Diving Deep (UK Crush #2)

Chapter 30

I spent the rest of the half talking to Matty, Janelle and Ronan, who went and got all of us sausages and beer. I didn't particularly care for the beer, but I drank it to get in the spirit of things. I actually drank it pretty quickly because I didn't enjoy the taste and I didn't want to have to hold it, and Ronan promptly got me another one, thinking I liked it, so I quickly drank that one down, too, for the same reason. I put my hand on his arm to stop him getting me a third, telling him I was good.

The wind picked up at the start of the second half, turning the stadium into sort of a wind tunnel. With all of the bodies in there, it was kind of humid, too, in spite of the cold, and my hair started to rock and roll and do its crazy curling thing.

I cautiously moved back to my seat next to Teddy, but he seemed to have forgotten about tickling me to death, merely reaching out to hold my hand.

The wind was going against the European team, making them work twice as hard to move the ball, and the UK team scored twice in quick succession, causing the stadium to erupt into cheers.

"What's the deal with your hair?" Teddy asked, putting his lips next to my ear.

"Does it look like I have a fucking deal with my hair?" I retorted. "I don't have any kind of 'deal' with my hair, it does what it fucking wants, okay?" I laughed. "Gimme a sec, I'll take care of it." I pulled the hair tie off my wrist and twisted it up into a messy bun. Today's bun was extra messy. "Better?" I asked.

"Much," he said, putting an arm around me. "Now I can do this." And he leaned in and kissed my neck, very warm, very nice.

"Thank you," I murmured, leaning into him. We stayed that way for a while.

The European team was getting frustrated, you could tell by the way they were playing. They were getting very rough, committing penalty after penalty. Even I could tell that they were breaking the rules. And of course, I spent most of my time watching Geth and not the ball.

That was why I saw when the European player threw his elbow right into Gethin's face, for no reason that I could discern. Not that a reason would have mattered to me. Geth's nose erupted in a gout of blood, splattering the front of his uniform and the uniforms of the two or three players closest to him.

We were all on our feet, screaming, along with most of the stadium, it seemed. The player who'd thrown the elbow, someone named Moreau, had nonchalantly moved away, and now turned around in apparent surprise to see the cause of the disturbance.

I waited for the ref to penalize the player, but nothing happened. Geth took steps toward Moreau, and his teammates grabbed him and held him back. He was hauled off the field, still shouting, to have his nose seen to.

I turned to Teddy, incensed. "What about the guy who threw the elbow? Moreau? What about the instant replay? Doesn't he get a foul? A, a penalty, whatever? He should be carded, ejected, whatever the fuck it's called!"

"Calm down, calm down, there is no instant replay in football, darling," he said, putting his hands on my shoulders. "If the ref didn't see it, there's nothing to be done."

"What?" I couldn't believe it. "Are you fucking kidding me? That asshole can just walk up and stick his elbow in Gethin's face, break his fucking nose for all we know, and fucking get away with it?" I was shrieking by the end.

I turned to the others. "Seriously? There's nothing to be done?" I looked at Janelle, whose face was twisted with worry and pain. "Did you see his face? What am I saying, of course you saw his face, I'm so sorry, Janelle, that was really insensitive of me."

By now, Geth was almost right below us, having his nose tended, and without thinking I started to climb over the barrier to go down to him. Immediately Teddy and Matthew grabbed my arms and hauled me back.