legacy | uswnt

Legacy: Chapter 34

Lindsey sighed in great relief as she exited her bio classroom, her heart rate slowing slightly. The woman's first out of four exams was completed, and she had over three hours before she had to report to her next test. After studying for three weeks straight, she was in the mindset of just wanting it to be over. 

Snow was falling lightly, hitting Lindsey in the nose and chilling her to the bones. She wished she had brought a hat and mitts, but she didn't think she would've needed them. 

She heard her phone ding in her purse and pulled it out, smiling when she saw the text was from Emily. 

[Emily - 10:38] Come to my office. ASAP.

Lindsey quickly typed a response, changing her path from her dorm room to the athletic complex. It was much farther of a walk, but the junior didn't mind if it meant she saw her girlfriend. 

Streams of students poured out of various academic buildings but as she neared Emily's office, less and less kids were seen. Nobody was there except for Emily, since the coaches had not exams to monitor, and students had no games to play in. 

Lindsey buzzed herself in and walked down the soccer hallway, expecting her girlfriend to pop out of her office and give her a kiss. No Emily was seen though, until she invited herself into the familiar office and beamed at the woman on the other side of the desk. 

The coach didn't grin back, instead standing up from her chair with a serious expression. Lindsey frowned, unsure of why her girlfriend was acting this way. 

For a moment, the junior hoped it might be a prank, Emily trying to get the younger woman to act like a fool on camera. Even with this dream, it was time to get back to reality. Lindsey knew that Emily wasn't that type of person, and would never risk filming them together for the sake of secrecy. 

"Em, what's up?" Lindsey asked shortly, approaching her softly. Emily didn't speak, just took a step back from her. Lindsey's frown deepened as the woman spoke. 

"You- you told Allie?" Emily asked, her voice dangerously quiet. Lindsey's mouth fell open and she froze, her hand outstretched towards the coach. 

"Em... I..." she started and then stopped, realizing that she had no way to defend herself. "She needed to know..."

Emily shook her head, her lip curled into a weak snarl. It was the angriest Lindsey had ever seen the woman, even more upset than when the team had been kicked out of the championship. The blonde could feel her heart thumping in her ears and wished that she could be anywhere in the world than there. She felt like she was going to puke. 

Emily picked up her purse from the table, slipping her iPhone inside of it. "I can't do this, Linds. Not if I can't trust you..." 

"But you can!" Lindsey protested, blocking the doorway so Emily couldn't escape. The older woman simply shook her head again. Lindsey's stomach flipped and she grew pale, desperately praying that Emily would stay, forgive her and kiss and hug her forever. Obviously, that didn't happen.The coach stomped to the office door, speeding past Lindsey and allowing her purse to slam into the girl's shoulder. Lindsey winced softly and looked around the empty room, her lips pressed together in shame. 

She checked her phone quickly, scrolling through her endless string of texts with Emily and decided to send a quick one. 

[Lindsey - 10:53] I'm sorry.

-

Emily pursed her lips as she read the message, forcing herself not to respond right away. She stuffed her phone farther into her bag and shoved the whole thing farther onto her shoulder, running a hand through her ponytail. It was a nervous tick that the twenty-three year old had developed over the years. When she was around Lindsey though, it seemed to fade away and she felt a deep peace settled within her.

 It wasn't like that now. 

Emily felt as if someone had taken a large ball of fire from a volcano somewhere and had thrown it into her stomach, causing spurts of lava like sobs to escape through her mouth and nose. Passing students gave her a second look but didn't stop and ask what was wrong. She didn't want them to. 

Emily stopped crying profusely when she reached her apartment, rummaging in her purse to locate the key. She came with a string of photos from a photobooth as well as a stick of gum, some quarters and her key. She really needed to clean it out. While sticking the key in the door, Emily turned over the photostrip and instantly felt nausea. 

It had four pictures of her and Lindsey which they had taken a few weeks ago at a campus party. Emily was monitoring it to make sure no drugs were involved, but had managed to slip away from her duty to take some pictures with her girlfriend. 

The first picture was just of the two leaning against each other with huge smiles on their faces. The second was with Lindsey kissing Emily's cheek and and Emily playfully pushing her away. The third had been snapped so suddenly that it was a blurry mess, but clearly had the two women making silly faces. It was the fourth picture that really made Emily's heart hurt. 

It was of Lindsey and her kissing each other so passionately that you would be completely and utterly insane if you said they weren't in love.