I stared at my tv in disbelief. How did this happen? They were undefeated. They deserved this. She deserved this.
My first instinct was to call her. Stupid I know, because she was still on the pitch according to the live feed coming in on the television. I did it anyways.
"Heyyy Ali here, sorry I missed you! Leave me a message and I'll try to get back to you!"
The familiar beep of the phone told me to talk. "Hey babe, it's me. Call me back when you get the chance, I love you so much."
I hung up. I didn't dare say anything about the game. I didn't dare say anything about how well she played or how proud of her I was. I knew she didn't want to hear it. No matter what I said I knew she wouldn't believe me.
It was a couple hours later when I finally got a call back. Her voice cracked as she talked. "Hey Ashy."
My heart broke into a million pieces. "Hey Ali Cat. How're you?"
"O-okay," she burst into tears.
I didn't know what to say. I just listened for a while until a familiar voice could be heard. "Hey Als, hey calm down. Who's on the phone?"
It was Crystal. "Hey Ash," I heard the sorrow in her voice as well.
"Hey Crys, is she okay?"
"No, I don't think any of us are."
"When are you guys heading back to Maryland?"
"Tomorrow," Crystal sighed. "We'll probably get there around five. Why?"
"Just wondering," I lied.
"Look Ash, we've gotta go. Coach wants to talk."
"Okay, give her the phone for a second please."
I heard the sniffling of my girlfriend again. "Ash?"
"I heard you gotta go. I just wanted to say I love you, more than you could ever imagine."
"I love you too. Talk to you later."
She hung up and I basically dove for my laptop. I looked for a flight and found one that would land around one o'clock the next day. Just enough time for me to get ready. I called up my teammate and friend, Alex Morgan.
"Yes?" she answered. "Did you see the game? Is Ali okay?"
"I saw, and not really. That's what I needed to talk to you about."
"Okay what's up?"
"You wanna make a last minute trip to Germantown?"
...
It was weird entering the house without Ali. Apollo recognized me almost immediately, Alex not so much. He barked at her for a little while. "Down boy," I said when he began to growl. "She's a friend."
He seemed to soften up a bit when I handed Alex a treat to give him. And then loved her once she started petting him. "He's pretty protective of me and Al," I chuckled. "But if an intruder brought him bacon we would be dead."
Alex laughed as well. "So why are we here again? Or more importantly, why am I here?"
"I can't set this damn thing up all by myself," I explained. "And I was going to ask Crystal to help if it had been next week like I planned but I think now is better."
"What are we setting up?" Alex looked puzzled at me as I pulled out a table from the guest bedroom.
"You'll see."
...
By four-thirty everything had been set up. The table had a bouquet of roses in the center, and there were rose petals going from the door all the way to the table.
Alex had put on some slow music. The dining room, all besides the table, had been cleared out. She had set up lights so it looked just as romantic as it felt.
Crystal had played a role as well. That morning she hid all of Ali's clothes that wasn't her dress she was going to wear to the after party. "I look like an idiot," she muttered, but it would be worth it.
Come five o'clock Alex had run somewhere off with Crystal. Ali came in around five fifteen, with me standing by the table in the dining room. "What the?" she stood in astonishment when she opened the door.
She looked at the table where she usually set her keys and found a note in familiar handwriting. Welcome home, follow the roses...
Ali followed the trail of roses until she found the table. She looked up from gazing at the centerpiece and met eyes with me. Her eyes were filled with tears. "Oh Ashy," she wrapped her arms around her. "It's beautiful."
I smiled and hugged back, before wiping the tears with my thumb. "No more tears baby," I kissed her head. "Let's eat."
I brought out the food Alex and me had made earlier. I seriously owed her big time. She had done so much for me.
Ali and I ate in relative quiet. When we both finished, I cleared my throat and stood up. "Alexandra Krieger," I began. "Since the day we met, you've managed to make me the happiest woman on the planet. When I finally got the nerve to ask you out, I couldn't believe it when you said yes. You've fought through thick and thin to be where you are. I mean for goodness sake you almost freaking died in 2005 and then came back to play professional soccer. You're a warrior Ali, and which is why I'm so glad that technically you don't have to change you last name if you said yes to this."
I got down on one knee. "Alexandra Blaire Krieger, make me the happiest woman in the world please, and marry me?"
Her hand clasped over her mouth and tears welled up in her eyes. I looked up, almost with fear. What if she says no?
"Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times yes!"
I stood up a breathed a sigh of relief as she wrapped her arms around me. I put the ring on her finger and then kissed her with passion. "Hey, maybe you didn't get to add onto your trophy collection," I whispered. "But at least I finished your rock one."
She laughed and pulled me down to kiss her again. This woman was all mine. And I wouldn't trade her for the entire universe.
