Never Really Over

Chapter 17

April 2016

There is no move in January, and in spring as the season draws to a close, John starts to wonder if one is going to materialise at all. The turmoil he has been experiencing both on and off the pitch impacts his game, and he doesn't have his strongest season. Regardless, he finds he has a new suitor in Manchester City. It's a relief to know that someone else still wants him, that a move will still happen, or else he will have lost Beth for nothing. He is excited at the prospect of City; sees it as something of a compromise. If he goes to Manchester, then he won't have to move house; he can drive to work every day and stay in Liverpool with Beth. But when he tells her of the latest development, she doesn't seem to share his excitement.

Things have been good between them since New Year, since they stopped both the snogging and the pleas to reunite. They've gone back to the old John and Beth, but with an undercurrent of their mutual feelings, that shows itself in longing glances, lingering touches, and a hundred other ways.

When Chelsea starts to seem nothing more than a dream, Beth begins to think that perhaps John will stay after all, and if he does, then maybe she'll agree to try again. If they do, they can write this year off as a waste of time, maybe one day, they'll even laugh about it, it could become nothing more than a footnote in their history.

A Manchester City move is a curveball she did not expect. John is invited to watch them play Real Madrid in a Champions League match. They argue about it, firstly, because he wants Beth to come with him, he's desperate to involve her in this potential move, but she flat out refuses, asking what people would think if Robert Martinez' daughter was spotted at the Etihad. And, secondly, because Beth thinks City are employing dirty tactics, she tells John he is being tapped up, that his presence at a rival ground is a flagrant display of disloyalty. He reminds her, in an irritated fashion, that there's no loyalty in football, and if she doesn't believe him, she should talk to Garbs, or Lunny, or Chris. In the end he goes to the match with Ross, his first Champions League night in the flesh, and he sets his heart on the move, imaging himself lining up on that pitch, his spine tinging when the iconic music starts.

August 2016

Summer brings yet another international tournament. This time John travels to Euro 2016 in France with the senior squad. His family and Beth attend every match, but he never makes it onto the pitch. The only comfort to him is that Ross also spends the entire tournament on the bench, and together they can bitch about their lack of match time. And bitch about it he does, the entire summer, to the point where Beth, when they are a bike tour in Ibiza, sweaty and hot as they reach the top of a massive hill, has to tell him to shut up because she can't take it anymore. They laugh it off, just as they have everything on their holiday, one they both agree is their best yet.

John and Beth fly home from their holiday happy, relaxed and with glowing tans. However as pre-season begins, John's head is elsewhere, he starts to fear history is repeating itself when Everton turn down City's first bid, then finally, one is accepted. Beth is at work when the news breaks, she's expected to post confirmation on the socials, but she can't bring herself to do it.

She sits at her PC, staring blankly at the screen, her fingers poised over the keyboard, completely frozen. Her brain won't work. The news has winded her, like a punch to the stomach. He's leaving, keeps running on a loop through her head.

"I'll do it," Keira nudges a teary Beth from her seat. "You go see him... Cry in the toilets... Go home... Whatever you need to do."

"I didn't think it was really going to happen." Beth feels the tears prick the back of her eyes; the longer things dragged on, the further Everton dug their heels in, the more hopeful she got that John would be staying.