The Wait Is Over

Wednesday Night Shenanigans

With Steph McCaffrey confined to quarters tonight and tomorrow night, the regularly-scheduled Wednesday night embarrassment session at National Team camp was held in her and Danielle's room. Sam played quizmaster for a game of "Friend or Lover". Each player threw ten singles into the center of the circle and submitted two facts to Sam. Sam would read out a fact, on which the players needed to decide if it referred to the person's designated friend or her lover. The players tonight were: Steph, Kristie, Katelyn, Meggie, Savannah, Christina, Julie, Christen, Danielle, Morgan, Mal, and Sofia. Steph asked Sam how she would rule with respect to the possibility that Julie could give facts that referred to either Zach or Christen and have it considered under the lover label. Sam ruled that for the purpose of this game, Zach did not exist and thus Christen would be considered her lover. Sam also stated that if one didn't have a significant other at the moment, she could choose a crush or potential one.

The first fact, written by Katelyn: The two of us played college soccer for rival teams. Morgan knew that she was referring to Sammy Jo Prudhomme and not Cari Roccaro, thus answered "lover". Once everyone had written down their answer, Katelyn flipped over her card with "lover" on it. She stumped 8 of the other 11 players and collected $8.

The next one up was from Sofia: We both did modeling for my ex-boyfriend. Steph knew this referred to her and not Vanessa, as did Kristie and Danielle. When the answer was made known, she was only able to pick up two wrong answers and thus $2.

After a few more turns, this card from Kristie came up: We share the same middle name, but different spellings. It took a few minutes for the other players to decide which way they wanted to answer, causing Sam to giggle under her breath since she knew the answer was her sister-in-law and not Steph Labbe. She tripped up seven of the other eleven for $7.

Meggie's first fact was read next: We played together in college and graduated the same year. Savannah was puzzled, because there were several former Gators that had come into the league around the same time. All but one of the players said "friend", with Christina remembering her conversation with the Spirit midfielder on the plane from Washington and it was Savannah she was referring to and not Sarah Troccoli, her friend EJ's girlfriend. When the cards were flipped, Meggie collected her $10 and left Savannah with a need to find out who her friend might be dating.

The final fact of the night came from Morgan: We first crossed each other's path when I was four. This proved to be a tough one as no one got it correct, everyone guessing it was Sam Mewis. Following the game, Sam asked Morgan to elaborate on how her and Patrick met that long ago and was told that they were both at the 1999 Women's World Cup match between the US and North Korea in Foxboro and sat probably not more than 20 feet apart. She said she learned this after looking at his pictures from the game taken by his father. With all the winnings collected, the athletes retired to their rooms in order to meet curfew. Sam and Alyssa were on bed check duty tonight and promised to be extra-diligent.

***

The camp alumni gathered at Tobin and Meghan's for a fun-filled evening of drinking, bs'ing, and fellowship. Lindsey and Emily stopped by briefly on their way back from their date to see their former Thorns teammates as well as Alex and Ashlyn. Megan questioned the two of them hard about wedding plans and whether they were working to get re-united in the near future. After they left, the partying continued with Meghan and Tobin teasing one another in front of the others. Ashlyn kept herself away from the booze tonight, because after last night she didn't want to end up in that position again. Alex stayed sober as well, mostly because the lack of sleep last night had her dozing off on one of the couches. Ashlyn noticed this and decided it was a good idea for the two of them to head back to the hotel so they could make up the sleep lost during last night's lovemaking session.

Their walk back to the Hilton was mostly quiet. Alex leaned on Ashlyn's arm, holding it with both of her hands. As they passed through the entertainment district just outside the hotel, a couple of drunk college boys accosted Alex, recognizing her from her playing days in Portland and Sports Illustrated pictorials. Ashlyn shouted down the bozos, drawing some invective from them concerning her sexuality and how Alex was too good-looking for her. The two picked up their pace and got to the hotel a couple of minutes later. They walked directly to the elevator and went straight to their room after reaching their floor.

Ashlyn lied down on her bed, with Alex sitting on hers, taking off her block heel gladiator sandals before stretching out upon it. The two talked about what happened earlier and both revealed their fear of the situation to each other. Ashlyn beckoned Alex to come over to her bed so they could comfort one another. Alex looked up at Ashlyn and slid closer to her face, resting her head just under the goalkeeper's chin. Ashlyn left a couple of pecks on the top of Alex's head and nuzzled her hair a little. This encouraged Alex to move up a little more and place her head on Ashlyn's right shoulder. Ashlyn looked over into Alex's eyes and leaned across to kiss her softly. Alex returned the affection, a bit confused at her friend's initiation of contact. When Ashlyn moved in again to kiss Alex, she was stopped by the forward.

Alex: I hope you're sober, because if you're hinting at what I think you're hinting at, I wouldn't want it to be because you were too drunk to know what you were doing.

Ashlyn: I'm completely sober. Last night, I wasn't, and the need for your touch outweighed my better judgment. Tonight, I want you and I want to remember every second of it.

Alex felt a tear drop from her eye before returning her gaze to Ashlyn. Both women moved in and connected their lips, leading to a couple of hours of slow, romantic, soul-gripping passion.