Updated early because today is a great day wanna know why?
1. I finished all my exams today so I'm finally free
2. I don't think I failed any of my exams and the end of exams also means the start of summer holidays
3. A goat was born today so I'm honour of Tobin Heath's birthday here we are hope you enjoy!!
"I can't believe you didn't tell me your were part Canadian"
I roll my eyes as I take a sip of my smoothie, "Cause I'll just casually bring up that I have dual citizenship". Jess shake her head at me, "All the Canadian jokes you made and all along your Canadian". "Half Canadian" I correct. "You know when Janine and the others found out they asked me to try and convince you to come play for Canada" Jessie laughs. I raise an eyebrow, "Don't say that in front of Kelley and the others. If they knew I was meeting with you this morning we most definitely would of had a chaperone right now. They were scared you would try and poach me". But Jess wiggles her eyebrows at me, "Cmon playing together would be great. And I think you look great in red".
I choke on my smoothie before I burst out laughing with Jessie joining in. We were laughing so loud that we were probably earning stares from other customers but we simply didn't care. We just kept talking about anything and everything without a care in the world. Everything else forgotten about, just the two of us in the moment. I was in the middle of telling Jess about how Sonnett and I pushed Kelley into the pool when she lets out a huff. "You okay Freckles?" I ask concerned. "It's nothing" she mumbles as she starts to spin the cup in her hands. I nudge her foot with mine under the table gently, "It matters to me if it's bothering you".
She sighs as she nods her head off to the side, "There's a group of girls giggling and taking pictures of you over there". I don't even look at them keeping my eyes on my girlfriend in front of me as I just shrug it off, "I don't know Freckles. They're probably looking at you. I mean which one of us have an Olympic medal here". She rolls her eyes but I can see the corner of her mouth twitch up, "I'm serious. They're looking at you". I don't say anything as I lean forward and move my hands under the table so my hand rests on her knee, "So? It doesn't matter. If you haven't noticed the only one I'm looking at is my beautiful amazing girlfriend. So let them look because I only have eyes for you J". Her face lifts as she smiles brightly at me and puts her hand on top of mine. I return the smile as I flip my hand over and intertwine our fingers and we stay like that going back to the conversation, the girls in the corner completely gone from our minds.
I check my watch and sigh when I see the time, "We better head back. Have to go get ready to beat your asses in a few hours". Jessie scoffs and mumbles something under her breath that sounds like, "Cocky Americans". "Cmon I'll walk you back to your hotel" I smile as we stand from our table. "I think I can walk back to the hotel by myself" she chuckles. But I just shrug with a dopey smile on my smile as Jess like to call it, "I want to make sure you get back safely. Think of if more for my piece of mind. Besides I'm your knight in shining cleats remember". I wink at her while she laughs
"Dork"
"Nerd"
She shakes her head letting out a huge sigh, "God I'm dating an idiot". But a cheeky smile spreads across my face, "But you love this idiot". She snorts and walks closer to me so I throw my arm around her
"That I do".
.............
"I can't believe you went out with the enemy" Kelley says in mock horror. I snap my head up as I look at the defender in front of me, "What?" Kelley hands me her phone and shows me a picture of Jessie and I from this morning. I relax and release a breath I didn't know I was holding and shrug nonchalantly, "We're friends". Kelley shakes her head, "Not today you aren't". I scoff, "For 90 minutes we're not friends". Kelley raises an eyebrow at me, "You better not take it easy just because she's your buddy".
My face hardens as I look at my roommate, "Do you seriously think I'll go easy on her?" "Well will you?" She asks. I glare at her but before I can reply theres a knock at the door. Kelley gets up and opens the door and I can hear Mal from the door, "Cmon we have to go down to the lobby". I grab my backpack and headphone and go to the door. Mal awes when she sees me, "Aw that's cute. Your both matching". I look down at what I was wearing and realised she was right. We were wearing our tracksuits and halfzips and both of us had our hair up in a high ponytail. We even had our sleeves rolled up the same way. And it didn't help we were similar height as well. Mal takes a quick picture before motioning us out, "Cmon we have to go before they leave without us".
Kelley dashes around the room grabbing her stuff before we leaving and head down to the lobby. I break off from Kelley and Mal and go over to Christen and Tobin. I walk up to Tobin and hug her around her waist making her look down at me hugging me back, "Hey kid. You ready for the game?" I just nod into her side and she just smiles and hugs me continuing to talk to Christen. I just stayed there like that listening to Christen and Tobin talk while I hide my face in Tobin's side. After a few minutes Jill comes down into the lobby and tells us to get onto the bus.
I detach myself from Tobin and we all load onto the bus. You could tell that everyone was getting ready for the game. Unlike usual trips the bus was quiet everyone getting prepared and into the right mindset. After all the game was against Canada so it wasn't going to be an easy win.
It wouldn't be a good rivalry if it wasn't
I take my seat beside Mal and plug in my headphones. I lean my head against the window as the bus starts to drive listening to the rhythm beating through my ears as I feel the vibrations from the bus driving on the road through the window. I tap my fingers on my elbow as I just relax before the game. Before I know it I feel Mal nudge my leg and I open my eyes to see us pulling up to the stadium. I rub my eyes before standing up and following the others out of the bus. When we get to the locker room I just quietly get ready while some of the others joke and dance around as I talked calmly with Becky.
Before I know it I'm out on the field warming up with the others. At one point I look over at the Canadian side and spot Jessie. As if she can feel me watching her she looks up and waves at me. I wave back only to receive a slap on the back of my head. I rub my head as I turn to the culprit, "Ow! What the hell Kelley!" "No friends until after the game" she says sternly. I just narrow my eyes at her before we go in to change into our kits. I quickly change and head out to the tunnel hoping to get a chance to say hello to Jess before the game. Thankfully I'm guessing my girlfriend had the same idea as she was there waiting in the tunnel. I jog over and give her a quick hug which she happily returns, "Hey Freckles". "Hey Lee" she breathes out against my neck. I pull away knowing that Kelley would probably annoy me if she saw me hugging Jess and I smile at the Canadian, "Are we still going to be okay even after we beat you?" Jess just rolls her eyes at me, "Don't worry we'll be okay after we win".
I shake my head, "Seeing as we probably won't be able to do it before kickoff can we do our thing here?" Jess nods and hold us her hands to me. I beam at her as I bump my fiat with her in the air and then hug her, "I believe in you". She pats my back and whispers in my ear, "I believe in you too". We break apart just as the other starters come out into the tunnel. I squeeze her hand one last time before we all line up. I stand in front of Becky who claps me on my back before we walk out. I close my eyes one last time and take a deep breath taking in the roar of the crowd.
Time for the show to begin
...............
As usual the game was very chippy and there were a few questionable tackles from both sides. We were currently tied at 1-1 with Canada drawing first blood in the 38 minute with Sinclair scoring an outside the box banger. But we retaliated with Alex capitalising on a miscommunication between the Canadian backline in the 57 minute.
It was clear everyone was getting frustrated but no one more than me. It seemed like half the Canadian team was throwing themselves at me into tackles. And it didn't help that Jessie and I were keeping each other out of the game. The downfall of playing with each other at UCLA was we knew each others tendencies so we were able to mark each other so well but we both had to get creative and were still able to contribute to the play much to each others dismay. And it didn't help that Kelley had been at me at half time saying I was going easy on Jess. Which led to me slightly blowing up at her. So the rest of the break was spent with me on the hall with Christen trying to calm me down which she did.
So I put all the pent up frustration into my play and after half time it was like I was re-engerised. The first touch I took in the second half was a solo run which would have ended with a goal of I hadn't been shouldered mid shot which interrupted the shot allowing their keeper to palm it out for a corner but it amounted to nothing. The ball fell to Jordyn who quickly streaked up field with the ball. She didn't have many people to make it pass seeing as most had been up for the corner. I dropped back to help cover as she met Becky. She somehow slipped pasted Becky but was immediately met with me. I didn't give her time to breath as I slide tackled her full on. I connected with the ball and got it away from her. But the ball was right in front of her feet so when I slide tackled her, her feet were taken out from over her. Leaving her to fall forward.
Landing right on top of me
I grunt as I just about catch her keeping most of her weight off of me and she puts her hands right beside my head holding herself up as well. We have this awkward stare off before I speak up, "That was a clean tackle and you know it". Jordyn laughs and shakes her head before pushing herself off of me before helping me up. The game is quiet for the next little while. Until Tobin get another chance but it leads to another corner. I was right in the middle of the box and I don't know who was marking me but they were seriously pissing me off. They were standing right behind me pushing and shoving me. I had to hold myself back from lashing out at the player as I waited for the ball to be kicked back into play. Pinoe raises her arm telling us the corner is coming now. The ball was coming right at me and I timed my jump perfectly so that the ball connected with my head redirecting it. But I don't get to see when it lands.
All I feel is sometimes collides with my head and then my shoulder before my back hits the ground hard. I'm left gasping for breath my vision blurry as tears came to my eyes. I can see the outline of someone above me and I can hear them. And I instantly recognise her. "Jess.." I breath out still struggling to breathe. It was like I was under water. Everyone's voices above me sounded garbled and incoherent. But I could now see two people standing over my head touching my face whispering what sounded like soft reassurances to me. Before I know it I'm being lifted off the field and I don't remember much after that.
..............
"Only you would get hit in the head that hard and not get concussed" Sonnett laughs. I don't say anything was I keep my eyes closed and lean back on the table holding up my middle finger to her. I can hear her gasp loudly, "Tobs your child is giving me the finger!" I hear some movement and open my eyes to see my two mom's coming over for he table. "You probably deserved it" Tobin shrugs. Chris nudges her and gives her a look but Tobs just gives her big grin causing her to shake her head before focusing on me, "How you feeling El?"
I just smile at her as she starts to smooth back my hair from my face, "I'm okay. A small headache but other than that fine". Tobin smiles, "That's good". "But more importantly did we win?" I ask. "Because that's what your worried about after getting decked in the head" Mal laughs. I shrug, "Priorities. So did we win?" Alex chuckles and nods, "Yeah your goal won us the game". I tilt my head, "I scored?" Christen's face instantly becomes worried, "Yeah your header from the corner. You scored do you not remember? Are you sure you don't need the doctor to look at you again?" I gently shake my head not wanting to make my headache worst, "No I'm fine. I remember the corner I just never got to see if it went in".
Christen bites her lip but nods, "Okay. Cmon we better get you back to the hotel to rest". I stand up, "Let's go but I probably shouldn't sleep yet". "Why?" Kelley asks. I switch my cleats for my runners, "I have a really late or really early flight tonight back to LA". "Why are you leaving early?" Mal asks with an obvious pout. "Sorry guys but I need to head back as soon as possible. I promised some friends that I would help them with something and need to go back early. Besides we have post season to prepare for" I apologize hoping they buy it.
Half truth never hurt anyone right?
"Maybe you should leave it a day or two? I mean you went down pretty hard there kid" Tobin suggests. Christen nods, "Yeah maybe you should wait a day or two. I don't know how I feel about letting you go on a plane by yourself after that hit". I smile reassuringly at the team who were all listening in by now, "Jess is coming with me. I'll be fine and I'll text you when I get on the flight and when I get back to UCLA".
Christen hesitates for a second before letting out a sigh, "Okay but you stay with Jessie and you better be expecting check up calls for the next few days. Got it?" I smile and nod, "Got it Mom". Christen finally shows her brilliant smiles and opens her arms out to me, "Good now give me a hug". I chuckle before I bury myself into her hugging her close. "She'll be fine Pressy. You know how hardheaded she is" Kelley jokes. I roll my eyes at her, "Coming from the human bulldozer. Your head is so thick I'm surprised anything gets in there". "Now that's mean" she pouts.
"Love you squirrel"
"Love you too Baby Koala"
.................
"Where are we going? Are we not going back to UCLA?" Jessie asks tiredly in the passengers seat. I drop one of my hand down onto the centre console and entwine our fingers, "No I'm going to show you something". Jessie just yawns and nods probably too tired to ask questions.
The drive was quiet both of us tired from the match and then the flight ride. At some point Jessie nodded off and I took a quick picture while I was stopped at a light. She was wearing one of my hoodies with the hood pulled up and the drawstrings pulled tight so most of her face was hidden. She had the hoodie pulled up so her nose and mouth were under the hoodie while her head was resting on her arm leaning against the window.
When we finally got there I park the car and grab our bags bringing them inside first. I when go back out and open Jessie's door and gently wake up her, "Cmon Jess we're here". She undoes her seatbelt and rubs her eyes mumbling incoherently. I chuckle as I carefully pick her up and carry her inside the house and upstairs. By the time I put her on the bed she more awake and alert, "Where are we?" I let out a breath as I sit beside her on the bed, "Well seeing as we aren't expected back for a few days I thought we can have a mini get away from everyone and stay here for a day or two just us". She smiles at me and gives me a quick peck before hugging me tight and hiding her face in my neck, "Thank you". I kiss the top of her head, "Anything for you J. Now let's go to sleep". "Gladly" she yawns and clings onto me while I pull the blankets up over us.
We stayed like that too tired to even change out of our clothes slowly drifting off to sleep. "Love you J" I whisper before I pass out. "Love you too Lee" she slurred slightly and that was the last thing I heard before nothing.