Sunsets and footballers

Lucy Bronze x Reader (29)

As warm-ups finished, YFN took a few final photos of the teams and looked down at the images, proud of the action shots. It was then that she noticed Mary Earps walking over to her. She'd spoken to Mary at the pub quite a lot, having been introduced through the England squad. She was the goalkeeper for Man United, and for the Lionesses. Mary, Queen of Stops.

"Hey, you! Good to see you! How are you mate?" She went straight in for a hug. Mary was lovely and caring, as always.

"Hey Mary. I'm great besides the very long day I'm having." She laughed. "You were looking pretty solid in warm ups."

"Aw thanks mate!" She said enthusiastically, hands still on her shoulders and giving her a little shake.

"I have no idea how you jump so high or so quick and the speed that you get up... I was worn out just watching you!"

She laughed at that. "Aw you're too kind.." then she whispered, "I'll give you a tenner later."

YFN rolled her eyes. "Still struggling to accept compliments, I see!"

"Always mate. It's just so awkward! Anyways, you girls are looking so cute in your little merch. Any chance I could have a beanie?"

"Oh course." YFN chuckled and grabbed a beanie from her merch bag before putting it on the keeper herself. "Look at that!"

"Do I look cute?" She asked cheekily. "I look cute, don't I?"

"You're adorable." She laughed. "Do they put you up in hotel overnight for these late night games?"

"Oh, yeah. They've booked us in London though so it's a bit of a travel. Late night for us. Where are you staying?"

"London also." She shrugged. "We probably won't be home until 11pm."

Mary groaned and she joined in. They bantered for a little longer until Mary was called into the training rooms and ran away excitedly with her little beanie on.

The game was fairly evenly matched, which was a surprise as Man United were a notoriously a hard team to beat. Because it was so back and forth, the Lumos crew including YFN found themselves running up and down the field for the best footage. It was almost comical. Almost.

At half time, Brighton were up 1-0 and Mary looked disappointed in herself, regardless of the fact that she'd made some incredible saves. Following the break, there was a 2nd yellow given to yet another United player, and it wasn't until both teams had made multiple substitutions that the next goal was scored, and it was a United goal. 10 minutes later Brighton scored their 2nd, however United managed to equalise again in over time, ending it in a 2-2 draw.

The whole game was entertaining, especially watching Mary have to make so many saves, but also uncomfortable as YFN kept noticing that one photographer who was still taking photos of Lumos around the pitch. She didn't understand until when they were nearing the end of the game, and she saw a businessman in a suit talking to the photographer and pointing to her. She hadn't recognised him as he walked down from the crowd, but she had when she saw them talking a little closer to her. It was Mark. Mark from the Charity Event. The one who had basically warned her about Joe without actually warning her. He looked up from his photographer and caught YFN's eye. Usually it would be normal to smile and wave, but he didn't. He simply stared with an expression on his face that she couldn't decipher. Whatever it was, it wasn't positive.

From then on, she tried to move further away, working her way around the edge of the pitch, however the photographer was always close behind, following her. She felt uneasy, however she was glad he was focussed on her and not her colleagues. She tried to keep him far away from them.

At the end of the game, Mary came back over for her usual, friendly chat and brought Katie Zelem and Ella Toone with her. They were all Lionesses, having played in major tournaments together, and she'd met them all at the pub, so it was a great, natural banter they had about the game. Somehow, she was also roped into doing an interview with the three of them, after Mary had seen that she'd interviewed others and insisted on it, fakely threatening favouritism if YFN didn't. Bridget came over, they set them up with mics and the 'interview' was basically a good chat about all things in the match. YFN realised how much she loved the dynamic of interviewing multiple players who would tease each other and bounce off each other. It was the perfect, relaxed setting. She also made sure to not ask too many questions about the game, preferring that the girls talk about whatever they wanted to about the game to avoid the typical media response. It wasn't lost on her, however, that Mark's photographer was filming everything. She put on a brave face for the camera, smiling and laughing with the girls, but felt uneasy.

They all parted ways and Bridget, Emily and YFN didn't hang around long as they'd all had long days. It was now 9:30pm and they still had a 90 minute drive back to London. They agreed to do their editing tomorrow and call it a night. As YFN entered the car, the hair on the back of her neck stood up as she saw a car parked behind her, on and idling, as if waiting for her to leave. It was strange because most of the car park was already empty, and it was right behind her. One look in the driver's seat and she could see who it was. The photographer.

She tried to keep her fear under control as she entered Lucy's car and locked the doors. She immediately felt better but that all went away when she found herself on the M23 being followed.

She told herself to calm down and that they were probably taking a different exit, but they weren't. They followed her to the M25 and all the way back to towards Lucy's apartment.

YFN was starting to get scared and ran a cheeky orange light to lose them, which worked. She parked up Lucy's car and entered the apartment, feeling like she didn't belong. She turned the lights on and put the keys down near the entrance as she wandered into the beautifully modern place with her overnight bag over her shoulder. She looked around briefly and was reminded of the few happy memories. Sex here. Flirting there. Making out here. Massaging Lucy's knee there. Making breakfast there.

She shook her head as if it would remove those memories and entered the guest bedroom. She couldn't bring herself to use Lucy's bedroom. The one they'd cuddled in and done much worse things in. She unpacked the few items from her overnight bag and looked at the time. Just after 11pm. She needed sleep. She quickly showered and then got dressed into a pair of pajama shorts and a loose top by itself, no bra. And socks, of course. She always needed socks.

She went to get some water and then found herself fighting a losing battle and letting curiosity and her emotions get the better of her as she entered Lucy's room. She didn't pry, she just... looked. Remembered. Then she went into the bathroom which was still filled with Lucy's face care all lined up and... a blue toothbrush. Like the one she'd left at Jordan's. YFN picked it up slowly and stared at it before her lips trembled and she gave in to those emotions from the previous few days.

"You're okay." She whispered to herself in between sobs. "You're okay... it'll pass, remember? You've got this."

Suddenly she heard the front door and ran out as far as Lucy's bedroom door to see the front door handle shaking, someone palying with the lock. The photographer? Or Mark? She didn't call out because that would be an admittance that she was in fact there in the apartment. Instead her reaction was to close Lucy's bedroom door quietly and then move into her bathroom, shutting that and entering the shower. None of the doors had locks and she'd never been more frustrated or scared in her life. She stood in the shower with her back to the corner of the wall, and looked down at the blue toothbrush that was her only form of defence. She couldn't fight a man.. especially with her being so small.

She heard footsteps and could feel her body shaking as the bathroom door swung open.