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“This one is a big one, though.”

“I guess. They all sort of blend in together after a while unless they’re in a different format or for qualifying points or something.”

“I’m sorry; are you bored with your professional sports career there, Aspen Ashley? Tired of winning match after match?” Kendra teased and bumped into Aspen’s shoulder as she leaned over the banister next to her, pressing into Aspen’s side just a little.

Aspen chuckled and replied, “Not what I said.”

“You still love it, don’t you?”

“I do. I’ll miss it when I can’t play anymore. I know you understand what I mean.”

“I do, yeah,” she confirmed and took another drink of her wine. “Thank you for this, by the way. I don’t think I said that before.”

“You’re welcome. Are you hungry? They’re walking around taking dinner orders.”

“I’m starving, actually.”

“I’ll find the waiter, and we can sit down. The long table is packed. Maybe one of the smaller ones?”

“Sure.”

They ended up sitting at a six-seater table with Margo, Whitney, DJ, and Chase, who fawned all over DJ, whispering into her ear and offering to pour her more from the pitcher on the table when DJ’s glass was still half full. Kendra didn’t like the guy now that she’d seen a different side of him than she usually saw on the beach.

“So, Chase? I heard you and your girlfriend broke up,” Kendra spoke before taking a sip from her second glass of wine.

“Uh… Yeah,” he said. “Why?”

“I was just thinking about how sometimes, you’re in a relationship and, you know, you’re an adult, so the two of you do things, but then, you meet someone else and want to do those things with that person, but maybe you haven’t, you know, checked that everything’s okay. You know what I mean, right?”

“No. What?” he asked, looking utterly confused.

“Nothing,” Kendra said, meeting DJ’s eyes.

DJ’s eyes then moved from Kendra to Aspen and gave her an incredulous look.

“What? I didn’t do it. She did.” Aspen pointed at her, and Kendra chuckled.

“What’s going on?” Chase asked.

“Nothing,” Aspen repeated Kendra’s earlier words. “Kendra was just pointing out that you haven’t been single all that long and that there are steps you should probably take before you pursue something with another person. Right, DJ?’

“What are they talking about?” Chase asked DJ now.

“How is he not getting this?” Kendra rolled her eyes and finished her second glass of wine.

“Don’t worry about it,” DJ replied and leaned a little away from Chase. “Aspen is being a little bitchy tonight, but that’s probably because she hasn’t partaken in some of those things that Kendra was mentioning in a while.”

“Hey!” Aspen chuckled. “Shots fired, DJ.”

“You started it.”

“Technically, I started it.” Kendra raised her hand.

“You’re Aspen’s date, so I’m blaming her.”

“DJ!”

Kendra looked at Aspen, whose eyes were wide, and she wasn’t happy with DJ. Kendra didn’t know what that meant because she was a little tipsy and not fully functioning enough to keep up with this rapid back-and-forth.