Before I even had the chance to open the first of the three folders in front of me, I saw from the corner of my eye someone pulling the stool next to me a bit away from the bar, so that they could sit on it. And so they did, by then I had already recognised who it was and I was preparing myself for the worst.
Though, it didn't come. I had expected a snarky comment or them distracting me on purpose, but they just asked Jack for a glass of water and opened their own folder that was in front of them. I had expected it to be just like it had been two nights before, but it wasn't.
"Hi." Leah said, not even looking my way, but with her eyes focused on the now opened folder, revealing everything she had to learn and know by heart for tomorrow. She in total had five folders, so she'd undoubtedly have a long night ahead of her.
"Hi." I just whispered back, also not looking at her, only flipping mindlessly through the pages of the first folder I had to study.
"Why are you here? I mean, awake. Why are you awake?" I stammered very awkwardly, not even knowing why I was initiating the conversation.
"I can never sleep before a game," she started to say, now turning her head to look at me, while I was still very successfully avoiding eye contact, "you?" She continued.
"Same." I just said, not wanting to tell her the real reason why I wasn't comfortably sleeping in my bed right now. I didn't like to tell people, I didn't like them knowing, especially not Leah. They could only see it as a weakness and use it against me.
She humorously scoffed at my answer, before she replied. "What do you mean? You're not even playing." She said, her head still turned my way.
"Wow. Thanks, Leah." I said sarcastically, now turning my head to look at her as well, making the long awaited eye contact. She opened her mouth slightly, like she wanted to protest my reply, but she closed it just as quickly again. I just sighed and started flipping through my second folder, not even having looked properly at the first folder, but right now I couldn't care less. Apparently I was 'not even playing' anyway. So, then, what was the point in studying these folders.
"I- I didn't mean it like that." She said, leaning slightly forward, while looking at me, to try and catch my eyes, but failing.
I just looked back at her and decided to make this the easiest it can be for the both of us. "It's okay." I said, sighing slightly while maintaining eye contact with her. To be completely honest, I hated eye contact. It made me cringe and feel very uncomfortable. Of course not with everyone. With Emma, Lauren and my aunt and uncle it was different.
And so, expectedly, I was the first to break the eye contact, now already flipping through the pages of my third and final folder, not having read even one word. "You know you actually have to read them, right?" She said, while chuckling just the ever slightest, trying to lighten the air a little bit, but failing miserably.
I chose to ignore her, while grabbing my first folder in front of me, once again. I did decide to take her comment somewhat seriously, and I was now actually reading the words that were printed on the paper.
In silence, she let me read a bit, before the awkward tension became too much and she started speaking again. "Stacy," she started, trying to draw my attention, "I really am sorry." She said, before taking the last sip of her now empty glass of water.
"Did Sarina tell you to do this," I said, wearing a small smile on my face to make it a bit of a lighter conversation, while leaving a slight pause before I continued, "again."
"Stacy, I'm serious." She replied, while walking behind the bar to fill her glass with water, since Jack was, once again, nowhere to be found.
"And I'm not. Because I don't care." I stated very clearly, trying to end this conversation as quickly as possible. "Well, you should. I'm your captain and I should be there for you when you need it, not make you feel horrible they way I probably did." She said, leaning her arms on the counter, so her eyes were levelled with mine.
All I did was raise one eyebrow and give her an 'are you serious, right now" look. She indeed had made me feel horrible at times, but I certainly wasn't going to admit that now.
She just sighed and gave me a, what looked like a sympathetic look. Maybe she really was sorry for all the shit she had given me. She just walked back to the stool she was previously sitting on, with the now filled glass in her hand, and started to examine the folders that were still sprawled out on the counter, once again.
This gave me the opportunity to also continue to read through my second folder, while we settled in a comfortable silence. Finally.
A/N
- hiii, so I said once per weekend. But someone send me a message that really motivated me so here I am!!
- hope you liked it! Feedback is ALWAYS welcome. Positive, negative, it doesn't matter!
- any suggestions are, as always, also welcome!
- have a lovely evening/day and see you soon!
:)