Chapter 3

The next day, when Alejandro made his grand entry on the main court, he could only hope that she would be there to watch his match. He had no idea whether she had been at the last one, but he was convinced she knew about it at least, everyone did. Somehow, he felt that he had to make up for it, not only for her, but for all his disappointed fans. He noticed happily that the crowd cheered with the same enthusiasm as before when his name was called. They hadn't totally lost faith in him, and he had recovered faith in himself. He didn't care who was on the other side, the only thing he wanted was wining. His last match had left an open hole in his pride, and he.

As he was getting ready for the match, gathering towels and racquets, placing his bottles in the ice bin behind his chair, he searched the crowd. He wasn't even sure what he was looking for, or rather why he was looking for her. The stadium currently holding more than ten thousand excited viewers he couldn't trace her down and he sadly figured that she wasn't there. Shoving back this thought he went to the east side of the court, ready for the five minute warm up.

Serving first in this match, he took three balls, choosing two carefully and sending the third one back where it came from. He was dribbling the first ball when he felt like someone was staring at him intensely. He usually didn't bother with it; he was in a stadium full of people who would be staring at him for the next two hours, but pushed by some irrational fear, he looked up. There she was sitting in one of the many mezzanine rows, he couldn't tell which, her beautiful eyes staring at him. He stared back, forgetting about the ball... and he smiled at her without thinking. He felt the ball leaving his hand just in time to control its movement. With a new energy he made the ball bounce 10 times on the ground and served for the first time in this match. The ball flew in a perfect diagonal and bounced on the court at a speed of 125 mph. The poor German on this other side could have teleported himself that he still would not have had time to hit it.

- 15/love, announced the judge.

It all happened so fast that half the stadium was looking away and the other half was not paying attention. Upon hearing the judge they finally realised; the match had started with a beautifully executed ace from Alejandro. Within seconds the crowd was cheering and whistling, the fans were clapping so hard the stadium was shaking. Alex was thrilled; there is nothing better to get a champion pumped than opening the first game with an ace.

***

Violet had been sitting there since the beginning of the afternoon, and she could help but staring at him from the moment he came on court. She was desperately hoping that he would look her way.

- I don't think I have ever seen you like this! Even if, and I say if, he wanted to see you, he probably wouldn't find you in this crowd. Said Halley laughing at her friend once more, it was rapidly becoming a habit.

Violet knew she was right, but she could still wish, could she? One might think that she liked to torture herself with all of this, and you've only seen the beginning... The match was finally about to begin, she was getting impatient; eager to see if he was in a better shape than he had been two days ago. Unexpectedly, he looked up at her, or was he looking at someone else, then he smiled. It was most sincere smile she had ever seen, as if he was really happy to see her. He went back to the game as fast as he had looked in her direction. Now, more confused than before she didn't know what to think, he couldn't possibly be looking at her. She had millions of questions running through her head at the same time, it was making her dizzy.

Violet's body was shaken was intense wave of heat and she suddenly felt shaky and excited. She looked at Halley, that didn't help. Her expression was as confused and dazzled as hers. They both looked at each other in pure amazement and confusion.

-You're the reasonable one of us; please tell me I didn't just saw what I think I did.

-As much as I would love to, I don't think I can. I'm just as confused as you right now.

- 15/love, announced the judge.

This was enough to bring Violet back to reality, and soon she joined the crowd cheering as hard as her lungs would allow her. After that she desperately tried to get forget about that by concentrating as hard as she could on the match. It worked, for a while, but the match didn't last half as long as she expected. Soon, Alejandro and the 19 year old German were replaced by two other players. Less than two hours later the afternoon matches were over and too soon for her own taste she found herself in the dining area once again. There is one thing I failed to mentioned (what a bad narrator I make), Violet is not only a big fan of Alex, but a big of tennis in general. It may seem as though she was only there for him, which you already know is true in a way, but she was also there for the sport. She could really appreciate the beauty of the sport, she knew all the stats by heart, checked the rankings once a week and religiously followed all the major tournament. She was even an amateur player, but being as clumsy as she was well... you can imagine it did not always end in a good way. Most of the time, she was a fairly decent player though.

***

Alejandro was trilled, he had made one of the best come back in the history of tennis. After playing so badly in the first round, he rolled through the second one, securing his place in the third round. He felt bad for the qualified Australian who would have to start all over again in the next tournament, but that was all part of the deal. He had won the first set 6 games to 0 in about 35 minutes, and the second one 6 games to one in less than 45 minutes. He even made up for being a jerk the last time, by spending 15 minutes signing autographs after the match. The smiles he got from the youngest fans, kids for the most part, eased a little of his guilt. He loved signing autographs for them, drawing funky faces beside his name.

-"Man, I don't know what the hell you did before your match, but it certainly worked. That poor guy didn't stand a chance" Said Fernando to Alejandro while they were walking back to central court.

- I know, but I kind of feel bad for him, he really did the best he could.

-Why do you always have to be such a gentleman, can't you just enjoy the glory while it's there.

Alejandro ignored his last comment, although he knew he was right. He was lucky to be so talented, and he should just enjoy it, but that was not who he was. He didn't like to brag and felt strongly about those who did, he thought in all honesty that they were a bunch of jerks. Fernando was another player from Spain, very talented, but still not enough to ever make it into the top ten. He would never say so, but he envied Alejandro very much. He would get pissed at him for saying things like that, but deep inside he wished he could be that humble.

-"Whatever you say", replied Alejandro, "I'm not the one who needs a lesson in humility..." he dropped the last bit knowing that he had touched a sensitive cord.

Alejandro had once been a light-hearted person, and still was not so long ago. He had somewhat lost that part of him when the rankings had changed. He had found himself overwhelmed by pressure since then and it was playing with his mood. So, he had lost his wonderful smile and his laugh had lost its sincerity.

- "What are you staring at like that? Or should I say who??"

Alejandro hadn't noticed that he was not walking anymore until Fernando came back, to tease him. He now realised that he had been staring at the girl again, luckily she didn't seem to be looking their way. Violet really wasn't looking his way, in fact she had no idea that he was even near her for she would have probably hide behind Haley not to face him.

- So... which one is she? If I didn't know better I would say the short, tanned and very sexy one, but I believe she's not exactly your type. I am wrong? Then, I shall go for the taller, cute brunette! Said Fernando, visibly amused by this whole thing.

His friend didn't say anything, not that he didn't want to, more that, at the moment, he was unable to. He was standing there, petrified, his mind racing trying to determine whether to talk to her or not, imagining hundreds of different ways to introduce himself, all lamer than the previous one. He was glad that she wasn't looking in his direction, he wanted to smile at her and see her smile back, but he also doubted he looked very intelligent standing in the middle of the way like an idiot. And let's face it, he was not totally wrong. He had this spaced out look on his face, with his eyes looking up, his eyebrows twitched a little and his mouth forming a straight and hard smile. You know the look you get from concentrating too hard or when you get totally lost in your thoughts. In the present case it was a bit of both, a mixture of intense reflection and total helplessness.

- Don't tell you are actually going to stay there and stare at her while she passes by. I know you have lost touch with reality lately but that's not a reason to act like a goof. Go talk to her for god sakes, what are you? A secluded, lonely and socially enabled chess player...teased Fernando, oblivious to Alejandro's internal debates.

Either the comment made its way to Alex's mind or he finally came back to earth, but our famous tennis man seemed to have finally wakened up from his trance. "I am no secluded chess player; I am Alejandro Cortés, number one tennis player in the world. If I can give conferences and interviews in front of dozens of journalist, play tennis everyday in stadiums filled with fans, I can certainly speak to a cute girl... very cute girl. No, no, no... Focus Alex, focus!!" With these thoughts he left his friend and marched towards the girl.

Marched is no overstatement here, he walked like a roman soldier at the times of Julius Caesar in her direction, until he realized that he had nothing intelligent to say to her. Or maybe it is due to the fact the he literally bumped into Violet while blinded with fierce determination, forgetting to look where he was going. It all happened so fast, one second she was falling towards the ground at an incredible speed, the next he had his right arm around her waist securing her on her feet. Silently thanking the long hours of training and his tennis reflexes, he knew, now that he could release her, that she was safe, thanks to him, although he had been the one who put her in danger in the first place.

Yet, Alejandro didn't release her, he stared at her, longing for eye contact, and Violet stared back. Her green eyes locked in his perfect blue ones. They stayed like this for what seemed like eternity, not saying a word just looking intensely at each other. Beside them, Halley watched the whole scene in disbelief. A little further away, a very amused Fernando was running towards them, unable to stop laughing at the craziness of the last three minutes.

***

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