Memories

Chapter 7

"Sarah? How do you know about Tobin?" Alex demanded, gripping Sarah's arm. "Did you guys tell her?" she asked her friends.
Kelley and Syd's eyes widened, and they struggled to speak.

"Mom, they didn't tell me anything, I promise. It was my fault, only mine– I just wanted to meet her," Sarah said, stepping in front of her aunts.

Alex gaped slightly, and shook her head. "We're going home," she said quickly, and walked the two of them out of the restaurant after leaving some cash to pay for their meals. As they left, Sarah sent an apologetic look to her aunts.

At home, the two of them sat in silence.
Swallowing hard, Sarah turned to look at her mother.

"Mom?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yes?" Alex sighed.

"I need to talk to you," Sarah said quietly.

Raising an eyebrow, Alex's eyes flickered over to her daughter, a questioning look on her face.

"Those pictures we were looking at a long time ago... I saw Tobin in some of them. You and her were laughing, hugging, kissing.. and you looked really happy," Sarah started, wringing her hands in her lap.

"Then I saw her interview on ESPN of her coming back... and I dunno, I guess I wanted to know how she made you that happy because you don't look as happy as that now."

Alex frowned at this.

"Sarah, what? That's not true, I'm just a different happy now," she said, looking at her daughter.

"Well.. I mean, yeah, but then I overheard Aunt Kel and Aunt Syd talking about her on the way to camp while they thought I was sleeping. They mentioned her playing with you guys on the national team," Sarah said.

Alex nodded. "That she did. So then what happened?"

Her daughter shifted sheepishly on the couch she was sitting on, and lowered her eyes as to not meet her mother's piercing gaze.

"Sarah... what happened?"

Sarah bit her lip and mumbled, "I kinda forced them to tell me more about her."

"You forced them?" Alex asked, confused.

"Yeah, uhm, I kinda blackmailed them...y'know, like, I told them that if they didn't tell me, I would tell you that they were talking about her while I was around," Sarah said quickly.

Alex's jaw dropped, eyes widening. "You blackmailed them? Sarah," she chastised, giving her daughter a look. Sarah shrugged apologetically before her mom speaks again.

"Okay, fine, what else did they say?"

The young girl picked at the fabric on the couch before answering. "They told me that, uhm... you two were together, and that you weren't just teammates."

She waited for a nod from her mom before continuing. "And that she played in France for a while, while you guys were in a relationship, before coming here to play for the Thorns. Then you guys lived together until she went back to France."

"That she did," Alex confirmed, nodding, while her heart beat heavily in her chest.

"She came back a few months into her new contract for something, and left three days later. And now she's back here," Sarah finished, wringing her hands.
A few seconds of silence passed between them, and Alex opened her mouth to speak, before being interrupted by her daughter.

"And you should probably know that I kind of disobeyed your request to Aunt Kel," she mumbled.

"WHAT. What did you do?" Alex demanded.

"D-don't be mad at them, they didn't know that was what I was doing," Sarah stammered, putting her hands up.

Staring at her daughter, Alex asked, "What were you doing?"

"So...I kinda...uh...turns out she was in Portland quicker than all of you expected..." Sarah said, trailing off.

The blood in Alex rushed to her face, and she gaped. "Sarah, please, please tell me you didn't go looking for her," Alex begged.

Sarah cringed, looking away from her mother. "That's... I—I just wanted to see her, Mom."
Alex buried her face in her hands, rubbing her eyes.

"Did you see her?" she asked, her voice slightly muffled from her hands covering her mouth.

"Uhm...Yeah," Sarah sighed.

Her mother sighed as well and moved to sit next to her daughter on the couch. "So something happened, right? That's why you were so quiet when you came back?" she asked softly. Sarah nodded, and Alex asked, "Okay, so what happened, then. What did she say?"

The young girl swallowed, hard, and wrung her hands. "She uhm...she said she was happy with her life, and doesn't miss us."

"She said that to you?" Alex asked, frowning, thinking that this was not something her once best friend and girlfriend would've said.
Sarah shrugged, and said, "In different words, yeah."
"Sar, I don't think Tobin would say something like that. Especially to you," Alex said, confused.

Her daughter's eyes widened, and she reddened, looking away. "Well uhm... I kinda... she didn't know who I was," she mumbled.

"What?"

Still looking away, Sarah answered, "I kinda gave her a fake name... I told her I was someone named Morgan Evans."

Alex shook her head, chuckling slightly. "Wow. Okay, so then what?"

"I asked her a few questions, and she pretty much said that she's happy now and doesn't think about her past life or having children," Sarah replied. "And then I left."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

Alex sighed and put an arm around her daughter. "Look, Sar, she's... she's a great person. And from what I can tell, you got a bad impression of her. So...I guess, in order for you to get to know about the good Tobin, the real Tobin... I'll tell you the story."
Sarah turned to look at her mom, who was clearly bracing herself to re-live memories she believed she wouldn't have to.

"I met Tobin in a national team camp—officially met her. We'd crossed paths a few times in games, but I never talked to her. Anyways, at camp, she was my roomie. Me being a rookie to the senior team level, she uh, she helped me fit in a bit. We hung out together for a while, and then we became best friends—Tobin, me, and your Aunt Kel. Eventually we all moved in together for a little."

Alex's mind drifted to those times, when the three of them were younger, enjoying life.

"Then the 2012 Olympics came around and it was there where we admitted to each other that we had feelings for one another," she said, smiling in spite of herself. "When the allocations came, we decided to go to Portland together."

Suddenly her face fell, and she coughed slightly before continuing. "Uh—then, she decided to take a contract from PSG."

Sarah saw the worn look on her mom's face as she kept talking.

"So we did the long distance thing for a while, and it worked, kinda. And when she came back, I mean, you have no idea how much I missed her," Alex sighed. "For a while, we were playing together in Portland, happy. We were together for two, three years, she'd even proposed. We were set to get married. And then... she got asked back to France."

Her daughter frowned, and asked, "What did she decide?"

Sighing, Alex replied, "Well... she—we fought about it. Of course, I didn't want her to go, and she couldn't ask me to come with her because I had obligations here.  So... she left."

"But she came back?"

Alex nodded. "She did, but, uhm, but by then, I was pregnant with you."

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Author's note: IM BAAAAAACCKKKK