It's a Jungle, Baby

Surreal

Duff

"Hey, the girls are on tv again!" Steven says as we sit down.

It's four o'clock in the morning here, it's one o'clock in the afternoon in Italy. The girls play their last game today. We all sit in their apartment, ready to watch the game, or about as ready as we'll ever been. It's four o'clock in the goddamm morning.

"That's why we're up so early, dumbass." Slash mutters.

"No, they're not playing soccer, they're on some talk show or something." Steven says pointing at the tv.

Izzy and I sit down on the couch and sure as shit, the whole women's soccer team is sitting their in their uniforms with this guy that must be the coach. They talk to the other girls for a while and Taylor and Queenie are shoving each other slightly.

"Five of you are fresh out of University, correct?" The interviewer asks. Taylor, Chelsea, and three other girls raise their hands. "Which schools did you play for?"

"Stanford." Two say.

"Washington State." Another says.

"We went to UCLA." Chelsea speaks up.

"You're Chelsea Fox, the only British born on the team. What's that like?" The interviewer asks.

"Well I like the idea of confusing people. So they'll ask why is the best player on team USA, a bloody Brit?" Chelsea says and we laugh. The interviewer turn to Taylor.

"You're TJ Rose, you and the coach had some problems when you met, correct?" She asks.

"One could say that." Taylor smiles. "At the tryouts I was put up with a couple of girls and he stopped me calling me 'red head with the attitude problem'. He proceeded to tell me that 'I may be hot shit at my school but here I own you'."

"As I remember on the ride back home you said something along the lines of 'you can't own a person in the United States, where the hell did he come from?'." Chelsea adds.

"Yeah something like that." Taylor agrees. "First practice here, he stopped me again asked me where I was from. I thought that meant where do you live so I said LA, he continued to call me a liar and said I was small town and that's why I was good. Then told me to share the glory and pass the damm ball."

"Are you from a small town?" The interviewer asks.

"Yeah, I'm from a same town in Indiana." Taylor explains and the interviewer turns to the coach.

"Even after calling her out on an attitude problem, you named her captain, why?" She asks him.

"Yes TJ has an attitude problem, I heard her say to one of the other girls that she wasn't sure if I'm confident or just an asshole. She is as good as she says she is but that has nothing to do with it." The coach explains. "I stopped to watch the division championships on the women's college circlet, it was UCLA and Stanford, you can see where I got some of my players. TJ had broke her leg playing, taped it up, played the rest of the game, scoring a couple more times."

"Chelsea, how did this turn out?" The interviewer asks her and Chelsea laughs.

"I had the interesting experience of sitting beside her on the trainer's table after the game. Watching her grit her teeth and say she wasn't in pain, that the trainer was imagining things. Then to go outside and face her brother, her boyfriend, my boyfriend and their two friends." She's talking about us. "Before they could even talk, TJ told them she was fine and not to worry. She started arguing with her brother about whether or not she was hurt. Ending with her handing her crutches to her brother and trying to walk away."

"How far did you get?" The interviewer asks Taylor and she laughs.

"They're all taller than me, not far." She laughs.

"Alright, good luck on your game today, ladies. Can you just wave at the camera and say 'bye American'?" The interviewer asks.

"Bye America." The team calls and they wave.

Steven who has been drinking, waves back at them.

"Bye TJ, bye Queenie!!" He calls at the TV.

"It's surreal, seeing them on TV." Izzy says as the game switches on.

"Yeah." I agree. "Or when the statistics come up and we already know what they're going to say."

We watch the game through and they beat Germany, Taylor scoring a couple times. I'm over the moon excited, Taylor is living her dream. Her dream is just is taking another week.

I can't wait to see her, I miss her like crazy. I'm going to pick her up and the airport and not let her go. I love her and I don't want her forget it. I just want her back.

The phone rings, and Axl grabs it putting in on speaker, knowing exactly who it is.

"Hi girlies!" Axl says.

"We fucking won!" They yell excitedly and we laugh.

"Steven was was waving at the tv during the team's interview." Izzy tells them.

"How much was he drinking?" Queenie asks.

"A lot!!" Steven yells and they laugh.

"Where are you calling from anyways?" I wonder.

"A phone in a bar." Taylor admits.

"So nothing new?" Slash asks.

"Exactly." Chelsea laughs.

"Guys we love you for staying up but get some rest, okay?" Taylor says sweetly.

"Alright, we love you." I say.

"Have fun." Izzy adds.

"We love you to." They call as the phone disconnects. Axl looks over to Izzy and I.

"It'll be easier when they're back in the same country as us." He says and we nod. "I don't know about you guys but I'm kinda scared of them so I'm going to bed."

"Yeah, me to." I say and everyone else agrees. "We're scared of two, hundred pound girls in a different country than us." I mutter to myself as I walk out to my car.

It'll get easier, I sure hope so.