of us as I reached the garden gate, heading out across the dunes, the cool night breeze welcome. I stopped
to take in the view: the water, dark and endless, stretched out along the coast for as far as the eye could see, the moon
glowing brightly against the backdrop of infinite darkness. Behind us, the group yelled as they slowly made their way across
the beach, but my attention was taken up by Inés appearing beside me.
“Well,” she said, her arms folding. “Are you coming?”
She didn’t wait for my answer, pulling her top over her head, revealing a black bra. I tried not to let my gaze linger, but it was difficult, the fullness of her breasts distracting, even from the corner of my eye.
A cold wind bit at my skin as I copied her, removing my T-shirt, pushing down my shorts, stealing glances at Inés as she did
the same, revealing her long, soft legs.
Standing in only underwear, with wet sand squishing under my toes, I looked at her with a sidelong glance. Finally, I saw
a hesitation, a crack in this woman who’d only been giving me hell since I’d arrived.
Time to get some revenge.
“Are you chickening out?” I dared, wondering how far I’d push her. Could I actually get her to back down?
“Vete a la mierda.” She laughed once, the noise cutting through the otherwise peaceful beach. “Let’s get this over with.”
And then she was off, speeding across the sand. I launched after her, going full speed towards the water. We screamed as we
both crashed into the ocean, the freezing salt water stinging my skin.
I gasped at the temperature, my breath catching in my chest, but I kept going, the water quickly reaching my hips, before
it was deep enough that I felt my feet leave the ground, the water deep enough to swim.
Inés, to her credit, didn’t even seem to flinch. Her pace matched my own as her face set in determined defiance.
“It’s not so bad!” she managed, her voice strained but steady.
“Refreshing,” I added, trying to convince myself that I wasn’t freezing to death. My teeth were chattering hard; it felt like the cold was seeping deep into my bones.
“Joder.” She managed a single, broken laugh. “This is fucking awful.”
I nodded in agreement. “Horrible.” I glanced back at the shore, which seemed so far away, but I could see the rest of the
group gathered on the shore, cheering us on as Wilson ran circles around them. “But we can’t let them know that.”
She followed my gaze, before shouting at the top of her lungs, “Oh, it’s wonderful.”
I followed her lead. “Practically tropical.”
The group remained on the shore, apparently unconvinced. That, or they couldn’t hear us.
“Is this really what it takes?” I teased, my teeth chattering, the tide taking my body closer to hers. Under the surface,
we were bashing knees and feet. But I didn’t try to swim away. “To get us working as a team?”
She laughed, the noise strangled by the chill. “Nothing like a bit of voluntary suffering to bring two gals closer together.”
“I always love to swim in the ocean. In what feels like subzero temperatures, surrounded by sharks.”
Another wave almost brought her crashing into me, but she replied, “More people are killed each year by falling coconuts than
sharks.”
“Fine, if you want to take the risk . . .” I trailed off, biting my lip to stop the shivering. Her eyes caught on the movement,
as if mesmerized.
“Sounds like you’re the one who’s chicken.”
“I am not.” I shivered. “I could stay out here all night.” My words had resolve, but my tone had anything but, the coldness
so sharp my body refused to get used to it. “But like, maybe we shouldn’t because, you know, hypothermia.”
“I knew it.” She beamed. “Little Chloe Murphy can’t stand the cold.”
I splashed a little water towards her. “Don’t tease—I’m fine. I’m not letting you win that easily.”
Inés grumbled. We fell into an awkward silence.
“Wow,” I managed, joking through my shivering. “To think, all it took for us to spend two minutes alone with each other was
a game of chicken.”
She laughed flatly, mocking me, but I could see that hint of humor in her eyes. “I guess this is what counts for team building
when your partner is a bitch.”
“I’m sorry, I’m the bitch?” I said, my mouth wide open in playful shock.
“You took the words from my mouth.” Her grin was playful. I splashed more water towards her in revenge, but she only turned
her back to me, pretending to swim away. “I guess we can go back to shore now. Competition over, I’ve won. I got Chloe Murphy
to actually apologize.”
On an instinct I didn’t know I had, I reached out under the water, grabbing her arm and pulling her back towards me. I was
suddenly all too aware that she was only mere inches from me, stripped down to her underwear. One wrong move and I’d feel
the length of her body, the press of her gorgeous skin. “I do really want us to stop fighting.”
Henrik was right. Neither of us wanted to make this relationship easy. But he’d also brought me here to make friends, and
I knew from watching her with Scottie and Dylan how good a friend she could be. Maybe she could be mine too.
“I know. We won’t win any trophies the way we’re playing,” Inés said, hesitating as if she was trying to make sure she didn’t
agree to something she couldn’t promise. “I need to keep reminding myself that you aren’t an enemy. I can do it with everyone
else, but . . . I don’t know why I can’t switch it off with you.”
I recognized that she was opening up, as if the cold of the ocean had eased the temperature of her anger towards me, and took
another risk. “Is it because of the kiss?”
Her expression crumpled, and maybe for the first time, she didn’t get angry or mad. Instead I saw pain and sadness.
“Would you judge me if I said yes?”
“I wouldn’t.”
“I thought . . .” She trailed off for a moment. “I gave you my number. You said you’d call. It hurt a little, when you didn’t.
And then, Henrik.”
I felt horrible. I’d wanted to call, meant to, at least. But everything my parents had taught me told me not to.
It wasn’t until Henrik that I really started to question what they’d said, and now, this weekend, spending time with the other girls and seeing their genuine friendship, I also realized how isolated I’d become from real connections in this sport.
I shook my head, biting my shivering lip, and said, “I think I should tell you that Henrik and I ended things.”
Her brows pressed together. “What?”
“It wasn’t this big, serious thing to begin with.”
“But if you broke up, then why are you here?”
I smiled, but embarrassment threatened to swallow me whole. “Would you judge me if I said to make friends?”
“No, I wouldn’t,” she said, her tone comforting. “Good friends, people you can rely on, are hard to find. Especially in a
competitive environment. But they are worth their weight in gold.”
Despite the freezing cold that I was sure had now reached my bones, I was thankful we had done this together. Borne out of
our own arrogance, it had done us a world of good. As if we had realized that if we carried on being the way we were together,
we both stood to suffer. Whether it was on the court face-to-face or in the freezing Atlantic, late at night.
“There’s only four rooms. Are you still sharing the bed?” she asked, as if she was testing my confession.
“Bedroom,” I corrected. “He’s sleeping on the floor.”
Her grin was impossibly wide, and I was sure that sharp gasping breath that left her would’ve been a full-bodied laugh if
it hadn’t been for our chilled bodies.
“He’s sleeping on the floor?” she finally managed.
My own grin matched her own. “Yeah.”
“Where’s the dog?”
“Wilson sleeps on the bed.” I bit back my own laugh. “She’s a dog with very high standards.”
She shook her head, muttering something to herself. I couldn’t tell if she believed me or not, but either way, she knew the truth now.
And I felt as if it eased something between us, even slightly, although I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what.
The night fell silent, only the sound of the waves crashing into the shore. Even our friends were quiet, instead enjoying
the night sky filled with stars. But all I could do was look at her.
She was all sharp lines and razor angles, the most sophisticated and effortless person I’d ever met. But I knew under that
hard exterior was a softness I’d already had a taste of.
“Inés,” I managed to croak out. Her gaze refocused on my face at the sound of her name. “Please don’t make me stay out here
all night.”
“Thank God you said it, I was about to break,” she said with a flash of relief, before launching herself back towards the
shore. “Race you back!”
The tension broke as soon as the words left her mouth, and before I could process her reaction, Inés was feet ahead of me.
“Seriously?” I called after her, shaking my head, but a grin spread across my face. I chased after her, splashing through
the waves as I chased her. The cold water stung, but I hardly noticed anymore, too focused on the sight of her silhouette
against the dark sky.
As I closed the gap between us, she turned around, not even needing to stop and catch her breath.
“Took you long enough,” she teased, her eyes glinting as she shook the water from her hair.
“You’re impossible.”
Everything around us, the others, the beach, the entire world, faded into the background. It was her, swimming in the quiet
night, the sharp edges I’d seen in her softening, if only for me. She looked at me, her expression less guarded now.
“Come on,” she said as we reached dry land, her voice low. “Let’s get warm.”
I nodded, and together we walked back towards the beach house, our clothes piled in our hands. The night might have been cold, but the space between us felt warmer than ever.
And maybe I was willing to accept that Henrik had been right about coming here. About her. Just this once.