Katie could tell Caitlin wasn't quite herself when she woke up but figured she was just tired. But her worry for the girl increased as she could tell that even her morning coffee wasn't bringing her usual cheerfulness to life and she was abnormally quiet.
Today was the last practice before a big matchup against Chelsea. They had early practice today so Katie didn't have much time to get to the bottom of what was going on. In the car ride over Katie drive per usual, but Caitlin seemed so zoned out. She didn't even get the music queued up.
"Caits you okay?"
No response from Caitlin. Katie noticed she was staring out the window so she put her hand on her thigh which seemed to bring Caitlin out of her trance.
"Hey I asked if you were okay?"
"Oh yeah yeah I'm fine" Caitlin responded back without much conviction.
"Are you sure? You seem a little out of it?" Katie said moving her hand from her thigh to her hand, "I mean you didn't even get the music going." Caitlin took her hand back quickly and went to search on her phone for music. "I said I'm fine okay just a little tired."
"Did I do something?" Katie asked confused at the tone of Caitlin's voice and her not holding her hand.
"What? No of course not I'm just tired."
"Um okay then"
They didn't talk the rest of the way to practice and when they did finally get there Caitlin didn't seem to cheer up for anyone and just stayed to herself.
Katie didn't want to keep asking what was wrong since she clearly annoyed Caitlin enough the first time but there was definitely something going on.
During all the warm up drills Caitlin was quiet and looked miserable. She constantly kept her hands on her stomach and was just overall slower than usual. Caitlin is usually one of the quickest on the field and she just didn't have any burst today. Even some of the coaches started noticing yelling at her to pick up the pace or get her head in the game.
During a five a side drill Caitlin he went up for a header and after the ball hit her head her face almost looked pale. That was the last straw for Katie. She luckily was standing right next to Jonas and told him she was taking Caitlin to the locker room something wasn't right. He agreed right away and called the drill telling all the girls to bring it in. This gave Katie a chance to slip behind the group and grab Caitlin.
Of course Caitlin's immediate response was to argue but after the look Katie gave her she didn't have anything to say and just followed the pull of Katie's arm back to the locker room.
Once they finally got there it's like Caitlin's body had completely given up on her. As soon as Katie turned to presumably yell at Caitlin she sprinted off to the toilet. Making it just in time before getting sick and throwing up. Almost seconds later she felt comforting hands on her back rubbing circles and making sure and stray hairs were out of her face.
After a few minutes Caitlin finally felt able to stand up and Katie helped her back to sitting on a bench in the locker room. Then brought her water and made sure to clean her face up.
Kneeling In front of her she looked up to Caitlin and grabbed her hand, "why didn't you say you were sick?"
"I didn't want to miss practice today. It's the last one before the game. I can get better before then but I would have been left out of the squad if I didn't try today"
"Oh caits.... I know you don't want to miss the game but come on even you know it's better to miss one then put yourself at risk for harming yourself. You weren't yourself today you could have gotten hurt."
"I know but I just feel like I have to prove myself more lately. Feel like people don't believe I'm good enough anymore." Caitlin admitted fully letting her sensitive side out now.
"Babe you never have to prove anything. You are a world class forward. Okay. There is nothing you need to do, especially put your body in harms way, to prove that anyone. The only person you really need to convince you are good enough is yourself. So we are going to get you feeling better first and then me and you can talk about whatever is holding you back from believing in yourself and get that confidence back up okay?"
"Thanks Katie" Caitlin said looking down at her hands. "I'm sorry I made you miss part of practice. Please go back out there I'll be fine here."
"Not a shot baby," Katie said standing up and pulling Caitlin with her directing her to the physios for some much needed rehydration tablets. "Go talk with them. I'm going to grab our stuff and I'll meet you back here In five minutes. Then we got a long night of cuddling up on the couch together. Sound good little sickling?"
"Ew don't call me that, but yes sounds good. Thanks for always looking out for me."
"And I'll never stop. But next time tell me you feel sick beforehand yeah? Coulda prevented me from being nervous the whole day."
"I promise." Caitlin responded back with the first smile she's seen all day from the girl.
