"Hey where are you going?" I ask Lindsey as she and Emily are about to leave.

"Some of the girls and I are going out to eat." Lindsey says.

"Oh...I guess I'll just cancel our reservation then."

"Reservation for what?"

"Today is our 6 month anniversary Lindsey." I say then walk to my room where I shut and lock the door then slide down the wall.

"You didn't." I hear Emily say followed by footsteps coming towards the door. "Lindsey don't. Let's just go eat and you can talk about it when we get home."

Thank you Emily. I don't really wan't to see Lindsey right now. As much as I'm mad at her I'm still hopelessly in love with her and don't want to blow up on her and make her cry.

Once the apartment door shuts I grab my phone and order a sandwich from Subway on Uber Eats then sit in the living room and watch tv until it arrives 25 minutes later.

As I'm eating my phone rings alerting me to a Facetime.

"Hey Cairo." Alex says.

"Hi."

"Why did I get a text from Emily saying to call you?"

"I guess because Lindsey and I had a fight."

"And what did you two fight about?"

"She forgot what today is." Alex looks confused. "Our 6 month anniversary is today."

"Dammit Lindsey." I hear Alex mumble. "Well maybe she has a lot on her mind right now."

"Yeah...maybe...I guess I care more about this relationship than she does."

"Hey you know that's not true Cairo. Lindsey loves you with all of her heart. She just made a mistake. Has she been acting different lately?"

"She's more stressed. The World Cup is coming up and she wants to do her best so we can do as good as we can. She also wants to win the NWSL since the team lost 3-0 at home last year in the final."

"See Cairo. She is just stressed. I know it isn't a valid excuse to forget your anniversary, but go easy on her Cairo.

"I even got her a present." I say ignoring what Alex said.

"What did you get her?"

"I got her a sterling silver necklace that said C+L and in the C it has my birthstone, in the plus sign it has the November birthstone since we started dating in November and in the L it has Lindsey's birthstone."

"Wow."

"Yeah...I'll talk to you later Alex." I say then we say bye and I hang up then finish eating then go to the balcony and lay on one of the chairs we have out there.

I've been out her for about an hour when the balcony door opens and Lindsey comes and sits in my lap.

"Cairo I am so sorry I forgot our anniversary. I-I-I-"

"I shouldn't have made such a big deal about it."

"Yes Cairo you should have. I made the mistake." Lindsey says then cups my face making me look at her. "Baby these past six months have been the best months of my life and it's all because of you. I love you so so so much. I will never forgive myself for forgetting today. You make me feel so loved and so happy that I feel like everyday with you is special."

"It's okay Lindsey I know you're stressed and that's okay. I just wanted to do something special for you because I know somedays I don't love you the way you deserve.

"Yes Cairo you do. All the little things you do show me how much you love me. Wether that's holding my hand, hugging me, pecking me on the lips everytime you see me, or us cuddling. All of those let me know just how much you love me."

"You deserve to be loved better than that...I'm trying to be better at telling you about my emotions and how I feel and I-" I get cut off by Lindsey kissing me.

"Go put on sweats." Lindsey says after breaking the kiss.

"Where are we going?" I ask.

"Just trust me." I nod and then go change like I was told. After I'm changed Lindsey takes me to her car and then she drives us to a park. Once at the park Lindsey leads me to a patch of grass that has a blanket and rose petals around it with a picnic basket on it.

"How did you do this?" I ask.

"You really think I was going to go to dinner with the girls knowing I fucked up." I shrug and we start eating and talking for a while until I remember something.

"Oh before I forget I actually got you something." I say and grab the box from my bag.

"God I'm such a shitty girlfriend." Lindsey says obviously meaning for me not to hear her.

"No your not Lindsey. You're just stressed and I understand that. Just promise me one thing."

"Anything."

"Promise there will be more anniversary dates." I say and Lindsey smiles.

"That is something I can guarantee." She says then kisses me.

"Here." I hand Lindsey the box with her necklace. She opens it and one of her hands covers her mouth.

"It's beautiful Cairo." Lindsey takes it out of the box and studies the necklace. "What do the stones represent?"

"Well the stone in my and your initial is our birthstones and the stone in the plus sign is the November birthstone since we started dating in November." I say then I put it around her neck.

"Baby I-"

"Babygirl stop. I already forgave you. Yes you may have forgotten, but you put all this together for us. This date trumps what I was going to do easily."

"But you got me such a sweet gift."

"Your love for me is the greatest gift I could ever get. As long as I go to sleep with you in my arms tonight this will be the second best day of my life."

"What was the first?" Lindsey asks quizzically.

"The day you became my girlfriend." I say and Lindsey blushes.

"You are something else Cairo. You should hate me right now and yet here you are flirting with me."

"Because I know this was just a slip up. I love you way too much to stay mad at you Lindsey."

"And I love you Cairo. I know you already forgave me, but I really am truly sorry for forgetting."

"Well there is one way you could make it up to me." I say.

"Anything."

"Stay in my room tonight please."

"I wouldn't want to be anywhere else." Lindsey says then passionately kisses me.

After our make out session Lindsey and I pack up and head back to the apartment. Lindsey goes and showers in her room while I do the same in mine then wait for her on my bed. When she finishes her nightly routine she comes to my room and lays down with me and I wrap an arm around her and then I quickly fall asleep happy to have the love of my life in my arms.

- - - - -

"You ready to go?" Lindsey asks and I nod.

Today is my first NWSL game and we are playing at home against North Carolina. Emily, Lindsey, and I leave the apartment then make our way to the stadium. Once we get there we do our pregame routines then change into our kits.

I'm starting up top with Tobin and Hayley Raso which is cool. I guess for the national team my position is right center mid and with Portland my position is striker which is kinda weird, but I don't care at least I'm playing.

The first 30 or so minutes of the game was just both teams trying to keep possession. North Carolina has a corner now and I'm standing at the bottom of the circle. The whistle blows and someone sends the ball in, but it only gets as far as Kling who clears it my way. I hold off the defender and wait for the ball to get to me. When it does I kick it over my head and the defenders head.

After it clears my head I spin around my defender and I see that it's that Hinkle girl. When I start to run towards the ball she kicks my legs, but I've taken worse so I'm able to keep running, which I guess stunned her because she stopped running. I catch up to the ball and dribble towards goal. When I'm about 30 yards from goal I look up and see Tobin on the far side of the pitch, but she has a defender on her. I look back at goal and see the keeper is staying on her line which is stupid.

I dribble until I hit the 18 yard box then shoot the ball into the far bottom corner for my first goal of the game and for the Thorns. A couple seconds later Tobin comes over and hugs me and then the rest of the team hug me as well.

"Look at you Miss Speedy Gonzales." Kling says making me laugh.

"Nice assist Kling." I say.

"I try." She says making me laugh again because of the way she said it.

When we walk back to our half I see Hinkle staring at me and I realize she is the one who rejected a call up because the USWNT was wearing pride jerseys.

Purposely I walk by her and when I get to her I stare at her for a couple seconds.

"What?" She says.

I go to say something, but Lindsey comes over and pulls me away.

"Don't. We don't need you suspended in your first match."

"I was just going to call her the c word in German." I say and act innocent.

"Yeah we definitely don't need you to do that...even if she is one."

"Dumb lesbian." I hear Hinkle say.

I try to turn around, but once again Lindsey stops me.

"Score two more goals to shut her up." She says.

And that's exactly what I did. By the end of the game we'd won 4-0 with me getting a hat trick and Lindsey scoring off a header. Tobin and Christine Sinclair assisted my other goals.

"Well I'm glad you signed with us." Hayley says when we are in the locker room and everybody else nods and agrees with her.

"Me too" I say.

"Yeah because you're with Lindsey." Emily says

"Well yes that is one reason, but this is a good team and I wouldn't want to play anywhere else...you know coach has good timing." I say.

"What do you mean?" Tobin asks.

"The day after I signed to play here I got phone calls and offers to play for Orlando, Seattle, Chicago, Utah, Sky Blue, Washington and Houston."

"Well damn...thankfully he contacted you when he did." Christine says. I then change out of my stuff and wait for Lindsey and Emily to change then we head back to the apartment.