A New Beginning

friends

"Hey Arin come here I need to talk to you." Coach said in the middle of training. I got out of the rondo circle and walked over to him. "I got an e-mail this morning from your Australian Coach not being able to get a hold of you." he said "Oh I have not checked my emails lately." I said feeling stupid for not checking. "No- no it is okay. But he just wanted me to tell you that you had been called up for Olympic qualifying. He said more details should be in your email, but you leave tomorrow night." he said and I nodded. "Thank you for letting me know." I said and jogged back to the Rondos. 'Holy shit I just got my first senior call up for the Australian Women's National Team.' was all that went through my head for the rest of training.

While we headed to recovery I checked my phone for the emails from Ante. I replied to him and thanked him for the opportunity. "Hey Arin!" I heard someone say and saw Ana. "Hey!" we talked until we reached the recovery room. "You will never believe what happened today. I got called up for Olympic Qualifying!" I said and Ana hugged me tight. We both squealed causing everyone to look at us. "What? My girl over here just got called up for her FIRST senior call up! And she is going to Olympic Qualifying!" Ana practically yelled, causing cheers and congratulations to ring throughout the recovery room. Eventually everyone settled down and went back to there own thing. Ana went to go get treatment and I went to go in the hot tube where nobody was. I was sitting there with my airpods in when I felt the water move. I opened my eyes and saw Mapi. "I'm proud of you." she said to me "Thank you." i said. After i thanked her there was an awkward silence between us. "Look I can go if you want." Mapi said already getting out. "No, no stay just because of what happened last night does mean I don't want to be friends with you."

"Like I said anything for you." she told me and I turned to face her. She was already staring at me with a glimmer in her eyes. She leaned down and connected our lips at first I was surprised but I ended up kissing her back. We released for air and thats when it hit me. This couldn't be a thing. "Mapi I can't" I told the Spanish girl besides me "What do you mean?" she questioned. "I can't like kiss you, and be with you." I told her holding back my tears. "Did I do something wrong?" she questioned again. I looked at her and I could see the hurt in her eyes. "No, you did nothing wrong Mapi, its just-" I couldn't even finish my sentence before breaking down. Mapi held me in her arms as I sobbed into her chest. "Sh sh, everything will be okay. You can talk to me about whatever is on you mind whenever you want, even if you don't want to talk to me about it, I will still be here for you when you need it." she said and I just nodded. "Do you want to go home?" she asked and I nodded my head again. We got into the car and she drove me back to my apartment and walked me to my door. "Mapi I am sorry I truly am, I'll explain one day." I said to the girl who had a bit of hurt and worry in her eyes. "You don't have to explain to me if you don't want to, I'll be fine. Just take care of yourself Arin. I'm always one call away." she said and walked back to her car.

Mapi got back into the pool, I examined her and she still had that sad look in her eyes. I felt so bad, you have no idea how much i wanted to swim over to the other side of the pool and kiss her, but I didn't. I contemplated telling her right there about my troubles, but some of the girls were near and I didn't want them to know. The only one who knew about it was Ana only because she was the person who I ran to when everything happened. Mapi and I made small talk but nothing much. "Arin, Mapi do you guys want to go get coffee?" Sandra asked us. We both agreed and then got out of the water. I went over to the showers and changed into a normal outfit. I waited until a few people started to leave, and I eventually left too. I got in my car and drove to our coffee shop that we always go to.