When I woke a few days later after a particularly poor night's sleep, I should have been frustrated and irritable. However, as I made my way downstairs I was anything but. It was now only three days until the Melbourne Open began, and today I had to travel into the city for orientation. I was buzzing with anticipation.
I noticed the post-it on the fridge door as I reached for my morning class of milk. 'Good luck today honey, meet you at Richmond at 6. Mum and Dad xxx.' A smile crept across my face again as I remembered my folks were leaving on their anniversary trip after work tonight and wouldn't be home for ten days.
I'm a responsible young adult, rarely drink and even rarer do I ever find myself in serious trouble. I guess that's why my parents are more than happy to leave me to my own devices for a few days, and have done since I turned sixteen. Truth be told, I wasn't excited to have the house to myself to throw parties and let loose; I was mostly looking forward to some alone time. Pretty sad for an eighteen year old!
After breakfast and a quick shower, I dressed in some jeans and a simple, purple shirt and began the walk to the train station. Another positive about my parents' trip, I got free use of the car while they were gone, but for now I jumped on a pretty quiet Friday morning train.
The ride in was peaceful, I read a little as the journey took nearly an hour. As we pulled up to a station halfway to the city, I happened to look up and see a poster-board for the tournament. I smiled for the umpteenth time today!
"Funny book?" I turned my head to the direction of the question. Sitting opposite me was a young woman, I guessed in her early twenties. I realised I had no recollection of her sitting down, I had been totally oblivious to my surroundings for the journey this far.
"Erm, not exactly," I blushed, a little embarrassed at the real cause of my happiness. After a moment's silence the shame left me and I explained my feelings.
"Very cute! I'm Beth," the woman smiled as she reached across to shake my hand. For the rest of the journey we exchanged small-talk and laughed. It was a very pleasant start to the day. It was a good while into the conversation before I noticed how attractive Beth really was. She was petite, like me, with pale skin and bleached blonde hair. But it was her eyes that held my attention most; they were so big and a beautiful shade of blue. She was very pretty.
While I was admiring her, Beth proceeded to explain she was in her last year at uni, studying Anthropology. She made some joke about wasting time studying while she figured out how best to make her millions. She laughed nervously, and I could tell talking to strangers wasn't something she did often.
As the announcement came over the system the next stop was Richmond, I said goodbye to Beth and got up to leave. I placed my bag on my shoulders and started to head for the doors.
"Wait," Beth said as she reached for my arm, "a few of my uni friends are going out for drinks tonight, and I was wondering if you're interested...you're more than welcome to join us." She nervously brushed her hair behind her ear, and looked away as she spoke. This girl was too cute!
"I'm not really a big clubber," I replied, never one for new people, or drinking. But after seeing the disappointment on her face, I couldn't help but say I would think about it. The smile that swept over her in that moment was beautiful, and she hugged me as she handed me her phone number and sat back down.
I hurried through the doors and onto the platform, waving to Beth as the train pulled away. The sun was out now, and I had a spring in my step as I made my way towards the tennis complex. My mind however, was not on tennis, and I was confused as to why.
For weeks I had been unable to think of anything but this moment, but now, the butterflies were in my stomach for a different reason. Not because I was approaching the courts, but because I realised I had just been attracted to a girl who wasn't Amanda. My body tingled when it also hit me, that same girl had given me her phone number.
The next few hours inside the arenas were incredible. My mind was now at last, well and truly fixed on tennis, and the tournament that would begin in three days. After a quick tour, we were separated into groups, experienced ball people, and those who were new at it. The drills we did were fun, and helped to break the ice. I met lots of people, and in this environment found myself much more at ease than usual in social situations.
A couple of younger girls seemed to stick with me all afternoon, which I didn't mind. In fact, it made me feel quite proud. After the drills, we were taken to meet the tournament director and a few lines-people, to go through the etiquette, rules, expectations and finally a few practice scenarios.
Apart from one boy tripping and getting covered by the canvas used during rain delays, everyone was more than happy with the show we had put on. They provided us with snacks and after a final meeting, handed us our schedules and equipment lists.
Though it had been nearly six hours, I felt it had flown by. As I left the buildings, I walked to the street to wait for mum and dad to pick me up. Louise and Rachael, the two sixteen year olds from the meeting walked with me on their way to the station. We laughed and checked schedules to see when we could meet up next week, disappointed that it wouldn't be as easy as we'd hoped. As I saw mum and dad pulling over, I said my goodbyes and jumped in the back seat, grinning from ear to ear.
"Well, somebody looks happy," dad said. "I didn't think your parents going away would be reason to get this excited!"
Mum leaned over and playfully swatted his arm. "So, how did it go honey? Tell us everything.
The ride to the airport must have been over an hour. I honestly couldn't say, as I had blathered on about the afternoon, refusing to omit the smallest detail. Credit to my parents, they are great listeners, and take great interest in my passions. They never once interrupted, and seemed genuinely pleased for me. Perhaps they were thinking of their upcoming escape from my motor-mouth!
As we pulled into the quick drop-off section, I hugged them both and said yet another goodbye for the day. I jumped into the driver's seat, and began the long drive back home. The first time I had driven to the airport, I was a wreck. But I had been given multiple opportunities since gaining my license, and considered myself a bit of a pro now. Sitting in a huge queue, waiting to get onto the freeway, I didn't even lose my temper.
On the drive back, I thought about the day I'd had. The tennis was incredible, and it had never felt more excited than I did at that moment. Only a few days and it would be a reality. Just then, another thought popped into my head. Beth. I realised how I wish I had someone to talk to about her. My feelings, what I should do about her invite tonight. But I didn't. Mum and dad were away, and I didn't want them stressing about me during a relaxing break, and Mandy, well, I wasn't ready to tell her all the stuff that goes on in my head when it comes to girls!
I resigned myself to the fact I couldn't face crowds or clubs tonight, and even if I could, was Beth interested in me in that way? And let's not even start on what the fuck would happen if she was, I wouldn't know where to begin! In the jam, I pulled out her number, and messaged Beth a sincere apology and declined her invitation. Although my phone beeped in reply almost immediately, traffic was moving again and I left it unread until I got home.
When I got back in the house, I flipped my phone open and got a pleasant surprise. The message wasn't from Beth, but from Amanda, whom I hadn't seen since dinner a few nights before. It just read, 'call me. Mandy xxx'.
