Little Sanchez - USWNT

Chapter 52

Ainsley's POV

It was almost 11:45 by the time I had finally calmed down Ash. But by then, I was scared she'd psyched herself out entirely. I just had to hope it wasn't that bad and she'd hopefully figure it out. 

What Julie said about looking myself up echoed in my mind, so as soon as I left Ash's room, I did it. 

That was a big, fat, fucking mistake. 

I was hoping to see an analysis on my performance, hoping to maybe get some things to think about going into the knockout stages. But what I ended up getting was a whole bunch of shit about Trinity and I. 

When we were together in the tunnel someone had taken a picture and posted it to social media. It was so blurry that if I didn't know it was myself, I'd never be able to see a difference between Ash and I.

I stopped walking as I stared at my phone. Endless posts on Twitter (X, whatever you want to call it) about the picture in the tunnel. Honestly the picture was blurry, the only way to know we were kissing was because the original poster of the picture said we were. And nobody knew if it was Ash or I. 

The general consensus seemed to be that it was me; but there were some that said Ash. 

I wasn't looking for this. I was looking to see if I had something, anything, to boost my morale. But this only proved to be worse for me. 

I didn't know whether I should tell Trinity or not. 

Probably not right now, considering how awfully this World Cup is going. 

I took a deep breath before unlocking the door and walking in to see Trinity lounging on the bed with the TV on. 

"Hey." I said with a little smile. 

"Everything okay?" She asked, getting up and walking over to me, pulling me into a comfortable, affectionate hug.

"Everything's great." I lied. 

I knew she'd never be able to see right through me, but this time I think she did. Either that or she just chose to ignore it. 

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Trinity's POV

When Ainsley walked in, she was wearing her 'deep in thought' expression. She looked slightly distracted mixed with sad. 

I knew as soon as she walked in that there was something on her mind, but I don't know if it's worth being annoying about. It would be another argument about her needing to fight her own battles and me telling her that she always ends up needing help, so she should just let me help from the beginning. 

It's just hard because she has so many demons and it's hard to know which one she's fighting at what point. 

"Hey." She said quietly as she shut the door. Did she think I was mad at her for not answering? 

"Everything okay?" I asked, getting off the bed and walking towards her, pulling her into a hug. 

"Everything's great." She said, a clear and obvious lie. 

I decided not to push. I changed the subject entirely while keeping her pulled tight to me. 

"You know..." I trailed off. "I heard someone turns 19 in five minutes." 

"Oh did you?" I could hear the smile in her voice. 

"I did." 

"And you know what I heard?" 

"What did you hear?" 

"I heard she's got a dirty little secret." 

"And that secret would be...?" I said as she let go of me.