Tommy

After I shook hands with my opponent after completing my match Sunday, I turned to walk towards my bag on the bench by the side of the court to put my racquets away.  I grinned, giddily, at Aaron, who had come to watch me play. 

I packed up my stuff, casually chatting with my opponent about the tennis seasons so far, and asked her if she by chance knew my brother, since the opposing team was from Purdue.  She said she didn’t, but asked if I had a picture, because she was better with faces than names.  I pulled out my phone and quickly pulled up a picture of him from Facebook.

She frowned at my screen, “He looks really familiar.  I think I have a class with him.  And, I think a girl on the team is friends with him, actually.”  She pointed towards a girl who was just finishing up her match against Cara (my doubles partner).

“What a small world,” I quipped.  We parted ways and I jogged over to Aaron and told him about my conversation with her.  He placed his hands on my shoulders and kissed my cheek.

“You did awesome today!”  He held out his hand for a high-five and I slapped it hard.

“Thanks.  Today finally felt fun again, playing.  I actually really felt carefree.”

“I could tell.”  We were walking side by side; he was carrying my bag, as he’d taken it from me when I’d approached him.  “So, are you going to talk to her?”  He nodded his head towards Cara’s opponent who was off the court and about to walk past us.

I nodded vigorously.  “Hey!” I called out, half waving my hand.

She stopped and looked at me, and then looked behind her.  Realizing I was talking to her, she changed directions and came towards me.  I summarized my brief conversation with the girl I had played against, told her my brother’s name, and showed her a picture of him.  Her eyes widened and she smiled at me.

“Oh my gosh!  You’re Tommy’s sister?”  Tommy?  Really?

“Uh, yeah.  So are you guys friends?”

She blushed slightly.  “Yeah.  We have a lot of our general ed classes together, because I’m a freshman, too.  He’s really sweet.”

I attempted to not make a face, trying to imagine my brother being sweet.  “Huh.  How is he doing?”

“He’s good!  We actually had a study date... I mean, we studied together a couple nights ago.  He’s really smart.  So far he has a 4.0.  I’m actually kind of jealous.  But he’s been helping me with some math things I’ve been struggling with.”

“Oh, yeah, he’s basically a math genius.  So have you met Miriam, then?”

She furrowed her brows at me.  “Who’s Miriam?”

I squinted my eyes at her, unsure if I was the one missing something, or if she was.  “Uh, nevermind.  I must be confused.”

We chatted a little longer until she left.

“Sorry about that,” I apologized to Aaron. 

He smiled and grabbed both of my hands.  “So, when you all are done here, I need you to go home, shower really quickly, and get ready, because I have a surprise date planned for us tonight, okay?

I couldn’t stop the grin that took over my face.  “Really?”

He teasingly rolled his eyes.  “Duh.”

“How should I dress?”

“Comfortable, casual, and with Husker pride.”

I laughed.  “Gotcha.  I’ll see what I can come up with.”

“Okay, I gotta go to get some things ready, but I’ll see you in a little bit.  Let’s say 5:30?”

“I’ll be ready.”  He kissed me lightly on the lips and started towards the exit.

I watched him walk away, and also felt pride as I saw several of the Purdue team’s players check him out as he walked by.  I went to join some teammates to watch the rest of a couple matches that were still going. 

I plopped on the ground next to Cara.  But shortly after sitting, I felt a tap on my shoulder.  I turned to see my opponent.  “Oh, hey.”

“Can I ask you something really quick?”

“Sure.”

“So the girl that knows your brother, Christa?”

“Yeah...?”

“She mentioned something to me about thinking they were kinda seeing each other or something, but you said something about another girl... I think she’s a little upset that you didn’t know he was seeing her, or maybe that he has a girlfriend or something?”

Try wife, I thought.  “Well, um...” I stalled, not wanting to throw my brother under the bus, even though he deserved it with how Miriam is.  “To be honest, I haven’t spoken to my brother a lot recently.  I’ve had some... things happen to me, and I’ve been a little occupied.  I don’t know what’s going on in his life.  If he’s seeing that girl, Christa, I probably am just confused because I haven’t talked to him in months.”

I made a mental note to call him asap.

She smiled.  “Okay.  I told her the girl you mentioned was probably just a friend or relative anyway.  I’ll let her know she has nothing to worry about.”

I refrained from rolling my eyes, thinking that was the exact opposite of what she should be doing.  We said bye, and I went back to watching the match.

After the matches, I got in my car to head home to shower and get ready for my surprise date.  I opened up Facebook on my phone, before backing out, and saw I had a new friend request from Christa.  With one friend in common, my brother.