Chapter Text
It started out like every other morning shift at the Smoothie Stop for Emily Sonnett. She, along with the opening manager and one other employee prepped the day's inventory, opened shop at 8 am and handled the influx of customers until clocking out.
Luckily for Emily, she typically got assigned to work all of her shifts with her best friend/roommate Lindsey and their other friend Tobin working as the shift manager.
All three were students at the University of Southern California, playing on the college's soccer team, the Trojans, which is where they all met.
Both Emily and Lindsey were going into their sophomore years at USC, while Tobin was an up-and-coming senior. But classes were over for the summer and there were two weeks until their preseason started, so they stuck around Los Angeles in order to work at the Smoothie Stop and to learn how to surf. Or at least try to learn how to surf.
Tobin was very patient with the two younger girls, but it was basically a lost cause. Emily couldn't stand up on the board for longer than three seconds, and although Lindsey was admittedly better than Emily, she never got the chance to show off her natural talent before the other girl was kicking at her board, knocking her off and causing the two to try and drown one another.
They also played pick up at the local park, mostly running circles around guys who seemed to barely expect them to be able to complete a pass, let alone nutmeg–Tobin–or head a ball–Lindsey–into the net.
Emily preferred stealing the ball from an unsuspecting boy, watching in amusement as they tried to figure out how she managed to pluck it from their feet.
"Yo, Sonnett!" Tobin asked from the other end of the counter, wiping it with a towel. "Can you grab more medium cups from the storage room?"
They had barely been open for an hour and the morning rush had hit them with full force, but it had died down enough for Emily to be able to breathe instead of moving from blender to blender making smoothies.
“You got it, boss!” Emily straightened up, giving the older girl a mock salute before marching off to the back in search of some cups.
“Stop calling me boss!” Tobin called after her.
Emily turned around, walking backward toward the door and shot Tobin her signature finger guns, “You got it, sir!”
She was pretty sure it was Tobin and not the door that groaned when she pushed it open and stepped into the back. Emily found the cups easily enough but took a moment to answer a text from her sister, Emma, who wanted to know if Emily had taken one of her favorite pairs of sweatpants the last time she at home was in Georgia.
Obviously, she told her sister that no, she hadn’t stolen the prized article of clothing, when in fact, she knew for sure they were wedged in the third drawer of her dresser.
Emily shoved open the door and was in the middle of tearing open one of the plastic bags of cups when her eyes meet a pair of striking hazel ones staring back at her from the other side of the counter. There was a brief moment where she lost all control of her body, her arms gaining a mind of their own and causing the bag of cups to rip open and scatter across the floor.
But the center back was too busy staring at the person belonging to the hazel eyes to notice the cups rolling around at her feet. The owner of said eyes was even more striking once Emily was able to break eye-contact and give her a once over.
She was a couple of inches shorter than Emily herself, with a light tan that came from living in Los Angeles and soft-looking brown hair that Emily ached to run her fingers through. It was a shocking thought, considering she’s never met this girl. Freckles were dotted across the other girl’s face, a cute nose positioned right in the center of them. She had an athletic build, lean and toned in a way that Emily was familiar with.
But what really caught her attention, besides the captivating hazel eyes, was the bright smile flashing her way.
“Earth to Sonnett,” a hand waved in front of her face, fingers snapping several times, “it’s time to return from dreamland.”
Emily shoved Lindsey’s arm out of her way and blinked her eyes a couple of times, drawing them away from the mysterious pretty stranger and studying the scene around her, smoothie cups still lying scattered at her feet.
There were three girls standing on the other side of the counter along with Tobin. No one else was inside the small smoothie joint.
The first was standing the closest to the counter, resting her tanned arm on the marble surface. She had striking blue eyes that seemed to stare into Emily’s soul, a thoughtful frown tugging at her lips as she gazed at Emily.
Next to the blue-eyed girl was another girl with long, dark curly brown hair and grey eyes. Her skin was a shade of olive that Emily could only dream of achieving, a warm smile plastered on her face.
And of course, the last was the one with the beautiful smile and hazel eyes.
“Sonnett,” Tobin cleared her throat, causing the girl to notice how closely her friend was standing to the curly-haired girl, before gesturing with an arm to the three newcomers. “This is Christen,” she pointed to the blue-eyed girl and then the freckled-face beauty, “and her friends, Alex and Kelley.”
Kelley.
It fit the girl with the warm eyes in a way that Emily couldn’t quite describe, yet she instinctively wanted to write it down so that she would never forget it. Not that she could when its owner had eyes like that.
But Emily didn’t have time to think about doodling Kelley’s name on a smoothie cup because she was expected to say something. Yet, her brain was having trouble sending the signal to her mouth to form words.
“So, you must be the famous Christen Tobin’s been talking so much about,” Lindsey cut in, shooting Emily a confused look before turning back to the rest of them. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
Tobin’s faced flushed when Christen turned to smile at her, scratching at the back of her neck.
That’s when Emily noticed the lettering on Christen’s shirt that spelled out, ‘University of California Los Angeles.’ Which is when her brain finally decided to start working again.
“You didn’t say Christen went to…UCLA,” Emily furrowed her eyebrows at the name of their school’s biggest rival.
Tobin glared at her in a way that said, ‘I didn’t tell you because I know you’re an idiot.’
Christen, on the other hand, either ignored Emily’s tone or was too nice to call her out on it. It was probably the latter. “Kelley, Alex and I play soccer at UCLA.”
“You got to a problem?” Alex asked, narrowing her eyes at Emily, taking on a threatening stance, probably expecting another comment from the blonde.
“I think what Sonny meant to say was ‘it’s nice to meet you’,” Lindsey nudged her friend in the ribs. “Right, Sonnett?”
Before Emily could agree with Lindsey’s statement─even though she meant exactly what she said─another voice beat her to it.
“It’s alright,” Kelley smirked, her voice huskier thank Emily had imagined it would be, hand resting on her hip. “She’s probably still mad that we knocked USC out of playoffs last year.”
“Psh!” Emily scoffed, crossing her arms and momentarily forgetting her attraction to the other girl, “You got lucky. That ref practically gifted your team that PK because your player was fouled outside of the box.”
“Keep dreaming,” the other girl shared a laugh with her teammates. “Maybe you need glasses. In fact, I think you’d look super adorable with some big frames.”
Emily felt her face heat up at the attention, but instead of giving Kelley a response, she huffed and bent down to clean up the mess she’d made.
“Wow, I don’t think anyone’s ever been able to shut Sonnett up so fast,” commented Lindsey, who ducked to avoid the cup that Emily had thrown in her direction. “That must be a record.”
Kelley shrugged, smirk still in place, “I tend to be pretty good at most things.”
“Yeah, maybe you should keep dreaming, too” Alex muttered loudly enough for them all to hear, resulting in the group, besides Emily, who was too busy studying cups, to burst into loud laughter.
“Rude,” Kelley pouted for a moment, before joining in.
Her laugh might just be the best thing Emily’s ever heard, aside from the sound of the soccer ball hitting the back of the net in the rare few times she’s ever scored a goal.
Once she had gathered up all the plastic cups and thrown them in the garbage, she took the remaining bag of cups and stacked them next to each of the blenders. She tried to ignore the conversation that was happening right next to her, but she couldn’t stop herself from glancing over and occasionally looking at Kelley.
Lindsey went back to cleaning some of the machines, while Tobin continued to chat with the UCLA athletes, only pausing to take their order and give it to the two sophomores. Emily scribbled their names down on each cup, while Lindsey gathered the necessary ingredients for their drinks.
When their drinks were finished, Emily made sure to hand Kelley hers after she did the same to Christen and Alex.
“Miss Kelley?” Kelley raised her eyebrows at Emily, a questioning look on her face at the prefix written on the clear plastic.
“Well, I like to jazz them up a little,” Emily explained, “and something about you just screams ‘Southern Belle’ so…”
“You got that right,” the other girl grinned, an accent leaking into her voice.
“How come mine just says scary?” Alex butted in, one perfectly manicured eyebrow lifted while she stared at Emily with her icy blue eyes.
Emily lifted a shoulder, “Have you looked at yourself in the mirror? Your kind of terrifying when you’re glaring at someone. Yes, just like that!”
Luckily, Kelley put a hand on her friend’s shoulder before she could vault over the counter and likely strangle the smoothie girl.
There was no need for Christen to ask why Emily had written ‘Tobin’s Girlfriend’ on hers. It was pretty self-explanatory and got its desired effect when both Christen and Tobin’s faces turned as red as tomatoes.
The three soccer players only stuck around for a few more minutes when the chime of the front door opening signaled new customers.
“I’ll see you around Sonnett,” Kelley winked at her before following her friends out the door, leaving the employees to deal with the incoming orders.
“Why would she be seeing me around?” Emily turned to Lindsey with her question, continuing when her friend didn’t respond, “I don’t make a habit of stepping foot in enemy territory.”
Rolling her eyes, Lindsey gestured to the only other employee in the building, “That’s why you big dummy.”
Tobin stared after them, her eyes following Christen’s figure until it disappeared from sight through the storefront window. She had a dazed look in her eyes and a faint smile on her lips.
“Should we slap her or something?” Emily whispered loudly to Lindsey after taking the last customer in lines order.
Her tall blonde friend just snickered from her spot in front of one of the blenders.
“I heard that!” Tobin ordered, “Get back to work you two!”
“Dude, what the heck happened to you today?”
Lindsey’s question drew Emily’s attention away from the latest episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians to see the other blonde tap the ball Tobin had been juggling back to her after the older girl had dropped it. Most likely getting distracted by an incoming text message from Christen, who she had been spending a lot of time with as of late.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Emily hit play on the remote, only for Lindsey to station herself in front of the screen, blocking Emily’s view of Kim and Kourtney yelling at each other over a pair of earrings.
“You know,” Lindsey raised an eyebrow, “when we met Christen, and more specifically, her friend Kelley at the Stop today.”
“And?” asked Emily, letting the television remote drop onto the couch cushion, resigned to the fact that her friend wasn’t going to let this one go.
Sometimes she wished the midfielder was more like Tobin in the sense that the senior tended to let things go much easier. But Lindsey was nothing if not persistent when it came to their friendship and one way or another, she typically got what she wanted.
“You’re telling me that you’ve been pretending to be someone entirely different the entire time we’ve known each other?” Lindsey looked at her, expression swarming with doubt at what she had just said, sarcasm heavy in her voice.
“Well, no-,” she started to defend herself, only to be cut off when Lindsey continued.
“Oh, so then there’s another reason behind your reaction to a pretty girl today?” her friend gestured over to Tobin, who was sitting in the armchair and paying them little to no attention. “Please share with the class.”
Emily pursed her lips, unsure of how to explain her actions, “I’m just having an off day.”
Lindsey crossed her arms, “I’ve witnessed some of your off days and they were nothing like the train wreck I couldn’t tear my eyes away from this morning.”
“It wasn’t that bad,” tried Emily, in an attempt to salvage her self-esteem.
“Sonnett, I’ve seen you flirt with girls with no shame. Sure, you’re awkward sometimes, but never have you once spilled so much word vomit in the year that I’ve known you,” her best friend deadpanned. “You’ve literally looked like an idiot in front of dozens of girls and not once have you ever been embarrassed about it.”
“I wasn’t embarrassed!” was thing Emily chose to focus on. It was the only thing she thought she could attempt to refute.
Rolling her eyes, Lindsey shifted her weight, “You were as red as a tomato, Son. Right, Tobin?”
Tobin looked up distractedly from her phone, as if she had just noticed she wasn’t the only one in the room.
“Sure thing.”
Emily opened her mouth to deny Lindsey’s accusations, but she was too exhausted to try. Instead, she slumped down, letting the couch envelop her and wishing that maybe it would swallow her up so that she could escape this conversation.
Eventually, she realized that Lindsey wasn’t leaving without an answer, which was extremely Lindsey-like of her.
“Fine,” she sighed out, “maybe I was a little embarrassed.”
Once more, Lindsey raised an eyebrow with an expression that screamed, ‘you’re kidding me.’
“Okay, okay I was very embarrassed,” admitted Emily, glaring at Lindsey, “are you happy now?”
“I’d be happier if you answered my original question about what the hell happened this morning,” Lindsey pushed, finally moving from in front of the TV and perching on the edge of the couch.
Sighing, Emily ran her hand over her hair, grasping at the band that was managing to hold her messy bun the slightest bit together and pulling it out. It was something else for her to focus her attention on instead of meeting Lindsey’s─for once─serious blue eyes.
“I just wasn’t expecting Tobin to have caught the interest of a girl as smoking as Christen,” Emily sucked in a deep breath when Lindsey’s eyes just narrowed at her, ignoring Tobin’s disgruntled shout of ‘hey!’ “and maybe that her friend was insanely pretty, too,” she mumbled.
Lindsey fell back into the couch with a satisfied thump, resting her feet up on the coffee table and turning her head the slightest amount to give her friend an exasperated sigh.
“Thank god,” she groaned, “that was worse than suicides after eating four donuts.”
“You’re only saying that because you threw up and I didn’t,” proclaimed Emily, sending the other girl a teasing grin, dodging the elbow that came as a result.
Emily danced into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, letting the cool air coming from the fridge soothe her burning cheeks in hopes of salvaging the pride that only she cared about.
“At least I didn’t lose my cool in front someone on our biggest rival’s soccer team,” Lindsey called after Emily as the shorter blonde retreated to her bedroom.
You just had an off day, she told herself, it’s not going to happen again.
The next time Emily encountered Kelley O’Hara didn’t go any better than the first time. In fact, she would rather Groundhogs Day their initial meeting for the rest of her life than go through their second one again.
Sure, she knew she was a little bit of a klutz, but never anything like this.
Emily was in the midst of wiping down one of the many tables in the shop when the bells above the door signaled a newcomer. Because Lindsey was manning the counter and Tobin was somewhere in the back, she didn’t turn from her task, instead focusing on removing a stubborn stain of ‘who knows what’ from its surface.
It wasn’t until she was finished that she realized no one had said anything. So, she looked over where Lindsey was supposed to be helping whoever had come through the door, clutching a half-drunk smoothie that some kid had left behind, only to see Lindsey quickly pull out her phone and pretend that she wasn’t watching her.
If she hadn’t made eye-contact before averting her gaze, Emily may have believed her little innocent act. But the more pressing matter than Lindsey’s odd behavior was the sudden feeling that she was being watched, and not by her roommate. She could tell because not only was the hair on the back of her neck standing up, she also felt the sudden urge to turn around.
So, she did and found herself almost nose-to-nose with one Kelley O’Hara, who was smiling widely at her, eyes twinkling in mischief.
It’s too bad she didn’t give Emily any warning of her sudden presence because what happened next was a major blow to her street cred.
Another wave of nervousness hit her full force, much like the one she experienced the first time she saw Kelley, only this time instead of a bag of cups, she had half a smoothie in hand.
Which splattered across Kelley’s shirt when Emily jumped.
Bright pink liquid─strawberry, if Emily were to guess─soaked into the other girl’s grey t-shirt, whatever not absorbed into the fabric dripping down the front of her chest. The look on Kelley’s face would have been comical, her eyes wide and jaw dropped in shock, had Emily not been absolutely mortified.
“I-I” stuttered out Emily, glancing over to the counter for help, but quickly realized she would get none from Lindsey. Her friend was too busy doubling over in laughter to do much of anything. Emily forced her gaze back to Kelley, who’s lips were twitching into what Emily assumed would be a frown.
Quickly, Emily’s hands shot out in an attempt to salvage the situation, trying to at least wipe some of the remaining smoothie from the still speechless Kelley’s clothes. But she only proved to make the situation worse for herself when the tips of her fingers brushed against Kelley’s left breast.
Emily recoiled backward into the table she had been cleaning, nearly sending the thing careening to the floor in her haste to put as much space as she could between her and the older girl.
“Holy shit,” Emily finally found her voice, fingers on each hand still flexing with a mind of their own, not getting the signal from her malfunctioning brain that they were only helping dig the hole for her grave deeper. “I’m so sorry!”
There was a moment where she expected Kelley just tear into her for ruining her stupid UCLA shirt that would look better in a trashcan than on her small frame, or at least laugh at her for making a fool out of herself.
Yet, the other girl had rested her arm against the wall and shot Emily a devilish smirk.
“If you wanted a feel all you had to do was ask,” Kelley raised her eyebrows suggestively.
Emily’s reaction appeared to be exactly what she was going for if her widening smile was any indication. “What? No! I would never─ “
Her attempt to put together an excuse was thankfully cut off before she could embarrass herself any further. Because if Emily was good at anything, it was learning new dance moves and making a fool out of herself, especially in front of very pretty girls.
“Emily, relax, I’m only kidding,” the spot on her arm that Kelley rested her hand on to give a reassuring squeeze erupted into goosebumps beneath the other girl’s fingertips, the appendage suddenly burning as if someone had doused it in gasoline and lit a match.
So, instead of her heart beating out of her chest due to Kelley’s dirty joke it was now racing because of how close she was standing in proximity to Emily.
“Emily are you alright?” Kelley asked, adopting a more concerned look when she didn’t respond.
“No, I mean, yeah I’m fine,” Emily forced herself to act normal and not like the spaz she is. “It’s just, normally people call me Sonnett or Sonny. Only my mom, dad and sister call me Emily.”
It was true, even Emily’s high school teachers started referring to her as Sonnett because of her tendency for getting into trouble. Once stepping foot onto the USC soccer pitch, she wasn’t even sure her coach knew her first name was Emily. She had only ever called her Sonnett, even in the serious of moments, so it was hard to tell.
Kelley bit her lip, pausing in thought, “Do you want me to call me you Sonnett, then?”
“No!” it came out before Kelley even finished her question, her mouth forming the words so quickly they practically fell out of her mouth. “You can call me Emily.”
The bright smile she’d come to associate with the hazel-eyed girl returned, resulting in a sudden pulling sensation in her gut that was new to her. While Emily had a typical freshman year at school, filled with soccer, parties, and the occasional make-out session with some cute sorority girl, she never had this feeling. Most, if not all, of the kissing was under the influence of some heavy alcohol. Whatever the hell Lindsey would mix together in a kitchen and then hand her.
Of course, this all happened after the pressure of the soccer season was over. Emily would never drink during the season, especially if Coach was the one asking.
“Okay, then Emily,” Kelley seemed to enjoy forming the name on her lips, letting it linger in the air as she tried it out, glancing down at her shirt and pausing, “do you happen to have a shirt I could borrow?”
Almost instantaneously Emily’s hands shot down to grip at the fabric of her gray t-shirt that was part of the Smoothie Stop uniform. It was tucked neatly into the khaki apron she was also forced to wear. Kelley followed her gaze to the piece of clothing before a laugh worked its way out.
“I didn’t mean the shirt off your back,” chuckled Kelley, a hand covering her mouth in an attempt to stifle her laughter. “I thought maybe you guys had some extra shirts laying around in the back.”
An image of a black drawstring bag hanging from a hook in the supply closet that doubled as the employee break room came to mind.
“Actually, I do!” Emily announced, delighted at the fact that she could actually help instead of making another mess. “Give me one second!”
Without waiting for a response, she rushed off to the double doors leading to the backroom, not even acknowledging Lindsey, who was making kissy faces at her as she passed. Only when she reached the barrier between the front and employees only did she chance looking over her shoulder at Kelley.
The other girl had moved closer to the counter to talk to Lindsey─something about the upcoming Tottenham vs. Arsenal game. The pink liquid now stained across Kelley’s dress reminding Emily of what she had been doing in the first place and she pushed past into the back room.
It didn’t take long for her fumbling fingers to open her black Adidas bag and pull out a white t-shirt from inside.
Grinning victoriously, Emily spun on her heels and marched back to deliver the piece of clothing.
“Your shirt, m’lady,” she bowed in front of an amused Kelley, holding out the aforementioned shirt and ignoring Lindsey’s raised eyebrow.
Their fingers brushed as the other girl accepted her offering, sending chills up Emily’s arm and causing goosebumps to erupt across its surface. If Kelley noticed, she didn’t say anything.
Instead, she held out the shirt, studying it for the briefest of moments, before making a dissatisfied noise and trying to give it back.
“I can’t wear this,” she said, simply.
Emily stared at the item in confusion, “Does it smell or something?”
She glanced over at Lindsey, who shrugged, obviously also unaware of why Kelley was refusing her perfectly fine shirt.
Looking between both of them, Kelley flipped the shirt over so that they could read the front, which said, ‘University of Southern California Trojans’.
“This is practically treason,” Kelley explained, pointing to the fabric.
“You’re being absolutely ridiculous,” Emily groaned, shoving the white shirt back at Kelley.
Narrowing her eyes, the older girl challenged, “Would you wear a UCLA shirt?” Emily’s wrinkled nose was enough of an answer for Kelley. “Exactly.”
Lindsey slapped her hands against the counter, glaring at the other two girls, “You’re both being idiots,” to Kelley, she said, “It’s a stupid shirt and you’re not going to be burned at the stake,” turning to her best friend, “and your ridiculous grudge against UCLA needs to end. If not for my sake, then for Tobin, who really likes Christen.”
Her admonishment worked, with Emily shutting up and Kelley finally taking the shirt back.
“She’s scary,” Kelley mock whispered, covering her mouth but still talking loudly enough for them all to hear, before slipping on the shirt.
For a couple of seconds, Emily was granted a spectacular view of Kelley’s abdomen that made her mouth go dry. Her toned stomach caused a mixture of attraction and jealousy to form in Emily’s gut. Attraction because of how good those abs looked. Jealousy because her own abs would never look as great as those. It took all of her self-control not to reach out and touch them.
All-too-soon, the other girl had pulled the shirt down to cover her stomach. She glanced at her Fitbit and her eyes widened.
“Shit,” she hissed, “I totally forgot I had to meet Alex at the mall for lunch.”
“It was nice seeing you again Kelly,” Lindsey smiled, “I’m sorry about Sonnett chucking a smoothie at you.”
“I did not chuck it!”
Giggling Kelley waved her off, “No worries. I’ll let it slide just this once because she was willing to strip so that I could have a clean shirt,” she winked at Emily, “I’ll see you guys around then?”
Lindsey nodded and nudged Emily, who quickly agreed with a dopey smile. She missed the way her taller friend’s eyes lit up.
“Son, why don’t you walk Kelley out,” she gestured to the exit.
“But the doors right there?” Emily furrowed her brow, not understanding until she felt a sharp jab to her ribs. “Kelley! Let me walk you out!”
She hopped over the counter and matched pace with the other girl. While Kelley seemed confused, a smile soon replaced the expression and she went with it. Emily glanced back to see Lindsey pointing to the door and doing a terrible job of miming opening it. She was always the last person anyone picked to be on their team for charades.
Nevertheless, Emily pulled open the door when they traveled the short distance between it and the counter.
Kelley moved forward to cross the threshold, but just as she was about to leave, she turned around.
“Hey, do you think you could call my phone?” she asked, patting the front pockets of her jeans, “I think I left it inside.”
Nodding dumbly, Emily handed over her phone and let Kelley dial her number, perplexed when the typical iPhone ringtone sounded and seemed very close. Her puzzlement grew when the other girl pulled a phone out of her back pocket and declined the call.
“Um, what?” Emily asked, not having the slightest inkling as to what was happening.
“Now I have your number,” Kelley explained, pocketing the device and grinning happily.
“You could have just asked for it,” pointed out Emily.
Cheekily, Kelley retorted, “Now, where’s the fun in that?”
And just like that, Kelley O’Hara was gone, leaving a speechless Emily and a giggling Lindsey in her wake.