After We Were Friends

Chapter 21 - Final Day

Bradie's POV

"We did it!" I shouted, running over to Alexia and jumping on her, wrapping my legs around her waist as she held me up. We had just beat Arsenal in the semi final at Camp Nou, cementing a place in the final, against Chelsea.

"I'm so proud of you," Alexia said, referencing the goal I had scored to secure our spot. I smiled at her, as she spun us both around. The rest of the girls came over too, with Ingrid, Mapi, Lucy and Keira all joining in on the celebrations.

After we had all hugged each other, I went over to Indi and Kristie, who were sitting beside each other, both annoyed about the outcome they had just endured. Indi defended like a boss the entire game, but a slip up from Leah in the back, and Indi being too high up on the pitch, allowed me to counter attack, and get the sole goal of the game.

"Hey," I said to both of them, crouching down so I was eye level with them, "good job." They both smiled at me, and nodded.

"You did great, Brads," Indi said.

"You deserve this," Kristie added.

"You really do," Indi said, "you've got this." I smiled at my two friends, hugging them both, before heading back over to my teammates.

Alexia and I went around the field together, signing autographs of Barcelona fans who had come to watch us.

"Hola," I said to one of the little girls, "¿Te gustó el juego?" I had asked her if she liked the game. My Spanish was slowly improving, and with Alexia's help, I am more able to hold a conversation than I was before.

"Sí," the girl answered, "photo?" She asked, speaking broken English. I nodded my head, and got a quick snap with her.

"Bradie!" Alexia called out, a few people down from me. She soon walked over, placing her head on my shoulder as I signed more scarfs and jerseys. "You ready?" She asked me. I nodded my head, before signing my last jersey. Alexia took my hand, and we walked back inside, to head home.

We both flopped into bed that night, and as my head lay on her shoulder, I knew that this was perfect. We were in the final of the Champions League, we were 7 points ahead of Real Madrid in the League and I had Alexia to do it all with.

"This is it," I said to her, softly, as both our eyes were slowly closing with exhaustion.

"What is?" She asked.

"You, this, everything," I answered, "this is it." She smiled softly, kissing the top of my head, before turning off the light.

The next morning, I had a message from Indi.

Indi: hey b, I don't leave until later today, coffee?

Bradie: sure! I'll take you to my fav

Indi: sounds great. 30 mins?

Bradie: sounds good!

I met up with Indi half an hour later, taking her to my favourite coffee shop on the shores of Barcelona. The sun was shining bright, and since moving into spring, the weather had started to warm up again.

"So, what's up?" I asked her, as we sat down, a coffee in my hand and a juice in hers.

"Not much," she replied.

"You sound sus, again," I laughed back.

"Well, I don't know," she started to say.

"Use your words, Inds," I joked.

"Do you ever feel like there are so many things going on in your mind that you can't seem to actually think about anything?" She asked this with such worry in her voice, that I started to feel anxious for her.