Two Worlds

8

A month later

Leah POV:

The last month has been exhausting. from interviews, to appearances, and back to playing football. I haven't had time for myself let alone anyone else. it has been draining.

Emily and I still text and call occasionally, but I haven't seen her since the final. that wasn't because I didnt want to, it was just because i didn't have any free time

there has not been a day in the past month that I have had time to do something for myself. if im honest, I diddnt fully realise what winning the euros would mean. of course, im not complaining, its just unexpected.

because of all of this, i've asked my manager for a few days off. just so that I can have some time to myself. 

today is Wednesday, my final day of training before I have a week off, and then the season begins.

training finished early for once, much to my surprise. 

after showering and changing, I headed out to the car park to my car. knowing I had time off, I had arranged to go out for dinner and mini golf with Alex, a bit of a friend date night and catch up since we have hardly seen each other, outside of work and interviews.

I drove home, walked through my kitchen door, and just sunk into my sofa. Training was an early afternoon one, so I still had time before I had to head out again.

I was shattered and felt myself drifting off. this was the first time in a long time that I had allowed myself to drift off.

suddenly, I woke up, paranoid that I had completely slept through the night. I hadn't, luckily. it was 6pm and I needed to be at Alex's anytime from now really, we didn't have any solid plans. neither of us were really planners. 

I dragged myself up off the sofa and  to my room to freshen up.

45 minutes later I was heading to Alex's.

"hey stranger" Alex said as she opened the door

"it's like seeing a ghost" I responded.

I think Alex could sense the relief in my eyes as she hugged me.

with just that hug I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. Alex was like home to me.

we had a glass of wine to start whilst we were waiting to leave for the restaurant. I hadn't had a drink since the final, it was well overdue.

at dinner, we talked about almost everything. we just sat and talk and talked and talked, deciding to ditch Mini golf as we were a bit too drunk and it was getting late.

the restaurant was swiftly emptying and soon it was only us and two or three other tables.

"we can't leave without discussing the elephant in the room" Alex abruptly said in response to me asking the waitress for the bill

"what might that be?" I responded raising an eyebrow shyly

"well, actually, there are two" she affirmed 

"I'm listening" I said letting her take the stage

"first, is the fact that that waitress has been flirting with you all night and either you are oblivious or your mind is somewhere else"

I just nodded along as I knew it would be difficult to interject without getting defensive

"that leads me to my other point, the other, even bigger elephant, lets name her Emily"

Alex was quite clearly a lot more drunk than I was, so I just let her talk

"mmhmm" I nodded

"anything to add?" she questioned

before I could open my mouth the waitress brought over the card machine

"saved by the bill" I said to her, smiling. She smiled back with a radiant smile. if I was honest I hadn't even paid attention to her at all, until Alex mentioned that she was flirting with me, and this is the first time I had really looked up at her.

Alex was distracted by someone who had come to get her autograph which left me talking to the waitress as I paid

"did you enjoy your meal" she asked

"oh, yeah, yeah it was great thanks" I responded kind of flustered

"think Alex here enjoyed it a bit too much" I joked as everyone could tell she had one too many

we continued to make small talk for a couple of minutes since until Alex rejoined the discussion

"now whose flirting" I joked to Alex who seemed to be getting comfortable with the man who asked for an autograph 

"I saw you, I saw you" she winked and we stood up and out our jackets on

Classic Alex, had to run to the bathroom before we left, which ended up in me standing on my own looking awkward.

the waitress noticed this and came over to make some more small talk and before I knew it she was slipping me her number on a piece of paper just as Alex returned 

I didn't really know how to respond to that so I just smiled and headed for the exit with Alex

"we will discuss whatever that was in just a minute"

About 20 minutes later we were back at Alex's. I was staying there for the night as I couldn't be bothered to go back home 

"we never finished our conversation" Alex said as she unlocked her door, slightly more sober now

"what did you want to know" I said in my best attempts to avoid the topic

"who you gonna text this evening, Emily or the waitress" she smirked

"well I'd be texting Emily either way" I responded

I had decided to omit the fact that Emily was down in London right now, visiting Issy for a night and then with some other friends for the rest of the week.  

I hadn't learnt this from Emily, however, which kind of made me confused

it made me think that Emily hadn't mentioned it for a reason. maybe she didn't mention it because she didn't want to see me 

although it had been crossing my mind constantly, I decided not to think about it, and Alex and I just called it a night.