Only Friends

Chapter 25 - Anniversary

It was coming up to Jill and my one year anniversary. It was all sort of questionable when exactly Jill and I got together because we never really affirmed it on a day. We both collectively and telepathically knew we were together. So, we decided to celebrate our anniversary on the day we had the 'dutch dinner' and kissed in the car. Although not romantic, nor did we affirm a relationship on that day, it is the day when we realised we wanted to be together. 

When I woke up on that day in October, I looked at Jill and smiled. She was still asleep, and her hair fell perfectly over her face. Not to be biased, but she is the most beautiful person. I caressed her face, rubbing her cheek with my thumb wanting her to wake up.
"Happy sort of anniversary," I whispered to her. She gruntled back to me, slowly waking herself up.
"Goedemorgen. Gelukkige verjaardag," she replied to me. Although she is teaching me dutch and I can piece sentences together, sometimes she says things and I have no idea what they mean. I now regret learning French at school. I am a fluent french speaker, and so are my parents. But, it doesn't help knowing French when I have a dutch girlfriend.
"Translation?" I asked.
"Happy anniversary." She leant over and kissed me, and I replied. She felt safe, and secure. The one thing in life that brings me comfort, was her.

We got out of bed as she had to rush to Friday field training whereas because I am still injured, I was only continuing with rehab.
"I'm going to post something," she said, smugly as she was driving. Usually I would drive, but, because of my knee, despite it being ok, I use it as an excuse for her to drive.
I laughed, "Ok. I will too then." I could see her smile, and I chuckled back.
"Mine will be amazing," she said, her dutch accent peaking through. I have come to the realisation that when Jill is sarcastic or makes a joke, her Dutch accent always presents itself more heavily than when she is normally talking.
"Ok, if you say so," I replied back.

When we got to training, she rushed out onto the field to start her training, but I still had a couple of minutes before my physio got to the gym. So, I decided to beat her to posting, and upload before her. I went through my camera roll, trying to decipher which ones I would upload. I decided to go with three. The first was Jill and me sitting in front of a mirror. My legs were on her lap as I wrapped my other arm around her waist. I had my head on her shoulder as I snapped the mirror selfie. The next was Jill and me when we were both on the bench after a game with Arsenal. My head one her shoulder, and then hers resting on top of mine. We were sweating as we had just finished a game, but freezing at the same time as it was nearly zero degrees that night. The last photo was a selfie I took of her and me at the Olympics. She was in the dutch orange and I was in the aussie green and gold - although we were from different countries, we still couldn't be separated.

indiharrison: One year with you <3 ik hou van je, mijn meid

The first thing Jill taught me in Dutch was how to say I love you. So the caption translated to "I love you, my girl."
The comments, again, went crazy for it. Some loved that I was learning dutch for Jill.

preathxjindi: I love that she is learning dutch for Jill

walshisonstan: ndi's dutch skills are perfection

wosolover22: An Aussie learning dutch? Unheard of

And then others continued to question our timeline of being together.

preathisreal: it's only October, and they didn't confirm anything till April! We need answers!

arsenalfan55: When it has been a year for them, but only 6 months for us :(

chelsea33: How did 6 months turn into a year?

I felt bad that they were in the dark for so long, but none of it was on purpose. We never were truly comfortable and additionally, we didn't even know when we became official. We sort of made up this date.

After my gym session, the team and the other injured girls, such as Jordan, went into the dining room for lunch. I saw Jill and went over to her and Viv as they were eating their food.
"I beat you to it," I said into her ear.
"Only because I was late to training, because of you!" She said back to me, giving me a slight nudge.
"Now come on, no one likes a sore loser," I replied, giving her a kiss on the cheek as I went to grab myself some food from the buffet. I got my food, and went to sit next to Jill. I saw her on her phone, and as I peered over to look at what she was doing, she moved it away.
"Hey, hey," she said, suspiciously, "no looking!"
"Okay," I replied back.
"Can't believe you guys have been together a year," said Viv, as Jill continued to play with her phone.
"I know, it's weird," I said back to her.
"You guys only told us in like April," Leah chimed in, "but we kind of knew anyway."
"Well we thought you guys would catch on," I said, laughing.
"Yeah, you weren't that subtle," Jordan added.

As I went on my phone, before Jill had posted anything, I saw some of the comments left by Jill and my friends.

Jillroord: Nice dutch. Who taught you? I love you <3

Kmewis19: My absolute favourites!

Samanthakerr20: You guys are my OTP. Adopt me please!

Caitlinfoord: cutest little duo

Liawaelti: you two make me melt

Leahwilliamson: the two crazies who make each other sane

Jordannobbs: you guyssssss

Racheldaly3: <3

When I refreshed my feed, Jill's post turned up. I looked at her and I could see the pride printed on her face. The first picture was of me smiling at a restaurant. I had a pasta dish in front of me, and had my head leaning on my arms which were placed on the table. I was embarrassed because Jill had the flash on!
"You had me so embarrassed at this restaurant," I said to her, as I kept swiping along the pictures.
The next photo captured me on Jill's back, a couple days after my injury, and she carried me to the car after an intense physio session with the doctor. I remember being in absolute agony that day, and the girls just loved the fact I couldn't walk. Jordan had captured the photo as she walked in front of us. I had my head nuzzled into Jill's shoulder. The third photo was from our first time hanging out together. We were in the park, and we had our ice cream. She took a selfie of us, while I was licking my ice cream trying not to let it spill. It was so interesting seeing how much our relationship has evolved from us being scared of what a hand touch meant to now living together. And, as Jill always likes to one up me, she posted a fourth picture. It was from the disposable camera we had in Prague, when we played for Champions League qualifiers. It was of Jill and me after the match, both sweaty and gross, smiling into the camera, our arms wrapped around each other. My head was leaning slightly onto her shoulder, as you can see her hand squeezing my waist. She had a caption saying:

jillroord: First of many years with you, mijn liefje. We laugh a million times, and sing a million songs. Never want life without you in it. You and me <3

Her caption topped mine, for sure. She, despite having english as her second language, can always make me cry. I had a tiny tear trickling down my cheek as I turned to her.
"How come you write better than me?" I said, while going to sit on her lap, and give her a hug.
"Not sure," she said, chuckling slightly.
"Us aussies aren't great with words," Caitlin chimed in from the other end of the table. I nodded in reply.
"It's an Aussie thing, isn't it?" I asked, rhetorically.

As I was on Jill's lap still, I replied.

Indiharrison: Me commenting while I am sitting next to you lol!

Indiharrison: I love you endlessly <3

As I put my phone down on the table, and kept hugging her, she whispered in my ear.
"I think I won."
"You only say that because you write the good stuff, and I get emotional when you do," I said, leaning into her again.
"True, but I still think I won," she replied, with a cute glint of sarcasm in her voice.
"Ok miss competitive," I replied.

I went and sat back in my chair finishing my lunch. I stared at her, while she was talking to Viv thinking how did I get so lucky?