Fast Forward
One year later…
It’s 8:30am on Friday, July 27th, 2018. Tobin and Christen are asleep in bed in their house that they just bought in Northwest Portland.
Tobin’s eyes flutter open and she finds herself staring at the beautiful dark hair of her girlfriend. She smiles to herself. It’s only been two weeks since she and Christen moved into their home, and waking up next to Christen every day has made Tobin happier than ever.
Quietly, Tobin gets out of bed and slides on a pair of slippers and makes her way to the kitchen. She starts a pot of coffee and gets out ingredients to make omelets.
After fifteen minutes of struggling to produce two acceptable greek omelets, Tobin brings the two plates into her and Christen’s bedroom and sets them on the bedside table.
“Wake up, babe,” Tobin whispers into Christen’s ear as she kisses her cheek.
Christen opens her eyes and smiles into Tobin’s deep brown ones.
“Good morning sunshine,” Christen says happily, sitting upright.
“Morning beautiful,” Tobin returns with a smile. “I made you breakfast.”
“You didn’t have to do that!” Christen exclaims with a light smack on Tobin’s arm.
“I wanted to,” Tobin declares. “Here you go.” She hands Christen the plate and a fork and knife.
Christen rubs her eyes and mouthes a thank you.
“I’ll bring you some coffee,” Tobin says, noticing Christen’s weariness.
As Tobin leaves the room to get the coffee, Christen shouts after her, “Nice ass!”
Tobin shakes her head and laughs, pouring a cup of coffee for Christen and returning to the room. Christen reaches for the mug but Tobin moves it slightly out of reach, taking the plate from the bed and setting it on the table as well.
“That’ll have to wait a minute actually,” Tobin says mischievously, climbing on the bed and straddling Christen. She lowers herself so that she is on top of the forward, and kisses Christen on the lips. Christen kisses back and then abruptly rolls both of them over so that she is on top of Tobin. Breaking the kiss, Christen lifts herself up so that her legs are spread around Tobin’s torso and her hands are wrapped around Tobin’s wrists.
“Do you have any idea how sexy you look right now?” Tobin asks with a lustful grin.
“Yeah,” Christen replies smugly, eliciting a chuckle from Tobin. “You better step up your game, Heath.”
“Oh, challenge accepted babe,” Tobin says with a wink and takes her shirt off, exposing arguably the best midsection in women’s soccer.
Christen bites her lip and slowly licks the center line of Tobin’s stomach from just above the hip all the way to right under the midfielder’s breasts.
Tobin closes her eyes and feels her muscles contract at the contact of Christen’s tongue.
“Oh my god I love you,” Tobin stammers with a raspy voice.
“Love you too,” Christen echoes with a smirk as she jumps off of Tobin and gets off the bed.
“What? Not fair,” Tobin whines, disappointed. “Is this what I get for expressing my love to you?”
Christen laughs and kisses Tobin’s forehead. “No, I’ll give you your present tonight,” Christen teases. “Right now we have to get ready for practice.”
Tobin groans and gets out of the bed, nibbling at the omelet she made.
Later that morning, Tobin and Christen walk through NW Portland to Providence Park, Tobin’s right arm draped over Christen’s shoulders, Christen’s right hand intertwined with Tobin’s.
“Hey, what do you think about inviting the team over for a little get-together tonight?” Tobin asks, moving her eyebrows up and down.
“That would be fun,” Christen replies with a smile. “We finally have everything settled. It would be nice to celebrate.”
Tobin grins and leans over and lightly kisses Christen’s lips.
“Have I told you I love you today?” Christen contemplates for a moment.
“I don’t think so.” Tobin replies nonchalantly.
“That’s just tragic,” Christen says with mock disgust. “I love you Tobin.” She says this with a squeeze of the midfielder’s hand, unable to contain a smile.
Tobin grins and leans into her girlfriend.
“Got any plans tonight?” Lindsey asks Tobin as the team changes in the locker room after practice.
“Actually, Chris and I were gonna see if the team wanted to come over to our place for a party tonight,” Tobin answers, glancing at Lindsey while drying her wet hair. “You free?”
“Yeah, that sounds awesome!” Lindsey exclaims, throwing on a clean t-shirt. “You should tell the girls.”
Tobin nods in agreement.
“Yo, can I get everybody’s attention for a sec?” Tobin pipes up, standing on top of a bench. Everyone turns toward her.
“So,” she glances at Christen on the other side of the locker room. “Chris and I wanted to invite you all over to our new house for a party tonight. I know it’s kinda last-minute, but if you’re free we’d love to have you guys. Address is 2741 NW Westover Rd. Anytime from 8 on is good.”
There are lots of thumbs up and smiles in response.
“Sweet, I’ll be there,” Michelle says, patting Tobin on the back on her way out of the locker room.
“Wouldn’t miss it, Harry,” Allie smirks, poking her other half in the ribs.
Several other teammates come up to say they’ll be there, and then Tobin grabs her gear and walks over to her girlfriend, who’s waiting by the door.
“Thanks for waiting,” Tobin acknowledges.
“Of course,” Christen smiles, wrapping her arm around Tobin’s waist.
That night, Tobin and Christen get ready for their party. They spend the evening listening to music, cleaning, and shopping for snacks and drinks. At about 7:30, once the house is nicely cleaned and hors d’oeuvres are set out, Christen sneaks up behind Tobin as she’s closing the refrigerator and grabs her waist, spinning Tobin around.
“Well hello,” Tobin reacts seductively.
“Come,” Christen instructs, leading Tobin by the hand toward their bedroom.
“Chris…” Tobin treads curiously. “You know the team will be here soon.”
“I know, which is why I want to make sure I’m in as good of a mood as possible when they arrive,” Christen replies with a wink as she closes the bedroom door behind them.
Tobin takes a deep breath and chuckles. “You’re just lucky you look so goddamn beautiful right now.”
With that, Christen lays Tobin down on the bed and begins taking off her own oversized t-shirt.
“Let me help you with that,” Tobin says in her raspy voice, lifting her upper body up off the bed and slowly lifting Christen’s shirt over her head and placing a kiss on the forward’s chapped lips.
Christen tosses her shirt to the floor and leans into the kiss, pushing Tobin back down onto the bed. Their two bodies connect artfully, like puzzle pieces finally finding their match. Christen takes off Tobin’s tank top, exposing a bright red scratch across her right oblique.
“Babe, when did you get this?” Christen asks with concern as she softly kisses the wounded area.
“Oh, that’s from practice,” Tobin answers with a grin. “I think Amandine forgot to trim her nails.”
Christen scowls. “Ouch.”
“It’s fine,” Tobin rushes. “Now where were we?” she brings Christen back down on top of her and kisses along the forward’s neck, eliciting a soft moan from Christen.
Tobin starts moving her kisses lower down Christen’s body, passing over her chest, ribcage, and pausing at the top of Christen’s jean shorts before flipping their positions. As she begins taking off Christen’s shorts, and then underwear, Christen removes her bra, leaving her entire body bare. Tobin places a soft kiss on Christen’s hipbone and sits up and slowly moves her gaze up Christen’s entire body, from her legs to her face.
They make eye contact and Tobin opens her mouth to speak but no words come out. She stutters and finally she musters, “I didn’t think it was possible to be this in love with someone.” Christen smiles and wraps her arms around Tobin’s neck, bringing her body down on top of hers, interlocking their lips.
Tobin takes off her own bra as Christen removes her shorts and underwear for her so that nothing separates their skin. For the next twenty minutes, they make love, each selflessly meeting the desires of the other. And then there’s a knock at the door.
By 10:00, the party is in full swing. Almost everyone on the team ended up coming, leaving Tobin and Christen with a house full of twenty-something drunk soccer players. Well…mostly just leaving Tobin to deal. Christen is more blasted than Tobin’s ever seen her, much to the midfielder’s surprise.
“Yoooooo,” Sonnett drones, stumbling toward Tobin and placing an arm around the midfielder’s shoulders. “This party is dope. Thanks for inviting us, Tobs.”
“I’m glad you could come,” Tobin says with a grin, chuckling at her drunk teammate.
“Except!” Sonnett exclaims abruptly, pointing at Tobin, “There’s something wrong.”
“What’s that?” Tobin asks curiously, raising an eyebrow.
“You’re not drrrunk enough!” Sonnett replies with a huge grin, raising her cup of beer into the air.
Tobin laughs and walks out to the back porch to get some air. When she gets there, she notices Sinc standing by the railing, looking out at the beautiful lights of the city.
“Hey,” Tobin greets, joining her captain.
“How’s it going, Tobin?” Sinc inquires.
“Going well, but I guess I’m just not totally feeling the crazy energy levels in there right now,” Tobin answers with a half smile. “How bout you?”
“Same here,” Sinc replies with a nod. “I love you all but getting drunk isn’t as fun as it used to be for me.”
“Yeah, I don’t blame you,” Tobin offers. “Hangovers are the worst.”
They are interrupted by loud footsteps on the porch.
“Uh Tobin,” Kling’s voice resonates from behind. “You might want to come here for a sec, Chris doesn’t look so good.”
With a look of concern on her face, Tobin nods to Sinc and follows Kling back into the house.
Kling leads Tobin into the kitchen, where a few players are gathered around Christen, who’s sitting on the floor clutching her head in her hands. Tobin makes her way in front of her girlfriend and asks the surrounding players what happened.
“She had a lot to drink,” says Lindsey. “She just kinda sank to the floor and has been like this for a few minutes.”
“Hey, babe, Chris, are you okay?” Tobin asks, kneeling down to face Christen.
Christen glances at Tobin, mumbles something and then suddenly vomits all over the tile floor.
“Okay,” Tobin says wide-eyed, popping up. “Kling, can you guys clean this up? Paper towels and stuff are in the cabinet under the sink. I’m gonna try to clean her up.”
“Of course,” Kling answers with concern.
Tobin carefully slides her head under Christen’s arm and picks her up and takes her into the bathroom.
Once inside, Tobin closes the door and slowly sets Christen down in front of the toilet. Immediately, Christen throws up again.
Tobin winces and rubs her girlfriend’s back. “It’s okay, babe. Get it out.”
For the next ten minutes, Christen heaves into the toilet while Tobin stands by. Finally, she stops and sits back against the bathroom wall.
Tobin wets a towel and gently cleans Christen’s face and hands and then sits down in front of her.
“What can I do for you?” Tobin asks, taking Christen’s hands in her own.
“Can you take me to bed?” Christen stutters, looking up at Tobin’s eyes.
“Of course, baby,” Tobin replies, standing up and pulling Christen up with her.
Tobin leads Christen into their bedroom and closes the door. She sits Christen down on the bed and takes off her shoes, socks, shirt, and pants. She walks over to the dresser and grabs a t shirt and pair of pajama shorts and helps Christen put them on.
Once Christen is cleaned up and dressed for bed, Tobin peels back the covers and tucks her girlfriend into bed, placing a kiss on her forehead.
“I’ll be right outside if you need anything,” Tobin assures her with a smile, pushing the forward’s hair behind her ear.
Christen nods and smiles, her eyes starting to close.
Tobin starts to head for the door and, just as she’s placing a hand on the doorframe, Christen rolls onto her side to go to sleep and mutters, “I love you Tobin. Maybe we can do this forever.”
Tobin turns her head around and smiles. “I love you too, Chris. Goodnight.”
She then leaves the room, closing the door behind her and returns to the party, unable to hide her smile.