Chapter 27
Ella rolled over still half asleep the next morning to find the other side of the bed empty.
The forward frowned, wondering where Erin was so early.
Ella grabbed one of Erin’s old t shirts and threw it on before going to look for the keeper. When she was halfway down the stairs Ella smelled pancakes cooking.
“Good Morning beautiful.” Erin smiled as the forward walked into the kitchen.
“Morning babe, happy six months.” Ella spoke in a raspy tired voice that Erin loved so much, and wrapped her arms around the keeper’s waist reaching up on her toes to kiss her.
“Best six months ever.” Erin whispered.
“You’re going to be cheesy like that all day aren’t you?”
“You know me well enough to know the answer to that is absolutely yes.”
“I know, and I love you anyway dork.”
“Good. I love you too.”
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“Ella I love it, thank you baby.” Erin admired the simple silver necklace that had her birthstone hanging from the chain.
“Are you sure? I know you aren’t super into jewelry but I Just thought-”
Erin cut the forward off with a kiss. “Babe it’s perfect okay? Will you put it on for me?”
“Okay.” Ella replied with a light smile. She took the necklace and carefully clasped it.
“Your turn.” Erin smiled as she picked up her gift to Ella and handed it to the forward.
Ella smiled as she pulled a small box out of the bag that Erin handed her.
“Before you open the box you should know that i’m not proposing okay? Not yet anyway.” Erin smirked as the forward excitedly opened the velvet box to reveal a simple ring with a single diamond on the band.
Before Ella could say anything Erin spoke up.
“I know that we are way too young to talk about marriage, and that at seventeen most people can only dream of meeting the person they want to spend forever with, but since it’s already been mentioned I wanted to get you something to show you that I really mean it, and as my promise to you that one day I will marry you. So for now I want you to have this promise ring that one day when we are at an age where my mom won’t kill me for thinking about getting married, I will replace this with an engagement ring. I love you Ella, and I can’t wait to spend forever with you.”
“Erin.. I… I don’t know what to say.” The forward’s eye’s became filled with tears as she searched for the right words.
“You are so incredible to me and I can’t thank you enough for everything you have been and done for me in the last six months. Before I met you I barely believed in true love but now I can’t remember what it feels like not to be completely enamored with you.”
The couple shared a sweet kiss before the keeper slid the ring gently onto Ella’s finger, and the couple settled on the couch to watch a movie.
“Are you sure you’re ok with hanging out with K and Meghan today babe? When we made the plans last week it didn’t even occur to me that it was today.”
“It’s fine babe, we have all day together before they come over after dinner, and I have missed those two.”
“Me too.”
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“Well if it isn’t the cutest couple in the world!” Meghan shouted as she burst through the front door pulling both Erin and Ella into a hug.
For a small girl, she had a tight hold.
“Hey Kling.” Ella laughed, trying to pull away from the tiny defender as Kealia walked in.
“K!”
“Ella! I missed you so much.” Kealia exclaimed, pulling the forward away from Meghan and into her arms.
“I missed you too K.” Ella spoke contently and pulled away from the blonde smiling at her friends.
“Come on, we have so much catching up to do.”
Ella said, bouncing on her toes. She grabbed Kealia’s arm and pulled her towards the living room, with Erin and Meghan following close behind.
“I can’t believe you drove from Montréal to Jersey for one night! That’s probably the cutest thing i’ve ever heard. Good work Erin.” Kealia gushed, nodding approvingly at the keeper.
“Really K? They both are going to the world cup and that’s what you take out of the story?” Meghan laughed shaking her head.
“Ella, you played with CARLI FREAKING LLOYD. Like really how crazy was that??”
“It was so surreal, I couldn’t even believe she was in the same room as me on the first night and then I was on the pitch with her and I didn’t know what to do with myself.”
“Hey well whatever you did must have been the right thing since I repeat, YOU ARE GOING TO THE WORLD CUP.”
All the girls laughed at Meghan’s theatrics and continued talking about their summers.
When they had been talking for a while, Ella reached out for Erin’s hand when Kealia jumped up.
“WHAT IS THAT!?” The erratic forward shouted pointing at Ella hand.
“What are you talking about K?” Ella asked confused.
“You are wearing a ring on your ring finger! OH MY GOD ARE YOU ENGAGED? YOU ARE SEVENTEEN YOU CAN’T GET MARRIED! OH GOD ARE YOU PREGNANT? OH I DON’T EVEN CARE AS LONG AS I’M A BRIDESMAID?”
“Pregnant? Really K? You know we’re both girls right?” Ella spoke trying to hold in her laughter. Though beside her Erin was almost falling off the couch from laughing so hard.
“We aren’t engaged and no, I am very much not pregnant.”
“But… What about-”
“It’s just a promise ring K, no weddings yet.”
“Oh… Well you really should warn a girl before you go and slap a ring on that finger. Seriously I think I almost had a heart attack.”
“My bad K, Erin gave it to me today, I almost forgot it was there.” The forward blushed looking down at the ring and then up at Erin.
“Ugh I haven’t missed how sappy you two are. I don’t know how I’m going to survive it this year.” Meghan exasperated.
“Don’t lie Meg, you looove us.” Ella smiled nudging the small girl.
“Yeah yeah, you guys are alright. Seriously though can you guys believe it’s our last year of highschool? Time to get that back to back state championship ladies.”
“Hell yeah, that trophy is ours, I can’t wait to get back at it, gotta be ready to impress those college scouts when the season starts.”
“You still set on UNC K?” Ella questioned.
“Yup, that’s the plan.” The blonde answered enthusiastically.
“They’d be crazy not to take you, i’m sure the scouts will be all over you.” Ella smiled at her friend.
“Thanks E, what about you two, have you thought about where you want to go?”
“We’ve talked about it a little,” Erin replied first. “I don’t think either of us really knows where we want to go yet though.”
“Are you going to try and end up in the same place?” Meghan followed up.
The couple looked at one another for an answer, because truthfully that hadn’t really come up the one time they talked about universities.
After a moment, Erin spoke up.
“Well obviously it would be great if we could go somewhere together and both be on the team wherever that would be, but who knows where we will end up. We’ll both have to think about what is best for ourselves before making any decisions based on our relationship.”
Ella beamed at her girlfriend as she spoke. “Perfect answer.”
After Erin and Ella had zoned out looking at eachother, Kealia and Meghan decided it was probably time to go.
“Alright well, thank you guys for letting us intrude on your special day for a few hours, but we will let you two get to whatever is is you have planned for after we go.” Kealia winked at the couple as she walked towards the door.
“See you girls on Monday!”
“Bye K, bye Kling.” The couple waved goodbye to their friends and closed the door after them.
As soon as the door was shut, Erin wrapped her arms around Ella’s waist and pressed the forward up against it, kissing her deeply.
A soft moan escaped Ella’s lips as the keeper trailed her hands down the smaller girls lower back to the back of her thighs, gently lifting her up. Ella then wrapped her legs around Erin’s waist, tangling her hands in the keeper’s dark hair.
After a moment Erin walked the two of them back into the living room and gently laid Ella down on the couch, her lips never losing contact with her girlfriends skin.
“Erin…” The low whisper came from Ella’s lips as she slid her shirt up to her chest to where Erin pulled it over her head and discarded it on the floor.
The couple moved perfectly in sync as more clothes were shed and they cherished each others bodies as if it was the first time.
They spent the rest of the evening in eachothers arms before eventually both falling asleep mumbling ‘I love you’s’ into their partner's skin.