𝐛𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞 ★ leah williamson

16 - my fault, your fault

The pain in my ankle only got worse from then, and I found myself relying on pain killers to make it through training. My ankle was blue and swollen, which made me wonder whether something was truly wrong with it, but then again, I thought as I prepared myself for another passing drill, if it really was broken I wouldn't be able to walk on it anymore.

Katie passed the ball towards me, hard, and I winced slightly as the cold and tight leather hit my bruise perfectly, before passing it to my left foot and sending it over to Beth.

"One touch, guys!", Jonas exclaimed and I sighed in frustration, knowing his comment was directed more so towards me than the rest of the squad. From then on, I accepted every pass with my left foot, grateful more than ever that my feet were somewhat equally skilled.

That didn't save me from running, however, and by the time we had finished training, only having to run our cooldown, I found it incredibly hard not to limp in the slightest.

Our match against Manchester United was only a day away, and if I wanted to play, I needed for everyone not to worry. Admittedly, it likely wasn't smart to push myself through a game of ninety minutes, but as long as I could make it through a two hour training session, I would just have to take one more painkiller tomorrow, and it should be fine. Or so I thought.

When I woke up the next morning, ready for our home game, I found Magnus purring beside me, wondering slightly how he had managed to end up in my bed every single night since I'd come back. Maybe he had minded the ten days in Hamburg and was overcompensating now. We were alike in that matter.

"Shit", I cursed as I took in the state of my ankle, that was only swelling more, the bruise now close to a deep purple.

Realistically, it wasn't anything more than a bad bruise, but it definitely would've been the smartest thing to have let Jonas know early on what I was dealing with, and sit this game out. There weren't many matches left for this half of the season, and I could've used the rest to recover and make sure I was actually of good quality for the remainder of the matches. It was too late for that now, though, I realized as I swallowed an Ibuprofen for breakfast, washing it down with a Red Bull Zero.

I pulled on a pair of Arsenal socks, hoping no one would be able to tell those weren't the ones they provided to us before every match, before getting myself ready for the day. If I had to change my socks in the changing room, there was no way Leah and the others wouldn't notice the bruise immediately, and declare my position to be on the bench until the bruise subsided.

That wasn't an option for me, not today.

I packed my bag quickly as I waited for the Ibuprofen to work, holding out as long as I could before I had to head to Leah's. She had redecorated her flat for Christmas, and although I thought the middle of November was too early to do so, I had promised to come around before the match to see.

By the time I fed Magnus his early lunch and walked towards my car in the Arsenal tracksuit, I was almost able to walk without limping.

I swallowed another tablet before I started the engine, driving over to Leah's quickly.

"Hey", she greeted me with her typical smile at the door.

"Hey", I answered, before giving her a small hug. I stumbled slightly, not having anticipated to lean forwards as much as I did and had to shift my weight onto my right leg.

"Are you alright?", Leah asked as she pulled away, looking into me with furrowed eyebrows.

"Yeah, yeah I'm good. Totally", I smiled, and although it was clear she didn't believe me, she welcomed me into her home, showing off her Christmas tree happily.