Soccer? I hardly even know 'er.

"Hey Asta?" Olivia asks at the breakfast table.
"Yeah?"
"I was thinking that maybe we could check out the college tomorrow? Just to see how it was."
"Sure, but tomorrow is a Saturday, so there is probably not that much schooling going on."
"Yeah, that's why it's perfect. Less people, you know?"
"You are not afraid of college students, are you?"
"No, but as I've said, I'm just not much of people person."
"I'm not sure you can be good or bad with people. Maybe you can just be niche or mainstream."
"Damnit Asta, do you really have to always put a quasi-philosophical spin on things?"
"Yeah, it drove my parents up the wall, so of course I did it all the time. Now it's just kind of stuck."
Ollie giggles a bit, then she gets quiet.
"Uhmm... Astrid?"
"What's up?"
"Tomorrow... can we go, just you and me?"
"Not a problem as far as I am concerned, but you don't want your sister to come with us?"
"It's just..." she blushes. She is unbelievably adorably when she is timid like this: "After what you said yesterday; that the college thing was a thing for me to decide as an adult, I thought that this was maybe a thing between us. Like the kiss at the Art Museum was a thing between you and Vee."
Wait, she knows about that?
"Wait, you know about that?"
"Vee, has never been good at secrets." Somehow that doesn't surprise you.
"Goddamnit." you sigh.
"She was really afraid that she had made you uncomfortable, since she kissed you without asking you about it first. So she told me."
"She could have just asked me." you say confused.
"Well, you make her legs feel like jell-o just by looking at her. She is so shy, the poor girl." Ollie teases you.
"You really think she feels that way?" you say while you cock an eyebrow.
"Duh, it's obvious. I've been a sexually repressed teenage girl up until two days ago, and even I can see that." she taunts you.
"Well, you must be a really good people person then." you retort. A petty victory, but a victory nonetheless.
Ollie giggles, and you eat the rest of your breakfast.

Vanessa comes home from her jog. She's been away for an hour, but she doesn't even look she is even close to tired.
"I promised you to get some art supplies and a soccer ball, didn't I?" you ask.
"Don't you have a job to do?" Olivia snarks.
"Yeah, I'll do it in the evening." you reply nonchalantly.
"I thought the point of us splitting house chores and work this way, was so we could have more time together doing the evenings." Vanessa chimes in.
"Yeah, I'll start doing that tomor- the day after tomorrow." you say, recalling that you have plans tomorrow.

Vanessa and you go out and find art supplies. Vanessa couldn't decide on a single thing she wanted, so you just kind of bought the lot to save yourself the trouble. Canvas, easel, paint, brushes, more sketching equipment (cheaper this time), and even a bit of clay, and a very compact Lazy Susan. The free space in your apartment is getting close to non-existent at this point, so Vanessa will have to live with only having one project going at a time. She doesn't seem to mind too much. Of course she doesn't.
You don't have a car, but the flat is on the way to the sports shop, so you pop the art stuff in the storage room for now.
You go to a sports shop. You have no idea why sports shops have to smell of locker rooms. You get the ball, and can't help but also get a couple of yoga mats. You don't like Vee doing Yoga on a hard surface like your floor.

On the way back, Vanessa gets an idea.
"Hey, I checked the internet for things to do and there is a soccer park, where there's a planned practice match between some college soccer kids. Maybe, we could get a bus there, do a bit of kicking on our new ball, and then watch the match. It's free."
"Cool, maybe Olivia wants to come with us?"
"Nah, I asked her yesterday if she was interested, but she's not a sports fan."
You get back to the apartment.
"I'll just pop in, and put down the mats and tell Ollie where we're going."
"Don't we need to change to something more sporty?"
"No, it's gonna be super casual. We don't want to be too sweaty for the match."
"Good point."
Vanessa takes surprisingly long to leave the mats, but soon enough she exits the building.
A small bus ride later, and you're at Reddan Park.

You find a free public spot with a goal. The weather is clear. It usually is when you're with Vee. You wonder why. Maybe she is secretly a spirit that controls the weather. That'd be cool. Vanessa tries to teach you how to kick to make a curveball, but you're kinda hopeless at it. She tries to teach you how to juggle the ball, but you're no good at that either. In the end you just kind of kick it back and forth a bit. Vanessa is infinitely better at this than you. She does sick tricks, and slick maneuvers, and other things that might as well be magic. Maybe she is a spirit. It doesn't exactly help that you are a bit afraid of the ball... at least when Vee is kicking it.
After a bit of fun doing that you head to the wooden seats next to where the match will start.
"I've been thinking about my insecurities lately." Vanessa solemnly starts.
"Please don't tell me you're getting insecure about your insecurities. That's a downward spiral."
"I just don't know how you and Ollie do it."
"Do what?"
"Live without a fright like that. Not caring about being good enough."
"All three of us a very insecure, just in different ways."
Actually thinking about it like that you realize something.
Maybe that's why it feels like you, Ollie, and Vee have known each other for long. Maybe it's the relatability in the insecurities that you each have, mixed with the fact that you each compliment each other in comforting each other's insecurities. That could be it. Partially, at least.
"How so?" Vanessa asks, jolting you out of your thoughts.
"Well, you're insecure in your abilities. You don't think you're good enough at things, and that is clearly bullshit. I am insecure in my own morality. I always assume the worst about my own intentions, and I can never seem to be rid of the guilt of my past, and I believe you called that bullshit the night we met."
Vanessa giggles: "Oh yeah, I did. What about Ollie, though?"
"She is insecure about her self-image. She constantly fumbles around being snarky, sexually deviant, nerdy, and timid. I think she has a hard time finding comfort in being herself. I think she is unsure of a lot of things regarding herself, so she flops different personas to protect herself. A lot of it is probably hormones."
"Well, I think you've helped her find herself sexually, at least. I think giving her that vibrator was a good idea."
Wait, she knows about that?
"Wait, you know about that?"
"When I was putting the yoga mats in the flat, she was... uhm... in the middle of her "massage"."
You both blush at the thought.

"I don't think it's just because of hormones that she is acting weird around you." Vanessa states in a pretend blissfully ignorant kind of way.
"It's not because I smell, is it?" you ask. Vee giggles.
"No, of course not Asta. I think she has a crush on you."
No way. That can't be it.
"She gets way more sexual and way more timid when you are around. And you two are obviously going on a rendezvous together without me tomorrow." Vee teases you. Who is this woman and what has she done with Vanessa?
"We're just going to the college campus to check it out." you admit.
"Sounds lovely." she smiles.
"What's gotten into you?"
"It's just the talk we had outside the museum yesterday, and you offering Ollie a paid in full college education... it just really loosened up some stuff. I haven't been this at peace for a long time. And that's all thanks to you."
"But isn't her crush a bit awkward, considering yesterday at the museum?"
"Maybe... right now, I'm just happy that we both have found the want to dream about this kind of stuff again. It sure beats just thinking of survival. It's like the match we are going to watch. The players are going to play against each other, and while only half of the participants can win, at the end of the day they are all on the same team. It's the same with us, except our little match cannot really end in a draw."

Well... Vanessa doesn't look very torn up about a potential love triangle going on, and you... you don't really know what to think. You know you will need to make a decision. And you know that decision will need to be made soon. And you need to get yourself ready for that decision.

But before that you need to be certain about something.

"Hey, Vee. Are you absolutely sure that Ollie has a crush on me?"
Vanessa thinks to herself for a bit.
"What colour is the vibrator you bought her?" she asks.
Confused, you answer: "It's white. Why?"
Vanessa doesn't answer. Instead she plasters a goofy grin on her face and says: "Then yeah, I am absolutely sure."

The soccer match starts.