~ Athena's eyes
There are several things I have learnt during the span of my brief career. I'm really attracted to men with dark hair and blue eyes, a lot of people hate me, a lot of people love me, I have amazing friends, and...
I completely suck at football.
It was a simple cold Monday when I arrived at one of the biggest stadiums I had ever seen in my whole life. So big that I had to squint my eyes to make out every single chair in it. I had woken up with high spirits, with hope that this was a new experience that would add up to the adventures I was going to tell my children when I grew up. I was excited, very excited, and I don't even know why, since I knew from the start that the only sport I was half good at is volleyball.
While I was softly running down to the locker room in which my team was assigned to, both of my necklaces gifted by Niall rattling in my neck while I ran, I couldn't help but think: 'What the fuck was I thinking when I agreed to do this?'
Turns out, nobody I knew was with me on my team. Niall was playing against me, which really wasn't the greatest, and I was basically forced to socialize. Not that I don't like making new friends, it's just that...
I was really bad at actually making new friends.
I entered the women's locker room and immediately my eyes explored my surroundings. It seemed as though I was really early, since there was nobody inside but me.
I walked over to one of the benches and unzipped my duffel bag, taking out the shorts and shirt that I would be using for the match. I quickly got changed into the soft baby-blue shirt and long shorts that honestly, were quite comfortable. I looked at myself in the mirror and immediately hate for those shorts grew in my chest. I was definitely not used to this type of clothes. I put away the clothes which I was using earlier, sat down, and grabbed my phone to check my social media. I opened Twitter first and started typing in a tweet.
@AthenaRivers: About to go out and play some football! Get your cameras my friends, cause this is gonna be quite a show.
The responses were immediate and positive, which made me very glad. After scrolling absentmindedly on TikTok for a good 7 minutes, I decided that I should probably get out there and start warming up. So, as I thought so I did so, and put my phone away in my bag, and then put my bag under the benches. I quickly tied my hair up in a high ponytail and softly ran out to the actual stadium.
My heart was beating weirdly fast because of the amount of adrenaline I was experiencing at the moment, which was amazingly weird, because I was never, ever in my life excited for sports. Normally the only emotion I felt before having to play a sport was nervousness and laziness, but never, ever in my life, it was happiness.
As soon as I stepped onto the field my eyes met with unfamiliar brown ones. A woman dressed up in fluorescent clothes, with her blonde hair tied up in a hairstyle very similar to mine, her brown eyes with crinkles at the sides, waved at me and motioned for me to go over to her. I softly trotted over to her and smiled once I reached her.
"Hello," She greeted me with a sweet smile which I returned while greeting her back and delivering a polite 'how are you?'. "I guess you don't know who I am so I'm going to introduce myself real quick. My name is Linda James and I'm going to be the referee for this match. I recommend that you should run one or two laps around the field to warm up"
And suddenly in the blink of an eye, all the excitement was replaced by the usual feeling of rejection against any physical activity. I grimaced and closed my eyes, trying to not complain to the amazingly polite and nice lady like I used to complain to my P.E teachers at school.
"A lap?" I asked "A lap like running the whole field?"
"Uh... yeah, that's kind of the definition."
I nodded, sighed and then moved my neck in circular motions. trying to prepare myself for the worst.
"I hate running so much." I whispered to myself while starting to run the lap.
Something that I have known my whole life apart from some facts like pasta being my number one food option in every occasion, I have known my whole life that I was never, and will never be, an athletic person. I was always chosen last in P.E teams, I was the one who got screamed at because I accidentally touched the ball with my hand while playing football, and I was the one who tripped over her steps while running. However, this never bothered me, it never brought tears to my eyes. I knew I sucked when it came to sports, but outstanded myself when it came to English and literature. It was just how I had always been, and that never bothered me.
While I was running my eyes were glued to the floor, watching my feet was actually really entertaining. Suddenly, from the corner of my eye, I could see someone jogging towards me. I rapidly turned my head to their directions and smiled once I saw who it was.
"Hey, stranger" I greeted him with a cheesy smile.
"Hey, you." He greeted me back and aligned his running with mine. "How'd you sleep, sun?"
"Great, you didn't snore this time so I finally got good sleep" I playfully teased
"Hey!" He pouted "I do not snore at all"
"Yes you do"
"I do not"
"Niall, it's okay, it's not like it's something you can control," I smiled "I love you and your snores" I immediately cringed at the cheesiness of what I had just said.
"That was so cheesy" He grimaced
"Oh my god, you're so right I don't know what went through me" We both laughed and suddenly the referee blew a whistle and we were both signaled to go over where everyone was gathered together.
The stadium was beginning to fill and a lot of people came in at the same time. All of them trying to squeeze their way through the crowd and trying to get a glimpse of the players.
"Okay guys, the match is about to start, I want both teams splitted and already in their positions."
We all nodded and started moving, I caught a glimpse of Niall mouthing me a 'good luck' which I returned with a 'you too'.
The stadium was now completely packed, there were people absolutely everywhere, screaming, crying, laughing. Every single type of positive emotion could be seen in the faces of the presences. After a long speech made by Richard about how the match would work, the game finally started.
Turns out my team was definitely the worst at making decisions, since they put me as a goalkeeper. Good thing is that there were two goals scored!
By the other team...
After being infinitely cursed by my team after not catching two goals (which were both made by Niall by the way), I was moved to the front and was trying really hard to take the ball away from Niall. First I tried using the exquisite technique of distracting him. And it went something like this:
"Hey did you know that Taylor Swift is re-recording every single album she released before Lover because the rights of her music were sold to someone else?"
Even if my comments got to distract Niall a bit, it wasn't enough for him to actually lose the control he had on the ball, making my plan a failure.
It was the last minute and both teams had the same amount of scores. I kept trying to distract Niall with every single thing I knew about Taylor Swift, but it still didn't work. So I tried to use my last resource: begging
I was once more trying to steal the ball from Niall, both of us near his goal.
"Niall please, let me at least touch the ball once, my team already hates me because I didn't catch two of your goals may I add, please, please, just let me feel athletic for once in my life"
When I realized he wasn't giving in I panicked and blurted out the worst thing I could've ever done.
"Please! I'll give you a lap dance!"
Niall stopped dead in his tracks and the ball was stolen from him by one of my teammates. Niall was getting yelled at but he only looked at me.
In the end, my team ended up winning, but just as I was raising the cup in the air I felt a voice whisper in my ear.
"You still owe me a lap dance"
❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀❀
A/N: HEYEYEYEYEYEYEYYEYEY
IM BAAACKKK
IM SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING I WAS WITH LIKE FOUR EXAMS A WEEK AND MY MENTAL HEALTH IS GOING FROM BAD TO WORSE BUT ITS OKAY CAUSE I PASSED ALL FO MY EXAMS AND NOW IM FREEEEEE.
FIRST OF ALL WE REACHED 13K READS????
HELLO???
IM SO FUCKING THANKFUL FOR ALL OF YOU WHAT THE FUCK???
I LOVE YOU SO MUCH THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
Also btw this chapter is not edited I didn't have the time to edit it I'll do it tmw hehe.
Anyways I hope you have had an amazing day/night/afternoon.
I love you all so so much and you are so valid and important.
Till the next update!!
Sun xxx