Ashlyn
-
"So we're doing a video on Y/N, do you have anything to say about her?" The Studio 90 interviewer asks and I chuckle a little, nodding.
"What would you like to know?"
"What kind of person is Y/N?" She asks and I grin a little.
"Y/N is a great person, she's got such a pure heart, she plays with such passion and such heart, if she does something wrong and she knows it, she'll beat herself up over the mistake while getting advice on how to fix it, but she knows how to have fun during training, more fun than we already have." I say, chuckling a little at the instances that pop into my head.
"Could you give us an example?"
"Well, when we're here at camps, or even when her and I were playing for Orlando together, before she went off to Manchester with Carli, if we're having a tense practice where nobody is laughing or joking and everybody is just not how we usually are, if we're in the middle of a scrimmage, it won't matter where she is, in goal or in the midfield, if the ball is near her, she will start screaming, just, at the top of her lungs, like she's dropping in to attack someone." I say, laughing, remembering the one time we were scrimmaging and she was in goal while I was across from her in the opposite goal and the ball went into the attacking third, she did that, and saved it. "Today's getting tense, so I can guarantee that it'll happen today." I say and she nods.
"We'll keep an eye out."
"What else would you like to know about Y/N?"
"Do you have any interesting stories about you and her facing off with each other?"
"Yeah, her first year with the Thorns, when they played Washington, the team I was on back in 2015, Alex had the ball, and my defenders were doing their job, so Y/N comes up behind Alex yelling 'drop! Drop! Alex, you got drop!', so Alex drops to Y/N and Y/N takes the ball around the defenders before lobbing it to Tobin who had shifted up to support, and after she passed to Tobin, Y/N tried to get open again to score, and she did, so it was just her and I after she got past the back line and she strikes the ball, like, drills that thing toward me, and it just nails me on the knee, which sends it back into play, to Allie, who was perfectly placed, so I'm on the ground, rolling around and Y/N just runs off to support again, scores, and then realizes that I've been down for at least a minute by then. I was fine though, we were fine, I got up, we play fought, hugged and got back into the game, I mean, it's all in the job description, you know?"
"Does she get up to any kind of locker room hi-jinks?"
"Oh yeah, definitely, before our game against Australia, we were all in the locker room, still getting dressed, and her and Tobin's lockers are always next to each other, because her jersey number is 18, and Tobin's as we know, is 17, Y/N and Tobin are sitting in front of their lockers, talking, and while they're doing that, Kelley and Kling just start yelling, kinda like Y/N does, and while those two are yelling, Y/N very sneakily steals Tobin's armband, and gives it to me once we're out on the field warming up in goal. Tobin didn't notice until fifteen minutes to game time. She'll also sometimes dance around with everyone, or other crazy pranks like that, one time, while Press was showering after practice, Y/N went to the training room and got a cup full of the purple Gatorade powder and threw it on Press as soon as she stepped out from under the spray of the shower head, and I mean, I was impressed, because Y/N was staring at her feet as she threw the Gatorade over the top of the shower, impressive timing I guess." I say and the lady nods.
"Thank you." She says, and I nod before jogging back over to practice, and back into goal as Y/N is told to work on her striking.
-
"Come on, Y/N one more." Dawn encourages from the sideline and Y/N groans.
"I can't feel my ass, Dawn." Y/N protests, striking one of the last two balls, which I save, refocusing as Y/N goes the other way and strikes her last ball.
"Alright, go get some water, rest for a bit, and then we'll go from there." Dawn says, pointing at both Y/N and I, so we walk to the bench together and drink in relative silence.
"You're quiet today." Y/N points out and I shrug.
"We all are." I point out and Y/N nods.
"I'll fix that when we scrimmage." Y/N says and I laugh. "You know what's good." Y/N says, sitting down on the bench, still drinking water as I sit beside her.
After about ten minutes, Y/N isn't on the verge of death, and the rest of the girls are sent over for a rest, so, of course, Tobin and Alex race each other for the open spot next to Y/N, that Morgan wins, just because Tobin and Alex were wrestling each other like twin sisters.
"Hey, Plankton." Y/N says to Morgan, who looks over and offers a cheesy grin.
"Hey, Y/N/N." Morgan responds, laughing with Y/N as she notices Alex and Tobin arguing about who gets to sit on the recently occupied side of Y/N, since they hadn't noticed that they'd been beaten to the spot.
"Guys." Y/N says, grabbing Tobin and Alex's attention, who look over and see that Morgan is sitting in the spot they both wanted. "You kinda lost that race. You played yourselves." Y/N says and both sigh, taking a seat next to me as Jill and the rest of the staff come over and explain the scrimmage we're about to start, easy going, first to five, 8 v 8, full field, no subs, with Carli and Tobin as the captains, Y/N, Morgan, Alex, and I are put on Carli's team, and it goes me in goal, Kelley, Y/N, Morgan, and Kling as the back four, Carli, and Allie, in the middle, with Mal and Alex up top in a 4-2-2, and Tobin's team was in pennies with Alyssa in goal, Becky, Ali, Julie, and Pinoe in the back, Tobin, Crystal, and Sam in the middle, with Press up front by herself in a 4-3-1.
When Jill kicks the ball in from the sideline, Tobin got to the ball first, so we were defending first, and as Tobin came into our half and got closer to Y/N, Y/N started yelling, like she promised she would, it didn't really faze Tobin though, that is, until Y/N tackled her and hopped over her foot, hauling ass toward the other half of the field, still screaming. As Y/N gets to Ali, she pulls a Tobin on her and beats all four defenders before taking a hard shot on goal that barely gets past Alyssa, Alex runs over and hugs her before they come back to our half to get ready for another kick off after I give Y/N a little high five, and it seems like that first screaming goal put everyone in higher spirits than earlier, and the ball doesn't get past Mal, who drops the ball to Carli while Y/N slightly shifts up with the back line just in case Carli needs a drop, which proved useful, as Carli drops to Y/N as Crystal moves to pressure Carli, when Y/N gets open a little, she looks up the field to see Alex onside and open, so she lobs it up field to Alex, who settles it and makes a run of the pass, which she scores off of, when Press and Sam kick off again, Sam drops to Tobin as Carli and Allie pressure her, so Tobin beats them, but Y/N beats Tobin and runs across the field with it, giving Allie a through ball to work with. The ball gets to Mal, who passes to Alex so she can get open again before taking the ball back from Alex and scores on Alyssa in the lower right 90. This kick off is different, when Tobin is pressured in the mid field, she drops to Crystal, who switches the play to Sam, who is marked by Y/N, who tackles perfectly, megging Sam, but the ball goes to Julie, who lobs the ball up the field to Christen, who beats Morgan to get slide tackled by Kelley, who sends the ball up out of the attacking third, to Alex who was perfectly onside and open. This shot is saved though, and kicked up field to Tobin, who gives Press a through pass that's volleyed into the goal, because I was expecting Christen to settle the ball to ensure a goal, instead of taking a chance like that. I get the ball and roll it up field so we can kick off again, and when Allie gets the ball, she drops to Y/N as she's pressured, and Y/N passes over to Kelley, running with her as she makes a run, taking the pass from Kelley so Kelley could get into a better, run appropriate, position, and makes a good run and an even better goal.
After the 5-3 scrimmage, the eighteen of us that just played head over to the bench as the others get their scrimmage in, Jill usually puts us all in and allows subs, but I mean, we're here for three weeks and today's only the third day, there should be a full 11 v 11, subbed, 90 minute scrimmage at the end of each week, or just at the end of these three weeks.
-
Tobin
-
When Y/N was in the bathroom, the Studio 90 crew came over and pulled me aside for an interview to be in the video they're making about Y/N.
"So when you guys first met, it wasn't exactly an instant friendship, why was that?"
"I'm not sure, really." I lie. "I guess we just didn't see eye to eye, so we just ended up hurting each other in training, it was never really intentional, but there were some instances that I felt like my position on the field was being threatened by this college kid that just barely got to her college team, so I was in my head more than I should've been and that resulted in a few injuries for her." I explain and the lady nods.
"You guys are close now, though, how'd you guys go through such a drastic change?" We started dating and haven't stopped.
"Uh. I guess I'd have to credit our friendship to the fact that throughout that first season that I played with her every day, whether it be with the Thorns, or here at boot camps, I could see who she really was, the kind of person she was, how hard she worked for what she's got and how she'd refuse something she doesn't think she deserves. I got to know the real Y/N Y/L/N, and I saw the affect that our actions were having on the team and each other. So when Portland went to Orlando after Y/N signed with them, I apologized to Y/N and helped her with some pretty nasty personal things. We've been really close since."
"You two are roommates back in Portland, how does that fare with you guys' friendship?"
"It's great, I love having Y/N as a roommate, she took care of me after I got hurt in that game in Australia a couple of months ago, and I did the same for her, since her and I both got pretty beat up during that game, it's fun having someone like Y/N around all the time,"
"Do you have any memories with Y/N that you'd be fine with sharing?"
"Yeah, last year, when she was in England with Carli, playing with Manchester Women's, I went over to visit her and Carli." Total lie, we all know I just went to visit Y/N. "We were just chilling in her living room, and she had gone to the kitchen to get something, and all of a sudden, her dog comes running into the living room with Y/N behind him, and she catches him, pries something from his mouth, and it turned out to be Y/N's phone, so her and I had to go to the phone store to get a new one, we spent two and a half hours in that store, just goofing off and enjoying our time together. The next day, she sang me a love song and now we're getting married." I say and the interviewer's jaw drops.
"Are you really?"
"No." I say and laugh a little. "I threw a pillow at her and told her to be quiet." I say and the lady laughs too.
"Well, thank you for your time." She says and I nod.
"Thank you." I say before walking back over to everyone else.
After camp, when I walk into the training room to get my ankle tape cut off of my foot, I glance over to Carli's spot, but do a double take when I see Y/N in one of the bigger tubs with Carli, both of them just talking, so I take the tape off of my foot and walk over to my girlfriend and friend, smiling at them when they both look over and smile at me.
"Hey, Tob." Y/N says, holding her hand out to me, so I take it and walk over, closer to her.
"This is a new sight, you in an ice bath and smiling." I say and Y/N shrugs.
"I'm getting used to them."
"Plus I promised her food if she got in with me."
"I was also talking about the love of my life." Y/N says and I smile
"Aw, babe."
"Sortzen." Y/N finishes and raises an eyebrow at me as I do the same to her.
"Really?" I ask and she chuckles.
"I'm kidding, you know you're my love." She says and I nod.
"I better be." I say and she giggles.
"Can you fix my hair for me?" She asks and I nod, taking her hair tie out of her hair and keep it out of the water.
"What do you want?"
"Just toss it into a tighter, higher pony tail, please." She says and I nod before doing as asked, running my fingers over the USA on the side of my girlfriend's head. "Stop, that tickles." Y/N protests and I chuckle before stepping away.
"I'll have her in the locker room in five minutes." Carli says and I nod.
"No rush with me, just the warm arms." I say and Y/N rolls her eyes.
"Go away." Y/N says, sticking her tongue out at me playfully.
"Fine. I'll never come back." I say and both girls in the ice bath snort at my remark.
"Yeah, and I'm Abby Wambach." Y/N says and I sigh. "We all know that's a lie. You'll come back to me faster than you beat defenders on the field." Y/N says and I sigh, because she's so fucking right.
A few minutes later, Y/N and Carli come into the locker room as I'm packing my bag to take to the hotel with me, and Y/N catches my wrist, tugs on it, pulling me closer, grabs my face and kisses me softly.
"Man, I've been waiting to do that all day."
"We could just come out to the public." I offer and Y/N shrugs.
"Some things should remain personal, and I don't want to share you." Y/N says, turning to her locker and peeling her shirt off, setting it on the chair in front of her locker before grabbing dry clothes and disappears, coming back a while later completely changed, still shirtless, but in dry clothes.
At the hotel, as I sit on the bed, reading, I chuckle as my book is stolen and my girlfriend straddles my lap.
"Fuck that book." Y/N mumbles, snuggling up on my chest.
"Why?" I ask and she huffs.
"It had your attention when we couldn't be coupley all day."
"So you pull a Sortzen and demand attention." I say and she nods, burying her face in my neck.
"Exactly." She says and I chuckle, kissing the top of her head.
"You still have the option of coming out to the public."
"I'm sure your fans know deep down that you're mine. Or at least that there's something between us. I was on Wattpad reading a few months ago and I ran across a fanfiction about us." Y/N says and I laugh a little.
"What was it about?" I ask and she scoffs.
"Fuck if I know, probably us in high school being soccer rivals who fuck behind our teams' backs." Y/N mumbles and I nod.
"Sounds about par for the course on Wattpad." I say and Y/N giggles into my neck.
"Too bad I'm living that fairy tale. I would've read the shit out of that book." Y/N mumbles and I roll my eyes a little.
"You're cute." I say as there's a knock on the door, so Y/N hops up and answers it before leading someone in as I grab my book again.
"Just let me get some things, Car." Y/N says and I look up to see Carli standing at the foot of the bed I'm on, waiting for Y/N.
"Hey, Car." I say and she hops on the bed, since Y/N was looking for something.
"Hey, Tobs?" Y/N asks and I look over.
"Check your bag." I say and she grabs her practice and looks through it before finding what she was looking for.
"Thanks." She says and I nod, accepting the kiss that she places against my lips before leaving with Carli to get the food that was promised for getting in an ice bath with Carli.
-
Y/N
-
"I hate hiding, but I don't want to lose her if we get too bad of back lash." I say to Carli, who nods, not taking her eyes off of me.
"Have you told her that?" Carli asks and I groan a little.
"I'm scared that she'll think that I'm ashamed of the relationship." I say and Carli raises an eyebrow.
"Ashamed of the relationship? You've pinned her against a wall right in front of Jill and the rest of the staff. There's no way that she'll think you're ashamed of the relationship."
"Still though, Car. I hate hiding for the camera, but I don't want her running for the hills. I don't know what I'd do without her." I say and Carli sighs.
"I have an option, but you won't like it."
"What? Suck it up?" I ask and Carli shakes her head.
"Propose."
"That's worse than proposing."
"You guys have been together going on two years."
"And how long were you and your husband together before he proposed?" I ask and Carli stays quiet. "Roman Atwood and his girlfriend have a son and a daughter together, they've been together for nine years now and he hasn't proposed yet. I don't think he will."
"But you're not my husband, or Roman Atwood." Carli counters and I sigh. "And to answer your question, it was about fifteen, sixteen years before he proposed."
"So why should I hurry to propose? It hasn't even been a full two years yet." I say and Carli nods.
"Just talk to her then. Sit her down and tell her. Get straight to the point and tell her that you're scared of coming out to the public quite yet. That you want to wait until you're certain that you two won't break up before letting the world into the secret that is you guys' beautiful relationship." Carli says and I nod.
"Alright, that makes sense. Thanks, Car." I say and Carli smiles at me.
"Any time, Y/N/N. I'm wondering though, why you didn't go to Alex with this. You tell her everything, I'm surprised she doesn't know your social security number." Carli says and I roll my eyes at her.
"I dunno, I just felt like you'd have more to say about this and that maybe what you said might be useful. Don't get me wrong, Alex is amazing at advice, she's helped so much in the past, but this just seemed like problem to take to you. And I'm glad I did. Alex would just shove me into the hotel room and say 'tell her' without telling me how to say it so it doesn't seem like I'm ashamed of something I'm not." I say and Carli nods as we finish our food.
-
An hour and a half after that talk, I walk into the hotel room to find Tobin asleep in bed, so I smile to myself before hopping into the shower, changing into some pajamas, and crawling in right next to her, cuddling up with her and falling asleep as well after turning off the lights.
In the morning, I pout as I wake up to Tobin calling my name.
"Y/N/N." Tobin coos out with a sing-song tone to it as she traces my cheekbones.
"Shush, let me sleep." I mumble and force myself to keep a straight face as Tobin giggles.
"Come on baby." Tobin says and I sigh, opening one eye to see her smiling down at me, which breaks me, making me smile as I reach up and pull her down into a kiss.
"Happy?" I ask, letting her pull away from the kiss as I let both eyes open.
"Not yet, let's go get some breakfast." Tobin says and I sigh.
"It's Saturday, we don't have any training today, leave me alone, let me be lazy." I grumble and Tobin smiles at me.
"I wish I could, but I don't want to, I want to eat breakfast with you. And the girls."
"Ugh, fine, get off so I can get up."
"You're not changing out of your pajamas?"
"Fuck no. I'm not leaving this hotel today. Tomorrow maybe. Might go work myself to nausea, but I'm not entirely sure." I say and Tobin laughs, sitting on the bed next to me as I get out of bed, walking into the bathroom to wash my face.
"You're strange, you only have two speeds, sloth, and mach 1."
"You don't get gold while half assing through life." I say, looking over my shoulder at Tobin before I rinse my face.
"Yeah, you learned that the hard way, didn't you?" Tobin asks, referring to Orlando before the NWSL season started and I groan.
"I had milk for breakfast that day, okay? It's all the hotel had that I wasn't allergic to." I say and Tobin smiles at me, walking over, wrapping her arms around my neck as I rest my hands on her hips, meeting her in the kiss that she initially came into the bathroom with me to get.
"I know." Tobin says and I sigh. "Come on, before Ash comes and breaks into our room to steal us for breakfast." Tobin continues and I giggle, walking out of the bathroom and hotel room with our fingers intertwined as we head to the elevator to take us to breakfast in the hotel's breakfast area. When we sit down with the girls that stayed in the hotel for breakfast, I sit between Tobin and A-Rod, who looks over and grins at us before wrapping me in a tight hug.
"Because you're never around me, I can never say hi to you anymore, so hi." She says and I smile at my friend.
"Hi." I say and chuckle a little. "You know, during practice, all you have do to is kick a ball at me or yell at me. Turns my head so damn fast." I say and chuckle as Tobin's grip tightens on my hand a little.
"If you kick a ball at my girlfriend, I swear, I'll steal your son." Tobin says and I chuckle. "A son for a girlfriend. You steal my girl, I'll steal your offspring." Tobin says and I kiss her cheek.
"Relax babe. I'm all yours." I say and she sighs.
"Damn, I really wanted to replace my husband." A-Rod says beside me and I giggle at the remark.
"Sorry, A-Rod. I'd rather you keep your son."
"Yeah, me too." Amy says and I smile.
"You're oddly bubbly for a Saturday." Alex remarks and I shrug.
"I'm surrounded by family. How can I not be happy?" I ask and Alex smiles.
"You could be as salty as Tobin."
"I'm not salty." Tobin remarks and I smile at her, resting my head on her shoulder as I eat my breakfast finally.
-
As I lay on the couch in the living area that the hotel has for the guests, reading through twitter, I hear someone walking up, so I sit up and see Ashlyn walking over.
"There you are." Ashlyn says and I raise my eyebrow.
"Was I hard to find?"
"Kinda. Tobin was off with Allie, Kelley, Kling, and Carli, so I had to text her to find you."
"Well, you found me, what's up?"
"I was wondering if you'd wanna kick it in the pool for a while." Ashlyn asks and I shrug, nodding.
"I'm down for that." I say and she smiles.
"Next time we're in Florida for camp, or even California, we're going surfing. You, me, Kelley, and Tobin." Ashlyn says and I sigh.
"I'm not going to bother with saying no, because it'll be three against me, I'll for sure lose.
After half an hour, some of the other girls had joined us at the pool to relax. Well, most of us, Morgan, Pinoe, Alex, and Crystal were in the pool playing chicken while Ashlyn, Julie, Sam, Becky and I are sitting in the hot tub, Amy, Mal, and Ali are sitting on the edge of the pool, cheering on the game of chicken.
As I lounge on one of the lounge chairs next to the pool, the door to the pool opens and Tobin, Allie, Kelley, Kling, and Carli all walk in and Carli comes over while the rest get in the pool.
"You tell her yet?"
"No, I took a nap after breakfast, and when I woke up she was gone, and then I came down here after I woke up, where Ashlyn found me and her and I have been here since. The rest kinda just sniffed us out." I say and Carli nods.
"Just don't forget, okay?" She asks and I nod.
"Ill talk to her tonight." I say and Carli nods, getting up and walking over to the pool, sitting on the edge, hanging her feet in the cool water as I relax on the chair some more, looking over as Ashlyn comes over and sits on the chair right next to me, following my example.
Later that night, as Tobin comes back inside the hotel room from reading outside on the balcony, I smile to myself as she crawls in bed with me and pulls me close.
"You okay?" She asks and I nod.
"Yeah."
"Okay, you're just quieter than usual. You're usually dancing or singing or yelling at Fifa 18 videos."
"I've just been thinking." I say and Tobin nods, letting me think in silence for a while.
"Penny for your thoughts?" She finally asks after twenty minutes of me playing with her shirt.
"I've been thinking about taking our relationship to the fans." I say and look up at Tobin to see her already looking down at me, so I sit up to look her in the eye.
"Okay." Tobin says and I nod a little, telling myself that I can have this conversation.
"I was thinking that maybe we should wait a few more years, until we're absolutely, completely sure that the pressure of all those fans wanting to know every detail about our relationship won't break us up. I want to be sure that we're going to be with each other for almost forever before letting the world know that we're together, because I'd rather keep us a secret and have you in my arms and in my life, than have us public and us broken up with us not talking." I say and Tobin smiles at me softly, cupping my cheeks and putting my forehead to hers.
"I love you." Is all she says before kissing me softly, a kiss that I quickly get lost in.