"Remind me to never get drunk on a school night," Ava groaned as she sat up, rubbing her eyes and looking very worse for wear. Evie just groaned in response, her head practically exploding.
Once Ava was out the house, Evie fell back asleep. She wasn't meeting Jamie until 2 and she wanted to be rested up. It was 12 when she dragged herself out of bed. Ava's mum was in the kitchen, a lunch selection laid out on the table.
"Good morning! Or should I say afternoon," she joked. Evie did a small smile in response, her head still throbbing.
She didn't particularly want to eat. She felt too overwhelmed and stressed to do so but she didn't want to seem rude so she had a little bit. They passed polite conversation before Evie excused herself to get ready.
She went into the bathroom and even though she hated herself for it, she made herself be sick into the toilet. She didn't want the food. She didn't deserve it.
After emptying the contents of her stomach, she got dressed and made her way to the park she was meeting Jamie in. She felt incredibly nervous. Seeing her brother again was bad enough but meeting her niece was downright terrifying.
When she got to the park, she sat on a bench and waited. She was absolutely terrified. She'd texted Leah updates of how everything was and Leah reassured her that everything was going to be okay.
It got to quarter past 2 before Jamie could be spotted. He was walking along with a woman who had a little girl on her hip.
"Hello," he said in greeting.
"Hi," Evie replied, suddenly feeling really shy.
"This is Jemma," Jamie said, pointing to the woman.
"Hey," she said brightly, her face lighting up in a smile.
"Hi," Evie responded, relaxed by her cheerful nature.
"And this is Ella. Ella say hello."
The little girl looked very nervous. She was clinging tightly onto her mum, a toy rabbit clasped tightly in her fist.
"Hello," Evie said, smiling and waving as she did. This seemed to relax the little girl and she waved back.
"Good girl," Jemma told her. They strolled along, Ella still in her mum's arms. It felt weird to be walking along like a normal family. They chatted about what they did for work and just generally got to know each other.
Ella spotted the play park and began pointing and babbling excitedly. They went inside and Ella pointed straight for the swings.
"Swings. Can you say swing?" Jamie asked as he helped put her in. She made a bit of an attempt to say it but didn't quite manage it.
Jemma and Evie stood slightly away, watching Jamie push her gently backwards and forwards.
"He's really pleased to be back in touch, you know? Ever since I've known him, he spoke about how much he regretted the way he treated you," Jemma said.
"It's understandable. We weren't raised in a way that taught us to be kind."
"He told me some of the stuff that happened and I'm really sorry. He's a different person now. I promise you."
"I can tell that he's changed. He speaks so highly of you and Ella. I know that he's matured."
"Evie, do you want to come and push her?" Jamie called over.
She went walking over and began pushing her niece backwards and forwards, not sending her too high. She pulled silly faces as she did and Ella roared with laughter, clapping her little hands with joy.
All in all it was a successful meeting. After being pushed in the swings, Ella insisted that Evie accompanied her with doing everything. From sitting on her lap as they went down the slide to carrying her round as they carried on their walk.
When they parted ways, Evie was overjoyed at how well it had gone. Her and Jamie agreed to keep in contact and see each other soon.
***
The trip to Southampton had also had its negative effects. Seeing her brother and her friends had been great but the place itself brought back terrible memories. She wasn't really sure why but she was struggling. Really struggling.
She had barely eaten since her arrival and had even turned back to self-harming, something she'd promised herself she'd never do again.
After she'd said goodbye to Ava and boarded the train home, she didn't know how to feel. It was rough and thoughts of her dad and everything she'd been through swirled around her head.
The whole journey home was a complete battle and no matter how hard she focused on the positives, she always circled back to the bad things.
Leah was waiting to pick her up and instantly noticed the tiredness in her eyes.
"How was your trip?" she asked. She'd missed having her buddy round at home. It was very quiet.
"Good. I'm exhausted though," Evie said, mostly telling the truth. It was only half eight but when she got home, Evie went straight to bed without a second thought.
***
The next morning meant back to training.
"Have you eaten?" Leah asked as they were about to head out the front door.
"Yeah I had something when you were getting dressed," Evie lied. This satisfied Leah and they went and got in the car.
Evie was more herself this morning. She chatted away and was excited to tell Leah all about Ella. They spoke and laughed but Evie still felt tired. She'd had a good night's sleep but her body wasn't quite feeling it.
They did some gym work first and all the girls did a loud greeting, pleased to have her back. She didn't struggle through the exercises as the adrenaline from being back and seeing her friends pushed her on.
Training finished and Evie was done for. She'd played well, back to her usual ways of showing them all up, but all her effort left her exhausted.
Leah smiled as she noticed that Evie's head was dropping and was asleep on the car journey home.
They pulled up on the driveway and after unlocking the front door, Leah walked round to the passenger side. She opened the door and gently unbuckled Evie's seatbelt. Lifting her carefully into her arms, she walked into the house, successfully managing to not wake her.
"Where am I?" Evie asked, adjusting her eyes to her surroundings. She was lying with her head on Leah's lap, the TV on quietly.
"You're at home, kiddo," Leah replied. She'd made dinner and a plate of food was left on the coffee table, waiting for the youngster to eat it. They'd had lunch at the club and Evie had managed to only have a few bites before discreetly throwing the rest away.
She was slowly taking a few bites when Leah's phone rang. She got up and left the room. Evie took her chance. She went through to the kitchen and was pleased to spot leftovers still sitting in the pan. She tipped most of the contents of her plate on top of it before returning to the living room.
***
It was match day against Brighton. Evie was starting as a sub, unsurprising as she hadn't done much training in the past few days. She'd barely eaten since her sending off and her body was beginning to feel worse for wear. Instead of telling anyone about it, she carried on, not wanting to seem weak. Leah was usually very good at spotting when she wasn't eating properly but Evie had become very clever at covering it up.
"It's good to have you back," Manu laughed as the ball soared into the top bins during their warmup. Evie laughed with her. It was good to be back.
Arsenal started off well, the Brighton keeper just managing to keep them in it. It took almost half an hour for Stina to open the scoring. Evie celebrated with her other team mates on the bench and she felt so pleased to be there. This was where she was meant to be.
Five minutes later and Viv intercepted a loose ball. She played it through to Beth and tapped it home to make it 2-0. Stina managed to get another one before half time and they came in feeling positive. If it wasn't for the keeper they could've easily been six nil up.
Jonas's team talk was a good one but for some reason they went out rather flat.
"Evie go warm up," he called, quarter of an hour in. After a few stretches and a quick look at tactics, she was on. Her job was to help them score more.
Within seconds, she'd won the ball and sprinted down the wing, she crossed the ball in, finding Beth's head. A beautiful save by Walsh tipped it over the cross bar.
Their attacks went on and Evie found herself becoming more exhausted. She was playing well but it felt like her mind was detached from her body.
"Come on kiddo get to that," Kim shouted as the ball rolled past her. She didn't know what was happening. She'd never felt like this before.
Brighton began an attack but Evie didn't track back. Something was seriously wrong. She tried to stop it but suddenly everything seemed to explode and she collapsed to the floor.
***