Page 86 of Picture Us

With a shrug, Mackenzie laughed. “You’re definitely not.”

Drew rolled their eyes. “Why do you care?”

“Look, when you play out there, you start to read people. You have to. You need to take advantage of their bad days, of their overconfident days. Of their heartbroken days.” Her own voice trailed off as she watched Taylor Young walk onto the Court, a string of paparazzi following behind her.

Noticing her gaze caught on something behind them, Drew turned to look. It was her biggest competition heading into the Open and from what Drew had read, they had been friends since they were young.

Looking back at Mac, Drew could tell it wasn’t just that. There was lust in her eyes, maybe even love.

“What’s your point?” Drew tried to bring her back to the court.

Mac nodded. “My point is. I can tell you’re missing someone. And as much as I feel you, I need you here with me. So if we gotta talk about it, let’s do it.”

It was wildly unprofessional for Drew to agree. But who were they to deny advice from their favorite Tennis player?

“The truth is, I fell for this woman that I didn’t think I had anything in common with. And I screwed it up to take this job.” Drew confessed. Not wanting to make eye contact with her, Drew lifted their camera and grabbed a few shots of the court. It was mostly for themself. But they took a few of the racket on the turf.

Mackenzie had a custom color made for theirs, wanting it to stand out on the court. She had said it was an homage to Billie Jean King’s blue shoes, a way to show herself as a proud, sapphic on the court. Plus, it helped with the intimidation.

With a nod, Mac scrunched up her face. “I… get that.” Her eyes looked back to Taylor, who whipped her own head back to her coaches. “And the thing is, I’m not sure any job is worth losing someone like that.”

“Me either.” Drew clenched their jaw. “What do we do?”

Laughing, Mac shrugged. “I’d be lying if I said I had the answer. But I think we have to make it right, at any cost. The fuck is the point of winning if no one’s in your court at the end of the day?”

It was all she needed to jump out of her seat and grab the racket from the ground. Drew knew it was time to get back to work, they only had the court for a few hours. And selfishly, they wanted as many pictures of this rising star as they could get.

Getting back to work, Drew put Mackenzie all over the court. They even took a few in the stands, to put next to a picture of her from childhood watching the 2008 Finals.

When they started wrapping up, Drew pulled their phone from their pocket and pulled up Rose’s contact. Their finger hovered over the call button, biting their cheek as they thought.

But looking back at Mac, Drew watched as she slung her bag over her shoulder and chased after Taylor who was disappearing into the locker room. With a smirk, Drew pressed down and held the phone to their ear.

It rang. And rang. And rang.

32

ROSE

“Fuck.”Rose winced as she looked at Drew’s face on her lockscreen. Even after a few weeks of Drew-detox, Rose still couldn't’ look away from their eyes.I really have to change that photo because they’re too beautiful.

It was a picture she had taken when they had a picnic in Prospect Park, the sun had beautifully lit their hazel eyes, a deep fire burning in them.

She groaned as she swiped her finger. They had to talk at some point because Rose needed to tell them eventually.

“Hey.” Her chest tightened at the words. In the brief second that Drew didn’t respond, Rose’s mind spiraled. What if it was just a butt dial?

But through the other end of the phone, Drew’s raspy voice came through. “Hey, it’s good to hear your voice. How are you?”

Rose didn’t know what to say. Was it a casual chat? Bitchier than she wanted to be, Rose quipped. “Fine, what do you need?”

“Nothing. I just wanted to see how you were doing.” Drew cleared their throat, commotion in the background of their call.

Before they could say anything else, Rose cut in, “Cool. Well I actually have some news for you. I was going to call you later today about it.”

Drew swallowed loudly, clearly nervous. “Okay, shoot.”

“So I spoke to Ellen and Finley about the wedding. They’ve looked at their budget and only have enough room to hire one of us.” Rose tapped her finger against her kitchen counter, covered in dishes again.

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