Sway

Ashlyn grew to wonder whether Paul and Pia got some sort of sick pleasure out of calling her late at night to tell her she was going to a camp she’d been left off of the roster for. She hoped soon she’d actually be able to find out her travel plans after seeing her name actually printed on the roster, instead of frantically trying to piece things together at the last minute, her heart thumping in her chest, her luggage looking so haphazardly put together it made her twitch. She was sure she’d forgotten everything. Still, she found herself on a flight bound to Mexico and CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying.

As she arrived at the team’s hotel, Ashlyn was pulled into a tight hug by Abby, who patted her head affectionately and said, “Knew you’d get the call again soon, kid.” Then she was greeted by the rest of the UNC crew — Whitney, Tobin, Yael, and HAO — and the girls she’d played with on the youth teams.

“Hello, Ashlyn,” Paul said. “Good things from you, I hope.”

“Yes, Sir,” Ashlyn replied.

“Roommate assignments!” Abby called out to the growing crowd of US Soccer players and staff. She waved a folded piece of paper at them all and said, “Go get them — hurry up.”

“Ashlyn, yours is Hope’s room. Just collect her envelope,” Dawn said as she and Whitney searched through the stack.

“Fingers crossed,” Ashlyn said to Whit as they collected their respective assignments. She winked at her before unfolding the paper and finding the name of her roommate for that camp.

“Heather O’Reilly,” Whitney read out loud with a smile. Across the room, HAO perked her head up and looked around until she found Whitney.

“TAR!” she started. Ashlyn and Whitney broke out into giggles amongst the groans of all the other players.

“HEELS!” The UNC alum chanted back.

“Who’d you get?” Whitney asked.

“Alexandra Krieger,” Ashlyn read. She could feel the silly grin spreading across her face as her thumb brushed over the little letters printed on the paper. She looked up as she felt something slap her arm. Whitney was looking at her, arms crossed, her roommate assignment rolled up into a paper tube.

“Behave yourself,” she said, one eyebrow raised.

“Like I said, Whit,” Ashlyn replied, resting a hand on her shoulder, “You don’t have to worry about anything happening. I don’t think of her that way at all.”

She swallowed thickly as she stepped away, shoving her hands in the pockets of her sweats and trying to listen to whatever Pinoe and Lori were going on about this time. Ashlyn couldn’t help but surreptitiously look around to see if Ali had gotten in yet. When everyone decided to head up to their rooms, she couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

Throughout their weeks apart, Ashlyn and Ali kept in contact, texting each other daily. They chatted throughout the day about what they were doing and what their training was like, the conversations stilted because of the time change. Still, they never talked about anything less than face value and Ashlyn wished she could get to know Ali more.

As everyone was so excited that Ashlyn had gotten the late call-up, her room turned into the UNC party room once everyone migrated to the third floor to put away all their things before the team dinner and meeting. Ashlyn put on some music and she and HAO told stories while Tobin, shoeless, perched on the desk in the corner of the room, and Yael and Whit spread themselves out on the bed Ashlyn had claimed. The occasional outsider would stop by their room, scoff at the amount of Carolina blue in the place and make their way down the hall again.

Ali didn’t arrive until later when Ashlyn was, quite loudly to be heard over the blasting rap music, re-telling the story of Tobin and the cake that went missing. From her perch on the desk, Tobin was pretty much losing her shit laughing. Tears were streaming down Whit’s face as she struggled to get out the words to add to the story. Ali stood in the doorway with all of her luggage, looking a bit confused.

“Hey, Kriegs is here!” HAO shouted, only gaining the attention of Yael. The two of them hurried over to help the defender with her bags and envelop her in hugs which she tried to escape from.

“Ashlyn, you goof. Your roommate is here!” HAO threw a pillow at Ashlyn’s legs. She spun around and her eyes landed on Ali, and she found herself smiling broadly once more.

“Hey, Al!” she greeted her cheerfully. She tripped over the pillow slightly as she made her way over to her. Stopping in front of her, she held out her arms. “Are we going to work on your hugging skills?” she teased. Ali blushed and mumbled something in return.

“What was that?” Ali took a step forward and more so let Ashlyn hug her than reciprocated anything. Her hands brushed against the back of Ashlyn’s shirt as though she was a ghost or something.

“I said you were a massive jerk,” Ali replied into the fabric at Ashlyn’s shoulder.

As they pulled away from one another and Ashlyn went over to help lug Ali’s bags into the room, stacking them at the end of the bed nearest to the door, she finally got a good look at Ali. Her hair was tied back in a low bun, fly-aways surrounding her face. She was wearing leggings and a t-shirt, but she looked so effortlessly beautiful that Ashlyn could barely stand it.

“I see you’ve invited all of Chapel Hill in here.”

“Yeah, it’s a bit of a reunion,” Ashlyn said as she moved to lower the volume of the music.

“Man, why am I not rooming with Alyssa?” Ali sighed. The edges of Ashlyn’s lips quirked into a smile.

“Oh are we starting this again?” Ali smirked. She’d been the start of many of their other “my alma mater is better than yours” arguments.

After team dinner, there was the standard introductory meeting to the camp. Pia pulled out her guitar and strummed some tunes as everyone put their plates away and got settled in front of the projector. Then she outlined the schedule for the entirety of their time together in Cancun. After their short residency, there would be three days of training before their first game against Haiti, a day of recovery sandwiched between two other games, followed by a longer break for training and relaxation. Then, the last two games in quick succession.

As Dawn Scott got up to talk about what their training regiment would look like, Ashlyn felt herself grow lighter and lighter. Sitting there beside Whitney, she was all too glad to be back. After another song, which Pia insisted that everyone sing along to, the girls all got up and made the mass migration to their rooms. They’d all been told to get a lot of rest for the following day’s training, but everyone knew that there would be far too much catching up to do for an early night.

Hugs were doled out liberally as everyone said goodnight before following their respective roommates to their rooms for the night. Ali said a cheerful goodnight to HAO and Megan Rapinoe before opening the door to their room. She threw herself onto the bed closest to the door, shutting her eyes lightly. Ashlyn smiled as she watched her, simply breathing.

“Tired?” she asked. Ali groaned and nodded.

“Jet-lag’s a bitch,” Ashlyn said sympathetically. She bent down by her luggage to pull out her bag of toiletries and her pajamas — a pair of UNC shorts and a UNC t-shirt. Looking down at the emblem on the chest, she wondered if Ali would have anything to say about it. She headed towards the bathroom but stopped short of the door, looking back to see Ali, who fluttered her eyes open and closed.

“You look like you’re about to pass out right now.”

“I might,” Ali replied.

“No you won’t.” Ashlyn reached out with her sock-clad foot and nudged Ali’s thigh. “You got the bathroom first. Come on. Wouldn’t want you to doze off waiting for me to finish.”

“Thanks,” Ali said, pushing herself off of the bed and quickly grabbing her things. Ashlyn held the door open for her like a nice, refined butler, causing Ali to giggle. She tucked her things under her arm and slipped past Ashlyn, brushing slightly against her, chest to chest, as she went. Ashlyn halted her breathing for that little moment, her entire existence focused on that breath of a touch.

Maybe if she had breathed out, they would’ve touched more completely.

“You know,” Ali called out. Ashlyn perked her head up to see Ali poking her own out of the bathroom, toothbrush in hand. “I’m super glad you’re my roommate this time. This might sound a bit weird, but I kind of missed you after camp ended.”

“We talked all the time,” Ashlyn protested, trying to ignore the way her chest tightened with Ali’s admission.

“It’s not the same,” Ali replied with a shrug. “Anyway, I feel like we could be really good friends.”

Ashlyn wondered if it was possible to physically feel herself fall for Ali. She certainly could pinpoint exactly where in her body she ached whenever Ali would brush close to her, whether in a friendly way or by mistake. Everything about her seemed to pull her in and, despite her promises to Whit, she couldn’t help but admit that she had a little crush. It was only a schoolgirl type of feeling, and Ashlyn was sure that she could power through it, but damn it if Ali wasn’t making it difficult.

“Where are you going?” Ashlyn asked as Ali got up and stretched and headed towards the door to their room. It was just after dinner, but they had training again the next morning, so most of the team was starting to wind down and take some time for themselves.

“A walk,” Ali replied. She glanced around her quickly, as though there was someone else there to hear her. “Actually, they have a lot of weddings in this hotel and I just really love weddings so I — ”

“You’re going to crash a wedding looking like that?” Ashlyn grinned at her, enjoying how flustered Ali got in response. She was wearing an old shirt and athletic shorts and, though Ashlyn did think she looked cute, it obviously wasn’t wedding attire.

“It’s not crashing if there’s no one there,” Ali protested. “It’s…investigating. I’m going to investigate the wedding.” Ashlyn sighed loudly and stood up. “What?” Ali asked defensively.

“Well someone has to accompany you,” Ashlyn said. “Everyone knows a good investigator always has a sidekick. Just call me Watson.” Ali rolled her eyes but Ashlyn could tell she was amused as the brunette held the door open and signaled for Ashlyn to follow her.

After their investigation Ashlyn and Ali continued their walk along the little strip of land that led from the hotel to the beach. Ashlyn was still riding the high that being close to Ali brought. She lived off of her energy as she excitedly talked about wedding planning and the styles of decor used at that particular reception.

“You’re so into this,” Ashlyn had noted. Ali smiled.

“I think I might like to plan weddings when I’m not playing football anymore. They’re celebrations of love! Who wouldn’t want to be around them.”

Ashlyn found that hard to believe. Not every marriage was that happy. The cynic in her wanted to believe that everyone else’s parents were just as unsuited for each other as hers were. Even then, Ali’s exuberance was starting to change her mind.

Their steps were illuminated by the intermittent light posts along the way and the moon, looking particularly bright over the water. Ashlyn’s eyes immediately found the sea in the darkness, watching as the water crawled up the sand before retreating again. Its journey was longer, higher up the beach as was the will of the moon above.

Ashlyn paused in her stride to slip off her shoes and roll up the bottoms of her sweats. The sand felt cool and soft under her feet. She looked up to see Ali watching her, then she mimicked her actions, holding her flip flops between the fingers of her right hand.

“So do you have a thing?”

“What?”

“Like I really like weddings. What’s your thing.” Ashlyn smiled lightly.

“This,” she said, waving her arm out to indicate the ocean. They’d started their walk down the shore, each of their feet coated in a light dusting of sand. Ashlyn was drawn ever closer to the water — magnetic — and she could just feel the tickle of the waves lapping over her feet. “I grew up in Florida, so the beach was an everyday sort of thing. I’d go out to the beach and surf or just swim…It relaxes me, just smelling salt in the air and feeling the sea breeze.”

“That sounds so nice,” Ali said. “My mom lives in Miami and she absolutely loves the sun down there.”

“I’m from down near Orlando. It’s a good place.” Ashlyn saw her usual surf spot, the skate park, the sandwich shop she’d frequent after a long day at the beach. “Good people.” Liz, her cousins, Chris.

“Ooh, did you go to Disney World a lot as a kid?” Ali’s face was lit up so brightly, Ashlyn felt bad that she didn’t have a nicer answer for her.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “My family didn’t — doesn’t — have money for that sort of thing.”

“Oh… Well you must miss your family there.”

“I don’t know if miss is exactly the right emotion,” Ashlyn admitted. “We don’t talk a lot and, actually, I think it’s better that way.” She watched as Ali’s expression dropped a little. She was quiet, and Ashlyn knew she was struggling to direct their conversation away from that; she was unsure how to continue.

“Want me to really show you my ‘thing’?” Ashlyn asked, a sly grin spreading on her face. Ali looked up at her curiously. Ashlyn smiled wider, letting her know that they were okay.

“Alright, then,” Ali said, her admission of consent turning into a high-pitched squeal as Ashlyn bent over and grabbed Ali around the waist, hoisting her up over her shoulder and running down into the water. She laughed as she felt Ali’s hands grip at her shoulders, pulling at her shirt as she repeatedly squealed, “Ashlyn, put me down!”

Even in late October, the water was warm and comfortable. She waded in until the water brushed just under her knees, spinning the two of them and enjoying the feel of the spray on her legs. It reminded her of nights spent on the beach with her cousins, running around and playing tag and Marco Polo in the surf.

“Put you down?” she asked.

“Yes!” Ali insisted.

“Okay,” Ashlyn said. She shifted Ali’s weight off her shoulder, holding her securely in her arms before dumping her in the water. Ali’s feet went in first, sending up a spray of salt water. Then she began to fall back, losing her balance. Wide eyes shot up to meet Ashlyn’s as she yelped again.

“I got you,” Ashlyn assured her as she caught Ali’s hands and pulled her back to an upright position. Ali pulled her hands free from Ashlyn’s grip and hit her repeatedly with the flip flops she had still managed to hold onto.

“I thought you were going to just let me fall!” she said. Giggling, Ashlyn held out her hands to stop Ali’s attack, but the defender was relentless. “You are sooo dead, you don’t even know!”

Ashlyn backed up a couple feet before turning and making a run for it, lifting her knees high to make it through the water. Behind her, Ali splashed in pursuit, still brandishing her flip flops.