Chapter Text
Game, set, match, Rambeau!
Daisy clenched her jaw in disappointment as she walked to the net. Another early tournament exit, she thought glumly. The incredible form that she had found earlier the year seemed to have vanished the second the clay season was over, to her great annoyance.
“Good game.” Maria greeted her politely at the net, as Daisy willed herself to smile at the other woman. It was her first win in a while, and she probably needed the confidence boost as bad as Daisy did.
By the look on Maria’s face, Daisy’s attempt at a smile probably came off as more of a grimace, but she couldn’t be bothered to be nice. Besides, there would probably be a worse offender in the next few days, so it was unlikely that anyone was going to remember this in a week’s time. She grabbed her bags and headed off, letting her opponent have another moment in the spotlight.
In the locker room, her coach was waiting for her, impassive expression on the other woman’s face.
“You did well to recover in the second set.” The woman said, giving her a pat on the back. “We just needed you to be able to hold your nerve in the third.”
“I know, Mel.” Daisy replied glumly, flopping onto the wooden bench, looking a little bit like a hurt puppy. Melinda’s eyes softened as she went to sit next to the girl.
“It’s not the end of the world, Dais. Go home, spend some time with your family. Your form will come back, and there’s always another tournament.”
Daisy curled into her arms. “What would I ever do without you?”
Melinda snorted. “Go into a spiral and never win again, most probably.” She patted the girl on the back. “Now go. Your sister is waiting with dinner.”
E ! Magazine
Who is Kara Palamas? Everything that you need to know about tennis player Grant Ward’s actor and supermodel girlfriend.
Daisy snorted as she scrolled through her phone, sprawled on uncomfortable hotel room sheets. Actor and supermodel is a little bit of a stretch, she thought to herself, a little cattily.
Ding!
You have a message from Grant Ward.
Daisy’s eyes widened, momentarily guilty for snooping on her friend’s love life, as she clicked on the notification.
Sorry bout the match today
Daisy paused for a minute before replaying.
U were watching? Thought ud be busy
It’s your game
I’ll always find the time
Daisy felt butterflies erupt in her stomach.
Aww you sap
It was a shit game anyway, u should have
just done something else
I don’t mind, we all have shit games
sometimes
u don’t
What, did you forget all of last
year already lol?
That was different
It wasn’t this bad
It sure felt like it
Don’t worry, you’ll get ur form
back, it’s just a rough patch
“Haven’t you heard? Desperation doesn’t look pretty on anyone.”
Daisy startled as she suddenly noticed her sister, Kate standing by the foot of her bed, dinner tray balancing precariously in her hands.
“Jesus, Kate! How … When did you even get in here?”
“I have a key, you know.” Kate replied, putting the tray down. “It’s not just your room, I need to come and go as I please.”
“We should make you a pet door like the one Alpine has.” Daisy replied grumpily as she sat up. Kate smirked.
“You’d still never hear me coming, baby sis.” She replied, flopping onto the bed. “Now scoot, I brought Chinese.”
Daisy perked up, moving over. “Ooh, you really know how to rescue a shitty day.”
“Yup, nothing like commiserating about guys while eating cold Chinese takeout.”
Daisy snorted. “What would you know about commiserating about guys? When’s the last time you showed even the slightest interest in one?”
Kate spluttered. “I sleep around, you know. I’m in my slut era.”
Daisy rolled her eyes. “How’s – what’s her name – Yelena? The Russian chick?”
Kate hit her sister in the face with a pillow. “Shut. It.”
Daisy cackled. “So I was right, then?”
“How did you even know about Yelena?” Kate asked grumpily, putting the pillow down. “We thought we were keeping things low – key.”
Daisy waved her phone up in in the air. “A tennis gossip thread on the internet that I’ve been stalking.”
“What, those still exist?”
“Yup, surprisingly active. Someone there clocked it.”
Kate groaned. “Anyway, no more talk about my love life, let’s talk about yours.”
“My love life? It doesn’t exist, babe.”
Kate raised her eyebrows. “Umm, what about Grant?”
“What about him?” Daisy replied, a little defensively.
“Don’t tell me you don’t have a thing for him; everybody knows about this by now.”
Daisy scoffed. “Yeah, well he’s taken. And clearly, I’m not his type.”
Kate looked over at her sister. “Hon, if his type is hot idiots with no more than an iota of talent, you should be grateful that you aren’t his type.”
Daisy sighed. “Yeah, I guess. Still kinda stings, though.”
“Promise me you won’t spend the whole night moping about it?”
Daisy looked over at her sister. “I promise.”
Technically, she didn’t lie.
She also didn’t tell her sister that she was planning to slip on a little black dress that she had shoved into the bottom of her bag, go out, and get delightfully wasted.
But at least I’m not moping, she thought to herself as she sipped on her drink, tucked away into the corner of the bar, as she surveilled the bar, looking out for cameras or familiar faces.
“You’re too pretty to be standing all alone like this. Wanna dance?”
Daisy swiveled around to see a tall, handsome man with dirty blond hair leaning against the bar.
“I’m Lincoln.” He said, holding his hand out.
“Daisy.”
“Well, Daisy, would you care for a dance? I can’t leave the prettiest woman in the room standing all on her own.”
Daisy scoffed. “Flattery usually doesn’t work on me, you know.”
“Really? Ah, that’s a shame. Usually works on most girls.”
“If you’re trying to bait me into saying that I’m not like other girls, it’s not going to work.”
A grin broke over Lincoln’s face. “Damn, you caught me. I was just about to tell you how I’m not into most girls.” He paused. “Well then, maybe dance with me so you look less like a general loser by the bar.”
Daisy’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? Flattery didn’t work, so you’re going straight to insults?”
Lincoln shrugged. “Hey, I’d never forgive myself if I didn’t at least try.” He paused for a second, before continuing, sounding a little unsure now. “But if you’re really not interested, you can just say the word, and I’ll fuck off.”
Daisy gave the man in front of her a once- over. He seems nice enough, she mused. Doesn’t look like a murderer or anything.
“You know what? I’ll take you up on that offer.”
He beamed, holding out his hand. “After you, milady.”
Daisy took it, pulling him onto the dance floor as they began to sway to the music.
This is fun, she thought, as Lincoln wrapped his arms around her, singing softly. Maybe I should get his number later.
Daisy spun around, grin plastered on her face as she swayed to the music.
In hindsight, maybe that was the wrong move. Maybe she should have just continued looking at Lincoln.
Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a rather familiar looking man kissing a woman pushed up against the wall, wearing a pair of ridiculously high heels.
She froze.
Wait, she knew those people.
Grant. And Kara, most likely.
Daisy’s breath caught as Lincoln wrapped his arms around her once again.
It didn’t feel comforting, or sexy, this time.
She felt trapped.
“Daisy?”
The dance floor was too hot, and sticky, and loud, and crowded …
“Daisy!”
Daisy felt an arm guiding her out of the club and as the music began to fade around her, she began to feel her breathing go back to normal.
“I am so sorry.” She said, looking up at Lincoln, concern written all over his face. “That hasn’t happened in a while.”
“Don’t worry about it, I’m more worried about you. Do you have someone at home to help?”
“Yeah, my sister’s waiting at the hotel.”
He nodded. “Okay, I’ve called you an Uber. Go home, have some water, get some sleep, and lay off the drinking. You should be fine by tomorrow.”
Daisy looked at him, gratefully. “Thanks for this. And I’m really sorry for how tonight ended up. I didn’t mean to ruin your night.”
Lincoln smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll have many more nights. What we need right now, is for you to get better.”
Tennis Gossip Thread
Pg 49 of 49
User239
So… apparently Grant and Kara were spotted making out in the middle of a club last night lol
Tennisfan234
There’s a ton of pics all over twitter too, he’s really trying to forget that he got bageled in the last match
Skyelae23
Aww, they’re so cute!
Guess who else was at that same club last night too – Daisy Barnes – Rogers was caught dancing with a mystery guy
Anonuser
OMG I saw that too! Any idea who it was? Twitter sleuths, do ur thing, pls.
Tennisfan234
Apparently the pics are too blurry to be able to tell. All I can tell is that he’s blonde and tall. Doesn’t look famous.
Blackpinkgirlie
Funny that Daisy and Kara were both there since they don’t get along lol. I wonder if that’s why Daisy isn’t in any photos later in the night.
User239
Wait what? Spill the tea, I’m new here
Tennisfan234
So … the lore is that Kara used to follow Daisy, before Kara really got famous. A bunch of people have said that she used to go around telling people that she knew Daisy and they were friends and shit.
Then she started dating a tennis player ( and got a bunch of opportunities) who was good friends with Daisy, and Daisy blocked her on all socials. Just clean cut. No one knows why.
Anonuser
My sister met Kara, back when she was living in Paris and trying to be a model, and she can confirm that Kara used to tell everyone that she and Daisy were friends after Daisy started making waves. Its how she got into those circles in the first place. Then Daisy hit a slump, so she just stopped mentioning her, and latched onto Ward instead.
msMarvel-lous12
Didn’t she also have a very public falling out with Bobbi Morse (Daisy’s sister Kate’s alleged ex?)
User239
Jesus, does everyone in these circles know each other?
msMarvel-lous12
Yep, it’s basically high school