Across The Hall

How am I still not used to the feeling I get when I kiss these lips? How are the butterflies still so overwhelmingly intense?

Christen sighs contently as Tobin leans over her and moves her lips in tandem with Christen's as the two lay sprawled across Tobin's futon. What started out as an innocent little movie date ended up as one of those pay-attention-to-the-movie-for-a-grand-total-of-five-minutes-before-losing-each-other-in-a-series-of-kisses, spur of the moment make-out sessions. Which as Christen can't help but admit, has been happening quite frequently as of late. Tobin brings a hand up to the side of Christen's face and uses her thumb to begin to caress her cheek.

It's been two weeks since Tobin and I have officially been in a relationship and I still have no handle over my emotions whenever she's around me. It's like my girlfriend has some sort of invisible power over me. Some sort of mystic effect. Wow, I'm making out with my girlfriend right now. My girlfriend is making out with me. I have a GIRLFRIEND. And not just any girl, but Tobin. TOBIN. Tobin Heath is my girlfriend. Officially. How did I ever get so lucky? Why am I feeling this burning sensation in my chest? Is this really what it feels like to like someone this much? Why does it remind me of not being able to breathe?...Oh shit. I forgot to breathe. Breathe, Christen, breathe!

Christen unwillingly breaks the kiss so that she can come up for air. Tobin's eyes meet Christen's as they are mere inches away from her own. They look confused at first, but then morph into something that resembles relief. Tobin takes a deep breath. Maybe Christen wasn't the only one who forgot to breathe. However, as quickly as the kiss ended, a new one begins, maybe even more passionate than the last. Tobin leans propped on one elbow as she leans down, over Christen. The position probably isn't the most comfortable, but it doesn't appear to bother Tobin in the slightest. She guides her hand along Christen's jawline until her fingertips rest at the soft spot behind Christen's ear. Christen instinctively giggles as her girlfriend's fingertips dance along such a sensitive area. Tobin laughs against Christen's lips, endlessly amused by Christen's little quirks that she's been quickly learning about during these blissful past two weeks. As Tobin shifts to allow herself to apply more weight to her propped up elbow, a small indistinguishable noise sounds from somewhere in the room. Christen can't pinpoint exactly where it came from, but it almost sounded like a faint voice. However, as Tobin leans deeper into her, the voice is quickly forgotten.

"When am I ever going to shake the feeling that I'm dreaming all of this?" Tobin whispers against the corner of Christen's mouth, her lips tantalizingly grazing against Christen's skin. Christen smirks and uses her arms that are already wrapped around Tobin's neck to pull the midfielder in for another kiss.

"We'll just have to keep practicing until you do" Christen suggestively teases right before her lips come into contact with Tobin's once more. Christen can feel Tobin's smile grow as she kisses her.

I hope she never shakes that feeling.

Then Christen hears the sound again, only this time it's more pronounced. It sounds like the muffled murmur of someone talking on the opposite end of a phone line. Tobin must hear it too, because she breaks the kiss with Christen and alertly glances around the room.

"You heard it too?" Christen asks, her eyes scanning the small dorm room.

"Yeah" Tobin responds, her eyebrows knit together, "I don't know where it came from though."

"It kinda sounded like a voice to me" Christen offers as Tobin directs her gaze back on Christen once again. "Maybe it's just the sound of someone's TV bleeding through the walls?" Tobin nods slowly, her expression pensive as she considers Christen's suggestion.

"Yeah, maybe" she finally concludes, electing to abandon her persuit of the the mystery noise and dedicate her energy to more pressing matters. "Anyway, where were we?"

"Practice?" Christen innocently reminds as she leans up to meet Tobin halfway. Tobin leans back down towards Christen, however right before they can resume their little make-out sesh, the sound appears once again. Tobin immediately sits back up, determined to find the source of the disruptive sound.

"Seriously what is that?" Tobin asks, her head on a swivel as her eyes bounce from wall to wall. After a moment, Christen decides to sit up as well, figuring that their intimate moment is temporarily put on hold.

"Did you leave your computer on?" Christen asks, trying to help Tobin get to the bottom of this. Tobin shakes her head in the negative as she racks her brain for where the noise could be coming from. "Did you have music playing on your phone?" Christen tries again. This must have struck a chord because Tobin's eyes immediately widen. She reaches in her back pocket and pulls out her phone. Her eyes briefly graze the screen before she's pulling the phone up to her ear.

"Hello? Is someone there?" Tobin asks optimistically. Sure enough, the noise returns and a look of contentment visibly washes over Tobin's face. When her eyes meet with Christen's, she nods to let her know that the phone was indeed the source of the interruptive sound. "Uhhh, yeah sure, hang on." Tobin speaks into the phone as she rises from the futon and makes her way over to the door. Christen shoots her and inquisitive look, but Tobin holds up her index finger communicating that she'll only be out of the room for a moment. Before Christen knows it, Tobin is gone and she's all alone in room 317.

I'm happy we were able to find the source of that noise, it would've bothered the both of us all night had we not. I wonder who is on the phone though? How long have they been on the line? Wait...Did Tobin just butt-dial someone as we were making out?! Oh my god, that's so embarrassing! What if they heard something? Dear lord, no. No, no, no. Ugh, I am so mortified!

As panic begins to set in within the fretful green-eyed girl, Tobin reenters the room. She's back a lot sooner than Christen would've thought.

"Who was that? Did they hear anything? Please tell me they didn't. Please, for the love of all that is good" Christen barrages Tobin with questions as the midfielder takes a seat on the futon once more.

"Well I could tell you that" Tobin sighs easily, "But that would be a lie." Christen covers her hands with her face, too embarrassed to let even Tobin see it.

"This is awful" Christen mumbles against her hands. "At least tell me it was someone we don't know." At least then we don't have to worry about showing our faces in front of that person. I mean, it was a butt-dial. It could've easily been a stranger. It could've easily been anyone in the entire country.

Tobin shifts a little uncomfortably in her seat. It's like she knows something that she knows Christen won't like to hear. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Tobin finally decides to drop the bomb.

"It was my mom" she hesitantly informs. Her posture is drawn in, almost like she's anticipating Christen's explosion. Christen reactively pulls her hands away from her face and her wild eyes meet Tobin's unreasonably calm ones.

"Your mom?!" Christen frantically echoes. Tobin only shrugs in return. "Are you serious? Did she hear us? Does she even know that we're dating?"

"She does now" Tobin humorlessly quips, although her comment is not so warmly received. How the fuck is she so calm right now?!

"Tobin!' Christen exclaims in disbelief. Tobin immediately wipes her amused smile off of her face. "This is such a disaster! I've never even met your mother before, and now this is her first impression? What are we going to do? What the hell are we going to do?!" Christen brings her hands to her face again and begins massaging her temples. It doesn't really help, but she hasn't even the slightest clue what to do in a moment like this. Tobin shoots Christen a sympathetic gaze and places a hand on Christen's knee.

"Chris" she soothingly begins, "It'll be alright. This is not the end of the world." Christen directs her gaze from the floor and trains it onto her girlfriend.

"How can you say that? You're not the one who looks like a complete floozy to someone she's never even met" Christen argues, trying to restrain her frustration and anxiety. Tobin gives Christen's knee a squeeze as she takes a deep breath before she begins to speak.

"Because I know my mom. She's cool, Chris. She won't care about this little incident. And she definitely won't hold it against you. She understands that we're young and these things happen. In fact, she thought it was kind of funny, which admittedly, I think she has a point." Tobin explains as she scoots closer to Christen's downcast figure. Christen's feeling of panic is now replaced with a pang of doubt and humiliation. She wants to believe Tobin, but she's never been one to be easily convinced of anything. Tobin must sense Christen's lingering apprehension because she draws her hand away from Christen's knee and drapes her arm over Christen's shoulder, pulling her into her side. "Plus, if you look at the bright side, now I don't have to think about a way to tell my mom about us anymore. She already knows! And she seemed totally cool about it. So really, no harm done. Right, Chris?" Christen doesn't answer right away, instead she elects to rest her head on Tobin's shoulder. She grabs Tobin's free hand and begins mindlessly playing with her fingers.

"You really think she's fine with this?" Christen sheepishly questions from Tobin's shoulder. "You really think she's fine with...us?" Christen doesn't look at Tobin directly, but she allows her girlfriend to pull her closer, and she can feel Tobin press a kiss to her forehead.

"I don't think" Tobin bluntly states, "I know."

"Really?" Christen weakly responds, snuggling her head now into the crook of Tobin's neck. Tobin chuckles.

"Yes, really" Tobin confirms with an endearing smile. "You think I've kept you a secret from my own mother this entire time? Please, she's known about you since the beginning. She just didn't know that we we're official yet. The only reason I hadn't actually got around to telling her that is because a certain someone has been demanding all of my attention lately." Tobin pokes at Christen's ribs and Christen squirms within her arms. She looks up and meets Tobin's eyes which look as warm as they did the day they met. Christen is at a loss for words as she can feel her heart swelling within her chest. So instead of articulating how she feels, she figures she'll just show it as she leans forward and plants a sweet kiss on Tobin's lips. Tobin doesn't say so, but by the way she's smiling, Christen is fairly certain that she's received her unspoken message. "So since we're on the topic of this" Tobin begins again, interrupting the moment of wordless comfort. "Have you told your mom about us yet?"

"Ummm..." Christen mumbles against Tobin's skin, causing the girl to chuckle a little at the ticklish sensation. "Not exactly, no."

"What? Why not? I would've thought she'd be the first to know" Tobin muses, sitting up a little straighter to get a better view of the brunette leaning against her side.

"I don't know" Christen shrugs, trying to think of a better way to articulate her thoughts than some cop-out dismissal of the subject. She's been aloof with Tobin in the past, and it's never bode well. She wants to be honest with Tobin, she wants to set their relationship off on the right foot. A relationship built on honesty and trust is what matters the most, and Christen wants to do her best to honor that. So instead of taking the easy way out, she decides to at least try to explain the situation to Tobin. She owes her girlfriend that much. "Well actually, I do know."

"What is it?" Tobin asks, her expression becoming slightly concerned. She rubs her hand up and down the side of Christen's arm in an attempt to encourage a response. It's comforting to Christen and exactly the little push she needs to continue to explain herself.

"The thing is, I don't know how my mom is going to react when I tell her about us" Christen admits, finally looking into Tobin's eyes, which seem much less intimidating than she'd imagined they'd be. One of Tobin's eyebrows rises slightly, like she doesn't completely understand what it is that Christen means.

"I'm guessing she'll be happy for us, right? I mean, she's basically been rooting for us since day one" Tobin supplies, trying to ease any of Christen's remaining worries. Christen nods and smiles slightly, but it doesn't quite reach her eyes.

"Yeah, no, she definitely will. That's not what I'm worried about though" she admits, perplexing Tobin further.

"Then what are you worried about?" Tobin prompts, still as patient as ever, much to Christen's gratitude. Christen stares deeper into Tobin's inviting eyes. She tries to non-verbally express what she's feeling, but it doesn't quite do the trick. She knows she'll have to continue to use her words.

"Well" Christen exhales, as if she's leading up to something important. "Ever since we've been together, these last two weeks especially, I've wanted you all to myself. I haven't wanted to leave you when it would be time to go to class, I haven't wanted to say goodbye to you at the end of each night. Hell, it's even been killing me when you're at practice and I have to wait a few hours to see you again. I want you by my side, like all the time. It's like I can't get enough of you and I want you in my life at every waking moment. I want you here, with me, like this." Tobin smiles, her eyes sparkling as she gazes affectionately at Christen.

"That's sweet and all" Tobin warmly comments as she brings Christen's hand to her lips and places a soft kiss on the back of it. "But what does this have to do with telling your mom?" Christen sighs again, both due in part to her inability to convey what she's getting at and because of the butterflies that just fluttered in her stomach after what Tobin just did.

"If I tell her about us" Christen opens again, this time determined to make her point clear. "I'm afraid that she'll make a big deal about it. She'll congratulate us and be happy for us, sure, but she'll take it farther than that. She'll tell all the relatives, she'll boast about us to all her friends. She'll situate herself right in the middle of it, butting into our relationship. And Tobin, I'm sorry, but I don't want to share you with anyone else. Even my mother. I don't want to share you because I want things to continue to be like they've been for us lately. It's been so good and I don't want anyone else to spoil it. I'm selfish, I know, but that's just how I feel." Christen's eyes shift back and forth as they search Tobin's expression for some kind of reaction. Not a single one of Tobin's facial muscles move, Instead, Christen can feel arms wrapping around her and pulling her into a hug.

"Christen, you're not selfish" Tobin sweetly murmurs as she rest her chin on Christen's shoulder. "A little bit of a worry wort maybe, but definitely not selfish." Christen giggles against Tobin's neck before the midfielder continues. "If you're not sure how to tell your mom about us just yet, that's fine, take all the time you need. I don't mind if that makes things easier for you. All I care about is that you're happy. Everything else is just details. Tell your mom when you're ready, alright?"

"Yeah?" Christen asks in a small voice, lulled into a state of peace after listening to Tobin's calming voice.

"Yeah" Tobin confirms, rubbing her hands slowly up and down Christen's back in a way that's never felt more soothing. Christen feels like she could stay like this forever, that's how comfortable she feels in Tobin's arms. That's how comfortable Tobin makes her feel in general. And she's so unbelievably thankful for that that she desperately wishes she could find a way to tell her girlfriend that. As Christen is thinking, Tobin releases a content sigh and Christen realizes that she's not the only one who feels this at ease. She's not the only one reveling in the comfort of this moment. She's not the only one who's allowed her guard to fall. They both have. Together. For each other. And that is something Christen's never felt before.

"Tobin?" Christen suddenly pipes up, her voice cracking a little.

"Hm?" Tobin hums with her eyes closed as she focuses on continuing to drag her hands gently across the muscles of Christen's back.

"Did you really call me a 'wort' just then?"

"Shhh" Tobin exhales as she pulls Christen closer. "Just enjoy this nice moment. You think too much you adorable little wort." Christen chuckles and Tobin is unable to keep a straight face, succumbing to a little bit of laughter herself.

"You seriously need to work on your pet names" Christen humoredly comments as she shakes her head.

"Whatever you say my little tuna fish."

"How did you manage to get a coffee bean stuck there?"  Christen curiously inquires as Emily wipes down the smoothie shoppe counter in front of the two.

Emily shrugs as she continues busying herself inside the empty drink place. She and Christen are the only ones present at such a late hour on a Saturday night. Technically it's past closing time, but considering both Tobin and Kelley have been gone all day at a far away game, Emily's in no rush to usher her only company away. Christen wasn't too keen to spend the majority of the evening on her own either, so Emily fixed Christen a blueberry banana smoothie and they've spent the night together trying to kill time. And now here they are at 10:45 pm, watching the clock while exchanging war stories of some of their most embarrassing moments.

"It's a long story" Emily grimaces with the shake of the head, "Not for the faint of heart."

"Got it, I'll drop the subject" Christen chuckles, earning an appreciative smile from Emily. "Besides, I'm sure I've got you beat in the embarrassment department." Emily offers Christen a quizzical expression before she tosses her cleaning rag over her shoulder and leans forward on the opposite side of the counter.

"Alright, whatcha got?" Emily questions as her eyes slightly narrow on Christen. "I'm not convinced it can be any worse than what I just told you."

"Oh, I assure you, it is" Christen exhales, pausing momentary to take a sip of her smoothie. "Tobin and I were kinda in the middle of making out the other day and..." Christen trails off, suddenly becoming shy.

"What? Someone walk in on you or something? That's not that embarrassing" Emily interjects in a light-hearted tone, somewhat amused by Christen's timidness. Christen shakes her head and lets out a lengthy sigh.

"Tobin butt dialed her mom" she deadpans, only daring to look up at Emily after a few seconds have passed. When her eyes finally do land on the barista, Emily looks red in the face from holding her breath.

"Ah ha ha!" Emily finally explodes, unable to contain her hilarity anymore. "You're right" Emily allows after her laughter dies down a little bit, "That's pretty damn embarrassing."

"See? I told you! I'm like the queen of embarrassment" Christen enthusiastically returns, chuckling at herself just a tad. Emily shakes her head and slowly pushes herself away from the counter.

"Well if you're the queen, then I'm probably the prime minister or something" she quips while walking around the counter and over to a table with chairs around it.

"I guess we're both pretty pitiful" Christen replies as she swivels around on her stool so she can continue to face Emily while they talk.

"We're the worst" Emily humoredly concurs while grabbing one of the chairs and beginning to flip it over to stack on the table for the night. Christen slides off of her stool near the counter and walks over to the table Emily is at.

"Here, let me help you" Christen offers as she too begins stacking chairs.

"Thanks" Emily smiles as they finish stacking the chairs at that table and move on to the next one. "You know, you're pretty good at that" Emily pipes up again after they've completed two more tables. "You wanna work here so I don't have to take so many shifts?" Christen lets a laugh escape her as she shakes her head in the negative.

"Right in the midst of Pumpkin Spice Latte season?" she scoffs, already imagining what it would be like to have dozens of basic white girls bark their orders at her during the early morning hours. "That's gotta be a hard pass from me."

"Can't say I blame you" Emily sighs, stacking the last chair at their current table. "You have to have some pretty thick skin to survive it. Honestly, I can't believe we still offer it as a special. I mean, Halloween has already passed, isn't it like Christmas season now? Shouldn't we have peppermint flavored everything at this point? Something that's, you know, not completely trendy and doesn't make me hate the smell of pumpkins?"

"Well we still have thanksgiving before we can truly go into full-on Christmas mode" Christen acknowledges while using the sleeve of her sweatshirt to dab at the little sweat droplets that have recently formed at the top of her forehead. Those chairs were heavier than she had anticipated, and Christen isn't usually one for heavy lifting. "And besides, it wouldn't be just peppermint flavored drinks, there would definitely be a ton of eggnog flavored items as well. It's a classic, and unfortunately almost as trendy as pumpkin spice." Emily's head slumps as she grabs a broom and begins sweeping the shop floor.

"Christen!" she whines, sweeping dust, crumbs, and discarded straw wrappers into tiny piles around one of the tables. "You're supposed to lie to me to make me feel better, not remind me of the hell to come." Christen smiles at Emily's grumbling, finding it somewhat amusing.

"I'm sorry, my bad" Christen consoles as Emily sweeps her way around the store. "Wanna go back to telling cringe-worthy stories?"

"Sure, hit me with another one" Emily agrees as she ushers one of the piles into a dust pan.

"Hey! It's your turn!" Christen counters, heading back over to her previous seat and grabbing her nearly empty smoothie cup. She gulps down the remainder of her semi-frozen treat and deposits the cup in the trash can near the pick-up area.

"Shit, you're right" Emily comments, realization hitting her. "Alright, fair enough. But give me a second to think about it. Hmmm... Oh! I know! Ok, so this one time when I was in the seventh grade, I brought this jar of honey to school for a science project and, you'll never believe this, but-"

The bell at the front of the room chimes, interrupting Emily's thought process. Both look to the front of the store and Emily dusts herself off, readying herself to tell a prospective customer that it's past closing time. But just as Emily begins to inform whoever it is of this information, two familiar faces come strolling through the door.

"Sorry O'Hara, kitchen's closed. I already put the apple fritters away" Emily calls out as Kelley and Tobin shuffle further into the store, hoping to get a jest out of the girl. Instead, she's only met with a somber nod from the defender. Christen immediately becomes concerned. This is very out of character from her wild roommate. Christen glances over to Tobin, only to find a sympathetic look on her face as well. Something must have happened at the game tonight. Poor Kelley, I hope she's alright. Hopefully she's not injured, that would be horrible.

"I'm not hungry" Kelley morosely mumbles as her eyes remain clued to the floor. Emily sets aside her dust pan and leans her broom against the nearest wall.

"You know what, I might be able to dig up one of those apple fritters after all" Emily sweetly offers as she makes her way back around the counter, over to the area where they keep the food and baked goods.

"You really don't have to" Kelley interjects as she slowly walks across the room at takes a seat on one of the stools at the counter. "We got dinner on the bus ride home." Emily pauses her scavenging through the food storage and eyes Kelley for a minute, probably trying to assess the situation. Eventually she nods and strolls back over in Kelley's direction.

"Actually I'm just here to collect Christen" Tobin supplies as she walks towards Christen. A small smile begins to grow on Christen's face. Even though the atmosphere has suddenly become so sullen, she's still extremely happy to see Tobin for the first time today. "Kelley just came along to grab some air." Christen glances over at Kelley, only to see the girl fiddling haphazardly with her hands and Emily looking on in concern. "You ready to head back?" Tobin questions once she arrives at Christen's side. Christen's head snaps over to Tobin, just now registering that Tobin's question was directed at her.

"Oh, um, I think I should help Emily close up first. After all, I'm kinda the reason why she's still here this late" Christen explains, now feeling bad that Emily has to work extra just because Christen's been distracting her this whole time. Just as more insecurity creeps up within Christen, she feels an arm slide over her shoulders.

"I wouldn't worry about that" Tobin mumbles, her eyes drifting over to Kelley and Emily, causing Christen's eyes to do the same. This time Emily has reached over the counter and has her hand placed supportively on Kelley's left shoulder. The two speak in gentle, hushed tones. "I think that's the last thing on her mind right now." Christen glances back to Tobin, only to find her eyes already on Christen. When their eyes connect, Christen silently nods and Tobin begins to steer them both towards the door. "We're gonna take off now" Tobin announces as she holds the door open for Christen, "See you guys later." Emily offers her an appreciative nod before directing her attention back to Kelley. Soon enough, Tobin and Christen are outside and on their way back to the dorm.

"So what happened to Kelley?" Christen prods after she and Tobin have been walking for a little while. "She's not hurt or anything, is she?" Christen hesitantly glances over to Tobin, expecting to hear the worst. But Tobin looks back over and squeezes their joined hands. Christen instantly feels a little more at ease. So it's probably not an injury then. But if not, what's got Kelley so down?

"She scored an own goal in the second half. She was going for a tackle but it just took a bad deflection" Tobin calmly explains as the passing streetlight lights her up from above. "I tried to tell her that these things happen, but the fact that we lost by one goal didn't help the cause. She blames herself for the loss."

"Oh" Christen frowns, the thought of scoring an own goal causing its own gut-wrenching reaction within herself. "That really sucks. Like, really sucks."

"Yeah" Tobin exhales as she and Christen stray away from the street light and enter the darkness again. "That's the defender's curse I guess. You either save the day or you make a costly mistake. It's a tough job, that's why I'm happy I'm not one." Christen nods as she listens along with Tobin's words. She remembers making plenty of mistakes back when she played, but she was a forward, never a defender. She's never had to shoulder that responsibility, and now that she thinks about it, defenders really don't get enough credit for that.

As the two walk hand-in-hand under another street light, something on Tobin's left knee catches Christen's eye. As she glances down, Christen notices a large abrasion just below Tobin's kneecap. It's a combination of red, purple, and blue. It's a nasty one to say the least, and from what Christen can see, it looks pretty painful. Christen halts the two under the street light, causing Tobin to stare at her questioningly. 

"What happened to your knee?" Christen asks, her eyebrows furrowing. "Does it hurt? Should you be walking right now?" Tobin nonchalantly glances down and chuckles.

"Oh that?" she breezes with a slight smile, almost as if she's proud of the gruesome mark on her leg. "It's just a little turf burn, no biggie." Even though Tobin seems completely calm about the situation, Christen remains weary.

"Seriously Tobin, should we at least find something to cover it with? Look, just wait here while I run into that drug store on the corner and buy some-" Tobin holds out a hand and stops Christen from taking a determined step towards the drug store.

"Chris, relaaax" Tobin warmly instructs, causing Christen's racing thoughts to halt and her focus to shift back to Tobin. "The trainer already put some antibiotic cream on it. Plus, oxygen does these things a lot of good."

"But-" Christen protests, her heart still aching a little at the sight of Tobin's knee. The very thought that Tobin was in any pain tonight deeply upsets her. All she wants is to do something, anything, to make Tobin better. Tobin, on the other hand, doesn't see the situation to be as grave as her girlfriend does.

"Christen" she sweetly interrupts, the corners of her eyes crinkling as an amused grin appears on her face. "Honestly, I'm fine. Trust me, I've lived through much worse. This is just a little scrape. A surface level thing only, I promise." Christen nods slowly, gradually allowing Tobin to convince her that she's alright and in no immediate need of medical assistance. The more the midfielder's words sink in, the more Christen realizes that she overreacted. Truthfully, Christen's seen Tobin walking around with worse injuries before. The girl is usually riddled with them. Sometimes Christen thinks Tobin takes the whole 'leave everything on the field' a little too literally. But as the weeks have gone on, and since she and Tobin have officially been together, these things seem to bother her even more than usual. Every time she sees anything harmful happen to her girlfriend, it hits closer to home.

"I'm sorry, you're right. I overreacted" Christen exhales solemnly, trying to regain her composure. Tobin smiles and delivers a quick peck to Christen's cheek. Christen's heart flutters a little as she glance in Tobin's direction.

"No need to be sorry, I appreciate the concern" Tobin exudes as her warm smile seems to ward away the crisp night air that's been creeping up on the two of them. "It actually makes me really happy to know that you care about me that much, Chris." Tobin reaches down and intertwines her fingers with Christen's once again. She begins to lead the two forward and the couple resumes walking home. "You make me happy" Tobin admits after they've taken a few steps back into the darkness.

"You make me happy too" Christen returns, her tone genuine and her grip of Tobin hand firm.

Even though it's too dark to see her face, Christen can feel Tobin smiling back at her.

"Personally, I just think if I actually was an apple I would be a mackintosh" Sarah rambles from the seat at Christen's desk. She's holding a tennis racket in her hand, where she got that is beyond Christen, but she uses the end of it to scratch the side of her head as she ponders the idea of living life as an apple.

"Interesting statement" Christen observes, electing to indulge in Sarah's somewhat intriguing conversation. "But why not a honey crisp? It's the sweetest and arguably the best apple out there."

"Well there are multiple reasons why I wouldn't be a honey crisp" Sarah begins again, as if said reasons are obvious. "First of all, I think we can all agree that I'm not the sweetest."

"That's true" Christen chuckles, getting a kick out of Sarah's logic. Even Emily laughs from her place sitting on Kelley's bed across the room. Emily hasn't even known Sarah all that long, but she's experienced enough of her to know that Sarah is anything but tame.

"Secondly" Sarah continues, lazily laying her tennis racket down on the floor in front of her. "Honey crisps are too expensive, too old money. So that would never work for me."

"Old money?" Emily questions, slightly confused.

"Yeah, like have you ever read The Great Gatsby? I'm more of a Jay Gatsby than a Tom Buchanan" Sarah smartly replies. How did we go from talking about what kind of apple Sarah would be to discussing classic American literature? I suppose this is just how a typical conversation with Sarah goes. Honestly, I don't know what else I would expect. 

"Um, okayyy" Emily breathes out, glancing briefly to the hall way anticipating when Kelley will return from her shower.

"Anyway" Sarah begins again, determined to complete her argument. "I would be a mackintosh because that's the apple that Apple, and I'm talking Steve Job's Apple, is based off of. The company started with humble beginnings but then made it big and became nationally known. That's exactly like my story."

"You're nationally known?" Christen skeptically interjects. Sarah just sends her an incredulous look.

"Not yet, but I will be when I make the national team someday" Sarah returns like it's plain as day, "Damn Christen, keep up."

"You're right, what ever was I thinking?" Christen laughs back, taking no precaution to hide the sarcasm in her voice.

"If I had to choose one for myself, I would say I'm a red delicious" Emily slyly comments as she wriggles her eyebrows up an down. The more time I spend with Emily, the more it makes sense that her and Kelley are together.

"That's something a fuji would say" Sarah returns, causing Emily's head to snap back in her direction. Just as Emily opens her mouth to protest, a shrill scream echoes from somewhere far down the hallway, followed almost immediately by several bouts of laughter.

"What the hell was that?" Emily asks, her eyes wide by the sound of someone possibly being murdered.

"Sounded like a granny smith to me" Sarah simply states as she grabs her tennis racket from the floor and wanders out into the hallway to investigate. Christen and Emily exchange a look before both deciding to follow Sarah's lead and check out where the noise came from. Sarah's armed after all, so they both feel pretty safe.

Once their all out in the hallway, they spot a few of their friends gathered around. Alex and Kling seem to be struggling to contain their laughter while Kelley, soaking wet and wrapped tightly in a bath towel, fumes from beside them.

"You guys are the worst, the showers are supposed to be a safe zone!" Kelley whines, a grumpy pout forming on her face. Her statement only seems to fuel her friend's laughter.

"O'Hara, you're so naive. There are no safe zones" Kling states, somewhat maniacally. It's a little unsettling.

"Besides" Alex chimes in between giggles, "All we did was turn the bathroom lights off for like two seconds."

"I have Nyctophobia!" Kelley bursts as she begins to turn red in the face.

"Nycto-what?" Kling chortles, her eyes watering from laughing so hard.

"Nyctophobia!" Kelley vehemently repeats, "It's an extreme fear of the dark. It's a real condition, ask Christen!" Kelley gestures desperately towards her roommate as she finally arrives in front of the others.

"It's true" Christen shrugs, "She once made me accompany her to the bathroom when the power went out because she thought Slenderman was going to attack her if she was alone."

"The details aren't important" Kelley continues, just after shooting Christen a look. "But you see? It's real and you dickheads shouldn't have done that. It was traumatic." Christen bows her head for a second, she knows she's gonna pay for that remark later, but she figures it was funny, so it was worth sharing.

"Slenderman? Really? What are you, twelve?" Kling cracks up from beside Alex. At this point Kelley's blood begins to boil.

"I'm the twelve-year-old?" Kelley scoffs in utter disbelief, "That's rich considering you're the ones who have been waging an immature scare-prank war all week!" Kelley has a point. Kling and a few of the other soccer players have declared this week as 'Halloweek'. Since the team had to miss out on all the festivities to play an away game on Halloween a while ago, they've decided that this week they're going to make up for it. Mainly by spending all week scaring the living shit out of each other at every opportunity. Whether it be jumps scares or turning the lights off randomly, no one is safe from the little game. Everyone's been on edge since it all started a couple of days ago.

"O'Hara if you don't want anyone to mess with you, you should follow my example and carry one of these bad boys around with you" Sarah offers as she proudly holds up her tennis racket.

"That's what that's for?" Christen interjects, still wondering what that has to do with anything. Sarah just stares at Christen like she's said something ridiculous.

"Yeah, I take this thing everywhere with me during this hell week. It's for protection. I fucking dare anyone to jump out in front of me while I'm wielding this. Just see what happens, it won't be pretty."

 "Oh, that makes sense now" Christen comments as the pieces begin to fall together in her head.

"Yeah, it's smart, right?" Sarah replies, almost as if she's congratulating herself for her own crazy idea. However, after a moment of reveling in her ingenuity, a look of concern crosses her face and she turns back to address Christen once more.

"Wait a minute, why did you think I was carrying this around with me? Did you think I was just weird or something?" Well, that's not that far from the truth...

"So when you say everywhere, does that mean you sleep with it too?" Emily quandaries from behind Sarah, obviously still caught up on Sarah's statement. Christen's grateful for her random outburst, it saved her from the wrath of a sour apple.

"Soundly" Sarah proclaims, "Like a baby."

"I wish I could say she was joking..." Alex mutters with the shake of her head.

At that moment, a door swings open from down the hall. Everybody but Emily immediately stiffens and silence. They know what that noise means. It means Broon is coming. And she's not happy.

"What's going on out here?" Becky demands as she stands in front of the group, her hands placed firmly on her hips. "I swear, I can't watch a single Arsenal game without being interrupted." The group lets out a collective gulp. Now they know they've fucked up. It's one thing to do something to beckon Broon from her room when she's not on duty, but an entirely different matter to make Broon leave her room while she's watching Arsenal play. It's a deadly mistake.

"Oh, um, O'Hara just saw a spider in the shower is all" Kling quickly sputters out, desperately trying to sound at least somewhat convincing.

"Yeah!" Kelley anxiously seconds, "I was spooked by an insect. A couple of insects, actually" Kelley's eyes narrow slightly at Kling and Alex.

"We took care of it though! The bathroom is safe now" Alex nervously tries to reassure, just as Becky begins to glance suspiciously between Kelley and her two assailants. 

"Oh! So now the bathroom's safe?" Kelley questions through grit teeth, steam all but bellowing from her ears. Kling and Alex laugh uneasily as their eyes widen at Kelley, trying to indicate that now is not the ideal time to be addressing this issue.

"Technically a spider is an arachnid, not an insect..." Sarah mumbles to herself, apparently lost in thought.

Becky's eyes scan each and every floor resident in front of her. Her bullshit radar is registering a fair amount of suspicious activity.

"Wait, you're an Arsenal fan?" Emily interjects, seemingly unaware of the gravity of the situation. Broon slowly turns her attention away from her floormates to address Emily.

"Yeah, they're my favorite team" Broon answers, her tone noticeably nicer now that she's speaking to someone who didn't sign the floor conduct agreement at the beginning of the year.

"Who's your favorite player?" Emily continues, blissfully unaware that her friends were mere minutes away from meeting a violent end.

"Ozil."

"Dope!" Emily exclaims with a goofy grin, "He's my favorite too. He's just so likable, I don't know how to explain it." Becky carefully inspects Emily for a moment as if she's mulling something over in her mind. Meanwhile everyone else are still sweating profusely, unsure where this encounter is headed.

"You know, it's not often that I find a fellow Arsenal fan. And surprisingly, it looks like Arsenal might win this one. Wanna watch the end of the game?" Becky kindly offers, her usual easy going demeanor returning to her.

"Sure!" Emily excitedly agrees just before turning towards Kelley's direction. "I mean, if that's okay with you, Kels." Kelley only responds by holding up the 'OK' sign with her hand. "Great! Then let's do this!" Becky smiles and leads Emily back to her room. As soon as the two are out of sight, everyone let's out the breaths they were holding.

"That was a close one" Alex breathes, running the back of her hand across her forehead.

"Yeah" Kelley passive-agressively agrees, "No thanks to you."

"You're the one who almost blew our cover!" Kling bursts, but only loud enough for those within a close proximity to hear.

"Whatever" Kelley frustratedly dismisses, fed up with this whole situation. "Let's just all go back to our rooms and finally enjoy some much needed, goddamn peace and quiet."

"Fine, but this doesn't mean that Halloweek is over" Kling comments evily as she rubs her hands together. Seriously, should I be concerned that Kling has been acting suspiciously like a super villain lately? She's too convincing for comfort.

"And remember" Alex singsongs gidily, "There are no safe zones."

"I hope you remember that too, baby horse" Kelley utters under her breath as Alex and the others make their way back to their rooms. However, when Alex turns her door handle and pushes the door open and screams at the top of her lungs when Ali jumps out of nowhere and makes an obscene noise.

"Jesus!" Alex exclaims while stumbling backwards and holding her hand over her racing heart. Ali laughs hysterically and Kelley sports a shit-eating grin. The two high-five as Alex looks between the two of them, completely appalled. "You recruited Ali?" Alex bewilderedly blurts out. Both Ali and Kelley smile and nod.

"Huh, I was wondering where Krieger went" Sarah comments from just in front of her room. Christen laughs at Sarah's words, but is quickly met with a piercing glare from Alex.

"I wouldn't be so quick to laugh, Christen" Alex scowls as she regains some of her composure and a bit of a vengeful tone.

"She's right" Kling agrees from further down the hallway, "You and Tobin still haven't been pranked yet. If I were you, I'd be careful." Again Kling has that menacing glint in her eye and Christen suddenly becomes chilled. Maybe I should be worried...

As if on cue, the elevator dings and Tobin comes strolling down the hallway. She has her headphones on and seems to be entranced by whatever song she's listening to. Christen begins to feel a little more at ease, that is, until she and the rest of her friends her Becky's door swoop open. Everyone scatters in every direction except for Tobin, who is still blissfully unaware of the danger she's just walked into. When she sees Christen running in her direction, she smiles expecting a warm welcome. However, when Christen arrives in front of her, she breezes by and grabs Tobin by the wrist. Before she knows it, Tobin finds herself being dragged towards the stairs by her girlfriend.

"What's-" Tobin frantically begins just after almost tripping over her own feet.

"Run!" Christen exclaims as the two make their hasty get away.

"And if you look to your left, you'll see the Hamm Center for Success. As you can tell, students often come here to study, receive tutoring, or to just catch some rest in their down time." The tour guide, Christen thinks her name is Aly Wagner, explains to a group of high schoolers and their families as she herds them through the academic building. As christen glances up from her notes, a single ear bud playing music in her ear, she suddenly realizes that Aly must be referring to her. After all, she is the only person here, minus that one guy sleeping in the corner. She thinks he's sleeping anyway. Come to think of it, he stopped snoring a while ago. I hope he's alright...

The guy suddenly lets out an abrupt snort and immediately Christen's concern is set at bay. Oh, thank god! It's been a while since I've performed CPR, I'm a little rusty.

"As incoming freshmen next year I'm sure you'll frequent this area a lot. It's a pretty popular freshmen hang out spot" Aly continues as the teenagers and their families eye up Christen and the unconscious kid a few tables behind her. As she feels their gazes burning into her, Christen's eyebrows knit together as she glances down at herself. Do I really look like a freshman? Is it that obvious? Christen can't help but be offended as some of the parents nod along to Aly's comments. They are correct, she is a freshman, but she's not trying to look like one. And the fact that Aly is implicitly implying so is fairly insulting.

As the gazes of the group continue to fall on her, Christen suddenly feels out of place. Like an animal at a zoo, or a freak show at a circus. Some kids gawk at her, never setting eyes on a college student before today. Some girls eye her up and down, presumably judging her lazy sweatshirt and messy bun ensemble. Some kids, mainly hormone-riddled seventeen-year-old boys ogle at her because she's a college girl. Oooh, an older woman, sooo sexy, so mature. Wait, did one of the parents just sneakily take a picture of me? C'mon! I'm not a part of the actual campus! Sheesh, what's a girl gotta do to get some privacy around here? Christen just rolls her eyes and sets her sights back on the notes in front of her. She's had enough of entertaining the little tour group and she doesn't want it to distract from her studies anymore than it already has.

As the tour group shuffles on, Christen loses herself in the realm of her notes on chemical compounds. Who knew reading up on this stuff could make you feel so mad scientist-y? At that thought, the image of Kling laughing maniacally the other night pops into her head. Suddenly she really hopes that Kling isn't in any Chem Lab this semester.

"Oh no, don't tell me I missed the tour group. My hair looks really good today!" Tobin fake whines as she comes strolling up from behind Christen. Christen jumps slightly at Tobin's interjection, not expecting the sudden company while she was lost in her thoughts. "Hey, sorry, didn't mean to frighten you" Tobin calmly apologizes with a smile as she places a supportive hand on Christen's shoulder. Instinctively Christen reaches her own hand up and places it on top of Tobin's. Tobin's smile widens and she pulls out a chair to sit next to Christen at her little study area.

"It's alright, I just didn't hear you come in" Christen easily dismisses, angling herself more towards Tobin as she speaks. "I guess I'm extra on edge this week. Even that tour group made me feel slightly uneasy."

"I know what you mean, high schoolers are scary these days" Tobin chuckles as she pulls her and Christen's joined hands from Christen's shoulder and into her lap. She takes a moment to intertwine their fingers and to rub her thumb across Christen's knuckles. "But you know what's even scarier? Their parents. I'll tell you what, I helped out with a soccer camp last summer, and I assure you things get pretty ugly when you try to explain to them that it's not the coaching that's the reason why their child sucks at soccer." Christen can't help but laugh at the idea of camp counselor Tobin getting scolded by an array of helicopter parents.

"Well at least one didn't just take a picture of you like a damn tourist attraction" Christen chimes, her head jerking toward the tour group that has momentarily paused further down the corridor while Aly explains the importance of a statue or something.

"Did someone really do that?" Tobin giddily laughs, amusement lighting up her eyes. Christen nods and Tobin shakes her head while continuing to grin. "I can't say I blame them, you're pretty photograph-able. And, you know, just pretty in general." Tobin's sweet words cause Christen to smile as well. She's always been particularly susceptible to her girlfriend's cheesy lines. As Christen continues to gaze at the girl beside her, an idea begins to formulate in the midfielder's brain. "Hey speaking of which" Tobin starts as she drops Christen's hand and throws her arm over the girl's shoulders, "Say 'tour group'!" Tobin pulls her phone from the pocket of her ripped jeans and holds it out in front of herself and Christen. Christen can't help but laugh as Tobin smiles goofily and snaps a photo. When she lowers the device and glances down at the screen, she emits a satisfied grin and holds the phone in front of Christen to have a look. Upon inspection, Christen appears to be mid-laugh, her eyes sparkling and her smile wide. And Tobin grins from ear-to-ear, seemingly proud of making her girlfriend laugh. Admittedly it's a really cute picture of us. And Tobin was right, her hair does look great today.

Tobin continues to smile as she retracts her arm and begins tapping away at her phone. She becomes so entranced by what she's doing that it captures Christen's curiosity.

"Hey, whatcha doing over there?" Christen warmly asks, the sight of Tobin so giddy beside her makes her heart flutter a little.

"I'm gonna post it on the socials" Tobin simply states, her eyes not leaving the screen as she types out a caption. The smile on Christen's face falters for a second. She suddenly feels a pang of regret flash inside of her.

"Hey um" Christen chirps, her voice slightly cracking, "Would you... Would you mind not tagging me in that?" Christen grimaces as soon as the words leave her lips, but she can't stop herself from feeling this way. Tobin's thumbs pause their typing and hover hesitantly over the screen. Tobin glances back up to Christen, slight disappointment noticeable in her eyes. Christen instantly feels the need to explain herself. "I love that picture, I really do. It's just, you know, I still haven't really told my family yet, and I don't want them to find out this way." Tobin's eyes carefully inspect Christen's face and Christen begins to feel like she's majorly fucked up. Was that a shitty thing to do? I know Tobin isn't that thrilled that I haven't talked to my mom about us yet. And I can tell how excited she was to post that. Shit. I'm such a terrible girlfriend sometimes.

"Yeah, it's fine" Tobin exhales as she closes whatever app she had open. Christen's heart sinks even more. She can tell Tobin isn't happy, but she's doing her best to be gracious about it, and Christen's thankful for that. Tobin's extremely patient with her, something that even Christen will admit isn't always the easiest. "Besides" Tobin sighs, a small smile forming from the corners of her mouth, "I need a new lock screen anyway." Christen places her hand on Tobin's forearm and squeezes it appreciatively, hoping Tobin can sense her gratitude. "So are you ready to get going, or did you wanna study some more?" Christen sends her an inquisitive expression.

"What do you mean?" she asks, a bit befuddled. Tobin returns an equally confused look.

"It's past three" she simply states, eyeing Christen to see if she's caught on yet. She hasn't. "You told me to come get you if you were here longer than two hours, remember?"

"Oh, that's right" Christen returns as she does recall instructing Tobin to do so earlier in the day. The two had plans to go to a football game that night that starts at five-o-clock. If they wanted to get some dinner before hand, they would have to go find some food around four-o-clock. Christen is surprised how quickly the past two hours have flown by. Usually studying feels like it takes an eternity. Christen looks down at her notes and realizes that she has made a substantial dent in her work load. When she looks back at Tobin, she realizes she needs to make up for her little photo mishap. So Christen closes her notebook and subsequential textbooks and offers Tobin a smile. "Let's get out of here." Tobin smiles back as Christen finishes packing her things.

"I thought you'd never ask. If I spent one more minute in here people might start to think I'm a freshman" Tobin stands up and fake shudders. "Certainly can't have that." Christen playfully rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, too bad you're dating one though" Christen lightly quips as she stands and slings her backpack over her shoulders.

"Charity work looks good on a resume."

"Tobin!"

"I just don't understand how that is the most popular football in the country" Kling complains as she, Ali, Christen, and Tobin walk away from the stadium as dusk begins to settle in over the horizen. Christen and Tobin ran into the other soccer players at the game, so they all sat together and shared blankets as this fall night feels particularly chilly. "I mean, it's just so stop-and-go. At least in our football we have a running clock and we actually use our feet."

"It's because we don't have cheerleaders at our games" Ali simply comments from beside Kling, "Plain and simple."

"What are you talking about? What do you think Christen is?" Kling snorts, gesturing to Christen and turning around slightly to continue to tease Christen and Tobin as they walk behind her and Ali.

"Christen is a supportive friend and an honorary teammate" Tobin corrects pointedly, refusing to let Kling get a rouse out of either of them. "Now will you just shut your trap and focus on walking? You're slowing us down and I'm starting to lose feeling in my fingertips." Christen can feel Tobin shiver beside her and she can tell she actually is fairly cold. She rubs a hand up and down the sleeve of Tobin's sweatshirt - well- her sweatshirt.

"What's the matter, Tobs?" Kling teases obnoxiously as she turns around to face Tobin and Christen completely, walking backwards as she does. "Is your girlfriend's sweatshirt not warm enough for you?" Tobin had forgotten to bring a jacket to the game so Christen lent her her own. She had a lined jacket with her anyway, and Tobin refused to take that when she offered it. And ordinarily just a sweatshirt would suffice on a night like this, but the wind is fairly strong and easily breezes through the cotton blend of the hoodie.

Tobin shakes her head as her eyes narrow on Kling, but she doesn't say anything in return. Kling's been like this ever since Tobin told her that she and Christen made things official. And when Kling starts with her 'girlfriend 'teasing, there's no stopping it. The best course of action is to ride out the storm until Kling grows tired of it on her own.

"Aw, come on, Tobs Malone. Aren't you gonna hold your girlfriend's hand?" Kling snottily proceeds as she glances down to where Tobin's hands are stuffed deep in the pockets of Christen's borrowed hoodie. Christen glances over to Tobin sympathetically, personally becoming a little fed up with the situation. She's been a good sport so far, but now things are starting to get pretty annoying. Tobin just shakes her head, persuading Christen not to engage in Kling's trap. Kling wastes no time turning this little exchange into new ammunition. "Look at the way your girlfriend looks at you, Tobs! Awww, your girlfriend loves you sooo muuuch! So cute." Kling laughs as Tobin becomes visibly uncomfortable from her roommate's incessant teasing. After all, she and Christen have never actually said the 'L-word' to each other yet. It's a little too early for that. A mischievous fire grows in Kling's merciless eyes as she opens her mouth to continue. "You should give her a kiss, Toby! Give your girlfriend a little smoochie smoo-"

At this point Christen has reached her limit, so she stops Tobin in her tracks, spins her around, grabs her face, and plants a long, slow kiss on her lips. Tobin is so surprised she hardly thinks to reciprocate. After a few moments, Christen pulls away, crosses her arms, and offers Kling a daring look. Kling doesn't say a word, apparently almost as caught off guard as Tobin. Christen smiles confidently. Admittedly, it was one hell of a kiss. Something Christen can be proud of. And evidently enough to silence Kling. Maybe we just found a way to stop Kling's teasing once and for all. And you know what, I'm a fan of this method.

Rustling leaves can be heard near by, and suddenly Christen sees Pinoe emerge from the bushes, sneaking up from behind Kling. Pinoe pounces on the unsuspecting defender's back and latches on to her, wrapping her arms around her neck and her legs around Kling's waist.

"What's wrong, Klingy?!" Pinoe yells as she does it, causing Kling to let out an extremely high-pitched scream. "Afraid of a little PDA?" Pinoe taunts just before smacking a wet kiss on Kling's cheek. Kling immediately wriggles and shakes Pinoe off of her back. Once she's free of the blonde's clutches she wipes violently at her cheek, hoping to rid herself of any residual 'Pinoe germs'. Pinoe lets out a loud laugh.

"What the hell? Were you waiting for me in that bush? For how long? How did you even know I'd be coming this way?!" Kling erupts, frustrated and confused and fairly embarrassed. Pinoe flashes Kling a coy smile.

"Yep, I've been in there for the last twenty minutes. You guys seriously walk too slow" Pinoe proudly boasts, earning a chuckle from Tobin. "Also Kriegs sent me a text and tipped me off which way you would be heading." Kling turns violently towards Ali, betrayal in her eyes.

"What the fuck, Krieger? Are you for hire or some shit?" Kling complains, practically reeling at this point. Ali just shrugs without saying a word.

"It was a team effort" Pinoe happily informs, her eyes drifting over to Christen. "And Christen, thanks for the distraction by the way. It definitely helped the shock factor." Pinoe chuckles as she thinks about how perfect her plan came together. Especially since she hadn't anticipated Christen and Tobin's participation at all.

"All in a day's work" Christen graciously replies, smiling to herself as she earns a proud grin from Tobin.

"Oh-ho-ho! I am so getting you all back for this!" Kling declares vengefully.

"You can try, Klingy, you can try" Pinoe confidently states as she starts backpedaling away from the group. "But hey, it's late, so I gotta get going. I'll see you all at Hao's party tomorrow night, yeah?" Ali, Tobin, and even Kling, although begrudgingly, nod and confirm that they will be in attendance. Christen looks over questioningly to Tobin, but before she can ask what Pinoe's talking about, Pinoe opens her mouth once again.

"Oh, and Tobin!" Tobin glances away from Christen and over to her fellow midfielder. "Your girlfriend's pretty hot, you should bring her with." Pinoe sends Tobin a wink and Tobin chuckles as Pinoe turns around and starts running away down a side street.

Christen's not sure if she should feel offended or flattered.

"Brahhh!"

"AHHH!"

"You guys, come on, you know I hate sharks!"

"Wait, really babe? Sharks are my favorite animal..."

"For real Kriegs, when would you ever be in a situation where you would need to have a rational fear of sharks? Plan on working for Sea World someday?"

"Ever seen Jaws? Or any of the sequels? Those are violent creatures!"

"I think they're kinda cute..."

Christen picks her head up from Tobin's shoulder and glances towards the hallway through the doorway of her dorm room. Tobin doesn't so much as budge. This has been happening all night, everyone's trying to get their last minute pranks in before Hao's party tomorrow night. A party that her girlfriend may or may not have forgotten to tell her about. Regardless, it's basically been the hunger games on the third floor and the only remaining tributes who have yet to get spooked are Sarah, Tobin, and Christen. Ali used to be one of them, but considering the noises that just came from the hallway, it's seems that even the strongest among them are not safe. 

Christen snuggles a little closer into Tobin's side as the two watch Netflix. Tobin's reassured her multiple times that they'd be fine, but Christen's not so sure. 

Her eyes keep subconsciously drifting back to the doorway, unsure of what waits for her beyond it.

A few hours pass and Christen watches the doorway more than the actual movie Tobin put on half an hour ago. It's been quiet. Too quiet. Unsettling. Ominous.

"Hey, Tobs?" Christen gently prods as she glances over to her girlfriend whose eyelids look heavy.

"Mhmm?" Tobin grunts, half awake and battling with the sleep that keeps threatening to capture her.

"Do you think we should close the door now?" Christen whispers in a hushed voice just in case anyone is lurking outside. "It is getting pretty late after all..." Tobin lazily glances between Christen and the door, registering the worried expression on the girl's face.

"There's nothing to be afraid of" Tobin reassures with a sleepy smile. "But sure, we can close it if that will make you feel better." Tobin slowly slides from her position on Christen's bed and pads over to the door. She closes it gently until the lock clicks. "There" Tobin concludes as she turns back towards Christen and makes her way back to the bed, "Nothing to worry about. Besides, they still haven't gotten Sarah yet, and I'm not convinced they will. Apple's got a bigger target on her back than we do, so we should be safe." Christen nods slowly as she tries to let Tobin ease her nerves. Tobin's probably right. I'm probably just paranoid. I'm sure by now they've all given up the idea of-

CRASH!

"Fuck!"

THUMP!

"Ah! Oh god! Holy shit, I can't believe you actually hit me with that thing!"

"It was self defense!"

"All I did was jump out of your closet!"

"Yeah, but threateningly"

"Jumping out of a closet? Reminds me of high school..."

"How was that threatening? And did you seriously take that thing in the shower with you?!"

"Listen, I'm always packing, and I made it very clear that this would happen if anyone tried anything."

"Whatever, we still got you. You were definitely scared."

"I was not! That was a knee-jerk reaction!"

"Nah, Kling's right. Baby horse got you fair and square."

"Whatever. Will you all just get out of my room now? If I don't dry this hair soon these curls are gonna be out of control tomorrow."

"Hey do you guys think this will bruise?"

Christen and Tobin listen intently to the whole exchange before turning their heads back towards each other.

"You were saying?" Christen challenges, jerking her head towards the door. Tobin clears her throat and tries to distract herself by glancing back at the images flashing across the TV screen.

"Hey so, just a thought but maybe I should stay here tonight" Tobin suggests with as straight of a face as she can muster, which isn't very convincing to say the least.

"Good idea" Christen quickly agrees.

Miraculously both Christen and Tobin managed to survive the night, though not without a fair amount of extra-clingy cuddling. Whether it was a safety precaution or not is completely up in the air. They even managed to go the whole day without running into anyone who may be looking to cause them trouble. And since everyone else went to Hao's house to help set up for the party tonight, the couple has been able to let out a breath of relief. Now, just an hour before they're supposed to head over to Hao's Halloweek H-Extravaganza (Heather couldn't think of anything else that started with an H), they're hanging out in Tobin's room as Tobin finishes up a history assignment she forgot was due by midnight.

"Listen I know you're not a huge fan of parties, but there's nothing to worry about with this one. It'll just be the soccer team and some friends. You'll know most of the people there" Tobin explains while typing out a few words at her laptop. Ever since Christen's taught her how to type properly, Tobin's had a knack for cracking out writing assignments like no tomorrow. Who would've thought?

"No, I'm not worried about that" Christen returns from her position lounging on the futon. "It's mostly the drinking I'm concerned about."

"You don't have to drink if you don't want to" Tobin offers as she flips through one of her textbooks and glances back and forth between it and her computer screen.

"It's just that I don't know much about it. Like I've never been drunk before and I don't know what kind of beer I like, and not to mention I know nothing about taking shots... And-" Christen responds, though quickly finding herself beginning to ramble.

"No one said you had to get drunk. And like I said, if you're not comfortable with it, you really don't have to. They'll have soda and other things there" Tobin interrupts before Christen can get caught up in another one of her panic storms. "There are plenty of girls on the team who don't drink. Plus, there will be a few designated drivers. You wouldn't be the only one not partaking. And if anyone gives you a hard time about it, they can answer to me."

"Alright" Christen sighs, trying her best to let her apprehension flow out of her. "Thanks, that actually makes me feel a little better." Tobin picks her head up from her books and turns in her seat to smile over at Christen.

"That's what I'm here for, babe" she warmly breathes out, holding Christen's gaze for a moment or two before returning her attention back to her school work in front of her.

"Babe?" Christen finds herself repeating before she has a second to think about what she's saying. Did she really just call me babe? Did my heart just stop?

"Yeah" Tobin's eyebrows furrow as she worries if she's crossed a line. Maybe been a little too forward for Christen's comfort levels. Or maybe a little too cliche. Christen did mention that she needs to work on her pet names. Maybe she should have been more original? "Is that alright?"

"Yes!" Christen bursts, unable to contain her newfound excitement. "Ahem. I mean, yeah. Yeah, that's cool." It's been how long and I still have no chill? Man, there really is no hope for me. "Sorry I'm being so weird" Christen apologizes as a sudden blush rushes to her cheeks. She tucks a stray hair behind her ear and directs her gaze to the floor. "It's just, no one's ever called me that before."

"Aaand, done. Writing assignment successfully submitted" Tobin proudly comments as she hits the enter key on her laptop before getting up from her seat and venturing over to spot next to Christen. "Seriously though? No one's ever called you that before?"

"Is that so hard to believe?" Christen innocently returns, her eyes cautiously flittering up to Tobin's. Tobin chuckles.

"Honestly yeah, a little. You're like, really fucking attractive." she states with a cheeky grin.

"And here I thought you just liked me for my personality" Christen playfully quips, her own smile bubbling to the surface. Tobin rolls her eyes but can't help but laugh.

"Well yeah, that too, but I am a human with eyes that work properly" she states plain as day. "Cut me some slack, will you?"

"Alright, alright. You have a point" Christen happily acknowledges. Sometimes she struggles to accept a compliment. That's been something she's been trying to work on since being with Tobin. Christen reaches forward and grabs both of Tobin's hands in her own. "I should consider myself lucky though. I have a girlfriend who showers me in praise. It's every girl's dream."

"Well, maybe not every girl's dream..." Tobin points out as she chuckles, remembering to remind Christen that straight people do, in fact, exist.

"Right" Christen returns, shaking her head at herself and earning another laugh from the girl across from her.

Suddenly, somewhere off in the distance, thunder rumbles among the clouds. Christen reactively squeezes Tobin's hand for just a brief moment. Tobin glances between the windows and her girlfriend sitting slightly on edge in front of her. She can feel Christen's heart rate rise just from the pulse in her hands. A look of concern fills Tobin's face. She knows this may not be the best time to talk about this, but there's something that's been plaguing her mind for a while. Something that she's been meaning to ask Christen about. And with a storm on the horizon, Tobin figures she may as well make her concern known. At least maybe then she'll get some answers.

"Hey, uh, Christen?" Tobin carefully prods, getting Christen to meet her eyes once again. Once she's sure she has her girlfriend's undivided attention, Tobin deems it safe to continue. "So um, remember when Julie came to visit a few weeks ago? Remember that night that there was a storm and you ran out to get some ice cream?" Christen slowly nods, trying to figure out what Tobin could possibly be getting at. Tobin sighs, trying to muster the courage to ask a sensitive question. "Ok, so, that night I ran into Julie and she uh... Well, she kinda mentioned something about an accident that you were involved in a while ago? Something that may have to do with your fear of storms?" Christen just stares at Tobin, now completely aware of what she's adressing. Only now, Christen's at a complete loss of words. How do I even begin to tell her? Tobin takes Christen's moment of hesitation as if she's just crossed a line into something too private. "And I'm sorry, I know I told you that you can tell me about it whenever you were ready to, but ever since Julie said there was some sort of accident, I haven't been able to get it off my mind. I just wanna make sure you're alright, that's all. And I just want you to know that you can talk to me about it, if you want to." A few more silent moments pass, so Tobin busies herself by rubbing her thumbs over the back of Christen's hands. She's willing to be patient and she doesn't want to push Christen into opening up about something she's not comfortable sharing.

"Uh" Christen finally utters, her voice a little shaky. She glances back into Tobin's highly attentive eyes and lets out a long, deep breath. I should just tell her. I'm tired of feeling ashamed of this. I know I can trust Tobin, she's proven that over and over again. She makes me feel safe. She'll understand, and I'm tired of being afraid that she won't. "Yeah... There was an accident. And yeah, it is the reason why I have such a problem with storms."

"Okay" Tobin carefully rewards, an encouraging glint in her eye. "Thank you for telling me that. Do you wanna go into a little more detail, so I can better understand? Or do you want to change the subject. I'm good with whatever makes you the most comfortable. No matter what, I just want you to know that I'm here." Christen can't believe how above-and-beyond gracious Tobin is being about this. It's not surprising, it's just a breath of fresh air. She doesn't think she's ever connected with someone like this. Not in a way that was as intimate or vulnerable as this moment.

"Uhm" Christen croaks out, feeling herself starting to get worked up at the thought of the traumatic memory. Tobin's grip on her hands tighten and send some courage Christen's way. "I..." Christen sniffles and blinks a few times to try to keep her eyes from tearing up. "I uh, was driving home from a friend's house one night in high school, Julie's house actually, and it was storming pretty badly. And, there was this car in front of me. It was driving really slowly because the winds were so strong. So strong that uh, it blew a tree over onto the front end of the car."

"Chris..." Tobin solemnly attempts to comfort, the story pulling at her heart strings. However Christen is determined to continue for fear that if she stops now, she won't be able to start again.

"I got out of the car and ran over to the wreck in front of me" Christen elaborates, the images of that night flashing agonizingly clearly through her mind. "There was a man passed out in the driver's seat. There was blood and glass everywhere. I called 911 and then the man came to. He was in a lot of pain, so I held his hand and told him that he would be okay. That help was on the way. He looked me in the eye and I could tell how much he was suffering. I thought he was going to tear my hand clean off the way he was squeezing it. Eventually, the police and fire department got there. They were able to get him out of the car an onto a stretcher, but he had passed out again from the pain by the time they loaded him into the ambulance. I thought everything was going to be fine after that, but..." Christen feels a few tears stream down her face as her throat feels as if she's just shallowed a shard of glass.

"But?" Tobin echoes in such a quiet tone that it can only be described as less than a whisper.

"But" Christen breathes out heavily, "But he uh, he uh didn't make it. He passed away at the hospital later that night. He had some pretty bad internal bleeding." At this point, Christen can't prevent herself from crying anymore. It all comes rushing out. The pain. The guilt. The remorse. All of it. Tobin wastes no time reaching over and wrapping her arms around Christen. She pulls her close and cradles the back of her head

"Christen, I'm so sorry" Tobin croaks, trying her best to keep any amount of composure she can manage. Trying her best to be strong for her girlfriend. It's a challenge though. A really fucking tough one.

"It's just..." Christen mutters between sobs, "I was the last person on this earth that he saw. He was a father. He had a wife and kids, and he couldn't even say goodbye to the ones he loved. And it could've easily been me in his place. A few seconds later, and it would've been. At least I don't have kids to leave behind. People don't depend on me for their livelihood. But he did. Those kids will have to live the rest of their lives without their dad. All because a storm hit and a freak accident happened. It just makes me think of how vulnerable we really are. How anything could happen at any given moment, and anyone could disappear from our lives forever. And we have no say in it. We can't do anything. We're helpless against the universe and mother nature." Tobin takes a few moments to try to find the words to say to Christen after learning about such a tragic incident. By the time she decides on what she's going to say, she still isn't one hundred percent certain their the right words, but she knows she has to say something. She has to let Christen know that her fears have been heard.

"You're right, it could've easily happened to you, but it didn't. It wasn't in God's plan for you. It wasn't your time to leave this earth" Tobin begins, somewhat hesitantly but gradually growing in confidence. "And I'm not saying the man deserved to die, but at least he died peacefully. He had you there to comfort him in his final moments. He didn't die alone. He had you. And I'm sure that his family is comforted by the fact that he didn't suffer on his own. I'm sure it brings them peace to know that you were there with him." A pang runs through Christen's chest. Not a bad one, just a pang of something. A feeling to shake the numb sensation that's taken over her body. She's talked to a few people about this, even a few professionals, but never, never has anyone ever put things in perspective like Tobin just did. No one's words have ever felt so calming and affirming. No one's words have ever hit so close to home. Not once.

Christen feels her body calm down from within the confines of Tobin's arms. The rate at which she's recovering from her sob storm is astonishing. Her body stops shuddering, her tears stop falling, her breathing evens out. She even feels herself regaining some strength. Tobin just holds her, content to sit like this for as long as it takes. Christen glances up to find Tobin's eyes on her. They're so kind, so gentle.

"CAUGHT YA MAKING OUT, SUCKAAAS!" Kling childishly explodes as she bursts through the door of her and Tobin's shared room. The door swings on its hinges and violently slams against the adjacent wall. The abrupt noise causes both Christen and Tobin to jump apart. "Haha! We got 'em!" Kling calls out victoriously towards the hallway.

"No way, were they actually kissing?" another voice sounds from further down the corridor. Tobin glances in front of her to see how rattled Christen is. When she returns her sights to her roommate, her eyes ignite. She jumps from the futon and storms over to Kling, her blood boiling. Talk about the worst fucking timing. Kling quickly registers the rate at which Tobin approaches her.

"Aw, what's got you all worked up, Tobs? Upset that I just scared you and your girl-"

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Tobin booms loud enough to be heard all the way across campus. Kling flinches but does her best to keep her cool.

"Come on, Tobin. Take a joke!" Kling argues, attempting to play down the situation. Tobin isn't having it. The only thing she wants right now is for Kling to be out of her sight.

"Don't you have anything better to do with your time? Seriously, go fucking study or something!" Tobin marches over to her desk, grabs the nearest textbook and turns back to Kling. "Here" she sharply spits as she forcefully tosses a textbook at Kling. The small defender catches it just before it hits her in the gut, the force of it causes her to stumble back into the hallway. Kling glances down at the book and then back to her roommate.

"But this isn't even my-" Kling begins to protest, only to be cut off by Tobin slamming the door in her face.

Tobin huffs and forces herself to take a series of deep breaths before she makes her way back to the futon. Once she's at a normal resting heart rate, she reclaims her seat next to Christen and looks at her apologetically.

"I'm so sorry that happened. I'll definitely have a talk with Kling about that later" Tobin states as she shakes her head, some frustration still lingering within her. But almost immediately upon gazing at Christen, any remaining anger transforms into concern. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah" Christen breathes with a slight smile, "I'm fine." And it's true. Even after unloading all of that emotional information on Tobin, and after enduring Kling's prank, she feels an overwhelming amount of relief. She doesn't feel like crying anymore tonight. It's out of her system for now, and she's happy for that.

"Are you sure because-" Tobin nervously questions.

"Tobin, I'm really okay" Christen interrupts as she reaches a hand over to Tobin's forearm to reassure her that she's fine. "And don't even worry about Kling. She didn't know what she was walking into. It was just an innocent jump scare. Actually, I'm kind of happy it happened. It got my adrenaline pumping. It doesn't feel so gloomy in here anymore." Tobin carefully studies Christen's face until she reaches a point where she can be convinced that Christen is telling the truth. She reaches that point fairly quickly.

"Okay, if you say so" Tobin agrees, offering Christen a shy smile. Christen returns the expression.

"I do say so" she affirms, a small laugh punctuating her statement. "But let's talk about happier things now. Like that party tonight. We should get going soon, right?"

"Right" Tobin agrees with the nod of her head, "But we should probably get into costume first."

"Costume?" Christen repeats, somewhat shocked. Oh no, this is a halloween party, of course we're supposed to go all dressed up! But I don't have a costume, it completely slipped my mind. Maybe I should throw something together quick?

"Don't worry, I got you covered" Tobin states as if she's just read Christen's mind. She gets up from her spot on the futon and walks over to her closet. After a little digging, she pulls out two large poster boards with ribbon at the top two corners. Tobin's smile grows as she makes her way back to Christen. Before Christen can ask what Tobin has, her girlfriend loops the ribbon over her head and hangs one of the signs from Christen's neck. Tobin does the same so that she too has a sign hanging from her neck. Christen reads the single word written on Tobin's sign. It just says 'Nutmeg'. When she glances down to the sign hanging on her own body, she makes out that it also only has one word written on it. 'Cinnamon'. Christen looks back up at Tobin, confusion written all over her face. Tobin smiles proudly.

"Get it?" she asks as she tries to contain her amusement.

"Nutmeg and Cinnamon? No, not really" Tobin's smile grows even wider. It looks like she's bursting at the seams with hilarity.

"We're the 'spice' girls!" Tobin exclaims followed by a trail of laughter. Christen breaks into a smile of her own. She didn't think something so simple would be so funny, but Tobin's little play-on-words forces laughter from within her.

"You're ridiculous" Christen beams as Tobin soaks up the warmth that Christen's emitting.

"I'm a genius!"  

"I don't get it, what are you two supposed to be? A recipe?" Kristie Mewis ponders as she inspects Christen and Tobin's matching 'costumes'. Ever since they arrived at Hao's house for the party, no one has been able to correctly guess what they're dressed as. Apparently it wasn't as obvious as Tobin thought it would be. And now, they've gathered a crowd of people trying to guess what they are. Tobin grows impatient with every incorrect suggestion, but Christen just finds it amusing.

"I'm gonna go with a grocery list" Rachel Daly guesses from beside Kristie. Kristie just shoots her the most dumbfounded expression.

"In what world would nutmeg and cinnamon be the only two ingredients on a grocery list?" Rachel just throws her hands up in the air in surrender.

"I don't know! Americans are weird!"

"She's got a point" Sydney Leroux seconds as she tips her solo cup at Rachel acknowledgingly. "But I think I've figured it out. It's their stripper names." Both Kristie and Rachel erupt in laughter.

"You see what I mean?" Rachel cries out while gesturing to Syd.

"Hey, I'm only half American."

"Yeah, and half delusional" Kristie chimes in, laughing at her best friend's rediculousness.

"Booooze! BooOOOoooze!" Pinoe sings as she walks over to Tobin and Christen with a pair of solo cups in her hands. She's dressed as a ghost and her outfit, or maybe her over-the-top 'Oooohing', is enough to scare Kristie and the others away.

"Hey there, Pinoe" Tobin warmly greets once the blonde finally arrives in front of the two of them. "Let me guess, you're the ghost of hangover's past?" Pinoe releases an exuberant smile.

"Right on the money!" Pinoe declares just before holding out the pair of cups to Tobin and Christen. "Speaking of which, I come bearing gifts." Christen hesitantly accepts the drink and peaks over the lip of the cup to try to figure out just what's in it.

"What is this?" Christen finally asks, electing to cut her losses.

"My signature drink!" Pinoe cheerfully informs. By the way that she's acting, Christen thinks she's probably indulged in a few of her signature drinks already. "Have any guesses as to what it could be?" Christen takes a moment to consider the challenge. What would Pinoe's signature drink be? Probably something named after herself.

"Is it Pino(e)t Noir?" Christen offers, still eyeing the drink in her hands suspiciously. That was a complete shot in the dark. In truth she has no idea what pinot noir even looks like, much less smells like or tastes like.

"Great guess!" Pinoe jests, amused by Christen's witty attempt. "But no, that's far too dark for me. As we all know" Pinoe pretends to flip her none-existent long hair over her shoulder, "I like to keep things on the lighter and brighter side." Both Christen and Tobin chuckle at Pinoe's showmanship. "These bad boys are my world famous 'Pinoe Coladas'!" Oh come on, that one was right in front of me and I missed it. And that was such an easy one. "Now come on ladies, drink up!" Pinoe instructs. Christen glances wearily between the drink and Pinoe. She's not so sure she wants to drink the concoction, but she doesn't want to be rude either. Maybe I'll just take a small sip...

Just as Christen gradually begins to raise the solo cup to her lips, Tobin reaches out and grabs her wrist, halting her movement.

"Christen! You can't drink that!" Tobin quickly scolds, causing both Christen and Pinoe to become even more confused.

"Why not?" Christen cautiously questions as she tries her hardest to understand Tobin's reasoning. Tobin shoots her a look like the answer is obvious.

"This has pineapple juice in it" Tobin pointedly explains. Christen just raises an eyebrow, no more clued in than she was a moment ago. Tobin sighs and shakes her head. "You're allergic, remember? I swear, you'd be in a hospital bed somewhere if I wasn't here to look after you."

"Oh shit! Sorry Christen, I didn't know you were allergic. Here, I'll take this back from you. I'm sure someone else around here is looking for a drink" Pinoe apologetically rushes out as she peers around the room for someone with an empty hand. Christen silently hands the drink back to Pinoe, though she still isn't entirely sure why. "Oh, I know who will drink this. Ayooo! It's Haooo!" Pinoe shouts as she floats away from the two and makes her way over to the host of the party. Once Pinoe is out of hearing range, Christen turns back to Tobin.

"Why did you tell Pinoe I can't have pineapple juice? I'm not allergic" Christen questions curiously, her eyebrows knitting together. Tobin just lets out a laugh and smiles triumphantly at Christen.

"You should be thanking me, this stuff is practically lighter fluid" she chuckles while holding up her cup, earning a grin from Christen. Tobin's smarter than she looks and pretty good at thinking on her feet. Although that really shouldn't be surprising. Sometimes I get the idea that she thinks only with her feet. "I wasn't sure if you wanted to get into anything heavy tonight. There's plenty of beer in the kitchen, and soda too. If you just pour some coke into a cup no one will have any idea if it's spiked or not."

"Thanks, I appreciate that" Christen sweetly returns, genuinely touched that Tobin's so considerate of her hesitance to drink. She leans over and plants a kiss on the midfielder's cheek. Tobin grins as she feels Christen's lips against her skin.

"What? Only a cheek kiss?" she protests as Christen pulls away. "I just saved your life and that's all I get?" Christen giggles and leans in again, this time she connects her and Tobin's lips. "Much better" Tobin smirks as they pull away.

"Ow, ow! The spice girls are making things spice-aye!" Alex chirps as she, Sarah, and Kling make their way over. Alex is dressed as a classic hollywood actress, all ready for the big screen minus a strange mark on her arm. It's in the shape of a grid, almost that of a tennis racket. As Christen glances over to Sarah, who's dressed very appropriately as a tennis player, the pieces fall together in her mind. I can't believe she brought that stupid tennis racket to the party. Christen glances to Alex's arm again. And I can't believe Alex was dumb enough to try and scare Sarah.

"Yes! Thank you!" Tobin exclaims with a fist pump, "Finally someone who can respect a carefully crafted pun!"

"Hey Tobs" Kling carefully greets as she struggles to make eye contact with her roommate. "Hey Christen."

"Hey Kling" Christen kindly returns, using her elbow to nudge Tobin and encourage her to speak to her roommate.

"I like your costume" Tobin shyly offers, gesturing to Kling's chef's outfit. Very fitting for someone who's a proud member of the macaroon club.

"Thanks" Kling simply replies as she looks down at her own threads. "Hey, I'm sorry about earlier" Kling bursts as she looks between both Tobin and Christen. "I was way out of line and I should've respected your boundaries." Tobin looks Kling up and down and registers that she's being sincere. Guilt is written all over the small defender's face.

"It's cool, you didn't know it wasn't a great time" Tobin exhales, doing her best to smooth things over with her friend. "Sorry I freaked out on you."

"Don't be" Kling easily dismisses, waving her hand at Tobin, "Thanks to you I've been able to read up on the Korean War. Did you guys know that never officially ended?" Everyone in the group bursts into laughter. Half amused by Kling's response, half relieved that there's no more tension among the friend group.

"I'm just glad all the jump scares are over" Sarah admits as she holds up her racket, "I'm tired of carrying this around."

"Yeah, and I'm tired of getting hit with it" Alex quips as she runs a hand over the mark on her arm and pouts. Tobin takes the opportunity to turn to Christen and whisper in her ear.

"Hear that Chris? There's nothing left to be afraid of" as Tobin leans away and resumes conversation, her words echo in Christen's mind. There's nothing left to be afraid of. It's such a comforting thought. For as long as Christen can remember, she's always been afraid of something. Afraid of thunderstorms, Tobin, the very word 'girlfriend'. It's kind of ridiculous. What good is it to be afraid all the time? How can anyone possibly be happy that way? Christen's sick of being afraid. She's down right tired of it. She's overcome so much since she's been in college, maybe now's the time to tick the last few items off her list. Maybe it's time to not be afraid anymore. After a moment of thinking it over, she's made up her mind.

"Hey Tobin, could I see that lighter fluid for a second?" Christen asks as she's already in the process of stealing the drink from Tobin's grasp.

"Are you sure? It's pretty-" Tobin warns, slightly alarmed about what Christen plans do with the drink. But before Tobin can finish the sentence, Christen takes down a big gulp of Pinoe's devilish concoction. Down the hatch! Christen immediately regrets her choice as she feels her esophagus start on fire. She winces at the burn."...Strong." It's too late now though, she's already committed to her plan an unfortunately, the fruity fire juice was the easy part. Now she's hoping the liquid courage will guide her through these next few moments.

"You can have this back now" Christen croaks out as she hands the drink back to Tobin, whom, still has no idea what's going through her girlfriend's mind. Christen pulls out her phone from her back pocket and opens her contacts. As soon as she finds the name she's looking for, she hits the call button before she has time for second guesses. Just do it. Get it over with. Rip the band-aid. Don't be afraid.

The phone rings twice before the person on the other end finally answers.

"Christen?" Stacy's groggy voice sounds through the phone. "Why are you calling right now? Do you realize what time it is? Is something wrong? Did something happen?"

"Hey mom" Christen coughs a few times as the Pinoe Colada begins to agitate her throat again. "No, nothing's wrong, but something did happen."

"What? What happened? Can't this wait until morning?" Stacy inquires, obviously desperate for sleep. Christen lets out a nervous breath before she glances over to Tobin one last time. There's nothing left to be afraid of. With some newfound confidence, Christen finds herself facing her fears.

"Tobin and I are dating" Christen blurts out, her eyes wide.

"What?" Stacy questions from her end of the line.

"Tobin's my girlfriend" Christen, affirms as she meets eyes with said beautiful girl beside her. Tobin smiles proudly as she slips her hand into Christen's free one.

"She's what?!" Stacy yells, her voice a mixture of frantic and ecstatic. Christen can hear her dad groan on the other end of the call, probably trying to get some sleep, though now he probably won't.

"Yep! Bye mom!" Christen sings into the phone, now feeling light as a feather. Now she no longer cares how her mom will react, or who she'll tell. Right now, all that Christen seems concerned about is paying attention to her girlfriend. Her sweet, loving, perfect girlfriend.

"Wait! Christen, no! TELL ME WH-" Christen abruptly hangs up the phone and stuffs it back to it's place in her back pocket. She can feel it vibrating again as her mom is undoubtedly calling her back, but she just ignores it. That's a matter for another time.

"I'm proud of you, babe" Tobin warmly states with a smile. Christen squeezes Tobin's hand and smiles back.

"Babe?" Hao, obviously drunk from one too many Pinoe Coladas, bursts from across the room. "No way, you guys are dating?!"