There's More to Soccer Then That

Chapter 25

Scarlet's POV

One second I was standing infront of a drunken defender whom was obviously too drunk to know where she stood. Literally and metaphorically. The next I feel myself falling backwards from a hard impact to my cheek, and the back of my head collides with the end of the wooden table just behind me, and I'm left unconscious on the floor.

I then begin to wake up, the light coming through my lids make me squint, and it triggers a massive headache. My hand slowly lifts to my forehead, and I'm coming back to reality. "I swear she's gone too far." I hear Morgan mumble, followed by Tobin and Hope in sync saying "Way too far." The side of my index finger rubs between my eyes, as I finally blink my eyes open. I see the three, but the other 4 are nowhere to be seen. "Where are Alex, Carli and Julie?" I ask, my voice a lot weaker then I would have thought. The three of them quickly turn around, and Morgan is at my side in the blink of an eye. "They went to go talk to coach." She replies, as I slowly try to sit up. She instinctively helps me, by placing a hand to my back. Once in better posture, I place my face in my hands, taking a moment to fully wake up and remember what happened. "How are you feeling?" Hope then asks, as she makes her way to my bed, as Tobin continues to pace. I think she's trying to avoid looking at me simply because if she sees the wound she'll go rip Kelley to shreds. I didn't answer, but simply watched as Hope rested a gentle hand to the side of my cheek, where the soreness lay in my jaw. Her cold touch felt good to the bruise, and I watch as she eyes the discolored skin closely. I want to smile, but I don't think I can make myself do so. "You've got a minor concussion, and will be bruised for a while. But nothing to worry about." She says calmly, looking into my eyes. "Thank God." Morgan mutters, pulling me into a side hug. "If it was something serious I would honestly probably actually.." Tobin let out a sigh before she finished. "I'm gonna go out for a walk. I need to clear my head." I say, standing slowly. I can feel the three watching me put on my shoes as well as my track jacket, along with grabbing a ball before leaving. I shut the door behind me without saying another word, and I keep to myself before finding myself outside. I walk to the sandy banks, and begin kicking around the soccer ball. It's nearing 7 pm, so the sky is beginning to darken a bit. I don't mind at all really, here in Korea the sunsets are really nice and the afternoon weather is the perfect temp. "Hey." I hear a voice behind me, I turn to see Carli. "Hey." I reply, kicking the ball into the air then hitting it over to her. She knees it and let's it slide down to her foot. "How're you feeling?" She asks, looking into my eyes as she continues to balance the ball on one foot. "Okay I guess. Hurt. Not even from getting punched, just by.." "I get it." She says soothingly, before kicking the ball over to me again. I let it slide up and begin to juggle it, then just do around the worlds. "Yeah. So you talked to her?" I say, not looking at her, I simply focus on my feet work. "Yeah. Julie, Alex and I did. Things went... Okay." She replied, walking over to me. We both plop down in the sand, looking out at the waves. "I punched her." She randomly adds. My eyes widen as I look at her in the eyes, not sure how to feel. "Carli Lloyd? Chill Captain Carls, you?" "Yep." "Punched Kelley." "Yep." "In the where?" "In the nose." "Oooh." I'm honestly utterly and completely- shocked. "She deserved it. The way she treated you- its's not okay even in the slightest. You're literally the sweetest, most kind hearted person in the world, you deserve to be treated with as much respect as you give, not like this." Her finger gently rubbed against my bruised cheek when she finished speaking, and I lower my gaze. "Thanks Carli..." I say softly, before I'm pulled into a side hug. 

"Sorry to interrupt." A familiar voice echos through the now darkening sky, as night was slowly falling upon us. The both of us turn, and before I can even register who it is, Carli sprung up and is guarding me like I'm treasure. "What do you want Kelley."The captain's voice calls sternly, as I glance back at the defender. The much shorter woman is standing with barefeet in the sand, a long sleeve sweater and short active wear shorts, with hands in her pockets. "Carli, it's fine-" "No. It's not." I couldn't finish my sentence, my friend was hardcore defending me. Kelley didn't seemed phased, and didn't even try to argue which I'm shocked. Now that I look closer at her, she looks miserable. The bridge of her nose is bruised, her cheeks look flushed, and her eyes look a mix of pain and tears. My heart shatters inside, no matter how badly I should hate her I don't. I can't. She was one of the first people I met first coming into the national team, and even if she would have hit me harder I wouldn't stay mad. Truth was, I wasn't even slightly mad. I understood. I understood what it's like to be phased by a face of a man, and transformed into something I wasn't. Carli seemed to pick up on the defender's expression too because she glanced at me as I stood, searching my face for an answer that was easy to find. "I'll give you guys 10 minutes to talk. 10 minutes. If you're not back, Kelley so help me." The two of us were silent, then the brunette captain glanced at me for reassurance, I gave her a nod and she headed back to the hotel, leaving me and the one person who I could swear hated my guts. Hopefully my calm nature didn't just persuade the only person who knew I was out here to walk away from my potential killer.

Kelley and I watched Carli walk away, she glanced back once and twice but in a few seconds she was out of hearing range. I let my gaze linger over the defender as I turn back to face the ocean, slowly crossing my arms over my track jacket, letting out a soft sigh. I can hear Kelley approaching closer, the much shorter girl standing a bit to my right, also with arms crossed and eyes to the rippling tides. It was quiet for quite a while, until finally Kelley broke the silence. "I suppose, since... Carli said 10 minutes, I should say what I came out here to say." I glanced at her, a stillness over my expression as I waited for her to continue. "Scarlet.... I don't know how to even say, I'm sorry. I was such.... A bitch to you... I literally did the most evil thing anyone could do, I dated your ex, I didn't listen to you, I betrayed our relationship by not trusting you, I chose a guy over my girls and more importantly chose some idiot over you, someone who has been there for me for a while now. And the worst part is, I didn't even disbelieve you, I knew you were right. I knew you wouldn't lie to me, because you just want what's best for me... I don't know what got into me." "Kelley." I finally spoke after listening to her ramble. "Look at me." I say softly, turning to face her. She turns slowly, however she doesn't bother looking up at me, not ready to face the damage she caused. "I understand. Speaking in all honesty, putting myself in your shoes, I completely understand. He's a heart taker. He's handsome. Eye candy. Sweet talker, makes you feel ways you've never felt before and ways you never thought you could feel. I've been there. I've been blinded, changed, turned against those who were really there for me. I didn't want to listen to my parents and friends telling me he was bad news until it was too late and I was left flown from my vehicle he made me crash." I take a minute to analyze her expression, it was sad. "I wish I would have listened to them... Did he hurt you? Are you guys still seeing eachother?" I then turn the situation, something I do often when my mind finds things to focus on, like Kelley's health. "How can you even ask that, how can you be so warm and friendly when I literally knocked you out cold? How, do you manage looking at me knowing I-" "Kelley." I interrupted, resting a hand on her shoulder. "You may not know me well enough to know, no matter how mean someone I dearly love is to me, there's no amount of thing you can do to take my love away. Well, not that I've met yet.. Now, I'll ask again. Did he hurt you?" There was silence, before she shook her head. "No... I ended things before, and I think it was close. If I wouldn't have listened, I don't know what would have happened... And like you said, I wish I would have listened sooner." Silence was melted between us, before I was shocked to have my gaze met by hers. Something switched in her expression so quickly, from saddened to heart broken. Tears began to stream down the defender's face, her hand slowly reaching to gently touch my bruised cheek. She began to try to speak, but only sobs began to escape. "Kelley, it's okay..." I tried to soothe, before suddenly she just collapsed into my arms and continued to cry into my chest. A hand rests against the back of her head as her arms wrapped tightly around my waist, which honestly kinda hurts from the building collapse but I would never say anything. "No, it's not." Kelley murmured through sobs, and I can feel her hands gripping my shirt. "I don't deserve you... I deserve to be punched, I deserved to be pushed into a table, and ignored and ripped to pieces and-" "Kelley." I stop her once again, gently lifting her head by placing a hand on either side of her face. I look into her eyes, and smile as best I can. "I love you Kelley O'Hara. You are one of the most amazing and humorous spirits to be around, and are one of my favorite people to be around, even if you weren't very happy with me for a while there. And yes, you do deserve me. Everyone deserves a bit of happiness, I'm just happy I can be that for you. On the other note, I think you already got punched." I said with a bit of a giggle, and managed to get a small smile from the crying defender. I use my thumbs to wipe her tears before pulling her head closer, planting a soft kiss to her forehead. "Now come on, lets get back. Carli will come with a raging Tobin and Morgan to shred you if we don't hurry." I chuckle, and she nods before hooking her arm around mine. "You'll protect me from them, right? They were really scary the other night, and don't even get me started on the pool fight." I can't help but let out a soft laugh as we begin to make our way back. "Yeah, I think this entire thing has brought out the fire in each of us. You, Tobin, Morgan, we all knew Hope can be a hot head. Then we got Carli punching you, and Julie punching Lance. Of course you had a bit of a flare, but I think Alex remained pretty chill." "And you of course." Kelley added, focusing on our steps. "It takes a lot to make me angry. I hope you never have to see that."