Alexia's pov:
Mapi and Leila were the first to approach Ellie and introduce themselves. I had moved a bit away to give them some room but remained close to her just in case.
I was watching the interaction between Leila and Ellie and I have to say that I don't like it. I don't like Leila being all touchy and flirty with her.
I was so deep in my thoughts, that I hadn't even noticed Lieke walking up to me.
"Green isn't your color." She successfully snapped me out of my thoughts.
"What? I'm not wearing any green." I looked at her confused.
Lieke laughed at my confused state. Clearly I had missed something. I looked at her expectedly to explain.
"Not what I meant, let me rephrase that. Jealousy doesn't suit you." She chuckled.
"I'm not jealous of Leila!" I was quick to defend myself but that was clearly not helping my case.
I couldn't be jealous right? Ella's my best friend. Okay, hot best friend. Okay maybe I am jealous.
"I never said you were jealous of Leila." Lieke smirked.
"Good cause I'm not." I crossed my arms in front of me, only making Lieke laugh more.
"Okay, if you say so." She shook her head at my behavior, finding it very funny.
"I do."
"Good." She smirked.
"Good." I agreed.
A loud laugh brought my focus back to my two best friends that had just met. Ellie was laughing at something Leila had said. Her hand briefly touched Leila's arms.
I scoffed.
"You're so jealous of your best friend." Lieke chuckled. I glared at the Dutch girl.
"I'm not jealous."
"You do realize we're talking about Leila right? The most outgoing, flirty person I know and to make it worse, she's Spanish. You Spanish girls are incredibly confusing with your physical contact and kisses. She's just being Leila. Don't read into it that much." She tried to make me feel better but it wasn't really helping.
"It's just that Eleanore just got here. I don't want her to be uncomfortable from the beginning." I mumbled, trying to justify my behavior.
"From where I'm standing, she doesn't look uncomfortable." Lieke raised her eyebrow, not helping to settle that uneasy feeling in my stomach.
"Whatever." I mumbled.
"You really care for her." She stated, her voice full of surprise this time.
"I do. She's my best friend."
"No, it's more than that." Now fully looking at me.
"Lieke." I breathed.
Ever since she had broken up with her boyfriend, something seemed to have changed between us. There was more flirting, more teasing. It was getting harder and harder not to cross that line that separated us from being friends to something more.
"It's okay if you're not ready to accept that. But I'm gonna say this even though I know you know this better than anyone. She's been through alot of shit. That girl deserves the world. Please don't hurt her." She looked at me with pleading eyes.
I knew that Eleanore had been through a lot. I had been there for most of it but not for the worst part. I remembered Lieke being suspicious about the relationship between Eleanore and Jacob.
She had confided in me a couple of times, saying how worried she was for her safety but that there was nothing she could do and that broke her. Then came the phone call that she had been in an accident. Turned out it wasn't just an accident.
I've known Lieke for a while now and I have never seen her like that. So broken, so sad but now that I know Eleanore, I understand.
"I won't." I assured the Dutch girl.
We both kept watching her interact with our teammates. Jenni, Jana, Pina, Patri and Aitana joined them. They were laughing and joking. Eleanore had this big smile on her face that could light up a room instantly.
"She's gonna fit right in." Lieke smiled towards the sight in front of us.
"Yeah she will. I don't know if I like her befriending Mapi and Leila that fast though." I chuckled.
Lieke furrowed her eyebrows at me with a devilish smirk on her face. "And you're not jealous?"
"I didn't mean it like that." I laughed. "Those three will be trouble together."
Lieke instantly stopped laughing, realizing that what I had said was true.
"Oh no, what did we do?" She held her face in her hands.
Before I could even say anything I saw Eleanore walking over with a smile of mischief on her face. Her blue eyes locked with mine.
"Come on, don't just stand on the side of the party that you've thrown. Enjoy it." She grabbed my hand and dragged me along with her to where the others were standing.
"Hey!" Leila objected. "She can't take all the credit! I helped once they told me it was for you." She crossed her arms over her chest.
"And what did you do?" Ellie raised an eyebrow at the black haired woman.
"The most important job… the drinks! Now can I get my hug?" She opened her arms for Eleanore to walk into, making me slightly glare at her.
"Oh my hero! Don't worry, you can have a hug any time." Eleanore winked at Leila and walked into her arms.
"Okay, this is just pissing me off now." I quietly scoffed, rolling my eyes which Jenni noticed. She raised her eyebrows at me, silently questioning me what that was all about.
"Hey what about my hug?!" Mapi piped in
"You can have one too." Ellie smirked, letting go of Leila but the older Spaniard had other plans and refused to let go of Ellie.
"No." She mumbled into Ellie's shoulder, still not letting go.
"You need to learn how to share love. I can be best friends with the both of you." What she just said was like music to my ears. She saw Leila and Mapi as friends and nothing more. A smile spread on my face.
"Oh friend zoned!" Mapi and Patri yelled, laughing. Not gonna lie but this made me laugh as well, causing Lieke to elbow me in the ribs.
"You're friend zoned too!" Leila yelled, letting go of Ellie a bit so she could fully see Mapi, sticking her tongue out to said girl.
"I know but I don't mind." Mapi smiled.
"Well the evening is not over yet." Leile wiggled her eyebrows while Ellie just laughed at her persistence. I, on the other hand, didn't like it.
Ellie's pov:
"Yo, Ellie, you want a drink?" Jenni yelled. I turned around so I could face the forward but remained in Leila's arms.
"Sure."
"To the kitchen!" Leila yelled and jumped on my back almost making me stumble.
"Wait for me!" Mapi tried to jump on my back too but failed terribly. If it wasn't for Jenni we would have been on the ground by now. The three of us were dying of laughter.
"Don't break the poor girl, she just got here." Mel helped me up.
"Don't worry. I don't break that easily." I smirked at our captain. Mel didn't look too convinced and the other two weren't helping whatsoever.
"We'll take care of her." Both Leila and Mapi swung their arms over my shoulder, guiding me to the kitchen.
"That doesn't ease my worries at all." She deadpanned.
Leila, Mapi, Jenni, Pina, Jana and soon Patri, Aitana and I joked around in the kitchen. Laughing and talking about everything and anything. Turned out I was worried for nothing. I could see myself having a life here.
"What do you like to drink?" Patri opened the refrigerator.
"Waters fine."
"What?" Aitana said while everyone looked at me in surprise.
"Water." I repeated myself not cueing in on the fact that it was a rhetorical question.
"Yeah no. I saw how you can party. You're not drinking water now." Patri said unimpressed by my request.
"I really should stick with water. It feels like I've barely been sober this week." I chuckled. "Last week I didn't do anything other than party. I should really stick with water now."
"You guys definitely did party hard." Jenni said. "I respect that." She pointed my way and winked.
"It's not everyday you become a world champion." Mapi shrugged.
"True." Leila said.
"Don't worry, I can teach you." I winked at the girls who all laughed.
"To party hard or to become a world champ?" Jenni asked, laughing.
"Both." I smirked.
"I'll take you up on that offer but come on, what's one more day of drinking? You have to drink with your two new best friends." Mapi pleaded with me. Leila soon joined in but it wasn't till Alexia softly nudged me that I broke.
"Fine. Give me a beer." I rolled my eyes. The girls cheered and Patri handed me a beer while taking one herself.
"Allright, time to get to know the newbie. We'll ask you some questions, every time you skip one, you drink." Jenni smirked.
"Fine by me." I shrugged my shoulders and smirked right back at the forward. "I have nothing to hide so bring it."
"You don't have to if you don't want to." Alexia placed both her hands on my shoulders and whispered in my ear. Her hands slowly traveled to the front of my body, wrapping themselves around my shoulders so she was hugging me from behind.
"Ale, it's fine." I turned to look at her and kissed the side of her face, dangerously close to her lips. Our interaction didn't go unnoticed by Lieke who raised her eyebrow.
We grabbed our drinks and went to the living room. Leila and Mapi kept making me laugh. I gently pushed Mapi on the shoulder and plopped down next to Alexia with Aitana on the other side.
"Alright, let's start off easy. When is your birthday?" Aitana started.
"Twenty sixth of June."
"Very important question. Cats or dogs." Mapi asked.
"Both." I shrugged.
"Nope, wrong answer. You need to choose one." Mapi crossed her arms and looked at me intently.
I breathed out, thinking over the pros and cons. Honestly I hate choosing between two things I can't choose from and this is one of those situations.
"I really can't. I like both but maybe dogs slightly more?" I told them, unsure about my answer.
"Yes!" Alexia yelled while Mapi was disappointed in my answer.
"No!" She yelled out. "And here I thought we could be besties. What did my cat ever do to you?" Sha asked dramatically.
"Dude, you made me choose." I deadpanned.
"Fine." She mumbled. "I'll forgive you."
"Anyway." Patri successfully stopped the little banter that was happening between me and Mapi and asked the next question.
"What's your favorite food?"
"Probably sushi or pasta. I love pasta, I can eat it everyday." Most of the girls looked satisfied with my answer, knowing that most of them loved sushi as well.
"Oh, you should make your creamy chicken pasta. That one is so good." Lieke told me already daydreaming about the dish that I could make pretty good if I say so myself.
"So you can cook?" Mel wanted to clarify.
"I'm okay at it."
"Liar! You're more than okay." Lieke complimented me.
"How do you know?" Jenni looked at us confused.
"She had cooked for me before. I'm her sister in law" She simply shrugged, not seeing the big deal.
I could feel Alexia's leg being pressed up against mine, her hand accationaly brushing against my thigh sending a cold shiver down my spine. It was getting hard to focus on something other than her hand.
"It's a family trade." Lieke added. It's true. Everyone in my family was a decent cook except for my mom.
"Is there anything you can't do?" Sandra looked at me questioningly.
"There's plenty but I just like to cook. It soothes me."
"You can cook for us anytime." Leila smirked, making me laugh. If I would have paid attention to the girl next to me I would have noticed her tensing up at Leila's comment but I failed to do so instead I was laughing with Leila.
"We'll see about that."
"Favorite position?" Leila asked this time.
"On the field or?" I wiggled my eyebrow at her, making her burst out in laughter, closely followed by the others. Alexia and Lieke, who was standing behind me, didn't laugh.
"Aw, what was that for?" I turned to the dutch forward after she had slapped my head.
"On the field! I don't need that kind of image inside my head!" She glared at me.
"I was just clarifying!" I jokingly said but when she was about to hit me again I interrupted her. "I'm just kidding! Geez." I threw my hands in the air in defense.
"To answer your question." I looked at Leila. "Central midfield."
"And the other one?" Leila smirked at me.
"NO!" The others stopped me from answering. In all the commotion, Alexia's hand landed on my thigh. I looked at the girl next to me but she just smiled at me and made no motion in removing her hand, not that I minded though.
I held my hands up in defense and Caro was the next one to ask a question.
"What's your favorite Arsenal moment?"
"Oof, there were so many. Uhm winning the league and some trophies was pretty cool, we had a lot of fun on training and on media days but I guess my all time favorite would have to be my debut with Leah. Sharing that moment with your best friend was really special."
"What was your favorite World Cup moment then?" Mariona asked.
"Well that's a stupid question, probably lifting the cup or the celebrations" Andrea laughed.
I, however, remained quiet. The moment that I had chosen, playing on a loop in my mind. Alexia must have noticed because she gave my thigh a light squeeze.
"Uhm actually no. It wasn't that. My favorite moment was assisting Christen against England. That goal meant a lot to her so helping her score that one meant a lot to me." I explained.
Everyone stopped talking immediately and the atmosphere changed. Everyone knew about Christen's mom and it wasn't a secret that I was close with the Press family so connecting the dots wasn't that hard.
Alexia immediately noticed my change in demeanor. Without anyone noticing, she scooted a bit closer to provide as much comfort as she could and changed the topic to something lighter.
Even though the small interaction that was shared between me and Alexia, no one dared to speak about it, maybe the reason for that was that the others understood the meaning behind the moment that I had picked as my favorite.
"Alright then, who's your favorite teammate? Leila or me?" Mapi joked and changed the topic into something lighter immediately when she too picked up on the sadness the question had brought with itself.
I felt the girl next to me tense up, making me wonder why. I took a moment to think about my answer until I had the perfect idea.
"Alexia." I said with a smirk making everyone laugh except for the two defenders.
"La Reina strikes again!" Pina yelled, high fiving me.
After the laughter died down a bit, the light conversation kept on flowing through the whole night. They kept asking me questions to get to know me and I kept answering them. We laughed and joked around and I got to know my teammates better.
Ever since I made the decision to come and play for Barcelona, I had doubted whether or not it was the right decision but now after today I am confident it was.
All will be okay.