Ashlyn Harris never expected to find the love of her life on the other side of the continent. Better yet, she never expected it to be another professional athlete. Her relationship with Brooke will test her personal and professional boundaries as sh...
The weeks fly by and training gets more and more intense. Soon enough, the USWNT international season opener party is upon me. The day before the event, Alex texts me saying that I should meet her and some of her teammates for lunch. I accept the invitation and head out to the little restaurant where we agree to meet.
I walk into the cafe and see Alex with at least five other teammates. As soon as she notices me she stands up and hugs me. "Brooke! Hi! How are you?" she asks. "I'm good! How's camp?" "It's good! Ok, everyone!" She turns her attention to the table of girls and everyone looks up. "This is Brooke. We met in college and have been best friends since!" Everyone greets me and then Alex goes ahead with the introductions. "On the end is Kelley, she's one of the best defensive midfielders in soccer. Next to her on the right is Sydney, and next to her is Tobin who you've met of course)." Tobin waves as we both say hi at the same time. "Next to Tobin is Allie, her twin." Everyone laughs as both Tobin and Allie shrug and nod at the same time. "Then we have Ashlyn and Morgan." As turn to see the girl she calls Ashlyn. She is tall and lean, with the most gorgeous smile and dimple. God that dimple! Her long blond hair falling perfectly on her back, and her edgy tomboy style radiates.
She is beautiful. No, she's a goddess. Her sleeve of tattoos adds perfectly to her tomboy style. "Uh Brooke? You ok?" I get knocked out of my thoughts by Tobin who is standing next to me. When did she get there? "Umm yeah sorry! Must have spaced out.." I nonchalantly reply. She probably has a girlfriend. Don't bother, you don't even know her. Just then I notice that the only empty seat is between the blond-haired goddess and Alex. Fuck.
"So Brooke, I hear you're an athlete too." Kelley speaks up. "Yeah, I'm a CrossFit athlete." I reply, looking over in her direction. "Ooh! Jill made us do a CrossFit workout a couple months ago and we all died. It was so hard!" The team laughs as Sydney speaks up "How did you get into it?" Putting me in the hot seat I see.
"I was a swimmer in college, but never went too far after that. I knew I wanted to be a professional athlete, and I had a few friends doing CrossFit at the time so I thought I would give it a try. It took awhile for me to go pro though.." I explain. "So you must train a lot." says Morgan. "Yeah, I'm pretty much the definition of gym rat!" Everyone laughs and Ashlyn's dimple is on full display. She is going to kill me.
All of a sudden she speaks up. "Are you going to the Regionals? We are going to be there watching." Holy shit! What do I say? She's going to be there?!?! "Uh yeah. I qualified for the first time this year." I sy shyly. "Oh congrats! You'll do great!" She replies with a smile on her face.
The group makes small talk until the waiter comes to get our orders. Everyone gets respectable things off the menu, but of course being the athlete that I am I end up making a custom order. "Alright, so that will be the egg white omelette with cheddar and swiss cheese, tomatoes, spinach, a side of broccoli and a breakfast burrito." The waiter says as he reads out my order. The entire table has gone silent and is looking at me. "Yes thank you." The waiter nods and leaves. "Did you seriously order all that food for yourself?" Ashlyn asks as the entire table is still silent. "Yes? Did I do something wrong?" I am so scared I did something to offend them. "You eat a lot!" She remarks and she and I begin to laugh, soon enough the others join in.
As soon as the food comes, we all dig in. The table as gone silent again as everyone is enjoying their delicious meals. I, having twice as much food than everyone else, am also eating at a faster pace than everyone else. I end up finishing my meal first and Alex notices. "Holy crap! You finished all of that food before anyone else!" She practically yells. "What? I was hungry." Everyone starts laughing so much, some of us were even crying!
As brunch winds down, Alex asks if I want to spend the day with her and the team. I agree, as long as I can train at some point. "Yeah, we can all go to the gym together!" says Kelley really excitedly "and that's why we call her squirrel." Reciprocates Ashlyn, as the rest of us fall into yet another laughing fit.
We leave the restaurant and head to the hotel where the team is staying for the week. I always have my training bag in my car, so wherever I am I can always workout. Once we get to the hotel, we all head to Kelley and Morgan's room. "So, do you guys want to train in the hotel gym or go to a local box?" I ask as we settle down. "We just got back from brunch and you're already thinking about training?!?! You must really be obsessed!" says Allie almost choking on her water. "Yeah, I mean it's kind of my job..." I reply sheepishly. "I guess we can go to a nearby CrossFit gym." replies Tobin after a second of pondering "There isn't much to do in the hotel gym, I went there yesterday." She adds. I nod and proceed to look up a local affiliate.
I find an affiliate called CrossFit Humanity, and send Alex the address to send to everyone else. Then I hear a chime, and see an instagram notification from non-other than Alex Morgan.
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@alexmorgan13: Fun times with these ladies! Glad you could make it @brookesheens 🙃🥞🥓🌯 p.s. Ashlyn really liked her food!
Liked by 193,078 and @ashlynharris24 @ussoccer_wnt @allie_long_
@kelleyohara: Why is Ashlyn staring at her plate? 🧐
@brookesheens: remember when I ordered twice as much food as you and finished it before you? lolz
@ashlynharris24:@brookesheens@kelleyohara Because Brooke had more food than me and finished it before me 🤣
Then another chime: @ashlynharris24 followed you
I immediately follow Ashlyn back as smile as she looks down at the notification. I see her smirk and just then Alex nudges me. "It's almost 3, when do you want to head to the gym?" She asks. I emailed the owner and they replied saying that open gym is from 3:30-5:00 pm. "Anytime from 3:30-5:00 is good. Just make sure to have a water bottle and a change of clothes." I reply. "I think we should go sooner rather than later, that way we can take a shower before the event." Sydney says. "True. How about we get ready to leave now and meet in the lobby in 10?" Alex asks. Everyone nods. I head to Alex's room, because I have nowhere else to go and she insisted that I shouldn't wait in the lobby for her and the team.
Once we get to the room I sit on her bed while she runs around grabbing things to put in her backpack. She then grabs some gym clothes and goes into the bathroom to change. While she's in the restroom, Ashlyn walks into the room. "Oh shit, sorry!" She says turning to leave. "No it's ok, sorry. Alex told me to come in while she was getting ready." I reply. Ashlyn smiles and turns around moving so she can sit on the edge of her own bed. "Well in that case, I'll keep you company." I nod and turn away, desperately trying to hide the fact that I'm blushing.
