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Ashlyn and Ali were running around their apartment, excited and a little nervous for the Halloween party they were going to shortly. The girls are trying to pull any loose ends of their ‘couples costume’ together, counting down the minutes before they pull the trigger on the entire world of social media.
The girls both know what a huge following they have, which has only increased dramatically after their WorldCup win, so they want to ‘give back’ to their fans so to speak. It was Ashlyn who thought of the brilliant costume idea; seeing how her eyes lit up with mischief and excitement made Ali’s heart rate quicken.
She’s not a risk taker like Ashlyn when it comes to her personal life. It’s not that she wants to hide or keep her entire life with the blonde under wraps, but she prefers to keep private, intimate moments with her girlfriend just that...private and intimate. She loves the recognition that women’s soccer is getting, and she’s overwhelmed with the amount of support she and Ashlyn are receiving as individual players, but the spotlight makes it difficult to freely enjoy each other’s company outside of soccer. There’s no hand-holding in public, not because they’re afraid, but because they don’t want the entire world to speculate about who reached for who first. There aren’t any kisses in public because the girls don’t want anyone else to know how the others’ lips look just as they’re about to lean in. It’s too intimate. Too private. Those moments just belong to them.
But tonight. Tonight could be different.
“Babe!” Ashlyn yells from the hallway as she walks into the living room to meet Ali. The blonde has on narrow, black, Doc Marten boots, skinny black dress pants, and a white button down with black vest. Ali smiles at the girl in front of her. She instinctually gravitates towards the blonde and settles her arms around the girl’s neck.
“Can I help you?” Ali finally answers the blonde.
“Oh, uhhh, yeah,” Ashlyn stutters out, distracted by her girlfriend’s intoxicating touch. “Can you tie this for me?” The blonde hands Ali her red tie with a shy smile.
“Come on Harris, you still can’t get it?” the brunette teases.
“Hey!” Ashlyn yells playfully. “You know I can do it, I just prefer when you do.” The blonde winks at her brunette and Ali can’t help but keep the blush from covering her cheeks. She wraps the tie around the blonde’s neck and quickly ties it into place. She pats her hand against Ashlyn’s chest, looking up into hazel eyes and smiling widely.
“You look so hot baby,” the brunette whispers, eyes still locked onto the blonde’s.
“Mmm, not as good as you though,” Ashlyn says with a sincere smile and leans down to lightly kiss the brunette’s soft lips. Ali smiles at the gesture.
“Who would’ve thought my big, bad goalkeeper girlfriend is such a softie?” Ali teases the blonde again before leaning up on her tip-toes to kiss the blonde’s cheek. Ashlyn blushes at the girl’s statement; she might seem rough and tumble on the outside given all of the tattoos, but Ali’s right, she’s really just a cuddly teddy bear.
“Speaking of girlfriends...you ready to blow the internet’s mind?” Ashlyn says with a smirk.
“I can’t believe you talked me into doing this...” Ali’s voice trailed off slightly. Ashlyn can sense the apprehension, but she’s quick to reassure the brunette.
“Hey, Al, it’ll be okay I promise,” she kisses the smaller girl’s forehead, “it’s all for show.”
“Ugh, I know,” Ali begins, “I’m just hesitant to share you with the world,” she releases a deep sigh. Ashlyn listens patiently, wrapping the brunette in a hug once she’s finished.
“You don’t have to share babe,” Ash whispers into the brunette’s ear. Ali shudders at the feeling. Goosebumps rising on her arms.
“Eventually I do though, and our moments together are so precious,” Ali responds, “I’m afraid that once people know, or think they know, that those moments between us will be ruined somehow.” Now it clicks in the blonde’s mind. Ali doesn’t want to lose her. She’s afraid that once people “know” everything between the two will change, that somehow they’ll become different people. That suddenly they won’t just be Ali and Ashlyn anymore.
“I know you’re scared,” Ashlyn says, “I am too, but I promise to love you the same tomorrow as I do today. In fact, I promise to love you more tomorrow than I do today. Nothing, nobody, will ever change that.” A single tear slides down the brunette’s face, but just as always, Ashlyn is there to kiss it away.
“I love you so much Alex,” the blonde says softly, looking into beautiful cinnamon colored eyes.
Ali smiles softly before pushing her head into Ashlyn’s chest and hugging her tightly.
“I love you too,” the brunette mumbles cutely.
“Now let’s do a makeup check and hit the road!” the blonde says enthusiastically. Ali laughs into her girlfriend’s chest before pulling back slightly with a smile as she nods.
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As the couple arrived to their friend’s Halloween party, they asked if someone could take their picture. They wanted to make sure their outfits looked on point before they were possibly ruined by the mixture of alcohol and dancing and other shenanigans. And besides, the sooner they took the picture, the sooner they could “break the internet” as Ashlyn liked to call it. Ali just laughed at her girlfriend’s jokester personality. She had to admit, the costume idea was brilliant, though quite risky for Ali’s taste. While the blonde was dressed in the same formal wear from earlier, Ali had changed into black stilettos and a tight black dress that fell just above her knees.
“You ready to do this?” the blonde asks one final time.
“Never thought I’d say it but, what the hell, lets do it!” Ali says, her spirit flying freely.
Ashlyn pulls up the Twitter app on her phone and she taps the icon so she can begin to type a new message. Ali watches over the blonde’s shoulder, her heart beating wildly in her chest as if the two are breaking some kind of law. She’s excited and nervous and a little apprehensive, but as long as Ashlyn is by her side she knows she will be fine.
“Best costume or best cover up? ;P #happyhalloween2015 #shesababe”
Ali and Ashlyn looked over the written message and the picture that followed to make sure everything was perfect. In the picture Ali was pressed tightly into Ashlyn’s side with one arm resting on the blonde’s back while the other hand rested flat against Ashlyn’s chest, front and center in the photo. Ashlyn was gripping Ali’s waist tightly, looking down at the brunette with a loving smile on her face. Ali’s head was dipped down just slightly, a shy smile playing at her lips. Both girls looked so in love that they knew it was believable. And if their smiles and longing gazes didn’t sell their costumes, the glistening princess-cut diamond on Ali’s ring finger would surely sell it.
After Ashlyn posts the new tweet, it doesn’t take long before their phones are blowing up in notifications from their friends and family, and of course their fans. The tweet had taken the internet by storm. The reaction was overwhelmingly positive that Ali was at a loss for words. She knew they had intense, adoring fans, but this seemed surreal. Girls of all ages were reaching out to them through twitter, replying to the post with things like, “OMG, hope it’s real...” or “#Krashlyn is life” or “Should be ‘most beautiful couple’ costume instead...” and so on and so forth. Ali can feel her chest start to tighten, but it’s not because she’s upset. Her response to the new publicity is the opposite of what she assumed it would be. And she wants to show Ashlyn her change of heart. She wants to show her how much she loves and respects her, even if it means sacrificing a tiny bit of their privacy.
While the blonde runs off to get them drinks, Ali opens the Twitter app on her own phone and pulls up Ashlyn’s tweet of them. She quickly hits the ‘favorite’ button and smiles at the cheesy engagement pose they stood in. She can’t deny that the fans are right...they do look good together.
Ali holds up her hand showing off the large diamond while smiling that adorable nose-crinkling grin. She snaps the picture and selects it for the Tweet. As she taps out the message her favorite blonde slides in next to her. While Ali hits the publish button, Ashlyn looks at her with wide eyes. Ali places her hand on the blonde’s cheek, wiping away the tears that have fallen down the girl’s cheek.
“Are you serious?” Ashlyn chokes out in between sobs, holding a hand over her mouth.
Ali nods shyly and Ashlyn throws her arms around the brunette. She pulls back slightly to kiss Ali with every ounce of love she can muster.
Ali’s phone sits on her lap as she grips the blonde’s neck tighter, pulling her into the kisser deeper.
“#itsreal”