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Three years of a relationship meant that you had a lot of time to learn as much as possible about your partner.
You adapted your life around the things you learn about them and you accept things that you once brushed off or didn’t think twice about.
Being in the public eye openly for more than half the time of their relationship meant that Tobin and Christen shared things with thousands of people on a regular basis. Still there were things that they were able to keep to themselves.
They were professionals at keeping their private life private. That’s why no one knew about their shared apartment in Portland or their shared home in LA until they wanted them to know. No one knew about the works to get Christen onto the Thorns until the moment after the contract was signed. They were gifted and subtle when it came to the big things but they were always horrible at hiding the small things like the looks they gave each other on the pitch or how close they always seemed to be in group outings.
With having a decent amount of their lives in the public eye, the two knew that there were a lot of somewhat intimate details about them as individuals that people knew. Tobin’s love for her tractors as a kid was meant for an embarrassing ‘meeting the parents for the first time’ story and not something told to the world ahead of the Olympics. So many other things came to mind, too, but they found comfort in knowing that they had their own intimate moments that no one else knew about.
One thing for sure that Tobin was actually glad that the world knew about was Christen’s to-do list. After winning the World Cup and following up with the Olympic gold, people joked that Christen couldn’t possibly have that anymore because she’s already accomplished so much.
Despite knowing this, Christen always knew that that list was never for big accomplishments rather it was about little ones. Daily ones. She embraced the little victories in life just as much as she did the big ones.
Despite always having this mentality, Christen came to the realization one day that she didn’t need to go back a check things off on a list at the end of the night to make her see what she’s accomplished. All she had to do was turn over and see Tobin laying next to her to realize all of that.
When Christen decided to reveal this little fact during an interview, she single-handedly broke the internet for a good week. Knowing this she added in that that was only part of the reason why she stopped and that the other part was because Tobin would constantly sneak something onto her list like ‘buy Tobin things’ or ‘let Tobin go on a trip with Kelley, Alex and Ashlyn (especially because she promises not to let Kelley be in charge of the drinks again).’
It had been months since when Tobin brought up one morning before a Thorns’ practice that she was going to start her own to-do list for each day. To say Christen was a little shocked would be an understatement but Tobin went on to explain how she wanted to keep track of things involving her nephew and she needed to do some things each day to ensure that Allie and Alex didn’t yell at her for forgetting like always.
That was enough of an explanation for Christen and the topic was rarely brought up again even after the fact that Christen mentally noted that she almost never saw Tobin even so much as open the book she claimed her lists were in.
It does cause her to raise a few eyebrows though when suddenly the book makes an appearance when the two go to visit Christen’s family in LA a few months before the World Cup in France. Still Christen didn’t question anything.
Tobin was thankful for this even though she knew she’d easily be able to get out of it had Christen brought it up. Tobin had a plan though and it needed to be now. It needed to happen where it all started for them.
Right after the 2015 Victory Tour, Christen invited Tobin to spend some time with her in LA since Tobin wasn’t exactly ready to go back to New Jersey. The two had been dancing around each other ever since shortly after Tobin broke up with Shirley Cruz. It took a night on the beach near Christen’s parents’ house for things to be revealed and ever since then, the rest had been history.
Now here they were on the same beach. The night had been filled with laughs and a lot of mentions of the future. Of course, Christen’s family knew of Tobin’s plans so they carefully avoided one big future topic.
Now things were a little more relaxed. Christen was sitting in between Tobin’s legs with her back pressed against her front and the two were just watching the waves as the sun went down in the distance. Tobin brought her ‘to-do list’ book out with her and tried ever so subtly to nudge it every so often to try to get Christen to notice it. The younger girl wasn’t taking the bait though because her focus was too engulfed in the scenery in front of them.
“This is where it all started.” Christen broke the silence between them as she leaned more into Tobin and released a soft sigh.
Tobin couldn’t help but smile before she leaned her head over slightly to give her a kiss on the cheek. “Mhm.” She let out as she rested her chin on Christen’s shoulder.
“It’s kind of crazy, right?”
Tobin just let out a hum and she knew judging from the sigh Christen let out that she was going to get the response she wanted.
“Why are you being weird?” Christen shifted slightly to look back at her.
“Sorry, I’m just a little distracted.”
Christen searched Tobin’s eyes and she couldn’t quite read her for the first time in awhile.
“Was it because of tonight? I told my parents not to bring up the World Cup. Tyler didn’t get the memo so that was my fault….” She was about to start rambling but Tobin shaking her head caused her to stop.
The World Cup in France meant the potential end of Tobin’s international career. The Press family knew that it was a possibility but Tobin hadn’t decided for sure yet and Christen knew that the topic was somewhat sensitive.
“Chris, no. It’s cool. I can talk to family about it. I just….talking to everyone else is a little different, you know?”
Christen nodded slowly before she leaned over to kiss her and mumbled an ‘I know’ against her lip.
“So what has you distracted then?” Christen finally brought the conversation back to the original topic.
“Oh….” Tobin let out as her eyes shifted to the book on the water. “You know, with the..” She cleared her throat softly to calm her nerves a little. “Just that since the topic of the World Cup and stuff has been coming up, I’ve just been thinking a little about how I really haven’t accomplished anything.”
Christen wasn’t following at all and she was about start listing off Tobin’s accomplishments when she realized where Tobin was now looking.
“You expect me to believe you’ve actually been writing in this….” She let out a soft laugh but immediately regretted it because she was wrong this whole time. Maybe Tobin wrote things down every single night when she was ‘stewing’ and Christen never once too the time to look at what she wanted to do and ask if she could help them accomplish things. Suddenly, her head was spinning and it didn’t help that Tobin was shifting back so that she could put some space between them.
Christen reached for the book and opened the first page she could. It was blank. She flipped through the pages until she was at the first page. This was the only page with any writing on it and it was only two words.
Marry Christen.
Christen’s mouth dropped open slightly and she was so lost in the words that she didn’t notice Tobin’s movements. When she looked up at her, she was wearing that goofy grin that Christen fell in love with and in her hand was the most beautiful ring Christen had ever seen.
“I’ve accomplished a lot when it’s come to soccer. It’s been everything I ever dreamed about but I’ve always known something was missing. That all changed though when we figured everything out on this beach years ago.” Christen could feel herself start to tear up and she was blown away by Tobin’s words already because she knows that this isn’t normal for her. “You’ve been more to me than any championship or any trip I’ve taken and honestly, being able to marry you and spend the rest of my life with you would be better than all the Olympic gold and World Cups in history. So Christen, will you please help me accomplish the one thing I’ve always wanted? Will you marry me?”
The words barely even left Tobin’s mouth when Christen leaned forward to kiss her. She broke apart after a moment with a wide smile and tears running down her face but she nodded quickly.
“Yes, yes. Of course, I’ll marry you.”
It was Tobin’s turn to smile and with somewhat clumsy hands, she reached for Christen’s left one and slipped the ring on her finger before leaning over to kiss her again.
When they pulled away finally, it felt like their first kiss all over again and the two were smiling like idiots. Christen’s focus went to the ring and she was honestly blown away by it.
“Alex and Allie helped a lot….with everything.” Tobin didn’t even need to say it because Christen knew that was the case. She also figured her family had a little something to do with everything, too.
“I figured.” Christen teased her. “I love it though and I love you.”
“I love you, too.” Tobin noticed that Christen’s family were all suddenly looking out the window in anticipation so she slowly got up and offered her hand to Christen. Before she could get in another word, Christen beat her to it.
“Tobin, wait….I just….” She let out a laugh because she was still on cloud nine but there were still things she wanted to say. “I’m just really happy right now. I know that we’ve been taking a lot of steps together lately but this one is huge and it means so much to me that you chose to do it here. You’re the greatest thing to happen to me and yes, even greater than any trophy or championship. I know we want to win this summer and defend our title but I’ve already won. I won that night on this beach and now I’m going to be winning for the rest of our lives so thank you….”
“That was kind of lame.” Tobin teased her immediately and it earned a slap on the arm. “Hey, you were supposed to leave the speeches to me.”
“You mean speeches probably written by Alex and Allie that you just delivered to me.”
“Hey! That’s not entirely true.” It was partly true okay. Alex and Allie set the groundwork for the speech and Tobin added in some things and actually said it.
Christen’s laughing caused Tobin to run up to her and pick her up.
“Stop.” Christen said in between laughs. “You know this is actually better for me.” She noted as Tobin started walking her towards the house.
“Oh this isn’t me getting back at you for being mean. This is me getting you to your parents quickly so you can tell them before they explode. Later on will be me getting back at you for being mean.”
There was a lot running through Christen’s mind after that comment. First of all, her parents obviously knew Tobin’s plans. Second of all, she was going to get to walk in there and tell them she was getting married to the woman they considered to be their other daughter anyways. Third, she suddenly wanted nothing more than for it to be later that night so she could see what else Tobin had planned now.
Lastly, the thing that stuck out in her head the most was that she was engaged. She was getting married and suddenly, every accomplishment she had in the past paled in comparison to this and she was more than okay with that.