Page 59 of Backhanded Compliments

Vladimir’s hand pauses, resting on the crown of her head. “What for?”

“Being here,” Luca whispers. Her throat is tight and clogged, her eyes prickling with an aching sting that she doesn’t want to give in to.

Vladimir hums, and Luca falls asleep with her coach’s hand grounding her to reality.

JULIETTE

Juliette gets roped into another late lunch with Remi after practice. Remi is the last match on Center Court today, so she’s scarfing down food like she’s been starving for weeks.

“Do you think that collision at the Connolly Cup has anything to do with Kacic’s injury?” Remi asks as she devours a bagel smothered in avocado and salmon.

Juliette’s fork clatters to the plate. “What?”

Remi chews as she stares at Juliette. With deliberate slowness, Remi swallows before asking, “You didn’t hear?”

“Hear what? What happened to Luca?” Juliette demands, half-tempted to reach across the table and throttle Remi for dragging this out.

It was only a week ago that they’d been forced to practice against each other at the indoor club. Juliette had taken a chance, tried to reach out and get to know Luca as Octavia suggested. And for a moment, staring at each other, Juliette was convinced she’d broken through to Luca. But then her father had dragged her away, and she hadn’t been brave enough to reach out again.

“She pulled out of the tournament. Back injury.” Juliette jerks her attention back to Remi. She licks her lips and sets down her sandwich.“I thought you knew. You guys seemed… closer,” Remi says, trailing off into silence. “You’ve been mentioning her a lot recently.”

Juliette winces.Closeisn’t quite the word she would use. She takes a sip of water to avoid answering. Remi’s brows rise. “Well, I didn’t know,” Juliette says finally, setting her water glass down a bit too heavily. A few droplets splash onto her wrist.

Remi, finally having the self-preservation skills to know Juliette will probably punch her if she continues down this path, tries to navigate to another topic. “Anyway, um…” Remi avoids finishing her sentence by inhaling the rest of her sandwich. Juliette wonders how Remi doesn’t choke. “How did she seem when you practiced with her?”

Heat spikes through Juliette’s stomach as she remembers Luca’s warm, wet skin against her fingertips, the heat of her flushed cheek, the flecks of green in Luca’s eyes brought out by the luminous fluorescent light and mist of water around them. She can picture the frantic bobble of Luca’s head as she asked Juliette to kiss her.

“Fine,” Juliette says after a lingering silence. “Not injured, if that’s what you mean.”

Remi tilts her head, the sun slanting through the windows and lighting her usually dark eyes to warm brown, shining with striations of copper, reminding Juliette of Livia’s tiger’s eye crystals. “What else was she like? Anything you want to talk about?” Remi wriggles her brows.

Juliette rolls her eyes. “Shut up.”

“Come on,” Remi whines.

Juliette hesitates. She isn’t used to considering Remi as a potential friend. Juliette doesn’t have any real friends beyond her sisters and Leo. Too busy and too focused on herself and her career. But now after the Connolly Cup, she understands Remi. Even if she doesn’t love Remi’s tendency to gossip.

Remi kicks her under the table.

“Ow!” Juliette complains, even though it didn’t really hurt. “You tell me first. How is it going with your soulmate? Are you two ever going to be public? Or even tell your friends you’re together?”

Remi blinks, caught off-guard. She rubs the back of her neck, brushing her fingers along the bun of braids there. “It’s fine.” She sighsand tilts her head back. “She doesn’t like media attention, and she doesn’t think being public is important. We know, and that’s all that matters to her. And like, I get it. I agree that it doesn’t really matter.” Remi stares out the window at the leafy green trees of the park surrounding them.

There are words Remi isn’t saying. Words Juliette isn’t capable of saying herself when it comes to her complicated relationship with her soulmate. And even if Remi acts nonchalant, Juliette knows this matters a lot to her. It’s a matter of the heart, a delicate balance that Remi seems afraid of upsetting.

Juliette sighs. Remi’s gaze snaps back to her, eyes wide and uncertain, a strange vulnerability to her. “It’s clear that this matters a lot to you,” Juliette says finally. “Anyone can see that. If it’s making you unhappy to keep it a secret, you should bring it up to her and have a serious conversation about it.”

Juliette is surprised by her own capacity to give advice. She’s terrible at taking it for herself. Maybe Octavia is rubbing off on her.

Remi’s lips twist as she chews on the inside of her cheek. She seems to be holding her breath. Then she exhales and slumps, letting go of the facade of composure. “You’re right.” She leans on the table. “But I don’t want to upset what we have. I can’t lose her.” She traces rings on the table, pointedly not looking at Juliette.

Juliette’s chest cramps, a feeling of understanding and empathy hitting her so hard she’s knocked breathless by the feeling. “I get it,” Juliette says, “but in the long run, won’t it hurt you both more to keep this problem festering?”

Remi looks up from under her lashes, frowning. “I hate you,” she mutters without any heat or anger behind it.

Juliette smirks. “Why? Because I’m right?” She kicks Remi under the table as retaliation for earlier.

It earns her the beginnings of a smile. “When did you get so good at giving advice? Your life is a disaster.”

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