Prompts.

“Erin could I talk to you?” A nervous Ella walked into the keeper’s room. -You can do this Ella, just tell her how you feel-

“Sure, what’s up thunder?” Erin smiled, pushing her sketchpad aside and making room for the forward on her bed.

“Um well I’ve been thinking a lot lately about… well about my feelings, and my faith, and how they relate to each other…” Ella nervously tugged at the hem of her shirt as she thought about how she was going to say what was on her mind.

Erin just sat confused, watching as Ella mulled over her thoughts.

“I uh… I think I have feelings for you Erin, and that kind of really scares me but I think that hiding is is just making me miserable and I just need to be honest with myself and you.”

-She likes me? No, Ella is straight, she doesn’t like me, she is probably just confused, we can’t do this, she’ll just realize that it’s not what she really wants.-

“Ella… you made it pretty clear that you’re against gay couples in that interview… I… we have been spending a lot of time together since the season started, you probably just think you like me because we’ve gotten really close.”

“Erin I…”

“I can’t do this with you Ella, whatever you think you feel will go away…” Erin fought off tears as she rejected the forward. -This is the right thing to do… It doesn’t matter how much I like her, we could never be together, there is no way she really likes you.-

For a moment, Erin looked into Ella’s eyes, seeing the pain held within them she almost gave in, but she stayed strong.

“I.. I thought that…”

“I don’t like you like that Ella. I’m sorry.” Erin said flatly before getting up and walking out of her room; she was gone before she could see the tears streaming down Ella’s face as she sat paralyzed on the keeper’s bed.

-I really thought she liked me too, she’s right about me being confused, but these aren’t feelings that I can just throw away…-

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“Thunder what happened?” Carm quickly stood from her bed as a crying Ella walked into her room.

“She rejected me Carm… she doesn’t like me.” Ella’s words were muffled as she hugged her best friend, letting it all out.

“What?! That’s bullshit Ella, that girl is nuts about you, what the hell is she doing.”

“Well apparently not… she was pretty clear about that, she just played off everything I said, saying I was confused, like I’m some teenage girl going through a faze or something.”

Carm sighed as she realized why the keeper had done what she did. “Hey bud it’s gonna be okay, I’m really sorry, I know it was hard for you to come clean about all that.” Carm hugged the forward tightly, rubbing her back soothingly.

“I.. I really thought she liked me Carm…” Ella sniffled, wiping her eyes.

“I know buddy…”

-I am going to kill Erin.- Carm shook that thought from her head momentarily as she comforted Ella, she would deal with her idiot of a best friend later.

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“Ow! What was that for.” Erin held her arm, after being punched by Carm in the locker room after training. They were the only one’s still there, so Carm wasn’t worried about anyone hearing.

“What the hell is wrong with you? Do you have any idea how hard it was for Ella to admit her feelings to you!?”

“Carm, you and I both know Ella isn’t gay, she is just-”

“If you say confused I will punch you even harder.” Carm threatened, shooting daggers at the keeper. “Ella may not be gay, but she sure as hell is head over heals for you, and you of all people shouldn’t be one to say this is some stupid little “phase” I know you have feelings for her, and I know she has real feelings for you, you know how I know that? Because It’s all her and I have talked about for the last three and half weeks!”

“She... She really…” Erin couldn’t believe what the defender was telling her.

“Yes dumbass she really likes you. That poor girl has been tearing herself apart trying to accept these new feelings and then you pull this when I know you feel the exact same way. I know why you said what you did, and I get it buddy I really do. I know you’ve been down the straight girl path and I know how much that girl hurt you, but this is different E. Ella may be confused, and on top of that, feeling guilty because you know how important her faith is to he but the feelings she has for you are real bud.”

The keeper broke down, falling into Carm’s arms. “What have I done”

“Hey it’s gonna be okay buddy, you can fix this.”

“How? She hasn’t even looked at me since she told me.”

“You’ll figure it out Erin, I know you will, give her a bit of time maybe? Don’t push her right now.”

“Okay… thanks Carm… and thanks for talking some sense into me.”

“That’s what I’m here for, I’ve practically turned into a counsellor for you to crazy kids.” Carm laughed, trying to lighten the mood.”

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About a week later, all the red stars girls had decided to go out for drinks. Ella was still ignoring Erin, and the keeper was growing worried that she wouldn’t be able to fix this.

“What can I get for you?” The bartender smiled at Ella.

“Rum and coke please.”

“Coming right up.” The blonde girl, shot another smile at the forward before turning to make her drink.”

“Here you go.” Ella went to hand the bartender money, when she stopped her.

“It’s on the house.” Smiling again, the woman winked at Ella.

“Are you sure? What-”

“You look like you needed a pick me up.”

“Oh… um thank you, I guess I kind of did.”

“Don’t mention it, someone as beautiful as you deserves to have a smile on their face.” The forward blushed a little. -Is she..? no she’s just being nice.-

Ella kept the conversation with the bartender going for a while, occasionally the blonde woman would reach across the bar and touch Ella’s arm or hand with a smile. The forward was unaware of the pair of eyes burning into the back of her head.

Erin watched from across the bar as the bartender was practically throwing herself at an obviously oblivious Ella. After a few more minutes she couldn’t take it anymore. Erin downed the rest of her drink and walked quickly across the room the the forward.

“Ella I need to talk to you.” Erin said, though she was glaring at the bartender as she spoke.

“Not now Erin.”

“Ella please.” Erin turned her glare away from the blonde who was shooting daggers at the keeper. She gazed into Ella’s eyes and pleaded with her own.

The forward wanted so badly to be able to turn Erin down but she couldn’t. She grabbed the keeper’s and pulled her behind herself as she walked quickly to the exit.

“What the fuck was that.” The bartender scoffed as she angrily watched Ella and Erin leave.

When they got outside, Ella let go of the keeper’s hand, much to her own dismay as she couldn’t help but love the feeling of the contact with Erin.

“What do you want.” Ella spat, crossing her arms against her chest.

“Ella I’m so sorry.” Erin started. “I was stupid, and thought I was protecting myself. I didn’t realize how much you had been thinking about all of this before you came to me…”

The forward shook her head “ Maybe if you had just listened to what I had to say you would have.” She turned to leave but Erin quickly grabbed her shoulder, turning her around.

“I didn’t mean it Ella, any of it. I… I like you so much it hurts, when I realized I had feelings for you I knew that we could never be together, because knew… I thought I knew how you felt. So when you told me you had feelings for me I got scared, I got involved with a straight girl once and it ended really badly, I was scared of getting hurt again so I just tried to play it off. I’m so sorry that I made you feel like I didn’t care about you, and that what you were feeling wasn’t valid, or real. I’m sorry that I was stupid and I’m sorry that I lied about how I felt. You are so beautiful Ella.. You are the most amazing person I’ve ever met, and if you’ll let me, I’d really like to have the chance to take you on a date.”

Ella was speechless, as a few tears ran down her cheeks. “You… you really mean that?”

“I really do.” The keeper reached up, lightly brushing her thumbs across Ella’s cheeks to wipe the tears away. There face were only a few inches apart, as Erin’s slipped down from Ella’s the gaze at her lips. “Can I kiss you Ella?” She whispered lightly.

“”I thought you’d never ask.” The forward closed the gap between them, pressing her lips to Erin’s forcefully. She wrapped her arms around the keepers neck, pulling her close as Erin’s hands rested low on the forwards back.. Neither girl knew how long they stayed like that, but it didn’t matter to them. When they finally pulled away for air, both girl let out a small gasp.

“Wow.” Ella huffed out, nuzzling into the keeper.

“Yeah...”

“Do you want to head home?” Ella asked quietly.”

“Sure, I think the bartender will miss you though.” Erin chuckled, as Ella looked at her quizzically.

“Could you really not tell that she was flirting with you that whole time?”

“She…? Really?

“Yup.”

“Well that doesn’t matter.” Ella stated with a wink as she took Erin’s hand and began walking down the street.

“There is only one girl I’ve got my eye on.”