"Nora..." Tyler's eyes widened at the sight of me as I did the same. This can't be real... He is not standing in front of me right now!
"Wait— you guys know each other?" Mason asked, pointing between the two of us and I swallowed hard.
"Yeah, we were best friends back in high school," Tyler's tone was cheery and expressive which began to piss me off.
He's completely oblivious.
"But then we kinda found other friends and then she moved away." Mason furrowed his brows and looked at me. I gave him a tight smile to avoid explaining to him what really happened. All I wanted to do was run away from the situation, run away from Tyler and curl up into a ball. "Why did you stop talking to me anyway," Tyler asked, sounding more confused than angry.
Oh, I don't know, maybe because I was upset.
Because I felt betrayed.
Because I was in a bad mental state.
Because the sight of you made me want to rip your guts out right then and there.
"I just wanted to focus on my studies.." I avoided looking at him and just stared at the ground, focusing on my breathing. I couldn't comprehend how Tyler was here in front of me, in a professional football team. High school me would've been so proud of him for living his dream...
I internally scoffed.
I was so naive..
"So what are you doing here? From what I remember you hated football back in high school," he crossed his arms and slightly squinted his eyes, seeming to be very interested in how I am.
"Mason forced me to come to this game," I nudged his side, smirking at him. I instantly felt a lot better when he smiled back down at me and was happy I had some reassuring company in this situation. "But I came anyway because I had to take a few pictures for my job," I saw Mason bite his lip in the corner of my eye to contain his smile. He knew I came to this game to support him and nothing else, the job thing was just to avoid suspicion.
"Oh, so you work for Chelsea?" He smiled, finding it ironic I work for a football team even though I hate the sport.
"No, I work for Trivago, they just happened to be sponsored by them," I shrugged.
"Yeah but you practically work for Chelsea with the amount of times you're assigned a job at Cobham," Mason swung his arm around my shoulder and I playfully tried to push him away, ignoring the mass of butterflies in my stomach from his touch.
"Ok buddy," I glanced at Tyler and found he was also smiling at us which instantly turned my mood sour. A small scowl replaced my smile and I wriggled out of Mason's grasp, "so how's it with you and Sabrina?" I asked, my voice laced with poison and pettiness.
His smile instantly faltered at the mention of her name and he scratched the back of his neck, looking down sheepishly, "uh," he chuckled nervously, "that just recently fell out.."
A normal person would feel sympathetic for someone who just went through a break up, but a normal person didn't go through the things I did because of this man.
"Okay." I simply said, not a single tone of sympathy in my voice, and his face dropped at my carelessness.
I hit a soft spot. good.
"You guys going to the bar after this?" Trent asked, more to Mason than me. I looked over to Mason, completely shocked by this new found information.
"Wait, we're going to a bar after this?"
"Yeah, just to celebrate the season ending."
"Are we going straight after or do I have time to change?"
"What's wrong with what you're wearing now?" Mason raised his eyebrow in a teasing manner and nodded down to the jersey I was wearing.
"I don't want to be seen wearing a football jersey," I said, feeling slightly satisfied after I saw Mason squint his eyes at me.
"Bit late for that, you're on TV," Henderson pointed out and my body froze. There are live cameras showing me standing next to Mason wearing his jersey.. if that doesn't cause any speculation on the internet I don't know what will...
"Well, then I don't want to go to a bar looking like a blueberry."
"A blueberry with my name on the back." I playfully pushed him away again when I noticed he was leaning too close towards me. I knew he was going to whisper something inappropriate in my ear and I didn't want anyone making assumptions, especially the media.
He laughed, "well I'm not going to the pub smelly and drenched in sweat so no, we aren't going straight away." I nodded, a little relieved.
I glanced over at Tyler to find he was already staring at me causing a pit feeling to grow in my stomach, "ok," I voiced out to no one in particular, "well I'm going to go to the bus and check when they leave," I said, saying the first excuse that came to mind. I felt Tyler's stare as I gave Mason a tight smile, making me feel even more uncomfortable in this situation but never dared to look at him.
"Oh, they leave in like 30 minutes."
"Ok then, I'll go find Chilly, he apparently wanted to talk to me about something," I dismissed again and Mason looked at me confused. I gave him pleading eyes and he looked at me for a moment, trying to work the gears in his head before he widened his eyes and nodded.
"Ok, I'll come with you." He began to walk off but I quickly stopped him by catching his wrist.
"No, it's ok. You catch up with your friends. I'll be fine on my own," I smiled at him reassuringly and he looked at me conflicted.
"Ok, I'll catch up with you in a bit," he placed his hand on my forearm which quickly released all the tension in my body and I walked away to find Chilly.
My body felt like it was on fire with the amount of overwhelming emotions I was experiencing at that moment. It was like everything I went through, every emotion I felt instantly spiked me when I saw him again. But I was mostly angry, angry at how he spoke to me as though he never notice or realised how much he crushed me, how bad of a mental state he put me in. He thought that everything was ok, that the reason why we drifted was because of natural occurrences.
Natural occurrences my ass.
I eventually found Chilly standing around a few other Chelsea teammates and greeted him. He glanced down at my jersey and then looked behind me to see whose number I was wearing. A smug look fell on his face when he saw who it was and I rolled my eyes, playfully shoving him away from me.
I glanced behind me to see Mason was still talking to the Liverpool players. His arms were crossed which unintentionally flexed his biceps and he had a cheerful smile on his face whenever he spoke up. It was nice seeing him catch up with his friends and I didn't want to stop him from doing that just because I wasn't cool with being around one of them...
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I stood in front of the hotel mirror as I attempted to put on a necklace to complete my outfit. after the events of today and the person I saw, I desperately needed a drink and was more than keen to go to the bar.
"Just fucking go in," I huffed in annoyance as the clip on the necklace wasn't going through the ring. I dropped my hands and gave up on the necklace; any longer, I'll throw the necklace across the room and break it.
A sudden knocking was at my door and I quickly walked over to see who it was.
"Ok! Fuck I'm coming!" I screamed out when the knocking became constant and only stopped when I opened the door. On the other side stood Mason, dressed in a loose button up shirt and some cargo pants. "You are so annoying." I huffed, turning around to continue doing my initial task.
"You love it," he smirked, letting his eyes take in my appearance. I rolled my eyes and turned around to catch him in the act, looking hypnotised by my presence.
"Done undressing me with your eyes?" I teased and he shook his head awake, "because I need you to put this on for me," I smiled, walking up to him and handing him my necklace. I turned my back to him as he slowly brushed all my hair to the side, making sure I felt his fingertips graze against my neck. Goosebumps ran down my spine and my breathing hitched in my throat at the sensation, making me subconsciously flutter my eyes shut.
I felt his hands retract when he clipped the necklace together and I opened my eyes, slowly turning back around and noticing his eyes were concentrated on my body, while all I'm pondering is how I'd managed to get someone so god damn sexy.
Except we're not together and it's not official.
The intrusive thought was an immediate buzz kill, causing me to let out an inaudible 'thank you' and adverted my gaze.
"Remember, we're just friends tonight. I don't want a random person seeing us together and then I'm suddenly your fan girls' number 1 enemy," I said with a blunt expression and faced away from him to gather all my things for tonight. Mason smirked, unaffected by my attempts of pushing him away, and took a step closer, turning me around and cupping his hands on either side of my face.
"Do just friends do this?" Without hesitation, Mason pulled me into a passionate kiss. It wasn't too slow or too fast, it was the perfect pace for us both to express our feelings towards each other. The perfect balance of affection, desire, and want.
We pulled away, but only far enough that we would stop kissing and we stared into each other's eyes. His brown pools sparkled with something I couldn't identify, but it felt like I was feeling the exact same way. It was hard to comprehend but I knew it was a look I'll never get over, "well if you save that for later tonight maybe we could be more than friends," I made sure to put a big emphasis on friends to tease him a little and watched as his face overcame with desire.
I took a step back, leaving him wanting more and grabbed his wrist to lead him outside the hotel room into the elevator. As soon as the elevator doors closed Mason Launched for my lips but I immediately leaned away, placing my finger on his lips to stop him. He glared at me and I couldn't help but smile, "remember, friends."
Mason rolled his eyes before the elevator dinged and the doors opened. I expected to see a lot of the players crowded around waiting for us to join them but was met with an empty lobby. I looked through the windows to get a peek of the outside to find there were no cars waiting for us to leave and I turned to Mason in a panic.
"Did everyone leave without us?" Mason nodded his head as he chuckled at my franticness. I furrowed my brows, confused as to why he was laughing, "how are we gonna get to the bar then?"
A small smile found its way onto his lips as he snaked his hand into mine, locking them together and a jolt of electricity coursed through my veins, "I thought it'd be better if we walked. It's not too far from here," he said, beginning to guide me towards the entrance.
I could feel my body shiver with giddiness at the thought of having a little more alone time with Mason before we had to act civil. I found that the more I spent time with him the more my feelings began to show. It's like I'm slowly becoming comfortable in admitting how I feel and want to express them all the time.
I mean how could I not want to kiss those lips 24/7?
I was never one to go on cute-sy dates and be a sucker for romance, never really finding them appealing but in the 3 days, I've been "officially dating" Mason it's felt like I'm in a Disney movie. Something about the way he looks at me when I wake up next to him in the morning or the way he tells me how beautiful I am makes me fold. I'm usually a 'fuck 'em duck 'em' kind of person but with Mason... he's something different...
"Question..." Mason filled the silence as we strolled along the street hand in hand. The sun had set and the sky was ink black, with dazzling stars lighting up the night. I glanced up at him, seeing that his expression was serious and my smile faltered, "is the Tyler from the Liverpool game the same Tyler that made you cry all those years ago?" I froze in place causing him to stop in his tracks too.
"You swore to never mention that day again. Even after 6 years when we didn't think we'd ever see each other again, it still applies," I pointed a stern finger towards him and he let out a small laugh.
"We'll technically I didn't mention the day, only the person," he shrugged. I felt a little off at the fact that he remembered the amount of vulnerability I had shown that day and I began to hide my face behind my curtain of hair.
"It... is him.." I admitted after a moment later and Mason's eyes grew wide, "but I don't want to talk about it," I was afraid all my issues and trauma would come back and slam me into a brick wall, "all I'll say is I'm not the biggest fan of him after all that happened..."
I felt Mason squeeze tighter on our intertwined hands and my shoulders instantly relaxed, leaning further into him, "well now I know he's not a threat."
I let out a humourless laugh, "trust me, he's far from a threat." We turned the corner and found we were at the bar. As we came closer to the entrance I felt our hands slowly loosen and eventually completely broke apart. My body turned cold and a part of me just wanted to say 'fuck it' and cling back onto him but I knew better. I can't start anything and ruin my career...
Once we entered the bar we gave each other a final longing glance. It was quite obvious to both of us that we wanted to be with each other tonight but it wasn't as easy as it sounded. We both split off into our own groups, him going over to his teammates and me going over to Sophia once I spotted her sitting by the bar.
"Hey Soph, where's Kai?" I asked and she turned around and smiled.
"Gone to talk to one of his friends. Did you just get here?" I nodded taking a seat next to her.
"Yeah I was running a little late," I looked over to the other side of the room and saw Mason laughing at a joke one of his mates said and we quickly shared a glance. I loved seeing the corner of his eyes crinkle whenever he laughed.
Sophia must've noticed me goggling at Mason as when I looked back at her, she was protruding a smug smile, "I wonder why.." her voice trailed off and I avoided making eye contact to hide my burning cheeks.
"Nora.." A masculine voice said from behind me and I turned around, my heart immediately dropping and my entire body tensed, "I was hoping you'd come tonight." Tyler leaned against the bar and I sent him a tight smile.
"Well, here I am..." Wishing I could be somewhere else..
"You look good.." he scoffed, "wow I completely forgot how pretty you are.." Tyler took in my appearance, looking amazed at what was in front of him. I felt hot under his stare but not the kind of hot I felt whenever Mason looked at me like that, it was more of an uncomfortable, skin-scratching, type of hot.
"Thank you but it's really nothing," I said attempting to brush it off. I looked behind me praying Sophia would sense my discomfort but only found her with her back to me, occupied with her own conversation.
"Well, I highly doubt that.." he said causing me to turn around and face him again. I internally grimaced. "Hey, um..." he hesitated as I watch his face change from a cheery grin to an awkward expression, "I don't know— just, I haven't seen you since you randomly moved away in high school and seeing you again just made me think..." I furrowed my eyebrows as he paused, trying to think of the right words to say. I could've walked away by now but the suspense was killing me so much to my dismay, I stayed put, "I regret not choosing you instead of Sabrina and I guess it was always on the back of my mind when I was dating her.. I'm sorry I didn't give you a chance and the thought of what could've been is killing me... And when I saw you today for the first time in a long time, I couldn't miss that opportunity again." My eyes widened at the sudden confession but I knew it was all bullshit.
Does he think an apology will fix everything he put me through? 'I regret not choosing you' well it didn't fucking look like it when you were purposely sticking your tongue down Sabrina's throat whenever I was around!
I chuckled bluntly, not a single splice of humour in my laughter and looked up at him sternly, "well that's a shame because it will never happen," I sent him a sarcastic smile before grabbing my drink from the bar and walking away.
I was glad to instantly spot Chilwell and James sitting down at a booth and made a beeline towards them. I flopped down next to Ben, letting out an exasperated huff and slouched in my seat.
"This night sucks," I voiced out to no one in particular and scanned the entire room for Mason, knowing he could cheer me up with just a smile. I scanned every corner becoming more livid and jittery when I couldn't find him. The interaction with Tyler was really fucking with my emotions and I needed to get rid of them before I showed any vulnerability..
"Nora!" Reece yelled out and my head immediately jolted towards a confused looking Ben and Reece.
"Sorry, we're you talking?" I breathed out, clearly showing I was overwhelmed and Ben gave in.
"Nora, we know who you're looking for," I widened my eyes and sent silent daggers towards him. He may know something is going on between me and Mason but the rest don't—
"The entire team knows you two have been sneaking around, Nora," Reece butted in and panic instantly flushed my body, "no one's bothered by it— they're actually encouraging it seeing how obsessed Mason was with you," both Ben and Reece laughed but I was still stunned not feeling relieved by this information at all.
Noticing my distressed state, Ben placed a comforting hand on my shoulder and I felt a slight release of tension, "look, we know you want to be with him right now, your entire face says it all. Just go have fun with him! No one will judge." I bit my lip, looking off into the distance and spotted Mason talking to someone. He had his back towards me but I knew it was him. The framing of his shoulders that I've run my hands over multiple times, the little overgrown bits on the back of his neck that I've played with multiple times, I without a doubt knew it was him. I was reluctant to follow Ben and Reece's words for a moment but after Chilly and Reece noticed my staring they slightly nudged me to go to him.
Fuck it, I thought, getting up from my seat and strided over to him.
I tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around, his face instantly lighting up at the sight of me and all my thoughts flushed away. Tonight I just wanted to be with him and live in the moment, and that's exactly what I'm going to do.
"Nora! What's up?" Mason asked, trying to sound as friendly as possible around his friends. Ignoring his question I grabbed his hand and lead him away from his friends and towards the dance floor. "What's going on?" He laughed, not complaining one bit.
"Let's just have fun, no stress, no restrictions," I pulled him closer towards me as we both swayed with the rhythm of the music. I wrapped my arms around his neck as he placed his hands on my waist, making my entire body shiver under his touch. He felt my muscle relax under his touch which caused him to grow worried, tightening his grip on my waist.
"Are you ok? What happened?" I was surprised he noticed I was in a distressed state and stopped dancing for a moment, looking up sternly towards the bar like he knew exactly what was bothering me.
I didn't want to think, let alone talk about him anymore so I framed my hands with his face, guiding his eyes back to mine, "doesn't matter. You're here now."
He sighed, bringing me closer to him. I dragged my hands down to his shoulders as I tried moving them back and forth, encouraging him to dance. He caught on to my attempts and rolled his eyes, a small smile on his face which of course, made me smile too. He started moving his shoulders on his own as I did the same and eventually we were dancing in each other's arms, embracing each other's bodies and having completely forgotten about the recent complications.
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OMG, WE'RE SO CLOSE TO 100K READS! WHAT!!
NEVER DID I THINK THIS BOOK WOULD GROW MUCH AS IT DID AND I THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR IT
that being said I do need to spice this book up a bit now that I've farmed the honeymoon phase so stay in tune
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