Page 53 of Spin Serve

“And we’re excited to watch your team compete tonight. Coming up right after this match.” She handed it back to the studio.

“I wasn’t done answering your question,” he said when Kendra went to walk away.

“Sorry. We had to hand it back. The match is back after the timeout.”

“Can I finish the answer when they go to another timeout?” he asked.

“Not tonight. Sorry,” she replied and then walked out of the tunnel and stood at where the sand met the concrete.

She’d never had someone ask to do another interview just to complete the answer to her question, but it was his first season as a coach on the tour, and it didn’t sound like he’d done a lot of interviews in his day, so she wasn’t too bothered by it.

“Cut!” Aspen yelled.

Kendra sighed as she took her in. This woman was the perfect specimen of a beach volleyball player – all long legs and arms, with that flat stomach and small breasts tucked inside that bikini top – and Kendra wished they’d had more time together before they’d both had to travel for this event. That night at the party had been fun. Aspen dropping her off and walking Kendra to her front door because Kendra had still been a little tipsy had been fun, too, and she’d almost invited Aspen in. She hadn’t, but not because of any real self-control. It had only been because she’d wanted to respect Aspen’s early morning practice.

Kendra had wanted to hang out with her on this trip, but Aspen had been busy. After her match the previous night, she’d been invited to do a sit-down interview with a magazine covering beach volleyball, and that had gone until after nine. Aspen had texted her, though, and they’d talked that way until a little after ten when Aspen had told her that she was going to try to get some sleep. Kendra wasn’t sure if Aspen had any plans for tonight after this semi, but if she and DJ won, Kendra would probably ask if she wanted to hang out. If they lost, though, she was pretty sure Aspen would just want to spend time with DJ, going over what happened, so she wouldn’t put that out there if they didn’t win tonight.

DJ and Aspen earned the point and were up by two in the second set. They’d lost the first set, though, which rarely happened. This was the main reason Kendra didn’t want to do her job tonight and wanted to be a spectator. As a former athlete herself, she knew how important it was for Aspen and DJ to experience a first-set loss because it allowed them to practice coming from behind. They were well on their way now, with nineteen points and only two more to earn to get the win in this set and the chance to win the whole match in the third set, which would only go to fifteen points. DJ was up at the service line. When the ball hit the net but managed to roll to the other side, their opponent couldn’t get to it, so DJ got the point, and they only needed one more to earn another set.

“Come on, DJ,” Kendra muttered to herself.

DJ served an easy ball, probably trying to keep it in and play defense instead of risking a service error. When the other team played it back over the net, Aspen was there, digging it out. DJ set it, and Aspen hit a pokey that the other team wasn’t ready for. The ball landed just inbounds at the back line, earning them the set win.

Kendra put her earpiece back in and walked over to the other team’s bench. She’d be interviewing them right now about the win in the first set and the loss in the second because it was more likely that she’d be interviewing Aspen and DJ with a win after the match. She did her job, though admittedly, she was a little more focused on the woman sitting on the opposite bench than was called for.

When she headed back to her waiting spot, Kendra caught Aspen’s eye. Aspen winked at her, and that bravado and confidence she possessed, even after losing the first set by three points, was contagious. Just by watching this woman play, Kendra felt more confident, for some reason, and when Aspen served and earned them the first point of the match, Kendra knew they’d pull it off.

???

“So, tell me, how does it feel to make yet another final?” she asked before she bit into another French fry at their table later.

“You asked me that for the camera earlier,” Aspen pointed out and took a sip of her water.

“I’m asking you to really answer it now, not for the camera.”

“I like that we lost first. We had to pull it together, and we did,” DJ replied instead.

Kendra looked over at the woman who had been standing nearby when she’d offered to buy Aspen a late dinner at this hot dog stand on the beach.

“What she said,” Aspen added with a nod toward DJ.

“Cheater,” Kendra teased.

“Hey, DJ?” Aspen asked.

“Yeah?”

“Are you done with your food?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Any chance you want to go study the film from the match?”

“No. I’m taking the night off. Tomorrow morning is film time.”

Aspen looked disappointed. Kendra felt like maybe they were two lesbians who were somehow dating without realizing it because she wanted to be alone with Aspen, too. Still, neither of them had said anything yet about the near-constant flirting, the texting, the winking on center court, and all the time they’d been spending together.

“Can you maybe just not be here right now, then?” Aspen asked DJ directly. “I need to talk to Kendra about something.”

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