Secrets

Chapter 15

Since camp is in Santa Barbara, which is not far from Los Angeles, Alex told me on our first day off Serv is going to drive up to take us out to lunch so he can meet me. I don't think I've ever been so nervous about anything in my entire life, including my first international cap.

On our day off, I wake up early like all the other times and sit down with a cup of coffee, except my leg immediately starts to bounce up and down uncontrollably. Carli taking notice asks with a small laugh, "Nervous about something?"

Alex and I decided to still keep all the adoption stuff secret from the team until we are absolutely sure it's going to happen. Even though Alex has already started and done most of the process, there's still a lot that could go wrong before the adoption is sealed. You'd think that since there are so many kids in the system, they would just want to get rid of us as fast as possible—but I guess not. But also I guess they don't want to put kids with bad parents—which makes sense—but I just want this to be done with.

"No, I think it's just the espresso shots," I lie chuckling as I point to my coffee cup.

Becky laughs shaking her head, "Maybe you should switch to decaf then."

"And then face caffeine withdrawal symptoms, I'm good thanks," I say mustering up a little sarcasm in the early morning, which causes Carli and Becky to laugh. Thankfully, more people start to come into the meal room, and I'm able to distract myself with conversations with my different teammates. Before I know it 10 am rolls around, and I decide to go back to my room to get ready for lunch.

I change into a brick colored wrap dress with a floral print and a pair of basic black heels. I had left my hair in braids the night previous, so I brush them out. I'm left with natural looking waves, before I start on my make-up. I leave it pretty natural with just concealer, blush, bronzer, highlighter, and mascara. As I look at myself in the mirror, my eyes instantly snap to the scaring on my wrist. I suddenly start to contemplate my short sleeves, but take a deep breath and walk out of the bathroom. I've gotten more comfortable after showing Alex, and I wore short sleeves to the last couple of practices. Nobody seemed to notice the healed cuts, which I'm thankful for, and caused a much needed confidence boost.

As I go to grab my small black cross body purse, I hear a knock come from my hotel room door. I quickly pull the bag over my head, before going to open the door revealing Sonnett, Mal, Lindsey, Abby, Sam, and Rose. Abby and Sonnett, being the closest to the door, both of their eyes go wide as they look me up and down. "Like what you see?" I say with a smirk obviously joking with them.

"Holy shit, she does leave sweatpants," Abby says sounding actually shocked.

I give her a glare, "Yeah, only when I want to impress someone."

Mal's eyes go wide, as she gives me a 'really' look, "Who's the lucky person?" She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively.

I practically gag, before laughing out, "Not like that," but I quickly add with sarcasm, "at least today anyway."

"I did not need an image of you hitting on anyone in my mind," Sam says shaking her head, causing the rest of us to laugh.

I see Alex waving me over wearing a blouse and jeans down the hall, as she had already gotten ready earlier this morning. "I gotta go," I say quickly before walking over to Alex, leaving the younger players unable to ask questions.

"How do you feel?" Alex asks with a smile.

"In all honesty, I'm petrified," I reply, as we walk over to the elevator.

"Don't be, Servando will love you," Alex says putting a reassuring arm around me, as she presses the elevator button.

I shoot Alex a questioning look, "Are you sure about that?"

Alex just rolls her eyes playfully, "Stop psyching yourself out, plus you look great."

Before I can reply, I hear Ash say, "Holy shit, Ryn is that you?!"

I turn around to face Ali and Ash walking to the elevator, "Yeah, what?"

"It's just your not wearing sweats and your hair is down," Ash says sounding completely shocked.

I roll my eyes, "Jeez, can't a girl just dress up, like damn."

Ali and Ash laugh at my response, as Alex says, "I mean she's kind of right, you live in grey sweatpants and leggings."

"I dress to impress, and there's no one here to impress so..." I say smiling, as I get the reaction I want.

Ash's jaw drops in offense, as she brings her hand to her chest in fake pain, "I think I'm hurt." All four of us get into the elevator before the doors close and it begins it's decent.

Ali just laughs at the two us shaking her head, "So, where you two going?"

"Out to lunch," I say, as I know both Alex and I agreed to leave the reasoning a secret for now.

"What's the occasion?" Ash asks referencing our nice clothes.

"Just going out, celebrating that I actually managed to graduate and make it out of high school alive," I reply laughing, lying through my teeth. 

Ash and Ali both nod their heads, before the elevator doors open letting us out. "Bye you two, have fun!" Ali says waving, as both her and Ash walk out of the hotel.

Both Alex and I wave bye to them, before Alex turns to me, "I'm very concerned at how well you lied just then."

"I've had some practice," I say with a shrug, causing Alex to send me a glare.

"Not on me, I hope," Alex says shooting me a look.

I grit my teeth, holding my hands up, "Nothing I didn't later tell you about."

Alex just playfully rolls her eyes, before putting an arm around me, "Let's get to lunch."

Lunch with Serv went great, but unfortunately, he had to get back to LA for practice. Most of our time together was just spent getting to know each other, and I couldn't help but notice how cute Alex and Serv were being. It made me feel very lonely, as I'm a single pringle. In the uber ride back to the hotel, Alex turns to me with a smile, "I could tell you were holding back some of your usual jokes."

"I didn't want to scare him off too quick," I say jokingly, "Plus, I'm like an onion, there are layers to my madness. They filter out the crazy."

Alex laughs shaking her head, "Oh, you don't want him to see the unfiltered you that you're around the team."

I burst out laughing, startling the driver, "You think I'm unfiltered around the team. HA! Yeah right, there are still many layers only Mia and a few other friends have seen."

Alex looks shocked and shoots me a 'really' look, so I quickly cover my tracks, "I mean, I'm totally, 100% unfiltered around you guys." I quickly look away from her scratching my head, finding the trees zipping by outside suddenly more interesting.

"Mhm, right," Alex says sounding unconvinced, but she didn't press any further. I can see the smirk still on her face, as I hold in my laughter staring out the car window.