Chapter 8 #2
“Lots of stuff,” she agreed, but he shifted back and forth, posture wilting under the weight of her glare. It wasn’t like she was going to accept the invitation, but the last thing she needed was Teddy to speak for her. “Getting ready for Wimbledon, you know. We’ll catch up when we all come back.”
Amy stuck out her lower lip and slid her hand down Teddy’s arm, interlocking their fingers together. “No way. Dom said you had the rest of the day off at the end of our match, and I know you; you’ve been packed for days. Come with us, please?”
That was how she found herself at Deuce in the middle of the morning, listening to Amy wax poetic about how amazing it was in Palo Alto and how Stanford was everything she had hoped it would be.
“I still can’t believe you chose Duke, Ted. You would love California.”
“Wanted to be near family,” he said around a mouthful of eggs. He’d been stuffing his face with food since they sat down, letting Amy’s mouth run to her heart’s content, and he hadn’t even glanced at Jasmine once.
“Yeah, but your family isn’t going to be here. I mean, your mom and dad, yes, but Penny and Jack are going to be all over the world and you’re going to be stuck here in North Carolina with all the little OBXers.”
“Duke is an amazing school and they have a great tennis team,” Jasmine cut in.
“You’ll have to come and visit on breaks, then.”
Teddy pulled his phone out, alerts popping up on his screen as he flicked his thumb over it. His eyes flitted to Amy and then he glanced quickly at the door. “I gotta go. Jack’s freaking out ’cause he can’t find my passport. See you guys later.”
He was up from the table before either of them could utter a word of protest.
“You and Teddy, again?” Jasmine asked before he’d even left the restaurant.
Amy was watching him leave. “There’s just something about that boy, you know? Like a magnet. His older brother, too, but Jack wouldn’t go after his little bro’s ex, that much is obvious.”
“So, you just want him because Jack’s not an option? Nice, Amy,” she said, unable to keep the bitterness out of her voice, and she cringed as Amy’s eyes lit up.
“Oh my God, you guys did hook up, didn’t you?”
“It was just a kiss,” Jasmine mumbled, already sorry she’d said anything.
“Wow. I mean, he mentioned that things got a little weird between you, but I didn’t realize.
You don’t mind, do you? I mean, of course you don’t.
He’s my ex-boyfriend. You probably should be asking me if I mind or apologizing.
That’s a big no-no in the Girl Code, but whatever, I guess it’s over now since you’re clearly not together. ”
“Clearly not,” Jasmine repeated. “We decided we’re better off as friends.”
“Both of you or just him?”
“Both of us,” she said quickly.
Amy’s eyes grew round, but the small upward motion of her mouth betrayed her amusement. “Oh, you are upset, aren’t you? I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. I’m not upset. You’re welcome to Teddy Harrison.”
The smile widened. “Good, because I have plans for him. Now, let’s get down to business.”
“Business?”
“You really think I asked you to breakfast to talk about Teddy? Come on, Jazzy.”
“Could you not call me that?”
Amy laughed, waving her hand in the air dismissively. “Why? I’ve always called you that. Anyway, look, my coach wanted me to talk to you about coming to Stanford in the fall. I’m going to be her assistant while I get my MBA.”
Jasmine arched a brow. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not? I know the college scouts have been circling, and you haven’t really gone pro yet for a reason, let’s be honest. You’re so not ready. You’d be great on our team. Think about it.”
“If your coach is that interested, tell her to call Felix Wolner. My parents hired him to handle that stuff.”
Amy grinned. “Awesome.”
“Yeah, awesome. Look, I’ve gotta go. I want to check on Indy.” Jasmine stood, walking away much the same way Teddy had just a few minutes ago.
“See you when you get back, Jazz,” Amy called. Jasmine didn’t have to look back to see the smug smile still plastered across the stupid bitch’s face.
“Can’t wait.”
She was just out of Deuce and headed toward the beach when she saw Indy’s blond hair rounding the corner, headed toward the dorms, a swath of glittering cloth over her arm.
“Where were you?” Jasmine said as soon as she was in earshot.
Indy looked behind her, like she might be speaking to someone else. “I had to—I…”
“Please don’t tell me you skipped training to pick out a dress.”
“No, I was at Jack’s, and I grabbed this before I left, but…”
“You skipped training to make out with Jack?” Jasmine nearly screeched.
“Keep your voice down,” Indy said, looking around to make sure they were still alone, but nearly everyone was at training. “No, there was a thing with my dad and I had to… I had to take care of it and Jack helped.”
Jasmine’s anger faded immediately and was replaced with concern. “Your dad?” She knew Indy couldn’t stand her father. “Is everything okay?”
Indy rolled her eyes. “Yeah, everything is fine. The same, you know, but fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sorry I had to miss training.”
“It’s fine. You missed me kicking Amy Fitzpatrick’s ass, but…”
“You did what?”
“It was awesome.”
“Tell me everything.”
“She couldn’t keep up. Just kept hitting the ball back to me and letting me dictate everything. I remember her being so much better than that.”
“She’s probably the same. You got better.”
“It made me think about what Dom said.”
“What did Dom say?”
“Oh, um, he… well, he said that if I decided to go to school in the fall, NCAA wouldn’t be… I’d be the best, I guess?”
Indy hesitated and Jasmine bit her lip. Not much could shock her doubles partner into choosing her words carefully. “Are you considering that?”
“I have to, kind of, don’t I?” Jasmine hedged. “I mean, it’s an option.”
“I guess so. I just thought…”
“What?”
“I didn’t think college was something you were thinking about, that’s all,” Indy said with a shrug that looked way more casual than her words sounded.
“It’s mostly my parents. They brought it up when we got back from Paris,” Jasmine insisted, suddenly feeling a little bit defensive about it.
Indy had never made it a secret that she had to prioritize other parts of her game to do what was best for her career, even if that meant Jasmine was out of luck.
“When would you have to decide?”
“It’s already pretty late, but I guess there are some schools that are interested.”
“Stanford?” Indy said, a shit-eating grin spreading across her face, and Jasmine felt her annoyance melt away pretty quickly.
“Yeah, that’s not going to happen. I don’t really want to think about it until after Wimbledon. We’ve got a lot of work to do in London and this is just a distraction.”
“Well, you know where I stand on it.”
“Do I?”
Indy grinned lethally, blue eyes flashing, and Jasmine suddenly understood why Jack Harrison had a really hard time keeping his hands to himself. “We got a taste of it in France. Could you really go play in the NCAA after that? I couldn’t.”
“Maybe we’re different.”
“I don’t think we are.”
Jasmine snorted. Aside from, you know, tennis, they couldn’t have been more different if they tried.
“Fine, but we’re not different in this way, at least. You want to be the best.”
“I would be the best there.”
“Yeah, but not in the world.”
Dom’s words started echoing in her mind, about how that probably would never happen for her, no matter how hard she tried.
Jasmine shook her head, trying to clear it physically. “Whatever. I still have time and Jack said—”
“You talked to Jack about this?” Indy cut her off.
Jasmine winced. “I’m sorry. I asked him not to say anything.”
“Is that why you guys were talking about Harvard?”
“Yeah.”
They lapsed into silence. Jasmine didn’t know what else to say.
She was sorry she hadn’t told Indy to begin with, but there hadn’t been anything to tell at first. Really, there still wasn’t.
It was just an option, something to keep in the back of her head.
The sun caught on the sparkly green material still draped over Indy’s arm.
“Been in Penny’s closet?” she guessed, changing the subject.
“Yeah. I was going to go over there later anyway, but I figured it was easier just to let Teddy think that I was grabbing a dress instead of going to see Jack. I mean, we didn’t do anything, but he doesn’t know and…”
“Indy, it’s fine. I get it. You two should come clean soon, though. It’s got to be exhausting to keep it all a secret.”
“In London. We decided to tell everyone in London.”
“That’s good. I can’t wait to get out of here. If I have to watch that bitch sink her claws into Teddy again…” Jasmine trailed off, trying hard not to think about how much it would hurt.
“Wait. What?”
“Amy. She was all over him at breakfast today and he wouldn’t even look at me. It’s like it’s happening again.”
Indy frowned and then let out a heavy sigh. “It is.”
“What do you mean?” Jasmine asked, bracing herself for the worst.
“He asked me not to say anything, but this morning, when I came out of my room, Teddy was sneaking out of hers.”
Jasmine’s heart twisted and she tried to muster some shock, but she wasn’t all that surprised. “I can’t believe he’d go there again.”
“I mean, I can.”
“No, you don’t get it. You weren’t here when she broke up with him.
She basically destroyed him. He didn’t speak to anyone for weeks.
Then all of a sudden, he was at a beach party, slobbering all over some girl’s face and laughing like nothing had happened.
Then after the match today, she dragged me along on their breakfast to ‘catch up’ like some third wheel and he just went along with it, like she’s got some kind of spell over him. ”
Indy tilted her head. “First loves have a weird kind of power over us like that. You know that better than anyone.”
“I do?”
“Why else did you go to breakfast with them, Jas?”
“Crap.”
She really, really needed to get on that plane to London and leave all this behind.