I woke up, my body entangled with hers. I stared at the blonde that lay beside me. Her eyes fluttered softly as she slept, and this time, despite all my brain telling me I should, I didn't leave. I stayed there. I stayed beside her.
She soon started to wake up, and I continued to stare at her.
"Hey," she said, her English accent more prevalent than I remembered it to be.
"Morning," I replied. She chuckled slightly, before grabbing some water from my bedside table. "That is not water." She spat the clear liquid back into the cup. I didn't remember leaving that there.
"Shit, sorry," I soon said, getting up and grabbing the glass. "It was from yesterday." I went to the bathroom pouring the drink down the sink, and filling it up with water to hand to Leah.
"Thanks," she said, grabbing the water and flushing that down. "Much better." I sat on the edge of the bed, as she lay there. I felt her eyes on me, as I looked out the window.
"What time does today start?" I asked her, forgetting our schedule. I was good at forgetting. It helped me more than I knew, but also, it was a detriment, especially with training.
"12," she replied, "so we better go."
"We?" I asked her.
"How are you going to get there? You don't have a car," she said. I had forgotten that I left my car at the pub the night previous.
"Right, yeah, sounds good." She looked up at me, quite confused, but as I stood off the bed, she got out, grabbing a shirt, and heading to the kitchen.
I followed in after her, going straight to the coffee machine.
"Want one?" I asked her.
"Yeah, thanks," she replied. I started making two coffees (one for her and one for me) not knowing what any of this meant. It meant nothing. That's what she said. That's what I said. I had to know that. I did know that.
"Look, Tipp, about last night-" Leah started to say.
"It's okay," I replied. "It's nothing, right?" I turned around, to look at her, and something changed in her eyes.
"Yeah, its nothing." I nodded my head, turning around to attend back to the coffees. I soon passed her a mug, before heading back into my room to change into my kit.
"Make whatever you want," I said to Leah, before getting changed. "There's bread, and yoghurt, and shit." She nodded her head as she continued sipping her coffee, while I went into the other room.
"Fuck," I said to myself leaning against the door. I went to my bedside table, wanting to find the glass I always had beside my bed. "Shit." I had thrown it down the sink. I wanted a drink. Even a sip. Fuck.
I tried pushing the thought to the back of my mind, as I rummaged through my closet trying to find my kit. Where had I put it?
I found it in my bag, after a few minutes of looking around the room. I quickly put on the shorts, and top, the number 18 printed so clearly for everyone to see.
"Tipp?" Leah called out. "We should go." I came out, ready to leave.
"This early?" I asked her.
"We have to go via mine. I don't have my shorts."
"Got a top?" I asked her.
"Yeah but-"
"Just wear my other pair," I responded, going into the kitchen, to make myself some breakfast.
"But-"
"Leah, there's no point heading all the way to yours. We wouldn't make it in time. Just grab a pair of my trackies or shorts or something. There in the wardrobe." She looked at me, trying to work out how to reply.
"Okay," she then answered, standing up and heading into the room.
I made myself some breakfast as Leah went through the wardrobe.
"Tipp?" she called out. I felt this becoming a regular occurrence with Leah.
"Yeah?" I asked, going into the other room with a piece of toast in my hand.
"I cannot find anything here," she joked, looking at me and judging me quite obviously on my lack of organisation skills.
"Here," I said, going beside my bed and taking out clothes that hadn't yet been unpackaged. "They gave me two and I hadn't opened them yet." I handed her the shorts, and she smiled at me, before taking them out of the package, and putting them on.
"Okay, ready," she said, leaving the room, and grabbing her phone and keys.
"You may need a shirt, Leah," I joked, as she stood there wearing only her sports bra. "Or maybe a jumper?"
"Shirt and jumper are in the car," she replied. I sighed, going into my room and grabbing a jumper.
"Humour me?" I asked her, and she smiled, putting it on.
We drove to training, and we sat in the car, beside each other, in silence, as we waited a few more minutes before going in.
"So," I said to her. "How do we explain this?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we can't really say you gave me a lift. We don't live near each other."
"No one cares," she replied.
"Your ex might," I answered.
"Jords? Hardly. We're fine." She seemed sincere in this response, making it so hard not to believe her.
"Okay," I then said. "It's fine. Everything is fine." Leah looked at me, slightly worried, but I only smiled back, opening the car door and stepping out. I heard her sigh, and step out too.
We walked together, into training, and just as Leah had told me, no one asked anything. No one questioned why we stepped in together, nor did anyone ask why we arrived in the same car. I took that as a sign.
We trained together, preparing for my first game with the club. They had already started games, coming back from the Christmas break. Before I had arrived, we had lost to Birmingham City, a shock loss that would really hurt our title chances. Our next game was against City. It would be a big one. We needed points. A win would be the best, but points were what we needed.
As we finished up training, I was called over by Jonas to talk about the upcoming game.
"Tippah," he said to me, as we walked back together inside.
"You wanted to speak?" I asked.
"Yes, so, I wanted to talk to you. With Kim injured, and Jordan also out, for the game against City, you're going to be in the 10. I'll be Frida more in the 8, and have Viv up top. Does that sound like an okay plan? You okay with starting?" I looked at him, slightly in shock that he would even ask me that question. Of course I would be okay with starting; it was all I ever wanted.
"Sounds like a great plan to me," I responded, smiling at him, before running off back inside.
I saw Leah inside, sitting by herself, and without even thinking about it, I went up beside her, smiling so wide that she knew something was up.
"You look happy," she said, grinning at me, as my cheeks widened.
"I just- I just- I'm not sure. I'm happy."
"I'm glad." Leah soon grabbed my hand, squeezing it softly. She stared at me, her eyes looking into mine, and as she did, my heart tingled.
We all went to the gym together, to lift a bit after our session. I loved having a good weights session, and I headed straight to the barbells. I started slow on the bench presses, before adding more weights.
"Look what we have here," Cait laughed, "Tippy at the barbell."
"Stop making fun of me!" I joked.
"You need to try some free weights," Cait replied.
"Never going to happen," I replied. "Can you spot me?" Cait stood over me, as I bench pressed 55kg.
"Jesus, Tipp," Cait soon said, after 4 reps. "You've got so much stronger." I smiled softly, before Caitlin went off to do her own work out, as I took a break. I grabbed some more weights, placing them on either side. 60kg. I sat on my phone, waiting for one of the trainers to spot me, but I heard a voice call out instead.
"Need a spot?" an English voice asked. Of course it was her.
"Yeah, thanks," I said to Leah, as she stood over me. I got my grip, placing my hands apart from each other.
One rep.
Two rep.
Three...
"You got this," Leah said, spotting me as I struggled to push up the third rep.
"I can't," I replied, but she didn't take no for an answer.
"Push it up," she said, and with one last spurt of energy, I managed to get it up. 60kg, for three reps. I had never got three before.
"Thanks," I said to her. She came around, sitting on the bench beside me.
"I'm glad you got that one," Leah laughed.
"Why?"
"Not sure I can lift 60kg," she joked.
"Well then," I replied, "definitely glad about that then." She looked into my eyes, and even though I knew no one was looking, it felt like everyones eyes were on us. But there weren't. I knew they weren't.
We all continued training, and after an hour, we were able to all head home.
"Need a lift?" Steph asked me, as she noticed my car wasn't in the lot.
"Uh," I started to say, looking behind me if Leah was going to take me back.
"She's right Steph," Leah called out, "I can take her."
"Okay," Steph replied, not thinking twice about it. I smiled at Steph as she headed out.
"You ready?" Leah asked, coming up behind me.
"Yeah," I answered. We walked out together, heading to her car.
"I need to head into London," Leah said, as we drove.
"What for?" I asked her.
"Quick thing with Nike," she replied.
"Cool," I answered.
"Want to come? Have you been into the city yet?" I smiled softly as she asked for my company, and as I thought about it, I hadn't been in yet. I hadn't seen London yet.
"No, I haven't yet," I answered.
"So..."
"Yeah, sure, I'll come."
"Great," Leah responded, focusing back on the road.
After letting me shower at my place, we dropped the car at Leah's, before getting on a train into the city. We sat beside each other, as we chatted away, talking about everything and nothing all at once.
"Favourite food?" she asked me.
"Um, pasta," I replied.
"Been to Italy?" she asked.
"Only for football," I answered.
"I'll take you then, one day," Leah then said, which shocked me a little.
"I'll count on it then."
"You better." She stared into my eyes, and as I felt my cheeks rush with blood, I looked away.
"Favourite colour?" Leah then asked.
"Green and gold," I responded, cheekily.
"And red!" Leah retorted.
"And red," I replied.
"Good."
"Favourite thing to do outside of football?" Leah asked.
"Not saying," I soon said.
"Why?" Leah responded.
"It's embarrassing," I said, covering my face with my hands.
"How?"
"It just is."
"Come on!" Leah retorted, nudging me.
"I like to sing," I then said.
"You sing?"
"I like to sing," I corrected.
"Are you good?" Leah asked. I was good. I knew that it was often cocky or arrogant to say that you are good at something, but I knew I had some talent when it came to singing. It was a family trait. All my siblings were good singers, and so too were my parents.
"I mean, I guess," I responded.
"Well, you better sing to me tonight."
"Not gonna happen," I responded.
"I'm not taking no for an answer," Leah said, strongly.
"Why are you so bossy?" I asked.
"It's part of the charm," she responded, before grabbing my hand as it was our stop.
We got off the train at Oxford Circus, before making our way to the Nike story.
"How long is this gonna take?" I asked her.
"I'm just picking up some shoes," she responded.
"Special shoes?" I asked.
"Yes, special shoes."
We walked inside the Nike HQ, and were quickly escorted to the backroom, where a bag with Leah's initials sat.
"Want to see them?" Leah asked me.
"Hell yeah," I responded. Leah opened the box to reveal a clean, fresh new pair of football boots. "These are sick," I said, picking up the shoes, marvelling in the colourful and bright pair of boots.
"Do you have another pair?" Leah asked the manager.
"Let me check," he responded, before heading to the shelves. "What size?"
"What size are you?" Leah asked me.
"38."
"38," Leah called back. The manager soon came back with a pair of boots.
"Had one left," he responded, passing Leah the box who then passed it to me. I opened it up, in awe once again with the shoes.
"They're all yours," the manager said to me. "We'll do anything for our England captain."
"Thanks Nick," Leah said to the manager. We both walked out, with two new fresh pair of boots.
"I should come into the city with you more often," I replied.
"I wouldn't say no," she replied.
We headed down to the Thames, walking along the water as we continued to talk about all things.
It soon started to get dark, and I knew it was time to start heading back up North.
"Leah," I soon said to her, as we walked down a deserted street in the middle of London.
"Yeah?"
"I know we decided that it was nothing but-" I started to say, before Leah interrupted me.
"I know," she responded.
"I just-"
"Don't want it to be nothing?" Leah hoped.
"Yeah. This doesn't feel like nothing." I turned to look at her as I felt her eyes on me. We had stopped, in the middle of the street, just looking at the other.
"I know," Leah said, tucking a piece of my hair behind my ear. "I know." She rested her forehead on mine, and as I quickly looked around to make sure no one was looking, I leaned in, placing my lips on hers. At first, it was slow, and controlled. It was the start of something. But then, her hands were in my hair, and I dropped the bag I was holding to the ground. The passion consumed both of us, and through it all, I was falling. I was falling for Leah Williamson.
Or, more obviously, I think I had already fallen.
As we broke apart, I smiled at her, and as she looked at me, we both started to chuckle.
"Come on," she said, grabbing my hand. "We better head back." I leant into her as we walked side by side down to the street, to get back on the train.
We ended up back to Leah's apartment, and as I didn't even think about it, I grabbed one of her t-shirts, and changed, ready to head to bed.
"We still need to get your car," Leah laughed, as I sat in her bed.
"We can do it tomorrow," I replied.
"That we can. We most certainly can." Leah came beside me, hugging me, as her head lay on my chest. I kissed the top of her head, as I felt my heart sting with happiness.
I slept well that night, but for some reason, my body clock woke me up at 3am, craving something I didn't want to crave.
To combat this, I looked on my phone, checking instagram, twitter and everything in between. That is where I saw it.
"Fuck."
note:
- a longer chapter but definitely not long for my books (lol)
- anyways, hope u lot r enjoying. comment theories and questions as I LOVE reading them all :)