The Family

64

Talia's POV

"We're here." Julie says and nudges my shoulder.

I nod then get out of our seat, get off the bus, head into the stadium, and walk towards the locker room.

Today's Champions League Final day.

Once in our locker room I head to my locker then remove my three necklaces and place them safely in my bag. I then change into my warm up shirt, game shorts, my right sock, my left sock, my right red boot, and lastly my left red boot. After that I head to Julie's locker then sit down on the floor in-between her legs.

"Hey Beautiful." Julie says and starts running her fingers through my hair.

I'm not really in the mood to talk so I just hug Julie's leg in response.

Julie runs her fingers through my hair for a little bit before she puts part of my hair in a braid then she puts my hair into a pony tail.

"Thanks." I say and hug one of Julie's legs. "Love you."

"Love you too." Julie says and kisses my head then I get up, walk out of the locker room, and head to the pitch.

Once on the pitch I run through my warm ups with the starters then head back to the locker room.

"You ready to face Sam Kerr?" Janine asks as we walk back to the locker room.

Sam was loaned out from Chicago as well and she joined Lyon. She wanted to leave due to the shitty pay, but the NWSL talked her into just a loan then they'd revisit the pay structure at the end of the season and Kerr agreed.

I also think a big part of Sam only joining on a loan is the fact that Nikki is in America and she doesn't want to leave her soulmate.

"Yep." I say.

Once in the locker room I change out of the training top and change into our game jersey. After I'm dressed I wait around in my locker as the coaching staff do their last minute talks then the starters and I head to the tunnel and I line up behind Janine while Julie lines up a few spots a head of the Canadian. A minute later we walk out onto the pitch, stand for a bit, shake hands with the Lyon players, then Julie and I head to our positions.

Once we're close to our positions Julie and I hug each other then we head to our positions and wait for Lyon to kick off which happens a few moments later.

In the 10th minute Sam Kerr runs at me so I shuffle backwards while waiting for her to make a mistake and lucky for me she does.

Sam takes a heavy touch that gets away from her and we both sprint to the ball. I get there first so I meg the Aussie then head up field. Henry is the next Lyon player to get to me so I do a few step overs then, as Henry tries to steal the ball, I nut meg her as well, spin round the Frenchwoman, and keep sprinting up field. Lucy Bronze closes me down next and since we're in the Lyon final third I act like I'm going to cross the ball which causes Lucy to jump in the air to block the ball.

While Lucy is in the air I ball roll her then dribble past her and sprint towards goal, but right before I get to the 18 yard box I see Renard closing down on me so I quickly shift the ball to my left foot. Once the ball is on my left foot I swing my foot back then side foot the ball between Bouhaddi and the post and into the goal putting us 1-0 up.

When the ball hits the back of the net I stop running then walk back up field to my position.

As I'm walking upfield I look to my right and look at Lieke and her family sitting in the front row. I smile sadly at them then look up to the sky and kiss the tattoo on my left wrist. When I look back down I see Julie speaking to my teammates and I'm pretty sure it's to tell them to not feel hurt if I don't celebrate with them.