Sealed with a Kiss | ✓

january 19th

"Here you are. You should probably go down to the pitch now; the other school's team has already arrived." She handed the bag to Angie. "I'll see you later. I'll be watching from the window, in the warm." Mia rolled her eyes and put her lunch into her bag and headed out down to the rugby pitches.

Angie was right; the other team had arrived and was warming up next to the changing rooms. Mia carefully navigated the hordes of tall rugby players and made her way to the seating area, and found a seat in the middle of the stands which had a good view of the pitch. She pulled out her lunch and began eat whilst reading a book to pass the time. There was no point in trying to listen to music as there was already too much noise, and it would only get louder as time went on. After a while, she felt a tap on her shoulder and she looked up. A tall muscular guy was stood next to her, and towered over her. He was wearing the opposition's uniform. When he didn't say anything, Mia raised her eyebrow at him.

"Can I help you?" The guy seemed to blink a few times before smiling easily.

"Sorry, I was just taken aback by how beautiful you are up close." He said and ran his hand through his hair, all without breaking eye contact. Mia raised her eyebrow again.

"Are you high?" This seemed to actually surprise the guy, who blinked a few times before shaking his head.

"What? No, I'm trying to ask you on a date."

"Oh. Then no, thank you."

"What do you mean no?"

"I mean, I'm not interested. I don't know you and I'm not interested." The guy scoffed at this.

"Well, you do realise that the whole point of going on a date is to get to know someone better, right?" The guy pressed and leaned in closer to Mia, who leaned away.

"Just leave me alone please; I just want to watch the game." As The guy started to move in even closer, but was pulled away abruptly by the shoulder.

"You heard the lady, she's not interested. Leave her alone you fucking creep." Cassie was also wearing her rugby uniform, and had her thermal sleeves rolled up, showing off her defined muscles. Cassie turned to Mia. "Are you okay babe? Did this guy touch you?" Mia was a little taken aback by the unfamiliarity of 'babe' but didn't let it show on her face so at to not break whatever act Cassie was putting on to throw off this guy. She shook her head for Cassie. "Good." She turned back to the guy. "Go back to your team before I report you." They guy turned and left with a huff, not before shooting a dirty look in Cassie's direction, who stuck her middle finger up in return. Cassie looked down at where Mia was sat. "Are you definitely okay Mia?"

"I'm fine Cassie. But thank you for that, he was really getting on my nerves." Mia reached up and linked her arms around Cassie's neck before pulling her down to straddle her lap. Cassie looked down at Mia in confusion. Mia lent up and whispered into her ear.

"That guy is still watching. I'm just making sure he knows I'm off limits. From where he's stood, it probably looks like we're kissing." Cassie pulled herself upright and readjusted herself with her back to the pitch.

"This is probably an even better position for that." She looked at her watch. "As much as I would love to sit here and pretend to make out with you to get rid of some nasty boy, I've got to go and play. I'm the captain and I normally give a pep talk before every game." She climbed out of Mia's lap and blew a kiss. "See you later baby."

The game was not especially interesting, as Mia had suspected, as she knew little about rugby or any of its rules, so she resorted to reading her book or texting Angie, who was watching the match sporadically through their bedroom window. Despite this, Mia found that Cassie was interesting to watch. She was captain of the girl's rugby team, and Mia could see why. She seemed to be respected by her whole team, and she was cool and calm for the whole game, making calculated attacks and scoring when the opposition least expected. Mia was impressed with the amount of respect Cassie seemed to command from her team.

With just under five minutes left of the match, Angie appeared next to Mia, bundled up with a large scarf and woolly hat, so that only her eyes were showing. She sat down in the seat next to Mia and rubbed her hands together to warm them up. Mia laughed at her.

"It's not that cold Angie."

"It may not be to you, you've gotten used to it, whereas I've been sat in a nice warm bedroom all day."

Just as Mia was about to answer, the crowd of onlookers began to cheer, drawing their attention back onto the pitch. Cassie was clutching the ball and sprinting away from a group of players on the other team, but she had too great of a lead for anyone to catch up to her and she was drawing away from them with every stride. Mia joined in the cheering for Cassie, who dived across the line, scoring a final try for the team. She threw the ball up in victory as the crowd cheered and her teammates finally caught up to her and surrounded her in a hug, hollering and whooping.

Mia jumped up from her seat and ran down the stands to the pitch and ran down to the end where Cassie and her team were still celebrating. As she ran, Cassie caught her eye and broke away from the team and started to run towards Mia. They met in the middle and Cassie scooped Mia up in her arms and spun her around, causing Mia to shriek and giggle in surprise. Cassie was laughing and making Mia shriek by dipping her and catching her just in time and pulled her up so Mia was eye level with her.

The pair held the other's eye contact, both trying to catch their breath. It was only at this point that Mia realised how close she was to Cassie. From this position, she could see all of Cassie's features much closer, like the freckles that covered her nose and forehead, and the flecks of gold in her brown eyes, and how her lips were chapped slightly.

Cassie gently put Mia down on the ground but didn't let go of her, instead resting her hands on Mia's waist. She looked down at Mia and smiled.

"Mia, did you see me score that last try? Pretty good right?" Cassie flexed her arm, making the muscles tighten impressively. Mia laughed.

"What try? I must have missed it when I was reading my book." Mia said, feigning innocence. Cassie gasped, feigning hurt before hugging Mia close and kissing the top of her head. At this point Cassie's team mates had approached the pair and started congratulating Cassie on her final try scoring, as well as a few members of the opposing team looking to congratulate Cassie on their win. One tapped Cassie on the shoulder, causing Cassie to let go of Mia and turn to her to give her a hug. Angie had caught up to Mia at this point, and was clutching her phone triumphantly.

"I have the perfect pictures for you to post for Max to see Mia, I'm so excited. You two were so dang cute just then." She whispered to Mia. As Mia and Angie were leaving, Mia heard Cassie call out to her.

"Mia! Wait for me!" She jogged up to them both, and stopped and leant over to catch her breath. She was still slightly red faced from the game, and there were beads of sweat on her forehead as well as smudges of mud all over. "Did you enjoy your first ever rugby match experience?" She said once she had caught her breath, and grinned when she said Mia's disdainful expression.

"Of course not, I'm only doing this because of the contract, obviously." She teased. "Speaking of which, in return, you are coming shopping with me tomorrow to get our outfits for the Valentine's Day ball."

"But it's a month away! Why do we have to go tomorrow?" Cassie all but pouted, and Mia had to stop herself from finding it adorable.

"Because I want us to be not only prepared but co-ordinated and if we want to achieve that, we need to be prepared well in advance." She paused. "And I also want to get back at you for making me sit out here in the freezing cold for two hours to watch your game." Cassie held up her hands in fake surrender.

"Okay, you got me there. I'll go shopping with you tomorrow. Wake me up when you want to go, okay? See you tomorrow." She said and waved before running off to the girls changing room, where which Mia prayed she was going to take a shower. 

//

next update will be some time next week

h.