Love Match (Love Match 1)

The chair umpire came out, and Luke and Jesse stood on opposite sides of the court at the net as the coin was flipped. Jesse won the toss and elected to serve first, as most players did. Only those with particularly strong return games would choose to serve second.

As they took their positions on court, Luke glanced around the stands. There were more people than usual for an early-round match on a Wednesday morning. He tried to brush it off, but he knew most people were there to gossip and speculate about his relationship with Jesse. To watch closely to see whether there was any truth to the rumors.

Shaking his head, Luke bounced side to side on his toes, trying to loosen up as Jesse got into position to serve. As they began playing, Luke tried to clear his mind, to forget that it was Jesse across the net. To forget that all he really wanted to do was take him in his arms, taste his lips again.

“Out!”

The lineswoman’s call brought Luke back to the present. He’d just lost the first game at love, Jesse winning all four points easily. As Luke motioned to the ball boy for a ball, he tried once more to clear his head. He needed to concentrate if he was going to win this match. If he was going to beat Jesse.

It was Luke’s service game, and he won, although Jesse got two points. The first set continued in similar fashion, Luke unable to keep his focus, unable to take control of the match as he should have been able to. He couldn’t stop thinking, couldn’t stop remembering.

Suddenly Jesse had a break point, and if he won it, he would be serving for the set in the next game. Big, fat drops of rain had started to fall, and the court was becoming slick. Luke looked to the chair umpire, but no call seemed forthcoming, so he served the next point. His first serve went squarely into the net and he cursed under his breath. The second went over, but he knew it was out just before Cyclops, the automated machine that bleated when a serve was beyond the line, sounded.

Double fault.

With the break of serve for Jesse, the umpire called a rain delay as thunder cracked overhead and the rain intensified. Grounds crew scurried this way and that, pulling down the net and covering the court as quickly as possible. Jesse and Luke both crammed their belongings in their bags and jogged off the court into the tennis center.

They silently made their way back to the locker room, which was teeming with players now that the rain delay was on. Luke went to the bathroom and decided to head to the lounge to find Mike. He was still at the sink when Jesse suddenly appeared.

Jesse didn’t look at him, just concentrated on washing his hands. “Stop it,” he hissed.

“Stop what?” Luke didn’t look at him either, just took another dollop of soap and lathered back up again.

“You know what! Stop letting me win.”

“I’m not,” Luke whispered.

“Bullshit. I don’t want your fucking pity, Luke. Or whatever it is.”

Luke glanced in the mirror to double check that no one else had entered the bathroom. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just having an off day.” But maybe it wasn’t true. Maybe he didn’t want to beat Jesse, didn’t want to knock him out in the second round of a Grand Slam.

“Fine.” Jesse looked at him in the mirror and their eyes met. “But if I’m going to beat you, I want it to be fair and square. Okay?”

Luke nodded and Jesse turned on his heel and left. Luke peered into the mirror. If he didn’t beat Jesse, that would mean he was out. That would mean Luke would lose what was probably his last real chance to win the U.S. Open.

Jesse was right. It was time to play the way he knew he could. No matter who was on the other side of the net.

In the announcer’s booth, Steve Anderson whistled softly. “Rossovich’s serve was up over one hundred and twenty miles an hour and McAllister probably didn’t even see it going by. Another game to Ross.”

As they went to commercial, the producer gave Steve some notes and statistics to talk about during the next segment. It was clear Luke Rossovich was going to win the match and he’d taken his next potential opponent to the cleaners every time they’d met, so he was looking good to advance to the second week of competition.

The players took the court again and Steve cleared his throat. “Well, Luke sure has come on strong in this match and he’s looking in good shape. That rain delay did him a world of good; he’s only lost three games since and it looks like he’s going to take this match in straight sets.”