Only Friends

Chapter 20 - Another Birthday

My birthday is on the 25th of August. I woke up to messages from the girls in Australia, wishing me a happy birthday and from my parents and brother. Although I rarely talk to my family, I know they support me unconditionally, my dad especially. My dad was also an athlete as he played professional AFL for Hawthorn and he wore the number 13. When I was a kid, he was the one who supported me throughout all my sporting challenges including my injury. He helped me find a new passion in football when I was so sure my dreams of being an elite athlete were over. When I first started playing soccer and was asked to pick a number for my Sydney FC jersey, I chose 13. Similarly, when I moved to  Houston I chose 13 and at Arsenal.  I thought it was so cool wearing the same number as him and having that connection with him through the number. And when I debuted for the Matildas, I knew he would be proud that I was wearing 13 for him, and only for him.
As I got out of bed, I saw Jill on her phone.
"What are you doing?" I asked her, getting the orange juice out of the fridge. She leaped out of her seat and started singing the happy birthday song. She picked me up and squeezed me tight.
"My little Indi is 21!" She screamed, kissing my cheeks and face. "What do you want for breakfast?" She asked.
"You know I don't like eating before training."
"But I wanted to make you something," she said, pouting her lips.
"You can later, promise," I said, kissing her softly. "We have training to get to."
While I drove us to training, Jill was immersed in her phone again.
"What are you doing on that phone? Looks like you are writing an essay!" I said, confused.
"I am doing your birthday message, so don't look!" I chuckled, knowing how stressed she is trying to make her birthday message perfect. I continued driving, only peering over to see how far through she is.
"I'm going to love it regardless,"I said, as we arrived at training. We walked into the common room and all the girls were in there, having just set up a birthday surprise. There were balloons, cupcakes and confetti. They started to sing happy birthday and gathered around me.
"Thanks guys. You are all too sweet!" I said, addressing all of them.
"How is this chick 21, and literally more successful than most of us?" Katie asked, spraying some water in my face.
"Unfair!" Leah called out.
I love these girls. They have hearts of gold!

After our morning training session, I checked instagram for the first time that day. My account was full of amazing birthday messages and cute edits of me. I loved seeing how creative the fans can be on birthdays.
The first post I saw was Jilly's. She had posted a couple of pictures. The first was a candid shot of us two at the Olympics walking through the village after she had just lost her game. She was in orange and I was in green and gold and we were hand in hand. I was looking at her, so you could just make out my side profile whereas Jill's back was to the camera. The second was a timer pic Jill had taken. It was very cute because I was like a Koala bear, with my arms and legs wrapped around her. She was looking into the camera confused, joking that I wouldn't get off her. The next photo was a picture of me and her at a restaurant and I was sitting on her lap with my arms around her. We were both smiling into the camera. And the last was of Jill and me in London, when we went on a day trip with the arsenal girls, and we were kissing. I was leaning up towards her, and she had her hand in the small of my back. I was holding my beanie as I was afraid it would fly off because of the wind. It is my favorite picture of us.

jillroord: Mijn Liefje is 21 and thankfully we have another year to work on your dancing. You're my favourite person in the world - no one else i'd rather do life with than you @indiharrison

I nearly had tears in my eyes when I read what she wrote. Jill knows how to weave sarcastic humour, and love and emotion into one post.

Indiharrison: you need the dancing practice too!! i love you

"Did you like it?" Jill asked, referring to the instagram post,
"Yes of course I did," I said, leaning into her and pressing my lips against her. "You went full out with the last picture though."
"Yeah, I felt like it was time." I laughed and agreed, grabbing her hand and rubbing it softly. I reposted most of my birthday messages on my instagram stories.

Caitlin posted a story of me and her after one of our olympic game wins, and wrote:

Windy Indi is turning 21. Give her some love <3

Similarly, Ellie, Lydia, Steph, and Hayley all posted some sort of story and I shared them all on my instagram story as well. Replying to each of them with a heart and a message.

When it was around eight in the morning in the USA, the birthday messages from Kristie and Sam came through. Kristie posted a cute picture of us, as a post, from our time together in houston. It was us holding hands after the challenge cup, with our back to the camera looking at each other, so you can see our side profiles.

kmewis19: Although you don't sport the orange anymore, still love you to infinity. Happy birthday best friend @indiharrison 

Indiharrison: Orange always looked better on you anyways! Love you more

I also reposted the post on my story, alongside the other messages from my ex teammates from the Houston Dash. 15 minutes after Kristie's post, Sam put a message on her story. It's us two at the Olympics, celebrating with each other after a goal. We are looking at each other, ecstatic, arms out about to hug.

The swaggiest matilda is 21 today. Time flies when you are having fun. Happy birthday windy @indiharrison7

She also posted another picture of us when I first debuted, and was rocking an awfully high ponytail. She had her signature low pony.

Glad you learnt from the pros, and lowered the pony x

I replied to her message asking where she found that photo, as it was an awfully shabby looking picture of myself but you can never trust Sam to post a good picture.

As I kept scrolling instagram, I watched quite a few edits of myself, done by fans. They are all really clever. There are compilations of photos from my transition from Sydney FC to Houston to Arsenal. There is also an edit of photos of Jill and me. There are also some of Kristie and me, which are very cute and artistically created. It's so nice how people spent time out of their day to create these.

On my birthday, I realised the amount of people who love me and care about me. I finally understood what a support system meant because I realised that if I needed help, I could trust so many people, and know they will care for me. That's when I realised Jill deserved more. She deserved the truth. Truths I wasn't giving her because I was afraid of them myself. Truths only Kristie and Rachel Daly ever knew about. Truths I have forever wanted to hide.