USWNT 3.0

42

Christen seemed worried. 

"Tobs" she let out, trying to find the right words. "I think I know how you feel-"

"You don't" she sharply said, looking at the ceiling with insistence. "God, what the fuck did I miss ?"

"Tobin".

This time, Allie's voice brought her back to reality. Tobin looked at her with courage, as she was setting her jaw before speaking. She knew her Harry was the kind of person to exactly know how she was feeling. Don't get her wrong : she really liked Christen because she was such a caring and sweet friend, but she wasn't Allie. And neither was Kelley. She immediately felt distressed with the blonde by her side. 

The taller girl winked at her. It was her way to tell her 'I'm here for you.' 

"Maybe Maura had her reasons to hide it from you" she went on, as all eyes were now locked on her. 

"Yah, you definitely shouldn't be mad at her." Kelley added, but when she felt Allie's cold glare on her, she immediately stopped talking. 

Tobin sighed. 

"I know. My parents were the one lying to me." she let out, disgusted by the lies. "I thought the death of two of my siblings brought us together, just the four of us, but I guess I was wrong. Geez, why would they lie about Maura ?" 

A cold silence welcomed Tobin's words. She kept on walking back and forth, as her friends were exchanging intrigued looks. 

° 

"Mal ? Wake up." 

The goalkeeper was feeling quite uncomfortable. That hadn't happened to her for years now, but here she was, a brunette peacefully sleeping beside her, cuddling against her back. She tried to move, but when she finally was on her back, Mal just wrapped her leg around Jenko's hips, causing her to shiver uncontrollably. 

The blonde couldn't help but kiss the forward's forehead, while gently caressing her hair. Shit, when did you become so nice and 'girlfriend material', uhn ? Jenko shook her head, looking at Mal sleeping. 

"Get your ugly ass away from me" she then whispered. 

This time, Mal heard her. She slowly opened her eyes, blinded by the sun. It already was 11 AM. They traveled by night, and arrived to Lyon earlier on this morning. Since Ashley was willing to visit the city when she was maybe going to play next year, and that Mal was alone on her room, the keeper decided to go and talk to her. They tried to figure out some homework for college, but ended up cuddling in Mal's bed. 

Instead of getting away from Jenko, Mal buried her face on the girl's neck. Jenko would lie if she said she wasn't feeling anything. 

"Seriously, I'm hungry" Jenko insisted, rolling her eyes. 

Mal straightened. "Did you not get up because you didn't want me to wake up ?" she asked, suddenly very exited. 

"No" the keeper said, in bad faith. She also didn't want the brunette to discover those growing disturbing feelings she was acknowledging day after day. "I know how grumpy you are in the morning. I wanted to have a good day." 

"Come on !" Mal exclaimed, rolling her eyes. "Just admit it ! You didn't want to wake me up !" She then froze. "Did you watch me during my sleep ?" she asked, raising her eyebrow. 

"Ew, no !" Jenko let out, trying to pull Mal aside. 

But the forward was persistent. She softly pinched Jenko's nose - because she knew the blonde hated it - and giggled. The keeper didn't think long before grabbing the back of Mal's neck and pulling her closer. The kiss was soft and natural, as Mal immediately responded. She climbed on top of Jenko, but the keeper reversed the situation. She surrounded her face with her hands, gently caressing her cheeks.  

The keeper then laughed, before biting her lips. When she looked down at Mal, she noticed that the smaller girl was not willing to let her go : her legs were wrapped around Jenko's waist. That is not a normal position for regular friends. 

"Sorry" she then apologized. 

Mal frowned. Jenko didn't move a bit. 

"You giggling pulls a trigger inside of me" Jenko innocently explained, looking down at Mal's lips. 

"Oh" the forward answered. "Let me giggle forever then, if that means you'll kiss me every time I do." 

Jenko frowned. She really was confused. Mal immediately noticed that tension : they were teammates, on a journey to win a World Cup. They needed to focus. And behaving like a couple wasn't helping with that. 

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-" Mal started. 

She let her legs fall on the bed, as the goalkeeper was suddenly getting up. She didn't seem mad ; only confused. 

"It's okay" the blonde coldly said. "Now, can we go downstairs and finally eat ? I'm hungry as fuck." 

"Fine"

Mal got up. 

It was at that very moment, as she was seeing Jenko shyly smiling at her, her blue eyes sparkling, that she knew that girl wouldn't only be a regular person in her life. She knew she had to fight for her.