SUNSHINE

twenty two

[ Alright, you all might or might not hate me for this one... I'm going to tell you to enjoy reading anyhow ]

She had not been able to do much since she had gotten back from San Diego, and she was not going to be cleared for another week or so. Jill had gotten in contact with her to see how she was doing, but she had not informed her whether or not she would be chosen for the final World Cup roster. Since arriving back from their week stint of games, she had gained a lot of new followers on her Instagram and Twitter, and all of them were new fans and she could not be more flattered. She did not know most of these people, but she loved every one of them for sending her well wishes.

Casey was lying in her bed with her head on Jackson's chest, listening to his heartbeat as his fingers played with her hair. By now her sensitivity to light and sound had mostly gone away, but she still had a migraine, which was why they were laying in silence. He had been over all evening, their night starting out with dinner at Tony's and a walk on the beach. They wanted to surf, but the doctor advised her to avoid doing anything physically enduring, so any type of athletic pleasure was out of the picture.

"I want to do something." Casey said softly with a sigh.

"Anything you want to do involves a lot of physical activity." He answered, making them both laugh.

"I wish Jill would tell me I didn't make the roster already. It's supposed to come out tomorrow, right? You would think she would have called already." She thought out loud, Jackson being her wall to bounce her thoughts off of.

"Relax, she'll call to tell you you made the roster in the next few hours. You were the only one to play a whole game, so that's got to be a good sign, right?" He tried to reason with her, and she sat up in the bed and looked down at him.

"Yeah then I got injured. I'm accident prone, Jackson. I've been nailed in the head twice in the last two weeks and my stitches just got taken out of the back of my leg during district last week." She pondered on, and he just chuckled.

"Those injuries are because you're doing your job by protecting the net." He said, sitting up on the bed. "You'll get the spot, and if not, we'll go get tubs of ice cream and eat from the container until you feel better."

"I'm not gonna be disappointed if I don't make the team, but ice cream sounds pretty good." She responded, and he chuckled.

"Then let's go get ice cream. You drive I'll buy." Jackson stated with a wink, and she chuckled, getting off the bed and sliding her Birkenstocks in her feet.

"You're on." Casey answered with a smile, and just as she grabbed her keys, her phone started to buzz in her hands. She looked down at the name then looked up to Jackson. "Oh my God, this is it." She said almost inaudibly.

"Well answer it!" He urged, and she took a breath before she did so.

"Hello?" She greeted, starting to pace her bedroom.

"Hey Casey, how are you doing? How's the concussion?" Jill asked from the other end of the line.

"Still having some migraines but other than that I've been good." She responded.

"Good, hopefully you can get cleared soon. I'm assuming you know what this phone call is about?" She asked, and Casey felt her heart stop, speed up, do a backflip, and run laps in her chest.

"Yeah, I do." She answered with a sigh, trying to keep her nerves under control.

"Alright Casey. By what you've shown me and the coaching staff here in camp, you're a phenomenal player. You're playing like a veteran at the ripe age of eighteen." At this comment, she heard Jill chuckle to herself and she could not help but smile. "But we've decided to go with Campbell." With this her smile faltered and she sunk down on the bed. "It all came down to who had more experience, and I hate to say that it is Jane. Just know this, Casey Radcliffe. The fans, they won't forget your name. This team won't forget your name. FSU is going to be lucky to have you, and if they don't start you, they'd but dumb as hell not to. You're gonna get your shot, Radcliffe, just not right now."