THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY
Ali’s phone rang. “Ash, wait..” Ali managed to breathe out.
“Do you really have to get that?” She asked Ali with her puppy eyes.
“Stop doing that. You know I fall for it every time.” Ali punched her playfully.
She made her way to the night stand and when she looked at her phone, it read Coach Ellis.
“Hello?” Ali sat on the bed and waited for response.
“Hi Ali, I wanted to let you know that we have to talk tomorrow. After the practice.” Jill made it sound really serious. Whatever she said sounded like it was a matter of life or death.
That left Ali in shock. She didn’t know what to say and why would coach want to talk only to her.
“Ali, are you there?” Jill asked when she didn’t answer.
“Yeah. I-I will be there.” Ali managed to say and immediately hung up. She started shaking and questioning every decision that she’s made in the past 6 months.
“Ali, what’s wrong?” Ash ran to the bed and kneeled in front of her cupping her right cheek.
“I-..” Ali couldn’t breathe, she tried to tell Ash, but she couldn’t find any words.”I don’t know.”
“Well..Who was that?” Ash sat next to her but Ali got up and started walking around the room.
“It was coach. She said she needed to talk to me after the practice.” Ali mumbled something to herself after that but Ash didn’t quite catch that.
“I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.” Ash got up and held her distance, knowing that Ali can get really upset in these kinds of situations.
“How can you say that? You know what that means. Last time coach had a conversation with someone, that someone was no longer a player for uswnt. I mean.. What did I do wrong?” Ali was freaking out.
“Why would you think that she would ever replace you with another defender? You are our best defense player!” Ash couldn’t believe what she heard.
“Then what is it?! Why would s-“Ali stood there, her mouth wide open. “Oh my god..”
“What?” Ash waited patiently.
“What if she knows?” Ali’s heart started beating really fast.
“Knows what?! Ali I don’t-“Ash figured out what Ali wanted to say. She covered her face with her hands and sat down.” You think Alex told her about us?” She stood up and took her phone. After dialing Alex’s number, she opened the balcony door.
“What are you doing? Who are you calling?” Ali feared that she was calling the coach.”Ash, please don’t..”
“Don’t worry, I’m calling Alex.” Ash was furious, not so much because Alex might have told the coach about them but because seeing Ali like that broke her heart.
After a few minutes Alex answered.
“Yo Ash, do you know what time it is? Well I can tell you, it’s fucking late.” Alex was sleeping when Ash called.
“I need you to tell me something. Did you tell Jill about us?” Ash wasn’t really patient right now. She wanted to deal with this as soon as possible.
“Woow Harris, I didn’t know we had a thing! You shoul-“She interrupted Alex.
“Alex please, I don’t have time for this! Tell me! Did you or did you not tell Jill about me and Ali?” Ash didn’t realize that she was yelling.
“Calm down baby..” Ali hugged her from behind.
“I did not! I would never! You didn’t even confirm it.” Alex realized that they had a situation. “Why? What’s going on?”
“Okay, thank you. It’s nothing really, I just..wanted to know.” Ash was ready to hang up when Alex spoke up.
“Ash, I know that something is wrong. You are always up for a good joke and now you are acting like someone is dying. You never act like that unless it’s serious.”
“I don’t know what’s going on.” Ash looked at Ali for permission to tell Alex and she got it.”Coach called Ali and she told her that they need to talk tomorrow after the practice..” Ash said nervously.
“Oh shit.. Well that’s not good. You think someone figured you two out before me and told her?” Alex was going through everyone she knew on the team that could’ve told the coach but no one stood out.
“I don’t know. I guess we will see tomorrow. Sorry for waking you up, good night.” Ash apologized and kissed Ali’s forehead.
“No worries, night you two.” Alex hung up and went back to sleep.
“She didn’t say anything.” Ash felt like she disappointed Ali when she didn’t figure out how the coach knew.”I’m sorry.”
“Hey! It’s okay. We don’t even know if that is the reason she is asking for me.” Ali sat in Ash lap and cupped her cheeks.”If it is than I will have to do these hickeys a little lower.” She raised her brow and bit her lip while looking into Ash’s eyes.
“Fuck, don’t do that..” Ash shivered and grabbed Ali’s waist when she pushed her onto the bed.
“I can do whatever I want.” Ali whispered seductively in Ash’s ear. She took Ash’s shirt off and kissed her deeply. Licking Ash’s bottom lip, she grabbed the hem of her boxers and Ash couldn’t suppress a moan.
“Someone’s a bit greedy. Aren’t they?” Ali teased.
“Fuck. Oh my god..” Ash bit her fist and tried not to slide her hand inside Ali’s shorts. Instead, she changed their positions so that she would be hovering over Ali.
“No one talks to me like that in my house.” Ash took off Ali’s shorts and put her right leg in between Ali’s when she felt the wetness. “Speaking of greedy..” She smiled and reached for Ali’s underwear then she stopped her.
“Wait.” Ash froze. She didn’t know what she did wrong and why was Ali stopping when she was clearly enjoying.
“Did I do something wrong?” Ash immediately pulled back and Ali grabbed her hand.
“No! God no! I want you to lie down.” Ali looked at Ash with the look of understanding.
“Why?” Ash was clearly confused and she thought Ali wanted to be a bottom since she didn’t complain when Ash changed their positions.”Is this your way of telling me that I should rest?” Ash protested.
“Yes. And you should rest because those ribs won’t heal like that..” Ali tried to kiss Ash when she backed away. Ali stood there surprised.
“Fine. I will rest.” Ash lied down and turned to the other side covering herself.
“Ash, come on.. Don’t be like that.” Ali caressed her hand but she shrugged it off.
“Like what? Like I wanna show you how much you mean to me and how much I want to make you happy but you won’t let me? Well I’m sorry then.” Ali knew that Ash was always putting her in front of everything and she was grateful for that. But Ash never thought about herself. It was always Ali in front of everything and everyone.
“Baby, I’m sorry..”Ali backed away and sat on the bed looking at the sheets. “It’s just..You are not telling me if it hurts or if you feel uncomfortable. You are always thinking about me. If I’m okay and if I’m going to be comfortable. Don’t get me wrong, I love it. I just want to take care of you for once!”
That made Ash turn to face her.
“How can I not? I have the most beautiful girl in my bed right now. I have you when I wake up.” Ash desperately tried to explain it to her.
Ali scooted closer to her and cupped her face. She leaned in and kissed Ash which made her cry. When Ali broke the kiss, another tear streamed down Ash’s face and she looked at Ali, searching for the answer.
“What did I do to deserve you?” Ali was mentally slapping herself for being so overprotective and sensitive.
“You smiled at me.” Ash answered and wiped her tears away.”I’m really tired.” Ash said lying down.
Without a word, Ali lied down beside her and buried her head in Ash’s neck.
“Ashhhhh, stop it!” Ali woke up to Ash tickling her with her hair.
“Get up! We have to go! The practice started 10 minutes ago!” Ash was already dresses when she uncovered Ali and threw the sheets on the floor.
“What?! What do you mean 10 minutes ago, why didn’t you wake me?!” Ali jumped off the bed and quickly grabbed all of her stuff. “Let’s go! Oh god, coach is gonna kill us!”
Ash started laughing, holding her stomach. She couldn’t believe Ali really fell for that.
“Ash, come on! Are you fucking kidding me right now?” Ali got angry at Ash. She couldn’t be late, not today.
“I’m kidding! Hahahah” Ash fell down, still laughing.
“You little piece of shit! What time is it?!” Ali was relieved, but still pissed at Ash for messing with her.
“It’s 5:38” Ash was trying to catch her breath.
“Did you just fuck me up? I almost died!” Ali over exaggerated.”Fuck!” She threw her bag down and breathed out in relief.
Seeing that Ali was approaching her, Ash got up and walked backwards to the door.
“Aliii no! Be a good girl!” She didn’t realize that she got into another room.
Ali was still walking towards her but as soon as she realized that they were in another room, child’s room, she stopped and looked around.
“Ash, whose room is t-“Seeing where she went, Ash pulled Ali out and closed the door. She locked the door and walked away slowly still looking at them.
“Ash, you okay?” Ali tried to snap her out of it, but she just waved no and rushed down the stairs.
“Ash! Wait! Where are you going?!” Ali followed her down and saw her outside the house.
She was looking for her car keys since she had another one, not just the Mercedes.
“Come on! Where the fuck are they?!” Ash was feeling so many emotions right now. Anger. Sadness. Fear. Guilt.
“Ash, talk to me, what happened? Whose room is that?”
“I can’t talk right now, don’t wait for me, I won’t be going to practice today.” Ash rushed to her car, crying her eyes out.
“Ash, wait! Ash!” Ali was left in front of the house.
What the hell was that? And more importantly where did she go?
Ali decided to go in that room one more time, maybe that way she could find out who lived there.
Making her way through the dark hallways, she reached for the doorknob and unlocked the door. When she got inside, she could’ve seen that no one was sleeping in it for a long time. The furniture was dusty and the toys were still on the bedroom floor.
What happened here?
She closed the door and turned on the light. The room was purple. It had a little closet and a rocking chair which was pink. A bunch of Barbie dolls were beside the bed which was still messy. On the nightstand was unframed picture of Ash. Ali turned it around and there was a note.
“Whenever you miss me, just look at this picture and remember how much I love you. Ash x”
Ali placed the picture exactly where she found it and inspected the room once more. “There is not a single picture of whoever lived in this room. There is no picture of that person in the house. What happened here?” Ali thought out loud. It was freaking her out and she decided to leave the room.
Practice was in 20 minutes so she decided to head over there. Throughout the whole practice she was thinking about Ash. When they finally finished, she wasn’t so scared to talk to Jill anymore.
“You wanted to see me coach?” Ali walked in Jill’s office.
“Yes Ali. Sit down.” She gestured to the chair in front of her.”I wanted to let you know that you are no longer going to p-“Ali already knew what Jill was going to say so she tried to convince Jill that she needed that place on the roster.
“Coach, please, I need that spot..Don’t replace me, I’ll prove to y-“
“Ali, you are staying on the roster, don’t worry about that. You are no longer going to play for Washington Spirits.” Jill waited for a response but all that she got was Ali looking at her with her mouth open like she is trying to say something.
“Wha-What do you mean I am not playing for Spirits anymore? Did they terminate my contract, I don’t understand.” Ali couldn’t believe it.
“No, they are transferring you to the Orlando Pride. You are going to play will Ashlyn and Alex next season.”
That felt like someone just lifted the burden from her shoulders. She thanked the coach for telling her and left the office.
But something was not right. She was supposed to feel happy about this. The only thing on her mind right now was Ashlyn. Where was she?
Meanwhile, Ashlyn was at the cemetery. She was sitting in front of a little grave holding her necklace. It was a golden shark tooth that she got as a present. This was the only place that she could blame herself for what happened and that’s exactly what she did.
Her phone started ringing and she answered without looking at the screen.
“Hello?” She answered, quietly sobbing.
“Ash, where are you? I’m worried sick about you. Please, tell me so I can come and pick you up.” Ali begged her.
“I’m at the cemetery.” Ash hung up and hugged her knees, burying her head in between.
After 12 minutes, Ali arrived and by the time Ali found Ash, she already stopped crying. Now she was only staring at the tombstone.
“Ash, what are you doing here? Baby, it’s cold outside and you are shaking.” Ali approached her slowly and sat down beside her. She hugged her and ran her hands up and down Ash’s arms trying to warm her up. Seeing that Ash wasn’t looking at her at all she followed her look and saw the tombstone in front of them. It read:
“In loving memory of Madison Harris
September 6th, 2006 – July 11th ,2012”
At that moment, Ash turned her head to Ali and spoke up.
“Ali..” She stopped for a second to breathe out.”Meet Madison Harris..My sister.”