I'm chilling on the couch with my dad, as we watch a nature channel. I'm on my computer finishing up an essay. Mom is on the phone with Aunt Chris. They weren't the closest but now since they have one big thing in common. They talk to each other more. Blue jumps on the couch and lays on my leg, and dad messes with my keyboard.
"Ughh dad!" I groan playfully of course. He nudges me, and my mom tells us to quiet down.
"You've been working on this for hours" he tells me, and I look at the screen and back at him.
"Dad it's been 20 mins"
We both start laughing.
"Well I have to go get ready for practice, leave early so you can have mommy and daughter day!" He gushes, making me roll my eyes but smile. He kisses my forehead before getting up, and heading upstairs. I finish my essay, and close my laptop setting it on the coffee table. I stretch my hand to grab the control, and search for anything that's playing soccer. From the corner of my eye, my mouth bids goodbye and puts her phone down.
"Did you finish your essay?"
"Yes ma'am" I tell her, and she gets up to sit next to me. She grabs the controller, and turns the TV sound lower.
"I haven't seen you go outside in awhile, not intrested in soccer anymore?"
"I still am, it's just the backyard isn't big enough for me. All I do is kick the ball to the wall, and you don't take me to the park either.. in fact.. why aren't you invested in me playing soccer?"
She's quiet, guiltiness spread on her face. She talks to me about soccer, every now and then but doesn't take the initiative to teach me more. Except for Dad, he helps me. But not mom and I've been wondering why.
"I just.. I don't want to pressure you. I want to be your mother, not your coach. If people knew you were my kid, and that you also want to play soccer... I don't want you to go through the pressure of having to meet my standard. I want you to be your own player. I'm.. I'm sorry I made you feel like I don't care. I do, I really do I'm just trying to protect you. If you want my advice, if you want me to be in this with you despite what may come. I will baby, I promise" my mom sheds a few tears, and I bring her in for a hug. Here I thought she didn't care enough, but she was just protecting me from the criticism. We hug tightly.
It feels good to know she wants to be involved more now more then ever. No offense to my dad, but I really wanted my mom to help me. She's the player I looked up to the most.
"I think it's time to reveal you" my mom breaks the silence, and I retrieve slowly from her arms.
"I mean, are you sure?" I ask her, and she nods. She calls for dad. He comes downstairs after about 30 seconds. Mom tells him it's time. Mom calls Ashlyn over, and she comes in no time. Mom gives ash her phone to take the picture of is. I sit in between mom and dad, blue sits by our legs. Ash stands in front of us, and takes quite a few pictures. Mom sends them to dad, Ash wanting a picture with me. All three of them post a picture with me on their Instagram.
Dad's caption: Of all the titles I've been privileged to have, 'Dad' has been the best
Mom's caption: You stole my heart the moment I met you. We're so lucky to have you baby, I'm proud of the women your becoming.
Ashlyn's caption: Love my beautiful niece
The media is going to eat this up. Dad kisses my forehead, and kisses mom goodbye since he's off to practice. It could be his last practice, he's being traded to LA Galaxy. I'm not going to see him much, and I know I'm going to miss him a lot. After an hour or so, we chill in the living room with Ash. My phone starts ringing, and I check who it is.
The Great Horan is calling...
I answer, immediately hearing screams from the other side. I flinch and back the phone a little away from my face.
"You're Alex Morgan's daughter?!" Sonnett yells over the phone making us laugh. I shake my head, and I hear a smack from the other side of the phone.
"Anyway, since you've announced it. Can we post some of our pictures? We wanted to be sure with you before we did it."
"Yeah dude go for it, the whole world knows now" I chuckle, and my mom looks at me confused. She doesn't know who I'm talking too.
"Have you read some of the comments?"
"No, not really. I mean it's not like anything they say will change anything. My parents are stuck with me" I make them giggle, I smile at my mom as she grins. I stay on the phone a little longer with the girls, while my mom chills with Ash. When I get off the phone with the gals, I get a text just after.
Brooke: My mom told me you're planning on trying out for a club team this coming summer. Dude I'm so happy you are, soccer is literally your everything.
Me: yeah hopefully they accept me, considering I do only have one leg.
Brooke: they'd be too stupid to not give you a spot. You know you're all over the wnt fandom right?
Me: I figured, let the pressure begin.
"Hey!" I flinch
"Holy crap mom!" I hold my chest, and take a deep breath as my mom laughs.
"I've been calling you for the last 30 seconds" she tells me, and she holds her phone up to show me a gross picture of me.
"Seriously? I'm gonna get her next time I see her" I tell my mom, as I go into my text messages to pull up on Sonnett.
Me: you chose THAT picture of me? 😑
I decided to go into the comments of my parents recent pictures of me. I click on my dads first, I see people congratulating him. Some telling him, girls are tough to raise giving him a good luck charm. We are not that bad, so far he's been doing a good job if you ask me. I search my moms name, and I'm hoping I don't get any harsh comments.
JulieFoudy: The future of womens soccer looks bright, Congratulations to you both.
KellyOhara: can we change her name to Janice Jr? 🤔
ServandoCarassco: Love my beautiful girls❤
AllieLong: she's going to be so much better then Alex🤣
Fan1: Does she play soccer too?
Fan2: awwe does she only have one leg?
Fan3: beautiful family!
So I see no bad comments, which is great. I scroll through more of my feed. I start to notice more pictures of me. Not posted ones. Dang these fans are good at noticing things, they finally figured out who I was. There's videos posted of the day I had my wisdom teeth taken out and we went to Starbucks. There's pictures of me at the games, and on some of the girls stories. They're starting to connect the dots, not only of me but.. Brooke.
Fan45: (inserted picture of Brooke)
Caption: Has to be the preath baby, right?
Fan 67: Nah no way. More like maybe Kelly and Allie.
Fan98: ^^^ they aren't even a thing!
Fan124: Could just be Servlex baby's Girlfriend?
Fan98:^^ I can fuck with that theory.
Fan124: Did some digging, the girls name is Brooke.
Fan67: Shipname.. Brian.
Soon people start to agree that Brooke is my girlfriend. If only they knew.
