After boot camp, I fly from Denver to LA, because I've got a meeting with the school about the field house, and they want me to do the photo shoot for the window decal. So when I land, my mom picks me up from the airport and drops me off at the car rental place, even though she insisted on driving me to Malibu for the meeting, I insisted that she'd need the car for something knowing my folks and how crazy they are, so I pay to rent the GTR that was shown to me and head to Malibu for my meeting. I landed at noon, it took an hour to convince my mom to take me to get a rental, and about thirty minutes to get the car. It's a damn good thing my meeting wasn't until three. When I get to she school and into the athletic office's conference room, I apologize about the slight delay as I come in and shake hands with the same three men I've been shaking hands with every month since October.
"Well, we're glad you could make it. We want you to see the progress of the field house, then from there Karen and Wade Davis will have you suit up for the photoshoot. We ordered your uniform special, since these uniforms would be too small for you." Steve says and I chuckle a little.
"Not sure if I should be arrogant or offended."
"All in the eye of the beholder." Steven says and I nod, taking the bags that the jersey, shorts, and socks come in when they're set in front of me, following the guys out to the field and smiling when I see that the field house is really close to being done. They show me everything and introduce me to the lady in charge of everything. I shake hands with her after awkwardly shifting the bags around. After all of that, I'm led over to Karen and Wade Davis, a local photographer and the father of one of my old high school teammates. She was a year older than me, we were co captains with like six other girls on the team, and she actually came back to Malibu after college to join the police force. I haven't seen her in all my time spent here, thankfully, because knowing my luck, she'd be knocking on my rental car window asking for my license and registration. Which hasn't happened. I'm a good kid. I shake hands with Wade and smile, thanking him when he congratulates me on the WWC four years ago, the NWSL championship in October, and that he can't wait to see me play in France this summer, also telling me how heartbroken Kenna was when we didn't medal in Rio. Kenna is his daughter. He's only got one, one child, and Kenna was it. Cute as hell Varsity letterman, soccer and basketball, yet she was straight, I don't know how many times my co captains caught me checking her out in the locker room, but oh well. I've got Tobin.
"So you go get dressed." Karen says and I roll my eyes.
"Can I at least go get my shit?" I ask and she nods, so I go to the rental car and bring it around, grabbing my kit bag after parking the car and turning it off. When I get into the locker room, I change quickly, ignoring the slack jawed looks I get from the cheerleaders who were most likely skipping. When I'm completely dressed, I grab my trash and my bag and throw the trash on my way out, walking onto the field, tossing my bag down on the turf before sitting down so I can put my shin pads on before fighting with my new cleats. They're not new in the sense of just released, but in the sense that I've never worn them except for when I tried them on. They're Hypervenoms from the release before the most recent one. Which I was actually part of. Yeah. Surprise, Nike wanted to do business with me for some reason, so my ass is in a commercial and in picture advertisements. So fancy. Once my cleats are on, I roll my eyes.
"Fuck, the ankle things are bitches." I say and look up at Karen when she laughs. She of course stops when she realizes I'm staring at her and I tie my cleats before getting up, putting my hair up and looking at Karen. "Did I pull an Alex in high school? Not like it matters, but did I?" I ask and Karen shakes her head, tossing me a turquoise Nike headband.
"You did headbands." She says and I nod.
"Glad someone remembered." I say before letting her put me through a warm up to get me sweating and then go through everything else while Wade snaps pictures. After a while of getting me with the ball, he stands up from where he was laying on his side, and looks at me.
"Could I maybe get some of you in goal?" He asks and I sigh.
"I don't have a keeper's jersey."
"I do." Karen says, disappearing for a moment before returning with a keeper's jersey for me.
"Then yes." I say, pulling this jersey off and switching it with the keeper's jersey, taking the gloves that are handed to me when I'm set. Karen warms me up in goal, too before sending me some actual strikes and crosses and shit like that, after a while, after I've turned into Ash a couple of times, and get up from the ground where my inner Ash came out and sigh when Wade says he should have what the school wants. So I take off the gloves and take the water Karen hands me, mentally questioning where she got it until I see the rack of bottles beside her feet. Wade walks off to go talk with Steven, so I let Karen continue working me. In goal, on the field. A workout is a work out. After a while of me resting, Wade comes back smiling.
"He loves them. But he wants a shot of you just standing there with the ball. In your hands." He says and I nod, getting up and catching the ball Karen kicks at me. After those pictures are taken, he disappears again, so I open my kit bag and grab my shirt, changing out of the uniform and back into my normal clothes. When Wade comes back, he shakes my hand.
"It was a pleasure working with you." He says and I nod.
"Pleasure was all mine, Wade. Tell Kenna to stop being. A stranger, I'd love to catch up with her some time when I'm in town." I say and he nods before shaking Karen's hand and disappearing. When he's gone, Karen turns to me and makes a face.
"You reek, kid."
-
When I get to Orlando, Ash is waiting for me and she's got that smile on her face like she's up to something.
"If you put a snake in my bed, Ashlyn, I swear to fucking Abby, I'll murder you."
"Don't worry. No snakes yet." She says and I chuckle.
"There better not be. I'll move in with Ali if you ever pull that shit."
"Stop worrying." When we get close to the house, Ash smacks her right hand over my eyes and I groan.
"Ash. Come on. Drive like a normal human." I say, but huff when I feel her park the car and turn it off. Scrunching my nose when a sweaty training shirt is put over my face as Ash gets out.
"Don't touch the shirt." Ash says as she gets out, so I suffer the smell until Ash pulls me out of the Jeep, turns me, removes the shirt before putting it right back and ties it behind my head, and leads me forward a few steps after turning me again, once we're stopped, she pulls the shirt from my shirt and I see the team standing in front of me, so I furrow my brow, turning to Ash, who turns me right back to the girls as they move to reveal a new looking car.
"Funny joke, guys, who's car is that? Oprah's?" I ask, watching as Alex pulls a set of keys from her pocket and tosses them to me.
"It's not much, but we all pulled together to get you something, then Orlando City's president told Tom to tell us to keep our money, that they'd pay for a car for you, since you were such a big part of the championship we brought home."
"Guys." I say and Alex walks over to me, taking my hand, opening it and putting the keys in my palm.
"You can't refuse something from the person that gives you your paychecks." Ali says and I sigh, looking at the keys to the white Jeep in front of me.
"So I guess they thought they'd be funny and make the captains' cars look like the captains are the yin yang?" I ask and Ash chuckles.
"Carli already calls us The Twins. Why not add to the validation?" She asks, tossing an arm over my shoulders and I smile, laughing.
"Guys. Thank you. You don't know what this means to me."
"That the club got you a car?"
"No. That you guys were going to. That you all thought I deserved something this special. For something we all achieved." I say and smile as Alex, Ash, and Ali all hug me before the rest of the team joins the hug. "You guys are amazing."
Later that night, as I lay on my bed, typing out a random thought that I figured should be recorded, Ash comes in without knocking.
"Yeah, Ash, come in, totally asked for permission." I mumble, still typing.
"You've been typing for a year, are you writing Tobin a love email?"
"No. Have you gone and drooled over Ali today?"
"Hey, hey. Back off my girl."
"Back off my girl and I'll back off yours."
"Alright, alright. Agreed." Ash says as I finish typing, so I turn to her and sit up, cross legged.
"What can I do for you."
"I'm hungry."
"Same though. Want me to cook?" I ask and Ash nods.
"You should've been a cook."
"Could've. I had a full ride offer from a culinary arts school." I say as I walk into the kitchen with Ash following.
"And you said no?!"
"Bitch, look at where I am. I'm 27, I was on the roster that won the 2015 World Cup, I'm gonna fucking die trying to get on the roster for France, I fucking went to the Olympics, and I just ended a season where I took my team up the table nine slots. I'm doing what I've wanted to do since before I could even speak, Ash." I say, looking at Ash as she sits at the kitchen island. "I've got a music degree and a coaching degree, I can do those after I retire, or if I really want to, I'll go to Culinary school." I say and Ash smiles.
"You should at least go on Celebrity Chopped or something."
"Maybe. Now what do you want?"
"I don't know."
"Crepes? I heard crepes."
"Mac n' cheese!"
"Ew, no. You're not cheating, Ashlyn Michelle."
"Ugh. You're so boring."
After we had eaten, we settled into the living room to waste time on YouTube.
-
Ashlyn
-
Y/N had fallen asleep while we watched YouTube, so I carried her to her room and put her to bed after shutting her laptop for her and putting it on her desk, I take her shoes off of her and watch as she moves her shirt to expose her stomach, I chuckle quietly, pulling her blankets over her and putting the little teddy she sleeps with in her arms. She has a teddy because she doesn't have Tobin and she's used to cuddling up to sleep, so she got a bear. When she's in Portland, she steals a couple of Tobin's shirts and wraps the bear in those so after a while the bear will smell like Tobin. Fucking genius. All I gotta do is drive across town to be with Ali. I don't like imagining being across the country from her. Once I know she's comfy, I leave her room, turning the light off for her and closing the door before going to the kitchen to clean up the mess I made of the masterpiece Y/N was trying to create. As I'm getting into my own pajamas, I furrow my brow when I hear Y/N from her room.
"Tobin!" She screams. "No! Tobin!" She continues, so I drop my shirt and sprint to her room, tripping over myself a few times on my way there, but I get there. "Tobin! Help! Please!" She screams, writhing and thrashing under her blankets, so I rush over and try my best to wake her up, I get socked in the mouth, but that doesn't matter, so, I do the only thing that comes to mind, I hop over her, wrap her in my arms, set her in my lap and just hold her as I sit against the wall, since her bed was placed in a back corner of her room, I hold her in my lap with her head on my chest and she calms down almost instantly. Almost, I take a few elbows to the ribs, but again, I give no fucks at the moment. After a while, Y/N wakes up and looks up at me. "Ash? Where's Tobin?" She asks and I smile sadly at her.
"She's in Portland."
"Are we in Orlando?" She asks and I nod. Putting my chin on her head when she puts her head back on my chest.
"Are you okay?" I ask after a long moment of silence
"Why?" She asks and I sigh.
"You were screaming for help in your sleep." I say and Y/N looks up at me.
"Oh my god, Ash, your mouth is bleeding." She says, pulling her shirt off and wadding it up, handing it to me. "Here. So I can go get you some water to rinse that out." She says and I do as told as she disappears. When she comes back, she's got two cups, one full, one empty, so I rinse my mouth out and watch her disappear after taking the cups from me. When she comes back, she flips the light on and comes back to her bed, straddling my lap. "Open." She says, so I open my mouth, letting her check the lip that's already swelling. "The fuck happened?"
"I tried waking my best friend up." I say and she hugs me.
"I'm sorry."
"It's okay. I'd take much worse to help you like that again."
"Aw, Ash." She says and I sigh.
"So like, I'm exhausted and my room is too damn far away."
"Yes, you can crash in here."
"Sick." I say and smile as Y/N gets up as I lay down.
"Just don't make this a habit. We have girlfriends." Y/N says, turning off the light, coming over and crawling back into her bed with me. "I just realized you're shirtless." Y/N says and I sigh.
"My best friend was screaming bloody murder, Fishy."
In the morning, I groan as I wake up to Y/N just wrapped around me, so I chuckle a little and stay still, letting her sleep, it was a long night, Y/N tossed and turned most of the night, had a couple more nightmares, until she fell asleep finally and when she fell asleep, I did too. So I let myself fall back asleep. When I wake up from that, Y/N is fixing her hair, and I sigh, sitting up.
"Morning." Y/N says and I stretch, sliding out of the bed and standing up.
"Morning." I respond and look at Y/N as she turns to me and walks up to me, hugging me tight.
"Thank you for being there for me last night."
"No need to thank me." I say, smiling at Y/N when she steps back.
"Alright, what do you want for breakfast? I called Tom and said that I wasn't feeling good last night, that you stayed up and kept an eye on me and he understood."
"Whatever you're cooking," I say and Y/N nods before pushing me out of her room.
"Go put a shirt on, Harris. Ali might stop by and think I'm trying to get with you." Y/N says and I roll my eyes, walking to my room and changing into something different, slipping a shirt on as I go into the kitchen and watch Y/N as she cooks breakfast. "Move your ass if you don't want to get burnt." Y/N mumbles, not even looking at me, so I move out of the way, taking a seat on one of the stools on the opposite side of the kitchen island from where Y/N is working.
After we eat, we go and work out for a while before heading home and bickering over the shower.
"Ugh. Fine, hurry up though." Y/N says and I chuckle, getting ready for my shower before taking it.
-
Y/N
-
After Ash gets her shower, I get mine and put some comfy clothes on before relaxing in my room, spending some time on my laptop. After a while, Ash comes and knocks on my door.
"Yeah." I say, looking over when the door opens.
"Alex and Ali just texted me wanting to know if we wanted to go to lunch with them. You in?" She asks and I shrug, closing my lap top and setting it to the side, slipping my shoes on.
"Let's go." I say and she chuckles. We get into her Jeep and she drives to the restaurant that they agreed to meet at.