Gold Rush

Connected

It was a combination of strong smelling coffee and the early glimmers of sun peeking through the large window voile that caused Sophie to wake up. Her senses already perking up, thinking it was an appropriate time to alert her to get up and face the day.

If it was at all possible, she was almost too comfortable, laying tangled within crisp white linen and positioned slap bang in the middle of an enormous super king sized bed. She melted into the soft, yet firm mattress which encased her body. She felt well rested and more importantly, she felt safe.

Thoughts ran through Sophie's mind from the previous night, it had been a busy one.

*

It began with herself, Jamie and Kate attending a meeting with Gareth Southgate, focusing around their expectations and what would be needed from them. They will have two games to prepare for and lots of intense behind the scenes work to focus on with the squad.

Gareth seemed nice, he'd had a calm and relaxing manner about him, yet demanded a certain level of respect without him actually needing to say it out loud.
He was completely different to Pep, yet very similar in some ways.

St George's Park was huge, with only the best facilities and equipment available. Sophie wasn't sure what she'd imagined, but she certainly hadn't expected it to be attached to a fancy hotel. Each player had their own room with an en-suite, as did the staff, she thought of how very easily she could get used to this.

Once they'd got changed into their navy England branded tracksuit and unpacked, the trio made their way back over to the main building and found themselves in a room with the rest of the England back room staff, ready to thoroughly enjoy an afternoon consisting of totally soul destroying 'ice breaker' activities and over-the-top friendly introductions.

Disappointingly, they hadn't yet come into contact with any of the squad, this would apparently happen the following day after everyone had settled in. Sophie, Jamie and Kate had eventually got talking to a couple of other individuals who had been coaxed into giving up their mid season break. Even though the three of them had each other, it was nice they weren't the only ones feeling like 'the new kids in school'.

Millie was the first to introduce herself.. she was usually a Physiotherapist for Chelsea football club. Sophie commented straight away on how stunning her auburn hair was, which she'd professionally scooped up into a perfected bun.

Already sat next to Millie was a tall, dark featured, yet friendly faced Louis. Like Sophie, he was also a team medic, but based within the Aston Villa team. He had the slight undertones of a brummy twang to his voice, it reminded her of her Jack.

The rest of the afternoon went quickly. After their evening meal and polite chit-chat, everyone started to slowly filter out of the conference room and retire to their bedrooms for the night, before they kick started the beginnings of a likely busy week at SGP.

Sophie was about to follow suit when felt the familiar buzz of her iPhone from the pocket over her thigh.

'JG - 1 new message'

She caught her breath in her throat, the butterflies she got from just mentally reading his name was absurd.

'J - Hope you've had a good first day bab, it's a lot to take in ain't it x'

Jack seemed to genuinely care, every fibre of his being just radiated warmth and oozed a wonderfully wholesome feeling. It was rare to find such qualities which gelled together perfectly in combination with his down-to-earth charm.

It was a much welcomed change from what she was used to. She shuddered as she thought back to that first day at the Etihad, that sick-to-the-stomach feeling she got when her phone chimed with Ryan's 'good luck' message... 'Good luck for today... Hope it's worth it, bitch.'