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If Kelley had to use one word to describe the way she fell for Emily it would be ‘erratic’. They first met when Emily was still a senior playing at Virginia during her first call up. Kelley noticed that she was shy at first, as expected from anyone during their first call up. She herself remembers trying so hard to not fangirl over practicing and hanging out with Heather O’Reilly, someone she grew up admiring and watching. She makes it her mission to get to know the girl better, there’s not really a motive other than her own curiosity.
Kelley wanted to know what made Emily Sonnett’s world go round.
Once Emily gets over the initial nerves, Kelley notices that she’s funny, like really really funny. She’s not trying hard to make jokes but somehow everything she says is hilarious. Kelley starts bouncing jokes off of her and they click and become fast friends. By the end of the first camp, Emily was fairly laid back around her and they exchanged numbers before everyone went their separate ways.
Emily doesn’t get called up for a few camps after that one and they occasionally text (more like Emily sends her memes).
Kelley really tries to convince herself that she’s in a happy relationship but she’s not blind. She could feel her heart slipping away and she’s sure he can too. She sees it in the way that he starts to not feel like home. Or the way that she adores him but not in the same way it used to be. He breaks up with her on a Friday night, she’s not surprised.
Kelley still hates Friday nights.
The next time that Kelley sees Emily, she’s older and more confident and it strikes a certain chord within Kelley. They joke around and pull an abundance of pranks on their teammates, by the end of camp they’re inseparable. Emily’s warm and radiant and she reminds Kelley of the ocean. She reminds her of the rhythmic percussion of waves on sand, the colour of sky before the sunsets.
They text non-stop when they go their separate ways, most mornings, Emily will wake her up with a facetime call. Emily eases the part of her heart that’s still a little broken. She seeps through the cracks of Kelley’s heart without her even knowing it. Emily makes her head dizzy and warm and fuzzy. She distracts her from the fact that she feels like her whole life’s falling apart. She makes her forget about the fact that she hasn’t called home in weeks because of her looming fear of disappointing her parents.
She knows that her parents wouldn’t care if he broke up with her but her mom loved him. Cam wasn’t a bad guy, he was there for her, was supportive, and very loyal. He stood by her every step of the way and he was her best friend. That’s why it hurts so much because she’s also losing her best friend.
Kelley’s favorite thing about Emily is that she listens. She listens to Kelley’s stupid jokes and weird theories. She listens to weird thoughts that come into her head in the shower, her stupid rants about the delivery man being rude.
With the new NWSL league forming, Kelley joins Sky Blue and Emily flies out and surprises her after her first game. They lose badly to Chicago and the only thing that she wants to do is go home to a warm bed. There, in the middle of her annoyance was Emily, standing by her car when she walks out into the player parking lot.
She drops everything and leans into the hug, her legs feel like jello and she’s not sure if it was from the exhausting game or Emily being that close.
In the past few weeks, their conversations had become flirtatious banter with neither of them willing to confront it. It feels weird to have Emily in front of her all of a sudden but she felt comfortable. The blonde defender holds on for dear life as Kelley drives them back in record time.
“Kelley, you can’t get rid of me that easily!”
“I wasn’t trying to get rid of you, I was just driving,”
“Like a maniac?”
“Well, that’s one way to put it,”
______________
Kelley hates Friday nights, well maybe except this one, because this one has Emily falling asleep on her shoulder.
She’s tense at first but once she relaxes into the sleeping girl currently pressed into her side. Emily looks soft and Kelley gently runs her fingers through her blonde locks. A lot of different feelings were currently being felt and she’s not sure which one to trust at this point. She’s almost positive that she hasn’t been getting the wrong signal, Emily’s pretty straight forward.
Emily Sonnett is a very affectionate person, Kelley knows this, but she’s never seen her let down her guard quite this much. It makes her feel warm that she gets to see this side of her.
Emily stirs from the loud explosion sounds coming from the TV and she stretches her arms before cuddling back into Kelley’s side. Kelley smiles gently at her and tucks a loose strand of hair back behind Emily’ ear. Then she trails her thumb and traces along Emily’s jawline, then she drops her hand and focuses back on the movie.
Emily watches her more than the movie and the smirk on Kelley’s face doesn’t leave the whole time.
______________
Emily kisses her on a Friday Night after they win the World Cup.
The after party was definitely one for the books. The whole team was wasted or at least buzzed (Christie’s children were there). Kelley decided to take a breather on the balcony to let it all sink in.
She won the freaking world cup. And she scored.
A gentle hand curled around her arm distracting her from her thoughts. She turned and there stood Emily drunkily, who nuzzled her face into Kelley’s skin and wrapped her arms around her waist. They sway in silence for a few minutes before Emily whispers something.
“I’m so fucking proud of you I could die,”
“Yea?”
“Yea”
Emily’s grip loosened as she pulls back slightly to look at the girl. She reached out to cup Emily’s face, running her thumb over her jaw. Emily’s breath hitches as Kelley leans in and kisses her slow and chaste, conveying her unspoken emotions. She feels her arms around her neck as Emily pulls her down for another kiss.
Neither of them were going anywhere.
Kelley was starting to like Friday Nights.
______________
Kelley falls in love on a Friday Night.
They’re slow dancing at Allie’s wedding and she’s pretty sure she’s never been more in love with someone in her life. And yea, maybe she’s had a little too much champagne, and maybe she’s not in the right mindset but when Emily looks at her in that soft way she’s already too far gone.
They continue to move to the music, her hands brushing against the bare skin cut out from Emily’s dress. Her eyes never leave her as even when Emily spins her around clumsily and pulls her back so close that she could feel her warm breath against her neck and it takes every bit of her willpower not to kiss her right there.
But she can’t, because no one knows about them yet.
She pushes that thought to the back of her mind because here and now, the only thing that mattered was Emily.
Maybe it was the champagne coursing through her system or the way that Emily looked under those lights, but she doesn’t regret whispering ‘I love you’.
Especially when Emily’s eyes light up wide and shining with affection making Kelley’s breath catch in her throat.
She wouldn’t have it any other way.
______________
They kind of just stop hiding their relationship and Kelley realizes all the things that she’s missed so dearly. Like being able to publically tangle her hands in Emily’s or to be able to kiss her when she felt the urge.
She cherishes the mornings that she gets to wake up to Emily, sound asleep hair falling over her shoulder, contently snoring lightly. It reminds her that the distance is worth it, the soft conversations and pillow talk are worth the distance.
When Emily opens her eyes she feels the air leave her lungs for a second. There’s something about the way Emily smiles at her softly before burying her face back into the crook of Kelley’s neck claiming, “It’s an ungodly hour to be awake,”
Sometimes Kelley swears she loves Emily so much it feels overwhelming.
She wouldn’t have it any other way.