SUNSHINE

thirty-four

[ Sorry this took so long! But in all honesty, even though it took so long for this chapter to come together, I think it's one of my favorites of this book! Hope you enjoy. ]

Throughout their evening, they had asked each other questions about one another, but both of them struggled to answer. They were both closed off, and he was a mystery. She wanted to open up to him, but she could not find it in her heart to do so. She had had her heart broken to awfully for her to open up so easily. She was damaged goods, but she got the feeling he was too, but neither of them knew why.

She had found out that Alessio had grown up and lived in Chicago his entire life. He traveled with his father a lot growing up, and took over the family business when his father passed away when he was twenty-two. When Casey had asked how he died, that was when he shut her down, and they moved on to another subject. That was the format for the entire night, but they did not seem to mind, they just wanted to be in one another's company. They both had issues they needed to work out.

She was in the doctor's office within the next couple days in hopes of being cleared. She had had no pain or trouble breathing, so she hoped she would be able to get back to playing with the Orlando Pride that afternoon. They had a game this coming weekend, and they were already itching for her to come back after their previous match performance. They gave up two goals but were lucky to score two to have a draw with the North Carolina Courage. Casey was just so far ahead of the other goalkeepers in the league that it was a huge loss with her being out with her punctured lung.

"Alright Casey, everything looks good, bring this clearance form to your team and you're all set." Her doctor told her, and she grinned, taking the clearance form and getting up from her seat.

"Thanks a lot." She responded, shaking his hand and exiting the examination room. She internally squealed at the idea of being cleared as she looked at the time, seeing she needed to leave straight from the doctor's office to the field if she was going to make it on time. She rushed out to her car and made her way to the field, getting to the stadium just in time for training to begin. She went into the locker room and found their trainer and gave him the forms to approve her to play.

"Welcome back Casey, go ahead and suit up." He told her, and she smiled, quickly getting out of her street clothes and into training attire, then went and joined the rest of the team out on the field.

"Casey! Are you back?" Shelina asked her, and she nodded eagerly.

"Alright good, let's get warmed up and get to work. Casey, can I speak with you?" Marc announced, and she stepped aside while everyone went to warm up.

"What's up, coach?" She questioned.

"I know you're fully cleared, but I would like you to take it easy the next couple of days, yaknow, ease back into things." He told her, and she nodded.

"Sounds good to me." She responded with a chuckle, and he patted her back as they came back from their warm-up run. She hopped right back in with them and went through training, taking it easy as her coach instructed her to, but nonetheless had a good session with her team.

"Hey Casey, Syd picked me up, think I could get a ride with you home?" Alex asked after training when they were in the locker room.

"Yeah sure hitchhiker." She answered with a laugh, putting her training attire back in her locker and changing back into the shorts and t-shirt she had showed up in. She made sure she had her lanyard and phone, and Alex made sure she had everything as well before they left.

"How was your training?" Alex asked once they were in her car beginning their twenty minute drive back to their home.

"Uh it was alright, I'm tired but a good tired. At least I can breathe." She answered with a laugh, getting Alex to laugh as well.