Nothing shines as bright as your eyes - (Leah Williamson x OC)

Part 29

"Nice picture." Leah said, while making her way to sit next to me. We had just done our lap around the pitch and started to get ready for the match, putting our kit on.

She smiled brightly at me and let out a soft laugh. "You too?" I asked, my voice laced with a mixture of amusement, embarrassment and annoyance. She just smiled in response, while I took my AirPods out so I could also actually hear her while she was talking.

I focused back on my socks, pulling them over my knees and then folding them so they're just below my knees. I straightened my back again and looked at Leah, who was still sitting next to me. I gave her a look of what was more a 'what-are-you-doing-here-if-you're-not-gonna-say-anything' look, my eyes wide and my eyebrows pulled up just slightly. Not rude in any way, more like a questioning look.

She looked back at me, slightly surprised by my directness. She looked around the room, purposefully avoiding eye contact, before she started talking again. "Ehm, did you, eh, did you sleep tonight?" She asked with a weird tone in her voice, like she also wasn't exactly sure what she was asking me.

"Yup." I answered shortly, focusing on my cleats, not wanting to talk about that specific topic in front of the whole squad. "Good." She said in response, while she got up and walked back to her spot in the changing room that had the number six.

It seemed like I was one of the first that was ready, so I put my AirPods back in my ears and just started staring in front of me. That usually helped a lot to calm me down. Though, it also makes my mind get the best of me, which normally causes not the best of outcomes.

~~~

It was the 67' minute when Tooney received a horrible foul. She went down and immediately clutched her ankle. Sarina looked at us, the bench, before she made eye contact with me. "Stacy, go warm up." She said, while already making her way over to our assistant manager, probably going over the scenarios that could be taking place in the next few minutes and which formation was the best to play now. Tooney was already a sub that had been brought on, so we didn't have many options left. Hence the reason I was being brought on.

I took off my coat and did what I was told. I didn't have much time, seeing as Tooney was already leaving the pitch and I had to replace her. So I did all the warming up exercises, but like 10 times faster, and told Sarina I was ready.

By now it was the 70' minute and the score was 2-2. We both had a fair amount of possession and so it was hard to say who was going to come out on top or if it would stay like this. But, either way, I was going to do my absolute greatest to help the team as best as I could.

Sweden was a tough opponent, but they certainly had some weaknesses. One of them being that Lindahl is certainly not in her best form lately, so it would be great if we could take some advantage of that. Right before I was brought on, Sarina told me to try and shoot on goal when I felt that the timing was right, and so that was surely what I was going to try and do.

But my confidence wasn't the best and so the first few times I got the ball I passed it on to one of my teammates. But the time was going by fast and before I knew it we were already in the last few minutes. It was now the 87' minute and Alex was dribbling with the ball, getting the play higher up the pitch. I faked a movement to the right and made a little sprint to the left, receiving the ball with a hard, long pass over the ground from Alex. I was now facing the goal with my back and turned to my right, knowing that my direct opponent was running towards me from that angle, and so I could catch her by surprise by going the opposite direction she was going.

I saw Lauren running on the left wing, but being closely marked by her opponent. So I took a leap of faith and cut the ball back to my right foot, while I was standing just outside of the box on the left side of the field. I hit the ball with as much power as I could, aiming for the right top bin, with a slight curl on it, so Lindahl had no chance to get her fingertips on it.

It felt like the ball was going in slow motion and as soon as I saw the ball hit the post, I knew it was over. Or so I thought. The ball only hit the inside of the post ever so slightly, but not enough to change its direction and the ball smashed into the right top corner.

As soon as I saw the bal hit the back of the net, I ran towards Alex and jumped on her. "GET IN!" I screamed, not fully comprehending that I just scored against bloody Sweden. Soon everyone joined the hug and tapped me on the head or the shoulder to congratulate me.

We eventually made our way back to our own half to continue the play, but right when Stina Blackstenius passed the ball back to her teammates, the referee blew the whistle to officially end the game.

A/N
-hellooo, hope you enjoyed it! As you maybe can see, Stacy and Leah are getting more and more interaction with each other!
- hope you have a lovely day and see you soon!

:)