Attached - Mallory Pugh/USWNT

Chapter 38

April 19th, 2022 - Disney World's Hollywood Studios - 1:00 pm

Mal's POV

"So first, we're gonna start at the Tower of Terror. Then we can go to the Star Wars ride....then we can go into Toy Story land...." Morgana said, looking down at her map. 

"Tower of Terror? No thank you." I said. 

"No, you're coming. Let's go. We can get food after." 

"But I wanted to go to the Nemo Sho-" She cut me off by grabbing my wrist and dragging me in the direction of the Tower of Terror. 

"We're also gonna go on the Rock n Roller Coaster." She said. 

"What's that?" 

"You'll like it." 

"Can we stop for cotton candy?" I asked as we passed a stand. 

"After this." 

"But I don't wanna go on this!" 

"Cry me a river. I'm not leaving you alone in the park." She said, stopping to look at me. 

"I'm an adult!" I said dejectedly. 

"Yeah you're an adult, but you're a CELEBRITY. And you need someone tough to protect you from the crazy Disney families." She smirked. 

"Just because you have some tattoos doesn't mean you're tougher than me." 

"Why don't you have tattoos Mal?" 

"I have no interest!" 

"Mal." 

"Fine! I'm scared of the needle." 

"I just really wanted to hear you admit that. Let's go." Morgana grabbed my wrist again and dragged me through the park. 

Once we got to the top of the line and were about to get on, I asked "Am I gonna regret not fighting harder to skip this one?" 

"Come on. Let's get in the front row." She said, and I followed her on. And once we were seated, she said "If you hated Splash Mountain, then you will definitely regret not fighting harder." 

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At the end of Tower of Terror, I'd had a death grip on Morgana's arm with my right hand, and probably cut off the circulation in her left hand with mine. I had dug my nails into her arm at one point by accident, causing her arm to bleed a TON, so we went to the bathroom. 

"I'm sorry. Morgana I'm so sorry." I said as we speed walked to the bathroom. 

"It's okay." 

"No, I'm so really super sorry." 

"Mal." She stopped to look me in the eyes. "It's okay. Really. I shouldn't have mad you go on it." 

"But I still gave you a massive cut and probably traumatized some little kids." 

"It's not your fault. You didn't mean it." She said, grabbing a bunch of paper towels and just dabbing at the cut. 

"Let me help." I wet a paper towel and wiped the blood away that had spread down her arm. 

"Thanks Mal." 

"Well this isn't gonna ruin our last day together. We have to make the most of it." I said. "And get good pictures." 

Once we finished everything in Hollywood Studios, (I hated the Rock n Roller Cater more than anything ever) we went to Epcot to do some of the stuff there. 

We went on Soarin, which was my favorite ride of the entire time. I also really loved the ride inside the big Epcot  disco ball thing. It was just a tour through history thing, but I still loved it. 

We also got a nice picture in front of the Epcot ball in daylight and at night.

Then we went to the light show to close out the trip. We also took a picture in front of the light show, because this was going to be my subtle way of bragging to everyone that my best friend is better than yours and showing my dumb management that I'm happy here. 

I made my second Instagram post in 2 days, the first one being from the beach. That one was captioned 'Run away with my best friend? Check. Beach? Check. Beautiful sunset? Check.' It was very stupid, but it got the point across. 

This one was just simply captioned: 'My best friend's better than yours.' Because I just want to tell the truth! Also because I didn't want to make it something cringey like the first one. This one was still pretty bad. 

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If I'm going to be honest, neither of us got a good night sleep. 

But when Morgana and I got into that rental car to bring it back to the place, we were both quiet. 

I was dreading going back to Chicago, not because I didn't like my team, but because I wasn't going to be with her anymore. 

"Did you get a flight back to Nashville?" I asked. 

"Yeah." 

"What time?" 

"Same as yours." 

2:00. 

Morgana had her phone connected to the charger in the car, and Come Back...Be here by Taylor Swift started playing. 

I saw tears gather in her eyes, and she bit her lip to keep from letting them fall. 

Then she started to sing softly, and it was then that the lyrics hit me right where it hurt. 

'I told myself, don't get attached, but in my mind I play it back, spinning faster than the plane that took you.' 

"F this." Morgana said, skipping the song. 

We were silent for a little while, but I broke it eventually. 

"I can't believe it's all over." 

"Me neither. I had the time of my life." 

"Had we not gotten into that fight at the second hotel we wouldn't be here. Isn't it crazy how life altering one little thing can be?" I said. 

"Wow. I guess I never thought about what made....us." She looked at me for a second, the back to the road. "What are we anyway?" 

"I have no idea." 

"I mean, we aren't just going to go on like this never happened, right? I think we both enjoyed....whatever this is. But do we want the whole world all over us?On our backs constantly?" 

"I get what you're saying. I don't want to lie to people but it's not lying if we just don't tell." 

"True. But some people already know." 

"Well they haven't said anything yet, because it isn't anyone's business except the people we wanted to know." I said. 

"We just have to keep it to the people we want to know, you know? As we've been doing." 

"Well I didn't think anyone was going to have to know, but we passed that point after the first time." 

"I think it's going to be fine, and when we get to spend more time together we can better establish.....whatever this is. Not quite together, but a bit more than friends." 

"We're somewhere in between."