Mal Pugh

Part 19

It was exactly 1 week after the World Cup. They had gone back home 4 nights ago. Their first game back at NC Courage was 5 days away. Since returning to the States from the World Cup in Italy, Mal had been staying with Kelly. A couple of nights Alex had came over to eat with them but Mallory had not been there. Mallory had reverted back to her quiet self after the night at the hotel. Most mornings she was gone before Kelly got up and would return home very late. Every time Kel would try to talk to her, Mal would say it was too late and she was too tired to have this conversation  at the moment. Mallory had several missed calls from Tobin and Christen everyday. She refused to return the calls. Everyone Mal had loved, has died. Mallory wasn't taking the chance with Christen and Tobin. She would hate herself if something happened to them. Christen and Tobin talked to Kelly on the phone everyday and they were getting more and more worried about Mal everyday. Mallory refused to talk to anyone about any problems she was feeling right now. She had basically reverted back to her old self from before the World Cup. She hated it but she wasn't going to be selfish and hurt those around her like she had before.
——————————————————————— Today was game day for NC courage and Tobin and Christen were coming to the game to watch Kel, Mal, and Alex play. Everyone knew except Mal. They planned to have an intervention after the game to get Mal to talk to Christen and Tobin and hopefully move back home with them. At this point, the whole video of Tobin punching the fan was on every page of social media. They couldn't escape it. Tobin had been painted a hero but there was so much focus and attention on Mal. With that attention brought haters that Mal didn't deserve. Even if it was love and support from fans, Mal didn't want to constantly be reminded of the accident. She wanted to move on and forget. They knew this was part of the reason why she was upset but they didn't know the whole story and they were planning on getting it out of Mal tonight no matter what.
Kelly drove to the soccer game with Alex in the front and Mal in the back. What would normally have been a car jam session was quiet and boring. Mallory had her headphones in and was not engaged in conversation with the other two women. As usual, Mallory avoided them at all costs. She wouldn't even look at them. The only time she would speak to them was if they asked her something, even then, she only replied with short one word answers. They were glad that tonight Tobin and Christen would be here to talk some sense into Mal. During the World Cup she had seemed so much better. It all started because of that stupid Australian fan.