True Colors

“So, tell me a little bit about yourself.” Tobin says and Alex lets out an exasperated sigh.

“Google me, now tell me where we are going!” Alex yells and Tobin can’t contain the laugh that comes out of her mouth.

“Relax Lex, we are almost there. Seriously, tell me something I can’t find on Google.” Tobin says as she keeps her eyes on the road in front of her.

“Well, I have a tattoo.” Alex says and Tobin looks over at her with a smirk on her face.

“And I can’t find that on Google or your Instagram?” Tobin asks and Alex shakes her head no.

“Where?” Tobin asks as she grabs her sunglasses from the dashboard and puts them on.

“Those look good on you, Tobs.” Alex compliments and Tobin looks at her with a raised eyebrow.

“Answer the question, Alex.” Tobin says as she slaps her lightly on the thigh. Alex grabs her hand and intertwines their fingers. Tobin is a nervous wreck by now and Alex notices. To make things worse for Tobin, Alex lays her other hand on top of Tobin’s and begins to rub circles on the back of her palm.

Tobin is passed nervous wreck and is just trying to keep them from crashing. She cannot believe that she is holding Alex Morgan’s hand. She has never felt this much of a spark with someone, ever. Alex may be calm and cool on the outside but she is just as nervous and sweaty as Tobin is.

“So, uh your tattoo?” Tobin asks yet again.

“Yeah my tattoo, it’s on my lower hip. No one can see it unless I want them too.” Alex says as she regains her composure.

The rest of the drive is relatively quiet except for Tobin’s road rage and Alex’s laughter.

“OK, we are here.” Tobin says as she parks her car and unbuckles her seat belt.

“Um, OK.” Alex says and Tobin hears her and smirks at this. Alex was certainly not ready for what is about to happen.

“Are you gonna kidnap me or something?” Alex asks as she slowly gets out of the car and looks around at the place in front of them.

“Well, you’re not a kid, so probably not.” Tobin says and grabs Alex’s hand and walks them to the front of the ‘restaurant’. Tobin sees how apprehensive Alex is about this and stops to look her in the face.

“I know this looks super shady but I promise they have the best fish tacos and I know the owner so it’s totally safe.” Tobin says and Alex lets of a breath she didn’t realize she was holding in.

Alex looks up at the ‘restaurant’ and sees a half-lit neon sign, paint peeling of the building, and bars over the windows. To say she is scared is an understatement; she might have shit her pants.

“I promise its safe. If anything happens to you then I will personally take all the blame.” Tobin says and Alex just nods her head and squeezes Tobin’s hand a little tighter than before. Tobin smiles at this and holds the door open for Alex.

The inside is completely opposite of the outside. The inside is decorated very nicely, like a hipster surf shop that serves food. As soon as Alex walks through the door all of the fears roll off her back and she oddly feels like its home.

“Tobin fuckin’ Heath!” Alex hears someone yell from somewhere.

“Ashlyn fuckin’ Harris!” Tobin yells back and Alex turns around until she comes face to face with a tall blonde girl with lots of tattoos.

“How have you been?” Ashlyn asks Tobin as she embraces her and picks her up.

“Good man, how’ve you been?” Tobin asks in return and Ashlyn shrugs and says, “Pretty good.”

Ashlyn finally realizes that Tobin is not here alone and then notices just who is attached to her friends arm.

“Shit, you’re Alex Morgan.” Ashlyn says and Tobin and Alex both laugh.

“Yes she is, now pick your jaw up off the floor please.” Tobin says and Ashlyn hits her on the arm.

“Oh come on, you were the same way Toby.” Alex says and Ashlyn busts out laughing. Tobin goes red and look at Alex says, “Not in front of her, she is the worst.”

“Oh come on Toby, let me show you to your table.” Ashlyn says and Tobin turns around to look at Alex and whispers, “Look what you did. Now you’re paying for dinner.” Alex laughs at this and pulls Tobin toward the table.

“Here you guys go. No one is going to take your orders because Tobin, you suck.” Ashlyn says and Tobin rolls her eyes. Ashlyn walks back to the kitchen and Tobin shakes her head and laughs.

“Sorry about her, old college friend.” Tobin says and Alex nods her head in understanding.

“Where did you go to college at?”

“I went to Cal Berkeley, actually.” Tobin says as she messes with the sugar packets on the table.

“No way! I did too!” Alex screams and Tobin already knows that but she doesn’t want Alex to know that she knows.

“Wow, that’s crazy.” Tobin says and Alex agrees with her.

“So, tell me about yourself Tobin Heath.” Alex says as she rests her head on the backside of her hand.

“What would you like to know?” Tobin asks in return.

“Do you have any siblings?”

“Yes, two older sisters and one younger brother. Do you?” Tobin asks as she looks over the menu in front of her. She already knows what she is going to get but she likes to look anyway.

“Yes I do, three sisters.” Alex replies and steals the menu from Tobin to get her to look at her.

“Eye contact Tobin.” Alex says and Tobin laughs at her and sit up straight and stares Alex in the eye.

“Too much.” Alex says and they both laugh at Tobin’s antics.

“Do you know what you’re getting yet?” Alex asks Tobin and Tobin nods her head up and down.

“I am getting the fish tacos and I recommend them because they are amazing.” Tobin says with her eyes closed.

“I’ll get them if you wipe the drool from the corner of your mouth.” Alex says and Tobin fakes a laugh.

“Ha ha, very funny.”

“OK next, tell me about your parents.” Alex says and Tobin visibly freezes at this. She was hoping to avoid this topic for a while. Long story short, Tobin’s parents took off when her brother was little and she hasn’t seen them since.

“Um, I don’t really know them.” Tobin says and Alex looks at her and urges her to continue.

“They split when my brother was little and I haven’t seen them since. I’ve been in foster care since I was 13.” Tobin says nonchalantly.

“Wow, I am so sorry.” Alex says and grabs Tobin’s hand from across the table.

“It’s not a big deal.” Tobin says as she takes a sip of her water. Alex changes the topic and after about ten minutes of sharing corny pick-up lines they both decide they are starving.

Sure enough no one comes by to take their orders so Tobin goes to the counter and puts their orders in. As Tobin is walking away Alex watches her and more importantly watches her ass.

“So, it’ll probably be about 10 to 15 minutes until we get our food.” Tobin says and Alex nods her head.

“OK I have a fun fact for you.” Alex says and Tobin laughs and replies with, “OK shoot.”

“I lied earlier.” Alex says and Tobin looks at her confused.

“About what?”

“I knew we went to college together because I recognized you.” Alex says and Tobin looks at her in astonishment.

“What? How?” Tobin asks and Alex laughs.

“You came to like all of the soccer games, but no one on the team knew you. Why did you go?” Alex asks and Tobin’s face goes red and she starts to sweat again.

“I-I-I-I like soccer.” Tobin says and tries to play it off coolly but fails terribly.

“Sure, OK.” Alex says as she laughs at Tobin’s blatant lie.

“You obviously had a little crush on someone from the team, so tell me who.” Alex says and Tobin begins to think of someone from the team but she didn’t know anyone else except Alex. She was screwed.

“Um, Kate.” Tobin spits out and mentally slaps herself.

“I don’t remember a Kate.” Alex says with her eyebrows scrunched up like she is thinking.

“I didn’t mean Kate, I meant Katie.” Tobin says and is praying that there is a Katie on the team.

“Oh yeah, I remember Katie. She barley played though.” Alex says and Tobin is in the process of thinking of an excuse.

“Yeah it was a stupid crush.” Tobin says as she leans back into the chair hoping and praying that Alex will drop the subject.

“So you had a crush on an imaginary player?” Alex ask and catches Tobin by surprise.

“W-w-what?” Tobin stutters out and then curses herself for stuttering again.

“Yeah there was no Kate or Katie on the team. Why did you come to all the games?” Alex asks and Tobin’s face is bright red and admits defeat.

“I was there because of you.” Tobin admits as she adjusts in her seat.

“What?” Alex asks. It was her turn to be confused.

“I went to all the games because of you.” Tobin says as she rubs the back of her neck nervously.

“You came because of me?” Alex’s asks just to make sure she heard Tobin right. Tobin nods her head up and down.

“Why?”

“You were my crush.” Tobin says with a laugh and Alex looks at her confused at first but then breaks out into a megawatt smile.

“Why me?”

“Have you seen yourself, Lex?” Tobin replied and Alex was stunned by her confession that it took a couple minutes to form words.

“But you didn’t even know me, you just saw me play soccer.” Alex says and Tobin chuckles at this.

“You don’t need to know someone to have a crush on them. I thought you were beautiful and I thought that by going to your games I had a shot at talking to you.” Tobin replies and Alex is swooning by this point. “And then I could get you to fall for my charm.” Tobin adds and they both laugh at this but Tobin doesn’t know that Alex Morgan is already falling for said charm.

“Fall for you charm? Doubtful.” Alex replies in a joking manner.

“I am hurt by your words Alex Morgan. I do not have a crush on you anymore.” Tobin says and Alex picks up on the last part and decides to tease Tobin a bit.

“Oh so you did still have a crush on me?” Alex says and Tobin chokes a bit, but not on water just on air.

After coughing profusely Tobin finally forms words, “W-w-what?” Not a very coherent word, but a word nonetheless.

“You basically said that you’ve had a crush on me since college.” Alex says and Tobin is caught in a bit of a pickle. If she admits that she has had a crush on Alex since college it would be very weird. She could say that’s not true but Tobin is a terrible liar.

Just as Tobin is about to say something Ashlyn comes by with their food, “Here is your food, and Alex if Tobin is too boring for you I am just at the counter so feel free to come by.” Ashlyn says with a wink and Alex looks at me with wide eyes and a big smile on her face.

“Did your friend just hit on me?” Alex asks a very unconcerned Tobin who had already started eating.

“Yeah she does it all the time. No big deal.” Tobin says as she continues eating.

“Has anyone every taken her up on the offer?” Alex asks Tobin as she begins to eat her very delicious food. “Man this is delicious!” Alex adds and Tobin nods her head up and down.

“Totally!” Tobin says to the last part of Alex’s statement. “And yeah one girl has taken her up on the offer, her current girlfriend Ali.” Tobin says as she shrugs her shoulders.

“Wait, so you guys were on a date and she just left you?” Alex asks as she drops her fork and gives Tobin her undivided attention.

“Well kinda, I asked her out and brought her here because Ashlyn had a crush on her. It was basically a favor, an awkward favor but they have been together ever since.” Tobin explains and Alex looks at her like she has three heads.

“I know it was really weird but she is one of my best friends and helped me through a lot so I did that for her.” Tobin explains further and Alex’s face softens and realizes how caring Tobin is.

“How long have they been together for?” Alex asks.

“About a year or so, I think.” Tobin says as she scrunches her face up to think about it. Alex finds this incredibly adorable.

“Wow, that is really cool.” Alex says and Tobin nods her head in agreement.

They spend the rest of dinner talking about everything and eating anything they see. Alex realizes that she and Tobin are complete opposites. Tobin’s favorite color is blue, Alex’s is red. Alex hates Chinese food and Tobin loves it. Tobin is an early riser and Alex can barely get up before lunch. They also realize that some of these opposites also complement one another.

Tobin pays for the check after teasing Alex about it and they walk back to Tobin’s jeep. Tobin opens the door for Alex and Alex swoons even more. They take a short drive down to the beach and park the car.

“Is this what you do on all of your dates?” Alex asks and Tobin laughs.

“Only the special ones.”

“So what do you do to the non-special ones?” Alex asks curiously.

“Oh you know, nice dinner at a fancy restaurant followed by a museum or art gallery then of course I take them to my place and you can imagine the rest.” Tobin says with a wink.

“So you wine, dine, and sleep with them? Are you serious?” Alex asks incredulously and filled with anger.

“Whoa, Lex I was just kidding. That was all a joke. I don’t sleep with anyone.” Tobin explains as she spins Alex around to look at her in the eyes to convey it was a joke.

“Oh okay, well now I realize my anger was a bit irrational.” Alex says awkwardly as she spins around away from Tobin.

“Maybe a bit but my joke was uncalled for.” Tobin says as she walks around to Alex’s face and grabs her hand.

“Let’s just forget about it and continue our nice stroll.” Alex says and Tobin nods her head in agreement. Alex intertwines their hands and they walk down the beach.

“So earlier you said that Ashlyn helped you through some stuff, what kind of stuff?” Alex asks and feels Tobin tense up at her words.

“You don’t have to tell me, Tobs.” Alex says and Tobin shakes her head and replies, “No its okay. I’ll tell you.” Tobin takes a deep breath trying to find the words to say.

“Up until my last years of college I kinda had a problem..”

“What kind of problem?” Alex asks as she stops walking and finds place on the beach to sit.

“I had a really bad stutter. Sometimes it still comes up but only if I’m nervous or uncomfortable.” Tobin says nonchalantly.

“And she helped you how?”

“This is gonna sound super lame but just stick with me.” Tobin laughs and continues, “I didn’t really have any friends because my stutter was so bad that I literally couldn’t hold a conversation with anyone. Girls found out I had a stutter and they would laugh or leave. I had a class with Ashlyn and we had a project we got paired together for and she was really patient with me.” Tobin says and Alex leans on to her shoulder to offer her support and urge her to continue.

“We had to present in class and somehow I nailed it, I didn’t stutter at all. I owed her my life at that point. We would meet up for lunch or dinner every night and I got more and more comfortable with talking to her and everyone. My stutter somehow vanished and she holds it over my head all the time now.” Tobin says and laughs at the last part. “She calls herself God because she is convinced that it was all her doing.” We both laugh at this.

“That was really cool Tobin. I’m flattered you shared that with me.” Alex says and turns her body to face Tobin’s.

“Well I’m flattered that you’re flattered.” Tobin says with a wink. They are both facing each other and Alex decides that this is as good a time as any and starts to lean in towards Tobin. To her surprise Tobin looks at her lips and also starts to lean in. After what seems like centuries their lips meet and Alex loses her breath at the touch of Tobin’s lips on hers.

After kissing for a few moments that both retract and Alex’s face forms the biggest smile and Tobin laughs at this.

“What are you laughing at?” Alex asks as she slaps Tobin on the arm.

“Nothing, you’re just really cute.” Tobin says as she leans in to kiss Alex again.

“You are a really good kisser.” Alex complements and Tobin blushes.

“T-t-thank you, you’re not so bad yourself.” Tobin says and Alex laughs and punches her on the arm.

“Ow, you are a violent one.” Tobin says and Alex gets up from the sand and reaches for Tobin’s hand.

“Can you handle that?” Alex asks cheekily.

“I can handle anything you throw my way Ms. Morgan.” Tobin says and they begin to walk back to Tobin’s jeep.

‘Perfect ending to the perfect night’ they both think at the same time.