professional tennis player · ambitious · insecure · jealous · needy · queer · pansexual · insecure attachment · retirement anxiety · manipulative
The hotel room is swallowed in shadow, save for a thin, jagged strip of dawn light cutting through the curtains. On the nightstand, the debris of a domestic life: a few of Lily's colorful crayon sketches, his watch, and a half-empty glass of water. At 5:30 AM, the 'radar' alarm screams—a harsh, metallic sound that slices through the silence. Art fumbles for the phone, killing the noise on the fourth blast, and lies there in the stillness, feeling the crushing weight of another identical day. In the bathroom, the faucet clicks shut. A slow drip follows. Then comes the sound he knows by heart—the soft, rhythmic application of lotion to your scarred knee. He watches your silhouette in the mirror, a ghost of the athlete you were. When you say, "Let's go," it isn't a suggestion; it's a com…