Nothing shines as bright as your eyes - (Leah Williamson x OC)

Part 28

I forgot to tell, but be aware, almost all matches are made up by me and have not actually taken place in real life.

At the moment, we were sitting on the coach, on our way to the stadium for our match against Sweden. I was nervous. I wanted to make a good impression on the staff and Sarina, but I knew that it would be difficult to get any playing time in against such a strong opponent. Even when it's just a practice match.

Since our mentality was to win everything. Doesn't matter if it's a practice match, a qualifying match, or even in a tournament, we want to win everything. Though, on the other hand, we also payed great attention to the well-being of the squad and staff. I think that's something Sarina has really worked on, even though I wouldn't know better, I feel like there's been a mood switch that has taken place in the past couple of months.

You can see that Sarina wants to win, but also cares deeply about her players and staff and wants the absolute best for all of them, even when that might be a disappointing outcome for some. Besides that, she's very direct and that's something I absolutely love. It's a personal trait that Dutch people are very much known for. I've got it myself, which I probably inherited from my mother, and I couldn't be happier about it, it just makes loads of things a lot easier.

I was sitting next to Lauren on the coach and across from Millie and Rachel. So it's an understatement to say that they were being loud. They were literally one of the most chaotic duos I'd ever known, hence the nickname 'Daly dosis of Brightness', though I'm not sure if I'd call it brightness.

Because, right now, all I wanted was to get a bit more sleep in before we arrived at the stadium. But because of the two sitting in front of me, I wasn't very much succeeding.

I let my head rest on Lauren her shoulder, who wasn't, in contrast to the other two, oblivious to my uncommon and temporary annoyance at the 'Daly dosis of Brightness'.

Fortunately, I soon felt my eyelids grow heavier and not long after, I felt myself drift away. I knew this sleep was very much needed, seeing as I will probably not be getting any sleep tonight, because of this weird not-being-able-to-sleep thing I have. I'm not even sure what it is exactly, because I've never really had it checked out by anyone. Though, it probably wasn't that important anyway.

~~~

I felt a soft tap on my shoulder, which sadly made me wake up from my much needed nap. I slowly opened my eyes, letting them adjust to the sunlight that was now shining bright through the windows of the coach. I looked up, wondering who woke me up from my sleep, but not before they were already saying things to me. I didn't hear anything they said, seeing as I had just woken up and my brain wasn't fully functioning yet.

"Wait, wait, wait. Rewind. What?" I said with a groggy voice, making all sorts of hand gestures to stop them from talking any more. Leah just chuckled lightly and started to repeat exactly what she was telling me before.

"I said: Wake up, we're here." She said, with a hint of amusement laced in her voice. "Oh," I started, now also actually comprehending what she was saying, "okay, thanks." I continued. She just smiled softly in return and continued to walk on, through the path of the coach towards the only open exit at the front.

I slowly started to get up, until I realised that Lauren had also drifted off to sleep, and was leaning her head on my shoulder. Millie already had her phone out and started to make way too many pictures of the sight in front of her. I stuck my thumb up and just smiled softly at the camera, not knowing any thing actually original I could do to make the picture a bit more fun. Though, I was probably the worst person to take a picture of, I was just awkward as hell. Just like now, unfortunately.

After I made sure Lauren was actually awake this time, I got up, grabbed all my belongings and made my way off of the coach, following my teammates. As soon as I was off the coach, Rachel and Millie started walking next to me, one on each side. I made me feel a bit trapped, even though I knew they wouldn't do anything I wouldn't appreciate.

Rachel got her phone from out of her pocket and started to show me pictures she had, unfortunately, taken of me when I was asleep on Lauren her shoulder. Luckily, there weren't many, but soon I already got a notification of one of the pictures, filled with my sleeping face, being sent in the group chat of the Lionesses. It was horribly awkward, to say the least.

I entered the dressing room and saw everyone laughing at their phones. It wasn't very hard to guess what exactly they were laughing at, but I bet I had something to do with my sleeping face. Which, by the way, wasn't very pretty. My mouth was slightly agape, and it looked like I just barely escaped from a neck hernia with the way I was leaning on Lauren her shoulder.

"There's our sleeping beauty!" Tooney screamed, making all the attention turn towards me. "Fuck off." I muttered, with a slight smile on my face and a chuckle laced in my voice. I sat down and started to arrange all of my belongings in the way I liked it. We would soon do a lap around the pitch, so I didn't have to put on my kit already.

I soon put in my AirPods and made sure that it was loud enough to drown out all of the sounds being made around me. I was nervous, and that's a big, fat understatement. I was close to an absolute wreck. And I'd probably not even play.

But maybe, the excitement will soon take the upper hand and I'd get to actually enjoy this fine evening.

A/N
-hellooo, hope you enjoyed this chapter!
- oh, and school SUCKS. I've only been to school for 3 weeks now, and I'm already completely worn out. How sad is that? I know. VERY sad.
- I'm updating a lot slower now, but that also means that I've got a lot more time on my hands to think about your suggestions and ideas or whatever. So please comment!!! I appreciate EVERYTHING, even if it's critical, it will only improve the story!
-anyway, have a lovely evening or day and hopefully I'll see you at the next one!

:)