Chapter Text
The day JJ moves in, Christen is off at her last away game of the season, and Ali is working. Her parents come to move her in, and they’re slightly frustrated that they aren’t going to get to meet either of JJ’s elusive roommates. Right before they’re about to leave, JJ fixing the pillows on her bed and her parents beginning their annual emotional goodbye, Ali stumbles through the door, exhausted and completely having forgotten her new roommate was moving in. JJ’s parents swarm her, JJ standing behind them hesitantly, as they take in Ali’s all black clothing and small bag slung over her shoulder.
“Hi, um, I’m Ali,” she says, putting out a hand to shake JJ’s parents’ hands. “I’m sorry, I just got back from work, I hope you guys found everything okay.”
“You’re a barista?” Her dad asks, a slightly judgmental look crossing his face as he takes in her wore out outfit and messy bun.
“Um, yeah, I work at the Starbucks down the street.”
Ali beelines it to her room as quickly as she can, not even bothering to say hi to her new roommate. She gets in the shower, and cleans off after an exhausting day of work, trying to get the smell of coffee off her body. After she’s done showering, she slides into a pair of shorts and a sports bra, and makes her way out to the kitchen, happy to realize her roommate’s parents are gone. Without air conditioning in their small apartment, any amount of clothes was too much clothes.
“Hey, I’m Julie,” the excited blonde says. “I’m sorry my parents ambushed you, you’re clearly exhausted, I just... felt bad, they just know nothing about you and wanted to meet you,” she rambles. Ali smiles, finding her quite charming, in her high ponytail, jean shorts, and tee shirt.
“No problem, I was just tired and hungry. Have you had dinner yet?” Ali asks, opening the cabinet and pulling out a box of pasta. Julie’s eyes roam Ali’s muscular back, strong legs, and round butt as she turns away from her.
“Um, no, I have to go grocery shopping, so I might just order in,” Julie replies, a bit nervous, trying to pry her eyes away from the beautiful brunette in front of her.
“No problem, I’ll make extra pasta. Sorry it’s just you and me tonight, Christen should be back tomorrow. Her game is on in an hour or so, if you want to watch it with me,” Ali replies. She carries a pot over to the stove, filled with water, and Julie’s eyes get caught on a long mark up her lower arm.
“Yeah, I’d love to,” Julie replies, sitting down at the island in the kitchen. “Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Nah, I’m good,” Ali insists. She turns around to grab a container of tomato sauce out of the cabinet, and Julie spots the matching mark on her other wrist. Her heart clenches, and she finds herself staring for a moment, a bit confused.
They eat pasta and watch Christen’s game, Ali’s computer plugged into the TV in their living room. Christen sits on the bench most of the game, but she gets subbed in in the seventy fifth minute, and Ali jumps off the couch she’s so excited.
“YEAH, CHRIS!!!! YOU GOT THIS!”
Julie just watches in awe, both at Christen’s power off the bench, her runs, her prowess, the way she impacts the game, and also Ali’s enthusiasm about it, making happy comments every time Christen does something well.
“Do you play still?” Julie asks, after the game is over. Christen's team, the Breakers, lose 3-1, but Ali is still smiling, just happy to have seen Christen get some minutes.
“No,” Ali replies, simply. Julie stares for a moment, intrigued by the beautiful girl she is now sharing an apartment with. She glances back down at Ali’s wrist. Ali catches her staring, and laughs.
“You’re going to have to get used to it, I don’t cover them up when I’m sitting around at home,” Ali remarks. JJ blushes deeply, and instantly feels bad for staring.
“I’m really sorry,” she replies, worried she was ruining the friendship with her new roommate before it even began. She wants to ask about it, but she’s barely known Ali for an hour. Ali just laughs and shakes her head, before unplugging her computer from the television and grabbing her phone off the couch to text Christen her congratulations.
Less than three days into living with Christen and Ali, Julie walks in on them for the first time. She sticks her key in the door after a long day of class, her headphones in, not even hearing the sounds coming from her apartment. She opens the door, and takes two steps into the apartment, looking down at her phone, before she realizes that a horrified Christen and Ali are laying on the couch, naked, Christen’s head between Ali’s legs. Julie feels rooted to the spot, staring as Christen sits up, and almost slams her head into Ali’s bent knee.
“I’m… so sorry,” Christen starts. Julie laughs.
“No worries, I’m sorry for interrupting,” she replies, and heads into her room. Ali and Christen head to their own room, and a few minutes later, Julie hears Ali’s low moans begin again. She used to get so angry at her old roommate when things like this would happen, and she finds herself shocked at how much it doesn’t bother her.
Ali and Julie spend a lot of time alone in the apartment together, with Christen’s away games a lot of weekends, and strenuous practice schedule during the days. Sometimes, Julie comes back from class at noon to see Ali passed out on the couch after working the morning shift. Ali likes to cook, and cooks for her often, which Julie thoroughly appreciates. Julie even begins to get used to Ali’s weird affinity for walking around the apartment in barely any clothes (yes, it’s hot, no, that does not mean Ali doesn’t need to wear clothes). They’re watching Scandal reruns on the TV when Ali catches Julie staring at her scars again.
“You know, you aren’t subtle at all when you stare, right?” Ali remarks. “I tried to kill myself when I was in college,” she states, easy and calm. “I broke my leg, my junior year, and then I almost died of a pulmonary embolism. The leg, it was really bad. They told me that I would probably never play again. Two weeks later, my brother died of an overdose. I hadn’t seen him in more than a year. I never got to say goodbye. He never got to grow up, get sober, get his life together. I lost my brother, and I lost the sport I lived for. And suddenly, I wish I’d died in that hospital bed,” Ali explains. “It got really bad. I stopped going to class, and I was failing all my classes. I alienated everyone, I wouldn’t talk to people, wouldn’t let them into my apartment. It was just… constant pain. So I decided I was done, that I was going to end it, that it must have been some sort of crazy mistake that I didn’t die in that hospital bed. Screamed and cried when I woke up the next morning in the hospital. Spent months, inpatient, outpatient, for depression, self harm, suicidal thoughts. My leg is fine, now, actually. It’s stronger than it ever was. Sometimes I help Chris train, but I haven’t… I haven’t really played soccer since. I um, I have a really grateful outlook on life now. Because I almost lost mine, not once, but twice. I cover these up when I go out, with makeup and bracelets, for work and because I don’t want random strangers to ask me about them, but I don’t here at home, so it was only a matter of time before you found out. I’m not ashamed, of what I went through. It’s just… my business,” Ali explains.
“You didn’t have to tell me that,” Julie replies, staring at the strong, beautiful girl in front of her. “But, um, thank you for sharing. You’re… incredible.”
“Thanks. It was a year of hell. I never graduated. I realize that, me and Christen, it seems kind of weird, she’s a professional athlete and I’m a barista, but, Christen is a very special breed.”
“Ali, you are one of the most beautiful, strong, and incredible women I’ve ever met. And I’ve only known you for a few weeks,” Julie replies. “It’s glaringly obvious why Christen is head over heels for you.”
Christen can tell Ali is a bit emotional when she gets home from practice that night, and she slides into bed after her shower, just in her towel, and curls up against her girlfriend.
“You okay?” Christen asks, and Ali nods, a small smile on her face.
“I told Julie today.”
“She was good about it?” Christen asks, her protective instincts over her girlfriend kicking in.
“She was really, really sweet,” Ali replies. “It just, gets me thinking, you know. I wonder if, if Kyle would’ve gotten his life together if he were still here. I wonder if I would be playing in the NWSL with you if I hadn’t broken my leg. I wonder if I would’ve graduated college and done something productive with my life if I had been stronger.”
“You know, you’re the strongest person I know, and gosh, I admire you with every fiber of my being. Ali… you’re a warrior, you’re a survivor. And you know what I always tell you, the Breakers have open try outs every year,” Christen reminds her. Ali laughs.
“I would be… a mess. Plus, I don’t know. Soccer reminds me of things I would rather not be reminded of,” Ali admits. Christen leans up and kisses her gently.
“I really like Julie,” Christen remarks. “She’s a good roommate.”
“How long have you and Ali been together?” Julie finally asks Christen one night. They started going to the gym together more often, since Christen was officially off season. Christen pushed Julie in all kinds of ways, to be a better athlete, a better soccer player, and a better goal scorer.
“A year and a half, about. I moved in with her when I graduated and started playing with the Breakers. Some teammates hooked me up with her. And the casual roommate thing turned into full blown relationship in no time. She’s… really incredible. I’ve never met anyone like her. She helps me really focus on what is important in life, and she reminds me of the importance of my happiness,” Christen explains. “I was kind of just going through the motions of life when I met her. She’s so uplifting, so incredibly caring and she lives life in such a grand way. She doesn’t take anything for granted.”
“The day I moved in, we watched your game. And you got subbed in in like, the seventy fifth minute. And gosh, Ali spent those last fifteen minutes jumping up and down, praising you left and right. It didn’t even matter that your team lost, she was so excited to see you play and she talked about how good you were all night. You guys are honestly, so, so sweet,” Julie replies.
“Thanks, she’s the best.”
Julie starts going to Ali’s Starbucks to do all of her homework. She always gets a two person table, so when Ali gets her breaks, she comes and sits down with her, and they catch up. Ali always makes her caramel macchiatos, because she knows exactly how Julie likes them. One day, Julie gets there when Ali starts her shift at 9am, and is still there at 3pm when Ali gets off for the day. She sits down across from Julie, tapping her hand to get her attention.
“You almost done with your work?” Ali asks. “I’m headed home.”
“Yeah, I’ll come,” Julie replies.
They get on the train back to their apartment, and Julie asks if they can talk. Ali invites Julie into her and Christen’s room, and the blonde looks around, intrigued by the design and colors.
“Your room is really nice,” Julie remarks. “How do you guys fit all your stuff in here?”
“Christen leaves all of her practice gear in her teammate’s car. And we share clothes a lot,” Ali explains. “I think we own like six pairs of jeans, and at this point I honestly couldn’t tell who whose is whose. I wear all the black ones since I have to for work, but, I we kind of melded our wardrobes when we moved into this room together and haven’t looked back since.”
“That’s cool that you can share pants,” Julie remarks, climbing onto Ali’s bed with her.
“Yeah, my thighs are bigger than Christens, but for some reason she wears her jeans bigger than I do so we’ve managed to wear the same sizes for the most part. The only thing we don’t share is like underwear. We share bras though. Sometimes. I don’t know, I like to keep the underwear and bras separate because it’s more fun and sexy that way,” Ali rambles. “That’s probably way too much information, wow, I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. Your relationship is so interesting,” Julie adds.
“Yeah. What was it you wanted to talk about?” Ali asks.
“Oh, um. I broke up with my boyfriend,” Julie starts.
“Okay, um, wow. I had, no idea you had a boyfriend, we’ve been living together for months, has he ever been here?” Ali asks, confused. “How long did you date for?”
“I usually go to him. And, a long time, but we weren’t, I don’t know. Like it was more a close friendship, you know? I just, he wanted to take the next step, and I just didn’t.”
“He wanted sex?”
“Yeah. And I thought I did too, but, I don’t, it freaks me out. I love him but, I’m not, sexually attracted to him I don’t think,” Julie explains.
“That’s okay. That’s good that you guys ended it, then,” Ali replies.
“I guess, I just. I think I’m gay,” Julie admits, her voice soft and quiet.
“That’s also, okay,” Ali says, a smile on her face. “How long have you been feeling this way for?”
“Since, a long time, especially with the sex thing. I wanted to have sex, I guess, but, I just, didn't see it, with him. He didn't, I don't know. I realized I've never really been sexually attracted to men I've dated, and I always thought maybe I'm not a sexual person, but. I guess, watching you guys, it made me realize that that’s what I want. The way you look at each other, I didn’t look at him that way,” Julie explains. “You guys, your love seems so on fire, like, you could spend forever staring at each other and that’s so… so unique and intriguing and… I realized I don’t have that and I've never felt at all that way about a guy.”
“Are you worried about what people will think?” Ali asks.
“Yeah, I guess, and I feel like I’m too old to be realizing this,” Julie replies. Ali laughs.
“Christen was my first official girlfriend, and I was the first girl she ever dated or kissed ever. You’re never too old. I mean, I’ve known I like girls since forever, but Christen, Christen legit started crying the day we kissed for the first time because she was so freaked out. I’d talk to her about it, if I were you. She’ll have some good advice. And really, just, you’re never too old to realize things. And there’s nothing wrong with you. And you’re going to be okay. We’re here for you,” Ali tells her.