CHAPTER 35

As the number one team in the world in their sport, there were always expectations on their shoulders. They’d won the majority of their tournaments since becoming partners, so everyone expected them to win. If they lost, even coming in second, they weren’t living up to those expectations and were, therefore, a disappointment. Aspen both loved and hated that pressure at the same time because she felt that it made them better on the sand, but it was also a lot to live up to, and if they focused on that too much, it could be their downfall.

Losing because of Aspen’s injury had given them an excuse. People had reported that she’d played through both the pain and the swelling, and she’d been seen as a player with guts. But when they’d just lost in the other international tournament because they’d played poorly, people had been less kind.

“Is the world continuing to catch up to the Americans when it comes to beach volleyball? After decades of bringing home gold medals on the women’s side – three in a row by Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings, and then at least bronze or silver before another gold – can the team of Aspen Ashley and DJ Stevens actually bring home a medal? Many are wondering if they can even qualify, as they’ve yet to create an insurmountable distance between themselves and the other US teams trying to qualify. If they don’t win in Berlin to earn that automatic qualification, there’s actually a chance that the number one team in the world doesn’t get to play on beach volleyball’s biggest international stage,”a reporter had said.

Aspen had turned off the TV when she’d heard it, and she’d used it to fuel their fire. They’d won their first three matches with relative ease, and then Kendra had arrived, so Aspen felt better just having her in the same city with her. They’d won that fourth match with some struggles here and there, but they’ll pulled it off in three sets. Now, they were in the semifinals, up against a team from Argentina that was ranked fifteenth in the world, had been playing incredibly well, and had won all of their preceding matches in only two sets, so they weren’t as tired as Aspen and DJ.

“Good luck, babe,” Kendra said and kissed her on the lips.

“Thanks,” Aspen replied with a wink.

DJ stood there and rolled her eyes at them.

“What? Mark kissed you this morning,” Aspen noted.

“At the hotel, before we left.”

“Because he’s going home. He lost yesterday and didn’t want to stay to support you. Weird, if you ask me.”

“Chase wants to get home to practice, and Mark is his partner – he kind of has to be there to practice with him.”

“Will you two get out there already?” Kendra asked and pushed gently at Aspen’s stomach. “You look great in a bikini. Have I ever told you that?”

“A few times now. But you can keep saying it.” Aspen leaned in again. “One more, for luck.” She kissed Kendra again and then turned and walked into the stadium to start their unofficial warm-up.

“So, did you tell her that you love her yet?” DJ asked.

“No, it’s been a month,” Aspen said and turned back around to make sure her girlfriend couldn’t hear them, but Kendra was already making her way up into the stands, into the section reserved for players’ families.

“Oh, please. It’s been more than that. You two were dancing around it for at least three months before that. Maybe even four.”

“Either way, I don’t know if she’s there yet.”

“But even if she’s not ready to say it, you still can. Or can you not handle her not saying it back?”

“God, I hope I don’t have to. It would hurt, yeah, but at the same time, I don’t want her to say something she’s not ready to say.”

“I’m a big believer that if you feel it, you should say it. People should know.”

“Have you told Mark yet?”

“What? No. I don’t love Mark. We just started going out. I like him a lot, yeah, but I’m not even close to love. And neither is he.”

“But you’ll tell him, if you ever get there, even if you’re not sure he’s ready to say it?” Aspen asked.

“Yeah. But you’re never sure people will say it back, are you? There’s always a chance they’ll just say, ‘Thank you,’ or tell you that they’re not ready for that. It’s always a risk. If you feel it, you should tell her. Besides, she’s there, Aspen. It’s obvious to everyone.” DJ nodded toward the stands. “I mean, look at her.”

Aspen looked up from the bench where she’d just dropped her bag and saw Kendra staring back at her, eyes wide open, with a smile on her face. Aspen smiled back at her and turned away because she needed to focus on the very important match that was about to happen.

“I’ll tell her if we win tomorrow, so you have to help me do that if you want me to process my feelings,” she said to DJ.

“Oh, I’m all-in on that idea. Let’s go,” DJ replied.

After their own warm-up, they took a quick break to rehydrate while the artificial sand was sprayed with water to help cool it down before the official warm-ups started. Today, they were playing against a team that had chosen to go with two taller players, and that strategy had been paying off for them because neither player was particularly short or extremely tall. One of them was 5’10”, and the other was 5’11”. That meant they were both great on defense and could still get some height on their jumps to get a kill over the net. It did make them a little weak on their blocks, though, which would give a great hitter like DJ free reign to hit down and hard.

To help with that, the Argentinians had obviously worked on backing off the net and having both players cover the court, which meant that finding an open spot was more difficult, but they’d worked on their side of the equation. Kendra had also watched film with them yesterday after their previous match and had pointed out a few things about one of the player’s foot position causing her issues with her passes and that the other player tended to play a little more shallow instead of going back far enough to guard that back line, so if they were able to mix up their shots and get a few over the top and still inbounds, they could squeeze a few points out of that easily.

Aspen was up to serve first. She hit a basic floater just to get them going and ran to her spot, standing in a ready position. DJ’s signal had shown that she was going to block the angle, so Aspen guarded the line, and when the ball came over, DJ tipped it up. Aspen ran to the other side of the court and dug it up for DJ to put away on two because there was no way Aspen could have gotten back up in time for a shot on three. It hit that back line inbounds, and they had their first point.

“Kendra was right,” DJ said as she slapped Aspen’s hand.

“She usually is,” Aspen replied with a little laugh and went back to serve. “I guess I should get used to that.”

She walked back to the service line, got the ball tossed to her, turned it around in her hands, and waited for the whistle. This time, she used the serve she and Kendra had worked out together. The ball curved in the air and spun on top of it until it hit the outstretched arms of the Argentinian player, bounced off, and went into the crowd.

“Yup. Usually right,” she said to herself after earning them another point.

After that, it went back and forth until they got to the end of the set. Aspen and DJ were up twenty to eighteen and had the serve for set point. She wanted to lock this in because, after a rough start, their competitors had really been playing well, and she didn’t want to give them a point by making a service error. She hit it over to give them an easy pass to make and ran up. When they went in for the kill, DJ was there, and her strong arms high up in the air were no match for the ball that came at them. It smacked into DJ’s hands hard and landed in the sand on the other side of the court. They’d won the first set. One more, and they’d be in the final.

“She’s going line on everything,” Aspen noted once they sat down and she had a towel in her hands.

“Yeah, she’s hoping that if I block her, it goes out of bounds, and they still get the point.”

“Back off the net the first time she goes up for the hit. Let’s see what she does if you’re not up there trying to block her.”

“Okay,” DJ replied and chugged from her water bottle. “And her serves are going deep but in, so we need to take a step back and just run up if they try short.”

“Yeah, agreed,” Aspen said and finished wiping the sand and sweat from her body. “You ready?”

“Let’s do this.”

Aspen took a long drink herself and stood. They high-fived how they always did after a timeout or between sets and made their way back onto the court. Aspen turned toward the stands and found her girlfriend sitting there. Kendra met her eyes and gave her a big smile and a thumbs-up. That made Aspen laugh, and she wondered if it really could be like this. Obviously, Kendra had a job, so she wouldn’t always be able to follow Aspen around the world and watch her play, but even just having Kendra there for some of Aspen’s matches made a big difference. While her parents supported her playing, too, they didn’t like to travel all that much these days, so they only tended to make it to her local matches and not the big international ones like this one. They would, of course, be there for the Olympics, should Aspen and DJ qualify, and she hoped she’d make them proud.

In the second set, Argentina came out strong, scoring three in a row mainly off really great serves, but on the fourth serve, Aspen found her groove again and passed up to DJ, who set her well. Aspen swung into the block, and the ball came back down on her side of the net. She was able to dig it out and get it over to DJ, who set her again. The second time was the charm when she poked it over, and they couldn’t get to it. Now, it was three to one, with DJ back to serve. DJ did and ran up to the net. She showed Aspen that she was going to back off, so when the other team went into their set motion, DJ stepped back quickly, and Aspen was ready in her position. The hitter seemed confused because she’d expected DJ to be there, blocking her shot, so she hit it over, but not with the same force as she had been, and DJ passed it up to Aspen, who set her up well. DJ hit the ball hard and practically straight down, earning them their second point.

“Yeah! Let’s fucking go!” Aspen said as she pulled DJ into a hug.

They earned the next three points and the lead before they lost the serve, but then, they earned another two points, and it seemed that for every one point the other team earned, DJ and Aspen earned two for a few side-outs. Finally, it was nineteen to eighteen, and they had the lead deep in the second and, hopefully, final set. Aspen was back to serve and gave them an easy one to hit, while DJ backed off the net at the right time after having attacked it for the past few plays. The hit came, and Aspen dug it. DJ set her. Aspen poked it over and ran back to get ready for it to come over again. The rally went back and forth until DJ smacked the ball down against the sideline. After a brief review, it was called inbounds, and they won the set and the match point.

“Let’s do this. Finish it,” DJ told her as they high-fived.

Aspen nodded and went back to the service line. She normally wouldn’t risk it, but this team had struggled with her hard serve all match, while she’d hit the serve inbounds each time with no errors today, and they had a couple of points to give in case she messed up. So, she spun the ball and took her stance before she watched as the Argentinians shuffled their positions, likely preparing for the serve she was about to deliver. When the whistle came, Aspen stood still and turned the ball in her hand quickly before, without a jump at all, she floated the ball over the net and watched the other team try to get to it. They did, but the pass up was a hard one to set, and the hit went right into DJ’s hands, then back down on the other side of the court and, most importantly, inbounds. They’d won the match and were moving on to the final to face either the Brazilian number one team or the Italian number two team, who were playing next.

“Hell, yeah!” DJ said as she pulled Aspen in for a long hug on the court.

Aspen returned it before they went to tell the other team that they’d played a great game, which they had. They shook hands with the refs as well and headed off the court. Normally, she would then sit down and wipe off, take a drink, and talk to DJ about what was next, but today, things felt different. More felt possible. Aspen looked up into the stands, smiled, and decided to head toward them.

“Hey, finalist,” Kendra said, bending over the railing.

“Can I kiss you?” Aspen asked her. “There’s a good chance there’s a camera on me right now.”

“Yeah, you can kiss me.”

Aspen climbed up onto the stands, and Kendra helped by holding her as they exchanged a sweet, chaste kiss.

“You’re not worried about work?” Aspen asked.

“Not at all. My girl’s a badass and is going to play for a spot in the Olympics.” Kendra kissed her again. “I’m glad you changed your serve on that last point. Genius, babe,” she whispered into Aspen’s ear. “Want me to just head back to the hotel so you can do whatever?”

“No. Can you wait? We won’t be long.”

“I’ll wait outside, okay? Take your time.”

“Okay. Thanks,” Aspen replied and leaned back in for one more quick kiss.