Even Our Angels Looked Surprised

Chapter 7

It only took Ashlyn two days to realize that the trip had changed everything. When she called to make sure she had gotten back home safely, she heard the doubt in Ali's voice, and then she had to go after just a few minutes.

April past. Neither one of them mentioned the trip over their texts. They went longer in between phone calls. Ashlyn grew morose.

May came, and Ali had to fight off her teammates' worried questions.

Ashlyn was thankful to be able to pour herself into soccer.

Ali was thankful to be immersed back into Frankfurt. It helped to be so distant. Or, at least it did during the day, when she could play soccer and smell rain and stroll around her German home. But at night, alone in darkness, all that could fill her mind was sunshine and Ashlyn.

Ali started to make up excuses to not skype. Sometimes she'd miss calls on purpose. It was just too much. She didn't think she could handle seeing Ash, even if it was just on a screen. She missed her. And she knew she shouldn't, not the way that she did.

She had been right to tell Ashlyn that just fooling around wasn't how she worked. The attraction, the crush, had been bad enough, but now... now she couldn't get her off of her mind. And while she knew Ashlyn would be partying and meeting plenty of other girls, she found herself wondering what it'd be like to wake up next to Ashlyn for more than just a couple mornings.

But then, Ashlyn wasn't meeting plenty of other girls. June and then July came. Ashlyn went to Washington when the Athletica shut down. She stopped making herself believe Ali's excuses for missing phone calls. She heard the tension on the phone, and she knew when Ali didn't answer a call it was a choice. It stung. But she didn't mention it. She just kept calling. It wasn't fair for her to be so hurt by it - all they were was friends, after all.

So Ashlyn just pushed harder at work. No longer behind Solo, now she had to compete with Erin McLeod. She went out with her new teammates, vaguely aware that she was being hit on by more than one of them. But for the first time ever, it didn't matter. Liz visited when she heard the strain in her voice over the phone. One night in a bar, after a particularly attractive girl had just given up on her one-sided flirting, Liz shook her head.

"Ash?"

"Hmmm?"

"When's the last time you got laid?"

"What?" Ashlyn nearly choked at the question.

"I seriously have never seen you like this. I don't think you've lasted this long without sex since we were sixteen."

Ashlyn huffed. "Don't exaggerate."

Liz just sighed.The teasing tone left her voice. "You're in love with her, aren't you?"

Ashlyn didn't even acknowledge the question.

In June, after another ignored phone call and a sleepless night, Ali called Kyle. Surely he would know what to do. His seriousness scared her. He told her she had to stop avoiding Ashlyn, and that she needed to figure out where she stood. Then he asked for Ashlyn's phone number. Ali regretted giving it to him even as she spoke the numbers.

Ashlyn got a call from Kyle the same night. He told her he was going to be in the area and wanted to hang out. It was odd, and Ashlyn knew that he must know. It gave her some hope that maybe, just maybe, things had meant more to Ali than just some kind of fling.

July was awful. Ali went to the ocean and hated everything. Because Ashlyn wasn't there. She didn't know how to feel about it when Kyle and Ashlyn started to drop each other's names in conversation. "Well, Ashlyn said..."