A/N: Happy belated international LA Reina day 😊 I wanted to upload yesterday but got kind of busy so here it is. Who knows maybe another chapter will come along somewhere during the evening 😏
I walked off the field towards the locker rooms. When I was in the tunnel and not visible anymore to the fans, someone grabbed my hand. It was Alexia who had held me back.
She looked around, checking if the coast was clear when she placed her soft lips on mine for a short but sweet kiss. One hand remained on my wrist while the other cupped my cheek.
"And you were nervous?" She mumbled against my lips with a smile. Her hands, now in mine.
"I was." I hummed, bumping my nose with hers. The small interaction brought a smile to her face.
"It wasn't necessary." She told me softly, looking at me with a lot of love in her eyes. We started walking to the locker room.
"I didn't know that forty five minutes ago." I chuckled.
"I knew. I had faith in you." She bumped her shoulder into mine.
"Yes you did. Thank you." I thanked the spaniard with a smile on my face.
"I always will." She said. I stopped us so I could face her and pulled her in for an other kiss.
"Mmh, cute." I smiled against her lips.
Alexia and I finally arrived in the locker rooms. The others were already seated and Lluís was ready to start his half time talk.
A while later the second half restarted and it didn't go as well as we started the first half. Ten minutes in and Tacon pulled one back but we didn't let that faze us.
Aitana received the ball from Marta and passed it straight to me. I turned around and immediately played Alexia who in her turn swiftly passed her defender. She dribbled her way up field more and came face to face with some defenders.
Spotting the small space between two defenders, I decided to take my chances. Aitana must have seen it because she instantly took a step back and took my place, a sign for me to continue my run.
Alexia chipped the ball over the defense, right in my path. I controlled the ball and ran as fast as I could towards the goal. The goalie didn't have a choice but to come out her goal a bit. This gave me the perfect opportunity to chip the ball over her.
Before I had time to register the fact I just scored, Alexia jumped into my arms with the whole team following. I surprisingly managed to stay on my feet and not down under a pile of bodies.
I was left with Patri, Aitana and Alexia. We pulled each other in a giant group hug, congratulating each other about the way we were playing. We were handling our new task exquisitely, if I do say so myself. After our small celebration together we took back our places and resumed the game.
Couple of minutes later, Alexia was roughly tackled by the Tacon captain Ortiz. In a failed attempt to steal the ball away from our captain Ortiz timed her tackle completely wrong and Alexia's ankle took the full hit.
Immediately I made my way to the other side of the field to give the opposing captain a piece of my mind but it was Marta who held me back.
"Marta I swear let me go." I growled, shoving and pulling to get free out of her hold so I could reach Ortiz.
"Qeeunie, you need to be smart about this. Let it go and go check on Ale. She needs you more." She calmly told me in an attempt to calm me down which successfully worked.
Luckily there was no damage done. After the medical staff gave her a quick check she was fine to continue the game so I helped her up. A few minutes later Alexia was subbed off for Kheira. We were up five to one so Lluís didn't want to take any risks and rightfully so.
Just like during the warm ups, Kheira continued to glare at me and refused to pass me the ball even when I was the clear and best option to play to. She would rather lose the ball than to pass it up to me which frustrated me to no extent. It even created dangerous plays for the opponent to score.
I tried my best to stay calm and not care too much about it. Before we knew it the final whistle blew. We won comfortably with nine to one. I walked over to the ref and my opponents to shake their hands and then went to my teammates.
Alexia was the first to reach me. She pulled me into a hug and discreetly placed a soft kiss on my neck, mindfully of the crowd around us.
"You played amazing." She murmured against my shoulder.
"I had a great team around me." I shrugged my shoulders, smiling at her when I pulled away.
"True." Her smile for sure matched mine.
Our peaceful moment got interrupted by the youngsters. They came over jumping up and down, cheering and celebrating the win and I guess my debut. Alexia shook her head at the sight and slowly walked off to join Jenni who was meeting some fans.
"Welcome to Spain!" Jana walked over and walked into my arms. I lifted her up and she wrapped her legs around me like a koala, nuzzling her face into my neck.
"Thanks." I chuckled. I let go of the girl but she stayed close to me nonetheless so I kept my arms around her shoulder.
Other than Mapi and Leila I've gotten pretty close with the youngsters as well, Jana being one of them. Over the short period of time the five of us had built this sisterly bond, getting in trouble all the time. Besides getting in trouble we link up well. They even call us the future of Barcelona.
"All hail the princess!" Patri got down on her knees and pretended to worship me, making all of us laugh.
"Shut up." I laughed and grabbed her by the arm to pull her up.
Patri, Aitana, Jana and soon Leila and Mapi joined me on the side of the field. Casually hanging out and reflecting on the game we played.
"Dude you guys were on fire! It was like you have been playing together for years." Mapi pointed at the midfielders, including myself.
"Told ya we link up well." Aitana stuck out her tongue while she gave Patri and I a high five.
"Yeah yeah whatever but what was that between you and Kheira?" Leila interrupted our small celebration and looked at me.
"What about it?" I pretended to not know what she was talking about and just shrugged it off.
"It was like she refused to pass the ball to you." Leila didn't clue in that I actually wanted to ignore the problem but instead she pressed it further, making the others jump in.
"I've noticed it too. It seemed as if she was deliberately ignoring you, losing the ball in the proces." Jana frowned, agreeing with Leila.
"She probably thought her options were better." I defended the girl. Like, okay, it was quite frustrating the way she played and even I had the feeling she ignored me but there's probably a reason for it or maybe it was just in my head. Who knows, it was too early to jump to conclusions.
"Maybe. But she didn't stick to the plan. She didn't back you up like she should have, causing you to run twice as much, that's not okay." Aitana shook her head thinking back to the game. The young girl wasn't happy with how things went the last twenty or so minutes.
"It's all new for us. She's probably not used to playing like we did tonight and to add to it, I'm new. It'll get better." I assured my friends but they didn't seem all that convinced.
"If you say so." Patri reluctantly let go of the topic and changed it into something lighter.
We all walked over to the stands and started meeting fans and taking pictures. Every so often I would search for Alexia just to see where she was and occasionally our eyes would meet. It gave me some kind of comfort.
Aitana had eventually caught up with Alexia and they were greeting the fans together. It wasn't as warm today as it usually would be and after running around for ninety minutes, being sweaty and not wearing a jacket, the young girl was getting cold so Alexia gave her hers.
When I looked at them after a while of taking pictures, I saw that Alexia was cold. She was shivering and had goosebumps all over her arms.
I gave back the phone to the fan and immediately walked over to where Alexia was standing. I took off my jacket that was handed to me minutes ago and placed it over her shoulders.
"No, you'll get cold." She refused the jacket at first and gave it back.
"You are cold." I insisted and held out the jacket for her.
Her body betrayed her when another visible shiver ran through her. With a huff she accepted defeat.
"Don't worry I've lived in London for ten or so years, I'm used to colder weather then this." I told her when I helped her slip on the jacket.
When the jacket was on I leaned a bit closer to her ear so I could whisper something to her that only she could hear.
"Besides, if I get sick you can take care of me" I smirked, whispering in her ear.
She softly chuckled and smiled to herself when I walked away to continue signing autographs. She looked at me one last time and lightly shook her head, that smile still on her face.
I went back to signing autographs when suddenly someone jumped on my back. If it wasn't for the railing in front of me I would have fallen for sure.
Jana wrapped her arms and legs tightly around me while my hands instinctively went to her thighs to keep her up, laughing and joking with the other girls.
Alexia's pov:
With a smile on my face I watched Ella goof around with the other youngsters, greeting fans. Jana was currently on her back and both girls were laughing at something Mapi had said.
I shook my head at the girl's antics and slowly walked over to the section where my mom and sister would be. It didn't take long to spot them, standing at their usual place.
"Eye la Reina doesn't mind mingling with the common people after all." Alba smirked when she saw me approach them.
"Shut up." I grumbled and glared at my sister. My mom gave her a glare as well but then turned to me, giving me all her attention.
"Hola mija. Great game." The older woman pulled me into a hug once I was close enough.
"Gracias mama." I mumbled into her embrace.
"¿Cómo estás mi hija?" She pulled away and looked me up and down to check for any signs of me not being okay.
"Great now we have won." I smiled at my mom but that was not the answer she was looking for.
"That's not what I meant " She scoffed but before I could answer Alba beat me to it.
"Ooh, she's good alright." She wiggled her eyebrow suggestively.
It made me glare at her again but this time I punched on the shoulder too. Alba and I started bickering, lightly pushing each other but before it could go too far mama stopped it. Alba still had a smirk on her face while I was pouting.
"Can we meet her?" My mom asked out of the blue, shocking me a bit.
"Meet who?" I looked at her and played dumb. Everything was going great between Ellie and I but we had said we were going to take things slow, maybe she wasn't ready to meet my mom just yet. We haven't talked about all that.
"The girl you're madly in love with." She simply stated. Her stare was intense, I knew there was no getting out.
"I don't know what youre talking about." I crossed my arms over my chest.
"Alexia, bebe. I'm not blind. You smile more, you're in a good mood all the time. It doesn't take a genius to know that you're happy and that girl you talk about all the time is the reason."
My cheeks turned a light shade of pink and I couldn't stop the smile from spreading on my face. My mom was right since that night at the nightclub where she confessed her feelings for me, I was noticeably happier.
"We're not gonna scare her away if that's what you're worried about." My mom tried to reassure me. She took a step closer to me and placed her hand on my arm, giving me as much comfort as she could in the hopes I would give in.
"If anything she has already met me." Alba casually said, scrolling on her phone.
My eyes widened at the reaction of my sister. I looked at my mom and she had a shocked expression on her face. Her eyes wide and her mouth hang open. I sheepishly looked at her before I glared at my sister.
"What?! You've introduced her to Alba first?" She removed her hand from my arm and lightly glared at me. She didn't like the fact that she hadn't met Ella before Alba did.
"No, Alba introduced herself. It wasn't out of free will." I grumbled, still glaring at the younger girl next to me who now looked up from her phone at the mention of her name.
"Hey, be glad I did. I'm the reason you're finally dating her." She defended herself with a smirk on her face but that smirk would soon disappear and turn into a frown.
"Ay Dios mio, please tell me she didn't interfere?" Mom looked up at the sky and threw a hand in the air, shaking her head.
"No I didn't. I just helped." Alba shrugged but I kept on glaring at her.
"Same thing alba." I deadpanned but she was not having it.
"Yeah yeah, be glad I helped or you still would be hopelessly pining for her. Besides, when did you change numbers?" She grabbed the material of my jacket.
"What?" I looked down at the part of the jacket that she grabbed in her hands and saw that it held the number seven and not the number eleven, remembering that Ella lent me her jacket because I was cold.
"The number seven on your jacket. It suits you. What's next? Her last name on your back?" Alba teased me and wiggled her eyebrow.
"Alba." I growled at my sister who was really testing my patients.
"Alba, stop teasing your sister." My mom said sternly, making the smirk disappear on Alba's face.
"But.." She tried but to no avail.
"No buts." She glared at her youngest daughter, challenging her to try again but she didn't. You didn't want to anger Eli Segura.
"Si mama." She sighed out in defeat.
"I was cold and she gave me her jacket." I explained to them why I was wearing her jacket. I crossed my arms over my chest again, hiding the number seven a bit.
"And that was very nice of her. Look hija I just want to meet the girl that makes you smile." She said with a soft look on her face.
"I'll think about it." I groaned knowing full well I lost this battle.
"How about we get together for a family dinner and you can bring her." She sheepishly smiled at me, she knew she was pushing it but why not try her luck.
"Don't push it." I warned her.
"Please." The older woman pleaded.
"Fine." I mumbled.
My mom shrieked in excitement, happy that she had won. I just rolled my eyes at her excitement but I couldn't help but smile a bit. It warmed my heart that one of the most important people in my life wanted to meet the person that potentially could be the most important person in my life.
"Perfect." She smiled in content and pulled me into a final hug before I had to go.
I saw my teammates walking towards the tunnel. That was my cue to leave as well. I said goodbye to my mom and Alba and went back to the field where Ella was patiently waiting.
Once I was down, I walked into her awaiting arms. No words were said between us, just a comfortable silence and a kiss on my head. It was a small gesture but it meant the world to me.
We slowly walked into the tunnel to the locker room where we celebrated our first of hopefully many wins of the season.