Love Game - Season 2011 (30 page)

              After the quarterfinal Elise’s parents had invited Amanda over for dinner and even though it had been a nice evening, it had also been very awkward for both of them. Did Amanda think this was just a phase for Elise or just a little experiment? She couldn’t have been more wrong if that was the case, but Elise hadn’t had the courage yet to address her concerns. However, she knew what to do. She had to tell her parents. She needed to do it anyway. She really wanted to. It was becoming an unbearable situation, finding excuses when she wanted to be with Amanda alone or circumvent their harmless questions about the evenings she spent over at Amanda’s place. She took a look at the TV that broadcasted the ladies’ final. Sasha had taken the second set after she had lost the first, but was trailing in the third set. Luella Galloway was about to finish her great run with her first Grand Slam victory.

              “This will not take much longer,” Elise said to her parents and Amanda. “I think we should get ready.”

              She got up and nodded at Amanda while suppressing a smile. Ignoring Dan’s raised eyebrow and her parents’ surprise at the hasty departure she pushed Amanda through the door outside. She just wanted a few minutes alone with Amanda. Just a few minutes when they could kiss and whisper foolish things into each others’ ears.

                            Slipping into the locker room Elise turned around to Amanda and kissed her slightly on the lips. An idea had formed in her head, and she knew she needed all her courage to make it happen.

***

The metal had been cool and the whole dish had been amazingly heavy. Heavier than she had imagined, Gabriella thought.

              Her hands were sweating –from the exhaustion of the match or from excitement she couldn’t say – and the ridiculous thought that the Venus Rosewater dish would slip from her hands while holding it over her head and fall onto her toes had occupied her mind during the whole ceremony. It didn’t happen. Everything went well.

              “Luella Galloway,” the tournament director had announced.

              When she had heard her sister’s name she hadn’t cared about it, but now, sitting in the silent locker room, the numbness which had occupied her brain from the second that Sasha had hit that last ball outside the lines let go of her little grey cells. This was just another locker room, after just another match. But everything was different. She had won a Grand Slam final. She was a Grand Slam winner. And yet, she wasn’t. Luella just won a Grand Slam. She was a Grand Slam winner. And she deserved it, Gabriella thought. Lulu had played four out of the seven matches, and Gabriella only three.

              But the last one was the most important. They both knew it. Luella had only won one final of an international tournament last year, while Gabriella had won two internationals already plus Indian Wells, a premier event only a few months ago. Gabriella was not just the more consistent player, she had better nerves and was able to stay calm during the big points. She was able to close out a match. That was the reason why Luella had begged Gaga to play the Wimbledon final for her. Her sister had been scared of faltering in the important moments.

              Sitting on the bench, Gabriella could suddenly see it crystal clear before her eyes. Luella giving the post-match interview, Luella in the talk shows back home in the United States, Luella dancing at the Winners Ball. She swallowed hard and almost choked when the locker room door was opened with a bang.

              “I must have left it in my locker,” Gaga heard Sasha’s voice saying to someone outside. The door closed again and there were only Sasha’s footsteps closing in. Unaware that the room wasn’t empty Sasha stepped around the corner. Gabriella looked up at her opponent and now Wimbledon runner-up.

              “Oh,” Sasha exclaimed. “I didn’t know you were still in here.”

              Gabriella shrugged and gave Sasha a smile. But only a very quick one, since she was supposed to be Luella. A moment of silence followed which made Gabriella think of the hilarious and awkward moment when she had found Sasha in one of the lockers but had not said a word to Luella about it. All the past moments she had had with Sasha had been awkward and hilarious in a way. Sasha's spying on the twins – well, on Lulu – was followed by Gabriella’s shameless advances in Paris when she had hit on Sasha pretending she was Luella. However, Sasha had never lowered her guard. It seemed they were both revolving around each other unable to come forward with honest words. Sometimes Gaga caught herself wondering if they would like each other, if they could get along, maybe even more. Gabriella would have liked to talk to Elise about Sasha, because, yes, she believed she could like Sasha, but Elise didn’t like her. Perhaps it could have been very easy, if the Czech wasn’t so obsessed with her sister.

              Sasha opened a locker in front of Gaga and took out a pair of shoes she apparently had forgotten. She was about to leave without a word, but then paused and turned around.

              “I know your little secret,” she said with a sly smile.

              They locked eyes for a short moment in which Gabriella grew first hot then ice-cold, before Sasha turned away and walked out of the room.

              Her little secret? How could Sasha know that? Gabriella clutched the edge of the bench. Nobody knew. But then she gasped. She had forgotten that she was Lulu right now. Sasha had talked to her as Lulu. Which secret did Sasha mean?

***

Through the endless corridors from somewhere inside the hotel came the dampened sound of music. The Wimbledon Winners Ball in the posh Intercontinental Hotel was in full swing but Elise and Amanda had found a better occupation. They were lying on a couch at the end of a long corridor where they had ended up after Elise had led them through the hotel corridors, talking about the upcoming weeks when they would be apart. At one point they had begun to hold hands as the corridor seemed completely empty. They had sat down in the sofa corner, which was dimly lit, but by now were spread out with their arms and legs intertwined.

              Tipsy from the booze Amanda was kissing the German without rushing. In the last week, she had gained more and more confidence that the relationship was not just some experiment for Elise. Yesterday had proven to be another good day. Even though they had lost the doubles final to Monica and Agnes they had decided to go to dinner and afterwards had retreated to Amanda’s room to watch a DVD. Needless to say, neither of them could recall anything from the storyline. At one point, Elise had sat up on the bed and had taken her cell phone from her bag. She was typing a message and when Amanda looked curiously over her shoulder Elise showed her the text. It was to her mom and said:
At Amanda’s place watching a movie. Don’t know when I will be home. Might stay overnight.

              She did. Even though they were only fooling around with not much more happening it made Amanda feel much better. It was definitely a step in the right direction. After Elise had fallen asleep in Amanda’s arms the Australian had watched the girl knowing it was the right decision not to hurry. Not only because Amanda herself felt better taking it slowly but she had become convinced that Elise had never had slept with a girl before. Thinking back to the scene in the shower when Elise’s hands had grown numb she felt a bit guilty for going for it so vehemently and quickly.

              Lying on the hotel couch Amanda reminded herself to take it easy. She had the feeling Elise was ready to do it but she wanted to allow Elise to set the pace. However, tasting Elise and feeling her warmth didn’t make ‘taking it easy’ an easy task. It was almost impossible not to slide her hand under Elise’s blue evening gown, impossible not to work her hand slowly but steadily up her calf and then her thigh. Impossible to stop the goose bumps Amanda felt crawling over her skin when Elise pulled up Amanda’s top and began caressing her skin. To slow down her heartbeat, Amanda lifted herself up and took a deep breath.

              “You are a very good French kisser, Elise Renard,” Amanda grinned at her in the darkness not knowing what else to say.

              “I’m half French,” Elise replied in all sincerity. “Of course, I’m a good French kisser.”

              “That sounds very logical, darling,” Amanda was smiling at Elise’s seriousness. “I’m full-blown Aussie. Let’s see how far I can get with that.” Her mischievous remark passed unnoticed as Elise pulled her back and started kissing her frantically. Only their breathing was audible in the dark hotel lounge, disrupted by their occasional muttering and moaning and giggles and the sound of the silk-like fabric of Elise’s gown rubbing against Amanda’s clothes.

              “We should get a room,” Elise suddenly whispered into Amanda’s ear touching it slightly.

              “Yeah, we should,” Amanda murmured back with a grin, however showing no intention to stop nibbling the German’s neck.

              “Ok,” Elise said with determination. Amanda lifted her head and looked Elise in the eye.

              “Really?”
              Elise nodded.

              “We don’t have to, you know?”

              “I know,” Elise replied softly. “I just don’t want to do it here in the corner.”

              “Oh, you don’t?” Amanda said innocently. She looked around searching. “The broom cupboard, then? Boom boom style?”

              They got a room.

***

Gabriella was slowly turning the cocktail glass in front of her. Her head was beginning to spin, too. She felt dead tired and was on the verge of laying her head down at the bar. It couldn’t only be a matter of her not being used to the alcohol. It had to be exhaustion, physically and mentally. After all, she had played a very tough match the day before if not the toughest match of her career. A Grand Slam final. Not only had it required a massive exertion from her body but also a nonstop mental vigilance and if there was something that Gabriella had understood in theory but now felt in every bone, it was how nerve-wrecking and exhausting winning a Grand Slam final could be.

              Yes, but it wasn’t her who had won. Gabriella had hit the winners, she had served for the match, she had held up the dish, but nobody knew that. Only she and Lulu knew it and with all the alcohol floating through her veins she suddenly felt like standing up and shouting the truth out to the whole room. From the corner of her eye, she checked the bar she was sitting at and frowned. Not many people were left at this time.

              Gabriella had persuaded Luella that it was in fact her who should attend the press conference and the Winners Ball, too, explaining that only she could convincingly talk about the match as she had played it. However, the presser had turned into a bittersweet torture. Every time a journalist had called her by her sister’s name, Gabriella had felt a latent pain in her chest and the more Luella’s name had been called out in the room, the more her heart had burnt. But she had accepted the pact and now she had to deal with it. No matter how hard it would be to live with such a secret weighing on her mind.

              Getting up from the stool she quickly headed for the ladies’ room. She turned on the cold water and splashed it onto her face. It didn’t make her feel better. She leaned against the sink and looked herself in the face.
I know your little secret
. Sasha’s words were echoing in her brain. The unexpected face-to-face in the locker room came to her mind like a nightmare again. Obviously, Sasha assumed that Luella was into girls. What else could she think after what had happened in Paris, anyway? But why would she call it Luella’s secret? Gabriella’s advances had made it absolutely obvious that she was hitting on Sasha and not hiding it at all. From Sasha’s point of view Luella was not hiding a secret from her.

              Gabriella bit her lower lip and shook her head but stopped abruptly as her head started spinning again. She groaned. The situation was slipping through her fingers. She couldn’t grasp it. What a disaster! And what if Lulu learned about it? If Sasha was approaching Luella again, probably making allusions, Gabriella knew for sure that her twin would get mad and eventually might even find out what was behind Sasha’s conviction that Luella was gay. That in fact it was Gaga who liked girls.

              Stumbling to the bathroom door, Gaga moaned at the thought of Luella finding out. She grabbed the door handle, her heart started beating faster and the room vaguely spun around. With Sasha on the loose, at least knowing that one of the twins was gay, Gaga felt like she was in an uncontrollable, unstoppable racing car heading straight for a wall of bricks and the impact would hurt much more than seeing her sister’s name on her very own Grand Slam trophy. The day she had always imagined to be the best in her life and of her career – the day she would win a Grand Slam – had turned into a dark, frightening nightmare. Gabriella opened the door and staggered outside.

              Heading for the hotel exit she realized that it was almost morning. Above the city of London the grey sky was brightening for a new day. She squinted her eyes at the sudden brightness and the cool air was like a shock on her skin making her stop in her tracks. She opened her eyes again looking for a cab. A little further down the road a single cab had lined up waiting for passengers. To her surprise, Gabriella saw that there were two figures getting into the black car. It was Amanda and Elise, the runner-up in the doubles competition. The new dream team. Gabriella was astonished. Over the course of the fortnight jokes had been told in the locker rooms, all in good fun. Nobody believed the badinage could possibly be based on fact and Gabriella hadn’t said a word about what Elise had told her a week earlier. But the way Amanda and Elise looked at each other in the players’ lounge, in the hallways and even on court caused everyone to giggle.