Page 87 of Game on, Love
My eyes squinted at the sudden light as the screen filled with her soft face that told me she’d just got out of the shower; her hair was up in a bun as she leaned back against her headboard.
For a moment, we both just looked at each other, our tiredness reflecting off before a genuine smile overtook her face. “Hey,” she said softly, and her mouth turned in a yawn.
Something in my chest loosened.
Fuck.
“Hey, Gorgeous. How are you feeling now?” I tilted slightly, switching on my lamp so she could see me too, though I instantly regretted it as a little crease formed on her forehead, I switched gears just to be sure. “Your segment was amazing.”
“I’m fine now. I wasn’t sure if it was a little too harsh, and no doubt some fans will call me out on it but Hazel is happy, so,” She lifted her shoulder, though she was sliding in her position, slowly by the second. “Have you not gone to bed yet?”
I sighed, before shaking my head.
She paused, the frown deepening a little. “What happened?”
“Just one of those nights, I guess.” I wasn’t trying to purposefully keep something from her. But I had never shared something like this with anyone either, and the words felt tight in my throat.
“Oliver,” Raina’s warm voice pulled me from a haze before I could enter my spiral—It wasn’t even a spiral at this point, just the same argument in my head each time, and each question was answered the same way. Every. Single. Time.
“Hm?”
She stared at me for a beat, before she spoke. “Can I ask you something about cricket?”
I frowned, thrown off guard, but at the same time, something in me calmed as I replied. “Yeah.”
“When it comes to choosing the order, you said the captain has to not just note a player’s strength but also who they work well with. Right?”
I nodded, still unsure where she was going with this.
“Why?”
“Well, because if it was uneven, both players would have a different goal, and it’s as simple as if they didn’t know how the other would react to a certain ball—like if it was a cover drive or a back-foot drive, in the moment I know which ones would end up by the boundary compared to the player and Noah can read me well enough to pick up on my cues too. This way, we know when to cover each other and protect the wicket at the same time. But, if instead, it was, let’s say, Sameer—who’s a Tail ender and has never been paired up with me in official matches, mightnot know how to read those cues well. And instead, we’d both get overwhelmed and create a weak partnership.”
She nodded, biting on her lower lip. “So, if you can read me well enough to know I’m having a difficult time, know that I cantoo. If you know that you’re able to give me a safe space to lean on you, know that I can, too. It won’t trigger me or overwhelm me because I know my strengths, just like you do too.”
Everything in me stilled as I went over her words. I hadn’t expected them, and I wasn’t sure how to react to them either. Understanding that she needed time and space came naturally to me, almost like my mind was in tune with hers to know what she needed, but before that moment, it hadn’t occurred to me that she might be in tune with mine, too.
“I’m not saying I need to know everything in the moment, but if there is something bothering you, I want you to be honest with me instead of deflecting,” She paused, almost like she hadn’t meant to say it, but I wasn’t surprised. Deflecting was easier than sharing, especially when you are around the same people you were when you were a kid. Nobody likes change, and once you stick a label on to the kind of person you are, no matter how old you get, you’re expected to be that version around them forever. “I just want you to know you can lean on me too.”
But as we sat in silence for a minute, the kind that felt more comforting than I’d ever known.
“I do trust you, you know,” I replied, meaning it. “But I’ll be better.”
She shifted slightly, pulling the duvet under her chin before nodding. “You want to talk about what happened tonight?”
I waited a minute. Two.
But the tightness in my chest never returned. “My dad… He’s getting worse.”
Raina stilled, her eyes filled with understanding as she whispered. “I’m sorry.”
I felt my pulse in my throat. I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I didn’t, and this time, she didn’t push.
Her eyelids were growing heavy, but she was fighting it. At that moment, I knew that I could watch like that for the rest of my life and never grow bored. It was mundane, but in an odd sense, I’d never experienced the genuine intimacy I had as she tried to fight sleep just so she could watch her screen.
Sometimes, less is more.
Her words echoed in my head, and I was suddenly glad it was a Sunday. Because, as much as Rihaan loved to drag me to train with him at the crack of dawn, he was oddly particular about Sunday being a sleep-in day. That meant I could steal another moment and watch her until she eventually dropped her phone or, if the sleep gods were in my favour, get a couple of hours under my belt, too.