More Than a Game | Mason Mount

Twenty

Noise came from the other side of my door, drawing my attention away from Mason's phone screen. We had ended up in the biggest YouTube hole and were currently watching a compilation of Frank Straus' best Chelsea goals. My head rested on Mason's shoulder, my tired eyes fighting to stay open, but now it snapped up. 

Sharing a look with Mason, I frowned. It was relatively late now, so it made sense for the team to return from George's birthday drink. We still needed to be up in the morning and prepared to travel back to St George's. Somehow, though, time had passed quicker than normal and it seemed wrong for them to be back already. 

"Is that the team?" I wondered out loud. 

"Who else would it be?" Mason said with a chuckle. 

I made a noise of agreement, but before I could get any words out, a loud knock sounded at my door, followed by a screeching Abby. 

"Hey, Becks! Are you in there?" 

I let out a groan, contrasting the laugh that sounded from Mason. Swinging my legs off the bed, I was about to open the door for my teammate when it suddenly flew open, revealing Abby, Kyle and Marcus. I was halfway off the bed, my legs hanging off the edge, and Mason still sat on the bed behind me. I wouldn't have thought anything of our position had Abby's eyes not widened as she glanced over us. Marcus, too, looked a bit sheepish. 

"What's going on in here?" Marcus asked, his tone teasingly scrutinizing. Rolling my eyes, I pushed myself off the bed fully and stood in front of the trio. 

"What is that supposed to mean?" I heard Mason say from behind me. Glancing back over my shoulder, I saw he was also climbing off the bed. 

"Well, nothing really," Marcus mumbled. Quickly, though, Kyle stepped in to defend me and Mason. 

"Stop being an idiot, MP." Marcus threw up his hands as her protested his innocence. Meanwhile, Abby burst into giggles and Kyle simply shook his head. 

"How was the drink?" I asked, desperate to try and change the topic. 

Mason appeared beside me as I spoke. I could feel his gaze on the side of my face, but for some reason I didn't turn to look at him. Kyle shrugged and rested against the doorframe as Abby entered the room and plopped onto the desk chair. 

"It was nice," Kyle commented. 

"Yeah, you guys should have come," Marcus added, leaning back against the wall beside the door. "It was a good way to forget that train wreck." 

"You can say that again," Abby murmured. I chuckled as Kyle rolled his eyes dramatically. 

"Some of us don't get that drunk off a pint, Abs," he said. 

"Not my fault I'm half the size of an average human." 

"And twice as fit," I said, shooting my teammate a grin. 

"What have you guys been doing all night?" Marcus asked, his inquisitive expression from earlier back. Looking to the side, I shared an exasperated look with Mason, who replied. 

"Nothing, mate," he said. "We watched highlights of the other games." 

"Ah, man, I can't believe Fran," Kyle said, his eyes lighting up. "What an unreal game she had, hey?" 

I nodded hastily, thinking back on our other teammate's hat trick. Mason spoke before I could. 

"I've never seen her play like that, genuine. It was crazy." 

"I'm so not ready to hear Elias tell me about his goal twenty times," Marcus said with a frown. "For someone who scores, like, three goals a season you'd think he'd be a bit less obnoxious." 

I chuckled at his comment, picturing the Belgian midfielder's celebration after their sixth goal against San Marino. It was true that in league games he hardly ever scored, but the first game he happened to score in this season was when we played Manchester United at the start of the season. 

"And the fact that his team scored nine fucking goals," Kyle laughed. 

Abby asked about the Portugal game and Mason relayed the highlights to her while the two boys listened eagerly, too. When he was finished and the conversation had moved on, another trio of teammates walked past my room, namely Simon, Walt and Lance. They popped in to say hi, and immediately Lance took one look at Mason and I standing together and scoffed loudly enough for Mason's voice to trail off mid-story. 

"Got something to say, Randal?" he asked forcefully. 

All eyes were on Lance now. He had taken a stance next to the door, on the other side of it to Marcus, with his arms crossed over his chest. He looked around the room indifferently before he settled his gaze on me and Mason. 

"I was going to ask why Mitchell didn't come for a drink, but now I see the reason," he commented offhandedly. 

"Not this again," I muttered under my breath. Luckily, Kyle jumped to our defence once more. 

"If you're going to throw around false accusations, you might as well just leave." His tone was civil, but the clenching fists at his side said something else. 

"I'm not suggesting anything," Lance replied, shrugging. "Just saying that I'd also skip some drinks if I was in Mitchie's situation." 

I shook my head at his bait. For once, I wasn't in the mood for conflict with Lance. I'd normally jump at the opportunity to fight him and his smug grin, but the day had been exhausting enough. Another argument seemed like overkill. 

Apparently Mason didn't feel the same way. "What might my situation be, then?" 

"Stop," I mumbled softly, reaching out to lay a hand on Mason's shoulder. I felt it stiffen beneath my touch and realised that he didn't share my sentiments in any way. However, he didn't make more of a move towards Lance; he did continue to stare him down, though. 

Lance just shrugged his shoulders, his expression as smug as it had been all night. He motioned to my hand and I dropped it instantaneously, but not before he spoke his next words. "See? Don't even need to prove my point when you two do it for me." 

Objections started up again, but I spoke above all of them, hushing them down after a couple of words. "The idea of people being friends might be a foreign concept for you, Lance, and not that we need to explain anything to you, but the only thing that happened here was one of my friends comforting me after I played a shit football match. Okay?" 

Lance lifted his hands in surrender as I finished. The smug expression was still on his face, but it seemed that for now I'd shut him up. Mason muttered a yup under his breath and, as I met Kyle's eyes from across the room, he nodded in approval. Exhaustion had been threatening my body all night, but it all hit me at once just then. I wanted to go to bed, not be putting up with bullshit from Lance and everyone else. 

"Look, guys, I'm exhausted," I stated emotionlessly. "Do you mind doing this somewhere else?" 

The air was still thick with tension as my teammates started to depart from my room. Lance and Simon were the first ones out, leaving wordlessly. Walt left just afterwards with Marcus, both of them throwing a goodbye over their shoulders. Abby gave me a hug on the way out and Kyle high fived me before exiting, too. 

Then it was just Mason and I. I could tell he was lingering; the set of his shoulders gave away that he wanted to say something more, but they could wait. 

"See you in the morning, yeah?" Mason nodded at my dismissal and held up a hand. Letting out a breathy laugh, I slapped it willingly. 

We exchanged goodnights before he departed too, leaving me alone at last. The day had been exhausting to say the least, and climbing into bed later that night had never felt so sweet.