We can only learn to love by loving

Part 36

Leah's Pov

It had been a few weeks since my injury was medically confirmed. I had come to terms with the injury pretty quickly, and accepted the fact I would not be going to the world cup with the over Lionesses. Naturally I am disappointed to miss such a big tournament, especially off the back of the euros, but I was also excited to experience the tournament as a fan.

Despite coming to terms with and accepting the injury, there were still challenges, along with dark days of struggle.

Since the injury, Mel had been great, she instantly adapted to nurturing and offered to help me with everything. I was obviously grateful, but the frustration of not being capable of completing day-to-day tasks individually was beginning to increase.

Flashback

"Le, I'm going food shipping. Are there any specifics you want me to pick up?"

"I'll come with you; I need to get out the house."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? It might be a bit much with your crutches?"

I knew she only had my best interest at heart, but I did not want to be considered incompetent.

"If you don't want me to come, just say." I snapped back.

Much to her reluctance, Mel allowed me to come along. The journey to the store was silent as neither of us attempted to have a conversation, the only sound was from the radio. As we pulled up at the store, the number of cars in the car park indicated exactly how busy it was inside.

Mel eventually found a parking space, one parked she exited the car first before collecting my crutches from the boot. As she opened the passenger door, she greeted me with a small smile.

Turns out Mel was right; the store was far too busy which made it a struggle for me to walk around the store on crutches. It also took double the amount of time compared to usual which resulted in me going to wait in the car for Mel to finish the shopping.

Flashback 2

Mel was currently in the shower and so I had opted to surprise her with breakfast once she was ready. As I carefully shuffled myself down the stairs and entered the kitchen, I decided to make Mel's favourite; bacon, egg, and cheese bagel sandwich.

Although this was very minimal and did not require any prepping. Doing so whilst unable to walk unaided, the efforts quickly turned futile.

"Leah, what's burning? I can smell it from up here." I heard Mel shout from the top of the stairs.

Attempting to remove the burning bagel from the toaster, I was unaware the bacon was also burning in the frying pan.

"Le, you need to turn the pan off, the bacon is burning." Mel stated as she entered the kitchen, her hair still wrapped in a towel.

As I grabbed hold of the crutches to walk over to the frying pan, I was interrupted by Mel who had beat me too it.

Turning the pan off, Mel turned to face me. "We can't eat that, bear with me and I will re-do it." She smiled.

"It's fine." I huffed, "I'm not hungry anymore" I mumbled as I left the kitchen.

Current day

Today was like all the other days which consisted of me moping around whilst Mel tried her best to cheer me up. After a day consisting of lounging around, doing nothing, we decided to retire to the bedroom for the remainder of the evening.

"Do you want to watch a film?" Mel questioned as she returned to the bedroom from the ensuite.

"Yeah, sounds good. You can choose." I smiled in return as she crawled into bed beside me, her head resting on my chest as her arm wrapped around my torso.

30 minutes into Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets, Mel's hand which was originally wrapped around my body was now placed under my shirt as she gently stroked circles just above the waistband of my shorts. A simple action which caused goosebumps to appear across my body as my breathing hitched at her touch. Shuffling down slightly, I placed two fingers under her chin, lifting her face bringing it millimeters from my own as my lips softly met hers. The kiss began slow and gentle but was quickly deepened as it became needy and full of hunger. Her lips slightly parted in an attempt to control her breathing. Which instead I took as an invitation, allowing my tongue to enter, causing a satisfied moan to leave my mouth. Mel's hand which was once trailing circles across my stomach slowly found its way to the back of my neck as he held my face in place as the kiss continued, full of passion and desire. The recent placement of Mel's hand allowed me to shift my body, leaning over Mel as her head now rested on the pillow. As our tongues entwined with one another, my right hand trailed down the side of Mel's body, before being placed on the inside of Mel's thigh as I slowly stroked up and down, causing Mel to moan into my mouth. It had been a while since we were intimate with one another.

"Le" Mel hummed in between kisses as my hand found it's way to her centre, my fingers tracing circles above the fabric of her shorts.

"We need to stop" Mel stated as my actions continued before her hands slightly pushed my face away from hers.

"What's wrong?" I questioned as my eyebrows furrowed together.

"You're still injured. I don't want you to hurt yourself."

"I'm fine" I insisted before kissing her again.

"Le, no!" her words this time allow sterner.

"Why are you not listening to me! I'm fine, you need to stop treating me of being incapable of doing anything. I'm not completely useless." I shouted as my voice risen out of anger.

"I never called you useless Leah."

"No, but you're treating me as if I am."

"Where are you going?"

"Downstairs, I need some space." I huffed before leaving the bedroom.

Mel's Pov

Part of me felt guilty, I never meant to make Leah feel this way. All I was trying to do was be there and care for her. Since the injury happened, Leah's mood swings were all over the place. One minute she would be angry, then the next she would be needy and wanting me to cuddle and comfort her. Which helped me to determine the decision of now following her and grant her the space she requested, expecting her to return to bed once she was calmer.

An hour had passed by and there was still no sign of Leah returning to bed anytime soon. As I scrolled aimlessly through tik-tok in an attempt to keep my eyes open, not wanting to fall asleep on an argument. I was quickly sprung to attention as I heard the sound of the front door closing.

As I jumped up from the bed I raced over to the window where I saw Leah climbing into the front passenger seat of Amanda's car. Strange where were they going at this time of night?

Collecting my phone from the bedside table, I tried to ring Leah to find out where they were going. The phone rang twice before I was greeted with her voicemail, she had declined the call.

Less than 10 seconds later I received a text message, usually when my phone notified a message from Leah it filled my stomach with excitement and butterflies, especially seeing her name appear. This time however, it caused a pit in my stomach to fall as I struggled to hold back the tears as I read the message in disbelief.

Leah

I'm going to stay at mums for a few days, I need space and to think about things.