More than best friends?

Chapter 14

Tobin thought after a dreamless night the nightmares wouldn't return.

She was wrong.

That night, her and Hope had some light conversation before deciding it was best if they turned the lights off. Tobin had dozed off easily while the veteran stayed up, reading the latest book she was into by her iPhone light. An hour after the midfielder fell asleep, Hope figured it was time to go to bed as well. Just as she was placing her phone and book onto the table, she her a soft sob. She squinted into the darkness over at her roommate.

"Tobin?" she called quietly, wondering if the girl was somehow still awake.

When the only response was more sobbing, she frowned. She'd roomed with Tobin before and she knew this wasn't like her at all, but then again, she hadn't roomed with Tobin in a while. Hope quietly slid out from under her covers and sat herself on the empty side of Tobin's bed. The sobs only continued, so she shaked the girl gently. "Tobin.."

After a few moments, Tobin woke to her body shaking. It wasn't her sob that were racking her body like this; it was her roommate. She felt the hot tears on her face and quickly wiped them away, sniffing a bit as her eyes adjusted into the light. "H-Hope?"

"You're crying," Hope stated the obvious, no visible emotion on her face. She was always hard to read, even for Tobin. She found it a little strange, but she got along well with Hope, anyway. Tobin tried to calm her breathing while Hope just looked at her. "Did I wake you?"

The veteran sighed, turning on the lamp. "No, I was just about to when I heard you. What's wrong?"

The midfielder was still trying to calm herself down and knew if she tried to explain, she would only end up bursting into tears again. So instead she just shook her head, biting her lip to stop herself from letting out sobbing noises. Tears still rushed down her face as her latest nightmare appeared fresh in her mind. She felt too weak and too vulnerable at that moment. Rarely any of her teammates had seen her cry, and for the one teammate to be Hope was ironic. Hope, who seemed so stoic and so emotionless on the field (and occasionally off), who was a sweetheart when you'd least expect it. Maybe it was perfect timing that Hope happened to be her roommate in this camp.

The goalkeeper sighed, taking on hand and wrapping it around one of Tobin's biceps, pulling her into a sitting position. Tobin didn't stop her, but tried to still keep in her sobs. Hope shook her head, scooting close enough to the younger one to where she was able to wrap her arms around her, pulling her into an embrace. Tobin gratefully accepted, her face digging into Hope's shirt as her sobs became uncontrollable and tears refused to stop. She clutched onto her teammate tightly, balling up parts of her shirt. Hope held her quietly, rubbing her back gently in attempts to calm her down. She knew talking about problems wasn't her or Tobin's strong point, so she allowed the smaller girl to let out all her emotions, not caring that they were losing sleep that night. It didn't matter to her that there was a game tomorrow; it didn't matter to either of them. Tobin was too busy trying to rid the hurt, and Hope was trying to be a good teammate and essentially a good friend.

Finally, after a long time of Tobin crying and Hope just holding her without a word, the midfielder's cries finally calmed down. "What were you dreaming about?"

"It wasn't a dream," Tobin mumbled into Hope's shirt.

"Nightmare then. What's causing this?"

Tobin knew better than to say nothing was causing it. Hope would see right through her; plus she didn't have any reason to lie to Hope. But she couldn't out herself and Alex without consulting Alex first. "One of my biggest fears," she whispered, pulling away from Hope and adjusting herself so they were sitting next to each other.