You can't Outrun the Truth

Dutchies

November 14

5:12 p.m.

London's POV

I was officially awake and now the Dutchies had questions.

"Who was texting me from your phone?" Daan asks.

"I have no clue. I was high on pain medication and had a concussion."

"Ok, when did this happen?"

"Sometime in Scotland, I think the tenth, or maybe it was the eleventh. One of those days," I say struggling to remember. I can hardly remember the date even without a concussion.

"Why didn't you call us?" Jill asks.

"Well you see, I was kinda messed up and had no clue who you all were. But I do now, which is all that matters!" I quickly say.

"You forgot about us?" Beth asks.

"I forgot about everyone, don't flatter yourselves."

"You didn't want to mention that earlier?" Jill asks.

"Not really. I'm kinda hungry, anyone else want food?" I ask going to the kitchen.

"You're not cooking anything," Daan says.

"Why not?" I ask confused.

"You almost burned the place down without a concussion. You're not cooking with one. Go call your national teammates and I'll get you when food's ready," Daan says. I nod and sit on the porch to call Alex. She picks up on the second ring.

"Hey, Alex!"

"Hi London, how are you doing?"

"I'm doing alright. I've been banned from cooking for now but all of my roommates are home now."

"I'm glad they're all home. Why are you banned from cooking?" She asks.

"Well, I started a fire once and Daan doesn't trust me in the kitchen anymore."

"I wish I was surprised. Have you gotten confirmation as to when you can play again?"

"I think they said two weeks. I think it depends on how things are going then though," I tell her.

"Well, the whole team is hoping you get back on the field as soon as possible."

"Thank you! Hopefully in time to play City in December, maybe if I'm lucky I'll be able to go against Brighton."

"Just don't rush it."

"I won't. Daan also won't let me."

"Good, I have to go now but stay safe alright?"

"Will do, bye Alex."

"Bye London."

I went back inside and sat next to Jill.

"How was camp with the Dutch?" I ask.

"It was good, we had a lot of fun. And we did pretty well."

"Yeah, I tried to catch your matches, I obviously missed the one yesterday but I caught the one on the ninth," I say. I had mainly watched it because I wanted to see Jackie play, seeing Jill, Daan, and Viv play was a welcome bonus.

"We watched some of yours as well. Which is why we got worried when you basically fell off the face of the Earth."

"I was in Scotland Jill, it's the same landmass," I remind her.

"There was no news on you! Only that you weren't starting, a sub, or in the stadium."

"I'll be fine. It's not the worst thing to ever happen to me," I joke. I stop laughing when I see Jill's face and remember she doesn't know.

"What's the worst thing that's happened to you?" She asks.

"There was this one time," I start. I was really struggling to come up with a convincing lie. "I broke my leg. Yep, in a match when I was a child."

"And that was worse than splitting your head open and having surgery?" She asks even more confused.

"Well, I couldn't play for months."

"Food's ready you two," Beth says coming into the room. I jump up and head into the kitchen desperate to get away from the conversation Jill and I were having.

"Hey Daan, what did you make?" I ask grabbing some plates.

"Pasta."

"Nice, I love pasta. Did you know it's one of the only dishes I can cook?" I ask.

"You just boil water, how could you mess it up?"

"Exactly."

"Have you told Jackie about what happened?" She asks.

"Unless Sara let her know no. I didn't want to distract her, I'll call her later."

"Alright."

After we all ate we decided to put on a movie. I had been semi avoiding Jill since I was fairly certain she knew I was lying. I had broken my leg though, it wasn't in a game but it wasn't a like full lie. More like a half-lie.

Turns out trying to keep your distance from someone you live with is hard. Which is how I ended up sitting next to Jill on the couch. She didn't seem like she was suspicious which was good. But who knows, she could be and just be pretending she's not. 

"So, how old were you when you broke your leg?" Jill whispers to me.

"Probably around ten or eleven."

"Ruthless ten-year-olds yeah?" She smirks. She definitely doesn't believe me.

"Bloody Americans," I respond.

"You play for them so don't be too harsh," She points out.

"Enemies closer," I joke.

"What happened to the friends part? You left them back in America," I tense up when she says that and play it off with a smile.

"My friends are here now, and they're American. I can hold a grudge."

"Glad to know you consider me a friend London."

"Don't get too happy, I'm a terrible person."

"I find that incredibly hard to believe."

"No it's true, I leave people all the time," I point out. "I'm the last person you want as a friend."

"Well then we'll just have to make sure you love Arsenal so much you stay forever," Jill smiles.

"Good luck."

Once the movie finished I excused myself to go call Jack. I sat on my bed and watched the phone ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Jackie!"

"London, hi! What's up?"

"Well, something happened while I was at camp with the US that I wanted to tell you about."

"Oh, is this why you weren't on the roster for the last match?" She asks.

"Yep, I fell and got concussed, and a fractured skull or something along those lines. I'm okay though Jack. I told my roommates and they've been making sure I'm taking my medicine and that I'm not doing anything I'm not allowed to."

"How did that happen?"

"I slipped on a water bottle and fell on a desk."

"Of course you did. And you're good with Daan, Jill, and Beth?"

"Yes. They've been really good."

"Good."

We talked for another half-hour catching up on what's happened in the past couple of days before I hung up to go to bed. It had gotten late during the movie and call and I apparently needed to be getting good sleep since I was in recovery. Stupid right?