Chapter 29 #3
And with that, Barbara ended the livestream. She jumped up and down, squealing with delight. “I’m a genius. The people love you. There’s no way they can kick y’all off the team after that. Your fans would ride at dawn.”
Wren felt like she might actually throw up. “Let’s hope you’re right.”
Wren and Becky left Wren’s apartment holding hands two hours later.
Andy really had called people. Wren wasn’t sure who she knew that could have assembled this many photographers in such a short time, but there were no fewer than ten people waiting in Wren’s parking lot with cameras.
Wren’s stomach bottomed out. She was thankful she didn’t eat much before games because if she’d had a full lunch, she might have legitimately puked it all up.
“Just ignore them,” Rebecca whispered as she walked with Wren out to her pickup truck.
Wren did her best to listen to her girlfriend. She opened Rebecca’s door for her and shut it gently behind her, doing her absolute best to not make eye contact with any of the cameras.
“Wren, care to comment?” One of the photographers called out.
Wren looked up at him and strongly considered unloading, but instead she just shrugged. “No, thank you.” She rounded her truck and slid into the driver’s seat with a heavy sigh.
“Proud of you,” Rebecca said.
“Me, too, honestly,” Wren replied, taking a few deep breaths and clicking her seatbelt into place. “Now to make sure I don’t run any of these creeps over.”
That made Rebecca laugh. “How awkward would that be?”
Wren shook her head. “I don’t even want to think about the punishment Coach T could come up with for that.” She reached across the cramped cab of her truck and grabbed Rebecca’s hand. “It’s going to be okay,” she said out loud, more for herself than for Rebecca.
“Yes, it is,” Rebecca confirmed.
They had gotten to BMO stadium a little excessively early, but Wren wanted to ensure that the photographers were gone by the time her dad got there to get Barbara. For everything she had managed to mess up this year, she was not going to let it impact her baby sister, no matter how old she was now.
Wren was already suited up by the time Courtney arrived, but as soon as her captain walked through the locker room door, Wren was up and asking if she could talk with her in private.
“Hell of a bomb you dropped this morning, Rookie,” Courtney said as soon as they shut the door behind them in an unused office.
Wren flinched. “Yeah. So, um, how fucked are we?”
“At the club level?” Courtney asked. “Not at all. Congrats, honestly. I’ve been rooting for the two of you.
” She grimaced. “As for the National Team? I really don’t know.
For what’s it’s worth, I will absolutely fight for both of you to stay on the team.
You’ve already picked up a match MVP award and Becky should have in Sweden.
The team is really vibing right now, and we’re only a few months out from the World Cup.
I really hope Coach Jameson and Coach T let it go.
But I can’t promise you anything. Unfortunately, it’s not my call. I get like half a vote.”
Wren nodded, understanding. There was only so much her captain could do on her behalf. “Thanks for being willing to fight for us.” Her mind finally caught up to everything Courtney had said. “Wait. You were rooting for us?”
Courtney let out a rough laugh. “Me? Root for you and “Re-Becky?” Never. Definitely not since I caught her wearing your LAU sweater and sharing a bed with you.” Courtney crossed her arms over her chest. “And certainly not when you tried to sneak back into the hotel covered in hickeys the morning after we played against her last. And I definitely wasn’t cheering when you two happened to fall asleep on each other on the team airplane.
” Her voice was so sarcastic it hurt. She laughed and clapped Wren on the shoulder.
“I was just hoping that whatever was going on between you two was going to be worth the fallout. Good sex is definitely not worth missing the World Cup for. True love, though? Call me a sucker, but a good enemies-to-lovers?” she did the chef’s kiss motion with her hand. “That could be worth it.”
Wren’s heart was racing. That’s how it had felt since their trip to Sweden. Worth it. She didn’t really want to tell her team captain that, so instead she said, “Well, I mean, to be fair, we weren’t actually a thing for the LAU sweater-wearing incident.”
“Solid defense. I’m glad you’re a forward,” Courtney said with a laugh, but it quickly morphed into a more serious expression.
“Okay. Riptide Captain moment, we’re not worried that she’s going to hurt you in the game today, are we?
Because I am still a little concerned that you’re into some masochistic freaky bullshit that’s going to get you a broken bone right before your club team needs you the most. All National Team concerns can wait. I really need us to win today.”
A laugh startled its way out of Wren at that. “No. I swear to you I don’t have a pain fetish, and she has sworn to me that she won’t hurt me now that we’re actually together.”
“Hmmm, and how are we feeling about exploiting the fact that Becky won’t play dirty to try and beat us this time?”