imbalance | trent alexander-arnold¹

fifteen.

once the joke's over

Once club football came back into the light again it was clear to many of the boys that during the international break, something had occurred between Trent and Wynter and honestly, they were all there for the soft bond they had for each other. With Trent's horrible habit of unconsciously staring off at the star player to Wynter's constant good word on the scouse, they all gave a lucky guess that eventually, the pair would link up.

Not to mention, Joe managed to get a picture of the young players' first kiss together and the first thing he did with it? He sent it to the Liverpool group chat for all the players to view. And their reactions? Let's just say that Wynter and Trent's phones exploded from all the messages which came from their over-hyped teammates. So the first training session back at Melwood, both young players anticipated the worse from the team.

The first training sessions back from France, Winnie jogged out onto the grass to be confronted by her very cheerful teammates, who sent cheeky winks her way. At first, she tried to play off the usual teases that they threw her way, knowing that they'd knowledge of the shamelessly hearty kiss shared with the scouse. But as soon as Trent finally made his presence known on the pitch, the barriers that Wynter once built up with extreme caution to conceal what she truly felt about him instantly crashed to the ground. 

"Winnie," her heart skipped a beat as she heard her common nickname slip from his mouth, sinking back into his embrace as he hugged her from behind, his arms slipping around her neck. "How are you?"

"I'm great. Couldn't be any better," she smiled, glancing up at him.

"Of course, you couldn't be any better because you know what," Gini winked as he passed the two, giving the french player a slight shove.

"Haha. Very funny of you, Gini," Wynter rolled her eyes with a sarcastic grin, soon unclasping herself from Trent.

Trent laughed at her reaction as he pulled her back into his comforting embrace, which Wynter fell into without discussion. "Just ignore them for now. It'll all die down soon," he said, placing a kiss on her hairline.

"C'mon guys, no PDA! We're at training. Do it in your own time, damn."

"Okay, that's it! You had it coming your way!"

A shriek escaped Gini's mouth as he ran away from Wynter. The boys watched in amusement as the french girl easily accelerated towards him before she jumped onto his back, bring them down to the grass in fits of laughter.

"Alright, I get it. You won!"

. . .

"You know, I'm pretty sure everyone has seen the picture," Jordan told the younger player, trying his best to conceal his smirk behind his hand.

"You think I don't know, Jordan. No thanks to Joe!" she said the last part out loud so then the defender would hear.

"I don't know what you're talking about. You should be thanking me!" Joe called out from the other side of the canteen.

Virgil waved off his best friend on the squad. "Forget Joe right now. How are things for you?" he asked, beginning to dig into his food.

She took a sip of her water before she spoke, placing the flask back on the table. "Everything's good, I guess," she shrugged, the sudden uprise of the touchy topic causing slight discomfort within her body. "I've been told that I'm getting healthier; physically and mentally so I guess that's a win for me."

"You say it like you don't believe it," Jordan said with a frown.

"I don't know really," Wynter's nose wrinkled up as she cocked her head to the side. "I'm just used to people who know about the whole situation saying things like you need help so when I get good news, it's always a surprise for me."