"Julie, wait !"

Dear God, please be kind and don't let her get around for too long because it would be just too much in two days, the blonde thinks to herself, before stopping her energetic walk and turn around.

Immediately afterwards, I roll my eyes.

"What is it, Kelley ?"

The brunette looks at her, smirking. Julie immediately knows this conversation is going to be all about the intense looks exchange that occurred earlier, and that everybody from the team has seen.

"Oh, I don't know" the squirrel innocently says, raising her arms in front of Julie's face. The defender gives her a friendly tap, before walking toward the building where she has her next class. But Kelley is not the type to drop things. "You're the one acting like you don't know a girl after basically eye-fucking her"

Julie winced, before shaking her head.

"What are you even talking about ?" she says, obviously annoyed by Kelley's reasoning. "Why would I be 'eye-fucking' a stranger while being so in love with my boyfriend, uhn ?" she lets out, insisting on the last word.

Kelley frowns. "Then why did you look at her for so long ?" she asks, curious.

"She looks like someone I've known, so I was confused, that's it." the defender says, even though she knows every little word she says to get rid of her teammate is a lie. "Now I need to go and actually study, so bye Kelley."

"Bye... for now" the brunette mutters.

Even though Julie pretty well knows that Kelley is going to dig into this because she always wants to know everything about everyone, the defender feels relieved : she pushed away the doubts for now. But only as far as the terrace in front of here, because Maro is sitting on a table, staring at her.

The defender gathers all her courage and confidentially walks toward the German, who is not looking away. Never.

Julie's heart stops beating when the brunette smiles at her. When she then gets up and that Julie can see all of her tattoos, the blonde shakes her head, before biting her lips. You gotta have control in yourself, JJ. This is not high school anymore. But when she looks at the tall girl in front of her, there is nothing old about that. Doesn't feel like two years have gone by, the blonde thinks, before pulling it together.

The German is just waiting for her to talk first, but since Julie looks frozen, she starts in a very light accent :

"You look beautiful, Julie."

"W-what a-are you-uhnnnnn, d-doing h-here ?" the defender stammers, before realizing Maro is frowning. "I-In the US, I m-mean."

Maro smirks, before taking a step forward.

"I got a call from your headmaster, inviting me to spend a year abroad. You know how much I like adventures, I couldn't say no" the German settles, and the only sound of her voice causes Julie to have to deal with growing butterflies in her stomach. "Furthermore, I knew you'd be here."

"UCLA h-has always been my d-dream, indeed" the blonde says, trying to ignore the blush taking over her face.

But Maro doesn't miss that, and when she puts a lock of hair behind Julie's ear, before feeling the blonde tensing up, she says :

"You haven't changed much" After a small silence, during which Julie feels like she is falling into pieces, she adds : "You still are gorgeous."

"A-and with Z-Zach" Julie quickly says, trying to compensate the lack of hair in her body with big gestures - which, by the way, isn't helpful at all.

That makes the German bursting into laughter, before she says in a very soft voice :

"I know." Right after she said that, she slowly leans in. But instead of kissing the blonde - who is completely frozen and overwhelmed - Maro just kisses Julie's cheek, before taking a few steps backwards, a smile on her face. "And I respect your choice, even though I will always be waiting for you deep inside of me."

"U-uhm" Julie stammers, her head obviously not working right now, as she is looking up - because of the obviously height difference - at the German, who smirks before walking away to go at her first class of the year.

Once the German is out of sight, Julie relies on the wall in order not to fall, while the portion of skin where Maro's lips landed few seconds ago is burning.

"Woah" a voice says behind Julie. When the defender turns around and sees Janine, with who she has some courses together, she sighs. "What was that all about ?"

"Nothing, and you haven't seen anything, got it ?"

"That didn't look like nothing tho..."

"I'm not gay, Janine" Julie insists, trying to look tough.

Janine bursts into laughter, before exclaiming : "Well that sure looked very, very gay to me though." When the brunette realizes how the other girl is throwing daggers at her, she suddenly rolls her eyes and adds : "Fine, let's pretend it was nothing", she starts, before coughing and using another voice texture to say : "Even though we both know it was the gayest thing I've seen after Steby"

"What the fuck is 'Steby'?" Julie asks, confused.

"Steph and Abby." the Canadian quickly says, before rolling her eyes at the blonde. "Whatever, Linds came up with it."

"You guys are weird."

"And you, my dear, are gay for the German" Janine settles.

Julie finds nothing more to do than kick her ass with her foot, as the brunette is escaping from her. The defender was quite happy to see Janine didn't insist and hasn't made any comment for the remaining of the day, even at training when Maro was ignoring her.

This is not going to be fine, Julie thinks to herself, forcing her eyes to unlock from where they've been willing to go.

*

Her cap hiding her face, Becky knocks on the dorm's door.

When the doors finally opens after several seconds, the captain doesn't wait a single second to come in and close the door behind her. She can't have anyone seeing her in the Stanford campus, and most importantly at one of the player's dorm. Once inside, she removes her cap and turns around to face the girl in front of her, who obviously is angry because she has her arms crossed on her chest.

But her eyes are happy to see Becky.

"What the hell are you doing here ?" Shelina asks, walking toward the other player, absolutely nervous. She then starts walking in circles, her hands on her waist, throwing killer looks at Becky from time to time. She then says : "You can't be seen here, you know that ! Furthermore, we have not business together anymore, you were the one shutting me out and-"

"And I came here to apologize."

After interrupting the brunette, Becky takes several steps closer to her, but Shelina walks backwards in order not to stand too near from her.

"I don't want to hear your apology, Rebecca." she harshly says.

Immediately after saying that, Becky realizes how hurt the defender is. Her special eyes are filled with a weird feeling, probably between hate, fear and confusion. A feeling Becky knows way too well, because she felt the exact same way after their last talk.

As Shelina pretends that she doesn't want Becky to come closer, her body language tells the Bruin otherwise.

"The whole situation is making me crazy, Shel" the captain whispers, before sitting on the girl's bed, her face buried in her hand. "I love my team, and I need to be a great captain... But then, there's you."

"Me ?"

"Yes, you."

The girl's blue eyes are teary, as she looks up at Shelina. The brunette immediately feels terrified and starts walking in circles again.

"Y-you can't just shut me out, and then come back, only to throw me away once more !" she exclaims, raising her voice. "That's not fair ! Maybe I deserve to suffer, but I am so tired of hating you, on pretending that you are not hurting me, that I don't miss you..."

"Shel-"

"I know you're into a position you can't refuse or forget, even for me. I know that very well, Becky, I've figured. So why did you come today ? To torture me ? To make me pay because of what the other girls from my team are doing to yours ?"

Becky slowly gets up, before staring straight into the brunette's eyes.

"I'm not-" she tries to say, but the Canadian isn't done :

"Then why are you here ? Why can't you just let me forget you ? Is it because I saved your ass at the game and you don't want to admit it ? What is it, Becky ? Pride ? Pity ? I don't need any of this ! I'm tired, I was on my knees, I was... so in love with you, and still am. But we can't have each other, we-"

"I love you."

Shelina sighs.

"This is not helping in any way, and you know it. Now you're just gonna kiss me, and then what ? Leave in a hurry ? Run away from me ?"

Becky opens her arms and closes her eyes.

"Slap me if you want." the captain says, frowning. "I deserve it, for everything that I've done to you."

"N-no, I-"

"Do it."

Shelina walks toward her, hesitant, before her hand finds Becky's cheek.

She then repeats that action twice, before suddenly stopping, as her facial expression changes. She is crying, but her eyes are not. She grabs Becky's waist and violently pulls her closer, trapping her lips with her own, attacking them with fierce and passion, and also despair. Becky has to open her eyes to verify this is not a dream, and when she realizes Shelina's are closed and that the girl asks for permission, Becky grants her before wrapping her arms against the girl's neck, touching her hair in the process.

After a few seconds, Becky slowly leads her to the bed, before they both fall on it, the Canadian on top of her. Her eyes show hesitation for a few seconds, before she starts kissing Becky again, and her hands are untying Becky's jeans.

Once those are removed, Shelina slips her hand under Becky's panties, and starts doing her thing, that thing she does so well. Becky groans, biting Shelina's lips, as hr brown hair are falling on her face. Their smell bring back the memories, and Becky kisses her with more passion, with devotion. With something that feels like love. After a few minutes, Becky's body is done with convulsing, and Shelina takes her hand back. After licking her fingers with a defying look, she stares at Becky.

She then closes her eyes.

"Shit."

When she tries to get up, Becky reverses the situation and finds herself on top of the girl, who starts crying again.

"Shelina, I swear we will work this out" the captain whispers. Her lips then find their way to the brunette's neck, and between two soft kisses, she continues : "Why does it feel so right if it's wrong ?"

Shelina closes her eyes. "I-I don't know." After a few deep breaths, she adds : "Fuck it, fuck me Becky."

She doesn't have to repeat it twice. At that very moment, Becky knows her life is going to get a lot more complicated.

But she is so worth it, she thinks to herself, before kissing the girl she's loved for so long now.