What The Heart Wants

Crossing Paths With The Future

Waiting at the Crowne Plaza Orlando for the rest of the Hearts' contingent to arrive, Ali reviewed her notes for tomorrow's College Cup Media Day. The plans are for her to spend time with Becca Quinn, McKayla Paulson, and Joanna Boyles.  Steph's flight from Edmonton was scheduled to arrive about an hour before the other four would get in from Philadelphia. Ali was trying to keep her mind occupied with work and not get too overeager to see the other half of her "us", but she was snapped out of her concentrated focus by a pair of strong arms wrapped over her shoulders.

Steph: Good morning, princess.

Ali sighed. "First, it's not morning. Second, I'm not a princess no matter how much you tell me so. Third, why didn't you call me when you landed?"

Steph: I wanted to surprise you. If I waited at the airport for the other four, I wouldn't get any time alone with you before the hustle and bustle of this weekend began, and if you had come to pick me up, the hounds might have been out in force asking the questions we don't want to answer yet.

Ali: This is a work weekend, by and large. No one will suspect anything is happening if they see the two of us together, because we're teammates and our team's bridge to the coaches and GM. By the way, Ashlyn and Alex left town on Sunday to work on finding a new off-season locale so she can file for divorce sooner rather than later.

Steph: That should make it easier for you to pack up your stuff and have it ready to move when you're ready.

Ali: I'm going to talk to Carm about that when she gets here. I'd like to head onto Philly after College Cup wraps up and want to work out with her the how and where.

Steph: Where are we doing dinner tonight?

Ali: I thought it best to just stay in-house since no one is REALLY going to want to trek around after today's flights, especially you coming from Edmonton. It will also give us a chance to scope out which other teams have sent people here.

Steph: I saw you deep in thought before I so rudely broke you from it. What were you working on?

Ali: I was looking over my notes for tomorrow. Which players I'm planning to talk with and who Erica, Wendy, Carm, and Kristin have picked out for their own one-on-ones. And you didn't break me from anything. I was just killing time waiting for you to get to town.

Ali looked behind her up into Steph's eyes and sent an air kiss to her. Steph looked around quickly and, seeing no one in the immediate vicinity, leaned down and gave Ali a peck on the lips.

Steph: I know that I'm planning to sit down with EJ Proctor after she has her "interview" with Kristin. I'm also going to try and track down Haley Pounds from Texas A&M and Maggie Bill from UNC.

Ali: After all of that tomorrow, we have that dinner meet-up with Savannah and Sarah and Sammy Jo and Morgan, right?

Steph: Right. You not excited about it?

Ali: Not really interested in going out while I have the condo all to myself for a few days. Maybe we can order in and have everyone over at my place. It will be a more relaxed atmosphere and allow us to get to know our teammates and Sarah better.

Steph: If I see either Sav or SJ around here tonight, I'll take it up with them.

Ali: Should we check in and get our room keys?

Steph: Can't hurt since we have a little bit of time before the others arrive.

Ali stood up and she and Steph went to the registration desk. After a couple of minutes, they were handed their keys and went to the elevator to go up to their room. Upon entering the room, the two sat down and reclined on the bed, with Ali's arms around Steph and her head resting against her heart. Steph looked down at her and said, "Hi."