Later that evening, Leah and Evie were sat watching TV. Evie was exhausted. She'd had an emotional roller coaster of a day.
She lay across the sofa with her head resting on Leah's lap. Leah was absent mindedly playing with her hair as she dozed off.
It got to about half ten and Leah realised how tired she was. She wanted to go up to bed but Evie was fast asleep on her lap and she didn't want to wake her.
Realising that she wouldn't be able to move, she closed her eyes where she was and fell asleep.
It was about half past two when Leah felt someone tugging on her arm. She slowly opened her eyes and allowed them to adjust to the dark.
She looked down and saw Evie cuddling her arm close to her. She was still asleep and Leah just smiled. She looked really cute.
Now an arm down Leah fell back asleep.
***
"Should we go get a coffee?" Evie suggested. They had training in an hour and needed to kill some time.
"Good idea," Leah said, going to get her shoes on.
The two of them chatted in the car about their experiences with England.
"I love playing for England. I'm so proud to play for my country," Leah said, her eyes glistening with pride.
"Alright Miss England lover. Sounds like you're going to break into 'God Save the Queen' in a minute," Evie teased her.
They arrived at the coffee shop that Evie had been to with Lotte and Laura. It wasn't too busy or too empty. The perfect balance.
They took a seat and waited for someone to come and take their order. Evie's heart jumped a little when she realised that it was Freya coming their way.
"Oh hello again. I don't think I got your name last time," Freya said as she looked at Evie.
"I'm Evie. Evie Warner. What about you?" She mentally face palmed herself for introducing herself with her surname.
"I'm Freya," she replied. She then took their orders and disappeared behind the counter.
"Going for the James Bond introduction, were you?" Leah asked.
"Shut up," Evie groaned as she laid her head down on the table in embarrassment.
"I'm only teasing. It wasn't too noticeable," Leah reassured her.
"Really?"
"Really. Anyway was that why you wanted to come here? Because of her?"
"No. They just make really good coffee," Evie said, unconvincingly.
"Sure."
"They do."
The two of them had their drinks and chatted. After paying they got up and left. Evie was already round the corner when she realised she had left her bag.
"Shit. I left my bag in there."
"I'll go wait in the car. Don't be too long," Leah told her with a cheeky smile.
"Shut up, Le," Evie said as she made her way back to the café.
She went to the booth they were sat in and couldn't find it. She was busy peering under the table when a voice made her jump.
"I think you're looking for this," Freya said. Evie sat up and smacked her head on the table.
"Aw fuck. That hurt," she groaned as she emerged. Freya stood trying to hide her laugh.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"I'm fine," Evie lied.
"Here you go. I tried to call after you but you didn't hear," Freya said, handing over the bag.
"Thanks. I'm always forgetting things," Evie said, causing them both to laugh. They fell into a bit of a silence and just looked at each other.
"Well I should probably be going. Don't want to miss training."
"Yeah I should probably get back to making drinks."
Evie started to walk towards the door.
"I hope I see you again soon," Freya called after her.
"Yeah me too," Evie replied. She began to walk again and then turned back round.
"We play City on Sunday. Do you want to come and watch?"
"Yeah. Yeah I'd love that," Freya replied with a smile.
"Awesome."
Evie climbed into the car with a big smile on her face.
"Went well then?" Leah asked.
"Sort of."
"Sort of?"
Evie explained everything that had happened much to Leah's amusement.
"So you nearly concussed yourself in front of her but she's coming on Sunday so it's alright?"
"Yep."
"Ah young love."
"Shut up, Leah."
***
It was match day and it was time for Evie's first start. Caitlin was going to be alright but it was a precaution to keep her off for one more match.
"What do you want for lunch?" Leah asked. Evie was lying on the sofa and reading her book.
"I'm not hungry."
"Kiddo you've got to eat."
"Leah I'm not hungry."
"Well I'm making pasta and you're eating it. You'll need the energy for the match."
Evie groaned but didn't argue.
The two of them sat up at the table and Evie forced herself to have some. She knew she needed energy but it was still hard.
"I'm sorry I can't eat anymore," Evie said, putting her fork down after eating half of her portion.
"Are you sure?" Leah asked, concerned with her lack of food. Evie nodded. Leah put it down to nerves and hoped that as the season went on it would improve.
It was almost time for kick off but Evie felt sick. Her first start was big. She couldn't do it. She couldn't do it. She knew that Mrs Cooper and Freya were coming and this only made her feel worse. What if she messed it all up in front of them?
Jonas was about to give his team talk but Evie got up.
"Bathroom," she said before going into the toilets. She locked herself in the cubicle and tried to not throw up.
"I'm fine. It's fine," she said weakly in an attempt to calm herself. It didn't work and even when she heard Jonas shout 'Let's do this!' she stayed where she was.
"Kiddo. Kiddo are you alright?" Beth called into the toilets.
"I don't think I can do it," Evie replied, quietly.
"What do you mean you don't think you can do it?" Beth asked, coming closer to her cubicle.
"I'm too scared. What if I play bad?"
"You won't play bad."
"I will."
More and more people became aware of the commotion and Evie heard Jen, Katie and Kim ask Beth what was going on.
"She's nervous but I've told her she'll be fine," Beth replied.
"No I won't. Play without me. Please," Evie begged.
"No way," Katie said, her head appearing over the top of the cubicle.
"What are you doing?" Evie laughed, despite the situation.
"Convincing you to play," Kim said, her head now also appearing over the top.
"You're better without me."
"No we're not. We need you. You've had three assists in two games. That's mad," Katie pointed out.
"Yeah," Jen agreed. Evie couldn't see her but she could hear her voice.
"Come on please kiddo," Beth begged.
"Just give it a go. If you can't play, then sub off. But I promise that as soon as you cross the line onto the pitch, you'll be fine," Kim told her.
"You won't be mad if I can't do it?" Evie asked shyly.
"We could never be mad at you," a new voice said. Evie looked up and saw Leah also peering over the top of the cubicle.
"Girls hurry up," Jonas called from outside the toilets.
"You coming?" Katie asked. Evie thought about it. She could do it. Couldn't she?
The cubicle opened and out she came.
"Well done kiddo," Jen said as she wrapped her arm around her.
The six of them left the toilets and went out to the tunnel.
"I'm proud of you Evie," Leah whispered from behind as they lined up.
The game kicked off and Viv passed to Evie. She realised straight away that Ellen White was pressing her. She took a second to process it. The Ellen White was pressing her. The woman whose celebration she used to do on the playground was shutting her down.
With a cheeky feint she knocked the ball past her and then ran off. Kim was free and she passed the ball to her. The attack ended up breaking down but it was clear that Man City weren't prepared for them.
In the 10th minute, a poor pass from the City defence was intercepted by Evie and she managed to dribble through three players before passing off to Viv. Viv took a touch to control and then hit it into the back of the net.
"See there was no need to worry, was there?" Beth shouted as they all celebrated together. Evie just beamed at her. Of course she was right.
Not even 15 minutes later, Evie got the ball and passed it to Viv. With her first touch, Viv sent it to Kim and after powering through two of their defenders, Kim kicked it into top bins.
It was 2-0 at the break and Evie was feeling good. Upon reflection she had no idea why she was nervous.
In the 60th minute, Katie ran onto a long pass and smacked it past the City keeper and in.
They were all buzzing. It was a fun game to play. Evie kept making runs, beaming the whole time. She loved it. She loved every single bit of it.
Leah sent a long ball over the City defence and using all her speed, Evie ran onto it. She was one on one with Alex Greenwood and after pretending to knock it one way, she chopped back and skipped past her. Kim was in space and she passed it off before making a run into a gap that was opening up.
Kim read her play and passed it into the space. Using her first touch, Evie smashed it towards the goal. Time seemed to slow down as she watched it travel forwards. The net bulged and soon enough Evie was mobbed with people congratulating her.
"GET IN THERE KIDDO!" Katie roared as she jumped on her back. Leah had run all the way from the back to come and celebrate.
"What a goal!" she said, picking Evie up and swinging her around.
The game carried on and Evie created chance after chance that just wouldn't go in the back of the net.
It was beginning to get frustrating and in the dying minutes of injury time, Viv crossed the ball into the box. It reached Evie and she pretended to shoot. Keira Walsh was stood in front and instead of going for the ball she readied for the block.
Instead of shooting, Evie used the outside of her foot to pass it to Leah. She hit it and the net rippled. 5-0.
"LEAH!" Evie cheered as she jumped into her arms.
"You're sneaky," Leah laughed.
The final whistle blew and after the team talk had finished Evie spotted someone she wanted to speak to.
"Hi Freya," Evie said as she approached.
"You were amazing!" Freya told her, a massive smile on her face.
"Thank you."
"I'm really sorry I need to go, my mum's waiting but I was wondering if you wanted to go for coffee or something tomorrow? Preferably not at my Mum's place but we can if it's easiest," Freya asked.
"I'd love that. We can go wherever you want. Do you want my number so we can text arrangements?"
"That'd be cool."
Evie gave Freya her number and then the pair parted ways.
"Coops," Evie squealed with excitement as she ran over to Mrs Cooper. They both embraced over the barrier.
"I'm so proud of you darling," Mrs Cooper said as Evie stayed in the comfort of her arms.
"Thank you so much for coming. I've really missed you."
"I've missed you too."
They broke apart and then began to catch up on everything that had happened since Evie moved.
They chatted about football, teacher gossip and anything else that crossed their mind.
After about 10 minutes, Evie noticed Leah just standing near them but not coming over.
"Leah!" she called and beckoned for her to come.
"Leah this is Mrs Cooper. Miss this is Leah," Evie said.
"Nice to meet you," Leah said.
"Nice to meet you too. And please call me Vicky. Evie won't do that no matter how often I ask her to," Mrs Cooper said.
"It doesn't sound right. You're Mrs Cooper. Not Vicky," Evie laughed. The three of them chatted until an official looking man with a press bib on came and interrupted them.
"Excuse me Evie but we'd like to interview you over there if that's alright?" he said. Evie looked at Leah for reassurance.
"You'll be fine kiddo," she said with a smile. With that Evie followed the man, leaving Mrs Cooper and Leah alone.
They watched her go in silence before Mrs Cooper turned to Leah.
"Is she settling in okay? I know when she got called up to the 1st team at Southampton she struggled a bit."
"She's had a few wobbles but I think for the most part she's okay. Football is certainly going very well."
"Has she been eating properly?" Mrs Cooper asked.
"Not really. I've started to notice that she doesn't eat loads," Leah answered, the pieces clicking into place.
"I know it's not your job so maybe just mention it to someone because she struggled a lot a couple of years ago. Like at one point I had to take her to hospital because it got that bad."
Evie didn't know what to do in her first interview. This was a new experience and she felt pretty nervous.
"Hello Evie. Congratulations on the win," the interviewer said.
"Thank you."
"We wanted to present you with our Barclays player of the match. A very big congratulations to you," he said, handing over a small box looking thing with player of the match written on it.
"Thank you very much. I wasn't expecting it," Evie said truthfully.
"Don't be ridiculous, you played incredibly well. You've taken this season by storm. Was the Arsenal move right for you?"
"Oh absolutely the right move. The girls are all lovely and have taken me under their wing. I really like Jonas as well. He's let me play the football I love and I'm very grateful for that."
"Do you think it was a good performance today?"
"Yes it was a good team performance. We really worked our passes around and got the right result. Can't do more than that."
"How did it feel to get your first goal?"
"Obviously it felt amazing. I just love scoring so hopefully I can do it again in games to come."
"Well thank you very much, Evie. And congratulations once again on your performance."
"Thank you," Evie said.
***
A/N: What a win for the Lionesses! Lauren James is absolutely immense. Future Ballon D'or winner for sure!