Chapter Text
After the phone call with the USA coach, things move fast for Sara. Like, really fast.
There were some logistics to work out with the school and finals, which kept her a lot busier than she would have liked, but before Sara knew it, she was packing her things and heading to camp for a five-day ‘try-out’ with the National Team. Luckily, the camp was in Denver so Sara was able to get there quickly and she didn’t have to interrupt her schedule as much as initially anticipated.
She pinched herself an embarrassingly high number of times throughout the week to make sure this wasn’t a dream. Getting an invite to camp and having the girl you’ve been pining after for months kiss you all at the same time was a lot to process in the best way possible.
On the other hand, getting a week heads up for the biggest camp of your life and still having to study for finals on top of the other prep meant that she and Ava left things on somewhat of a cliffhanger in that they haven’t had any time to see each other or talk since they were interrupted.
Which, frankly, neither party was dealing with well.
Sara was trying not to think too much about where things stood between them because she knew that if her head wasn’t completely in the game then she was going to blow her chance. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and as terrible as it sounds, Ava would still be there in a week. Or at least that’s what Laurel told her a thousand times when Sara had called her in an absolute panic. For once, Sara chose to listen to her sister.
Nora on the other hand was having no such luck.
After practically begging Ava to tell her what the hell was up with her mood swings and pouting, she got the full rundown on the Sara situation including a pacing Ava practically shouting in the living room.
At first, Ava was understanding because hello this was team USA and it was hard to be mad that Sara was preoccupied. Sara had sent her one or two texts letting her know she was slammed with everything and they talked briefly about classes and other things but then there was radio silence. The quick conversation was nice and it let Ava know that things were still relatively normal between them, but it also left her wanting so much more from the other girl. Namely, what the hell that kiss meant.
But then, as the days passed, Ava got more and more inside her own head about things and the texts from Sara were few and far between. By the following Wednesday, Ava was on edge and snapping at Nora. She couldn’t focus on her classes, which was so unlike her, and it was driving her nuts.
“Ava, you’re panicking over nothing,” Nora told her, for probably the hundredth time.
“It’s not nothing Nor.”
Nora’s face softened. The exasperation was clear in Ava's voice and Nora didn't want to add any more stress to the girl's life. “I know it’s not nothing. I meant that you can’t really do anything about the situation for a couple of days, and I know that when you guys finally can talk, it’s gonna be fine.”
“What if it’s not?”
Ava’s face fell, the panic seemingly dropping from her body as she looked at Nora. For all Ava’s strength, it was these moments that reminded Nora how fragile Ava really was.
“Well then, we’ll deal with it. I’m not going anywhere.”
Ava had more to say, more to panic about, but there was a knock at their front door that pulled her from her rantings.
Ava swung it open and quickly became confused at the person standing on the other side.
“Laurel? Sara is at camp, which I’m sure you know, and also she lives next door?”
“Duh, I’m here to see you. I thought you were supposed to be smart.” Laurel walked in easily, laughing at Ava’s greeting. “This place is cute, much nicer than that frat house that Sara lives in.”
“Umm, yeah it’s nice, we like it.” Ava, still openly confused by Laurel’s presence in her home, somehow managed to reply.
The better part of a minute hung between them while Laurel took in the house. As if it was the most normal thing in the world for Laurel to be visiting Ava, she turned back towards the door and said, “Come on, I’m taking you out to brunch.”
Ava followed along, but as soon as Ava found a way not to make it sound rude, she asked “Not that I’m not thrilled to see you again Laurel, but um, what are you doing here?”
Laurel mostly smiled. Ava felt pretty confident that Laurel liked her after spending the holidays and family weekend with her, and Ava was thrilled with that because she wanted Sara’s family to like for obvious reasons, but she’d be lying if she didn’t find the other woman terrifying as hell too.
“Well I got a call from my baby sister before she left for camp that was mostly rambling and a little bit of panic, and from what I was able to gather, I think she’d appreciate it if she knew you had some company this week.”
Ava let the subject drop for now as they got to the restaurant. She had a hundred different responses to that ranging from gratitude to suspicion, but Laurel had been nothing but nice to her so far and she didn’t want to seem unappreciative.
She figured that when they got to the restaurant Laurel would start grilling her about Sara or their relationship, maybe even give her the shovel talk.
But instead, Laurel just asked her how she was doing. She asked Ava about classes and how she felt about finals. Next year would be their senior year and Ava was starting to worry about the MCATs and medical school applications – if that was even the route she was going to go – so there was plenty to talk about. Laurel, having gone through her own admissions process for law school, was able to offer up some really good advice.
Ava returned the favor, asking about how Laurel’s job was going and how things at home were. She also asked about Quentin because as much as she wanted to respect Sara’s privacy about her family life, she couldn’t help but be concerned about him and their family.
But eventually, the conversation came right back around to Sara. It was Laurel that brought it up, but not in the way Ava expected.
“So, I’m sure you guessed that Sara told me something finally happened between you two. How are you feeling about it?”
Ava was a little hesitant. Even with how nice Laurel was being, and has been over the time she’s known her, she was fully aware that this was still Sara’s sister. So she honestly wasn’t sure how honest she was supposed to be.
Laurel, seemingly sensing her hesitation, laid a comforting hand on Ava’s across the table.
“I told you, I’m here to see you Ava – I care about you too, not just Sara. I want to make sure neither of you messes this up. I know you probably have other friends you can lean on right now, but you can talk to me too. Or you can tell me to fuck off if you think it’s none of my business, which would be totally fair. I’m here for you either way.”
It was hard not to give into Laurel when she was looking at Ava with real concern and genuine care.
“I, uh, I’ll admit that I have definitely been panicking this week. Nora is probably beyond tired of hearing me rant about my confusion. But Sara left without us really resolving anything so we’re in this weird limbo and the longer we go without talking, the more I have spiraled into my own thoughts.” Ava paused, but then realized how she must sound to Laurel right now while her sister was off living her dream, so she backtracked a bit.
“Not that I don’t understand. I mean, Sara is getting this huge change and she should absolutely be focused on that. Honestly, I’m so proud of her and everything she’s achieved, I can’t wait to see where she goes. But also, yeah, panicking.”
Laurel, who was listening with almost total stoicism, smiled when Ava was done.
“I know you’re proud of her, Ava, you don’t have to reassure me of that. If I didn’t think you were supportive of Sara and all her potential on and off the field then I wouldn’t even be sitting here. If it makes you feel any better, Sara was pretty much in the same place you are until I told her to shove it far into the recesses of her mind and focus on rugby right now. Which, you can totally be upset with me for, but that girl needs someone to protect her from throwing her own dreams on a sword sometimes.”
“Yeah, yeah she certainly does. I’m glad you could get her there.”
It should make Ava at least a little upset to hear that Sara was actively shoving Ava to the back of her brain, but instead, it just reminded Ava why she started to fall for Sara so hard in the first place.
“See, that smitten smile that just snuck its way on to your face is exactly why I know everything is gonna work out just fine between you guys. You appreciate Sara for her crazy, self-sacrificing, savior complex but also appreciate when it’s not the time for that.”
Ava desperately wanted to cover up her smile and pretend that she didn’t care as much as her face was giving away – blame it on her deeply ingrained need to protect herself – but she realized that it maybe wasn’t a bad thing to feel that way for once. Maybe Sara could be someone that she trusted with all her insecurities.
Laurel, sensing that her words calmed some of Ava’s nerves, paid the check and drove Ava back to campus. They said goodbye, knowing that it certainly wouldn’t be the last time they spoke, and Ava felt better than she had in weeks about the prospect of her future with Sara.
—————————————————————
It’s two days later when Ava finally gets a phone call from Sara. She’s on her way back from class when her phone rings. She had made peace with the fact that Sara wasn’t going to call her while she was at camp, and they would figure things out when she got back. So the last person she was expecting a call from was Sara Lance.
“Sara?”
“Damn, it’s good to hear your voice, Sharpe.”
Ava smiled. “It’s nice to hear from you too Sara. How’s camp been?”
“Oh you know, lots of fitness tests and skills training. I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t feel like a walking zombie.”
“You should get some rest then, what are you doing calling me?”
“Trying to get rid of me that quickly?”
Ava could sense a little bit of nervousness from Sara on the other end. Whether it was from the pressures of camp or some insecurities about things between them, Ava didn’t want Sara to be too in her head.
“Never. Tell me everything.”
So Sara filled her in. It was hard for her not to sound like she was name-dropping every rugby hero Ava had, but Sara was playing alongside these girls now. As if Ava wasn’t already beyond impressed by Sara, hearing her talk about three-a-day training schedules and what it felt like to get tackled by Olympians just multiplied everything by tenfold.
Through all the humble bragging and the excitement, Ava could still tell something was a little off with Sara.
“Everything sounds great Sar. I’m glad you’re still enjoying yourself even with all the pressure.”
“Yeah, um, I’m definitely doing my best. It’s hard not to think myself into a hole with everything this camp could mean for me. The girls here, they’re just so good. Like, this is a level of rugby I never even dreamed of playing.”
Ah, so it was rugby related. Ava could handle that.
“Sara, you deserve to be there and I have complete and total faith you are going to kill it and impress every person there. But even if you don’t, you have a campus full of people that love you and a whole more year of rugby to look forward to.”
There was silence on the other end. Ava knew that usually Sara just needed a reminder that she could do it and then she was back to being her annoyingly confident self. But for good measure, Ava said, “I’m proud of you, Sara.”
A moment hung between them, Ava knew that Sara heard her and would take what she said to heart, but the moment evolved into something else. Something more about the two of them than rugby. It felt like if one of them didn’t address the elephant in the room – or elephant over the phone – then they might never do it.
“Um, Ava, about last week—”
Ava held her breath. She knew they had to talk about them, and she wanted to, but the second it was brought up she was anxious at what this meant for their future. If there was a future or if Sara was going to take everything back before it even went anywhere.
But the whispering in the background made it clear that someone had interrupted Sara and that probably meant it was time to hang up.
“Aves, sorry, I gotta go. Team meeting. We’ll talk when I get back?”
“Of course. See you soon.”
Ava was trying not to be upset because that wasn’t fair to Sara and honestly, there was nothing either of them could do about the situation. She was genuinely happy for the girl and she was doing her best not to taint that by getting upset over the little things. Plus, Sara did call her, and that had to count for something.
—————————————————————
The remainder of the week passes in a blur for both Ava and Sara. After they got a chance to talk – even with it being short – any worry that was building up, for either of them, was put to rest for the time being. At least that’s what Ava was going to keep telling herself until she could actually see Sara again. There was no sense in panicking about something that she couldn’t do anything about.
Sara was maybe a little less logical than Ava about it all but she had rugby to distract her and the second it was over she was right back to thinking about Ava. All she really wanted to do when she got back to campus was take an ice bath and lay in bed for a week, but somehow the idea of seeing Ava was enough to power through the soreness.
She had a woman to see about a kiss and that was the pressing matter at the moment. She walks over to Ava’s door as soon as possible and gently knocks.
She shouldn’t have been surprised at how fast Ava answered the door, but actually seeing her in person after a week of being antsy was doing something to her brain.
Ava was standing there, definitely shocked at Sara being behind her front door, and smiling broadly at Sara.
“Sara, when did you get back?”
“About an hour or so ago. All I did was eat and shower before coming over.”
“I’m honored. How are you feeling?”
“Honestly, my body is begging for 12 hours of sleep and like three bowls of pasta, but I wanted to see you more than I wanted either of those things, so here I am.”
Ava’s whole face lit up at Sara’s words, her cheeks blushing with more than just flattery.
“Sara—”
“Ava—”
Neither of them got a chance to finish before Nora burst through the doors with an open textbook in hand and nothing but pure panic in her voice.
“Ava! How are you at organic chemistry? Because if someone doesn’t help me I’m going to have to turn in a blank exam tomorrow and then my dad will probably murder me.”
Ava groaned, but she couldn’t ignore Nora’s begging, especially after how amazing Nora had been for her the past week.
“I’m gonna have to go help her.”
Sara understood, despite her visible disappointment.
“I should get going anyways, as unbelievably thrilled as I am to see your face, I also think I might fall asleep standing up soon. Call me tomorrow when you have a break from studying?”
Ava nodded, walking Sara out and heading into the kitchen to try and help Nora piece together organic chemistry. It was gonna be a long night.
—————————————————————
They try again Monday afternoon. There’s a secluded part of campus behind the science building that people rarely hang out in and Ava tells Sara to meet her there right before her lunch break.
“Hey you, how’s studying going?”
“You know, only one final left to go so I’m tired and my brain feels like it’s melting from my skull, but I’ll survive.”
Sara smiled, because she was constantly reminded of how much she enjoyed being around Ava, but also because she was learning that she thought Ava was adorable even when she was the stressed out, unshowered version of herself.
“I’ve never been more grateful that the school let me take my finals early. I don’t know how I would have survived coming back from camp to exams.”
“Oh yeah, shouldn’t you be like done with classes and back home relaxing right now?”
“Nah, the week after finals is the best time of the year, everyone knows that.”
“I’ll admit I’m looking forward to it after all the hype you guys have given it.”
“Trust me, it’s gonna be epic.” Now Sara was smirking like she knew something Ava didn’t. Which she probably did, especially about this, but Ava was much too tired to think any further into what she could possibly mean.
The smirk quickly dropped from Sara’s face, though, as she started to ask Ava about the topic they so were both eager to discuss.
“So about that kiss —"
This time, Sara is interrupted by the loud ringing of a fire alarm. As if the noise itself wasn’t a total distraction, students start pouring out of the building a minute later.
Ava thinks about screaming, but decide that screaming on top of a fire alarm is probably a bad idea.
“Come to my place a little before dinner. Charlie and Amaya should both be out.”
The implication of being alone with Sara in her bedroom isn’t lost on Ava, but she nods her head anyways and they try to make their way out of the swarm of students.
—————————————————————
Ava didn’t bother knocking this time or texting Sara before she invited herself into Chop House and up into Sara’s room. She was nervous that if she pushed her luck and tried to delay this conversation again, something else would get in the way.
“Sharpe, I see you’re making yourself at home here.”
“You told me to come over!”
“I’m just teasing, I’m happy to see you as usual.”
“Seems like now is a good time to talk?”
“Why whatever did you want to talk about?” Sara wiggled her eyebrows. Ava tried not to roll her eyes.
Before Ava could say anything, Charlie burst into Sara’s room behind Ava, moving past her as if she wasn’t even there.
“Mate, you have to help me.”
“Can this wait? Little busy at the moment.”
“‘Fraid not. I told Zari I had this amazing date planned and I wanted to, honestly, but then finals and now I’m panicking because we’re supposed to leave in an hour and I’ve got nothin’ so now you have to help me.”
Charlie plopped down on the bed, clearly having no plans of moving anytime soon.
Ava, knowing exactly where this was going because why wouldn’t they be interrupted for the hundredth time, moved towards the door for her exit.
“I, uh, actually have dinner plans tonight too. That just reminded me.”
Sara scrunched her eyebrows together, silently trying to dampen down any jealousy she had about Ava potentially having plans with other people when they were supposed to be having this stupid, potentially life-altering conversation.
Ava ignored Sara’s look, and just said “Text me the second you’re free later and I’ll come back, okay?”
With a nod from Sara, she left before she could get pulled into any date-making plans by Charlie.
Ava’s dinner plans are with Casey of all people. She doesn’t tell Sara why she’s leaving. She’s not trying to hide it but it feels like that would probably require a longer conversation, one that would definitely need to come after the first conversation they need to have. If they are ever able to get 5 minutes alone again, that is.
Dinner is fine. They talk about finals, some of their classes for next semester, and what they have planned for the summer. Ava is trying really hard to enjoy Casey’s company. Which is usually not a difficult task, the girl is endlessly entertaining — always running 100 miles per hour and ready to snap back with a witty retort — but Ava’s head is all over the place and she just can’t seem to focus. Which Casey easily picks up on.
“What’s up? Is it Sara again? I thought you guys figured things out before she left.”
Ava feels bad talking about this again with Casey, she’s trying not to rub any potential new relationship in her face so soon, even if Casey was very clear when they ended things that she knew about Ava’s feelings for Sara.
“Um, yeah we kind of did. But we’ve been trying to find time to really talk about things the past two days and we just keep being interrupted so I think we’re on the same page, but I’m not really sure yet and it driving me a little mad.”
“Go talk to her then Aves.” Ava hesitates, looking over Casey’s face to see how sincere she’s being. “Seriously, I won’t be offended. You’re shit company anyways right now.”
Ava can’t help but let out a laugh at that. She knows it’s true, but she’s grateful for Casey’s straightforwardness as always. She’s not sure where she’d be right now if it wasn’t for Casey’s nudges the past month.
“Okay, okay, you’re right. I’ll text you tomorrow and we can plan to get dinner when I’m not completely distracted.”
“Deal. Now go.” Casey waves her off and Ava does her best not to run to Sara’s door.
Ava knew Sara was free, she’d gotten a text from her not 20 minutes after she’d left her house. She knocks on the Chop House door, a little more aggressively than she had just a few hours ago. Her impatience is starting to show.
Sara opens it and Ava can see the half-eaten dinner plate sitting in front of the TV.
“Busy?”
“Not at all, everyone is still out and about.” Sara smiles and steps aside to let Ava in.
“So you’re alone?”
Sara turns back and sits on the couch where she was before Ava knocked. “For now, but I’m sure someone will find a way to walk in at just the wrong moment again.”
Ava wants to do this the right way. She’s been thinking about it for nearly two weeks now so she obviously has a plan for how she wants to do it. Some talking about their feelings, seeing where Sara’s head was about the kiss, and then they’d skip off into the sunset together.
Except they’ve tried that three times and the universe seems to be against that plan. Ava decides to take a new approach instead.
“I like you.” Ava blurts out.
Sara seems a little stunned by the confession, which is probably more of a reflection on Ava’s delivery than what she actually said. She quickly continues rambling to fill Sara’s silence.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to just like yell that at you, but we’ve been trying to talk for what feels like years and I can’t hold it in any longer.” Ava sits down on the couch next to Sara.
“I like you, a lot. I don’t know when it started, but once I realized it, it felt like maybe I always kind of liked you. I don’t want this to just be a one-time thing or some weird flirtation that we have, but we’re too afraid to act on. I think you feel the same way, or at least I thought you did but then you left for a week, and now I’ve convinced myself it’s all in my head so I need you to say something. Please.”
Sara, having had plenty of time to gather her thoughts and take in how adorable it was when Ava rambled like this, just smiles back at Ava.
“Aves, of course I like you too. I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you for literal months that I like you.”
Now it’s Ava’s turn to be confused. “Wait, really?”
“Yeah,” Sara laughed, the tension between them gone now that everything was in the open. “I actually can’t believe you haven’t noticed. I think everyone on the team has said something about it at this point.”
They’re sitting inches apart on Sara’s couch and Ava is looking over Sara’s face trying to take in the moment. She can see how sincere Sara in being, and it’s really throwing off her intimate confession because all she wants to do is kiss Sara again.
“We need to talk about this, us, and how we’re going to make this work with the team, but right now I really just need to kiss you, if that’s okay?”
Sara nods enthusiastically, and Ava leans in to connect their lips.
They’ve always been better at non-verbal communication and this moment is no exception. The kiss is less messy than the first one, with more purpose behind their movements. It’s easy – like they’d been doing it for years – and all that connection does is make Ava want more of Sara.
They’re off the couch now, eagerly moving towards Sara’s room while bumping into walls and doors along the way. The passion that once manifested itself in screaming matches on the field had turned into something else entirely, something that neither of them had ever felt before.
As they made their way up the stairs, Ava completely forgot that she had even come over here for anything but this.
—————————————————————
When Sara wakes up and rolls over in her bed the next morning, she’s surprised to find that Ava is still asleep next to her. She smiles because this was something she could see herself doing maybe forever and even though that thought should terrify her, she was mostly just excited to see how things would unfold between her and Ava.
The last year was a whirlwind of craziness for Sara and Ava was really the cherry on top of it all.
A year ago at this time, Sara was waking up feeling anxious, and usually alone, wondering where Nyssa was or what she was up to the night before. She woke up most mornings feeling terrible about herself and her relationships, and although they didn’t win the championship last year either, their future as a team looked a lot bleaker than it did this year.
It was crazy how much a year could change, and how much of that changed she owed to the woman sleeping next to her.
Even though a lot of the conflict between them was just their insecurities coming out to play, Sara really thought that this year was somehow going to end up worse than the last. She never could’ve predicted where she would be now.
Too lost in her own musings, Sara didn’t notice when Ava opened her eyes.
“Hey, you. What’s got you thinking so hard this early in the morning?” Still a little groggy, Ava did her best to smile up at Sara as she asked.
“Just appreciating the beautiful woman in bed next to me.”
“How are you always so charming? Do you have an off button?”
“It’s not charm when it’s just the truth.”
Sara brushed some hair out of Ava’s face smiling softly at her. The tender moment seemed to remind Ava that there were still some questions she had about their relationship.
“Speaking of, do we need to talk about what’s happening between us? I mean, I know last night was great and it seems like we’re on the same page here, but if you hadn’t noticed I’m a little bit of an overthinker and I don’t like leaving things unsaid.”
Sara had expected Ava to have more questions today, it would have been extremely un-Ava like for her to roll with the unknown, but it was just one of the many things about the other girl she had come to like.
She didn’t think a big speech was necessary – they had done plenty of communicating their feelings last night. Sara knew that Ava wasn’t looking for her to spill her emotional guts out, she just wanted some reassurance that Sara wasn’t going anywhere.
“Aves, I would love nothing more than for you to be my girlfriend?”
Ava was surprised by the question, but the softness in Sara’s voice and the slight uncertainty in her tone let Ava know that, for all Sara’s bravado, she was still a little nervous to ask and that made Ava want to say yes even more. Even if it maybe felt like a little too soon. And really, they had been dancing around this moment for months whether Ava was aware or not.
She leaned in and kissed Sara, whispering yes against her lips. She could feel Sara smiling back as they got lost in each other.
Sara pulled back after a while smirking. “You know Charlie is gonna have like a million U-Haul jokes about this, right?”
Ava hit Sara with a pillow, laughing at the other girl’s ability to turn a gentle moment into a joke, and fell happily into her arms. She could definitely get used to mornings like this.
—————————————————————
When they finally get around to going on their first date, it goes terribly. Sara is feeling so much pressure because all she wants to do is make sure that things between them go right and, in typical Sara fashion, her nerves lead her to resort to her old coping mechanisms and suddenly she’s flirting with the waitress. Which naturally also leads Ava to resort to her own coping mechanisms and she picks a fight with Sara before storming out of the restaurant.
“This was a mistake, I don’t know why I thought we could make this work.” Ava stands from the table, throwing down $30 for her half of the meal.
Sara, a little stunned but not willing to let the night end like that, throws down some money of her own and follows her out into the parking lot.
“Ava stop!”
Ava turns sharply around to face her. “What Sara?”
Sara realizes that Ava is still in fight mode, and expecting Sara to snap at her more like they did so frequently once upon a time. Sara just sighed. This was probably worse than anything she was worried about because she acted like an ass and backed Ava into a corner, so of course she was going to react like this.
“Can we just take a step back? Please?” The tension releases from Ava’s shoulders and with it goes the tension between the two.
“This obviously didn’t go as planned. At least not how I planned it in my head. I wanted everything to be perfect and I’ve been so worried about screwing this up that that’s exactly what I did. I’m sorry.”
Through all their months of friendship and their back and forth, Ava still didn’t expect Sara to apologize. “No, I’m sorry. I know that I get defensive when I start to panic or I don’t feel like I’m in control. You make me nervous Sara and I like you, like a lot. I just wanted things to work out.”
Sara smiles, stepping closer to Ava. “See, we can do this. I’m gonna screw up and say stupid things and you’re going to get defensive and go into your corner. We just need to make sure we talk about it.”
Ava smiled back. “I think I can handle that.”
“Good.” Sara closed the gap further. “And then we get to do this when it’s all over.” Sara kissed her and Ava couldn’t help but forget why they were even fighting in the first place.
When they broke apart Ava was still smiling. “Come on, let’s get out of here and go get milkshakes.”
“Now you’re speaking my language, Sharpe.”
Things get easier between them after that, when they both drop the nerves and the expectations and just settle into being with each other.
Sara has plenty of moments where she’s nervous that she’s leading the team right back into the same pattern of destruction like she did with Nyssa, and Ava’s insecurities from her old teammates surface occasionally too. But they’re both there for each other – listening, comforting, growing together – and it works.
Their friends adjust quickly too, unsurprisingly.
Sara was a little nervous that they would tell her she was making a mistake, or that this was bad for the team dynamics. If the roles were reversed, Sara was sure that’s how she would be feeling at least. It wasn’t until she walked in one afternoon on everyone hanging out like absolutely nothing had changed that she realized that her friends really were okay with this.
Sara walked in the door expecting to be greeted by her roommates and be able to quietly slip out of the room and take a nap after the day she had. But instead, she was greeted by a ton of people in her house.
Charlie yells from the living room when she hears the front door shut, “Sara! Come in here!”
“Hello, people that do not live here.”
Nate waves from the couch, with Amaya tucked into his arm. Zari and Charlie are sharing the recliner. Alex and Kara are bickering about something, sitting next to each other on the floor. Mick is drinking beer in the kitchen.
And Ava and Nora are sitting on the small couch, talking casually like the only normal humans in the room.
Sara plopped down on the couch with Ava and Nora, bumping shoulders with Ava playfully. They weren’t quite at the point in their relationship where they were kissing hello, especially not around her annoying ass friends, but Sara still wanted as much contact as possible.
“What’s with the small collection of humans?” Sara says to the room.
“It’s game night mate,” Charlie says smiling.
“Since when are we doing game night?”
“It was Nate’s idea, thought it would be a good end of the year wind down to do pizza and games before we all went our separate ways for the summer.”
“Aww, ya big softies.”
And that was that.
Sara was expecting to have a sad goodbye and a summer filled with Facetime dates, but she was surprised to learn that Ava would actually be on campus for the summer. Ava had secured a researching position with a professor in the biology department and she’d be sticking around working part-time and studying for her MCATs.
Sara returned home to live with her sister and dad – her sister got her a coaching position with a youth league that a partner at her firm ran – and as much as she wasn’t looking forward to being back home, it was nice to have the out of coming back to campus to see Ava if and when she needed it.
In some ways having Ava so close meant that they saw less of each other than they would if she was across the country. But with both of their schedules keeping them busy, the summer went by quicker than expected and before they knew it, everyone was back on campus and gearing up for their final year of school.
Sara laid in the middle of the fields soaking up the sun after a long workout. Taking in the peace and quiet of the fields on the last night of summer before pre-season began had become a tradition for her and she wasn’t going to let that change before the start of her senior year.
This year though, she couldn’t help but compare her time spent on the field to last summer.
Last summer she had come back to campus needing a place to escape to and spent most of the week before pre-season started thinking about the pressure that came with being captain and how lost she felt in the classroom and in what direction her life was going.
She was still unsure of a lot of things, but laying here – between Ava and Zari – thinking about her senior year, she felt none of the stress that she once did. The last year had taught her so many things, but mainly, she now knew that no matter what, her people would be by her side and the once terrifying concept of the future didn’t seem so scary anymore. Sara had her chance with the national team – and another camp in a couple of weeks to look forward to – and she had a confident back-up plan in a major that she had grown to love.
Laying in the field of grass bathing in the Colorado sunlight with Ava by her side, anything felt possible.