Only Friends

Chapter 17 - Afterparty

We stayed around to watch the gold medal match as Canada and Sweden were vying for the win. It was an exciting match, and seeing as I didn't care who won, it was enjoyable. Penalty shootouts are never fun when you are doing them yourself, but when other teams are, they are so entertaining. Canada won in penalties, so it was USA with bronze, Sweden with silver, and Canada with the gold.  

After the ceremonies, and once we had time to grieve our loss, I posted a picture from after the game. I was sitting all alone, looking sad, with a tear trickling down my face.

indiharrison: Gutted, but proud.

Got many love heart comments from Sam, Hayley, Caitlin and even Jill commented a sweet message.

Jillroord: Never been prouder of you, mijn liefje

Mijn liefje translates to my love in Dutch. She often calls me that, which I love.

A couple hours later, newspaper companies started releasing articles surrounding the bronze medal match, but more specifically the pictures of Kristie consoling Sam after the match

USWNT player consoles Matilda's captain after devastating loss in bronze medal match
USWNT player, Kristie Mewis, sweetly consoles Matilda's captain, Sam Kerr, after the Australian team's upsetting loss to the US in the bronze medal match. The Matilda's made history in Tokyo with their first medal match appearance, falling short to the Americans 4-3. Kerr, Australia's golden girl, has had a formidable Olympic experience, scoring 6 goals and helping the Matilda's beat Great Britain in the quarterfinals, paving way for the Matilda's first semi final appearance. After the upsetting loss, photographers captured Mewis and Kerr on the field, with Mewis sweetly comforting Kerr. As seen in the pictures below, Mewis hugged and talked with Kerr post game, aiming to brighten the captain's upsetting loss, despite being on opposing sides. Many question the relationship between these two star players, with the two often posting flirty comments on each other's Instagram. So, what do we think? Are they a couple?

That night, all the girls hung out together. Despite losing to the US, most of the girls are our friends so we all get together in the common area for drinks. Everyone knows that Kristie and Sam are a thing, so it's not surprising that when Kristie entered the room, she gravitated towards Sam. She went to where Sam and I were sitting and sat on her lap. Kristie gave Sam a sweet kiss as if to console her. As the articles kept increasing in numbers, much attention was thought to their relationship. They didn't mind the attention, but that isn't why they did it. Kristie was solemnly consoling Sam after losing, they were not trying to make any statement.
Caitlin had her polaroid at the gathering in the room, and was capturing the last night of the Olympics using it. I wish Jill was here. I miss her terribly. To stop myself from missing her, I asked Cait if I could be in control of the camera. She was reluctant at first, but when I promised her I would only take sensible pictures, she gave it over.
I got group shots of the USWNT and the Matildas all together in harmony, sitting and playing games. I got a cute picture of Emily Sonnet, Caitlin and Lindsey Horan, all of whom are really good friends.
I also captured the most iconic picture of the year, which ended up breaking the internet. As Kristie was sitting on Sam's lap, I thought it would be the cutest polaroid picture.
"Guys," I said to both of them, "Do something cute." They both looked at each other. Kristie wrapped her arms around Sam and Sam put her hands on Kristie's upper arms. Kristie's hair fell over her face, but, in my opinion, that made the photo even more iconic. They leaned in, and kissed. I snapped the polaroid and let it process. When it was developed, I was very pleased with myself. I showed Sam and Kristie, and they loved it.
"Should this be the picture?" Sam asked Kristie.
"I think so," she replied, as she leant in and kissed Sam again.
"What picture?" I asked, naively.
"The picture that makes it official," she replied, and then I caught on.

After the post bronze medal match pictures of Sam and Kristie dyed down a little, and stopped circulating the internet as much as they were previously, Sam posted the polaroid as a picture on her instagram. All the football girls were finally happy that they were official after the many months of flirting and suspense on the internet. The response from the post was crazy. Both girls gained tens of thousands of followers, and the picture surpassed 150,000 likes and 2,500 comments. Everyone had been waiting so long for them to make it official. I was proud and happy for them. They deserved the love they were getting from their fans. While Sam posted on instagram, Kristie instead posted a cute selfie of the two of them at a hotel, after the Olympics. Sam was hugging Kristie from behind and it was Kristie's way of cementing their relationship.

Sam and Kris got to spend around a month together after the Olympics. They both went to the USA, and holidayed in Miami, Newport (at Steph's beach house) and Portland. Although Kristie had to play some Dash games in Portland, Sam went along to support her. While I headed back to England to start pre season up with Arsenal. I can never be away from football for too long, I get restless. I needed to go back.

Note:
- words that are bold indicate a newspaper article
- let me know if you like the article inclusion (thought it would be kind of cool)