golden blonde¹

you will always be enough

early december 2022

elena had to say goodbye despite her urge to stay in spain. she had made plans with jana for the winter break, but they weren't exactly set in stone. she had mumbled something along the lines of france, disney world, and the eiffel tower, but never elaborated.

"and you'll call everyday?" jana asked crossing her arms.

"i'll try?"

jana didn't look happy in the slightest.

"okay! i'll call everyday!"

"good," her sister mumbled. as they hugged each other goodbye, elena couldn't help but feel rejuvenated. a visit back home was exactly what she needed.

seeing all of her friends, her former teammates, and spending time with them throughout the week was possibly the best week she had since her transfer.

though, the win against lyon could be argued as well.

her flight back to london was a day after she was supposed to report back to arsenal, and as a result, she gets one less day of training.

that ultimately leads to her being dropped to the bench for their game against everton.

she thought maybe she'd play left wing like she did against ajax, but with katie fully fit, jonas had preferred the irish woman over the teenager.

they still win, thanks to vivianne miedema and her uncanny ability to always find the back of the net. elena does get subbed on for stina in the 77th minute, but she felt as if there could have been more she shold have been contributing.

"congrats on your return williamson," elena nods as she passes the english defender in the parking lot.

leah had recently returned from injury, with the one week break being a great cushion for her to return to training.

they had been texting each other occassionally over the break, but nothing in their behaviors actually revealed anything new to their teammates.

to the vast majority of their teammates, leah and elena were just teammates. calling them friends would be a far stretch, especially given the fact that their first meeting was not at all friendly.

but to those who were a bit more attentive, such as lia and viv, there was perhaps something more.

in the car ride back home, elena is more on the quieter side, which a couple of months ago, wouldn't have raised any eyebrows. but now, caitlin of all people is noticing the lack of conversation from the spaniard.

"what about you elena?" lia asks.

"perdó què era això? (sorry, what was that?)" elena quickly replied in catalan. she immediately shook her head again as lia furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

"sorry, i meant to ask what was that?" elena tried again in english.

"lia wanted to know what you wanted for dinner tonight, she wants to try some new recipes," caitlin says adjusting her cap.

"oh, whatever you want to do, if it makes me full, that's all that matters." she looks at lia through the rearview window. the swiss has something on the tip of her tongue, elena notices, but ends up just looking back up front and returns her focus to driving.

later that night, after elena had been served a new potato side dish and some swiss-centered meal, she calls jana while pulling up some film on her laptop.

"i just don't get it!" elena complains.

"it's nothing that you did hermanita, it just happens like that sometimes," jana replied rather lamely.