The Night Before

July 4th, 2015

Dearest Alex,

Tomorrow will either be the best day of our lives, or a day that we'll look back on years from now with the same disappointment and dismay that we possessed four years ago. Japan is great, they really are, and I worry that they were made to always beat us by the narrowest of margins. I keep replaying twenty eleven over in my head, again and again until I can feel the way you placed your head on my shoulder and cried as soon as we entered the locker room. I hugged you then, and told you that we'd be okay, but I had to dig my nails into my palm to prevent myself from crying with you. We had come so close to being the best in the world, only to be forced to settle for the title of second.

You told me earlier, while we were grabbing lunch after practice, that I had no reason to be anxious; that our team was invincible. Laying here now, I want to believe you so much. It would make my heart stop thumping annoyingly against my ribcage even though the final match is hours away and I'm trying to sleep.

You're already out cold by now, having collapsed onto the bed and drifted into oblivion as soon as we arrived at the hotel room. I don't know how you can be so relaxed. Twenty eleven destroyed all of us, but you still seem so confident that it's as if you weren't even there. There to see me miss the most important penalty kick I've ever taken. Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I had gone for the right corner of the net instead of the left. I was the rookie back then, and nobody expected me to do anything significant, but it would've been nice if I had. The crowd would've gone crazy if I had made the shot and gave our team just one more chance to be champions.

I hope tomorrow isn't what that horrible yesterday was. I don't think I can handle seeing you look so devestated again.

"Tobs?"

The sound of her voice surprises me, and I quickly turn the screen of my laptop towards her to illuminate her features. Her beautiful blue eyes squint at the sudden light, and she mumbles something that's inaudible.

"Lex? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up."

"It's okay." She sits up and yawns. "I'm just surprised that you're still up. You need to get some rest so you won't be tired during the game tomorrow."

I reach towards the the lamp on the desk between our beds, illuminating the room in a hazy, yellow light. I can see the contrast between her tan skin and the white covers, between her and everything else in the world.

"I can't sleep. I can't stop thinking about what could happen tomorrow."

Alex lightly smiles and stands up, rolling her eyes in the most attractive way I've ever seen. She leans directly over me, and I have to look at my keyboard to keep myself from gawking at her. Her hands appear in my perspective, and she closes the laptop and places it on the opposite side of the bed, just past where my feet are causing the blankets to stick up.

"No more typing your thoughts away."

I look up at her with a blank expression. "What else am I supposed to do with them?"

She purses her lips and rubs her thumb across my cheek, caressing my jaw in her hand. "You could always talk to me about them."

So I do. She climbs into bed with me and I pull the covers over her, pulling her close against my chest. I expect her to start falling asleep again as I drone on and on about how scared I am that I'll crush our chances of holding that World Cup trophy again, but she doesn't. All she does is nod, occasionally reaching her hand up to brush a stray strand of hair behind my ear. Its not long before I run out of things to say, my worries suddenly seeming flimsy and unfounded to my own ears.

She raises her eyebrows. "Are you done?"

I nod, lightly kissing the top of her head. "Yeah, I guess."

Alex reaches across my torso and turns off the light. "You're the best midfielder in the world, Tobin. There's not a doubt in my mind that we'll win tomorrow. I bet you'll even score a goal."

I laugh and lay back, adjusting myself until we're both situated comfortably beneath the comforter. "I doubt that, Lex. You're more likely to score than I am."

I feel her lips brush against my collarbone as her arm slides underneath my shirt. Its an innocent action, and her fingers only draw light circles around my stomach. "I mean it. Its just this feeling that I have."

"You have too much faith in me."

"I just see how amazing you are, Tobin Heath."

If it wasn't so dark, she'd see me grinning. "Do you really think that we'll win?"

I feel her move away from me, and when I reach for her, she pushes my hand away. She swings one leg over my waist and leans over me, her hands intertwining with mine on the pillow beneath my head. Her hair falls around us, forming a curtain between the two of us and the universe. I can't even see anything besides her dark figure, and I still know that she's breathtaking.

"Tomorrow," she breaths, "will be the best day of your life."

"Of our lives." I correct.

She shakes her head. "The best day of my life will be the day that we get married."

I wrap my arms around her waist, tugging her down towards me until our lips are barely brushing. "And when will that be?"

She smiles, gently pressing her forehead against mine. "Hopefully soon. When things aren't so chaotic."

I tilt my head up to connect our lips, but she sits up and lays down at least a foot away from me, making our hands the only parts of us that are touching. When I groan, she lightly slaps my shoulder.

"I would love to kiss you all night, but we need to sleep. It's almost eleven."

I turn around to glance at the clock, which is displaying the bold, red numbers 10:47.

"Okay. You're right."

"Promise that you won't grab your laptop as soon as I fall asleep?"

I shake my head, bringing her knuckles to my lips and lightly kissing them. "Promise. I love you."

"I love you too, dork."

She squeezes my hand before letting go of it and turning away from me. As soon as her breathing begins to even out in a way that can only be caused by unconsciousness, I don't grab my laptop and start typing again. Instead, I open up the drawer built into the desk beside where Alex and I are now laying. I reach inside and pull out a small black box, softly cradling it in my hands and slowly opening it. The small amount of moonlight peaking through the slit in the curtains creates a glint on the surface of the diamond.

"Sometime soon," I whisper, and then chuckle to myself. "I'll make a deal with you, Morgan. If I do score tomorrow, then sometime very, very soon."

I didn't hear any protests.

Wrote this a while back and figured that I'd upload it. It's a little short, and could use some improvement, but I really wanted to put something out there. Finding time to write has been really hard. AP classes are kicking my ass.

Thanks for reading guys, don't give up on me yet...