24. Miley
“ A nd now please welcome the youngest players of Impact Tennis Academy!” The announcement is met with uproarious applause. Though most of the cheering is from the parents of said children, the sponsors of the charity event are also making quite a bit of noise.
I am sitting in the stands with Ruby and we clap along. It’s obvious how proud Rohit is of these kids when he talks about them and shares how hard they have been working. I can tell that he loves this job just as much as he loves his nursing career.
Since Charlie’s firm donated a significant amount of money to the ITA this year, Charlie is playing as the firm’s representative. He will play in a doubles match, paired with a coach who just happens to be Rohit. Charlie has been going on and on about how he’s going to be playing tennis with my boyfriend. I cringe every time I hear the word, both because it’s a lie and because of how much I don’t want it to be. I have started being honest with myself about my feelings, but I haven’t admitted to Rohit that my feelings are real. I wouldn’t want to ruin our friendship. And I can’t fathom how to tell my family that my relationship is a farce.
Every time I look at Rohit, my heart beats once, then skips. I feel my breath quicken. Even though I can no longer hide it from myself, I have to keep hiding it from Rohit. He doesn’t seem interested in a relationship, and even if he were, I’m not his type. I’ve seen the statuesque models that he dates, like the woman we ran into at the bar.
Even if I was Rohit’s type, he’d eventually discover how broken I am once we enter the bedroom, and he’d be out the door in a blink. Rohit is a great friend—not to mention our best friends are engaged—and I’d hate to ruin whatever good we have between us with my inadequacies. It’s better if we don’t even get there. I can’t sabotage my friendship with Rohit for my own selfish whims. When he is ready to settle down, he deserves someone who can give him everything, not someone with a broken body.
“You look cute today,” Ruby says in a sing-song voice, breaking my thoughts.
“No I don’t,” I say automatically.
“It’s okay to dress up for your boyfriend.” She rolls her eyes.
I look down at my straight leg jeans and sleeveless black bodysuit. “Ruby, this is literally how everyone dresses.” I shake my head.
“Okay, but the cute necklace? The eyeliner and mascara?” Ruby is relentless.
“Hey, look at that, the kids are coming out,” I deflect.
The kids file out in their ITA t-shirts that Rohit told me they spent all last week tie-dying. Since this is the younger age group, the kids appear to range in age from five to eight. They line up on either side of the court in a flurry of nervous giggles and grins. Rohit runs out, heading to the top of the court, and signals for them to begin their drills.
Ruby elbows me in the side. “I see you looking at him.”
I smile because I can’t even deny it, but I refuse to look at her and give her the satisfaction of being right.
I’m not close enough to hear what Rohit is saying, but every few minutes, he gives them some direction, and they change their drill. They run through hitting easy balls back and forth, to serving, and now spiking. At least I think that’s what it’s called. Actually, that might be volleyball. Sportsball is not my forte.
After the children show off their skills, much more impressive than anything I could ever do, they file off one by one, each giving Rohit and the other coaches a high-five. I hear a few shouts of “Coach Ro! Coach Ro!” They clearly all adore him. My heart swells with… what? Fondness? A feeling I am quite unfamiliar with.
I pull out the program, and this time I elbow Ruby in the side. “I think Charlie is up next!”
Charlie and Rohit are playing Steven, another sponsor, and his coach teammate Gregg. When the four of them step out onto the court, it’s not completely clear who is a coach and who is a sponsor. Charlie and Steven are both in great shape and seem like they will be pretty well matched. This should be a great game, not that I know what constitutes a great game, but I bet it will be fun to watch, and I’m hoping it will provide enough fodder to make fun of Charlie with for the rest of his life.
They hit a few practice shots back and forth and then the real match starts. Gregg serves first and hits one down the line that Rohit easily returns. My head trails the ball back and forth, trying to follow along as much as I can.
When it's Rohit's turn to serve, I watch earnestly. He bounces the ball three times on the ground with his left hand before tossing it up high. He reaches his racket up, causing the hem of his shirt to rise enough for me to catch a glimpse of his beautiful brown skin, slicked with sweat, and ridged with muscle. My, oh my... has that been hiding under there this entire time? I stop breathing, staring as his muscles clench as he swings the racket and wondering how they might feel under my fingers... trailing... teasing—
A hand waves in front of my face, and I blink from my reverie. "Snap out of it Miley! We get it, your boyfriend is hot, but you don’t have to stare at him like he’s a piece of meat!” Ruby laughs.
“Uhh, I was just calculating the score,” I respond.
“Yeah okay, calculate away,” she says, making air quotes around calculate. “There is nothing to calculate, you know. You could just look at the scoreboard like a normal person, instead of drooling over your hunk.”
My cheeks burn with a deep blush. I should have made a better excuse if I was going to ogle so hard.
The match ends and I don’t even know who wins because I don’t understand the scoring system. All I know is my eyes won with all that eye candy I have consumed.
I can’t believe Rohit is playing the next one as well. It’s apparently the “real” match of the day.
“Who is Rohit playing next? David?” Ruby asks.
“Don’t ever let Daveeed hear you pronounce it ‘David.’ His accent is how he preserves his air of mystery and makes the ladies fawn over him,” I reply.
Rohit only gets a few minutes for a break before he returns for his exhibition match. He doesn’t appear tired at all though. If anything, he seems more energized.
“I don’t think either of them needs help with the ladies.” Ruby lets out a low whistle.
I am once again transfixed by Rohit’s sinuous and lithe body. I am barely able to keep my eyes on the ball. I try to follow the score, but it makes no sense. There is one number and then there is a second number that jumps from 15 to 30 to 40 back down to 0. Whoever invented this scoring system is not a mathematician. The numbers make no sense. And then the first number goes up by one.
I think Rohit wins, but it’s hard to tell, because they’re both laughing when they meet at the net, shake hands, and then hug.
Rohit looks into the crowd, scanning over everyone. His eyes land on me and his lips curl into a panty-dropping smile. I would have dropped mine already, but there are people around, and I have some dignity left. Only a little, though, since my panties are undoubtedly soaked.
Rohit motions for me to come to the court. Ruby and I meander our way down. Charlie has come out of the locker room and joins us as well, freshly showered and dressed in jeans and a soft tee. Ruby and Charlie chat with each other a few steps away, and I run right up to Rohit.
“Hi,” I say breathlessly, like the simp I am.
“Hi back.” Rohit smiles. “Did you enjoy the match?”
“You mean matches?” I clarify.
“I may have volunteered for too much.” He laughs. “I can’t believe I let David beat me.”
“He won?” I ask incredulously.
“Did you miss the end of the match?” he asks, cocking his head to the side.
“No, I watched the whole thing, I just may have only understood 10% of the scoring. Maybe closer to 5%?” I say unsurely. “There was a ball, it went back and forth, there were two good looking guys trying to hit it, that's essentially what I saw.”
Rohit lets out a loud laugh and then stops abruptly. “Wait, you think David is good looking?”
I give him a hard shove. “I think the take home message is that I think you’re good looking.”
Rohit grins. He watches me curiously before leaning in so close I swear my heart stops.
I’m frozen at my bold words of honesty. Lucky for me, Rohit continues the joke.
“Don’t lie to spare my feelings, Miley. I can’t believe you have the hots for David. This whole time I thought you were here to see me,” he says.
“Nah, David is definitely more my type, that accent,” I protest loudly, fanning my face.
“I’m going to kill that bastard.” Rohit laughs and takes off his shirt.
I see beads of sweat running down his chest, through the planes of his abdominal muscles, with one drop running into the waistband of his shorts. I imagine my fingers tracing those same lines, following the V of those oblique abdominal muscles. My mouth is dry as I swallow down my lust.
I look up and see a tattoo on the right side of his chest. They’re words, but I can’t make them out.
Ruby steps beside me and notices too. “He has tattoos?” she stage whispers. “Who knew he could get sexier. What does his tattoo say?”
My throat tightens. I have no idea what it says. This should be something a girlfriend knows. His body is something a girlfriend would know. Except I have never seen his body up close and exposed before today.
“Heads up!” David lobs a ball to Rohit, except his aim is off and it’s coming straight toward my face.
Rohit reacts quickly and catches the ball mid-air, just before it gives me an unfortunate nose job.
“Hey, man! What the hell?” Rohit growls. He turns to me with wide eyes full of worry. “Miley, are you okay?”
“Yeah, thanks,” I stammer, shocked not only by the speed at which the ball was heading my way, but with the ease that Rohit stepped in to catch it and protect me.
David jogs over and apologizes. “Miley, I’m sorry.” He turns to Rohit. “Sorry man, I didn’t mean to almost hit your girl. The ball is for you to sign.”
Rohit’s eyebrows scrunch. He still looks like he wants to murder David, about the ball or our joke before, I don’t know.
David shrugs. “One of the sponsors wants a signed ball from the two of us to commemorate this event. He said he was once a kid in this program and loves giving back now that he has the means.”
Rohit signs the ball wordlessly and hands it back to David. The whole debacle of almost getting hit saves me from answering Ruby’s question.
This whole time, Rohit has been deliciously shirtless, but now he reaches into his gym bag and pulls out a clean, dry shirt, tugging it on. Show’s over. Sad day.
Having forgotten about Rohit’s tattoos, Ruby bounces up and down. “Let’s all go to the bubble tea shop to hang out. We can get some food too,” she suggests.
I don’t know what Rohit had in mind, so I don’t want to answer for him. I hold my breath while I wait to hear how he’ll respond. I don’t know if I’m ready to pull him further into my circle of people, even though my body is humming with the possibility of spending more time with him.
Rohit smiles and nods. “That sounds perfect. Let me just shower, and I will meet you all there. Miley, text me the address,” he says, then leans down and gives me a quick peck on the cheek. My face burns as he draws away. I raise my hand to touch the spot and it feels the same as always, but I know he’s left an impression that I won’t soon forget.