#sbfc

Every single day you watched her walk her dogs in the park. She’d stop and watch you play around with a soccer ball before she continued on her walk. It had become part of your routine and seeing the dog girl was your favorite part of your recovery process. For the past three months, you’d seen her every single day, but neither of you had said anything to each other. At first, she had been walking with another girl, but lately she’d been walking alone. 

“One...two...three...” you counted each bounce of the ball from your foot. You managed to get to eighteen before you lost your balance and lost the streak. 

“That’s pretty impressive.” You looked up from the ground to see the girl with the dogs standing in front of you. “How long have you played?” 

“Since I was four,” you told her. “So, about 16 years. You play?” 

“Sorta, haven’t been on the pitch much all things considered,” she said with a little smile. There was probably something behind that, but you were too focused on not embarrassing yourself to read into it. “What happened to your knee?” 

“Blowout during the first game of my season. I’m, uh, recovering now and trying to build strength back up,” you said and she offered her hand to help you up. You took it, not even realizing that you hadn’t gotten up from the ground. “Thank you.” 

“You play at the college?” she asked and you nodded. “I’m Kailen.” 

“Y/n,” you introduced yourself. “You’ve been around here quite a bit. I see you stop and watch me everyday.” 

“And yet you never came up to talk to me.” The smile on Kailen’s face was teasing, even though she hadn’t come up before today either. “But I don’t blame you, looks like these can be a hinderance. Lot of people are intimidated.” 

“You’re pretty full of yourself. I might have liked you better when you were just the girl with the dogs,” you teased. 

“Shame because I was gonna ask you to go get coffee with me or something, but if you don’t like me, what’s the point?” 

“I do like coffee,” you said, tapping your chin. “I guess I can go get a coffee with you sometime.” 

“How about when you’re done?” Kailen asked and you were about to agree, but then your phone alarm went off.