Reunion - Mapi Leon x Reader

Chapter 26 - Options

I don’t know who decided that it was a good idea to have team bonding at my place, but somehow last night happened, and I ended up with 5 extra people in my house who are all apparently terrified of ghosts and scary movies. I made the choice to sleep in my own bed last night and not join the pile of girls scattered over the ground and couch, and my cat had the smart idea to join me. If I’m being honest, I’m sort of dreading walking out into my living room and having to deal with overtired girls who happen to have to travel to Madrid today. I send Lottie a quick text checking if she’s okay before tiptoeing my way towards the living space.

Noticing that they’re all still asleep, I slowly make myself breakfast, trying to keep the noise down. It’s only 7am. I’ve got time to deal with them. We don’t have to be at the grounds and on the bus till 12. Then we have a nice short flight and get to check out the grounds before starting to prepare for the game tomorrow. El Clasico. This is going to be fun.

I’m halfway through eating when I get a reply from Lottie. Feeling slightly better, I made up with Casey, and he’s had an idea that might get me a transfer.
I instantly call her, heading off down the hall so I don’t have to whisper.

“Yes?” Lottie asks.
“What’s your plan?” I question.
“Plan?”
“For the whole trying to move clubs thing.”
“Oh,” she says, “what if I changed my allegiance and didn’t play for the States anymore?”
I catch on to where she’s going with this. “No. Lottie, I don’t want you in that environment.”
“I’ll be okay. I’m tough,” she reasons.
“It’s not about being tough. I’m sure you would be able to cope with it, but if you can avoid it, I would,” I explain.
“I want to leave Peyton Moore and the US behind. Take the next step towards furthering my career,” she tells me, and I honestly can’t think of an argument as to why she shouldn’t.

I hear a crash down the hallway, and then Aitana yells out, “Pina!”
“Listen Lots, do what you think is best for you, and I’ll support you. I just, there’s been a lot of change in your life recently that’s had a negative impact on you, and I don’t want to see you get more hurt,” I say, “alright. I’ve got to go deal with my guests.”
“Thank you, Mapi. Good luck, and I love you,” she replies.
“I love you more,” I say, before hanging up on her.

I walk down the hallway and walk into the room to see that Pina and Aitana appear to be wrestling.
“Do I want to know?”
“She stole my phone!” Pina shouts in Spanish. I can see Jana’s eyes start to open. She does not look impressed when she realises where she is.
“She took pictures of Keira and I while we were sleeping!” Aitana responds.
“You looked so cute, the way you were cuddling into each other like puppies,” Pina protests.
“Puppies?” I ask.
“Have you not seen puppies cuddling each other while asleep?” Pina looks shocked. “Right, Aitana, I really need my phone now. Must show Mapi puppy pictures.”
Aitana begrudgingly hands the phone over before lying back down on the floor next to Keira, who is awake but doesn’t look like she wants to be.

While Pina looks for puppy photos, I sit down on the couch next to Alexia. She’s the only fully sensible person here.
“You okay?” she asks instantly. I don’t like how she always knows how I’m feeling, just from the way I sit down next to her.
“Mostly. I'm just worried about lots.”
“She’ll be alright,” Alexia assures me, “It’s a lot at first, everyone having their own opinions about what you should or shouldn’t be doing in your own personal life. You can even keep that stuff all away from social media and still have people speculating, but she’ll learn to block it out. We all have.”
“Yeah. I just wish I could be there with her until she feels okay about everything again, though,” I admit, before remembering something else important, “she wants to play for Spain.”

“What?” Alexia almost jumps off the couch, “Why? What went through her mind to think that was a good idea? She knows you’re not playing? Right?”
“Yeah she knows I’m not playing. She just thinks she’ll be stuck at her club unless she can find some way to draw another club's attention,” I explain.
“She thinks Spain will do that. She’s on the US Women’s National Team. They have quite an impressive track record when it comes to the World Cup.”
“Look I don’t know exactly what she’s thinking, but I’m not going to make the decision for her. I’ve warned her, but if she doesn’t listen to my advice, then I’ll support her.”
“Okay. You’re a good girlfriend, Mapi,” Alexia says.
“Jealous,” I tease.
“You know I’m not,” Alexia rolls her eyes.

Pina suddenly shoves her phone in my face, and Jana comes over to see what Pina’s trying to show us. I’ll admit sleeping puppies are incredibly cute, and the photo Pina took of Keira and Aitana does give off the same vibes.
“Alright, I’m heading off. See you all later.” Alexia gets up and leaves. Pina quickly follows after her, begging for a ride home. I think Keira and Aitana have fallen back asleep. My cat’s settled in between them, and I take a better quality photo to send to Pina. The team’s been teasing me for days, so I think it’s time I started to get some payback.

I go to finish my half eaten breakfast before kneeling down next to Aitana. I shake her shoulder lightly, knowing that she’ll wake up more easily. She grumbles as she slowly sits up, and I bring my head down to Keira’s ear and shout, “wake up!”
Keira doesn’t move, her only response being a calm, “go away, Mapi.”
“You’re in my house, Keira!”
“Good point,” she says as she opens an eye. She eventually opens her other eye, and the two of them leave, finally leaving me in peace.

5 hours later we’re on the plane to Madrid. I’m sitting next to Alexia, who has her headphones on and is blocking out the chaos I accidentally created. I sent Pina my photo, and she airdropped it to everyone on the team who has an iPhone. Aitana and Keira are sitting at opposite ends of the plane and are shouting across it at each other in a rather strange mix of Spanish and English. The entire team is finding it hilarious, as it’s very out of character for these two to be shouting. Everyone in the team seems to have their own thoughts to add to the conversation that has gone very off topic. Lucy decides to stand up and drag Keira over to Aitana, which theoretically should make the plane less noisy, but Pina’s moved on to trying to prank people.

I hear screams of giggles, and before Pina crawls over to my seat.
“Mapi help me!”
“What have you done?”
Patri and Jana walk down the aisle towards her with a water bottle in their hands. I know some people see me as a jokester, but I know better than to get involved in their childish nonsense.
“Sorry kid. You’re on your own.”
“You’re so mean!” she yells as she gets up and runs down the aisle.
“PINA! Sit down!” Alexia firmly raises her voice, not even bothering to take off her headphones or look in Pina’s direction.
The younger player willingly obliges. “Sorry Captain.”

In the evening, Alexia and I are standing on the pitch at the grounds we’re going to be playing on tomorrow afternoon.
“I can already imagine what the crowd’s going to sound like, Ale,” I smile.
“Isn’t it amazing that we’re expecting a crowd,” she replies, “remember what this used to be like?”
“Yes, now everything is bigger than we dreamed it would be.” I throw my arms out and spin around in a circle.
“We should go catch up with the team.”
“Good idea. I need to call Lottie.”

As soon as I sit down on my bed, I press the call button.
“Evening Mapi.” I love hearing her voice.
“Morning Lots!”
“Tell me about your day.”
So, I tell her about everything, even the silly antics. Pina ended up with that water all down the back of her top, much to her discomfort. Nobody was that eager to help her, seeing as she’d already scared 6 of the girls with fake spiders and put toothpaste in Lucy’s sandwich. Don’t ask me how she managed the whole toothpaste thing. Once I’ve finished talking about my day, I can finally ask her the question on my mind.

“Have you made a decision about what country you’re going to play for in the World Cup?”

(Nope. Nope. Too quick. Actually, go away does1tmatt3r bc you're making my life difficult. I literally only just got my chapter out. Proud of you for your commitment <3. Thanks for reading this far! Love ya<3)