Mini Ertz///USWNT/NWSL

Reunited

Julie are you busy? I texted. I got no response, so I called. 

It hit me then that I could end up alone in the Chicago airport, with no ride to Julie's, nowhere to go, nothing to do except wait. 

I chewed on my bottom lip to keep from freaking out. I took a deep breath, and decided to call her. 

No answer. 

I heard the announcement for my plane boarding, and I quickly texted her my flight information before getting in line. 

My hands shook as I handed the flight attendant my ticket, and she looked at me with a weird look. 

"So what brings you on the slight?" She asked me. 

"I'm going to visit my cousin." I said, and it wasn't really a lie. 

"First time flying? You look nervous." 

"Second." I lied. I've flown about 6 times and planes didn't scare me. But I had to play off my nerves about literally running away and getting caught. 

I was let on board after that, and I took a seat in an empty row of the relatively empty flight. 

No one say next to me thankfully, so I didn't have to lie or anything. 

I texted Bailey to let her know I'd boarded, and left my phone off airplane mode until the last possible second, waiting for Julie to respond. 

Then the pilot started making the overhead announcements, and I that's when I got Julie's call. 

I answered, and was met with a frantic voice. 

"Brittney? Are you okay?" She asked. 

"Julie I'm fine!" I said.

"I'm going to meet you at the airport. I will. Are you sure you're okay? Nothing happened?" 

"Julie. Calm down. I'll tell you when I get there. I have to go." 

And I hung up.

I let Bailey know that I got ahold of her, and then turned my phone onto airplane mode. 

I just listened to music, and started reading To Kill A Mockingbird for the 5th time. No one bothered me, except the flight attendant when she asked if I wanted snacks or a drink or whatever, which I took water and a bag of plane crackers. 

Eventually I took out my notebook, and just wrote down everything I was thinking until the plane landed. I shoved everything back in my backpack, and it was about 8:00 when I started to get off. 

The flight attendant still seemed skeptical of me, and so she stopped me. 

"Hi." I said. 

"Where are you off to?" She asked me nicely. 

"Off to find my cousin." I said, trying to walk away. 

"This is my stop, do you want me to wait with you?" 

"Why?" 

"Because you're a little....young....and I want to see you get to the right place." 

She said it like she didn't believe me, and I looked her dead in the eye so she didn't think I was some lying runaway, which I was. 

"My cousin is here to pick me up, because I don't have a car to drive me to her house. Thank you for a great flight, but I can take it from here." 

She nodded, and I said bye and walked away. When I turned around, she was just watching me. I guess I'm a young girl in a pretty scary city, but she looked at me like she knew all my secrets. 

I kept checking my shoulder, like a good soccer player does when she's dribbling the ball, and she kept following me from a safe distance. 

I stopped to look around, and that's when I saw Julie and Zach. 

I ran to them, and dropped my luggage just before I got to Julie. 

"Britt!" She said happily as she gave me a hug. 

"Thank you Julie." I said quietly.

Before hugging Zach, I turned around to look at the flight attendant, who was standing with her mouth agape. 

I smirked back at her, and then we headed out, lots of people staring at us as we walked. 

"Care to explain what's going on?" Julie said to me as soon as we were in the car. 

"Well, I was very unhappy at home, and I have been for....years. So I figured I could come spend some time at your house." 

"Do your parents know?" 

"Well here's the thing...." 

"So you ran away?" 

"Sort of." 

"You ran away." 

"....Yeah." 

"Oh Britt." 

"I'm sorry. I know I put you in a tough spot and-"

"It's okay. Like really. I don't mind, Zach doesn't mind if you come and stay. Not one bit. We know that your parents are tough and you can stay for as long as you'd like." Julie said. 

"Forever?" I asked. 

"Well-" 

"I'll go home if you want. I'll go now-" 

"Brittney. We don't mind if you stay with us. We really don't. We love you." Zach said. 

"But we need to tell your parents." Said Julie. 

"I say we just wait and see how long it takes them to notice." I suggested. "They'll never notice. Ever." 

"They'll notice very soon." 

"No they won't. Let's seriously wait and see. I'm telling you." 

----------

When we got to their house, I was completely exhausted. My last soccer game with my team, which was only a few hours ago felt like a lifetime ago. Everything really did. 

Julie told me few different guest rooms that I could make my own, and of course I chose the biggest one with the bathroom attached. 

Of course they have these 2 gigantic houses, one in Arizona, which they just bought a few months ago after Zach was traded from the Eagles to the Cardinals, and then they have the one in Chicago, where Julie lives during the season and where Zach stays in the offseason. And it's only May, so Zach still had a bunch of time in Chicago left. 

I unpacked just a few things and got changed, because it was midnight and I was exhausted. 

I headed downstairs after that. Zach was on the couch watching TV, and I assumed Julie had gone to bed because of practice tomorrow. 

"Hey." He said as I walked into the living room. 

"Hi. Do you mind if I get something to eat?" I asked. "I haven't eaten in so darn long." 

"Of course. Have whatever you want."

Of course there was a lack of snacks, being the house of 2 professional athletes, so I just took a protein bar and a water bottle. 

"Julie says she wants to talk to you upstairs." He said as I walked by. "She texted me hoping you were downstairs instead of lost." 

"Alright thanks." I laughed. "Godnight." 

"Night."