Let You Down

Ashlyn found herself sitting in one of the team vans outside of the airport while she waited for some of the other players to arrive. She shook her leg up and down while she scrolled through her Twitter feed. She needed a shower and a nap. And probably a snack too. Yeah, she definitely needed a snack. After a wait that felt way longer than the twenty minutes it was, Tobin climbed into the back row with her while HAO and ARod piled into the middle row and Cheney sat shotgun.

“Hey!” Ashlyn exclaimed, pulling Tobin into a side hug. “How was everyone's flight?”

“Long,” Tobin groaned beside her. She watched as Tobin dropped her backpack between her legs and leaned back against the seat.

“Our flight was delayed. We were supposed to get in two hours ago,” Cheney explained from up front as the van pulled away from the airport.

HAO turned in her seat to greet Ashlyn with a big grin. For as long as Ashlyn had known Heather, the girl was always full of energy, even after playing a full 90 minutes. “What about you, Ash?”

“It was so lame. There were no snacks,” she laughed. Ashlyn was disappointed when the flight attendant had informed her they weren’t offering snacks alongside refreshments, causing her to spend the rest of the flight trying to quiet her grumbling tummy.

“Want to go grab some lunch after we drop off our bags?” Tobin offered.

“Yeah that sounds good, I'm starving,” Ashlyn replied patting her stomach.

“Cool, cool,” Tobin trailed off as she tapped away at her phone. Ashlyn watched as Tobin focused on the iPhone clutched in her left hand and typed out a message. The midfielder was never one for conversation after a long flight but she was more quiet than usual.

“Alex?” Ashlyn asked and nudged Tobin with her shoulder while the rest of the girls fell into their own conversation.

Tobin nodded. “She's waiting to board.”

“How are you two?”

“Good, I think. We haven't seen each other for a few weeks, with me being home in New Jersey and all. She's had a lot of meetings and Nike shoots and stuff.”

“When does she get in?”

“Uh,” Tobin scrolled through her conversation with Alex to find the answer. “She should land at six, so, not until later tonight.”

Ashlyn nodded and turned her attention to the window and watched the buildings blur past them. Tobin was too busy texting Alex to notice the lull in conversation. Up ahead, the rest of the group was catching up on team gossip. There was something about Hope’s husband Jerramy getting arrested again, Christen thinking about getting another dog to add to her growing pack, Ali and her boyfriend breaking up, and mentions of Abby and Sarah thinking of trying for a baby. Ashlyn didn't care enough to keep up or really pay attention, she just wanted to eat some food and call it a night already, despite it barely being past noon. She never cared much for gossip anyway.

The van pulled into the hotel parking lot and the girls climbed out, taking a minute to stretch their legs before heading inside. They met Jill in the conference room, with a few other staff members, to get their rooming assignments and keys.

“You're in room 718 with Naeher,” Jill announced to Ashlyn as she checked her name off of the sheet in front of her.

“Thanks, Coach,” Ashlyn replied, picking up her duffel bag and sliding her room key into her back pocket.

Jill gave her a tight smile before she started scanning the paper for Tobin’s room number. The two left to head up to their rooms so they could drop off their things before going out for lunch.

• • •

“I can't believe you're rooming with Whit,” Ashlyn pouted over her turkey sandwich. she didn’t mind rooming with Alyssa, but Ashlyn would have have rather roomed with Whitney considering the two hadn’t really seen each other since last camp.

“You jealous?” Tobin laughed.

Ashlyn nodded while chewing her food. “She's my best friend.”

“I'm offended.”

“Good,” Ashlyn chuckled as she tossed a sweet potato fry towards Tobin.

She grabbed it off the table and popped it into her mouth with a grin. “Thanks.”

“You're unbelievable.” Ashlyn rolled her eyes.

“Yeah, yeah,” Tobin muttered, pressing the lock button on her phone and checking the time. “You ready to go?”

Ashlyn grabbed her water bottle and stood up to start their walk back to the hotel. It was a little warm for mid January as the sun made its way out from behind the clouds. Ashlyn and Tobin joked part of the way back to the hotel but mostly fell into a comfortable silence. They usually were more animated in their conversations but their flights drained them and both needed a nap to reenergize. As they were waiting for the elevator to take them to the seventh floor, Ashlyn heard Alyssa call out from behind her.

“Hey roomie!”

“Hey Alyssa,” Ashlyn smiled as she turned to greet her fellow keeper.

“How's the room?” She asked, dropping her suitcase onto the ground while the elevator made it’s descent.

“Better than the last hotel we stayed in,” Ashlyn returned with a laugh. At their last camp, the two keepers had roomed together and they had the unfortunate luck of being assigned a room that looked like it's furniture--or plumbing, or anything else, for that matter--hadn’t been replaced in over a decade.

The elevator chimed, announcing its arrival and Ashlyn stooped down to pick up Alyssa's bag, which Alyssa thanked her for. Tobin pushed the button for their floor and leaned back against the wall as the doors began to close.

“Hold it!”

Ashlyn lunged forward to press the open-door button, revealing a frantic Ali Krieger who stumbled into the elevator clad in leggings and a Nike hoodie with two suitcases, a duffel bag, and a purse slung over her shoulder.

“Thanks,” she mumbled out as she doubled over with her hands on her knees in an effort to catch her breath.

“You always pack so much, Kriegs. What gives?” Tobin laughed at the amount of luggage the brunette had.

“You never know what you're going to need?” Ali shrugged before readjusting her purse. Her definition of packing lightly involved a minimum of two suitcases.

Ashlyn watched her catch her breath as she slumped against the wall. Her hair was pulled into a messy bun and she looked exhausted and maybe even a little bit sad. She felt kinda bad for the girl in front of her. Before she could ask if she was okay the elevator doors opened and Ali gathered her bags and made her way towards her room. Ashlyn picked up Alyssa's suitcase again and walked towards their shared room.

“See you at dinner?” Tobin asked while walking further down the hall towards her room.

“You kind of have to, I'm pretty sure dinner is mandatory tonight, Tobs,” Ashlyn chuckled. Alyssa groaned as she struggled to get the door open.

“Right,” Tobin laughed back. “Save me and Alex a seat.”

“Gross.”

“Love you, Ash,” Tobin called out before closing her door.  

• • •

After a two hour nap, Ashlyn was up and ready to go. She took a hot shower and towel dried her hair while she sat at the end of her bed. Alyssa was busy skyping with her sister back home. Ashlyn was feeling anxious as she wanted to do something to get her extra energy out. She knew Whitney still hadn't made it to hotel yet and that Tobin would be too busy waiting for Alex's flight to arrive to be helpful in any way. She pulled her phone from it's charger and put a snapback on before slipping out of the room. She pocketed her phone and decided to take the stairs up to the roof. She hoped that climbing up six flights of stairs would lessen some of her extra energy. Lucky for her, the door to the roof was unlocked so she pushed it open and went to sit on a plastic crate that had been left up there.

She was glad to be back in camp. With the World Cup coming up soon, she was working hard to get her name on the roster, even if that meant being a backup keeper. It just meant she'd have to work harder than ever to prove to Jill that she was worthy of the slot and starting over the Hope Solo. Ashlyn Harris, the small town kid from Satellite Beach, Florida had made it. To Ashlyn, it was almost enough. She'd always want more, but for now, she'd take what she could get, even if it meant being Hope Solo’s number two.

Ashlyn she heard the door open behind her and nearly fell over at the sudden noise.

“Oh,” Ali called out, startled. “I didn't know anyone was up here. I'll go.”

Ashlyn turned around to look towards the door. Ali looked close to tears so she waved her over. “No, it's fine Kriegs. I'm just hanging out.”

“Okay,” she mumbled out and went to sit near Ashlyn.

“Here,” Ashlyn stood to offer the crate for her to sit. “So you don't get dirty.”

“Thanks,” Ali smiled while Ashlyn sat on the ground. She noticed that her nose didn't crinkle like it usually did.

“You alright?” Ashlyn asked after a few silent moments.

Ali sighed. “It's been a long day.”

“Oh yeah,” Ashlyn laughed. “I managed to sneak in a nice nap.”

“I should have thought of that,” Ali laughed too. “Why didn't you invite me?”

Ashlyn froze for a second before regaining her composure. There was no way Ali Krieger was flirting with her. “You didn't ask,” she shrugged.

They sat in silence for another few minutes before Ali mumbled something again.

“What was that, mumbles?” Ashlyn joked before turning to her.

Ali was bright red. “I said I broke up with Connor,” she stuttered out.

“Oh.” It was Ashlyn's turn to blush. Why did she make that joke? “I'm sorry. Do you want to talk about it?”

Ali shook her head. “I think I just needed to say it out loud. I hadn't really told anyone yet.”

The defender’s words confused Ashlyn at first. She remembered the girls talking about it in the van on the way from the airport, but quickly decided against bringing it up.

“Thanks for listening, Ash,” Ali wiped her tears before they fell. “Even though I didn't say a whole lot,” she said around a shaky laugh.

“No problem. I'm always here if you want to talk.”

Ali looked over at her and smiled. “That means a lot.”

Ashlyn returned the smile and leaned back on her palms. Neither tried to make conversation for a while as they watched the sun begin to slip below the clouds littering the coastline. Ali's phone began to vibrate so she fished it out of her pocket but sighed when she looked at the screen. Ashlyn caught her eye and raised her brow in question.

“It's Connor,” she tugged at her lip before silencing the call. “He's been trying to talk to me for the last couple of days.”

“I'm guessing you don't want to talk to him?” Ashlyn started playing with a string fraying off of her jeans.

“I probably should,” Ali shrugged. “I kind of just... left.”

“Can I ask what happened?”

“I don't really know what happened,” she shook her head. Her phone lit up in her hand again and she quickly declined the call.

“Well, maybe you should talk to him,” Ashlyn offered.

“I know, I will,” she said, sliding her phone back into her pocket.

Ashlyn pulled her own phone out and checked the time. “We should probably get going.” Ashlyn stood up and offered a hand to Ali. “Dinner is in about half an hour.”

Ali took her hand and pulled herself up, thankful that the keeper didn’t push her to talk about Connor. They took the stairs back to the seventh floor and Ali stopped outside of her room to thank Ashlyn again. “I really needed to just say that to someone,” she said again while playing with the hem of her own shirt.

Ashlyn had her hands shoved into her pockets but shrugged. “We're teammates. I'll still be around if you want to talk about what happened.”

Ali smiled and looked up to meet Ashlyn's eyes. She saw the genuinity housed in them and suddenly she found herself leaning forward and wrapping her arms around Ashlyn's neck, pulling her in for a quick hug.

“I thought you didn't hug, Kriegs,” the blonde joked before slinging her arm around Ali’s waist and returning the hug. She was warm despite the slight chill in the air from being on the roof.

“I needed a hug,” Ali giggled as she pulled away. “And you confirmed my suspicion. You give great hugs.”

“What can I say? I've had a lot of practice.”

Ali grinned again. “Thanks Ash. I'll see you at dinner,” she promised before turning and swiping her key card.

• • •

“Because if they flew over the bay, they'd be called bagels,” Ashlyn laughed out as she and Whitney made their way out of the elevator and towards team dinner.

“I definitely did not miss your lame jokes,” Whit playfully punched Ashlyn in the shoulder.

“But you missed me,” she sing songed.

“I always miss you.”

“Damn right you do,” Ashlyn grinned. She slung her arm across Whitney’s shoulders and pulled her towards the food.

Ashlyn piled up her plate and waited for Whitney before they sat down at a table, where Ashlyn made sure to save two seats like Tobin had asked. A few other teammates were trickling in and settling at their own tables at the same time. When Ashlyn was nearly halfway through her plate, Tobin and Alex finally approached the table with plates in hand.

“Alex! How are you?” Whit stood up to pull Alex into a hug.

“Ugh, exhausted,” Alex replied with a small grin. “I've barely had any time to really sit down.”

“Well sit now, Alex,” Ashlyn smiled and pointed to the chair with her fork. “Maybe Tobin will actually be able to hold a conversation now that you're here.”

“Hey,” Tobin grumbled.

“Aww, babe.” Alex nudged her girlfriend with her shoulder.

“Shut it.” Tobin jokingly threw a glare at Ashlyn before she looked down to hide the heat that was spreading over her face.

“Anyway,” Whitney changed the subject as she began rattling off about her new apartment.

Ashlyn tried to pay attention to the conversation but she quickly found herself getting bored. She tapped out a simple rhythm on the table with her thumbs in an effort to distract herself. She tuned out the conversation happening next to her looked around the room. She saw Abby and Pinoe laughing hysterically about something and Syd checking herself out with her phone camera. She shook her head at her teammates and felt a smile find its way onto her face. She definitely missed camp. She continued looking around and saw Jill and a few other members of the staff enter, signaling that the meeting after dinner would be starting soon. As she turned back towards the conversation at her own table, she saw Ali sitting across the room. Ali caught her gaze and smiled, sending her a small wave. She grinned back and stuck her tongue out at the defender, hoping to get some sort of reaction from her. Ashlyn’s smile grew when she saw Ali try and stifle a laugh while turning away.

“I heard Kriegs and Connor broke up but she doesn’t look too beat up about it,” Whitney commented when she looked up to see Ali laughing.

“Some people are good at hiding it,” Alex replied before casting a look over her shoulder to look at Ali. “Maybe it’s just a rumour,” she shrugged.

“ARod and Cheney were talking about it on the van ride from the hotel,” Tobin added in, turning to Ashlyn to back her up.

“Yeah,” Ashlyn agreed. She didn’t want to tell them that she and Ali had talked about it. It felt too personal. It wasn’t her information to share.

“Are you okay, Ash? You’ve been unusually quiet,” Alex prodded her with a small smile.

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I’ve just been a little anxious is all.” She stood up and gathered her plate. “I think the meeting is about to start. We should head to the conference room.”

The group nodded and cleaned up their table before walking to the conference room where Dawn was busy setting up the power point for the meeting. Waiting for the meeting to start, Ashlyn pulled out her phone as the rest of the team continued to file in. She replied to the texts she had from Chris and checked Instagram, getting entranced by a french bulldog account and grinning to herself while she double tapped almost every photo she looked at. She heard Jill start to talk so she locked her phone and looked up to see Ali sitting across from her at the table with an eyebrow cocked as if she was asking the question, “Really?” Ashlyn shrugged and smiled guiltily like she had been caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to, then turned her attention to the front of room where Jill and Dawn were standing and welcoming the group to camp before going over their schedule for the week. Thankfully, the meeting was short and soon they were all excused for the rest of the night.

“Curfew is 11 pm!” Jill called out as the girls pushed towards the door.

Ashlyn quickly decided to go for a walk instead of waiting for the elevators to clear out. There was a large group checking in at the same time the team was fighting each other to fit inside the car that was on the ground floor and she knew the anxiety bubbling inside of her would spell trouble for her if she stuck around. So instead of making things worse for herself, she walked for about an hour, taking in Los Angeles. It was her first time back on the West Coast in a while and she realised just how much she had missed it. It wasn’t too cold out yet so she didn’t mind that she didn’t bring a hoodie with her and she ended up on a bench near the hotel where she sat and tried to clear her thoughts. Her anxiety had been hitting her harder than usual and she really needed to focus this camp to earn a spot on the World Cup roster. She leaned her head back to look up at the sky and watched as a plane flew towards LAX. There were a few stars visible in the sky, but the city lights were too bright and drowned most of them out. After two more planes flew overhead, Ashlyn decided to call it a night and began her trek back to the hotel. She greeted the woman working at the desk with a tight smile and a wave before heading over to the elevator lobby. She tapped her palms against her thighs as she waited for the elevator to make its descent. When it opened, Ashlyn was surprised to see Ali nearly sprinting out of the elevator with tears streaming down her face.

“Ali!” She called out just before the defender reached the front door.

When Ali turned, she caught Ashlyn’s concerned stare. Her face flushed immediately and she hurried to get the door open and pushed her way outside. Ashlyn followed her out and found her crouched against the outside wall with her face in her hands.

“What’s wrong?” Ashlyn questioned, lowering herself so she was eye level with Ali. “Who do I have to beat up?” she mused.

Ali giggled before wiping her nose with the end of her sleeve. Ashlyn was being too nice to her. “Connor.”

“Give me an address,” Ashlyn grinned, hoping to lighten to mood.

“He called me again and I answered,” Ali mumbled. She shook her head, “I never should have answered.”

When Ali didn’t continue, Ashlyn pressed her softly. “Talk to me, Ali.”

“I found out Connor was cheating on me,” Ali whispered, biting her lip in an attempt to stop fresh tears from falling.

Ashlyn clenched her jaw but held back her comment. Although she had only met him a small handful of times, she was really starting to dislike Connor.

“I can’t talk to him. Hearing his voice makes me sick. He thinks he can win me back,” she choked out as another sob wracked through her body.

Here Ali was, crying on the street, because this asshole broke her heart. Ashlyn was livid but knew that the anger coursing through her veins like poison would only make the situation worse. So instead, Ashlyn stood up and pulled Ali into a hug, rubbing small circles against her back. She held her and comforted her until her tears subsided. “I really could beat him up, y’know,” Ashlyn noted after Ali pulled away to wipe at her tears.

“I probably wouldn’t stop you,” Ali laughed. “Sorry about crying all over your shirt,” she pouted while reaching out to run her fingers over the soft material of Ashlyn’s shirt that was now soaked through.

“It’s fine, really. As long as you’re okay.”

“I am feeling a little bit better.” Ali smiled and Ashlyn saw that it reached her eyes a little bit more. “You’re going to have to stop coming to my rescue, though,” she laughed.

“What can I say? I’m a sucker for a damsel in distress,” Ashlyn flashed her teeth in a grin.

“Oh, stop it,” Ali laughed and slapped the keeper’s arm lightly.

“Come on, let’s get you inside.”

Ali stopped at Ashlyn’s door and thanked her again for helping her. It seemed to be happening a lot today. She squeezed Ashlyn’s forearm lightly before turning towards her room. Ashlyn tried to stop the smile that spread across her face as she swiped her key card into the door and walked in. The room was pitch black already, save for the alarm clock that cast a soft red glow from the side table and she assumed that Alyssa was already asleep. Ashlyn quickly shed her jeans, pulled on a pair of mesh shorts, and brushed her teeth before slipping under the covers and plugging in her phone to charge. When the screen lit up, she had to admit she was surprised to see a text from Ali.

Kriegs: Thx for being my knight in shining gym shorts ;)

Ashlyn quietly laughed and locked her phone. Something told her that she and Ali Krieger were going to get a whole lot closer this camp.