Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Christen's pov.

My parents wave goodbye as I pull out of the driveway on my way to Camp. You're probably thinking, “Isn't 18 too old to be attending a camp?”  Well, not when Tobin Heath is hosting it at UNC. And if that's where I'll be playing next year. Plus, the brochure did say all ages from 12 to 20. So, I'm good. By the way, I'm Christen Press. I'm from California and I have played soccer for 11 years now. I've played travel for 6. I've worked my butt off to play for UNC, and now I'm getting my dream. A full-ride and being able to play with the best of the best. Plus, I got new cleats for this thing, so I kind of have to go. Also I forgot to mention; I’m totally gay for soccer girls. This should be interesting.

Regular pov.

As Christen pulls up to her dorm she'll be staying in, she sees a white Jeep Wrangler pull in right beside her.  A pair of blue reflective sunglasses and Rip curl snapback pops out of the car. Christen heart skips a beat. She knows this girl. She has been her idol for many years, and has wanted to play with her for so long.

Stay calm Christen. She thinks to herself as the tan goddess in a low cut tank and bathing suit gets out of the car.

Christen takes a deep breath, and makes her way out of the car too. Christen starts to get her bags when Tobin calls out, “ Want  some help?”  

Christen nods frantically, seeing as she has a million bags. As Christen is getting more bags from the front of the car, Tobin stares at Christen with dark brown eyes as she grabs a duffel from the trunk. Christen looks up, catching Tobin staring, and Tobin’s face turns a shade of light red.

“So wha-what's your name?”  Tobin asks.  

Christen tells her her name and she smiles. “ I'm Tobin.”  

The forward giggles in response, “I Know. You’re a  World Champ!”  

Tobin rolls her eyes and grab the rest of her bags. “ If this is it, I'll show you to your room. Room 16 right?”  

Christen nods, and Tobin beams. “ Sweet! I'm right next door and 17. Since you're going to play here in college, this will probably be your dorm for next year too.”  

Great . Christen thinks. How am I even going to be able to concentrate at soccer and at home knowing that the hottest girl on campus is next door.

Christen takes another deep breath, and makes her way into her room. They start to unload Christen's bags onto the floor, and Tobin lets out a huge sigh.

"I take it you're tired?" Christen asks, jokingly.

"Uh, yeah! You must have a million bags of bricks with you!" 

Christen laughs, “Good thing that's it. Thanks for your help Tobin.”  

She smiles and nods. “ No problem. Anything for a teammate. But I'd probably only break my back for special ones.”

Christen grins. "How do you know I'm special?"

Tobin smiles. "Well for starters, you're stunning. And you're one of the first who hasn't asked for a picture or autograph yet."

"Well, I have a feeling I'll be seeing you around, so no picture needed. I mean if you want to see me around."

By now, both girls were inches away from each other, close enough to feel each other's breath. "Yeah. i'd like that." Tobin breathes out.

Once Christen actually realizes what's happening, she quickly turns away and tidys her room when there's barely anything in it at all.

Tobin coughs awkwardly, and starts to leave when Christen stops her. "Um, Tobin, before you go, can I ask you something?"

"Anything. Shoot." Tobin smiles. 

"How did you know I was going to be your teammate?”

Tobin rubs the back of her neck neck shyly, as her face turns pink. “Well, I saw the roster with pictures and you just kind of stuck with me. I wanted to get to know you.”

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Both girls kind of stared at each other in silence while smiling dumbly.

Tobin cleared her throat. “Um, well, I have to go. Just holler if you need anything.”  Christen nods and Tobin headed out the door with a smile. With that the forward fell back on her bed with a sigh and a grin.

 Next day

Christen wakes with a pounding headache, corresponding to her blaring alarm. Her phone goes off about a million times before she silences it. As she scrolls through her notifications, she smiles. Tobin Heath has requested to follow you. Christen's  heart sings. She follows her back, and browses through her Instagram for a little while. Well, around 20 minutes. She gets to the 160 week mark, when she hears a knock at the door that scares her to death. This makes her accidentally like Tobin's 160 week old picture.  

Oh. My. God. Christen thinks, as she rushes to the door.

The goddess in a snapback pops her head in. “ Hey. I was wondering if you want to grab breakfast?”  

Christen smiles and nods, and grabs her wallet.  Tobin stops her by putting her hand on Christens. Tobin's touch is so soft, and the forwards face starts to heat up as she quickly brushes her hand off.

“Well, I was going to say I got it, but it seems like you really want to pay.” Tobin smirks.

Christen stammers, “No, no. It's fine I mean, uh-”  

Tobin smiles or relaxing smile and takes her wallet and puts it on the table.

“I guess we're ready to go.” Tobin says as she smirks and holds the door for a very flustered brunette. Christen shuffles out and thinks, This is going to be a long camp.

Tobin decides to take Christen to a small diner she found her freshman year. Tobin is going to be a junior this year, so she knows her way around the campus pretty well. Before breakfast, they take a little tour and they make their way to soccer fields that they'll be training on for school soccer. They kick a random ball around for a little while, and end up going one v one. Tobin does a clean scissors right past Christen, but Christen pokes her foot in and end up tripping Tobin over. She takes the ball, rainbows a fake defender, and scores upper 90.

“Oh my gosh, are you okay? I'm so so sorry!”

Tobin just laugh and sighs. “Nah, I'm okay, thanks though. But jeez you're good! What position do you play?”  

Christen smiles and tells her she plays forward.

“Oh, dope!” Tobin exclaims. “We lost our best forward last year when Alex got hurt. She had to quit soccer, but UNC was kind enough to keep her on an academic scholarship. And you're pretty good so I think we'll be okay.” Tobin says with a wink.

Christen blushes and smiles. She murmurs a thanks, and proceeds to help Tobin up.

“Plus, I think you're going to look pretty good in that uniform.”  That only made Christen blush even more.

They finally make it to the diner and order a coffee and some pancakes. It smells like bacon and the coffee is to die for. As they eat and talk about family and soccer, Tobin grabs her phone to show Christen a picture of last year's team.

Shit . Christen thinks, and Tobin smirks when she sees her latest notification.

“Someone scrolled pretty far down my Instagram this morning, ey?”  Christen's face grew bright red and Tobin laughed.

They continued to sit and drink coffee when the forward asked “So, what are we going to do at camp?”

“Oh!”

Tobin's face lit up, and she went on to tell Christen about the million activities planned for each age. The older kids will have more training session type days, with Tobin coaching. While the younger kids will play some games and learn some moves. Tobin got really excited when talking about the younger kids and how much she loved them.

Christen smiled and thought to herself, Holy  crap she’s cute. 

Tobin smirked and asked, "What was that?”  

Christen's eyes grew wide, and she stammered, “N-nothing.”  

Tobin hummed, and asked for the check, beaming.

The girls walked back to their dorms to get ready for the day. Tobin dropped Christen off at her dorm and Christen thanked her for breakfast.

“It was delicious. I really liked hanging out with you, too.”

Holy crap where did that come from? She is WAY out of your league.  Christen thought.

But her thoughts were silenced when Tobin said, “Me too. Oh, and by the way I think you're cute too.”  

Tobin sashayed away to her door and turned at the last minute to say goodbye. “See you, Chris.”  Her eyes grew wide, as Tobin gave her a wink.

"B-bye Tobin." 

Christen ran her hands through her hair and started to text her best friend, Kelley. 

L: You will NEVER believe what happened today. 

Chapter Text

K: Spill.
C: Well, it happens to be about someone named Tobin Heath.
K: CALL ME RIGHT NOW
Christen laughed, and called Kelly. She told her best friend the story, and Kelly was speechless. Well, almost.

"Um Christen do you realize what's happening right now? You're falling for a soccer superstar!! And she's falling for you!"

Christen rolled her eyes. She was pretty sure Kelly could tell when she said, "don't even roll your eyes Christen. You know it's true."

"Kelly, calm down! I just met her. I'm just gonna let it happen, you know?"

"I guess. If I were you, I'd be all over THAT."

Christen heard some muffling in the background, and then some barking.

"Chris, I gotta go. Brooklyn is driving me nuts. Squirrels are the death of me right now. Text me!!"

Christen laughed, and said goodbye to her former high school teammate. She started to get unpacked, when she heard a knock on her door. She opened it up, and a tall, long-haired brunette, with the cutest outfit was standing there.

"Hi, is this room 16?"

Christen smiled. "Yes! You must be my roomie. I'm Christen."

She stuck her hand out to greet the unknown girl, but before she knew it, the girl was being tackled by Tobin.

Whaaaat? Christen thought.

"Alex! Dude I haven't seen you in forever!"

"Oh my god Tobs, calm down it's been 3 weeks since the last national team camp."

The so called Alex rolled her eyes, and smiled at Christen.

"I'm Alex as you've probably figured out. Have you met whack-job Tobin here?"

Tobin and Christen locked eyes for a moment, and both smiled dreamily.

"Uh Christen?"

Both girls snapped out of what ever trance they were in, and laughed awkwardly.

"Um, yeah I've met her, uh Tobin. Yup. Tobin Heath. Been there done that."

Alex smirked at Tobin.

"No! Um, Christen didn't mean DONE that but like she's met me before. Like yesterday. So yeah. Christen's dope."

"Okaay. Well I'm gonna get my stuff put away, then Tobin you can talk to me about what we are going to be doing with the younger kids this week?"

Tobin rubbed the back of her neck, "Yeah. Uh bye Alex. Bye Chris."

Tobin locked eyes with Christen and smiled a dopey smile, before closing the door behind Christen and Alex. Christen was still daydreaming about Tobin when Alex spoke up.

"So. You gonna tell me about you and Tobs?"

Christen gulped. "Well, there's not too much to tell. I met her like, two days ago."

"HA! You're joking right? I know Tobin, and she's crazy for you."

Christen smiled. But, realized what she was doing and cleared her throat, "So. You're a counselor?"

"Yup, me and Tobin run this camp every year we've been in college here. I know you're here for the camp, but are you playing for UNC?"

"Yeah! How'd you know?"

Alex snorted, "Tobin has already called me and talked to me about you."

Christen beamed. "Really?! I mean, cool. Yeah."

Alex shook her head and smiled. "I have to go, but text me and we can grab dinner? We need to discuss, well, this."

Christen laughed, and nodded. Then Alex was out the door.

Christen decided to take a walk around campus for a little while, so she could figure out where everything was before camp started monday. The campus was absolutely gorgeous. The landscaping was perfect, there were restaurants everywhere, a mall right by her dorm, and cute college kids everywhere. Christen saw a small coffee shop down the street, and made her way down there. She ordered, took a seat, and began reading the book she just started. Everything was peaceful, and christen thought it couldn't get any better. Just then, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

“Hey, do you mind if I sit?” A blonde bombshell asked, as she smiled an infectious smile.

“Yeah! No problem.” Christen answered with a grin.

This girl was really pretty, and Christen felt herself staring, when she probably shouldn't have. She also looked seriously familiar. Soccer? Home? School? Christen wasn't sure. They were both reading and minding their own business, when Christen heard herself speak up.

“So, what's your name?”

“I'm Julie.” The girl grinned. “And you?”

“Christen.”

“As in Christen Press?”

Christen nodded and smiled.

“Oh my gosh! It's Julie johnston! From state ODP? We we're together for a year or two?”

A lightbulb went off in Christen's head. Duh! She thought.

“Yeah!! How did I not know? You look so different! Like a good different of course.”

Julie giggled, and the girls caught up with each other. They hadn't seen each other in years, and learned a lot. Julie came to UNC to play soccer, and left state ODP because she moved when she was 15. She has a boyfriend named Zach, she recently dyed her hair (hence the reason why Christen didn't recognize her), and is staying in an apartment with her boyfriend, off campus. Julie was a sophomore, which was different because she was not any older than Christen. She graduated early from her new highschool because she had enough credits from her home highschool.

The girls talked for hours, and Christen looked at her watch. It read 6:30.

Shit! Christen thought. She still had to meet alex for dinner!

“I am so sorry Julie, I have to go. Ill talk to you soon though!”

Julie smiled and said, “See ya!”

Christen sprinted back to her room, where she found Alex and Tobin sprawled out across the couch. They looked as lazy as ever and Christen laughed.

“I ran all the way back here because I thought I would be late!”

Alex and Tobin laughed, while Christen rolled her eyes.

“We gotta go tobs, I'm taking Christen to dinner.” Alex said, while shoving Tobin off of the bed.

“What? Why can't i come?” Tobin asked in a whiney voice.

“It's a roommate thing.” Alex said.

“But i'm across the haaaall!” Tobin cried.

Alex gently pushed her out of the room, with zero pity. Tobin gave Christen puppy eyes and Christen just laughed and shrugged.

“Bye Tobin!” The girls said in unison.

The girls were seated at Alex's favorite restaurant in the city. It was decorated with lights and lanterns, and flowers almost everywhere. Christen quickly fell in love with the place and thought, I have to take Tobin here.

Alex and her talked about the campus, the team, the camp, and much more. Then the topic of Tobin came up.

“So. Spill girlfriend.” Alex said, clearly wanting an answer.

Christen stuttered, her brain about to explode from nervousness.

“I, uh, To- I mean,”

Alex giggled. “Okay. How about I tell you one thing about tobin, and you tell me one thing about the both of you.”

Christen nodded, and Alex scratched her head as she thought.

“Well. Tobin is very quick with relationships. She moves very fast, and most girls don't like that.”

Christen took note and said, “Good to know. Well, I guess you could say I like tobin? She's just so pretty and funny and kind. From what I know, she has the sweetest heart. Like doing this camp for everyone? I think it's awesome. And she's so, effortlessly, cool. She just makes everyone love her without even trying. I dunno. It's stupid.”

Alex smiled. “That's sweet. And so not stupid. Oh! Another thing about Tobin. She spoils. Big time. But it's not chocolate or flowers. It's huge dinners, day long hiking trips, once she bought her girlfriend a car. It's kind of nuts.”

Christen rolled her eyes. “That seems very Tobin.”

“yeah. She's also very protective. You guys have to be able to communicate well.”

Christen nodded. “Well, Tobin and I have been flirting a little. I think. How do I know she's flirting?”

“She is a charmer. BIG TIME. Compliments go flying with her.”

Christen smiled and thought of all the things Tobin was saying to her. She was lost in thought when the waiter asked if they wanted the check. Alex paid, and they were back to their dorm in no time.