Cause and Effect

Nineteen

"She's alright," I shrugged, trying to be honest. "Not as good as I expected, but maybe she was nervous to train with the first team?"

"What position does she play?" Asked Anya, taking a sip of her tea, and wrapping her hands around the warm mug.

The London weather was, of course, awful.

"She apparently does well as a CDM for the Under 21's, they play a 4-1-2-3. We need a CDM as well, we've got Mo Elneny but he don't like playing there."

"Ah okay, maybe that's why your gaffer brought her up?"

"Yeah," I nodded, shrugging. "Anyway, how's it with Phil?"

"It's good," she responded, a stupid smile making its way onto her face. "We spend a lot of time together, but just taking it slow, you know?"

"Well, I'm happy for you then," I chuckled as she smiled like a sunbeam.

To be honest, seeing that smile was all I needed to be satisfied with the situation. I still wasn't entirely convinced that Phil was not just a distraction from Leroy, but as long as my friend was happy, I didn't mind.

"He took me on this really cute date to the beach," she smiled dreamily. "And we..."

"The beach? In December?!" I interrupted. "This isn't Australia."

"Well, we didn't swim," she laughed. "And you've never been to Australia, you wouldn't know."

"Damn, I want to though. And I should hope you didn't swim! Hypothermia here we come! Blue fingers and toes to match your jerseys, yeah? I see how it is."

"Hey!" She giggled. "Shut up and let me finish, idiot."

"Okay, okay."

She continued telling me about her date with Phil, and I smiled as she talked. She looked genuinely happy. I made a mental note to pat Phil on the back next time I saw him.

"We should go do something with you and Alexis one day," Anya suggested.

My smile dropped.

"Um, yeah... about him," I said slowly, and then paused.

"Oh no, what now?"

"We kinda fought?" It came out as a question.

"You kinda fought? Or you really had a fight."

"Like yelling, and stuff. Bad emotions."

"Lovely," she sighed, sarcastically. "How bad is it? And over what?"

I rolled my eyes, thinking about it.

"It's pretty bad. It happened a week ago, and we've barely spoken since then."

"Well damn, me and the girls watched your Leicester game on the weekend, that was like three days ago! You didn't seem to have any problems on the pitch! But football's a different language, I suppose."

I smiled ruefully, but said nothing.

"So, trouble in paradise, huh?" She stated. "Are you gonna tell me what happened, or..."

She knew I was avoiding saying it. She damn knew, but she wanted to know, and she kinda had a right to. We always shared our problems, and this was no different. Normally Hector was my go to, but there were some things you could only share with another girl.

"He basically accused me of cheating - wrongfully, by the way, I haven't."

"What?!" She exclaimed. "With who? Oh wait..." realisation crossed her features. "It's Neymar, isn't it."