Chapter 10: Partners

By the time I got back to the house, it was a little before six, giving me just enough time for a quick shower and change of clothes before I had to leave to pick Carly up from Chloë’s at seven.

We went to the Leisure Park on the east edge of Westmouth where we had a good choice of restaurants—everything from the usual array of fast-food joints to numerous national chains specialising in cuisine from all over the world and even two fairly upmarket (i.e. expensive) restaurants, one selling French food and one owned by a celebrity chef.

Faced with such an array of options, Carly didn’t know which to choose, so we ended up in Pizza Hut, which she recognised from ‘home.’ I promised to take her to Capello’s later in the week so she could sample some authentic Italian food cooked by an actual Italian chef.

After the meal, we faced a similar dilemma about what to do next since the park had a cinema, a bowling alley, and several other activities. She opted for bowling, after which I drove her back to Chloë’s, kissed her goodnight and went home.

And that’s pretty much how reading week went. During the day, Carly headed to the studio to write and record while I attended revision sessions or studied in the library or at home, sometimes with Imogen and sometimes alone.

Then, in the early evening, I’d pick Carly up from Chloë’s, we’d eat out, do something ‘fun’, and then I’d drive her back to Chloë’s, kiss her goodnight, and drive home.

Was I disappointed she didn’t want to spend the night with me? Well, yes, obviously. But I understood her reasons. And I’d have been the same if I were a guest in someone else’s home in a foreign country, too, I guess.

I went to the badminton club on Wednesday as usual, although Phil chose to study and didn’t come. It would have been just me, Jem and Mark but Alannah turned up, just as she’d promised, and she looked mighty fine in the same sleeveless white shirt and red skirt combo that she’d worn the first time we’d teamed up ‘properly,’ as she put it that day back in November.

“Not taking any chances, I see,” I said, using my racquet to gesture towards her knee. She had what looked like a long white elastic sock covering her leg from about mid-thigh, about two inches below her very short, pleated skirt, to around mid-calf. On top of that, there was a thicker support that wrapped around just the knee joint itself, pulled tight and held in place by three Velcro straps.

She gave me a sheepish smile and shrugged. “It’s what I should have been doing last term, but this thing kind of limits my movement. I mean, it’s supposed to. That’s the whole point. But it makes it more difficult to change direction quite as quickly as I need to, you know? Which, again, is the point but...” She shrugged again.

I smiled back. “I get it.”

“Hey, when you two have stopped flirting, can we pick partners?” Jem said.

“Pick partners?” I said, “we already have.” I waved my racquet towards Alannah. “A team, remember? Partners.”

“Oh, no,” Jem replied, “No way. You two aren’t entering any more tournaments, right? That’s what you said. So, you don’t need to partner up and practice. Which means we need to mix things up.”

“He’s right,” said Mark. “So baggsy with Lana today.”

“Hey!” said Jem. “It was my idea.”

Mark shrugged. “Should have called baggsy, then.”

I looked at Alannah and shrugged. “Looks like you’ve got an extra handicap on top of your knee. I promise to go easy on you.”

She grinned and said with a laugh, “Don’t you dare, mister. I can still beat you on one leg.”

“Yeah, but on one leg and with him as a partner?”

She shrugged. “Guess we’ll see.”

“You shouldn’t be flirting anyway,” Mark said as we walked onto the court, waving his racquet at me. “What would your girlfriend say?”

“Girlfriend?” Alannah said, her voice a slightly higher pitch than usual. “But I thought you broke up ... erm ... Sorry, what was her name? At the end of last term? Did you change your mind or something?”

“Hannah,” I said. “And no, we didn’t change our minds.” I glanced at Mark and scowled. “And I don’t have a girlfriend. Just a friend, who’s a girl, that I’m spending some time with until she goes home to America.”

“America?” Her voice was even higher now. “Just a friend? Spending time with? What’s going on, Paul?”

Part of me wanted to tell her it was none of her business. But part of me knew that, on some level, we were actually friends, so why shouldn’t she know? All my other friends did.

“It’s... Complicated. I’ll explain later.”

“You better, buster. I’m sure Lily will want to know too.”

I rolled my eyes at her. “It wouldn’t surprise me if Lily already knows.”

“Why are you two still flirting when we could be playing? I’ve got a chance to actually get one over on you here.”

“We’re not flirting,” said Alannah.

“Yeah, right,” said Mark, “And the pope’s not fucking catholic neither. Come on, let’s play.”

The first time I played against Alannah, she really wanted to beat me, and it showed. This time, I think she just wanted to have fun. Rather than go for the ‘killer shot,’ she chose to keep the rally going more often than not. At times, it felt as if the game was just me and her hitting the shuttle back and forth between us while Mark and Jem stood and watched.

And I’ll admit that at times I got distracted watching her—as much as I’d enjoyed watching her from behind when we’d played together, it was well worth watching her from the front too, if you know what I mean.

“Thank you,” she said as we walked towards the exit after the game. “I enjoyed that. It’s been such a long time since I just played for the fun of it rather than playing because I needed to win. All those tournaments. All that practice. It was nice not to have to worry about the score or technique or tactics or any of that and just have fun.”

“You’re welcome. I mean that. You’re welcome to join us whenever you want.”

“I may just take you up on that. I think that last term I was a little bit ... What’s the best way to describe it? Insular? Isolated? I don’t know. I didn’t really get out as much as some of my housemates. Orchestra and my string quartet and badminton with you, and that’s about it.”

“You went out on Fridays and Saturdays with your friends, though, right?”

She shook her head. “Sometimes, but not every week. I’m used to having to be careful with money, you know? Always have been. And I couldn’t always afford to go out at the weekend.”

“The scholarship money will help with that, though, right?”

She shrugged. “Maybe. Probably. But I don’t think I’ll be going out to party any more than before or anything. Just worrying about money less, I guess. Besides, it’s sometimes difficult to find time to practise my cello, and it’s easier if everyone else has gone out.”

I grinned. “You that bad, huh?”

She giggled and slapped me playfully. “Silly. I just mean that it can be quite loud, and the walls in the flat are quite thin. Not a good combination if the person on the other side of the wall is trying to study.”

“Don’t they have practice rooms somewhere that you can use?”

She nodded. “In the arts centre. But have you seen how big a cello is? I’d rather not have to lump it around unless I absolutely have to. It’s fine, though. I’m not here to have a good time, really. I’m here to study and get a good degree, so that I can have a better future.”

I shrugged. “There’s no reason you can’t do both.”

“My bank balance says otherwise, even with the scholarship.” She gave me a sly grin and added quietly, “We’re not all millionaires, Paul.”

I shook my head. “That’s going to be a ‘thing’ now, that line, isn’t it?”

She shrugged. “Not all the time.”

By now, we were at the entrance to the sports hall. Mark, who was a few steps ahead of me with Jem, turned around and said, “If you’ve finished flirting again, are you coming up to the gym? You missed a bunch of sessions last term with your tournament and stuff. You’re getting out of shape.”

“Fuck you am I getting out of shape. You’re getting out of shape with all those roast dinners you’ve been eating.”

“Like you haven’t been right there with me eating them. You coming, or not?”

“Well, I was going to walk Lana home. It’s dark and there’s...”

“Yeah, yeah, there’s a nutter on the loose, we know.” He turned to Jem. “Fancy it? I need someone to spot for me.”

Before he could answer, Alannah said, “Actually, I was kinda hoping I could join you guys. I mean, not lifting weights or anything, just in the gym for a bit.”

I looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

“I saw the doctor over the break—you know, about my knee—and he told me off for not doing the exercises I’m supposed to do to strengthen it.”

“What sort of exercises?”

“Anything that involves gently bending my knee repeatedly, like squats. But I felt like an idiot doing them alone in my room, so I stopped. But I figured if I come with you guys to the gym, I won’t feel as silly. Plus, they’ve got those machines, haven’t they? The ones where you sit and lift the weights with your legs or lie down and do it, although I’m probably not dressed for that. I could just put it on the lowest weight and as my knee gets stronger—if it gets stronger—I can increase the weight a little.”