Even If I Can't Love You

Chapter 1

"Mom, I'm gonna be fine. It's just college. I'll be home for the holidays and all of breaks," Ali said as she stands outside of her dorm for the first time, hoping this will make her mom finally leave.

"I know, honey. I'm going to miss you so much. Here, I'll leave, and let you get situated. I don't want to be that buzzkill mom that makes meeting their roommate for the first time awkward. Bye Alex."

Debbie and Ali share a last hug before Debbie walks away leaving Ali in front of the door of her suite. There were four rooms, all doubles, and eight girls. She slowly opens the door and peeks inside. She sees bags on one of the beds, but doesn't see another girl there. Ali drops her bags  at the foot of the untaken bed. Slowly the bathroom door creaks open, and Ali jumps.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't hear you come in," Ali's mysterious roommate said.

"It's alright. Just scared me a little," Ali said as the taller girl sat the the bed opposite of her.

"Oh, where are my manners. I'm Ashlyn Harris. Call me Ash if you want. I'm here on a soccer scholarship. I was the starting goalkeeper on my high school team."

Ali smiled. "I'm Alexandra Krieger. My friends call me Ali, and my close friends and family call me Alex. I'm fine with either. I'm also here for soccer."

"What position?" Ashlyn asked the other girl, intrigued to know more about the brunette. Ashlyn always loved meeting new people.

"Right back," Ali responded.

"So you'll be on my back line! Ok, enough about soccer. Tell me about yourself Alexandra Krieger," Ashlyn said, bringing her head to rest on her hands.

"What do you wanna know?"

"Just the basics for now. Like, tell me about your family, where you grew up, stuff like that. I mean, I'm gonna be living with you all year, so I might as well learn stuff about my roomie.

Ali giggled. "Well, I in grew up in Woodbridge and Dumfries, Virginia. I just turned eighteen. My birthday's July 28th. I'm really young for my grade, so I won't turn nineteen until next summer. I have an older brother. Kyle, he's my best friend. My parents got divorced while I was in high school. Soccer is my life, and I really want to be on the national team someday. That's basically all there is to me."

"Well, that's a lot to take in. I hope it's not too personal, but why did your parents get divorced? You don't have to answer if you don't want to, I'm just--"

"Ash, it's ok. It's just that my dad couldn't wrap his head around the idea of Kyle being gay, so he left. He finally learned to accept it. I still keep in touch with him, and my parents can still tolerate each other. Anyways, tell me about yourself  Ashlyn Harris."

"I grew up in Satellite Beach, Florida. I'm also eighteen. Birthday's October 19th, so I'll be nineteen this year. I also have an older brother, Christopher, Chris, blah blah blah. My parents struggled with addiction when I was younger, but they're ok now. I also really want to be on the national team one day. It's been my dream since I started playing. That's it."

Again, Ali smiled. "Sooooo. Do you know any of the girls in our suite? I know there's supposed to be six other girls and I haven't met any of them."

"There's a little living room spot in between all four rooms. Maybe we can go in and see if anyone's there. And to answer your question from before, I do know all of them. I grew up with all of them. Let me give you the rundown. Megan Rapinoe 'Pinoe' and Sydney Leroux 'Syd' are roommates. Some of the craziest people you will ever meet, but I love them anyway. Alyssa Naeher 'Lys' and Christen Press 'Chris or Presi". Both super sweet. Tobin Heath 'Tobs' and Heather O'Reilly 'HAO'. Kinda nuts. Also, Tobin and Christen are dating and are super mad they aren't rooming together, so sorry if they're a little cold. I'll introduce you to everyone.

Ali and Ashlyn walk into living room to see everyone already there.

"Hey guys! This is my roommate Ali. Ali, this is Megan, Heather, Sydney, Christen, Tobin, and Alyssa."

Ali gives a small wave. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Megan jumps up and runs to Ali, pulling her into a tight hug.

"Welcome to the squad," Pinoe says, squeezing her tightly.

Once she lets go she asks Ashlyn, "Are they always this crazy?"

"Pretty much," Ashlyn responds.

Ali grins. "I think I'm gonna like it here."