What do you mean?
I'm sorry by the way
Never coming around
Be so sweet if things just stayed the same
Eden huffed as she entered her home. There was laughter as she placed her purse down on the small table in the foyer and rummaged for her car keys to place them on the hook.
The stray family members strewn about her house served to make her smile. Which was a relief after the day she had.
She had always thought about the possibility of running into Alex again. She figured it would have been closer to when they broke up, but better late than never she supposed.
She tries not to think of the look on Alex's face when she spotted her. The look Eden was sure to be giving back to her. It had been three years for christ sake. She didn't need to deal with this.
Naomi, her younger sister, came over to greet her as she walked in. Her daughter waddled behind her. Naomi and her husband, Mathias, were the last of the family to leave after the christmas and new year celebration. Her other 3 siblings and their family back in their own homes already.
Naomi was always just slow.
"Aunty E!" The three year old reached up towards her Aunt excitedly.
"Hello, my little chocolate drop! Were you good for your mommy and daddy while I was gone?"
"Yeah! I took a bath." Madison laid her head down on Eden's chest, seeming to get tired in the middle of her sentence. It was probably a result of the bath, those normally put her out like a light.
Eden cooed at the girl as she followed her sister into her kitchen. She set about rummaging through the cupboards as Naomi stared at her.
"Have you seen the Lucky Charms?" Eden asked quietly, as not to wake the sleeping child on her shoulder.
Naomi pointed to the spot next to her. She had looked right at the box about three seconds before. Naomi looked like she wanted to say something but kept it to herself for the time being.
"I thought you were on a diet." Naomi said with a raised eyebrow. She grabbed her daughter away from her sister so she had free use of her arms.
"I am." Eden said casually, she continued to prepare her dinner, she looked at the clock, "but when you have a metabolism as good as mine, and a personal trainer that cost about as much as a used car, you can afford to cheat sometimes." Eden smirked cheekily.
Naomi rolled her eyes. Something was off. She could sense it. It was like some kind of disturbance in the sisterly bond that they shared. Their youngest sister, Sarai, could probably feel it too and would be calling soon.
She sighed as Eden missed her mouth for the third time, instead her lucky charms ending up splattering back into the bowl.
"What's wrong?" Naomi questioned. Her eyes narrowed at her older sister. Mentally daring her to lie.
"Nothing." Eden frowned. Whatever Naomi thought she knew, she very much did not.
"Don't lie to me. I'll call mom. Something is wrong. You look like you saw a ghost and don't want to yell anybody because they'll think you're crazy."
Eden briefly thinks of the benefits of lying to her sister. Affer much deliberation she decides the cons outdo the pros and she really is scared of her mom.
"I saw...Alex today." Eden takes a deep breath. Today held a record for how many times she had said the woman's name in years.
Naomi's eyes widen and she immediately feels a bit bad for asking, but Eden was going to end up letting that eat away at her.
"Oh, Eden." She wishes she knew what to say. There was an unspoken rule that no one spoke about the breakup. At all.
It took awhile for the family to get used to the soccer player not being around. She thinks their mother might have taken it harder than Eden. She complained for weeks, telling Eden she had made a huge mistake and she would regret it.
And of course her mother had been correct, but she didn't need to know that.
"Are you okay?" Naomi watched her older sister's face twist into several different emotions.
"I...don't know. She looks...good? Like she's doing fine on her own. Without me. But I also can't help but feel like we've got unfinished business. Like we're not done yet. But, it was three years ago, and I don't think I can open up my heart again like that. Not to her. Just for it to be thrown into a wood chipper all over again." Eden explained, her face looked a bit pained. She was probably biting the inside of her cheek. A nervous tick all four siblings had picked up from their dad.
"You miss her. You still love her."
Eden shook her head solemnly, "But she never loved me."
Naomi frowned some more. Somehow, she didn't believe that was quite true.
☆☆☆☆
August 2015
She had always felt the most relaxed when she was in the ocean. It didn't matter what she was doing. As long as she could smell the saltwater and hear the crashing waves, she was at peace.
She thinks she's going to have to add Eden Young's laughter to the list of things that relaxes her. Because there is nothing like it in the entire world.
Eden brushed a stray soaked braid away from her face as her head broke the surface.
She had fallen off the surfboard for the 15th time that day. Alex said she was making progress but she didn't quite believe her.
The first time she had fallen and went under she had a brief panic attack. Apparently, she knew how to swim, but had conveniently forgotten that.
Alex had easily pulled her up by her upper arm. She laughed through the entire ordeal and the only reason she's still alive is because Eden had decided it was cute when the brunette snorted and her grey eyes filled with tears.
As Eden climbs back onto her pink and yellow shortboard for the nth time, Alex suggests that they end their lesson there.
"You might be full after swallowing all that water, but there's a nice seafood place up the beach if you want to get some real food." Alex deftly avoids the splash of water aimed for her.
"Haha. And yes, I do want to get real food. Though, I think my thirst is quenched for days to come." Eden crosses her arms petulantly.
"You have terrible balance. It's fine. We'll work on it."
☆☆☆☆
It's a small family owned place that Alex has clearly been to many times. The staff treat her like family and she doesn't even have to tell the waitress what she wants. The waitress flicks her eyes to Eden curiously.
For such a small restaurant, the menu is huge, and Eden's eyes cross at all the possibilities. Alex eventually takes pity on her and orders for her. She assumes it's the same thing Alex got for herself. The waitress nods politely and then retreats.
"Thank you."
Alex looks up from where she was peering through the straw of her drink, "For what?"
"For helping me. With the surfing and just now." Eden smiles shyly, she's sure she'd be blushing if she were that kind of woman.
"It's no problem." She shrugged with a smile.
The waitress brings over appetizers that Alex points out she didn't ask for. The waitress promptly ignores her.
"So, why'd you want to learn how to surf?" Alex asked, it was something she had been meaning to inquire about amd this seemed like as good a time as any.
"A shoot." Eden says nonchalantly.
"A shoot?"
"A photoshoot. I'm a model." Eden seems to shrink a bit in her seat.
"Well I could've told you that." Alex says with a smirk.
"Flatterer. I have a shoot coming up for some beach and swim apparel company and they want me on a paddleboard. I'm just a perfectionist and decided to take it a step further."
Alex nodded, she understood perfectionism. It was probably her middle name.
"I'm a soccer player." She hates saying that. It sounds so pretentious. Especially, when people start to guess levels and she has to tell them she plays for the fucking country.
"I know, Alex."
Alex sputtered, "You know?"
"I'm not stupid, Alex. Besides, I do preliminary background checks on all the people I go out with. Dad was a cop. Also, I played in college, at Cornell. It was kind of hard not hear about you."
Alex sighed, she's not sure why she's surprised Eden knows what she does, they had just came off a world cup win, her face was everywhere, "What did this background check tell you?"
Eden was quiet for a moment, "Your name should start with a 'J'. You're older than me by almost exactly a year. We grew up 45 minutes away from each other. And, you're really, really nice to look at, but I kind of already knew that one." Eden's eyes dilate a bit, Alex lifts an eyebrow a bit but otherwise doesn't say anything about it.
"Well, this thing seems like it really knows it's stuff. Did it tell you if we'd have a second date?" She smirks, proud of herself for slipping that in there so smoothly.
"No." Alex's face drops a bit, "It did tell me that we'd have a third one, though."
The soccer player's face scrunched up curiously. Eden giggled at her confusion, "Look around, Alex. This a date. So, that means our coffee outing was the first, this is the second, and a date after this would be the third."
Alex thought about it for a second. She supposed they were on a date right then. Things just seemed so natural, so easy with Eden that she hadn't even noticed.
The waitress comes back with their meals a few minutes later. They talk and laugh for the rest of the evening.
☆☆☆☆
The two walked side by side as they approached Eden's house.
The large beach house stood on the bank, Alex stared up at it with an impressed glance. She walked with Eden until they reached the front door.
"So, this is me." Eden shrugged. This seemed like an odd time to end their date. They were enjoying each other and she didn't want it to end.
"Yeah, it's nice." Alex bit her lip nervously as she stared back at Eden.
She's being partially illuminated by the yellow light of the porch lamp, but it's all Alex needs to recognize that look she's getting. Her eyes breifly flick to Eden's full lips.
"So, did you wan-" Alex isn't really sure why she started talking in the first place, but she is forever grateful for Eden shutting her up.
If you ask Eden, she'll tell you kissing Alex Morgan is like drowning in gold. There's liquid in your lungs, but there's something elegant and expensive about your death.
Alex will tell you she forgot, just to kiss to Eden again for a breif reminder. Then she'll tell you it's like being down in game by three points in the 80th minute, and suddenly you're leading the strike to game winning goals.
"Do you want to come inside?" Eden's breath is shallow and her lips are a bit swollen. Alex vows to keep them that way for at least the rest of the night.
"Absolutely."
All the lights couldn't put out the dark
Runnin' through my heart
Lights up and they know who you are
Know who you are
Do you know who you are?