The one with the date.

Parker stood outside of the restaurant she'd text Hailee to meet her at. It had a nice beach front so she'd gone ahead and reserved a table outside looking out to the beach, it's too hot to be trapped in doors anyway.

She checked her watch, cursing herself for being adamant in arriving early. She looked down and pulled her t shirt away from her stomach, trying to generate some sort of breeze underneath. By habit she went to check her watch again before she felt two arms wrap around her shoulders.

"Hey, hot stuff." She heard a voice whisper in her ear. She felt a shiver go directly down her spine as she turned on her heel, the arms currently wrapped around her shoulder dropping down slowly. "You look good." Hailee greeted her properly when Parker turned around, already feeling giddy from the small amount of contact.

"Hi," Parker paused as she debated leaning in for a hug before eventually deciding against it, assuming the moment has passed. "You loo," Parker let out a deep breath as she took in the girl in front of her. "So beautiful. Uhh, I hope you're hungry?"

Hailee smiled bashfully as she tucked a hair behind her ear. "Starving."

Parker stepped to the side and motioned for Hailee to walk ahead on the crowded side walk. The shorter girl smiled before taking the lead, resisting the urge to smirk to herself a she felt Parker's eyes on her.

"Hi, table for Hayes, please?" Parker spoke to the maitre d' at the front. The older lady glanced down to her books before smiling at the pair and picking up two menus.

"Of course, follow me, ladies."Parker again allows Hailee to walk ahead of her, though this time she tried to keep her eyes straight ahead, she decided to forgo compression shorts this morning and she's immediately regretting her decision.

"Here's your table. Your waitress will be right with you guys. Have a nice day." The maitre d' said with a friendly smile before she walked off to greet more customers.

Parker rushed around the table and pulled out one of the chairs, motioning for Hailee to sit down. Hailee smiled Parker's way whilst Parker used this opportunity to take the beautiful girl in. She's came in jeans and a black crop top and the view of her bare stomach was making her whole body tingle.

"Thank you."

Parker smiled as she pushed the chair in as Hailee sat down. She may be inexperienced, but she knows how girls should be treated. She just can't always execute it.

She rushed to her own seat and sat down, blushing when she noticed Hailee watching her every mood.

"Hi guys, my names Anna. Can I start you off with some drinks?" A young girl, most likely a teenager, asks as she approached the table with a small tablet in the palm of her hand.

Parker looked towards Hailee, waiting for her to go first.

"Can I get a glass of the sangria, please?"

"Of course. And for you?"

"Can I get a sparkling water? Thank you."

Anna nodded before walking away in the direction of the bar.

"Way to leave a girl drinking alone!" Hailee exclaimed with a laugh.

Parker rubbed the palm of her finger tips together, a nervous habit she's more than aware of. "Sorry...I don't drink during the season, probably should of mentioned that."

Hailee leant forward, arms resting on the table, millimetres from Parker's nervous hands. She knew what she was doing, but she wanted to know if Parker would take the opportunity to grasp her hand in hers. "No, don't be sorry. I wanna know stuff like that about you. Doesn't matter how big or small, I'm all ears."

Parker eyes the distance between their hands before speaking. "Uhm, well what do you want to know?"

"How long have you been playing soccer?"

Hailee admired the look that immediately covered the girls face. Her happy place is obviously soccer. Hailee just hoped that maybe one day soon, she'd get that glassy look when someone asked her about her. She's in that deep.

"Well, I've played it since I could walk pretty much. My dad is super in to sport, and when he met Alex, his husband, so was he, so they had me playing everything they could during school and then playing for clubs on weekends. Soccer was the one that stuck, that I excelled at. I signed my first contract at 17, made my debut for the national team at 19, moved to play in England when I was 21, played their for 2 years, and now I'm here with angel city."

Hailee watched the girl speak, engrossed in every word. "Why'd you come back?"

"Lonely." Parker didn't hesitate in answering. She made friends in England, hell during the pandemic a lot of her national team mates actually came over. But none of that could replace the love of her family.

Hailee felt her stomach tightening at the girls answer. She decided to ignore her test and instead extended her fingers to entwine in Parker's, her fingers enjoying the contact. Parker, whether she knew it or not, began to copy Hailee's movement of rubbing the pad of her thumb on her hand.

"Here go guys." Their moment lasted seconds before Anna returned with the drinks. Their hands separated as they both thanked the young girl. "Can I get you any food today?"

"Uhh," Hailee paused whilst she skimmed over the menu quickly. "Could I get the vegetable noddles, please?"

Parker smiled politely at the waitress before passing her her menu. "I'll have the same."

The two continued the next hour and a half the same way, each taking it in turns to ask questions about the other, both desperate to know more about the other, only pausing to eat their food in a comfortable silence.

"Here's your bill, ladies." Anna said as she dropped off the black book on the table. Parker smiled before quickly reaching over and grabbing it, ignoring the glare coming from Hailee.

"Come on." Hailee moaned. "At least let me pay half?"

Parker scoffed. "My ass." She pulled out her wallet and got the amount of cash out before adding the tip, being generous with it considering they're working in stupidly hot weather. She closed the book and looked out towards the beach, trying to come up with a reason to spend more time with the girl in front of her. "Wanna go for a walk?"

Hailee nodded without hesitation.

"You ready?" Hailee nodded again before pushing her chair out and standing up, Parker following suit. She left the paid bill on the table and smiled to the staff as they left.

"Thank you, for that. You didn't have to." Hailee said as they walked next to each other onto the sandy beach. They both paused and kicked off their shoes and socks before picking up and carrying them.

"Course I did. I asked you out, right?" Parker mumbled as she focussed on the feeling of the sand on her feet in a bid to ignore the feeling of Hailee's arm brushing against hers as they walked on the uneven ground.

"Ahh, so this is a date?" Hailee said as she took a step closer so their arms were now pressed against each other's, smiling up at the girl in a teasing way.

Parker looked at Hailee and felt the blush coming up her neck. "I mean...I thought it was? Was it not? If it wasn't it's okay, I understand if you changed your mind-"

"I didn't change my mind."

"Oh...okay. Great?"

Hailee let out a laugh. "I just wasn't sure if you'd change your mind or talk yourself out of it."

Parker scoffed. "My brain tried too. It's just...you make me nervous?"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Hailee stopped walking and grasped hold of Parker's arm, forcing her to stop walking and to turn and face her. "You make me nervous too, y'know?"

Parker frowned. "I do?"

"Of course." Hailee spoke softly, so only Parker could hear her. "I like you. Sometimes I think I'm pulling you out of your comfort zone too much and that you'll get annoyed. When the reality is...I just want you to like me." Hailee said, finishing with a nervous laugh. She doesn't know where her nerves are coming from.

"I do like you." Parker mumbled, her stomach doing flips. "And like, the thought of coming out of my comfort zone...it scares the shit out of me. But, you're worth it, I think. I wanna venture out. I wanna...be enough to make you happy, and not some babbling idiot." Hailee smiled as she brought her hand up to Parker's face, ignoring that she could tell the girl was holding her breath, stroking the soft skin around her eye where her bruise was now fading.

"If it's ever too much...you tell me, okay?" Parker nodded wordlessly, ever so slightly leaning her hand. Hailee mentally cursed that karma finally let them have an actual moment and it has to be in public, she wants nothing more than to move closer and stand on her toes to place a kiss on Parker's lips, but she knows if someone got a picture of her, hell would break loose. She's not scared of coming out, she just wants it to be for the right person, and when that person is ready. "Hey, wanna race?" She asked with a smile.

Parker looked at Hailee with confusion before grinning as the girl took off sprinting as fast as she could in the sand. Parker let out a laugh before allowing her own legs to run, quickly catching up with the girl. "Zoom!" She shouted as she ran past her with ease.

"No fair!" She heard Hailee faintly behind her.

She ran a couple more yards before stopping and raising her arms up in the air in victory. She turned around to see where Hailee was but was immediately tackled to the ground with hands around her waist.

Parker landed on her back with a thud. "Jesus, Hailee." She joked as she felt the girl who had tackled her to the ground leaning up. She watched the girls movements.

Hailee grinned and sat up, moving herself so she had a leg on either side of Parker's hips, straddling the girl with a smirk, no longer thinking of any consequences, all she can think about is everything she wants to do to Parker's body.

Parker watched in awe, Hailee sat up whilst she straddled her, her hands resting on Parker's t shirt covered stomach. She swallowed a groan that bubbled up in her throat as she berated herself for not wearing her compression shorts. She took a deep breath and tried to think of anything but the beautiful girl now on top of her in an attempt to stop the boner she could feel coming on.

"That's cheating." Parker said as Hailee laughed and ran a hand through her hair, pulling it over one shoulder.

"You're a professional athlete, I needed to give myself some sort of advantage." Hailee replied with a smirk. She moved her hips ever so slightly, hesitating at the faint feeling of something poking her before carrying on, assuming it was Parker's phone in her pocket. She leant forward and put her hands on either side of Parker's head, her back naturally arching as their bodies got closer together.

Hailee looked into Parker's eyes for any sign of her wanting to stop, but was instead greeted by want. She bit her lip slightly and lowered her face before allowing her tongue to lick her lips in preparation for what she's wanted since she met the girl. She lowered her face until she could feel their breath mixing, Parker's lips slightly open. Their lips didn't touch as they both took in the close proximity, allowing the air from their lungs to untangle. The only sound they heard was the waves crashing in the background and each other breathing.

Hailee closed her eyes and prepared herself to connect their lips.

"Hey! Are you two okay!" Both eyes snapped open, Hailee moving back into a sitting position and Parker leaning up on her elbows trying to catch her breath.

"Sorry?"  Hailee asked with a friendly smile which she forced on to mask the fury in her eyes.

"I seen you two hit the ground pretty hard, are you okay?" The young man asked.

Parker turned her head and looked up at the guy, frowning when she seen him looking a bit too long at Hailee. She doesn't know what in her possessed her too but she reached her hand closest to the stranger and placed it on Hailee's thigh, using her thumb to rub circles on the Jean material. "We're good man, thanks."

"Are you-"

"Dude. We're good. Thank you." The young man gave Hailee one more look up and down before nodding and walking away.

Parker turned her head and looked back at Hailee who was smirking at her. Her face turned confused before Hailee's eyes quickly dropped to the hand on her thigh before meeting Parker's eyes again.

"Sorry." Parker apologised and went to remove her hand. Before she had the chance to move it, Hailee's hand quickly landed on top, keeping Parker's hand in place on her thigh.

"Don't. You can touch all you want, Park."

So close but yet so far!

You can slowly see Parker becoming a bit more settled around Hailee. It's like she fully relaxes then her brain realises and overthinks and stresses. But our girl is getting there.

Stay safe x