Family away from family

Chapter 3. From City to London

28 April 2021

After the dinner last Sunday, I made the journey back to London. Leah being Leah stayed up for me to arrive home before going to sleep. We talked a bit about my parents waiting for me and Lucy to get married, while we don't even share it with the whole world we are together. Fans still think Lucy and Keira are in a relationship. Based on what? Being seen together multiple times? I have been seen with Lucy multiple times and nobody questions that.

"Alix are you done? We need to leave!" I hear Leah yell from downstairs.

"Chill homie we still got enough time before we need to be there." I say making my way downstairs tying my hair in a ponytail.

"Yes, but we agreed on picking up Daan and Beth, remember?"

That totally slipped my mind of course. "I have no active memories of agreeing to that at all."

"Of course you don't, I'm surprised you know it's gameday."

I playfully push her. "I'm not Nobbs who would forget something like that, talking about her please send her a message that she needs to be there in 15 minutes."

"We don't have to be there in like 45 minutes?" Leah asks questioning my intentions.

"I know but if we say 15 she hopefully will be there in 45." I say winking to Leah when I walk past her to open the front door.

Today Leah is driving us. She is the neatest driver I know, obeying every rule there is. Where I just try to drive off the edges like a daredevil. To be fair I think Leah really loves it when she is the one driving. She doesn't trust my driving skills, not even a little bit.

When we drive up to Daan and Beth's house only Daan is standing in the front yard, ready to leave. "Dana banana where have you left Meado?" I ask playfully through my open window.

"Liv, we agreed on you never calling me that again." She says with a stern face pointing at me. "She obviously wasn't ready, like always." She shrugs.

"You still call me greenie and not even with the right reasons." I say back.

Leah butts in on the conversation while Daan gets in the car. "Yea why do you call her greenie?"

"Because..." Daan tries to explain while I turn in my seat to look at her with a stern face. "Don't you dare finish that sentence van den Donk." I say pointing my finger at her.

"She once puked because she was laughing to hard about something I said." She rushes saying.

"Can I unfriend you in real life? That's what I want to do right now. Unfriend you." I say turning back around in my seat folding my arms in front of my body like an angry kid.

"That's gross Liv, remind me to never let you laugh at my jokes." Leah says.

In the meantime, Beth finally took her place in the backseat. "You say you funny, Williamson? That's hilarious." She says fake laughing.

The car ride to the stadium is, like always, eventful. Beth is mostly singing to the songs Leah chose beforehand. I can tell you, it's not good. My ears hurt after every shared car ride with those two.

Although this time Danielle tries to get a serious conversation through all the singing of Beth. "Liv why do you need to travel with us to the Netherlands after the season ends?" She asks.

"Sarina wants to talk about my parents being part of her staff."

"How cool is that, your parents being part of your own national squad." Beth beams enthusiastic.

"It is, I think. I don't know how I handle it when I don't make the team and they will go to a world cup instead of me."

"Dude that's not going to happen, Sarina already loves your playing-style. She is not leaving you behind on a major tournament." Daan encourages me.

Maybe she is right. I already know Sarina and she knows me pretty good too. My parents literally discuss everything with her. Every goal I score. All the passes I make, the good and bad ones they will be thoroughly discussed like I'm the only player on the field to analyze. Sometimes it makes me crazy, but I will always remember it comes out of two good hearts and they only mean the best with it.

Right before we park the car Lucy calls me to inform Keira, Georgia and her will come and watch our game. They don't have a game today or tomorrow so they last minute decided to get down to London.

The game went well, we won 2-0. With me assisting Miedema in the 33th minute. Somewhere in the second half I got off the field for Roord and Kim Little scored a goal. After the game we met up with some fans and now I make my way back inside.

I meet up with my parents and try to find Lucy and the others. Like always my parents don't forget to tell me how proud they are. After some minutes they leave to get back to their apartment in London. Before actually leaving they go past every player of the team to also tell them they are proud of them. And with every player I mean literally every player.

I'm watching it all happen when I'm almost tackled to the ground. "You were amazing gozer, I love you balls." Lucy says while holding me tight and giving me a peck on my lips.

Saying balls after saying I love you is something Lucy started doing once I wanted to tell her I loved her for the very first time, but I was too scared and instead I said I love my balls. The footballs who were laying in front of me. Yea it was awkward, but Lucy made something cute of it after all.

"Don't squeeze her to dead, we also want to hug her Luce." Keira says from behind, Georgia standing next to her. They both eventually get their chances to hug me after Lucy lets me go.

"Oh no everybody, hide! The enemy has arrived." Beth screams hysterical through the room running with her hands up in the air until she stands in front of us. "You idiot, someone will get really scared one day because of your jokes." I say hitting her head in a playful manner.

After our meet-up with family and friends everybody makes their way to the changing rooms. To quickly shower or to get in clean and comfortable clothes. The four of us decide to shower here and get fresh into the car.

Lucy took the City girls back to mine and Leah's apartment for a little get together. After we shortly reflected on the game and showered we made our way back home.

Leah orders some pizza's and Beth is already setting up our karaoke machine. We bought one after a party with all the Arsenal girls. We enjoyed it so much we wanted one of our own, we can also take it everywhere we go. Which may be the best feature.

We are some hours into our little party. Lucy makes her way to the balcony. It's like a habit of us. Just to have some time apart, away from the chaos. Just the two of us. I walk through the door and embrace Lucy from behind. "Have I already told you, you're the prettiest woman at this party?" I say while I give her a kiss on her cheek from behind.

"No, you didn't, tell me again." Lucy says turning around in my embrace with a smirk on her face.

"You are the prettiest woman at..." I don't get to finish my sentence. Instead I'm met with her soft lips on mine. Kissing Lucy is like, the world stops spinning. It's us in the moment and everybody around us disappears. It surprises me how kissing her still makes me feel like this 16-year-old girl whit her first crush.

Once we break the kiss, I take a look in her eyes. I can get lost in them for hours. "What I wanted to say, before someone rudely interrupted me, is that you are the prettiest woman at this party and I love you with everything in me."

"I love you with everything in me too, babe." Lucy replies.