Like Real People Do - Jill Roord

That's When It Happened

Hunter's POV

Today we were playing Aston Villa, so we'd already faced an awfully long journey; something which had never been the ideal way to spend my morning.
So that, and the fact we were loosing at half time, meant my mood was rather awful.

Kim was trying to pull us all together in the changing rooms, "We can do this," she said, "We can score two goals to equalize. I know we could even score three goals to win!"

The team also seemed convinced, though I just felt this dark cloud looming over my head. One that hadn't been this heavy in a while. So, I knew we had the ability to win this game but I didn't feel that fire ignite; it was more just desperation. 

"Come on girls! Game time!" Kim practically roared, everyone cheering to as they began filing off towards the tunnel. 

Suddenly, I felt a hand catch mine, I spun around to see the softened eyes of Jill, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I told her, "Why wouldn't I be?"

Jill glanced to the floor, dropping my hand and looking slightly disheartened by my sharp tone, "You just didn't seem yourself."

"Okay," I shrugged, "Well I'm fine."

Jill didn't believe me, I just knew it, but we didn't have time right now for a conversation and quite frankly, I wasn't in the mood, "That's good then."

"Yeah," I brushed her off, walking towards the tunnel, "Are you coming?" I asked, as I held the door open for her.

Jill seemed to snap back into action, "Yeah, I'm coming. Thanks," She muttered quietly.

I lined up behind Jordan, trying to push every distracting thought from my mind and attempting to focus on the football. It was almost as if my eyes were glassed over by this red, hot and unexplainable feeling. 
I couldn't describe exactly how I was feeling and it left my blood turning cold; it hurt. I realized that I wanted so much that is not here. And if I longed for things greater than this reality, how would I ever be truly happy? Maybe it would come in random, sporadic bouts but it never seemed long lasting. 

I saw her face. I saw his.

Maya. Marco.

I felt a hand on my shoulder, I thought it was his. My heart dropped and my head spun around expecting to see those stoney, cold eyes but instead they were green and nervous. 

"Are you okay?" Jill asked once again, I then noticed the rest of the team had already taken to the pitch but I'd been too busy to realize.

I nodded, tensing my jaw as I tried to gulp back those thoughts, "I'm fine," I told her slowly, "We have to get on the pitch."

Jill didn't say anything, she didn't even immediately follow me. But within a few seconds, we were all set in our positions. Villa trying to remain in the lead, us trying to turn the game around. The whistle blew and the match began again. 

Aston Villa brought on substitutes fairly early to strengthen their defense after they'd seen our fiercely offensive tactics. I just felt myself getting more and more annoyed every time no one ran into space or the ball would get stolen from my feet by someone kicking it off the pitch. It felt messy, they felt unnecessarily stressed. 

Finally, I felt a breakaway happening as I received the ball in midfield and ran. Luckily, Viv was already near the box, so I passed to her and she brought the ball back to Jordan. Jordan took her time, realizing she had an important opportunity and shot. It was a beautiful goal but that honestly didn't matter; what mattered is that she'd been the first step in regaining those precious WSL points.