Depth

21

Christen's POV

It's the day after Cairo's records were released and we are at practice and you can tell Cairo is still shaken up. I would be to if the whole world now knows something that personal about me.

Cairo is misplaying passes and just isn't training properly. Jill notices this as well and pulls her off to the side and has a quick conversation with her. Cairo nods and picks up her bag and walks out of the stadium. I assume she is going back to the hotel. Practice continued for another hour then we went back to the hotel and I chilled in my room with Tobin.

"CHRIS CHRIS CHRIS CHRIS" Someone yells outside my room. I open the door and see Lindsey looking extremely worried.

"Lindsey what's wrong?" I ask.

"Cairo isn't in our room. I checked everywhere and she's not in the hotel."

"Okay go see if Jill knows where she is. I'll start looking around." Lindsey runs off and I grab my things, head down stairs, and walk out of the hotel.

Now if I was Cairo where would I be? If I go left there is a park over looking the river and if I go right there are restaurants.

I go left.

After walking for 5 minutes I reach the park and start walking around trying to find Cairo. It didn't take me long to find her. She was sitting on a bench staring out at the river with a bottle in her hand.

"Cairo..."

- - - - -

Cairo's POV

"Cairo..." I hear someone say and the voice sounds a lot like Christen.

"Christen."

"What are you doing?"

"Debating on wether to throw 7 years of sobriety down the drain or not." I say and Christen sits down next to me.

"Please don't."

"Why?"

"You really want to throw everything away?"

"Everyone is gonna look at me different now." I say and Christen wraps her arm around me and I rest my head on her shoulder.

"Nobody on the team will Cairo...And if they do I'll kick their ass." Christen says making me laugh a little.

"Yeah." I say then open the bottle.

"Cairo..." Christen says and I just pour the bottle out on the ground.

"I probably need to go back don't I?"

"Yeah. Jill wants to see you."

"Think I'll get sent home?"

"I don't know Cairo." Christen says.

The two of us walk back to the hotel. When we get on the floor where our rooms are Christen goes to her room and I go to Jill's and knock on the door. Jill opens the door and lets me into the room.

"I'm sorry." I say.

"Cairo are you okay?" Jill asks.

"I'm fine... please don't send me home."

"I'm not going to, but I don't know if you'll play in the rest of the games. I don't need you making rash decisions on the field and getting suspended or ending up hurt." Jill says and I nod then leave and head to my room.

When I get there I knock on the door. The door opens and I'm immediately pulled into the room then pulled into a bone crushing hug.

"I'm sorry." I say into Lindsey's neck.

"It's okay." Lindsey says then takes me to the bed. We lay on the bed in silence with me wrapped in her arms. "Baby where were you?"

"I was at a park."

"What were you doing there?"

"Just thinking about everything. Trying not to throw away 7 years of sobriety...Lindsey?"

"Yes baby."

"Do you still want to be with me?"

"What?"

"Do you still want to be with me?"

"Yes Cairo I do...Where is this coming from?"

"I don't know I guess I just...do you think differently of me?"

"No Cairo I don't. Your past made you into the woman I fell in love with." Lindsey says and I turn around in her arms so I can face her.

"Y-You still love me?" I ask a little bit dumbfounded.

"With every fiber of my being Cairo."

"I love you to Lindsey."

"Good because you're stuck with me."

Lindsey and I talk for the rest of the night about what happened. I get a bit emotional and Lindsey lets me get everything out of my system before we go to sleep.

- - - - -

Jill was true to her word and I didn't play in the England game. In the 80th minute of the Brazil game Jill called me to be subbed in for Rose who had been on the receiving end of a horrendous challenge and has been struggling ever since.

We get a corner in the 84th minute. I'm standing at the top of the box closest to the corner. The whistle blows and Pinoe floats a ball in near post that gets cleared over my head. I turn around to find the ball and see a Brazilian player already chasing it.

Fuck that's my mark.

I run after her and when I catch her around the circle I stay right on her hip as both of us sprint all the way down the field. Once we are 30 yards from goal the Brazilian tries to shoot, but when she draws her leg back I steal the ball and run back to our offensive half.

As I cross the halfway line I look up and see Alex make a subtle gesture to the goal. I slam my foot into the ball and the ball heads for the far post. Everyone watches the ball in the air, except Alex who runs into the box and volleys it home. When the ball hits the net I put my hands on my knees and try to catch my breath. 10 seconds later I'm tackled into a hug.

"How the fuck did you do that?" Kelley asks.

"Which part? The running or the crossing?" I say while still out of breath.

"Yes."

"That...was...too...much...running."

"We're winning now thanks to that." Alex says.

"Cool" I say still out of breath.

The game ended a couple minutes later and we have the trophy ceremony then we head to the locker room. Once there everyone changes then we head to the hotel and do recovery. After recovery we head to our rooms to pack and sleep.