Lia's pov:
We were sitting in our conference room, where Joe was talking about our future plans. He told us about the new tactics we were going to try out in the coming weeks and finished his speech saying that he had a little surprise for us.
"Come on, Joe, don't torture us. What is it?" said Katie impatiently.
He seemed a little too excited to keep the news to himself, so he said, "Alright... So, girls, we have a new signing. She is going to be a vital player for the team and add everything we have been lacking recently."
Everyone got excited, including me.
"We need names, boss," said Leah.
Joe took out his phone to show us a picture and said, "Caitlin Foord from Australia."
Oh fuck.
I don't know what was so special about her that everyone started cheering.
For a moment, I left reality and got flashbacks from seven months ago: our international game with Australia.
It was one of the hardest games both of our teams had played in a while. We were leading by one goal and the Australians were getting angrier with every minute.
They kept tackling our players every chance they got, trying to get possession of the ball.
That's how I got to meet the famous Caitlin Foord. She was on my tail the entire time and tackled me on multiple occasions.
I would quickly get up and continue playing without paying much attention to her. It's football and little falls like those are a part of the game.
Soon enough, it got out of hand.
I was running towards their goal when Foord came near me and pushed me. I fell and hit my head really hard. I was fine, though.
At that point, I was fuming with anger. I couldn't hold myself and pushed her back as soon as I stood up. This caused a little fight, where we were screaming in each other's faces. The referee came and gave us a warning, so we moved on with the game.
I thought I had finally gotten rid of her, but I was more than wrong. On the 80th minute, I was tackled again. This time, it was clearly an unnecessary one and when I looked up to see who it was, I was ready to fight for real.
I tried to get up, but I couldn't. I was so filled with anger that I had not noticed the killing pain in my left ankle.
I told everyone I was fine and tried to catch my breath as Foord was getting a yellow card. I wanted to fight the referee for not giving her a red card, but I was too exhausted to even try.
I slowly got up and tried to run. As soon as my left foot hit the ground, I collapsed. There was no avoiding the pain that time.
I had to immediately leave the game and get medical care. Long story short, I was not able to play football for around three months. I missed all the crucial games both for Arsenal and for Switzerland.
Needless to say, I hated Foord with my entire existence. She was the reason I had to go through the hardest period of my life. I know, I should just forget and move on, but she really did not have to make that tackle. She just did it to prove a point.
Joe told us she would be arriving in a week and I was not looking forward to it. Besides, how irresponsible of her was to leave her previous club in the middle of the season and move across the world.
The week flew by and it was already the day we had to meet our new teammate. Joe walked into our lounge room before practice and she was standing behind him.
"Team, this is Caitlin. Introduce yourselves and come out on the pitch," said Joe.
"Hi," she said in an awkward way.
"Alright, I need to go get some things ready. Be nice," said Joe laughing, as he was leaving the room.
Everyone went to give the new girl a hug and introduce themselves. I was standing in the corner, watching it all happen.
"Are you not gonna introduce yourself?" asked Kim, approaching me.
I let out a sigh and went to Foord.
"Welcome, I'm Lia," I said in a cold tone and she tried to say something back, but I quickly left the room without letting her finish.
The practice went alright. I tried not think about her presence and as soon as I touched the ball, I forgot about her completely.
It wasn't going to be a hell after all. If I kept ignoring her, I would be fine.
My feelings of relief were soon gone because she approached me after practice to talk.
"Hey, I noticed you avoided passing the ball to me during practice today," she said.
"And?" I replied.
"If we are going to be in a team together, we should be more cooperative," she said.
"Alright, boss. Thanks for the lesson," I told her and left, rolling my eyes.
She came running after me.
She put her hand on my shoulder and said, "Listen, I'm really sorry about your ankle. I did not mean to hurt you and-"
"Ok," I interrupted her and left.
For the next few weeks I kept ignoring her and people seemed to noticed that. To stay away from drama, I started passing the ball to her during practices and was overall nicer.
I did not enjoy that, though.
One time, during practice I tackled her and she fell on her hand. Her wrist got broken or something. I didn't really care.
I kinda tackled her on purpose. And I think she knew it... Not my problem.
At least she could still play football. I was nicer to her than she was to me.
After that, she stopped trying to talk to me or make things better between us. There was no interaction whatsoever. It felt nice to finally get my revenge.
A couple more weeks passed and it was time to go to Spain for our Champions League game against Barcelona.
After a long day of traveling and press, we were finally at the hotel. Our staff was reading out our names and giving us our room keys.
I wasn't paying much attention to what was happening when I heard, "Next, we have Wälti and Foord, room 195."
Hell no.
"Any way of rearranging the rooms?" Foord asked.
"No. Everything has already been set up. It's important that all of you stay in your own rooms," said Joe.
I have a feeling he paired us up on purpose.
Foord and I did not say a word while walking to our room. We got there, opened the door, and saw one bed in the middle of the room.
"Bullshit," I said.
She did not say anything and started unpacking her bags. It was already late and we had to be up early, so we had to figure out how we would be sleeping.
I went and asked for a second blanket and put a pillow in the middle of the bed, dividing it into two parts.
"Don't worry about it," she said, picking up the pillow and her blanket. "I will be sleeping on the floor," she continued.
I kinda felt bad, but did not say anything. After all, she was the new player and had to make some sacrifices.
I woke up in the morning ten minutes before my alarm. It felt nice to be ahead of schedule. I turned my alarm off, so it wouldn't ring, and started getting ready.
Foord was still sleeping on the floor. She looked extremely comfortable, so I stopped feeling bad for leaving her on the floor.
I got dressed and went to have some breakfast before our morning sessions. When I got to the cafeteria, everyone was already there.
We ate and were about to leave for our meeting, when Joe asked me where Foord was.
"I'm not her babysitter," I replied.
"Lia, she is your roommate and you two are responsible for each other," he said.
"All she is responsible for is my injury that still bothers me to this day," I said angrily and an awkward silence took over the room.
"Go get Caitlin, please. We will talk about this later," said Joe.
I did as he said.
When I woke her up, she was clueless of what was happening.
"You are late for our meeting. The bus is leaving in five. Hurry up," I said and left.
Our meetings and trainings were over and we went back to the hotel early, so we could rest before our game the next day.
Foord and I went to our room and she started aggressively searching for something in her bags.
I got really annoyed by the sounds and said, "Can you be quiet?"
She turned around, angrily dropped her bag on the floor, and said, "WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?"
I was taken aback from that and said, "Excuse me? Don't raise your voice at me."
"WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?" she repeated.
L: I DON'T HAVE ANY PROBLEMS.
C: You clearly do.
L: And you are the cause of all of them.
C: What do you want me to do?
L: I don't want anything from you.
C: Then give me a break. You have been treating me like shit ever since I joined Arsenal.
L: What else were you expecting?
C: An adult behavior.
L: So you're calling me childish now? Alright.
C: Well, your behavior is the literal definition of childish.
L: Where are you getting with this?
C: Was it hard to wake me up in the fucking morning so I wouldn't be late?
L: Hmm, let's see. I don't remember being your mom. And since YOU are the adult one here, I thought you would not need my assistance. Since, you know, I am childish and all.
C: Listen, I want us to be normal teammates. I am sick and tired of being enemies with you.
L: Let me remind you that all of this started because you were being too cocky during a game. You weren't ready to lose the game and wanted to prove yourself worthy. You couldn't get a win, but at least you could injure the other team's captain. Which, clearly, seems to be a win in your eyes.
C: I am sorry. I truly am. I wasn't myself during that game and I regret it more than anything else in the world.
L: Yeah, sure.
C: You broke my wrist, though. Didn't you get your revenge? Don't you feel like you can move on?
L: Move on from what? Every step I take I am scared that I will injure my ankle again. I am never confident enough on the pitch. And I can not afford to feel that way.
C: I'm sorry, Lia.
L: Apology accepted. Are we done now?
C: I don't believe you, but ok.
L: Whatever... I will be sleeping on the floor today, so it's fair.
C: We could both sleep on the bed, you know.
L: To be clear, I still don't like you and wanna have as little contact as possible.
C: Why? You get intimidated by me?
L: Ha Ha Ha. I love your confidence. But I dislike you so much that I don't even wanna see your face, let alone sleep next to you.
C: If you wanna fuck me, just say so.
L: YOU ARE SO PATHETIC.
C: AM I NOW?
L: Let me live, ok?
C: THAT'S ALL IM TRYING TO DO. I WANT THESE FIGHTS TO BE OVER.
L: STOP FUCKING YELLING AT ME.
C: YEAH? OR WHAT?
I had enough of it, so I went to her and angrily pushed her to the wall. I grabbed her by her throat and said, "I would watch my tone if I were you."
She put her hand on mine and squeezed it tighter around her neck, saying, "Just fucking choke me already, so I can finally die and be done with everything."
I pulled my hand away and saw that she was crying. She quickly left the room without saying anything else.
She did not come back that night.
I tried to go to sleep, but my conscience did not let me. Did I really hurt her that much? What if she left to hurt herself? I would not forgive myself.
When I woke up in the morning after only a couple hours of sleep, Caitlin was still not in the room.
I went to the cafeteria and she was sitting with Beth, DvD, Noelle, and Katie. For the first time ever, I was happy to see her.
It was game day, so we did not have any time to waste. After breakfast, we grabbed our gears and went to the bus.
I wanted to ask Caitlin if she was alright, but she was sitting next to Lydia, having a conversation and I did not want to interrupt.
The bus ride to the stadium was fun. At least, for the rest of the team. They were singing, dancing, and having the time of their lives.
We finally reached our destination and after changing, got to the pitch to warm up.
Time went by really fast and the next thing I knew, the game had started.
It was a tough one, but we were holding up pretty well. Thanks to the magic work done by Viv, Beth, and Jordan, we were a goal ahead. Our nerves loosened up a bit, but we still had to work harder than ever.
We were thirty minutes in, when I got tackled in the midfield area.
At first, I thought I was fine but then I realized I wasn't. My ankle.
"FUUUCCKKK," I screamed with every bit of energy in me.
Everyone came running towards me, but they made sure to keep their distance not to bother the medics, who were running across the field to get to me.
There was one person, who did not stop where the team was standing and came closer to me. Caitlin.
"What is it?" she asked with a worried look.
"My ankle," I replied weakly.
She turned away and went to the player, who had tackled me. I didn't even notice who she was.
Caitlin got to her and without saying anything, punched her in the face and then pushed her on the floor.
Everyone ran towards them to pull Caitlin away. I did not see what happened next because I got taken away on a stretcher.
Luckily, there was nothing serious. I had just slightly twisted my ankle, but the doctor needed to take all the necessary precautions, so I wouldn't hurt it even more.
I was taken back to the hotel, so I could rest.
Fifteen minutes later, the door opened and Caitlin came in.
"What are you doing here? The game hasn't ended yet," I said surprised.
"Well... Umm, I got a red card," she said, putting her head down.
I remembered what she had done and said, "Caitlin..."
She interrupted me and said, "How are you feeling? How is your ankle?"
"I'm fine. It's nothing too serious. I'll live," I replied.
She chuckled and came to sit on the side of the bed.
C: Shit, I got so scared when you told me it was your ankle.
L: So you punched that poor girl?
We both laughed.
C: So when I tackle you, I become the villain and when somebody else does it, she becomes a poor girl? Quite unfair if you ask me.
L: It is what it is.
C: Funny how we have come a full circle.
L: Hahahahaaha true.
C: I wish it wasn't.
L: Me too. Hey, umm thank you for standing up for me today. You really didn't have to do that.
C: When I saw you on the ground, I almost fucking died. I felt so much guilt and anger. I just wanted to let that anger out and-
L: You shouldn't feel guilty.
C: Who are you? What did you do to Lia?
L: Shut up.
C: That's more like it.
L: The team is probably furious at you right now.
C: Yeah, probably. I didn't even stay until the end of the game. As soon as I was kicked out, I took a taxi and came here to see how you were.
L: How caring of you. Covering up for not checking up on me last time, huh?
C: Well, I kinda did check up on you.
L: No, you didn't.
C: I felt like you hated me-
L: True.
She laughed.
C: As I was saying, I felt like you hated me and would not wanna talk to me ever again, so I did not contact you personally. Besides, it would be kinda weird to text you and be like, "Hey, I am the one who messed up your ankle. How are you feeling?"
L: So?
C: So I would always check on your social media to see how you were and watched all the Arsenal games and read the team news to get as much information as possible. I was on top of the world when you were finally back on the pitch.
L: Wait, really?
C: Yeah. To be honest, that's one of the reasons I decided to give Arsenal a try.
L: Huh?
C: Well, I had been offered the spot for quite some time, but I did not know anything about the club and was not willing to move across the globe to give it a try. But when I was following Arsenal closely to get news on you, I realized it was the perfect place for me. So yeah, that's how it happened.
L: Wow. I don't even know what to say.
C: Nothing. Just rest for a bit and I will go bring you some food. You must be starving.
L: Thank you. Be back soon, ok?
"Ok," she said smiling.
Fast forward two months and we are in a relationship. What has my life come to?
Not complaining, though.
thanks for reading)))
also this was too dramatic for no reason lmao, sorry. here is my apology present.
she is too hot for this world 🧍🏼♀️