When Our Memories Fade

Christen woke up to an empty bed and an unfamiliar room. When she sat up and saw JJ sleeping in the bed across from her, the events from last night hit her like a slap in the face. She remembered all that had happened with Tobin and Alex and the heartbreak that came with it. Why had she been so stupid to think Tobin actually had feelings for her? Of course she still wasn't over Alex. With a headache and a heartache she got out of bed and walked to the bathroom. She looked at her tear-streaked face, dark circles, and eye bags, realizing she must have cried herself to sleep. While washing her face she heard Julie start to get up. She didn't want to to talk to her right now, or anyone for that matter. To avoid JJ she grabbed a towel and decided it would be a good time to take a shower. After stripping off all her clothes and stepping into the hot stream of water, she felt herself crumble under her own emotions. She let out a sob as the hot water ran down her bare back. She was breaking, and she hated it. After about 15 minutes in the shower she realized her new roommate would need to take one too, so she finished up and hopped out. Wrapping a towel around her body and her hair, she walked out of the bathroom to find something to wear to breakfast.

"Chris?" A voice asked from across the room.

"Oh good morning Jules, you can get in the shower now I just finished." Christen responding trying to avoid any conversation having to do with last night.

"Chris I was going to ask how you were feeling."

"I'm doing alright J don't worry"

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure. I'm about to head down soon. I'll see you at breakfast, alright?"

"Alright Chris." With that Julie retreated into the bathroom to shower while christen finished getting ready.

"Alex you have to get up" an angry Kelley said standing over a sleepy Alex.

"No I don't" The forward said with an especially raspy and tired voice.

"Yes you do we have breakfast soon get up and shower" Kelley said getting more impatient.

"How much time do I have?" Alex asked trying to figure out if she could manage a few more minutes of sleep.

"20 minutes"

"Ugh fine" Alex said slowly getting out of bed and walking towards the bathroom.

"We need to talk when you get out so make it quick" Kelley said before Alex made it inside the bathroom.

Even though Alex didn't want to talk about last night she knew it would have to happen sooner or later, so she just nodded and made her into the bathroom.

After a quick 5 minute shower Alex walked out of the bathroom with a towel on and started to look for clothes.

"Look Alex I know you don't want to talk about it, so we don't have to right now, we can save it for later. But I do need to say something to you right now." Kelley says carefully as Alex gets dressed.

"Okay"

"If the team doesn't know what happened already, they will know soon. And let me tell you, they will not favor you. They will be angry at not only you, but also Tobin. I know it sounds really fucked up, but that's the way it works. Although Christen is not the only one hurting, she is the one that got fucked over here and that's the only thing people will see. They will only see that you cheated on Servando with Tobin, and that you and Tobin ruined whatever she had going on with Christen. I know it sucks, and I know you're hurting, but I'm on your side, even if no one else is. I'll be here for you Alex. Just roll through the punches for the next few weeks okay?" Kelley spills out in a concerned and unusual mother-like tone.

"Okay Kelley" Alex says as Kelley gathers her things and starts to head towards the door.

"I'll see you down there Baby Horse, love ya"

"Oh and Kelley...thank you...for everything...it means a lot to me" Alex says stopping Kelley at the door.

"Don't worry about it Alex, that's what friend are for"

When Christen makes it down to breakfast she sees that Tobin is already down there, with only Ali sitting next her, and Ashlyn sitting next to Ali. She realized that everyone must've figured out what happened last night, and were blaming Tobin for it. Although she felt bad that people were mad at Tobin, she thought she deserved it. She broke her heart and lied to her right? Of course she had to be mad at Tobin. Looking across the table she found an empty seat next to HAO that was far away from the girl that broke her heart. She took her seat next to HAO and settled into an easy conversation while the team waited for everyone to arrive.

After a short while the rest of the team trickled in, except for one person in particular. As everyone started eating a tired and unsettled alex walked into the room. Before she could take a seat Dawn intercepted her and they exchanged a few words. Alex just seemed to brush her off as Dawn looked on at her worriedly. As soon as she stepped away from Dawn all eyes were on her as she looked for an empty seat. Of course the only empty seat had to be next to none other than Tobin Powell Heath. Taking her seat she looked around as everyone began whispering to one another. She knew people would find out, but she had no idea they would find out this soon.

"That's twice already Alex. I'm guessing you'll do it again though. Three times' a charm am I right, little Ms.Home Wrecker?" a bitter voice speaks up from across the table as everyone goes silent.

"What do you want? Julie." Alex replies to blonde center back.

"Alright that's enough ladies." Carli interjects from the end of table.

"Let's focus on the training we have ahead of us. I'm sure Dawn has some wonderful fitness training in store for us today" Becky smiles looking over at Dawn.

"You sure as hell do, so be prepared for it" Dawn chimes in looking at the girls.

 "This is hell" Alex says, bending over with her hands on her knees, looking up at Kelley.

"It gets worse don't worry baby horse" Kelley says patting Alex on the back.

Across the field a very angry looking Julie talks to Tobin. Soon the talking looks more like yelling, and teammates start to take notice.

"What the hell Tobin I don't understand how could you do that to her???" Julie yells, now only inches away from Tobin.

"I-I'm sorry, it wasn't what it looked like, I promise, it was Alex who-"

"Save it Tobin. I don't want to hear your stupid excuses." Julie interrupts Tobin who's actually pretty used to being interrupted by now. "And you Alex" Julie turns around to look at Alex from across the field before quickly making her way over. "You couldn't keep your damn legs shut. I should've warned Press about you, but I thought you had actually moved on from Tobin. I thought that because you left Tobin for your little Orlando boyfriend, that you had moved on and were done with her, but apparently not, apparently nothing's ever good enough for you"

"JJ I know what I did was completely out of line, but you have to hear me out-"Alex says carefully trying not make Julie more upset, but then gets cuts off again.

"Alright that's enough all 4 of you, Alex, Julie, Tobin, and Christen come here" Jill yells from the sideline. "We're going to have a meeting with the captains as well. I don't know what's going on, but we're going to find out and we're going to settle this. Alright?" Jill continues, looking at the 4 players for confirmation. Everyone nods or says an "ok" before Jill finishes up. "I want all 4 of you to go to the locker room, shower, and change. I'll have someone drive you back in one of the team vans."

With that the girls all walked away slowly into the locker room. All except for Alex, who lingered behind to talk to Jill.

"Hey coach I just wanted to ask you something" She says sounding nervous.

"Yes Alex?" Jill replies.

"I was just wondering if Kelley could come to the meeting too?"

"Oh is she involved too?"

"Well yeah sorta. She's just been by my side through this whole thing, and it would help if she was there."

"Oh well yes she can join us, but I want her to finish up practice, so she'll ride back with the rest of the team."

"Thanks Coach" After Jill agreed to having Kelley at the meeting Alex starts to walk away, but is stopped by the sound of her Coach's voice.

"Oh and Alex?"

"Yeah coach?" "I really hope you're okay. I've been hearing how everyone is almost ganging up on you...I hope you're doing alright."

"Don't worry Coach, I'll be okay"

"I hope so Alex"

 Alex felt incredibly guilty as Tobin engulfed her in a huge hug in the middle of PDX. She was out of town for a few weeks to see her parents, but before she flew back to Portland she got a call from Serv saying he would be in Diamond Bar in few days. He said that he wanted to meet up and apologize for everything that happened in their previous relationship. She agreed to meeting him, wanting closure on the past relationship. She knew Tobin wouldn't like the idea so she told her that her parents asked her to stay a few extra days. Serv took her out for drinks at the bar in the hotel he was staying at. After a few drinks with him, Alex had told him about the problems in her relationship with Tobin. After a few more drinks one thing led to another and he was leading her up to his hotel room.

"How was Diamond Bar lex?" Tobin said pulling back from Alex.

"It was great Tobs. My parents miss you."

"I'm sorry I couldn't make it down there with you, I tried to reschedule the Nike shoot, but I just couldn't"

"It's fine, it's not the last time I'm ever visiting them"

That was the longest conversation they had the rest of the day. Alex was on her phone and not talking to Tobin for most of the day and it started to annoy Tobin. Sitting down on the couch watching the Barça vs. Real Madrid game she looked over at Alex who was typing away at lightning speed on her phone.

"What're you doing babe?" She asked annoyed.

"Nothing" Alex answered back sharply.

"I haven't seen you in weeks, talk to me, you've been quiet all day, is something wrong?" The midfielder asked worriedly.

"I'm fine, I promise" Alex said not even looking up from her phone.

Tobin just sighed and went back to watching the game. Alex would come around soon. She had too, right?

 Alex looked out of the window of the van as she thought back to the days when her and Tobin started going downhill. She was not looking forward to the meeting with Jill and the captains. She had a feeling Jill and the captains would just make them all play nice until camp was over. As nice as it sounded to have everyone off her back after the meeting, she did not like the idea of having to face JJ, Christen, and Tobin in the same room at the same time. She looked away from the window to JJ giving her a death glare with Christen asleep on her shoulder. Maybe this meeting wasn't such a bad idea?

 "Alright ladies now that everyone's here we can begin" Jill said sitting down next Dawn and Carli.

"Me and Becky noticed this happening earlier at camp and we tried to defuse it, but now it seems that it has become so much of a problem that the coaches have noticed." Carli says in stern voice.

"I've also noticed that we've had some pretty poor performances from all of you, except Kelley, this camp. If you can't keep your personal lives out of your play we all have to step in find out what's going on" Becky added.

"Alright ladies I want to hear this from an outside point of view so I'll ask Kelley about the story" Jill says looking at Kelley.

Kelley told her version of the story including all the little details. She mentioned Alex cheating on Tobin, the party, how christen walked in on Alex kissing Tobin, and everything in between. When she finished Christen looked shocked. Tobin was telling truth. Then again Tobin could've stopped the kiss, but it also looked like she wasn't kissing back. Christen's mind was spinning with questions and ideas. She felt like the room was spinning. She wanted to stand up but she was glued to her seat. It felt like she was about to vomit and pass out at the same time. The room was spinning. Everything was spinning. She couldn't stop it.

"Christen are you okay?" Dawn asked snapping her out of her daze.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." She replied.

"Alright so we all agree to get along and not argue anymore until camp is over? If I see any more bickering, arguing, fighting, or problems there will be serious repercussions. Is that clear?" Jill asked the group.

Wait what? Had Christen been so lost in her thoughts that she missed almost the whole meeting? Get a grip she thought to herself.

All 5 said their varying forms of "yes" and "okay" before standing up and leaving the room. Christen was the last one still in the room, she was still had a look of shock and confusion on her face. What was she going to do about Tobin? Did Tobin even want to be with her anymore after this? She felt a hand clamp down on her shoulder pulling her from her thoughts.

"You okay Press?" Christen looked up to see Carli standing over her.

"Yeah I just have some things to think about"

"I know Press, I'm sorry this all happened. You can always talk to me or Becky if you need to, you know that right?"

"Of course yeah I will. Thanks Carli"

"No problem Press"

 The rest of camp went by without incident. Alex and Tobin not talking to each other as well as not talking to Julie and Christen. Soon it was time to part ways before the next victory tour game. The team all gathered in the lobby saying their goodbyes while waiting for their Ubers and cabs to show up.

"Take care of yourself alright Tobin?" Ali asks giving the younger girl a hug.

"Thanks Ali, I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you to Tobs. You can all always call or text me if you need anything alright"

"Alright Ali, will do. I'll see you soon don't worry"

"See you soon Tobs"