Invisible String [T.S-E.S BOOK ONE]

12

September 7th, 2012

"I'm going to come out to the world." Eleanor said into the phone as she lounged on her LA couch.

"Are you ready for that?" Taylor asked from Nashville.

Eleanor shrugged, she wasn't the face of Women's soccer like Alex was and she was good enough that she had made her position on the team relatively permanent. The only hesitancy she had towards coming out was the fact that it may cause speculation on Taylor's sexuality. It wasn't news that they were friends, but as soon as she came out any interaction caught between the two would be no doubt put on blast.

"I just don't really care anymore. I don't know why I'm still feeling so anxious, but the idea of coming out doesn't seem to be the source." She explained to her best friend. "I just don't want you to take any hits."

Taylor laughed. "I'm famous, but I'm not that famous." She assured the athlete. "Don't let me control what you do. Do what you feel is right."

That night, Eleanor posted a picture of her and Maisy in bed with Maisy covering her face. The caption was simple:

Just so you know, I'm gay

Some hate came her way, but she pushed it out of her mind. There were countless comments of support from her friends and family. Her teammates cheered for her in the comments and Maisy commented a heart. But Taylor's caption simultaneously melted her heart and scared the shit out of her:

My favorite player <3 Congrats!

Now everyone knew Taylor associated herself with the gay soccer player

Taylor, for the first time, didn't care what the media said about her and her associations.

Her dad immediately hired a publicist.

October 16th, 2012

The season was over. They didn't make the playoffs, so they'd finished that week. Ever since Slate came back from the Olympics, her team had been weird around her. No one on the Storm had ever been called up to the Olympics and a twenty two year old kid being the first had made a lot of them mad.

None more than Maisy. She had gotten worse since Eleanor got back. The two had barely left the older girl's apartment, only really when necessary, and when Eleanor mentioned going to hang out with someone else, Maisy got so tense and so standoffish that Eleanor never actually ended up going.

She hadn't even had a chance to call her brother or sister. Maisy said they shouldn't be on their phones when they're together. They have to be present or some bullshit like that. Eleanor was getting sick of it. She wasn't even able to go out for her birthday the week before, as Maisy had basically trapped her in her apartment. The only reason she had even stayed this long was for team chemistry. Their break up would no doubt be volatile and she didn't want to destroy the Storm.

It wouldn't be much longer. She had gotten a trade offer from Sky Blue FC in New Jersey. It wasn't as close to home as she wanted it, but it was in the East.

She had yet to tell Maisy.

As soon as she got the offer last week, she texted Taylor about it. Taylor had been talking about maybe moving to New York City, which was primarily why Eleanor was okay with taking the offer despite still being far from family. If Taylor ever actually moved there, they'd be close. Plus, New York was way closer to Nashville than LA.

She'd miss seeing Emma, though. Emma was the only member of the groupchat who lived full time in LA, so the two of them and Andrew had started seeing each other whenever Maisy let her out of the house. It was nice and she hated to see that go. But Emma went to New York a lot any way. Where she'd be in New Jersey wasn't that far from the city, so they'd make it work.