You Should Know (part one)
Title: You should know
Rating: T
Author: Anonymous
Pairing: Tobin Heath/Alex Morgan
Word Count: 2.351
Summary: "Alex has this affect on me. It’s so strange; I don’t exactly know what it is. Her actions and her words, they find a way to stick to me. Thoughts of her just float around up there, in my head, all the time, it’s becoming an issue."
Notes: Alex's POV is in bold. Tobin's POV is regular. and italics are their thought in the moment. Time is set around the world cup.
“I didn’t say that.”
Tobin, Tobin, Tobin. How can I even begin to describe you at this moment?
“I didn’t even mention your name. All I said was that our monop deal sessions get real intense. That’s it. Cheney was saying all that other stuff!”
Cute, definitely cute. You know, in that deer caught in the headlights kind of way.
“I’m just saying, you ARE the one I play with the most and you have yet to beat me. So I wouldn’t be surprised if you did say those things about me. It’s okay. I know I’m competitive. I won’t get mad at you. All I want is for you to admit how you were really pissed because you almost beat me once and you couldn’t because of ‘circumstances’”
I air quoted that last part; she hates it when I air quote.
I’m obviously pulling her leg. I was already told that Lauren was the one saying those things. But I like messing with Tobin every now and again. I don’t feel too bad since it’s a back and forth thing between us. Yes, she’s super chill but she also has this dorkiness about her that I love.
“Don’t ‘circumstances’ me. It’s like extremely difficult to focus on monop deal when someone’s yelling in your ear okay. That wasn’t a real win, I gave that to you. So you know, technically, I beat you once.”
“Uh huuuhh. So what I’m getting from this is that you totally squealed about me being super competitive and playing monopoly deal by myself because I didn’t back down the challenge given your ‘circumstance’ at the time.”
“Why are you air quoting? Stop it. It’s not even something that should be air quoted I’m telling you dude, it wasn’t me! Watch my interview, I didn’t even mention you.”
“Ouch! So now I’m not even worth being mentioned?”
“OH HELL, ALEX! ARE YOU SERIOUS?” She threw her laptop to the side of the bed. She was completely flailing now. Which rarely happens, she’s always super chill. So getting a rise out of her is something I enjoy doing every now and again.
The look on her face right now though.. Priceless.
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” I couldn’t hold my laughter anymore. My mission was accomplished.
“Duuuude! What? You were messing with me! You suck, I totally felt guilty and I didn’t even do anything” She covered her face with her hands and started shaking her head from side to side.
Adorable.
I settled down next to her and began to rub her back. “Aawww. You actually felt guilty? It’s okay Tobs, I won’t tell anyone. I got you bad though.”
“I hate you, I hate you. I hate you”
No, you don’t.
“Hey” Uncovering her face, I took her hands, placed them between mine and pulled them close to my body. I looked in her eyes and I couldn’t help but say the words that were about to escape my mouth “I love you…” crap “..dude”
Her eyebrows shot up a little, her lips forming a hint of a smile.
“Oh man, don’t do that. You don’t need to get all mushy, you know, I really don’t hate you.”
“I know. Duh.” She freed her hands from mine and switched her focus back to her laptop.
Fuck. Why did I do that? Things always get so awkward and quiet whenever something like that happens.
“Anyway, I didn’t just come here to mess with you.” Lies. “I was wondering if you wanted to go for a run with me in the morning before training.” Right. I’ll go with that.
“Really? You want to run before training?”
“Yeah, you know, to get myself warmed up.” What in world
“But we already do warm ups.. You want a warm up before THE warm up? And of all things you want to run?”
“uuhhhhmmm…” think quick! Think quick!
“You really are a horse! Hahahaha! Jeez.”
Ah, there she is. Pheeww. Mental high five!
“It’s a yes or no type of question Tobs! It’d be fitting to give a yes or no answer”
“Yeah sure. I’ll go”
“Good!” I gave her a little shove before getting up and heading for the door. “I’ll be up around 5 so just knock on my door or call me when you’re ready.”
“Ok. I still think you’re crazy!”
I didn’t respond, I just closed the door behind me and started walking towards my room.
Nice save Alex. Nice save.
________________________________________________________________________
Once I heard the door close I set my laptop aside then let myself sink further into my blankets. I spend a lot of time staring at ceilings just letting my mind wander.
“Freaking Alex Morgan..”
I brought my hands to my face and closed my eyes. Trying not to think of Alex. Damn it, my hands smell like her. I start chuckling at that thought because my hands smell like the lotion she wears not her her. Though, I wouldn’t be opposed to..
“Ahhh. Freakin. No. Stop! Why God, why?”
Alex has this affect on me. It’s so strange; I don’t exactly know what it is. Her actions and her words, they find a way to stick to me. Thoughts of her just float around up there, in my head, all the time, it’s becoming an issue. I often find myself staring at the ceiling and playing back moments that’s happened between us. When my mind wanders it usually wanders to everything that has to do with Alex.
“uuhhh, screw this.” I took my phone out and looked through my contacts, when I found the name I was looking for I pressed call and waited as the phone rang.
“Yoooooooooooo!”
“SHE’S PERFECT!”
“Oh God, Tobin, not this again.”
“I know! I’m sorry! But I can’t help it. I’m lying here wondering about how she smells and how she WOULD smell”
“What?”
“What”
“You’re wondering what?”
“NOTHING! NOT IMPORTANT! Anyway. I need to get my mind off of this.”
“uuhhhhmm, wanna play some pool?”
“Pool? I’ve never played pool before”
“Exactly, it’ll be a great distraction because you’ll be doing something new.”
“Awesome, I’ll meet you there”
“Shweeeet”
I would consider Kelley O’Hara one of my best friends. She’s like the only person on the team I feel completely comfortable with. We lived together in LA for a while so she definitely knows me more than most of the girls here. So naturally, she’s the only person I told about my.. Alex problem.
“SHE’S PERFECT!!!”
“Would you cut that out? No, she’s not”
“She’s amazing.”
“I’ll give you that one. Alex is super awesome.” Kelley placed the white ball carefully on the table and prepared for her shot.
“Yes, she is. You know, like the way smiles at me. The look in her eyes when she gets super determined. The game faces and the omg we made another goal face. It’s all so damn perfect. Damn dude. I hate her.”
No, I don’t
“No, you don’t.” She takes her shot and the balls are just scattering all over the table. HA ballssssss.
“Dude how does this game even work?”
“I’m not really sure, for now we’ll just take turns shooting. Aim for the odd numbers and I’ll take the even. If you shoot one of mine in then it’s my point and my turn” She looks up at me and gestures towards the while ball.
“Is that really how it works?”
“I don’t know, we’ll make shit up as we go”
“Awesome. Let’s do this.”
Kelley and I are pretty competitive with each other but the way we compete kind of pushes us to be better. So we’re not just competing, we’re encouraging each other as well.
Number 13. Number 13. Number 13.. where are you? Ah found it.
I focused in on it, kept my eye on the goal. I pull back, shoot, score. Made it in.
“Sweet”
“13? Really Tobin? ObssEEEeesseedddd”
“Shut up. It’s on.”
The game went on for a while. It was pretty fun even though we didn’t know the rules and stuff. We still made the most of it. Kel was right, I was totally distracted. I didn’t even think about Alex while we were playing. It was getting pretty late so we decided to call it a night. When we got in the elevator I caught a scent of Alex’s lotion in the air.
*sigh* “She’s perfect, I love her” Kel looked at me, linked her arm with mine and gave my hand a comforting squeeze.
“No, she’s not. And yes, you totally do.”
“Do you think she knows? Like, I’m always trying to stay chill around her.”
“I don’t know if she knows or if she has any idea but she should know. You should try telling her.”
I give her this you’re crazy as hell look because the possibility of me telling her are very, very slim.
“HA! What? Don’t give me that look. You’re Tobin Heath! You have tons of swag! You’re the nutmeg queen with a golden smile and a charming personality!”
“HAHAHA did you really just say charming personality? Hahaha, that’s new.”
She nudged me, unlinked our arms then turned to look at me. “Well it’s all true. She should know”
The elevator doors opened and we headed to our separate rooms.
She should know. Those words were echoing in my mind while I got ready for bed. I mean, she should know. Right? But what happens after that? Is she going to freak out? What if she doesn’t feel the same or what if things won’t be able to be the same between her and I after? I mean, I’m basically friend zoned. We all know how that works out.
Screw it. She shouldn’t know.
I quietly crept my way to my bed, careful not to wake Cheney up. I let the pillows and the blankets swallow me, my body succumbing to comfort of the bed. Staring at the ceiling, my mind wanders to one thought.
Freaking, Alex Morgan.
________________________________________________________________________
“Come here” she has this huge smile on her face while patting the space next to her.
“What? Why?” I’m only asking because there have been situations in the past where she’d ask me to sit next to her just to be on the receiving end of some prank.
She chuckled before reassuring me that she wasn’t going to do anything phony. As soon as I got next to her she pulled me in, put her arm around me and rested her head on mine.
What is happening right now?
“uuhhhmm, Tobs, what’re you doing?”
“I’m trying to cuddle with my girlfriend what does it look like I’m doing?”
DID SHE JUST..
“GIRLFRIEND! What?” I pulled myself off of her, desperately trying to keep my cool. “What the hell kind of prank is this?”
holy shit. What if she knows! And this is her messing with me? Wait, that’s evil. Tobin would never..
“Whoa, babe, calm down. What’re you talking about? What prank?”
Babe? Ugh.
“This whole girlfriend thing you’re trying to pull, it’s a prank right?” Her expression turned from shocked to hurt. “Right?”
“What the hell are you talking about right now? You’re totally kidding. Please tell me you’re kidding!”
Her face fell. Everything about her just fell. She was genuinely hurt by what I was saying. She looked so sad, I couldn’t stand it.
This is Tobin. My Tobin. She’s always so happy and bright. I had to do something. Anything. I guess I’ve developed make Tobin feel better reflexes because I automatically took her hands, placed them between mine and pulled them close to my body.
I do this with her often. It’s my way of comforting her but I want to believe it’s more than that. I want to believe that it’s also some sort of confirmation for her. Whenever I do this she has this look. Her eye brows raise just a bit with a hint of a smile forming on her lips. It’s almost like something in her clicks. I can see it in the way she looks at me, the expression she wears on her face...I don’t know. Maybe I’m looking too much into it.
“Yeah... babe, I was totally kidding. I’m sorry I scared you, I was just messing around. I’m right here.” I smiled at her then gave her hands a reassuring squeeze. She started to chuckle then broke out in a cheesy smile.
Wow. She’s beautiful.
This feels right. It feels real and amazing. It feels like scoring the winning goal at the world cup. Winning my first Olympic Gold. It’s electrifying. Words can’t give my feelings justice right now.
Tobin pulled me towards her and wrapped her arms around me. She lined up kisses starting on my shoulder, moving her way up my neck.. to my cheek then hovered her lips over mine, pressing our foreheads together.
“Alex.”
“uh huuuh”
“You should know-
*BEEPBEEPBEEP*
“OH MY GOD!” I jolted up and almost fell out of my bed. Things weren’t properly registering in my head yet so I was just frantically trying to figure out where that loud ass beeping was coming from.
“Clock Alex, turn the damn alarm off”
oh right. Beeping. Alarms. Duh
I turned to the side and clicked the off button. Quiet. Finally. “I’m so sorry Hope”
“mmmm”
I checked the time, 4:30am.
4:30? Why did I set my alarm- oh wait, I almost forgot, I asked Tobin to run with me at 5.
Tobin.
“OH MY GODDD!”
“mmmmmfff!”
“sorryyyy.”
Tobin. I was dreaming. It was a dream! I dreamt about TOBIN! FREAKING TOBIN HEATH! Oh my goodness. What’s happening? This is insane.
The crazy thing is I didn’t want it to end. I found myself desperately trying to grasp at whatever feelings that were left over from the dream. It felt real. It felt like reality. It felt right.