Chapter 2 #2
Vivienne and Lee flashed them hollow smiles on their way to the weights. And did they really have to look so put together for a workout, in matching sports bras and everything? Jess’s gym vibe was more sweaty cave troll in stretched-out sweats.
“Ladies,” Tania said, pausing between sets.
“Hey.” Jess barely managed to force the syllable out.
“Oh, hey.” Vivienne flipped her perfect braid over her shoulder.
Jess’s brain flashed back to last season, when she and Vivienne first met across the net before Vivienne and Lee’s debut match.
“Hey, I’m Jess.” She had extended her hand under the net, stomach swirling, taken with Vivienne’s hand-painted features and natural beauty.
But Vivienne remained cool, closed off, and she returned an unenthusiastic shake back. “Vivienne.”
“Welcome to the league,” Jess said, unsure why she felt the need to be the fucking Welcome Wagon.
Vivienne raised an eyebrow and shared a look with Lee. “Thanks?”
Jess flushed, old feelings of being awkward and perpetually uncool flooding her cheeks.
She put her head down, mumbled “Good luck,” then went back to serve and blew it so badly she nearly took the ref’s head off.
The crowd “oohed” over the near miss, and, in case she wasn’t embarrassed enough, she caught Vivienne starting to laugh, then swallowing it quickly under her hand.
You are such a loser, Jessica, she had told herself, tears stinging her eyes as she tried to smile through the embarrassment.
And that feeling around Vivienne had never gone away. Pushing back in advance of scorn, keeping her brittle shell up, was her only defense.
Vivienne sat on the weight bench next to Jess. “How’s it going? Big game for you guys Wednesday.” Her voice was low and breathy, like she was trying to impress someone.
Jess frowned. “What do you mean?” The North Bay team wasn’t anything especially scary. Jess and Tania had beaten them their first game of the season, in fact.
“Well…” Vivienne regarded her reflection in the mirror. “It’s just that you’ve lost your last three, and they’ve won their last three. They’re only a point behind you in the standings now. Once they pass you, you’ll be second to last.”
Jess could hardly believe Vivienne was explaining this to her like she was stupid. She worked her jaw, trying to find a response that was appropriately cool but wouldn’t get her in trouble.
But Tania chimed in first, voice heavy with sarcasm. “That’s really helpful, Viv. Thanks so much for pointing that out.”
Vivienne flipped her braid to her other shoulder. Happy with her appearance in the mirror now, she began her bicep curls. “I was just making conversation.”
“We’re trying to work out here, thanks,” Jess snapped.
Vivienne pretended she was wounded. “Sorry for existing.”
“We know the standings,” Jess had to add, the frustration hot in her throat.
Vivienne rolled her eyes. “Relax. I said I was sorry.”
Another retort jumped onto Jess’s tongue, but Tania put a calming hand on her forearm and squeezed. Jess swallowed it down, fuming. But Tania was right. No sense arguing with someone who thought she was perfect.
Their workouts continued in uncomfortable silence, until Lee started giggling over something on her phone. “Viv, look at the video Toni sent me.” The two of them hunched over Lee’s phone, laughing.
Jess had to get out of there. “You good?” she asked Tania loudly. “I’m done.”
Tania knew they had a set left, but she nodded and wiped her brow with a towel. “I’m good.”
The moment they were through the door, Jess shuddered. “Ugh. I cannot stand her.”
“I know.”
“And we play them next week.”
“I know.”
“Ugh.”
Tania lurched to a halt. “Are you okay?”
Jess stopped, too. “Am I okay?”
“You heard me.”
“What do you mean?”
Tania shrugged and squinted up for a second. “You just seem … a little cranky … er than normal.” She softened it with a wink and a small smile.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry, it’s just … I hate losing.”
“I know that, too.”
“And I’m so in my head about it. Then Vivienne has to walk in—”
“Jess. Forget about Vivienne. She is irrelevant to us. To what we’re trying to do.”
“She’s not really irrelevant—we have to play her.”
“Sure, we play her a handful of times throughout the season. But she only matters in terms of what she can do with a volleyball. She doesn’t matter to what’s inside us.”
If only Jess’s brain believed that. “I know, I know. You’re right.” Jess hugged her. “I’m sorry.”
Tania squeezed her back. “You don’t need to be sorry. You just need to stay focused and keep working your butt off. We can do this. Right?”
“Right.”
“Come on. Let’s head to the courts for a few drills before you have to get to work.”
“Yeah.” Jess exhaled. “Let’s do it.” She had a job to do, and it did not involve letting Vivienne’s attitude ruin her day.
“Great try,” Jess said flatly without even looking at the bottles. She knew the kid’s ring wouldn’t have been even close. “You get one more.”
The boy, maybe seven years old, scrunched his face up, tongue sticking out, and chucked his last ring.
“Oh, almost,” Jess said with as much enthusiasm as she could muster. “Better luck next time.”
The boy looked like he was going to cry, red-stained lips quivering. The mom glared at Jess as she gathered him up and marched off.
Jess fought off a sigh as another customer approached, but it turned into a smile when she saw who it was—a customer she actually liked to see.
Troy, a young Black man and assistant to the SoCal league manager, came by a lot because his girlfriend worked in the park, too.
He’d stop and shoot the shit with Jess and had, over time, developed the habit of buying a handful of rings to throw, with an eye on winning the giant teddy bear hanging from the roof for Sunny.
It was perhaps the most precious teddy bear Jess had ever seen—the color of toasted marshmallow and impossibly soft, with an expression that said I’m here for you.
“Hey, Troy!” Jess handed him his standard allotment of rings before he even put the five on the counter.
“Hey, Jess. How’s it going?” Troy, always smiling, seemed to love his job at the VL, and took a genuine interest in all of the athletes.
They chitchatted about the growing tourist crowds while he studied the waiting bottles, then with a practiced hand, tossed the first ring. It landed on the center bottle.
“Winner!” Jess cheered. Troy was coming in hot today.
“So … close game yesterday?” Troy asked. He chucked another one. It ringed a bottle in the second circle.
“Nice one.” Jess shifted her weight. “Yeah, close but … we lost.”
“Hmm.” Troy didn’t look at her, eyes narrowing at his next target.
“I don’t know, we won the first set and things were going fine in the second, then I missed a serve, then I missed a hit and … I blew it in the third.”
He ringed two more while she spoke. “Hey, none of that ‘I blew it’ talk. Mistakes happen. It’s volleyball. Have I ever told you about that time I accidentally spiked the coach in the face while trying out for my college team?” He smiled winningly at her, then landed another ring.
He had, many times. Jess shrugged. She didn’t want to interrupt his focus. He hardly ever scored with all ten. “We have to win on Wednesday. If we lose that, we’ll drop a spot in the rankings. We’ll be second from the bottom.”
He missed one. She winced.
“And if you win?” He ringed the center bottle again.
“Well, then we won’t drop a spot … for now.”
“Focus on the positive outcomes, Jess. Energy flows where thoughts flow. I really believe that.” He tossed the final three in rapid succession and scored with each one.
“Nice work! That’s twenty points.” He already knew that.
“Prize or ticket?” And she already knew the answer.
He could have chosen a cheap prize for his twenty points—a whistle or an eraser or some crap like that—or he could collect the points to save them up.
She handed him the ticket as he was answering.
“Thank you.” Troy, as always, tucked the ticket into the back pocket of his khakis. “Good luck on Wednesday.”
“Thanks. Hey, how many points do you have now?”
Troy shrugged, face turned toward the waft of grease from the concession. “Not sure.”
“But how do you know when you’ll have enough for the big guy?”
“I’ll count ’em up one day, but it’ll probably take me another ten years.”
Jess laughed and waved. “Probably. See you later.”
“Later, Jess.”
No other customers approached, so she snuck a peek at her phone when it buzzed. Technically, she wasn’t supposed to look at her phone when she was behind the counter, but there had to be some perks to being a manager.
She had a text from Tania. Hey, what time are you done? Just ran into Chrissy. It’s her birthday and a bunch of them are hanging out on the beach right now and are going to Maggie’s later. You up for it?
Jess’s head swiveled on instinct to the lifeguard chair. Yup, there was Vivienne, high on her throne. I don’t know, Jess replied. I left Fleming with Nelson all day yesterday, too.
I’m sure he’ll be fine with it. Come on, George has D&D tonight and I actually want to go out.
Jess rubbed her forehead. It did sound like fun, and Nelson probably wouldn’t care.
Fleming would certainly be thrilled about it, anyway.
Nelson’s place was packed with toys and treats—basically puppy paradise.
And Vivienne was still at work, so … Sure, she texted back.
I’m in. She wanted to add As long as Vivienne’s not there, but she didn’t, because she wasn’t worrying about Vivienne.