Page 51 of Drop Shot
“Do you need a minute?” he asks.
I appreciate that he’s checking in with me before we walk into her room.
“I’m okay,” I assure him, steeling my shoulders like I’m bracing for impact.
He doesn’t look like he quite believes me, but he listens anyway and knocks on the door.
“Just a second!” Her softly accented voice calls back.
A moment later the door swings open, revealing Julia in all her dark hair and all black outfit glory. The monochrome look might be boring on anyone else, but I’m certain the petite woman could wear anything and make it look fashionable.
“So good to see you both.”
We exchange cheek kisses in greeting before she ushers us through the tight space to where she has her filming spot set up with the couch and chair in view of the corner.
“Thank you for pivoting this conversation. I won’t ask anything too prying about your relationship, promise.” She gives a soft laugh. “But since I’ve met you both several times I’d always wondered if you two would eventually end up together and well, here you are.” She claps her hands together. “I think fans would love to hear from you both.”
“I’m not going to be very good at this,” I admit. “I’m not used to these things like he is.”
“You’ll do fine,” Julia assures, bending down to pull out two bottles of water from the fridge and handing them to each of us. “If you say anything you want me to not include just let me know and I’ll delete it before I post, or if at any time you want a break it’s fine.”
Elias gives my elbow a reassuring squeeze.
“You two will take the couch,” she continues. “I’ll sit here.” She squeezes the back of the chair. “I’ll mic you both up and do a sound check before we begin filming. The first few minutes we’ll work on getting out the nerves, okay?” She gives me an encouraging smile. “And then we’ll dive in. Sound good?”
I nod, but I know my nervousness is obvious. Elias lowers his head, lips grazing my cheek. “You’re going to do great, baby.”
A shiver races down my spine and I silently curse myself. He’s putting on a show for Julia, as we both should, but I’vedreamedof hearing him call me that.
Julia clips the mics on us and has us sit. When there’s a good amount of space between us, she laughs and gestures for us to scoot in. “Don’t be shy lovebirds.”
Elias and I exchange a look, both of us scooting closer to the other. I open my water, taking a careful sip while Julia adjusts her lights and the camera.
When she finally has everything set the way she wants, she asks, “Do you guys need anything before we start or are you ready to go?”
Elias looks to me for my answer. “I’m good,” I say softly.
Julia starts the interview for her podcast off with her typical spiel before she has each of us introduce ourselves.
“You can be a bit of a controversial player,” Julia says to Elias. “You’ve always been well-liked despite that, but I know you had a run in earlier this year that turned into quite the rivalry with the up-and-coming American player Trager Pacey.”
Elias stiffens at my side.
He got into a verbal screaming match with the younger guy at the Australian Open. I was there for the game and Trager was asking for it. He was poking the bear the entire game, that much was obvious, but since Elias was the one to blow up, it ended up looking poorly on him. When they had a match against each other again at Delray Beach, Trager was constantly making childish facial expressions and trying to discredit points.
It was a shitshow to say the least.
And that’s how I got sucked into this whole thing.
I place my hand on Elias’s knee, trying to provide a silent measure of comfort.
“I wouldn’t call it a rivalry,” he says in a measured voice. I have to hide my smile. I know it’s a dig at Trager for his rank. “We’re both passionate players so inevitably we’re going to bump heads. It happens.”
I give his knee a squeeze, pleased with his diplomatic answer. Jackson will no doubt find some sort of fault in it, but Elias isn’t the type to take Trager’s behavior lying down.
She asks a few more questions geared at Elias and tennis, how he’s feeling about this year, and what not, before she moves on to us as a couple.
“For those that don’t know, Whimsy is Elias’s longtime personal assistant. I’m not sure things would run so smoothly for him if it weren’t for you.” She gives a nod in my direction. “Has this been going on behind the scenes with you two for a while?” Her eyes hold a glimmer of hopefulness over the potential gossip.
