Ali woke up and rolled over to say good morning to Ashlyn. They had a game today for the Washington Spirit, Ali loved the thought that her and Ashlyn were on the same professional and national team. Ali and Ashlyn were roomies on the National Team, and roomies on the Washington Spirit. It was the closing game of the Spirit's 2015 season, the whole team was staying in a five-star hotel in Portland. Ali and Ashlyn put their uniforms on and wore their warm up jackets over their jerseys. They walked downstairs to the lobby of the hotel where the rest of the team gasped and said, "Woah, look whose spending time with each other again" and some were saying, "I wonder if they slept in the same bed again!" Truth was, Ashlyn hated when her teammates would say these things because her and Ali were really close friends, but she didn't say anything or get mad at them because she didn't want to come off rude. Ali, on the other hand, seemed to enjoy her teammates behavior, she would always smile and nod at them.
The situation with them sleeping in the same bed is every night they watch a new episode of their favorite show that Ashlyn has recorded on her phone, but they end up falling asleep next to each other and their teammates love to tease them about it.
Ashlyn walked over to where the hotel was serving free breakfast and grabbed a cup and brewed some coffee for her and Ali. Ali never makes her own coffee, she always has Ash make it for her. Ash brought Ali's coffee over to her and set it down on the table in front of her. She pulled a chair up to the table where Ali and Crystal Dunn were socializing. Ali never minded when Ashlyn would sit next to her, she patted Ashlyn's thigh.
"Come on Ash, Where's your game face at?" Ali laughed.
"Probably in our hotel room, along with your mascara and concussion headband. Maybe you should go grab them, they're your necessities anyways..." Ashlyn said, with all seriousness.
Ali rolled her eyes, loudly scooted her chair out, and ripped the hotel key out of Ashlyn's hand. She went to the elevator without turning back to look at the expression Ashlyn had on her face after the tantrum that Ali had basically just threw. Ali went into her hotel room and started doing her game day makeup and hair, she was being very careful not to get any blush on her warm up jacket. Not long after, Ashlyn came into the room.
"What was that about down there?" Ashlyn asked with a rude tone in her voice.
"You were being so valiant towards me down there, you embarrassed me. Just like you always do." Ali appointed.
Ashlyn muttered the words, "Sorry Ali," and scooted a bag out of the middle of the walkway, she then walked into the bathroom and gave Ali a hug and then went over to her suitcase to get a brush so she could pull her hair into a simple ponytail. Ali, as soon as she saw that Ash couldn't see her anymore, started smiling uncontrollably at the hug that she just shared with Ash.
The two girls finished doing their game day hair and walked downstairs to the lobby again where they boarded their Washington Spirit bus that transported them to and from their games. Ali put her earbuds in and started listening to her ak11 playlist and Ash stared out of the window at the raindrops that were hitting the bus window.
When the bus arrived at the fields, the team got off and started warming up. Ali could not focus during warm ups. The only thing on her mind was the hug that her and Ash shared back at the hotel. So many thoughts were running through her head, "What does this mean? How should I feel? Why is she the only person I ever think about?"
Ali missed almost every pass that her teammates gave to her, the coaches saw that Ali wasn't performing her best during warm ups and decided not to start, or play her at all. Ali sat on the bench with her chin rested in her hands, she couldn't keep her mind off of Ashlyn. She watched Ash the whole game, she never took her eyes off of her. She thought it was just a thing that she was going through with her best friend, but it wasn't, it was, something more.
The Spirit won their closing game against the Portland Thorns and after the game, Ali didn't celebrate with the team when they got back to the hotel, she went up to her room and laid on the bed. Ash came up after Ali.
"Hey Kriegs, you coming? The team is going to the bar to celebrate the season, and the win." Ashlyn smiled while speaking to her.
"No, I think I'll skip on this one, I'm not feeling that great." Ali responded.
"Oh! Do you want me to stay here and take care of you then...?" Ash asked with a curious tone.
"Ash, it's fine. I'll be ok, go party with the team, you came up huge today and you deserve a few beers." Kelley said while making motions with her hand to go and have a good time.
Ash shrugged her shoulders and left the room. Ali continued to think about Ash.
Ali clicked the lock button on her phone and looked at her screensaver, it was a picture of her and Ash. She stared at it for a few minutes, and then she looked up and whispered to herself, "I think, I think I may be falling in love."
