tape, ice and catching glimpses

same thought's? same feelings?

My driver brought me back to my hotel in the morning, and I got ready for the day. I missed Charlotte this morning and made myself a smoothie to go and made my way to the training center. I greeted Donna and the rest of the athletic trainers, Jonas greeted me on my way through. It was a nice day out, and the girls were feeling good this morning, and I was greeted with my first client of the day, Alessia.
"Oh, hey Alessia, how can I help?" I ask.
"Morning Maeve, can I just get a quick tape for my heel? I have some blisters from my new boots." she asked.
"Yeah, sure thing." I began taping her foot, and she apologized for last night.
"Sorry for keeping you last night." she said softly, a bit of pink touching her cheeks
"No worries, as long as we both slept well, I wasn't bothered." I say with a small smile.
I finish taping her foot, and I clean up and have a sip of my smoothie.
"Is that your breakfast?" Alessia asks.
"Yeah..." I say, caught off guard by her question.
"Maeve, that's not enough in the morning. How do you function with just a smoothie?"
"It's enough for me. Remember, I'm not a high-caliber striker." I respond with a wink. She smiles and walks to the locker room to get herself ready.
The girls had a light practice in the morning and didn't need as much attending to, so it was a quiet day in the trainer's room. Just as I was making my way out of the building to go hang out at the hotel, someone grabbed my arm.
"Hey, what are you doing this afternoon?" Alessia asks, letting go of my arm.
"Uhm, I was going to go lay around and do nothing." I replied.
"Wanna go get a coffee with me?" she asked
"Sure, I'll send my driver back."
I tell my driver that he can have the afternoon to himself and enjoy it. I make my way over to Alessia's car, and she drives to her favorite coffee shop.
We arrive, and she finds a parking spot, we get out and get ourselves coffees and sit down at a table in a back corner with some privacy.
"So Alessia, do you fancy anyone?" I ask, being slightly nosey.
"Yeah I do, but I don't know them that well yet." she says with a soft smile.
"Mmm, I see, going incognito, best way to do it." I smile. We finish our drinks, and we stand up to give our cups back, and the chaos starts, we're not so incognito anymore, and fans start to swarm us. Alessia grabs my hand and we get out of the coffee shop but we also didn't realize that it started to rain, so now we're sprinting back to her car and we let our hands go when we reached her car. We get in laughing and soaking wet, and we glance over at each other, smiling and absolutely drenched. Wow, I haven't laughed like that in a while. Only Charlotte can make me laugh like Alessia did, but I haven't seen her in almost 2 days, and I remember to text her.
Me: Hey Char, let me know when you've got some free time, I want to catch up
Char: Glad you caught me in a break. Does tmr afternoon work?
Me: Yeah, see you then
"You good?" Alessia asks
"Yeah, wanna go back to your place, and i'll make some lunch."
"You're going to make me lunch at my house?." she asks boldly
"Well I'll just have to make you my famous salad now that you've questioned me." I say
"A famous salad, you say? I'm in to try it then." she says while turning out of the parking lot to go home.
We arrive back at Alessia's house, and Kyra isn't home, so we have the whole place to ourselves. I take my shoes off at the door and immediately head to the kitchen to start making lunch. Alessia was taking care of some things, and then she came and sat at the bar, and I caught her watching me.
"Have you really never had someone make you lunch.?" I ask
"Nope, but you're fascinating to watch in the kitchen." she replies
"Ha, I've spent a lot of time perfecting my meals.'' I say as I finish prepping our bowls. I finish them, and I grab forks, and I set down her lunch in front of her. I watch intensely as she takes a bite, and the face she makes is so oddly comforting.
"Maeve, this is amazing." she exclaims
"Well, thank you." I reply shyly
"The girls would love this. It is so healthy and full of flavor."
"I've never shared any of my recipes before." I say
"Oh, I didn't know, I feel honored to be the first." she says. We finish our salads, and I wash the dishes and find Alessia watching tv, and I sit next to her on the sofa. She leaned over and rested her head on my shoulder. I sigh, feeling comfort in Alessia's presence and the way she looks at me. I've only been on a name to name basis with her for two days, but I've known her since 2018 when I started following womens football, but I think I have something going for her.
"Can I call you less?" I blurt out.
"Yeah, of course." she says, looking up at me. Our eyes connect, and I can feel both of our heartbeats quicken, and the intimate tension increases. I move my face towards her, looking into her eyes, asking for consent. Then she took the reins and put her lips on mine, our lips connecting, and she so gently moved her hands to my neck and pulled me closer, asking for more, wanting more. She slowly pulled her lips from mine and looked at me with a small smile.
"Was that okay?" she asked.
"Yeah that was fine," I said, nearly breathless, "I wasn't sure if you felt the same. It's only been two days."
"Oh Maeve, since I laid eyes on you, you caught my attention." she said
"Oh I did, did I?" I ask, chuckling.
"You sure did." she said, smiling at me.
"Will you stay the night again?" Alessia asked.
"Absolutely." I said.