Chapter 20
“Hey Erin, KK and I are going for a walk, wanna join?” Steph asked the younger keeper.
“Yeah sure!.” Erin replied with a smile, throwing on her sneakers.
The three keepers got along really well, and it definitely had made camp a lot easier over the past two weeks, working with people who all enjoyed one another. They took a bunch of goofy pictures and a few nice ones as well.
“This is such a good picture of you two kids!” KK showed her phone to Steph and Erin.
“I love that! Send it to me?”
Steph posted the picture to instagram immediately and captioned it with “Luh you Baby Canada<3”
Since Erin was so young, the team had given her the nickname “baby canada” though some of the girls, including Steph were only a couple years older.
Erin reposted the photo a few minutes later and captioned hers “best GKU a girl could ask for<3”
Ella had just got back from training when she got the notification from Erin’s instagram post. She opened the notification, and her smile faltered as she looked at the post.
It was taken from behind as Erin was walking in a park with another girl, their arms were around each other and their heads were thrown back laughing. Anyone would say that the two looked like a couple.
She read both Erin and Steph’s captions and as much as she tried to push the feeling away, the forward was jealous. She knew deep down that Erin would never do anything intentionally to upset her, but she didn’t like the way the two girls were holding onto each other.
A minute later, Ella’s phone started ringing as Erin’s photo popped up on her screen.
The forward almost didn’t answer, but finally picked up on the last ring.
“Hey.”
“Hey baby, what’s up?”
“Nothing, just got back from training.”
Erin could hear frustration in Ella’s voice. “Is something wrong babe? Did you have another bad day?”
“It was fine.” Ella spoke coldly, she was being unfair to the keeper and she knew that, but she couldn’t help it. She heard someone else talking on the other end of the call.
“Who are you with?”
“I’m with Steph,” Ella stiffened at the name who was tagged in Erin photo from earlier. “We were just at the cutest little cafe, the donuts were to die for.”
Ella stayed quiet for a moment. “Ella babe what’s going on?”
“Nothing is-”
“Ella don’t tell me nothing is wrong, you are upset.”
“Do you like her?”
“What?”
“Steph. Do you like her? Because that photo sure made it look like you do.”
“This is about the picture I posted?”
“You looked like a couple.” Ella whispered out, tears forming in her eyes.
Erin stepped out of the room she was in so she could talk in private.
“Baby Steph is my friend, I do not have any feelings for her, and I promise that goes both ways. Did you look at her instagram account?”
“No I.. why?”
“Because if you did you would see that just like me, Steph has a girlfriend, who is also at this camp.”
“Fuck I’m such an idiot, I’m so sorry Erin I had no reason to think this, I just couldn’t help it, as soon as I saw the picture my mind just went to this jealous place…”
“Hey baby you are not an idiot okay? I’m sorry the picture upset you and I can delete it if you want?”
“No you don’t have to do that really, I’m sorry I got so mad about it, I don’t know what that was.”
“It’s okay Ella really. I love you so much okay?”
“I love you too Erin… I miss you so much.”
“I miss you too beautiful, can you promise me if anything like this ever makes you upset again that you’ll tell me?”
“I will I promise, I think I only freaked out a bit because I’m missing you so much…”
“Hey everyone gets jealous sometimes babe, it just means you care, I’d be lying if I said I’d never gotten jealous when someone looked at you for too long when we were out together.”
“That’s happened?”
“Have you seen yourself? Of course it has, someone would have to be blind to not want to stare at you.”
“Well I guess I’ve never noticed because I’m always too distracted staring at my beautiful girlfriend.”
“Smooth.” Erin said with a little chuckle. “I have to go for a team dinner now babe, so I’ll talk to you later okay?”
“Okay, bye baby.”
Once Ella hung up she got a text from the keeper. //when you need to know how much I love you...//
The forward quickly reached into her bedside table and pulled out the letter that Erin was referring to. She knew that Erin loved her, but sometimes she really did need to be reassured.
“Open when you need to know how much I love you.”
~Hey love,
This letter is to tell you just how much you mean to me. You are the most beautiful girl I have ever met and I love you more than words can explain.
I love the way your eyes light up when you smile. I love the way your forehead crinkles when you’re deep in thought. I love the way you put your heart into everything you do. I love your big bushy head of hair. I love your cute little snores and the way you mumble sweet nothings in your sleep. I love how passionate you are about soccer. I love how brave and strong you are through everything. I love the sound of your laughter and your voice when you just wake up. I love the way you inspire me to be the best I can be. I love you still when you're a mess (though you'll always be beautiful to me) I love that you never fail to give me butterflies. I love that you laugh at my jokes no matter how cheesy. I love how I randomly catch myself uttering your name or "I love you" aloud without really thinking. I love to wake up with you by my side, my days are always better when they start with you. I love that feeling of being secure when you wrap your arms around me. I love when you sing, even though you’re not very good at it;) I love how you make me really believe that I am beautiful, something I never used to think true before I met you. I love how make me comfortable in my body. I love when I just randomly smile, then realize that I'm thinking of you. I love the fact that the lists and love never ends.
Now I want you to get my journal and open it to page 8…
I
Love
You.
-Your keeper~
Ella wiped the tears from her eyes before grabbing Erin’s journal and reading on.
~Is it possible to be in love with someone you’ve just met? Before today I would have said no, but I have no doubts that I am one hundred percent in love with Ella. God she is so perfect, I barely know her but I feel like I have my whole life. When her lips touched mine I swear my heart stopped… and maybe that’s a little dramatic but when I’m around her I just feel so much happier. She told me everything last night. She told me things that she had never shared with anyone else and all I could think while she was talking was how beautiful this girl sitting in front of me was. I’ve never felt this pull towards someone before, and it’s a little scary but at the same time I can feel how special it is.
We kissed again… for real this time. And if I wasn’t in love with Ella before I sure as hell am now. I can’t even describe my feelings for this amazing girl. I will never let her go. We aren’t officially together but god I hope we will be soon. She is so beautiful, and even more she makes me feel beautiful… It might be crazy but I know already that she is my person. She is the one that everyone talks about. The one that when you meet them they change your life and it can never be changed back after that. I only hope I can be lucky enough to be that person in her life as well because no matter what, she will always be it for me.~
All Ella could think as she wiped her tears away was how incredibly lucky she was to have such an amazing person in her life who consistently brought happiness into her life, even when they were separated by a border.
//You are amazing, I don’t know what I did to deserve you but I will never be able to describe the impact you have had on me. If there is one thing I am sure of it is that you are undeniably the person I want to spend my life with and I will never stop thanking god for bringing you into my life Erin. I love you more than I will ever be able to explain<3//
Erin pulled over and read the text. She smiled and almost answered the text before remembering that she said she was at a team dinner. The Keeper put her phone down and continued driving, she had a long night ahead of her.