More Than Single | USWNT

4

"My back's against the wall. And I'm feelin' the pressure. Yes, I'm about to fall. What I'm feelin', It's torture." -Unavoidable by Neon Trees

Kaiya eyed Hope nervously. Hope was a lot more imposing than Alex. More 'primal' for lack of a better word. Her dominant nature was obvious in the way she did almost everything. Where as Alex's was subtle in every possible way.

Kaiya wouldn't be hard pressed to say that she revelled in both.

Kaiya being nervous around Hope had nothing to do with her general demeanor. She wasn't anticipating a very good reaction to her little secret.

"And you told her to fuck the hell off right?"

"No. Not exactly." Kaiya grimaced at Hope's resulting frown. Despite, popular belief, Hope wasn't frozen in a perpetual state of dissonance every single second of everyday. No, there was a substantial difference between relaxing Hope face, and what Hope's face was doing right that second.

"Why not?"

Kaiya didn't have an answer. Or at least not one that would go over well with Hope just quite yet. She had to warm them both up to that slowly.

This topic could use a subject change.

"Hope. Why did you ask me out?"

"Huh?" Hope looked so caught off gaurd, Kaiya would have thought she told Hope her new backline would be a bunch of fowards. Who were also only ten years old. And all spoke different languages.

"Why did you ask me out?" Kaiya spoke firmly and slowly. She knew Hope heard her the first time. She was just trying to bide her time really.

"Because..."

"Because why?"

Hope groaned loudly. She shut her eyes harshly then opened them again. She looked closely into Kaiya's eyes. Kaiya tried desperately to figure out what those deep blue portals were trying to express to her.

"Promise me you won't get mad."

Kaiya was experiencing the worst bout of deja vu ever.

"I could never be mad at you."

Hope made another face. One that said either 'you don't mean that' or 'you shouldn't mean that'. Kaiya wouldn't pretend to be able to read Hope like a particularly easy children's book.

"Well you know how our parents are friends, right?"

It was actually only something that the dark-skinned girl had found out recently. Apparently, their parents had grown up in the same neighborhood. It was all rather embarrassing for Kaiya.

Imagine, someone you've been harboring a crush on since just about the moment you were introduced, knew your family intimately. Kaiya's family weren't the kind of people that she wanted anyone to know intimately, let alone one of her crushes.

To say she hated were this was going was an understatement.

"...yes..."

"Your parents were talking to my mom and apparently she volunteered me up to audition for Kaiya Reign's season of the bachelorette." Hope's resulting eyeroll was palpable.

Kaiya frowned, "So why didn't you just tell her no?"

Hope looked at Kaiya like she sprouted another head, "What do you mean?"

"It sounds like you didn't want to ask me out so why didn't you just tell your mom, no." Her fingers twisted and twirled in her lap. Scratching and poking at each other until the movement just about drove Hope crazy. She grabbed one of Kaiya's hands, wrestling it away from the other.

"The only reason she "offered my services" or however the hell she put it, is because she knew I would say yes."

Kaiya waited for Hope to elaborate. Her heart was pounding in her just, whether from the inevitable rejection she feared would come, or the exact opposite, she wasn't aware. The hand that Hope wasn't keeping hostage. Tangled into her long thin braids.

"I don't like it when you fidget. I don't want you to be nervous around me. You don't need to be nervous around me."

"I can't help it. Don't worry, it's a good thing."

Hope wanted to argue that point, but instead she tracked back,"My mom knew I would say yes, because she knew I liked you. So, again, you don't have to be nervous around me."

With Hope holding her hand the way she was, not being nervous was easier said than done.

"If you like me so much why didn't you ask me out before?" Kaiya was only messing with Hope a small amount. She did really want to know the answer. Alex had basically said the same thing Hope had said. There was no way she could be so intimidating that two Dominants were scared to ask her on a date.

"My reputation proceeds me."

"When did you start talking in riddles?"

Hope rolled her eyes playfully, "I've been under the impression that almost everyone hates me. Well, not Kelley, Carli, Lauren, or Alex. But just about everyone else. Including you."

"They don't hate you. They just assume that you hate them so they stay away from you so that don't make you upset or uncomfortable."

"Are you speaking for them? Or yourself?"

Kaiya took a deep breath that made it look like she collapsed in on herself slightly. "Both."

Hope sat silent for a moment. Her hand never leaving Kaiya's. She stood quickly, pulling the smaller woman along with her.

"Where are we going?"

"On our date?"

"Right now?"

"Yes. I think I have a couple things to prove to you. Also, I have the most burning desire to beat Alex at anything and everything. Not that I think of you as just some prize. I'm just a sore loser."

Kaiya chuckled. She knew what Hope was trying to say. Even if she was objectively horrible at saying it.

"Alright, let's go."

She had a sneaking suspicion that Hope had no idea where or what she was leading them into, but she was excited to find out. And if need be, they'd figure it out together.