[ Wooo another after midnight chapter. Enjoy! ]
Casey and Jackson just lay in his bed, both still in their formal clothes from the day. They just wanted to be in one another's company before she left for a week. They had been lying there for the past hour, unmoving and fairly quiet, just wanting to have some sort of physical contact with one another. It was already four in the evening, and she did not want to get back to the hotel late.
"What time do you have to leave?" He asked as if he was reading her mind. She sighed and turned over to lay on top of him.
"I should probably leave soon, it's about a two hour drive and I don't want to get back too late." She responded, and he groaned, sitting up and flipping over so he was now on top of her, using his arms to hoist himself up over her.
"Well let's say we've got an hour until you have to leave? My parents aren't home..." His voice trailed as his lips pressed against hers. She gave in to his touch, moving with his body as he lowered himself closer to her body. She smiled as she wrapped her arms around his neck, her hands finding his hair and ruffling it with her fingers.
"Then let's use that hour to our advantage." She hummed against his lips, and he chuckled.
An hour later she was wearing a pair of his shorts and t-shirt along with a sweatshirt in her hand to take with her and keep as she travelled across the United States. She had her dress and heels in one hand and her sweatshirt, keys, and phone in the other. She was exhausted, but a good exhausted from throughout the day. She could not wait to be in the hotel room in bed.
But she could not wait for tomorrow.
She arrived at the hotel at almost nine that evening, and she had never been so happy to be at a hotel. She left her cap and gown as well as her heels and dress in her back seat, but grabbed the sweatshirt and her phone before locking the Jeep and heading toward the lobby. She was ready for bed, and luckily she was not stopped on her way to her room. Her alarm was already set, so when she shut the door behind her, she kicked off her Birkenstocks, plugged her phone in, and climbed into bed, awaiting the next day for her to finally participate in her first game for the United States senior team, and it was something she could not wait for.
She woke up to her alarm blaring, and it was finally game day. It had been a long time coming, a week of ambitious, exhausting work finally going to be put into play. Jill had told her that she would at least play forty-five minutes in the next three games, which excited her. She got up out of bed and went and hopped in the shower to start her day. Typically she would go for a run, but she did not want to tire herself too much before the game, in case she played today.
She let her hair air dry and she changed to go down to join the team for breakfast, and when she arrived, everyone was buzzing. She set her stuff down at the table she had been sitting at all week and joined the line to grab breakfast. They were eating light that morning so their food would not sit in their stomachs throughout the game. She was antsy and did not feel like eating, but she knew she had to eat to keep her energy going throughout the day. They were heading to the stadium around noon for their three o'clock game, and she was ready to go.
"Ready for your first game not sitting in the stands?" Alex asked as she joined them sitting down at the table.
"Very, my mom and dad are coming and so are all my friends and teammates and coaches for both school and club." She responded eagerly as she picked at her food.
"Only your mom and dad?" Kelley asked curiously.
"Yeah, we moved to Florida when I was really little, and they all live up in North Carolina so I don't get to see them that often." Casey explained to them with a shrug. She had not seen her grandparents or aunts and uncles or cousins on either side of the family in over ten years, and although is saddened her, she did not know many of them well enough to hang her head over it.
"Well hopefully they're all watching today." Emily pitched in, and she nodded with a smile. Her phone started to ring and she looked down, seeing it was a FaceTime call from Jackson. She looked down and told herself she ate enough, then stood up from the table.
"I've got to take this." She said, and they nodded as she threw her plate away and stepped out of their breakfast hall and hit the green answer button.
"Good morning soccer star." He greeted with a smile, and she saw that he was already on the road with Daniel, Riley, and Jenna in the car as well.
"Hi Casey!" Riley shouted from the driver's seat.
"Hello everyone! You guys are on your way early." She commented, listening to what they had to say as well as keeping an ear open for Jill to say anything during breakfast.
"American Outlaw tailgate, duh." She heard Daniel say, and she chuckled.
"Well you all have fun, too bad I'm gonna have to miss it." She sighed with a laugh.
"It won't be the same without you!" Riley hummed.
"What are you up to?" Jackson asked.
"We just finished breakfast, but I'm kinda waiting to see if Jill says anything before we go to the field." She told them, but as she started to see some players leave the hall, she assumed that they were free until they had to be back in the lobby to board the bus to head to the field.
"Do you think you'll play today?" Jenna asked from the backseat.
"I mean I hope so, but I'll play eventually if I don't play today." She responded with a shrug.
"Hey Casey, wanna hang out in one of our hotel rooms?" Alex asked as she walked out with Kelley and Emily.
"Uh yeah sure, we can go to my room if you want." Casey answered, pulling her hotel room key out of her phone case. "Here, I'll meet you guys up there." She said, handing her key to Kelley.
"Alright, we'll see you up there." Emily said, and the three of them went and hopped on the elevator.
"You sure that was a good idea?" Riley asked, and she laughed.
"Probably not but oh well." She sighed.
"Well I think we're gonna grab some breakfast then head to the stadium, so we will see you there." Jackson said, and they all started chiming in goodbyes.
"See you guys later." She responded with a grin and hung up the phone. She quickly thought about the three of them having the key to her hotel room and rushed to get on the elevator to head up to her room. When she got to her room she knocked on the door, and after a few moments she was let in, finding not only the three of them in her room, but Ali, Ashlyn, and Megan all there as well.
"You've got quite the hookup having the room to yourself, rookie." Megan said, sitting up from her position on the bed.
"Yeah, I don't have to share a room with you crazy people." Cash gawked in response, and that comment got a deserving pillow thrown at her.
"So your friends are already on their way?" Alex asked, referring to the conversation she was having.
"Yeah, they've got seats with the Outlaws behind the net, so they're grabbing breakfast then heading to the tailgate." She responded, sitting down beside Megan's feet.
"What do we wanna do?" Ali sighed, and they all grumbled in response.
"We've got like an hour and a half until we need to get ready." Emily commented.
"We could make Tik Tok videos for no reason." Kelley suggested, and they all just stared her down. "What?" She asked defensively.
"It could be fun. I know some of the dances." Casey responded, and they all just laughed.
"Alright, let's do it." Alex said, giving in to the idea and getting everyone on board. Casey set up her phone to record. For the next hour she taught them the two easier dances and tried her best to teach them the git up, which only Megan, Kelley, and Emily were able to catch on to. She was able to post all three videos and they were all worn out in a good way when they made their way back to their own rooms to change into their warmups, and she did the same. They all met down at the lobby at eleven thirty to get onto the bus, and they already had music going and they were all ready to go. They were ready to get out on the field. There may still be three hours until their game, but they wanted to go through the traffic of the American Outlaw tailgate and start to get their nerves out in the locker room. Casey put her headphones over her ears and she put on her game day hype playlist, the same one she and Riley had made their second season of playing club together. She kept it updated with new music, but she kept the old music on there as well.
Eventually they made it through the traffic and got to the stadium around noon, and they got off the bus, and when they did, Kelley and Emily wrapped their arms around her as they went past the cameras recording them, and she smiled toward them and waved as they walked into the tunnel toward the locker room. She walked in and it all started to hit her as she saw the uniform with her name on it for the first time.
This was really happening.
She put on her warm up uniform and sat against her locker, taking it all in. They still had an hour and a half until they went out to start getting warmed up, so she just sat there, watching everything go on around her. She recorded a video for Snapchat and posted it, then sat and listened to the music going through her headphones.
Two and a half hours later she was changed into her uniform, the number twenty-four on her back and shorts. She would keep this jersey forever, for it is her first ever senior team jersey. She then joined those who were on the bench to start the game to head out with their coaching staff and stand on the sidelines for their opening ceremonies. Eventually it came time for the kickoff and she felt on edge as she fiddled with a water bottle in her hands as the whistle blew, and she cheered with her teammates as they got going in the first half. She looked at the humongous crowd, the red, white, and blue overpowering any other red and black in the crowd representing New Zealand. She watched her team move with such composure and fluency that she was enamoured to be able to witness it all up close.
Halftime came and the United States were up two-nil against New Zealand going into the locker room. The Ferns had some shots on net but nothing to avail. They were all buzzing with excitement as Jill came into the locker room behind them all.
"Alright ladies I'm seeing a lot of good things, we could be a little more aggressive on and off the ball, and I would also like to see Kelley and Ali more active on the outsides. Other than that, I'm liking what I'm seeing. Keep fixing the little things as we play through this second half. Now, we're gonna make some subs, get some fresh legs and some new legs out on the pitch. Casey, how would you like to get your first cap today in your home state?" Jill said to the team, and all eyes went to Casey. "We'll sub in Casey, as well as Morgan out for Press and Lindsey in for Sammy to start. Alright, take some time and refocus and get ready for the second half." She continued, and They all got themselves ready to go for the next fifteen minutes. Casey was about to play the next forty-five minutes for her country in front of all her friends and family. She was nervous, but she felt ready. She had been working ten hard years for this moment, and she could not believe it was coming so soon.
She lined up with Press and Horan to go in, and there were loud ovations for everyone coming on and off. She sprinted out into the field toward the net, feeling weird not doing her handshake with Riley. What comforted her was the fact that for the second half, the American Outlaws were behind her, and they were all cheering as the half began. She worked with the defense to keep the ball out of the defensive half, helping to work toward another goal. They kept playing hard for the next thirty minutes, and after thirty-one minutes of the second half, the Ferns finally broke through the give Casey her first major test of the game. She watched as the opposing forward split through Dahlkemper and Sauerbrunn and came bursting through the middle. Casey took a few deep breaths and found herself surprisingly calm as she watched the forward come at her at full speed. She kept watching, and when she saw her go to take last touch before she shot, Casey jumped out and as the shot came flying upward, and she used her stomach and chest to block the shot coming at her. She got the wind knocked out of her, but she quickly recovered and got over the ball. She felt supporting hands patting her back and she could not help but give a smile before she got off the ground. Becky and Kelley asked to make sure she was alright, and she assured them she was good.
That was the way to make a senior team debut, and Casey made it look easy.