Chapter 16
Ashlyn’s POV:
“Hey you, how are you feeling?” I asked her.
It’s been a week since Ali had been discharged from the hospital. After I had seen Ashley off, I had gotten in my car and driven around a bit. I just needed some time to think. I had come back to the hospital that night to check on Ali. She had been sleeping when I had arrived, but she had woken up when I had entered the room. We had spoken for a bit about what had happened that day, but she had been exhausted, so we kept it short. She had been discharged the next day. I picked her up and took her home. The first night back in her apartment I had helped her get situated, then I had tucked her in and watched her fall asleep. Then I had gone back to my apartment for some much needed rest. Since then I’ve had practice every day. Ali has been resting in her apartment, but I have been coming by after practice to be with her. We haven’t talked much about us, since I’ve been wanting her to take it easy, but I'm pretty sure that talk is coming. It’s kind of weird – here we are, like we have been so many times, in one of our apartments, just hanging out on the couch, but now it’s different. I’m sure we both feel it, and neither one of us quite knows what to say or do.
“I’m okay”, she said, as I handed her a glass of juice. She’s actually been able to function around the apartment by herself, but I like to wait on her sometimes. She’s my princess. “How was practice?” she asked.
“Good”, I said, as I sat down beside her. “We miss you out there with us.”
She smiled, then looked down and then looked back up. “Have you spoken with Ashley?” she asked me.
“No. Not since I saw her at the hospital.” I had told Ali about what had happened with me and Ashley. She had told me about what had happened with her and Kate. Shitty as things had gone, we both had to laugh a bit about the way things had spiraled that day. Just like Hollywood. “Have you spoken with Kate?” I asked. Ali shook her head. I smiled slightly at her and then said, “Hey, I’m sorr-“ I began, but she put her hand on my arm.
“Hey – it’s over”, she said.
“I know, but still, you guys-“
“Hey – it doesn’t matter”, she said, then gave my arm a gentle squeeze. “What matters is what’s right here, right now. I smiled at her, and she smiled back. Then she said, “Hey…when we were in the hospital…did you tell me you loved me?”
I looked at her for a moment and then said, “Al, are you sure you want to get into this right now? I mean, I want to talk about…stuff, but I’ve been waiting for you to get better.”
She set her glass of juice down on the coffee table and moved closer to me, and then said, “I want to talk about it.”
I stared at her for a moment and then nodded. “I did. I did say that. You remember?”
She nodded her head and then said, “I think so.”
I smiled slightly and then asked, “Do you remember what you told me? After I said what I said?”
She thought for a moment and then shook her head.
“You said you loved me back”, I said and looked into her deep brown eyes.
“I did?” she asked, and I nodded. She smiled at me and then moved closer. She touched her forehead to mine. We stayed like that for a moment, and then she shifted her position on the couch and straddled me. “Babe”, she said, as she moved her lips closer to me, and my hands instinctively went to her hips, “Let’s do it.”
“Let’s do what, princess?”
“Let’s do it. Let’s make love, let’s move in together, let’s be a couple, let’s get married, let’s…” she trailed off.
“Whoa, baby – slow down”, I said.
She pulled back slightly. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing’s wrong.” She just looked at me, so I said, “Baby - we should take things slow.”
“Babe – it’s been ten years since we started having feelings for each other. We should be married with kids by now.”
“And maybe we would have been if we had done things right, if we had talked all those years ago, but we didn’t”, I said. “Now we have the opportunity to make things right, so let’s actually do things right this time.”
She looked down. “I know we didn’t do it right before, and that was my faul-“
“Shhh shhh shhh”, I said, cutting her off, putting my finger to her lips. I didn’t want to hear anything more about faults. All that matters is that we are going to give things a shot, together.
“I know what I want”, she said. “I want you. I want us to get married, to move in together, to have a life together.”
“I know what I want too, and that’s you.” I said. “But after everything we’ve been through, and all this time, we owe it to each other to do things right. And if that means not rushing, then that’s what we should do.” I wanted this. I wanted everything with her, but I wanted to do it right. I wanted to do everything I could to make sure that this lasted forever, and that I never again had to feel that feeling that I did in Frankfurt all those years ago.
She smiled at me, and then she leaned in and said, “I love you. I love you, and I want everything with you.”
“I want everything with you, too. But we have the rest of our lives together.”
"Unless one of us gets taken out by an errant header", she said, and smiled slightly, partly jesting but partly serious. I thought about that for a moment. True, I didn't want to rush, but I also didn't want to miss any opportunity should, God forbid, something happen.
“I want everything with you”, she said again. Then she pouted, and my heart melted. “I want to shout at the top of the Capital that we’re together. I want everyone to know that I’m with you”, she said and smiled.
“And I’m with you. But, like you said, this has been ten years in the making. Let’s do us first”, I said. “Everyone else can wait.” I smiled at her, and touched my finger to her nose, and she smiled back. Then I said, “Plus, we start training with the national team for the World Cup soon. We need to focus. You know, take care of business.”
“I wanna take care of business right now”, she said and smiled mischievously.
I laughed lightly. “Hmmmm…I’m not sure”, I said. “In your weakened condition, you may not be able to handle me.” I laughed.
She scrunched her face up for a moment and then said, “You jerk”, and went to tickle me. She got me for a few seconds, and then I picked her up and laid her on the couch on her back, me on top of her.
“Save your strength, princess”, I said. “You’re gonna need it if you want to play in the World Cup.”
“She looked at me, serious all of a sudden, and said, “I hope I’m well enough to play.”
“You will be”, I assured her. “You’ll be on that field, princess.” I wanted to have her so badly, but I knew she needed her strength. It sounded silly, but I was actually worried about wearing her out if we made love. It's been a long time, and I knew it would be passionate. I figured that any strength she could save now would get her back on the field that much quicker, and I wanted her back on the field. I didn’t want to play in the World Cup without my princess.
Ali looked at me and then said, “Well, I’ve waited this long, I guess I can wait a bit more.” Then she looked at me with her beautiful brown eyes and said, “But honestly, babe – I don’t want to wait.”
I looked at her and said, “Don’t worry baby - I’m not going anywhere.” I looked at her for a moment and then said, “but you need to rest. We’ve got the biggest tournament in the world coming up, and you need to be on that field with us. It’s what we’ve been working towards our whole lives.”
She smiled at me and then said, “No - it's us that we've been working towards our whole lives.”
I smiled back, and with that, I pressed my lips to hers and kissed her. It was our first kiss in nine years, and I reveled in the feeling. This was happening. This was really happening. We stayed like that for a few minutes, and then we broke the kiss. She stroked my hair and smiled at me.
"That felt good", she said, gazing into my eyes.
"Yes it did", I agreed.
“So, when are you moving in?” she teased.
I looked at my suitcase, sitting open in her living room, my closed strewn about. Since she had arrived back to her apartment after the accident we haven’t been too concerned with housekeeping. I thought about the fact that I hadn’t been home in like five days, and said, “Baby - I think I already live here.”