La Reina - Alexia Putellas

10.

Think about what's best for you.

Those words play inside Alexia's head over and over again. She couldn't make sure if Austin was trying to protect her. Or if he was protecting his sister. But before what?

Alexia wonders what was best for her.

She knew what she wanted. Since her teenager years the captain always had her target in sight. She wanted to ein everything. The Spanish League. The Champions League. Getting the Worlds Best Player of the Year. Winning the Ballon D'Or.

When she thinks about the trophies she's got next to her TV at home, there was close to everything that she ever wanted.

And she didn't want to stop.

She was doing all of this because she wanted to. Training hours and hours each day. Having close to zero time to herself. No time for her family and the rest of the friends. The few ones she still had.

Always being on planes and busses, rushing through her twenties but in the end her goal was very clear.

She wanted all of this.

She wanted this club. This team. She wanted to all of her dreams come true. And she wanted that blonde therapist that made her heart beat so fast.

But why didn't the head coach want her to get all of this with Erin?

Alexia wasn't even sure where this was going. She had feelings for the blonde, yes. Strong feelings. Feelings that she never experienced before and even if she didn't want to think about what Austin had said, she still did.

It was until there was a nudge on her shoulder, that she found herself still sitting on that bench at the very end of the row, when all the players were already inside the cabin, taking their break.

Everyone but Jenni.

The black haired woman stands in front of Alexia, her hands on her hips when she looks at her with a confused expression.

"Hey Ale, what's up? Everyone's already inside", Jenni says, watching the last teammates leave the pitch when Alexia looks up at her, her mind still somewhere else.

"Oh, yes. Sorry", the captain mumbles, putting her hands into her pockets when she follows beside the forward.

"Are you okay, Ale? Is something wrong with your leg?", Jenni worries, holding onto Alexia's elbow when they walk inside the hallway towards the locker room where their teammates already were.

Alexia wasn't ready to talk. All she wanted was to be alone for some time, even if she knew this was quite unprofessional. She was sad.

"Ale?", Jenni worries, stoping Alexia before they get into the locker room with the others. The captain leans against the wall, her hands still shoved into her pockets as she takes and deep, shaky inhale.

"Everything's fine, Jenni", Alexia lies, obviously.

"I know you're not. I'm here if you want to talk. But right now...", Jenni says, her hand already on the door handle when she looks towards the others.

"For now we'll win this game", Alexia fakes a smile, following the forward inside when they take a place in the locker room, sitting next to each other at their lockers.

Austin was standing in the middle of the cabin, giving some speech about the first half of the game, when Alexia look at her teammates faces, all concentrated on the coaches words.

She couldn't look at Erin.

And she couldn't look at Austin, either.

Alexia didn't want to look up at all, due to the sad look on her face that she couldn't hide. She leans back against the wall, hiding her face behind the fabric of her jacket as far as she could when she listened to what Austin said.