what's all that racket

[persnicketiest]

can't be a has been if you were only an almost was

Comments

[cauda]

[ her scoff sounds like she is smiling, much happier than when she answered the phone. ]

Every story of Olga of Kyiv is wild.

[persnicketiest]

( yawwwwn big fake awful yawn he's a jock not a thespian )

[cauda]

Okay, I see how it is. Consider yourself disinvited to the entirety of Sweden. Banned.

[ banned! he is banned from her entire country!!! she has this clearance! ]

[persnicketiest]

I'll just steal your key.

( he probably should not be admitting he knows she has it, but this is the best he's felt in months and it's been an impulsive kind of day. )

[cauda]

I think you're too busy defending my honor on the internet to steal my shit, honestly.

[ her brother keeps texting her screenshots. she really can't escape twitter. ]

[persnicketiest]

( his tone shifts, voice dropping an octave, too low to be a command: )

I told you to stay offline, Lind.

[cauda]

You didn't tell Alex.

[ he was already a huge fan and now he has doubled down on stanning nat's "tennis bro" ]

[persnicketiest]

Shit.

( he sucks in a breath, blows it out again. maybe he can redirect. )

What's he up to these days anyway?

( wow, dude. smooth. )

[cauda]

Still throwing bricks.

[ he is a stone mason and does beautiful fucking work, just the most delicate and elegant masonry. people pay him so much money to put in stone backsplashes for them and then he retreats to the woods behind their childhood home to keep laying hand-carved stones to build his own fairy tale cottage.

the most views she has ever gotten on instagram was when she asked her brother a bunch of questions about when they were kids, as he was hauling boulders in a grey tee shirt. ]

He, uh, he punched Al. So I can see where the sound bites are coming from.

[ he's like an angry dog licking his wounds, she gets it. ]

[persnicketiest]

( gabriel makes a satisfied sound, hearing that alex's life is moseying along nicely. then he makes another, more sharply approving. )

Nah, that's not understandable. He's just a weak willed worm of a man.

( any decent person would have taken it on the chin instead of running and crying for everyone to hear. that's fine gabe's just gonna start #GlassJawAl real quick nbd... )

[cauda]

I'll tell him you approve.

[ there comes a scratchy, rustling noise as she sinks into the couch and smothers herself in the blankets.

she might sound better but she is still suffering from sleepy bitch disease. ]

[persnicketiest]

I only regret not seeing it.

( it dawns on him that he could have been there, would have been there probably. to witness it, to better speak out against some abusive shithead coach with the weight of his own worth despite his already turbulent reputation. now all he has is impotent shit-stirring online. )

Ah shit, hey I forgot I have a meeting. ( no he didn't, and no he doesn't. but he does have an idea. ) I gotta let you go, but congrats on cutting the dead weight and getting free.

[cauda]

Uh, yeah, thanks.

[ it's so abrupt she is off-footed for a handful of seconds, shaking her head like a confused dog. ]

Don't make me text you in all caps again.

[persnicketiest]

No promises.

( this was the first time he's surfaced from the haze of anger and depression since the accident, and he tries to make it sound like a joke a little bit. but she can't get used to it. he's going to try to capitalize on it, but he can't let her expect this again.

she's the only one who bothered to reach out, and she doesn't deserve his bullshit. )

You should go sleep for a week, probably. It was good talking to you.

[cauda]

You too.

[ the smile is in her voice again, a soft hum. she doesn't say she misses him because he might die but she thinks it really, really hard. ]

Hej då, G.

[persnicketiest]

Bye, Lind.

( he hangs up but doesn't get off the phone for another couple of hours. the calls he makes are awkward and uncomfortable but he's a twat and everyone knows he's a twat so really that just makes it easier for him to cut through bullshit, even if he doesn't get a ton of leads. it's enough for now.

and he may not have his family's money or resources anymore, but the network he built on his reputation was his own. maybe lind won't thank him, it's not like she needs his help lining up new coaches—but the ones he urges to approach her are at least the stand up kind.

he thinks about turning down an impromptu on skype for an online hot take for some nobody working at an espn subsidiary, but what's he got to lose at this point?

and so a week later he's peppered online saying things like "al couldn't coach himself out of his own asshole" and "lind barely needs coaching anyway, i could do it with my good hand tied behind my back and that's saying something considering only two of my fingers on my right even work" and "just watch, now that she's cut the dead weight she's gonna dominate, and if she doesn't i'll break the two working fingers i have left."

which okay it's a little much even for him. why he's so pressed, he doesn't know. lind always got under his skin, and he couldn't figure out to get under hers. and here he is, acting like they're opposite each other with a net between them again, letting her live in his head. )

[cauda]

[ its about another week before she reaches out again but she has had a lot going on. al can't revoke her visa but she moves home before it expires anyway, settling back in to the lind homestead with her brother's help. she eats a lot of tiny fishes on brown bread and starts getting her energy back slowly, hits the ball around on the court at her primary school.

alex continues sending her screenshots of gabriel's antics, even though she doesn't ask. (he sends her screenshots of her "netflix boyfriend" liking and retweeting gabriel as well, really adding fuel to the fire.) she gets a few offers from a few fairly well-known coaches and she knows it is his doing but she demurs on answering. she's been sick, you see, she is still recovering from the hell flu, yeah she played sick, yeah that's insane, right?

eventually her parents sit her down and tell her that she can retire if she wants and she realizes she doesn't want to. she loves tennis. ]

you could coach me, huh? easy peasy?

[persnicketiest]

you basically coach yourself, perfectionist.

( has he ever been a bigger hypocrite? )

[cauda]

okay

do it

coach me

[persnicketiest]

lol very funny

[cauda]

i'm not kidding

i'll even come to you

i'll bring alex if that sweetens the pot

[persnicketiest]

i was just chapping his ass, i didn't mean to fuck with you. for once, really.

( he thought maybe he went too far yeah but it was obviously just to mess with the guy. gabriel's got nothing to lose anymore, he can trot out on limbs like that. )

[cauda]

[ well, okay. that... doesn't feel great but no, fuck him. ]

tough shit, you said it and i'm cashing in

[persnicketiest]

( fuck. why is this spinning out on him? )

there's nothing to cash, lind. it was a dumb hyperbolic turn of phrase. a joke on me and him, not you.

[cauda]

cool cool

you and your two fingers can stop now, i think he gets the picture