While many would say starting a new relationship would be a distraction for such a goal, she felt lucky that Jade understood her position entirely. Jade seemed to appreciate that April’sattention couldn’t be fully onthemright now. Still, Jade was the most supportive partner in every way she could be.
April always woke up to a message from her waiting on her phone. Sometimes there was even a selfie attached which she instantly saved. Jade would send her funny memes in stolen moments through the day when she was helping an injured player. Jade even somehow managed to get the occasional trinket into April’s kit bag that she wouldn’t discover until she was courtside and about to play a match. Her heart warming and her breath settling before she faced another opponent, knowing a little piece of Jade was right there with her.
Her first match had gone well; she’d managed to win in straight sets. There always seemed to be more pressure to win in the first round coming off a tournament title victory. As if the player you were facing was even more determined to beat you as even more eyes were on your match than may have been the case otherwise. April took it all in her stride. Being the top-seeded player meant eyes would have been watching regardless of her recent win or not.
The match was against a new player to her, a young Russian fresh on the professional circuit. Natalya Komanov was 17 with something to prove. Yet April read her serve like a book. She had a strong backhand being a left-handed player, but only when the ball was within reach. April played up to that particular weakness more so than she usually would have, but the young player left the far-right side of the court unprotected far too often to ignore.
April had only dropped three games in the two-set match. She was pleased with the win, but felt like the next game would be more of a challenge, it was against Grace Lee, the young Chinese player who beat her in the quarter finals only a few weeks previously. She needed to be prepared to face her again. The best place she knew where to do that was the gym.
The facilities at her hotel were excellent and had everything she expected: several of each cardio machine, walls of free-weights, adequate space for using medicine balls, Slam balls and stretching, plus there were steam rooms and saunas available should she want to use those.
What she wasn’t expecting to see when she entered the gym was her partner. Her very...athleticpartner. Training with the intensity of some of her fiercest rivals. April couldn’t help but pause at the entrance when she was met with the vision of Jade using all of her arm, core and leg strength to drop a Slam ball full force into the ground from overhead, before doing a burpee, and repeating the cycle.
She finally caught herself staring and ran a quick sweep of her eyes around the unexpectedly quiet gym. She breathed a sigh of relief to discover they were the only ones there.
Knowing Jade wouldn’t hear her entering the space over whatever was playing through her headphones, April made her way over to the treadmills to start her warm-up, eyes never leaving her partner. She smiled to herself as she thought about it some more,her partner.
April knew the term was right, even if Jade kept changing between answering her calls with “howdy, partner”, and occasionally trying to end calls with “10-4, partner”. She let out a laugh despite herself as she moved to lift her own headphones which were currently hanging around her neck.
“What’s so funny, babe?” Jade’s voice nearly made her jump out of her skin in fright.
“Ohmigod,” April nearly screamed as her hand flew to her chest and rested over her racing heart, “you should come with a bell attached so you can’t sneak-up on me like that!”
“I would say sorry, but your flustered face was totally worth it,” Jade said, as she took April in before continuing with a warmsmile, “And don’t worry, I checked the place was empty before I called you that.”
April let out a huff, unsure whether to berate her partner for scaring her, or throw her arms around her for just being so actively mindful of their surroundings everywhere they went.
“You’re lucky you’re cute,” she mumbled so that she knew Jade would hear her, but ensuring her voice wouldn’t carry.
“Actually, I prefer the term ‘aesthetically pleasing’if you don’t mind, but I’ll accept ‘cute’ this time,” Jade said, another signature wink thrown April’s way and making her knees weak.
April laughed and shook her head slightly and started up her treadmill. “You’re incorrigible. So, tell me, where are you in your workout?” She deliberately raked her eyes over Jade. “You’ve clearly been here a while, but I don’t want you to cool down by standing chatting.”
Jade laughed, “Which one of us is the healthcare professional again?” She asked, tapping her first finger against her chin while raising an eyebrow as best she could while smiling.
“I just mean, don’t let my being here stop you, I don’t want you hurting yourself as I am in no way able to help you,” April said as she increased the speed of her treadmill.
“I’m about to switch to the medicine ball, then hit the bike for a quick 5k, then I’m on cooldown and recovery,” Jade said, taking a drink from her water bottle before they turned at the sound of the gym door closing.
April’s heart raced for reasons other than being on the treadmill or standing near Jade. Because the reason for the door closing?
Suzie Gibbonshad entered the room. With her trainer half a step behind her.
Jade spoke with a voice loud enough that they would hear, “So you should really take a look at the acupressure mats; they’regreat for recovery. I use them with clients for maintenance as well as a method of treatment.”
If April’s eyes weren’t locked on those glaring right back at her from the Southern Belle from Hell, who was currently looking at them with a raised eyebrow, she would have kissed Jade for her quick thinking.
“If it's something you’re interested in learning more about, I can reach out to your team with the information I have on them. I really can’t recommend them enough.” Jade said, her back now turned to Suzie.
“Th-that’s great, thank you,” April said, trying to keep up their ruse while tracking Suzie’s movements.
As April watched Suzie make her way over to the water cooler to fill her bottle, April dropped her eyes for a second to Jade just in time to see her partner mouth “breathe,” to her.
Breathing. Yes. That was something April absolutely needed to remember how to do right now, with the most vicious human she knew no doubt keeping an eagle-eye on her for the duration of both their workouts.
Jade made her way back over to the mats to tidy away the Slam ball she’d been using and selected a medicine ball to use next. April watched as Jade sat on the mat, balanced herself to lift her feet off the ground, and twisted her body from side to side in a Russian twist, ensuring the ball touched the mat by her hip on each side.
Catching herself, she glanced over at Suzie who was starting her warm-up on the bike, eyes forward, but April didn’t trust her for a second.
