Chapter 6
Ace: A serve no one even touches before it hits the ground. Kind of embarrassing/awesome, depending on which side of the net you’re on.
Wipe off: When a hitter uses your block against you and “wipes” the ball off your hands and out of bounds, so they get the point. Also embarrassing/awesome.
“Read message.”
Jess bolted up at the sound of Vivienne’s voice, then hissed at the stab of pain in her neck. “Wha—?”
The car began to speak. “Message from Lee. ‘Hey, are you guys almost here?’ Would you like to reply?”
“Yes. ‘Ten minutes out.’ Send.” Vivienne shot Jess a look. “How was your nap?”
Jess rubbed her neck. “Fuck.” Maybe she had started to doze after all.…
Vivienne flipped her hair. “I told you to put your seat back.”
A waft of vanilla reached Jess’s nose as she dropped her hand to her lap.
“I’m fine.” She looked out the window, blinking, trying to orient herself.
They were sitting at a traffic light in Horn Beach, another Southern California tourist town, a little smaller and more faded than Sunside in the daytime, but at night the main drag closed to cars and lit up with twinkling lights and neon signs.
Pedestrians filled the space, on the hunt for vibrant photo ops, cheap highballs, and the throb of an irresistible bass line.
Vivienne pointed out of her window as they began to move. “That’s my aunt’s house. Where I’m staying.”
Jess ducked her head to get a better view. The only house visible was up on the hill, and “house” was startlingly inaccurate. “Villa” was the word that came to mind. Terracotta tiles, beige stucco turrets, tall windows overlooking the Pacific … “Wow.”
“Yeah, it’s nice.”
“What does your aunt do?” Probably didn’t play beach volleyball and work on the midway at an amusement park.
“She’s a romance author.”
“Really? What’s her name?”
“Veronica Doyle.”
It took a second to register, then she screeched, “Veronica Doyle is your aunt?”
Vivienne winced at the volume. “Yes … You know her work?”
Heart racing, Jess dug into her tote and pulled out Queen in Shining Armor to wave at Vivienne. “She’s only my favorite romance author!”
“Oh, that’s cool. Yeah, her stuff is great.”
Jess wanted to ask a hundred questions about Veronica Doyle but she tried to be normal instead. “And what does your uncle do?”
“He’s some sort of copyright lawyer for an entertainment conglomerate.” Vivienne glanced up at the house again as the light turned green. “They’re doing all right.”
“I’d say.”
Jess craned her neck to stare at Veronica Doyle’s house until it disappeared around a corner, then she sat back in her seat again, stroking the cover of Queen in Shining Armor.
Vivienne turned the music up—country now. Jess let her have this one without complaint because she was too busy wondering if Veronica Doyle would ever come to one of Vivienne’s games—
“I’ll tell you what,” Vivienne said, interrupting Jess’s train of thought. “If you win your match today, I’ll make sure to introduce you to Veronica. I’ll see if we can go for lunch with her or something.”
Jess blinked as she processed the words. “Have lunch with…” Her stomach flipped. “Are you serious?”
“Yup. And if I win, you have to bake me a loaf of banana bread.”
Jess scoffed. “If you introduce me to Veronica Doyle, I’ll bake you a loaf of banana bread after every win for the rest of the fucking season.”
Vivienne chuckled. “That’s a lot of bananas.”
If I win … Jess’s stomach continued its dance. Was this Vivienne’s way of psyching her out before her match? She shook her head. “No, I can’t handle the pressure. I can’t have meeting Veronica Doyle riding on this game.”
“Jess.” Vivienne sighed. “It’s just for fun. I’m not trying to put pressure on you.” Then she added under her breath, “God knows you do enough of that yourself.”
Jess chewed her lip, mind too busy racing to respond. Veronica Doyle. She stroked her book cover again. She couldn’t pass this up. “Okay. Deal,” she decided as they pulled into the sports complex. The Sunside bus was parked along the curb, the players milling around and collecting their gear.
Vivienne pulled into a spot, then turned to Jess and offered her hand. “Deal.”
They shook on it, and a buzz of nerves shot up Jess’s arm. “Deal,” she repeated.
Eager to escape the confines of the car, Jess groaned as she unfolded her legs and climbed out.
Winston waved from the sidewalk, looking relieved to see them.
They met again at the trunk to collect their bags.
Vivienne only removed a duffel, the same as Jess.
The rest of her luggage stayed in the car.
Jess forced herself to make eye contact. Maybe she’d assumed the worst of Vivienne. “Thanks for the ride. And the bet.”
Vivienne’s lashes went on forever, framing her deep, dark eyes. “You’re welcome. I—”
“There you are!” Lee pounced on Vivienne. “Was worried you’d get stuck in traffic.”
Vivienne hugged her back. “We made it.”
Lee pulled Vivienne away, arm around her shoulders, chattering about something funny that happened on the bus.
Jess shook her head to clear the vanilla scent lingering in her nostrils and visions of Veronica Doyle and looked for Tania in the crowd. They had a match to win.
Vivienne and Lee had the early one o’clock game time.
There was another set of matches at three, Jess and Tania played at five, and the final matches that night were at seven.
Unless they were on the court or grabbing food, the players always hung out in the bleachers, so there wasn’t anything for Jess to do besides sit in the stands and watch Vivienne warm up.
She moved like a panther, so smooth and sure, compact and muscle-y.
Any time Jess saw a video of herself playing, it was like watching a giraffe lurch around the court.
Or a stork, maybe. Awkward and gangly. Her shoulders were always a little hunched too, like she had bad posture, and her nose looked so much bigger from the side.
Vivienne’s smaller stature never seemed to hold her back.
She could tear around the court with ease, and jump high enough to be an effective attacker.
Sure, she didn’t record many stuff blocks, but she had Lee for that.
If anything, her lack of imposing height actually helped her—lulled opponents into a false sense of security.
How could that pretty little thing be anything to worry about?
And then Vivienne embarrassed them by placing shots in any particular square inch of court she so desired while they flailed after it.
The match started with an ace jump serve from Vivienne. Jess huffed a dry laugh. There was no way anyone was going to take the league title away from them. And she would undoubtedly be handing over a loaf of banana bread for this win.
The Horn Beach team put up a fight, though. The blocker shut Vivienne down twice in a row—glee and jealousy battled inside Jess—and, for the first time, a flicker of something crossed Vivienne’s face.… Anger? Frustration, maybe.
Vivienne called a time-out and she and Lee huddled on the side. It was a stifling day, hot for the end of May, no breeze. Vivienne squirted her water bottle over her head, but it still didn’t mess up her ponytail.
Jess tried to read their lips, but Lee, who was doing most of the talking, was facing away from her. Vivienne wiped her face and shook her head, mouth a thin line. Then she nodded and took another drink. They low-fived and headed back out onto the court.
When the game resumed, the other team served to Vivienne again.
She passed to Lee, who gave her a good set.
Jess held her breath, fully expecting Vivienne to avoid the block with a safe roll shot.
Instead, she approached at full speed, turned her body in the air, and swung as hard as she could into the side of the block.
The ball went off the blocker’s hands and into the stands. Point for Vivienne and Lee.
Lee pumped her fist but Vivienne’s face was all business.
It was a sweet play, Jess had to admit. She almost never went for the wipe off. It was too risky. A couple inches short one way and you got stuff-blocked. Mess up in the other direction, and you cannoned the ball right out of bounds.
But Vivienne did it perfectly. Of course.
And the smirk on her face as she went back to serve indicated that she knew it.
That wipe was the turning point. Vivienne and Lee won the match in straight sets, 21–18 and 21–15. They grinned and hugged at the end, giving each other’s butt a smack. Lee’s laugh carried to the stands.
Tania stood and stretched. “We should probably have some food now before we need to get going.”
Jess heard Tania but was still watching Vivienne and Lee. They shook hands with the other team and signed the scorecard. The sweat on their skin sparkled. Jess tried to remember how many overripe bananas she had in the freezer.
“Jess!”
She snapped out of her daze. “Yeah! Yes. Sorry. Okay, let’s go grab something.”
They picked up protein smoothies from the café, then went to put on their matching white two-pieces.
Jess attempted a smooth ponytail six times before giving up and accepting an almost-smooth one.
On their way out to the court for warm-up, she caught a glimpse of Vivienne emerging wet from the shower, wrapped in her buttercup-yellow towel that Jess had to begrudgingly admit complemented her skin tone perfectly.
Just before game time, Vivienne appeared back in the stands, right in Jess’s line of sight, wearing a stylish gray-and-white-striped tank dress with a drawstring waist. She looked like she belonged in a summer catalog, not like she had just commanded the volleyball court for an hour.
The other girls gathered around her and Lee in a very “tell me more, tell me more” kind of way.
Jess noticed that a team’s win percentage directly correlated with the number of fawning attendants they had.
Jess and Tania had no attendants.
“Jess?”
“Yeah?”
“I said, ‘Are you ready?’”