Chapter 1
Carli enjoys her mornings. She enjoys the alone time, the early-morning jogs, the peacefulness. The good thing about being roommates with Hope is that the goalkeeper almost always sleeps in. When they don’t have training or some sort of early-morning meeting, Hope sleeps until at least 9 o’clock. So when she hears footsteps coming down the stairs, she’s immediately confused. It’s only 7:30 and Carli’s relaxing in the kitchen, having her morning coffee. She turns around to question Hope, only to see a stranger walking towards the front door. A blonde, maybe Carli’s height, wearing a mini skirt and heels, clearly disheveled. ‘Fucking Hope.’ Carli thinks as she watches the woman stumble her way out of the house.
When Hope finally makes her way downstairs at around 9:30, she sees a smirk playing at Carli’s lips. Hope shakes her head. “Don’t.” She says, walking past the midfielder to make a new pot of coffee. “I didn’t even hear you come in last night.” Carli says, letting her friend off the hook, for now. Hope shrugs. “We didn’t get back here until like 2. You were probably dead to the world.” She counters. Carli sighs as she watches Hope make her way around the kitchen. “You know, having a new girl here every few nights isn’t going to help anything.” Hope turns around to shoot Carli a glare. “Just because you’re basically married doesn’t mean I have to follow suit.” She responds. Carli’s been with her boyfriend, Brian, for just over three years. They’ve talked about moving in together, but Brian wants to stay in New Jersey, while Carli is content living with Hope in Seattle, for now.
Hope sits down at the breakfast bar as she waits for the coffee to brew. “Who’d you go out with?” Carli asks. Hope’s been going out more and more recently. It, honestly, worries the midfielder. She knows how Hope can get when she drinks and one of these days, Carli’s almost expecting to get a call from Hope asking her to bail her ass out of jail. “I just went to the bar to have a couple drinks with Pinoe.” Carli rolls her eyes. ‘Should have known.’ She thinks. Pinoe has always been a partier. “You can’t keep doing this forever, you know.” She states, looking at the taller woman. Hope shrugs. “I’m just having a good time, Car, relax.”
“I might believe that if you weren’t fucking every girl you see. You can’t just drown out your pain, Hope, because at the end of the day it’s still gonna be there.” She says. Hope stands up to grab a mug, while Carli continues, “I know she hurt you, but you’re just hurting yourself by doing this.” Hope scoffs and turns to look at her friend. “I’m not hurting myself. I’m having a good time, just like I did before I met her.” She spits out. “I’m not committing again, Carli. It’s not happening, so for now, I’m doing what I want. I wasted too much time on someone who didn’t give a fuck about me in the end.” She finishes, before turning away to pour her coffee.
Carli sighs and watches as Hope grabs her mug and sits down at the breakfast bar, again. It’s clear to her that Hope’s wounds are still very much open and there’s no point in arguing with her on it. “Okay.” Carli says, finally. Hope knows that Carli hates that she’s been sleeping around and probably drinking too much for her own good. So when the midfielder finally concedes after months of bickering over it, she’s pretty shocked. She looks at her, suspiciously. “Okay? As in you’re gonna get off my back about it?” She asks. Carli shrugs. “It’s not like you listen to me anyway. Do what you want, you’re an adult. Just be careful.” She responds, seriously. Hope puckers her lips and nods, before taking a long drink from her steaming mug. “Okay.” She whispers, in response.
The next few weeks are relatively low key for the roommates. It’s the off-season and an off-year for the national team so they have a few months off before they start camp in February for the Algarve cup. Carli keeps training hard both by herself and with James Galanis. Sometimes Hope will train with her too, but lately, she’s been training by herself. Hope sighs, as she makes her way into the house. She has a splitting headache and she feels like shit. She locks the front door behind her and heads straight for the living room, plopping herself down on a couch and resting her eyes.
It isn’t long before she hears footsteps coming towards her. “Late night?” Carli asks, as she walks passed the couch, a filled garbage bag in hand. “Shut up.” Hope groans. She hears the front door open and the rustle of the trash bag. Carli walks back in quickly after and stops in front of Hope, who’s sprawled across the couch. “How did you train this morning? You look like shit.” Carli asks, taking in the appearance of her best friend. Hope opens one eye to glare at the other woman. “Thanks.” She quips, sarcastically.
“I’m grabbing you some water and Advil. Brian’s in town with Nate and we’re going out with them tonight. Be ready by 7.” Carli states, as she walks away. Hope shakes her head to herself. “I’m not going!” She calls out, before cringing at the pain the loud noise caused her. Minutes later, Carli returns with a bottled water and three Advil capsules. “Take this.” She says, softly. Hope sighs and forces herself to slowly sit up. She takes the pills from Carli’s outstretched hand and puts them in her mouth, swallowing them back with water. “Thanks.” She says, softly, before plopping back down on the couch. “We’re going to The Barrel to get a couple beers. No big deal. Please come with us.” Hope sighs and brings her forearm to cover her eyes. There’s no way she can leave Carli hanging. “Fine.” She says, simply. “Wake me up at 5.” Carli smirks to herself at her victory. “Will do.” She responds, before walking upstairs to call Brian.
“Car, I’m not going.” Hope says a few hours later, walking down the stairs of their shared home. “Yes you are.” Carli shouts back from the bathroom. Hope rolls her eyes to herself as she makes her way to her best friend. “Why are we doing this, anyway?” She asks. Carli stops applying her mascara for a moment to look at the taller woman. “You’re already ready?” Carli asks, ignoring the question. Hope gives her a pointed look. “Because Brian and his friend want to get drinks and I don’t want to deal with both of them by myself.”
Hope rolls her eyes. “You owe me.” Hope grumbles, before walking away and taking a seat on a kitchen stool. She scrolls through her Facebook page, casually, while she waits. “You better hurry! We’re gonna be late.” She calls out, looking towards the bathroom. Carli comes out a few minutes later. She makes her way into the living room and puts on a pair of black sneakers, before motioning to Hope that it’s time to go. “You clean up well, Solo.” She mentions, as the pair walk out the front door. Hope smacks the shorter woman’s ass, in response, earning herself a glare from Carli. “He knows this isn’t a double date, right?” Hope asks once they’re in Carli’s car. “I’m pretty sure he’s even more gay than you are.” She responds, rolling her eyes a little bit at the question.
Once their inside the bar, Carli immediately spots Brian, who waves them over to their table. After the introductions, Carli and Nate, Brian’s friend, start talking about soccer. Hope zones out of the conversation, allowing her eyes to wander across the bar. It’s a casual place. The atmosphere is relaxed and the country theme sets a tone. There’s a good amount of people there for a Thursday night, but it’s not uncomfortably crowded either. “I’m going to get a drink.” Hope mumbles, before leaving the table and making her way through the dining room. She finds an open spot at the bar and takes a seat.
“What can I get you?” One of the bartenders asks. He gives Hope a leering glance that makes her stomach churn. “Whiskey on ice.” She responds, shortly. He gives her a smirk and a slight nod, before turning and making her drink, before getting pulled into a conversation with another customer. To Hope’s pleasure, the other bartender grabs the drink and starts walking towards her. “I think he made this for you. Gets distracted easily, that one.” Hope glances at the woman in front of her. She’s young, in her early twenties, at most. She has piercing hazel eyes that immediately capture Hope’s attention. “Thank you.” Hope replies, giving the woman a small smile. “I haven’t seen you here before.” The woman mentions. Hope shrugs. “Never been.” She responds, simply, looking the woman up and down. The bartender raises an eye brow at her blatant display.
“Well I’m Kelley. You know, in case you decide you like it here.” She gives Hope a wink and a cocky grin, before turning to walk away. “You’re not even gonna ask me my name?” Hope calls after her, clearly confused by Kelley’s change in tone. Kelley turns back towards her, giving her a shrug. “You can tell me next time.” Hope tilts her head at the woman. ‘Next time.’ Hope scoffs, softly, to herself. She grabs her drink and makes her way back over to the table, where Carli and Brian are speaking quietly amongst themselves. “Where’d Nate go?” Hope asks, as she sits down. “Both of you left us to go flirt.” Carli replies, motioning towards the bar. Hope glances over her shoulder and, surely enough, Nate is having a very animated conversation with the male bartender. Hope raises her eye brows at her clear misunderstanding of their prior interaction. “I wasn’t flirting.” Hope finally says.
Carli scoffs. “Oh, please. That was flirting if I ever saw it.” She says, confidently. Hope glances back over to the bar, allowing her eyes to fall on Kelley. She’s much shorter than Hope. Her hair is pulled up into a tight bun. ‘She’s hot, that’s for sure.’ Hope thinks to herself. Kelley glances her way and catches Hope’s eye. The goalkeeper turns back around as quickly as she can, but doesn’t miss the smirk Kelley gives her when she caught her staring. “Smooth.” Brian says, cheekily. Hope shoots him a heavy glare. “Shut up, Gumby.” She counters. Carli rolls her eyes at the nickname that Hope gave him years ago.