I woke up to find alexia still asleep, tangled up in my arms. Her head was laying on my chest. Like she had promised on our first night she would be my shoulder to lean on and she did just that.
After our talk last night, we had dinner and overall had a fun night with all my friends. It was nice to see them all getting along so well with Alexia.
When we all decided that it was time for bed, we went our separate ways but Alexia and I didn't go to sleep right away. Instead we stayed up late talking and laughing about the silliest things.
I was enjoying the moment, more specifically the peace and quiet when my phone went off.
"¡Dios mío, haz que se detenga!" ("My god, make it stop!") She groaned, snuggling even further into me, making me laugh in the proces. I tried to reach over her and grab my phone causing her to be even closer to me then she was before. Successfully grabbing my phone I laughed at her unwillingness to move even one bit.
"I didn't understand a word of what you just said but I'm guessing it has something to do with my phone." I laughed. Alexia didn't respond, she just groaned.
I was about to pick up the phone when it stopped ringing.
"Don't tell me you were late picking up." She mumbled, her face pressed into my neck this time. Her hot breath tickled me.
"Okay then I won't tell you that." I looked sheepishly at her but of course she didn't see that because her head was still firmly placed in my neck. She didn't respond, she simply groaned. Again.
"Who was it anyway?"
"My lawyer." I said, confused. "What does she want so early in the morning?"
Even though she didn't move, this seemed to grab the attention of the Spaniard. Peeking up from my neck.
"Call her back."
"Geez, chill woman. That's the plan." But before I could do that my phone rang again for a second time this morning.
"Hello."
"Good morning Eleanore. I need you and your friend Danielle to come by my office as soon as possible."
"Uhm, yeah sure. We can do that."
"Great, see you in a bit. Bye." And she hung up.
"Well that was weird." I said, confused. Alexia again for what seemed the millionth time this morning just snuggled closer to me desperately trying to block out the sun that was shining through the window.
"You really need curtains." The brunette complained.
"Or I don't and you can just use me to block out the sun." I smirked at the girl who was hiding her smirk against my neck.
"Mmh, maybe I like your idea better. What did she say anyway?" She mumbled into my neck.
"She said for you to get up so I can get ready to meet her at her office." I chuckled at her, earning a groan in return.
"Pretty sure that's not what she said." She sighed.
"Not in those specific words but something along those lines." I smirked
"Fine, but this better be her clearing yours and Danielle's name otherwise she and I are gonna have some problems." She grumbled, getting up from her spot.
I laughed at her frustration. "Clearly you're not a morning person."
"I am. I was just really comfortable." She shot me a wink and went to the bathroom. I swear for a moment I forgot how to breathe. Damn Sonnet and her crazy thoughts. Okay focus Queen she is just your best friend and you have a boyfriend, who you love.
Daan and I were currently on our way when Mason called. In the midst of everything I forgot to call him yesterday to tell him everything that had happened. Come to think of it, I haven't even spoken to him since the day I arrived.
"Hey love, how are you?" His voice came through the phone.
"Fine, how bout you?"
"Great, we have practice in a few but I decided to call you first to see how you were doing. We haven't talked in a while."
"Yeah, I know I'm sorry."
"Seems like you're too busy with your friends to even talk to me." He said jokingly but something in his voice sounded serious.
"That's not true, Mase. I've just been busy. A lot has happened."
"What's wrong? Are you okay? He asked, concerned.
"Jacob confronted me the other day, told me to take the settlement."
"You're gonna take the settlement right?" He sighed out most definitely tired of this argument.
"No and I told him that." I told him getting frustrated with the fact that my own boyfriend didn't seem to support me. Daan just looked my way. Her jaw clenched and her hands balled into a fist.
"Ellie…" I heard him say. It was easy to spot the disappointment in his voice.
"He hit me and then Daan hit him to protect me. Gazidis saw and now Daan and I are suspended."
"Daan hit him?! God, Ellie what were you thinking!" He lost his temper.
"That's all you got from that, that Daan hit him? He hit me first, Mason!" Now it was me who lost it.
"So your answer is to hit him and here I thought you were smart! That's the dumbest thing you've ever done."
Daan, who had seemed to hear everything, took my phone out of my hands.
"Listen here you dipshit, it may not have been our smartest move but at least I stood up for her. That's more than you have done lately so the next time you're calling her, it better be to apologize! Bye." And she hung up the phone. I looked at her amused while she just shrugged her shoulders.
After a long drive, Daan and I finally made it to my lawyer's office. We greeted the receptionist and she informed Annelise that we had arrived.
A few short minutes later, the receptionist told us that Annelise was waiting in her office. When I walked in I immediately recognized the two girls who were also seated inside.
"Ooh hey girls!" I said cheerfully but as soon as I had said it I remembered that I was supposed to meet them yesterday. "Oh God! I'm so sorry. I was supposed to meet you two yesterday! I completely forgot. But wait, why are we all here?" I looked at everyone confused, well except Daan. She looked as confused as I did.
"Yeah, after today you owe them." Annalise said, which made me even more confused. "After you left to go find your teammate, these two ladies decided to sneak inside the Arsenal facility." Daan and I both looked at the girls shocked.
"But lucky for us they did because they did it at the right time for them to film the whole ordeal between you and Jacob." She said with a proud smirk on her face.
Daan threw her arms in the air. "That means we have proof that he has hit her as well!" She yelled excitedly.
"We have more than that." Emily countered. Daan didn't get what Emily and Annelise were getting at. I on the other hand did.
"He confessed." I mumbled.
"He confessed everything so that means that that's also on tape." I said not quite believing that maybe it was all finally over.
Daan without warning just jumped into my arms. It took me a while to process everything but when I finally did I started jumping up and down with Daan, celebrating our victory. Even Annelise was celebrating with us.
I went up to the two girls and pulled them into a bone crushing hug. Thanking them many times for what they did.
"Well then, if you're all ready. I think we have some places to be and you guys have practice so chop chop." Annelise ushered us out of her office. We exchanged numbers with the two girls and together with annelise we went to the Arsenal facilities.
Annelise walked up to Gazidis office but was met with his secretary. The secretary tried to stop Annelise from going any further towards the office but that didn't really work out for her.
"Mam, you can't be in here. Mr Gazidis is in a meeting with the board members." She tried but to no avail.
"Perfect, just the people that I was looking for." She burst through the doors while Daan and I looked at each other, not really sure whether or not we should follow.
"Excuse me?! What is this nonsense?!" Gazidis yelled confused and clearly very angry.
"Yes you may be excused. If I may have everyone's attention please. My name is Annelise Keating, I'm Miss Queens lawyer. As you may or may not know, frankly I don't really care, Miss Queen is part of an ongoing investigation/lawsuit against Jacob Miller. Short recap, Miss Queen became the victim in an abusive relationship with Mr Miller and to this day Mr Miller denied any accusations against him even going so far as saying that my client is lying. Now when Mr Miller offered my client a settlement, a shitty one may I add, Mr Gazidis here pressured my client into taking the settlement." This got a reaction out of all the board members. They started talking amongst themselves.
"Gentlemen, gentlemen. We are not there yet. Earlier this week Mr Miller threatened my client and even hit her in the face. Miss Van de Donk came to her rescue and punched Mr Miller in return purely out of protection of her friend."
This seemed to trigger Gazidis because for the first time since we had entered the office he spoke up.
"Lies! All lies. You have no proof!" This obviously made Annelise smirk. She knew she just had won.
"Well that's where you're wrong." She walked up to the laptop that was connected to the beamer.
"May I use this?" She pointed towards the divoce but left no room for objection.
"I'm gonna use this." And inserted the flash drive. The clip that she wanted to show started playing. When it was done Annelise faced Gazidis again.
"I think that's proof enough, don't you think?" She said with a wink about to walk out but before that she turned back around to face Gazidis. "Oh by the way, I've sended the police a copy and you also should lift the suspension on the girls so they can play tomorrow. I'm sure you do want that cup at the end of the season."
And with that she left. She just left. There we stood, Daan and I in a room full of board members that got their asses handed to them by MY lawyer.
There was an awkward silence till one of the men in the room cleared his throat getting the attention from everyone in the room.
"Okay, well I think I speak for everyone that you two are no longer suspended and that you are allowed to train and play again as of right now."
That's all we needed to hear, not waiting around for another response. We instantly ran towards the locker rooms jumping up and down, celebrating our win. Daan and I changed into our workout clothes and ran outside to join the group.
"AYE!! Look who's back!" Katie yelled, causing everyone to cheer. Everyone came over to give daan and I a hug.
"I knew you'd be back." Katie smirked at me. Leah scoffed at the Irish girls comment. "Oh really so it wasn't you who was driving everyone absolutely crazy with all your wild ideas on how to lift the suspension?"
"I'm Irish, it's the mob boss in me. Besides, a girls gotta do, what a girls gotta do right?"
"Love you too Katie." I said while hugging her.
"Alright. Glad to have you two back but let's get this practice along shall we?" Joe said sternly but you could spot the relief in his eyes.
"Let's go coach." I said while everyone ran back to their places. When Daan and I ran past him, he stopped us for a brief moment.
"Glad you two are back." He winked. And with that we started our practice.
Our game against Bristol was a success. We had won four against nill. I assisted Katie, gave two to Viv and on top of that I was able to score a goal myself. The cheeky person I am or well can be, I celebrated my goal by putting my finger over my lips.
Alexia obviously came to the game. She came to show her support but soon after she had to go back to Barcelona. The first night alone was kind of weird. In the short time she was here, I had gotten pretty used to sharing a bed with her.
Even more so that during the time she was here, I hadn't had a single nightmare. Every night I slept through them without waking up once. Now sleeping alone again, that wasn't always the case anymore.
Some days had passed and I was home alone. Mason had just left after a quick visit. After the phone call he had with Daan things were tense between us. We weren't fighting but we weren't in a good place either. Leah was at Jordan's place and Beth and Daan were God knows where, so it was just me, myself and I. Not that I complained really, well until the ringing of my phone scared the living shit out of me.
"Hallo?"
"Hey Ellie, it's Ben." I smiled at the thought of my manager. It had been a while since I had seen him. He and his wife live in LA so I don't get to see him that often but they are both lovely people.
"Oh hey Ben. How are you?"
"I'm good, thanks. You?"
"Good now everything's starting to settle with the whole Jacab thing. I can't complain." I chuckled.
"I bet you don't. I'm happy for you kid. You deserve it." He laughed.
"Thanks man but you're not calling me to just catch up did you?" I asked him, my curiosity taken over.
"Always to the point. Haven't changed a bit." He laughed once more. "But yeah, I called for a reason."
"And that reason is?"
"Barcelona has called again. It's a decent offer. Actually it's more than decent. They really want you Ellie and with the way Arsenal has treated you lately, maybe you should consider."
For a while it was silent. I knew that the offer was coming. Alexia and I had talked about it more then once but actually getting the offer made it very real.
Was I really gonna leave this place? A place that I had called home ever since I was 12. I had made a life here for myself, I created this family, people that I'm not sure I could live without.
"Ellie? You still there?" Ben brought me back.
"Uhm, yeah. I'm here." I barely got out.
"Look I know each year you decline. You don't even want to consider but mayb-"
"I'll think about it." I rushed out, scared that if I didn't say it now I never would. I took a deep breath to steady myself again. "Tell them I'll think about it."
"Okay, just take your time. I'll talk to you later."
"I will, thanks Ben. Send your wife my best."
"I will. Take care of yourself, Ellie."
"I will."
I hung up the phone and just stared at it. Growing up, Cory and I always talked about playing for either Arsenal or Barcelona. He always said that I would end up playing on the Spanish team. It was our dream. I already fulfilled my dream with Arsenal, maybe now it was time for Barcelona.
But was I really ready to leave it all behind? Could I really leave London, Leah, her family, my teammates? With that haunting thought I fell asleep.