Believe it or not, beach volleyball is not just skin deep.

There’s give and take, remorse and reconciliation, jealousy and security.

You ask the women how they feel about the bikinis they barely wear, the ones which lead the world into their stadium, and they blink.

Your partner is the one to whom you’re exposed.

“It’s like dating,” April Ross said.

“It’s totally like dating,” Jen Kessy said.

Kessy and Ross will be in London for the Olympics, representing the U.S. in general and the Orange County beach in particular.

Ross played at Newport Harbor, Kessy at Dana Hills, and both at USC.

Very few sports throw two teammates onto the sand and leave them hanging, with no lifeline to anything but each other. Kessy and Ross are close enough to discuss their alliance with no hangups.

And, when one leaves a sentence hanging, the other spikes it.

“Breaking up is even more like dating,” Ross said. “There’s tears. One partner doesn’t speak to each other.”

“How dare you not want to play with me anymore!” Kessy exclaimed.

“It was like calling a guy for a date, when we got together,” Ross said. “I was sitting on the curb. I was so nervous. ‘She’s going to shoot me down.”’

“But even when we did get together, it wasn’t a full date,” Kessy said. “We kinda did coffee.”

Kessy/Ross won the second tournament they ever played. They’ve been an item ever since, not just because their games fit but because they can handle each other in the long hours of real life, in a Belgian airport or a Brazilian taxi.

“We’re both easy-going,” Ross said. “We don’t get hung up on the little things. Some teams are planning their travel six months in advance. We’ll get everything together in a week. Maybe I’ll be a little late for warmup. Some people would panic. Jen just says, ‘April’s on her way.”’

“Our love of fun gets us through it,” Kessy said. “We have fun, we smile. We’ll lose and we’re both really mad, but then one of us will say something that will make the other one laugh. It’s just a good thing I don’t slurp my food. She hates that.”

Kessy/Ross have been together since 2007. In 2009 they won the FIVB World Championship, in Norway. Currently they are ranked fourth in the world, one spot behind Misty May-Treanor/Kerri Walsh-Jennings of the U.S., with Larissa/Juliana of Brazil on top.

Ross is 30, Kessy almost 35. Ross was a two-time first-team All-American with the Trojans and won two national titles. It was expected that Ross would continue her indoor success without a detour, but she found herself idled on Team USA. The beach, never her favorite, kept calling.

“I didn’t like the beach for a very superficial reason — I’d get all sandy and sweaty and gross,” Ross said. “I’d want to get back to the gym.”

Eventually she learned what they all learn, that the beach is a jazz riff and the indoor game is marching band.

“It’s a game where you think for yourself,” Kessy said. “It’s just me and April. We have a coach but we can’t communicate during the game.”

“The indoor game is so specific now,” Ross said. “If you can block or set, that’s what you do. You either jump super-super-high or you have a fast, strong arm. Maybe you don’t have to pass …

“On the beach you have to do everything, pass, set, play defense, be fast to run balls down, jump in the sand,” Kessy said. “And if you look at the elite teams on the beach, they’re usually blocker/defense combos. We can both do everything. Some days I’m a terrible defender, so let me run up to the net. I don’t think everybody can do that.”

Ross also pointed out that the beach teams take control of their careers. They schedule their own workouts and their travel, which is a worldwide affair now that the U.S.-based AVP tour has nearly disappeared. If they are hurting they don’t have to convince their coach to let them off practice. It’s empowering, a game for adults.

“I love the travel, it’s one of the perks,” Ross said. “The indoor game, I hated it some in high school and some in college, but I always came back because I saw that the championships make all the work worthwhile. I got away from the game for a while, worked at the House of Blues for a while. I loved that, too. But when I went on the beach, there wasn’t a thing I didn’t love about it. I can’t picture not playing unless I’m forced out of it.”

“It’s weird being home now,” Kessy said. “It’s like, OK, where am I going now?”

The relationship almost hit the rocks when Kessy became involved with a boyfriend, and the girls weren’t sharing as much time. “Kinda messed up our team dynamic a little bit,” Kessy said. “But we had one good talk, one good cry. And that was it.”

Otherwise, the routine remains. Kessy and Ross handle the tight-fitting European hotel rooms. They train together each morning. They stop at Rose Bakery in Laguna Beach. They lift weights.

And then it’s off to London, and the volleyball courts at the Horse Guards Parade, where Queen Elizabeth greets the cavalry every year on her birthday.

Each will be bringing the type of uniform that might not pass royal inspection. Beneath it, they’re still a band of sisters.

Contact the writer: mwhicker@ocregister.com