I grin a little at all the girls that have come out with Ash and I to surf on the first day that we're here in Orlando for boot camp and let myself fall into the water before swimming over to my board and get back on as Tobin paddles over, laughing a little.
"What was that squeal as you fell?" She asks and I shrug.
"My foot slipped and I didn't expect it." I say, and she smiles.
"It was cute." She says and I roll my eyes.
"Shut up and surf." I say and she smiles wider before paddling away as I go over to Ashlyn, who was calling me from the shore, when I get there, she takes my board and puts it next to hers when I say that I'm done for the day before sitting with her after getting out of my wet suit and into a tank top and shorts, just talking with Ash as we watch the rest surf.
"You weren't kidding when you said you weren't good." Ash says, nudging my shoulder with hers and I laugh a little.
"Thanks, Ash, feeling the love, like, I'm overwhelmed with the love from one of my best friends." I say and Ashlyn hugs me to her side before pulling me over with her as she lays in the sand and I laugh as I try to slip from her grasp.
"Stop trying, I can hold onto a ball from Caril, you aren't going anywhere." Ashlyn says and I sigh, stopping my fight and hugging Ashlyn back before we sit up again. "You looked like you were having a good time out there though." Ash says and I shrug.
"I usually do have a good time out in the water. But I'm not like you and the rest. I got into it in college and never really did it unless I was near water and a board and that was hardly ever, and soccer and dance on top of that?"
"Right, you danced too."
"Woah, bro, are you shading my craft?" I ask and Ash smiles at me.
"No, never." Ash says and rests her head on her shoulder, sighing and looking up at me with a dreamy expression in her eyes, smiling, so I roll my eyes and push my friend off of me. "Don't be like that, baby." Ash says, laughing and I laugh too, pushing her away again as she tries to wrap her arms around my waist.
"Don't make me text Ali." I say, reaching over and grabbing my phone, using my foot to keep Ash from grabbing me.
"Okay, I'll stop." Ash says as Kelley comes out and puts her board with ours, looking at us and shaking her head.
"I have such weird friends." Kelley whispers, stepping over me on the way to the car to change most likely.
"Whipped." I say to Ash as she sits, her hands in her lap, staring at them with mock seriousness.
"Am not." She says and I laugh.
"Shut up you're so whipped."
"Oh, and you aren't?" Ash asks and I put a hand on my chest, faking offense as I scoot away from her.
"Fuck you, Harris." I say and Ash manages to grab my ankle.
"Get back here, you love me." She says and I sigh, nodding.
"It's hard not to love an idiot like you." I say and she smiles, hugging me.
"Damn right." She says, releasing me from the hug as I smile and check my phone for any missed calls or anything and furrow my brow when I see a call from both my mom and Lydia, a massive amount of texts from both, I don't bother with the texts and call Lyd, and then mom when Lyd doesn't answer, getting up and walking over to the car, where Kelley is just barely putting a tank top on, and sit in the back of Ash's jeep as my mom picks up.
"Y/N?" Mom asks and I furrow my grow again.
"Mom? What's up? I've missed some calls and texts from you and Lyd."
"Yeah, Lydia and I are in Los Angeles with your father."
"Oh, damn mom you should've told me we were having a family gathering, I would've told Jill that I can't come to camp, that a family thing came up." I say and hear my mom heave a heavy sigh.
-
Ashlyn
-
I sigh as I look over when I hear someone coming up behind me and look behind me to see Kelley walking over
"Hey." I say as she take's Y/N's spot in the sand beside me as we watch Tobin, and Alex as they straddle their boards, waiting for a wave to come.
"Hey. What was Y/N doing?" Kelley asks and I shrug.
"Calling somebody back. Said she'd missed a few calls, never said who." I say and Kelley nods. A couple of minutes later Y/N jogs back onto the beach and grabs her bag, taking Alex's keys out of it, so I hop up and follow her to Alex's car and watch as she tosses her bag into the back seat before turning to me.
"Tell Alex that I took her car back to the hotel for her and I'm leaving her keys with Press. I've gotta go." She says, opening the driver door and getting in, but I stop the car door from closing and open it again, making Y/N look up at me.
"What's going on?"
"I need to go to California, it's important, Ash. Please." She says and I nod.
"What do I tell Tobin?"
"That I love her and I'll hopefully be back before boot camp ends." Y/N says before closing the car door, turning the car on and driving off after I step away from the car for her to back out of the space and walk back to where I was sitting and reclaim my space as Kelley looks over.
"Everything okay?"
"Yeah, Jill just called her and wanted her back at the hotel ASAP." I say and Kelley nods, turning back to me after a second.
"Just her though? That's strange."
"It's Jill. She said she needed to talk to Y/N, I'm sure she's not worried about us."
When Tobin and Alex come in, we pack up in silence, until Alex sees that her car is missing.
"Where's my car?"
"Y/N/N took it to the hotel, she left your keys with Press, since you two are rooming together, she was called to the hotel by Jill, said they needed to talk." I say and Tobin nods with Alex before we all climb into my Jeep, so I can drive to my place to drop off the boards before driving to the hotel where we're all staying.
Around dinner time, I'm laying on my bed reading as Crystal quietly sings along to her music while doing the same as me, so I get up and check outside to see Tobin standing there, so I open the door and step out, since my key card is in my wallet so I wouldn't lose it.
"What's up, Tobs?" I ask and Tobin huffs a little, clearly panicking.
"I can't find Y/N and all of her stuff is gone, clothes, laptop, phone, suitcase, kit bag, everything is gone. Nobody but Christen has seen her since we last saw her." Tobin says and I put a hand on her shoulder, telling her to follow me into the room and out onto the balcony before I sit her in one of the patio chairs, leaning against the rail so I can look at Tobin.
"She went to California."
"What? Why?"
"I don't know, she was just in a rush to leave the beach and she seemed worried about something, so I let her go, I didn't ask her questions."
"Is she okay?"
"Yes, Tobs, she's fine, she loves you, and she expects to be back by the end of boot camp."
"And if she isn't?" Tobin asks and I pause for a moment.
"She didn't actually tell me that much. Just give her some time to get to California and do what she needs to and when she's ready, she'll call one of us. She'll let us know sooner or later. Okay?" I say and Tobin sighs, nodding.
"Alright, thanks for telling me, Ash." Tobin says and I nod, following her out of the room and to Alex's to see if she wants to go out to eat.
-
Three days after Y/N left to California, I get a call at 3 in the morning, so I groan as I wake up to a pillow being thrown at my face, I toss it back to Crystal and answer my phone without checking the Caller ID, as I head down to the lobby of the hotel.
"Hello?" Y/N says into the other end of the call as I sit down in a chair. "Ash?" She asks and I sigh a little. "Ash, please, I really need to talk to someone." She says and the sound of her voice snaps me awake.
"What's up?" I ask and I hear what sounds like a muffled sob.
"Ash, my dad." Is all she manages to get out before falling into a fit of sobs, so I hang up on her and quickly call back on Face Time and wait for her to answer, and once she does, there's a couple seconds of a delay before her tear stained face shows up on my phone screen.
"What about him?" I ask and sigh, frowning at the new sight of one of my best friends in such a vulnerable state, the only people who have seen her cry were Alex and Tobin, and that was so long ago.
"They-they don't think he's going to make it through the night." She says and my heart clenches at the statement.
"What happened?"
"He was hit by a drunk driver." A voice off screen says and a girl that looks like Y/N walks on screen as Y/N just bawls, her free palm pressed against her forehead.
"Y/N/N." I say and Y/N cries harder, but looks up at me nonetheless. "He's going to be okay. He's going to fight for you, and your family. From what I've heard, there's no way he'd give up like that. Not on you, not on your sister, not on your mom." I say and Y/N nods.
"D-don't tell any of the girls yet. Okay?" She says and I nod.
"I know it's three there, I'm sorry for waking you up, I probably should've called Hope or someone in the same time zone as me." Y/N says and I shake my head.
"No, no, it's fine, you saved me from a falling dream. Fuckers are scary." I say, smiling as Y/N cracks a small grin, letting out a short laugh.
"I love you, Ash." Y/N says as the slightly older version of her hugs her tight, and I smile wider at the sight.
"I love you too, Y/N/N."
"Good night, sister." She says and I nod.
"Good night." I say and watch as she hangs up on me, so I go back up to the room and go back to sleep.
-
"Alright, ladies, so Y/N is gone for the rest of this camp due to reasons only myself and one other individual know of." Jill says and I nod a little. "So, in our friendly against China on the last day of our time together for now, we've got a spot open on the roster that we need to fill." Jill continues and everyone nods. "Today, we've got training with Dawn, the usual, possibly a couple of new things for you guys to try out." Jill says and we all nod. "I want you all on the field in an hour, so let's get going and get started on our day." Jill says before leaving, but we all stay in the conference room we were in.
"What's wrong with Y/N? Is she okay?" Alex asks and I sigh as a buzz starts about Y/N's departure.
"Guys, let's respect her privacy and if she wants to tell us when she gets back, then she will, alright? But for now, let's just get to practice." I say before leaving.
-
The next time anybody hears from Y/N, is a couple days after she'd called me, and it's a post on Instagram, of her, on the beach, a surfboard in hand, swim trunks on, and one of my hats on her head, her back turned to the camera so she can face the ocean, her right hand holding up her pinky and her thumb in a hang ten, her head bowed a little as the sun setting on the water ever so slightly with a caption of 'Life's been treating me like the waves do lately.' I like the picture and text her, but she doesn't respond, so I forget it and go on with practice and a team dinner to end our first week of camp.
In the morning, I wake up to a call from Y/N, so I pick it up right away, and smile at the smile on Y/N's face.
"Hey, sorry about last night. I was having some family time." She says and I can see the sadness that twinges in her eyes as she looks away from the phone, and down at her forearm and just stares.
"Are you okay?" I ask and Y/N looks back up, shrugging.
"He's not dead, so that's a plus."
"That's great. Why aren't you coming back then?"
"He's in a coma."
-
Tobin
-
I sigh as I pass the ball between Alex and myself and try to keep my mind off of Y/N and if she's okay or not. I haven't heard from her since the day she left Orlando. Five days ago.
"Hey, don't worry about her. Okay? She's a big girl." Alex says and I sigh.
"I can't help it. She's obviously going through some tough shit if she's not coming back, and I haven't heard from her since the day she left. I just want to know if she's okay." I say and Alex sighs.
"I'm sure shes alright." Alex says and I sigh. "She's Y/N fucking Y/L/N. She's as tough as Abby."
"Physically, but mentally? Emotionally?"
"You should know." Alex says and I sigh.
"She seems stable, but there's always the chance that she'd leave things out of our conversations." I say and Alex nods.
"So there's no real need to worry." Alex says and I sigh again.
"I suppose you're right, but that won't keep me from worrying." I say and Alex nods, walking over to me and hugging me.
"I know, Tobs, I know. We're all worried about her." Alex says and I sigh, hiding my face in Alex's shoulder just for the sake of hiding from the world for a second, appreciating the friends I have for this reason. After a minute, we pull from the hug and Alex gives me a gentle smile. "Maybe we should Skype her tonight? Right after dinner?" Alex suggests and I nod a little. "Come on then. I'm starving." She says before dragging me off the field by my wrist.
-
After dinner, I Skype Y/N off of my lap top as Alex waits for Y/N to answer. After a few minutes of ringing, she answers and smiles at me.
"Hi baby." She says and I grin.
"Hey. You look great." I say and I'm not lying, she's already got a darker tan than she usually does, her hair is blonder than usual, but her eyes aren't conveying the happy notes her body is.
"Really?" She asks and I nod. "Thanks." She says and I smile wider at her. "So what's up?"
"Just thought I'd check up on you. We all miss you." I say and she gives a sad smile.
"I miss you all, too." She says and sighs. "I'm sorry I'm not going back to boot camp. Something came up." Y/N says and I nod. "Jill understood and sent me home."
"I understand, too. We all do, baby." I say and Y/N smiles a little.
"I miss you." She says and I sigh.
"At least you're not on a different continent this time." I say and she nods.
"USA, baby." She says and I chuckle a little. "I've gotta go, my family and I are going to go out for dinner. I'll talk to you later." She says and I nod.
"Okay, I love you."
"I love you, too." she says before hanging up, so I close my laptop after shutting it off and smile a little at Alex.
"She sounds and looks great, but her eyes. They're dull." I say to Alex, who sighs.
-
Y/N
-
I sigh as I wake up on the fifteenth day that dad has been in his coma, and get ready for a work out, morning surf session in Malibu, a quick dance session at my old dance studio and then some soccer there with my high school team before coming back to LA to visit my dad in the hospital. We barely leave his side, well, Lydia and mom barely leave his side, I'm sent home every night. They know I'll stay up all night, watching him in his comatose state.
When I get to the beach in Malibu, I get out and grab my board as well as everything else I'll need and jog across the sand, to a perfect spot to settle, so I can wax my board and put the cuff around my ankle before heading in, because the waves are perfect for today. About an hour into my surf session, a tan as fuck dude paddles over to me and smirks at me.
"You're pretty good." He says and I open my mouth to thank him for the compliment, but stop when he continues to speak. "For a chick." I roll my eyes and paddle away.
"Not like I've heard that my entire life." I grumble to myself before deciding to just go in and head to the dance studio to get my mind off of everything. When I get there, I get out, now in dry clothes and head inside, to the studio I've been using for the past thirteen days, and just dance until I feel lighter, my chest isn't as tight as it was when I stepped into the studio, I can stand tall without fear of breaking, so I pack up my things and head to my old school, sign in at the front desk and head to the girls' soccer field to see some of the team on the field in Athletics with Coach. I check my phone for the time to see 12:32 and nod, fourth hour. I walk over to the locker room so I can change into some practice clothes that aren't my USWNT training uniform, or my current Thorns training uniform, so I put on my Orlando training uniform before heading back out, to the bench, where I tie my cleats and put my shin pads on, taping my socks to keep my pads still, getting up once I'm done with that before walking over to my old coach and walk up next to her. "So, when do I go in, coach?" I ask and she jumps, turning to me. Yeah, she was expecting me for the actual practice, I anticipated waking up at noon instead of five in the morning, but whatever.
"Right now." She says, smiling, hugging me. "How are you? I heard about your dad."
"How?"
"Lydia, kid."
"Right. I'm alright, just going through the days, throwing myself into physical activity to take my mind off of it. Off of him. Just counting the seconds until he wakes up again. Until I can stop worrying about losing my father for a mistake someone else made." I say and she sighs.
"Well, get out there and do your thing, kid, and play nice, yeah?" I nod and jog out with a ball from the ball bag and warm up, ignoring all the stares as the girls on the team finally acknowledge me. When I'm warmed up, I watch the drill they're doing and jump in on it when I see what they're doing. After a while of spending time on the pitch, after the class I showed up in, through second lunch and coach's fifth hour, just spending time alone with the ball and a net, working on my footwork, juggling, shooting, everything. As her sixth class ends, I leave and drive back to LA, and to the hospital, heading to my dad's room to find my mom dead asleep on his left side and Lydia sitting to his right with bags under her eyes. I sigh, pointing my thumb over my shoulder.
"Go home and sleep, damnit." I say and she nods, getting up and leaving, so I take her spot and grab my father's hand, using both hands to play with his fingers before glancing at his face, he looks eerily peaceful, and I hate it. He deserves to be peaceful, but not in a hospital, in a coma. I play with the brown, wooden ring I got him for father's day my senior year of college, and look at my father again. "Please wake up, dad. I miss you." I say, intertwining my fingers with his and rest my head on his hand, letting the tears fall.
"Y/N?" I hear my mom ask groggily, but I just stay quiet so she'll go back to sleep and get the rest she needs, and when I hear her snoring, I let myself cry harder, clutching dad's hand tight and cussing myself out for being weak.
"Please daddy, we need you still, your job isn't done here." I sob out, lifting my head to look at my father who still lay comatose. "I love you so much, I don't know what I'd do without my number one fan. I need my number one, dad. Please don't leave yet. I want my children to meet their grandfather. I don't want to mourn you. Not yet." I say, putting my head on his chest.
I groan as I wake up, still curled into my father like I was earlier, sill clutching his hand, but my head hurts and so does my throat.
"Good morning, Pumpkin." I hear a raspy voice say from my left, and I look over at my mom and she's gone, so I look at my dad to see him smiling softly at me. I shake my head.
"Great, now I'm tripping on a drug I don't take." I mumble and my eyes widen when he squeezes my hand.
"You aren't hallucinating, honey." He says and I squeal as I hug him tight.
"Oh my god, dad! You're awake!" I say, releasing him, remembering why he was here in the first place and smile as he chuckles at me.
"You're acting like I was missed or something." Dad jokes and I smile at him, looking over when someone walks in to see my mom and sister walking in, smiling.
"How long have you been awake?"
"A few hours, I woke up and you were out cold on my shoulder."
-
Ashlyn
-
I sigh as I stretch out on my bed after a long team dinner, but look over when I hear the bathroom door open to see Crystal coming out, drying her hair with a towel.
"You left your phone and Y/N keeps calling." Crystal says, since she fell asleep before we left for the dinner.
"Thanks." I say before grabbing my phone and calling her back, waiting for her to answer, and when she does, I smile.
"Ash, hey." She says, sounding genuinely joyful.
"Hey, what's up?"
"I've got news on my dad."
"Oh yeah?"
"He woke up a week ago,"
"A week ago?" I ask.
"Yeah. A week."
"You're not coming back, are you? The game's tomorrow, there's no way Jill will let you back on the roster right now." I say and Y/N laughs.
"No, don't worry, I'm not trying to get back on the roster, Just thought I'd let you know before I call Jill and tell her the news." Y/N says and I nod a little.
"Well, I'm glad he's alright, you sound a lot better." I say and she sighs a happy sigh.
"I feel so much better, I can't wait to get back to Portland and get back into training before getting to the next boot camp and get back at it. I'm getting my spot back. You can guarantee that." Y/N says and I smile.
"Yep, Y/N Y/L/N is back and ready to rock." I say and she laughs.
"Alright, I gotta go, I've got some stuff to do. Bye." She says before hanging up, so I get ready for bed, since tomorrow is game day against China.
In the morning, we all get ready for the game, since it's at one and get on the bus close to eleven to get to the stadium, in the locker room, we all get dressed before heading out to warm up, and as I'm walking out, I hear a familiar voice scream my name, so I turn my head to investigate and smile when I see Y/N in the stands, she smiles at me and waves, so I walk over and hop up to hug her.
"You came to the game?" I ask and she scoffs as I land back on my feet.
"You act surprised." She says and I shrug.
"I thought you'd like some family time before coming back to soccer."
"Nah. My dad is the one who sent me. Said I deserved it." She says and I nod, looking over when someone pushes past me and look over to see Tobin, laughing as she walks backward, so I just raise a brow and point to Y/N, watching as she follows my finger and runs to hug Y/N like I did. Until Jill comes out and says we can wait to do that until after the game, and she's kinda right, so we go warm up and play the game, which was tight the entire game, ending in our favor with a 2-1 score. After the game, Y/N is let on the field and we all hug her tight, because she let Jill and I tell the girls last night, so we told them all this morning on the bus.