The beginning of Kerr/Mewis

5.

Sam's alarm woke her at the crack of dawn, she dragged her body out from beneath her covers while her body fought the urge to throw her phone across the room and fall back asleep.
Her eyes were weary. Her muscles ached more than usual. But that didn't stop her from lacing her shoes and throwing a jersey over her head and making her way to the field.
It had been three days since the last time she spoke to Kristie properly, and while she'd been sleeping better, she also felt hollow and ill at the thought of losing their connection. She couldn't keep the excuses up, she didn't want to blow her off. She wanted nothing more than to laugh over embarrassing drunk Kristie stories and cheesy pick up lines that made Sam want to hide under the covers out of sheer cringe. But her team needed her.
She was their captain.
So their captain, she would be.

Sam started with warm ups, stretching and basic exercises. She moved on to sprint training and accuracy training, eventually focusing on ball control to finish. By the time the sun was fully up, she was drenched in sweat and puffing. She saw a figure in the distance walking towards her, eventually the figure started to run.
"Sam!" Hayley said, dressed in work out gear as well. "What are you doing here?" She asked.
Sam answered her with a pass of the soccer ball, "same as you, I hope."
Hayley smiled and passed the ball back.  "I was just going to do one of the sprint drills coach sent us."
"I just did them actually."
"And you're still alive? That's a good sign! Maybe they won't be so bad."
Sam smiled, Hayley was someone who had a flare for the dramatic, someone who could say even the barest sentences as if it was the happiest thing she'd ever said. She radiated positive energy, even while complaining. Somehow Sam just loved feeding off her abundance of energy, it kept her spirit up - and the team's too.

"Mind if I join?" Sam asked.
Hayley looked taken back. "Again? You're drenched! You're wetter than the effect I'm sure you have on Kristie."
Sam laughed and almost choked on her own spit.
"Hayley!"
Hayley grinned back. "What? It's true!"
Sam waved her concerns off, "I think after that comment, I definitely need to stick around. I'm not letting you slack off now."
Sam ran forward and stole the ball from in front of Hayley. Hayley chased after her still laughing.

They redid the drills Sam had already ran through beforehand and both tried to one up each other. The pair got so competitive, they were challenging each other to who could do the suicide sprints the fastest. It was close, but Sam finished first, barely a breath in front.
They both collapsed on the grass and vowed to never do that again, laughing in between of catching their breath.

Hayley was the first to her feet, dragging Sam up with her.
"Let's hit the showers." Hayley suggested, and Sam couldn't agree more.

"So, how's Kristie?" Hayley asked as they made it back to the locker room.
"She's good! I haven't talked to her properly in a while but things are going good. Yeah, she's super sweet."
"Oh, why not?"
"I've been busy, timezones and stuff suck too. We got fly out day just around the corner." Sam pulled her shirt over her head.
"Oh." Hayley said. "Well maybe we can make an excuse to have a FaceTime party with team USA. I'm sure the girls would love that too!"
Sam laughed, "yeah that would be something."
"I can't wait to meet her! I bet she's really funny."
Sam smiled without even realising it. "She really is, I think you'll like her."
"Well, I'll see what I can arrange. I know Rapinoe somewhat. I'll see what she thinks."
"Thanks Hayls."
Hayley grinned and towel dried her hair. "Meet you at breakfast?" She asked, flicking her long hair back dramatically.
"Yeah, I'll catch up." Sam replied.
Hayley was a breath of fresh air. She was easy, fun and she made it feel like talking to Kristie wasn't bad. She even encouraged it. Sam didn't want to fall into bad habits, but she also wouldn't let Kristie hanging. She deserved more than that and Hayley was someone who reminded her that it was very good to communicate (even if Sam hated it).

Sam pulled up her phone and started texting.
Sam: Hey Kris, sorry I've been MIA. Training is getting way more intense, as I'm sure you know too. You busy in a few hours?

Sam still hadn't completely worked out the difference in timezones yet but she hoped she could talk to Kristie soon. There was a sort of dread that she felt in the pit of her stomach, guilt maybe? She wasn't sure. She wanted to be the best captain there was - she was going to the olympics for gods sake, but she also deserved love right?

She had told Kristie about her brother, about her dog and her dreams of the future. She'd told her about her favourite constellations in the sky and even made her take a quiz online to see if their star signs were compatible - even though Sam claimed to not believe in it all. She had told her about the time the team had all gone to Macca's for her birthday and Mackenzie's ice cream dripped all over her so much that she shoved it in her mouth and had it pouring down her shirt. She had told her how sore her stomach felt after that night from laughing, and how happy she felt to have found a team and a family that felt like home. She had told Kristie so much of the nice stuff, and a little of the bad. Not too much. She didn't want to burden her, but she had had her fair share of tough times and for the ones she'd told Kristie, she was empathic, supportive and she actually cared. Sam wasn't one for sob stories, but it had meant so much to her to have felt seen and heard and not just brushed off like she found her ex doing far too often. Sam still remembered the way Nikki talked about certain topics, her voice echoing in her head; you're a football player Sam, she would say, fucking act like it, stop crying about all the other shit and kick a damn ball.
But Kristie was different.
She was better.
And god Sam needed her so much right now.

Her phone buzzed.
Kristie: Hey, that's okay! Same here. I'm free now if you are?

Sam smiled and hovered over the call button.
She hesitated.
They'd been talking for weeks but never over a phone call. She felt nervous, scared and above all else - absolutely terrified of not living up to Kristie's idea of her. She didn't want to let her down or not be enough for her. Kristie had talked about her life as if it was a movie, a beautiful and chaotic masterpiece of mayhem that sounded more fun the longer she kept telling it. She had the incredible ability of feeling as though she was really there, instead of relaying it through text. She was expressive, used far too many emoji's and used capitals like her life depended on it. Sam felt like she had already heard her voice but she really hadn't.
She was afraid she'd mess it up when it came to the real thing. Would she stutter? Trip over her words? Say something stupid? Try too hard to be funny and fail miserably?
Well if she kept staring at her phone and never hitting call, she would never find out.

Sam took a deep breath and exhaled.

She pressed call.

Kristie: Hey Sams