the change wasnât instant, it took time. it wasnât just about them and whatever years of repressed feelings they needed to work through. art and tashi had a image. a family. a life. patrick couldnât just waltz right in and take a place.
starting in new rochelle. the three of them getting tangled up in the soft sheets of art and tashiâs penthouse bed. adrenaline from the game previously played still coursing through them. it was like muscle memory the way they moved together. just as seamless as that first time when they were younger.
he didnât know what would happen tomorrow when the high of it all wore off, when they all would come back to reality. he really didnât want to find out.
he like it here. where tashi loved him again and patrick was back in their lives.
patrick was gone before tashi woke up.
her head hurt like she had spent the previous night drinking, and there was a dull ache between her thighs.
art watched his wife slip out of bed and into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.
neither of the them talked about it after.
they greeted their daughter, who had spent the night with her grandmother, at breakfast. she talked animatedly about what the two of them got up to last night while shoveling pancakes into her mouth.
tashi kept her attention on her phone, throwing little comments in here and there. the sports news was buzzing with what happened yesterday. the tension between tennis star art donaldson and an unknown patrick zweig was felt by everyone. they all wanted to know more.
tashi closed her phone and turned to her daughter âlily, baby. i need you to go to your room with grandma and start packing up, ok.â before lily could start pouting about wanting to stay another day her grandmother came to collect her.
it was quiet, before art spoke up. âi think we-â only to get cut off
âthe reporters are speculating about your come back after yesterdayâs game. we should capitalize on this. start training up again when we get back, get you ready for the open in august.â
âi told you i was done.â
âtashi. please.â art looked at her right in the eye like he did the other night. only this time tashi saw him. ââŚok. ok.â she ran her thumb on the underside of his eye. wiping away the shed tear. âok.â she repeated. so that he knew she ment it. art turned his cheek into her hand letting his eyes close before standing up to go check on lily.
the conversation she had with patrick couldnât help up play in her head. he was right to an extent. she wasnât ready to give up tennis, not yet. she picked up her phone that felt like heavier than it is. her thumb hovered over patrickâs number. she felt sick, texting him after he just left them like they some random hookup.
itâs been a two months. two quiet months in the dondalson household. art still wakes up way earlier than needed, his body was just too use to it. and tashi has been trying to take on new players, but none of them had what she needed.
âitâs not gonna work out.â tashi entered the house through the slide door, taking place on the couch. spiderverse was playing on their living room tv, again. âwhat was wrong with this one?â
this was the fifth player tashiâs turned down in three days.
she left out a tired sigh. âhe didnât have it.â none of these players had it. she didnât feel anything when she watched them. âmaybe next time mama.â lily comforted her.
tashi really didnât want to, but she was getting restless. patrick was good player, but he could be great player. he just needed discipline.
patrickâs check from new rochelle lasted him two months. he was able to stay in a motel for awhile giving himself a break from sleeping in his cramped backseat. but it didnât last.
he swiped it three more times. it still declined.
the guy behind the counter gave him an annoyed look. patrick didnât bother staying to plea with him, just accepted it. pocketing his card and leaving the corner store. his sandwich and snapple left on the counter.
he parked out side of national park, switching between signing up for other challengers and swiping thought tinder waiting for a match. he hated this part, where he had to play cause he was too broke not too. it didnât matter if won the whole them for not he was getting paid just for entering.
a ding from his phone broke patrick from the tiny nap he slipped into.
april :) has matched with you! swip to chat.
hey, cute pictures. wanna meet?
itâs the same message every time. sometimes heâll care enough to throw in a how are you.
howâs tonight at 8. meet here?
great, iâll be there ;)
patrick got there first. he sat at the bar, not bothering to get a table. they wouldnât be staying long anyway.
she had on a sweet smile, and her hands were soft against patrickâs.
âhey, this is a nice place. how do you know it?â he asked, referring to the restaurant theyâre in right now. âoh, i come here sometimes with my roommate.â patrickâs face fell slightly at the mention of a roommate. april seemed to have noticed cause she was quick to add. âbut, sheâs out a town right now.â
a few dry conversations later patrick was fucking her on her apartment kitchen counter. she was moaning loud, too loud. it was kind of taking patrick out of it. he closed his eyes can tried to block it out, and focused on getting her to cum so he could go to sleep.
from the back of his mind memories from new rochelle made their way to the front of his mind. and all the sudden it wasnât the skin of a random girl he was touching, it was tashiâs. the fingers in hair tugging werenât skinny and soft they were thicker and calloused. they were artâs.
he came before she did. before she could point it out, patrick sank to his knees.
she let him stay the night, and use her shower. her sheets were so soft. patrick was knocked out the second he laid down.
he woke up to the smell of food cooking, and would be stupid not to stay for breakfast. he gave her a goodbye kiss with the empty promise of seeing again.
once back in his car he checked his endless notifications. a few from tinder, emails confirming his attendance at the challengers she signed up from, and one text from⌠tashi?
never in a million years did patrick think he would be on his way to california to meet with tashi.
they have been texting back and forth for a week, strictly about tennis. she mentioned how sheâll give him a chance and to come to cali. then he mentioned how he doesnât have the money for that. which led to tashi cash apping him. now he was on his way, their address placed into his gps.
driving up to the donaldson house had patrickâs eyebrows shooting towards his hairline. it was huge. youâd think heâd be use to seeing such a lavish home, but itâs been awhile. the gate separating their home from the outside world opens letting him drive his car into their driveway.
he felt so fucking nervous. he sat in his car for a good ten minutes before he got out. his knocks rapped against the wooden doors before he rang the doorbell.
tashi answered the door. he caught a quick glimpse of the inside, and he could see art standing off in the background.
âyou get one week, donât make me regret this.â
and he didnât. he worked his ass off all week. woke up and crazy hours, drank whatever disgusting up smoothies tashi gave him, he cut back his cigarette intake, and only interacted with the donaldsons on a personal level. until the youngest donaldson approached him.
âare you gonna be the one?â a little voice suddenly spoke, waking patrick from his relaxed state.
âno other player has stayed this long. so, are you the one?â
he didnât know how to respond to that. and before he had to art came running from the main house to the pool house where he was staying. âlily! you canât just run off. your lunch is ready, go iâll met you back at the house.â he sent her off with a soft pat on the back of her head. âsorry, sheâs been really eager to met you.â oh? patrick shook his head. âitâs fine. sheâs uh- cute kid.â
patrick hated being alone with art. it was different from being alone with tashi. with tashi he could just fall into easy banter. neither of the thinking about what happened, but with art itâs like ever unspoken word and thought made itâs self known.
âyouâve um. youâve be doing good patrick. tashi has really been noticing the work youâre putting in.â art said. patrick huffed an exhausted laugh. âshe better have. been kicking my ass.â he joked, which in turn earned a chuckle from art. âjust donât go on and get too cocky the weeks not over yet.â art was gone before patrick could respond.
finally the week was over, and the three of them were seated across from each other. art and tashi on one side patrick on the other. patrick felt like he was in detention, and tashi was the principal with art as her dutifully assistant.
âpatrick.â tashi started. âi wanna continue working with you.â
âi understand, sorry i disappointed you- wait what?â
âi wanna continue working with you. which means everything you gave me this week, times it by a thousand. your first challengers in a week. donât fuck up.â
and for once in his life he doesnât. he didnât get lazy in the second half like usual and basically throw the game. he pushed through. he lost but at least he played a good game.
tashi put him in challenger after challenger, some he won some he lost. the tennis world had their eye on him. some nobody that the tashi donaldson took and rose up. and when his rank was finally higher to jojn an open, covid hit.
âso what it canceled?â
âa complete lockdown has just been announced, of course itâs fucking canceled.â
tension was high. in tashiâs mind sheâs got a giant shadow from her past thatâs she just put so much time in effort into for what is now seeming like no reason. to patrick, heâs counting the days when she realizes that this lockdown will be something hard to come back from and kicks him to the curb. art just feels like a kids again watching his parents fight, so much that he wanted to say but too afraid itâd be the wrong thing and heâd make things worse.
âlook, we donât know how long this will last. we could only be looking at a month, two max. before you know yâall be at the next open.â art finally said, trying to ease some of their nerves.
he couldnât have been more wrong. it only got worse from there.
âshould we let him stay here?â
patrick has been confined to the pool house, and them to the main. the practices have stopped. they hadnât seen him in a week.
art shrugged at tashiâs question. âi donât know. i mean itâd be an easier way to stop the germ spread. have us all in the same place.â tashi cocked her head to the side and gave him a look. she could see right through him. âi think you just want an excuse for him to be closer.â
âart. itâs ok new rochelle happen and we never talked about it after. and then i invited back into our lives. itâs ok to want to want him.â
she could see art visibly relax. whatever weight he was carrying from the night getting lighter at the knowledge that tashi understood him.
that night the two of them walked hand in hand to the pool house.
when patrick opened the door they both had to stop themselves from staring at bare chest. âyeah?â he snapped them both from their trance. âwe uh⌠we wanted to ask if youâd like to come up to the main house. to stay.â patrickâs eye flickered between them. âto reduce the spread of germs.â art added. âyou can say no.â
they put him in the guest room down the hall from their bed room. he came to every breakfast and dinner. lily even started inviting him to family movie night. things were getting incredibly domestic and it scared them how quick and easily it seemed to have happened.
âtashi will kill you if you come to the movie smelling like that.â
patrick looked back to see art stepping onto the patio to join him. âiâll shower.â he answered, letting smoke blow out his nose. artâs body moved before his mind, and he couldnât stop himself from pulling the cigarette from patrickâs lips and slipping it between his own. he took a long drag holding it for a moment before blowing out the smoke, letting his shoulders sag down.
âfuck, been needing that.â
ânow youâll have to shower too.â patrick took the cigarette back.
âyeah. maybe iâll join you.â
they both bit back a stupid grin.
tashi couldnât take it anymore. they all need to talk.
patrick felt so out of place standing in the middle of their master bedroom. art was sitting on the bed and tashi standing off by the bathroom door.
tashi broke the uncomfortable silence.
patrick knew what was coming next. âiâll start packing up-â
âwhyâd you leave us that night.â
the elephant has been addressed. he wasnât here so they could kick him, yet, they want to talk which is probably worse.
âwhyâd you leave without saying anything?â
patrick scoffed. âwhat, you wanted me to wait around til you both woke up so you could kick me out?â
âthatâs not what would have happened.â
âoh, iâm sure.â sarcasm dripping from his words.
âwe wanted you to stay.â artâs voice interrupted them from going back and forth. âbut you always think you know better than what people want. you never even gave us the chance.â
âlove you.â tashi spoke up. âgod, youâre always so fucking difficult⌠i invited you here because yes, i see potential in you, but also because when weâre all together itâs like everything makes sense.â
the two men were silent. theyâve never heard tashi speak so vulnerability.
âi saw something in art come back when you played together. i felt something come back in me. jesus, patrick we need you ok. we need you in our lives not just as a player weâre coaching but as ours.â
âplease say something.â art said.
patrick gaped at them a little longer letting her words skink in.
âyes. fuck yes.â was all he needed to say. âi donât care if itâs too early for, but i love you guys.â he moved fast towards tashi pulling her in for a kiss that caught her off guard, but she quickly recovered. backing him towards the bed where art still sat. the three of them fell into a rhythm similar to the one in new rochelle except this one was slower, they enjoyed each others company.
when morning came patrick was right in the middle where they left him.