legacy | uswnt

Legacy: Chapter 9

Exhausted from the day at practice, Lindsey flopped on her bed as soon as she entered her dorm, closing her eyes with a sigh. Her blonde hair was tied up in a limp ponytail, purple and white practice uniform still on and the reek of sweat floating around her like an aura.

Coach Sonnett had worked them extra hard and as it had appeared to her, worked Lindsey even harder. Either it was that the brunette was in worse shape than the rest of the girls and Sonnett just wanted to make her run more, or Sonnett loathed her and wanted to make her suffer. Or, it could be some reason unknown to mankind. 

Either way, Lindsey was tired, gross and desperately needed to take a shower, but the hum of water drifting from the tiny bathroom led to the conclusion that Lindsey's roommate and teammate Kristie had been in their for over half an hour. Steam leaked out under the door and Lindsey groaned loudly, the noise going unheard by the showering girl.

Lindsey wrinkled her nose as she peeled off the athletic clothing that stuck to her skin with sweat. Tossing them into her half of the closet, the girl threw on a pair of jeans, a Beatles tee shirt and sandals, grabbing her key and phone and heading out the room into the outside world.

Within minutes, the woman had landed herself outside of the apartment that belonged to the soccer captain Allie, and three of the other girls. She stared up at the room number, in awe that her feet had brought her to the place her mind didn't realize it knew. She knocked on the door, the frown still on her face when Allie Long's tan face smiled down on her.

"Uh... heeyy Linds!" she chuckled, looking around the hallway warily before opening the door wider. "What's up?"

The junior shrugged. "Can you hang out?" The moment the question had been posed, the girl could feel herself pale as Allie's eyebrows shot upwards into her hairline.

"Ha-hang out?"

Lindsey finally smiled. "Yeah. You know, watch some TV or grab some food?"

Allie nodded hesitantly. "Um. Sure! I guess that works. Come in! Hope and Alex are on the couch."

The blonde stuttered a hello to the two older girls when she walked into the living area to see both staring, starstruck at the interaction, directly at her and Allie as they walked in.

Alex smiled at the duo, saying, "Um... hi Lindsey! What's up?" 

Lindsey had to refrain from rolling her eyes at the question she had just be asked. Thankfully, Allie grinned at her and answered, "Hang out," plainly. On the couch, Hope and Alex shrugged and turned back to the episode of Pretty Little Liars that was airing on the TV. Lindsey had never seen the show before and to be honest, thought it was a little bit cliché and boring. She shut her mouth though, and sat down next to Hope and Allie, making sure to laugh at the "funny" moments. She reminded herself to give herself a pat on the back for convincing the older women that she knew the show fairly well. 

The episode ended and Hope clicked off the TV, turning towards the gang with a tired look. 

Alex looked around. "Does anyone wanna play cards? I have a stack of Uno with me. You know, always good to keep a deck around..." 

Allie smiled and Lindsey said, "Sure". Everyone looked at the goalkeeper who frowned. "I'm going to go check on Carli. She just went into my room to change, but I'm sure she's fallen asleep." 

Allie said, "Okay," as she grabbed the cards from her friend's hand and dealt them to the trio quickly, managing to knock over Lindsey's glass of water with the back of her hand. "Sorry, Linds," she apologized as Alex spun into the kitchen for paper towels. 

"Oh, uh, It's fine." With an awkward chuckle, Lindsey accepted the paper towels from Alex and mopped up the puddle clumsily, spraying herself with water. 

-

"Carls?" Hope asked, shaking her girlfriend cautiously. "Carli, wake up!" 

The midfielder was fast asleep on Hope's bed, her feet tucked under the woman's pillow and her lips pressed together so viciously that a stream of blood had begun to drip down her cracked bottom lip. The oversized sweatshirt she wore concealed her tucked away knees and her whole body shivered in what appeared to be a dream. 

"Carls?" 

There was no response as Carli rolled over in her sleep, now facing away from Hope. The goalkeeper continued with shaking her girlfriend, faster until the girl's eyes shot open and Carli violently untangled herself from the sweat soaked sheets. 

"Carls, you okay?" Hope asked, gripping the younger woman's shoulder tightly. Hope was pale and she could feel her rapidly beating heart start to slow down as she looked into Carli's terrified brown eyes. 

"You need to run Hope, they're going to catch you. They're going to kill you."

-

"Kristie, hurry up. We're going to be late." 

The blonde rolled her eyes as she pulled her bright pink flat iron through her last strip of hair, tugging the plug out of the outlet and stuffing the device into a drawer. "One moment, Mal," Kristie sighed as she applied a layer of lipstick, flipping the lightswitch to off. 

The two girls returned to Kristie's bed, where Steph and Mal's roommate, Rae, were perched, exchanging small talk about the new cafe that had been built on campus. "Are we ready?" Mal asked as Kristie wrapped an arm around the freshman and winked at Steph. The brunette blushed. 

"We're ready," Rae chirped, her flowered skirt bouncing as she hopped off the bed. The dark skinned girl grabbed her phone from the side table and opened the door, beaming as Steph, Kristie and Mal paraded out. Mal excused herself from Kristie's arm and entwined her fingers with Rae's, tugging the freshman down the hallway giddily.