THEO BAKER HAD been calmly talking to the main referee when Arthur stomped over, Evelyn watching on with a sigh of despair before hurrying after him.
"Yeah, look, do you know the other guy?" Theo asked the girl with her hair tied in a ponytail, black clothing identifying her umpiring position.
"No, I have no idea. I've been noticing his calls though, I can send him off? We've got a few hanging around just cleaning up . . . I'm sure one of them would love to take his place," the lady suggested with a shrug and a sparing glance at the linesman with the flag. Little did they know, the referee they were speaking about had caught the glares sent his way. With a furrow of his brows and audible huff, he walked over.
"Please, that would be amazing!" Theo said with a thankful smile. The woman nodded as a smile began forming across her own lips.
"Of course, it's no issue," she said with a slight tilt of her head.
"Sorry, what's going on here?" The man said as he approached the two with straightened lips. As Theo's eyes fell on him, the man couldn't determine whether he had a resting face filled with anger or if the youtuber was genuinely enraged. In reality, unbeknownst to him, Theo had one of the most polite resting expressions in all of London.
The man stuck out his hand. "Louis Bunlowe," he nodded, but Theo merely stared at him. After a few seconds, when Louis was slowly growing itchy and irritated, the fair-haired creator hesitantly shook his hand.
"Oi, mate," a voice sounded from behind the trio. Theo instantly squeezed his eyes shut as he retracted his hand and cursed. All the other players had retreated to the changing rooms inside, leaving only a few crew members, the referees, Theo, Evelyn, and evidently, Arthur.
"Hey, can you show me a little bit of respect?" Louis fumed, pointing a finger in the brunette's direction as he took a step forward. Arthur didn't show any sign of recognition as he continued walking the short distance between himself and the small group ahead of him.
"Me? Show you some respect?" Arthur laughed as he pressed a hand to his chest, clearly furious. Theo shared a swift look with the woman beside him. She shook her head. "I'll show you some respect when you quit being such a dickhead. You think you can just get away with harassing Evelyn like that?"
Louis crossed his arms. "I don't know what you're talking about, man," he said smugly. Theo quickly intervened after watching Arthur clench his fists and move closer.
"Arthur, chill," he said calmly as he placed his hands flat against his friend's chest. Arthur didn't even spare him a glance, eyes remaining solely on the creep behind the man.
"Look, mate," the woman said as she finally stepped into the situation. "You're clearly biased in this game, so I'm gonna have to replace you. You're welcome back here after-"
"I'm sorry . . . what?" He asked, looking directly at the woman menacingly. Arthur let out a breath as Theo reluctantly let go of his shirt, taking a step down.
"Everyone can see it," Theo said. Evelyn slowly walked up behind Arthur, pausing beside him. He looked across at her, face softening at her nervous exterior before the outrage came tumbling back in waves.
Louis clenched his jaw, face contorting into a tempered expression filled with aggression. He quickly turned his head, eyes glaring into Evelyn's skull. She sucked in a breath, relaxing her features.
"This is your fault," he growled as he tilted his head to the left. Theo's face fell as Arthur swiftly latched his hand around the blonde's wrist, pushing her behind him. Louis moved forward. "You and your bullshit stor-"
"Hey!" Arthur shouted as the man's voice started to raise, cutting him off with a soft push to the chest - enough to move him back, but not enough to make him fall. He wanted to, he wanted to trip the man over and punch him right in the centre of his smug face, but he studied law. He knew the extreme consequences. "Fucking leave her alone!"
"Back off," Theo argued while the woman beside them signaled towards the security in the distance.
"Back off? You have no right!" The man shouted as he pointed his finger at the ground. "I deserve to be here!"
Chris came jogging out of the hallway to the side, ditching his water bottle on the ground. He'd journeyed away from everyone else in the changing rooms to look for his three missing friends, only to find them in an argument in the middle of the pitch.
"What's going on?" He asked loudly as he ran over, slowing to a stop across from Theo. He warily took in Arthur's angered state and the way he didn't even spare his childhood friend a glance.
"Get off the pitch," Arthur seethed as he pointed towards the exit. The security were halfway across the field. Evelyn narrowed her eyes in Louis' direction.
"No. I'm allowed to be here," the man shrugged, his short-temper remaining. Arthur rolled his eyes as he let out a groan.
"No one fucking cares, just leave the ground already!" Arthur protested as he turned around, hand running through his hair once more. It was then, just as the security guards were about to reach the unwanted man, that Evelyn spoke up.
"What is wrong with you?" She said with simmering resentment, lips curling down into a twitching frown. "Are you really that insecure?"
Everyone turned to watch the man's face fall. The two security guards grabbed him by his arms, dragging him across the pitch. They forced him to look away, but just before they were about to walk out of sight, he craned his head back to sneak a final look. Arthur wanted, so badly, to kick the self-satisfied grin off his face.
"I'll go find another linesman," the remaining referee muttered before walking towards the hallway. Chris furrowed his brows, still confused about the entire situation, while Arthur continued to stare at the now empty exit path.
Theo swiftly turned to Evelyn, watching the girl regain control of her trembling jaw. "We can easily restart the match if you don't want his face online. We- it won't take long to catch up, and nobody will-"
"Theo, no, please keep going," the blonde urged with a convincing smile, her inner rage suddenly disappearing. "It'll only make him feel better about himself . . . and it doesn't affect me in the slightest."
"Are you sure?" He asked, worried.
"Extremely," she clarified. He looked at her for just a moment longer before patting her shoulder and grinning. He started to walk away, directing Chris to follow after him by placing a hand in-between his shoulder blades.
"What's going on? What happened?" The short blond man asked his friend as he was led away, leaving Arthur and Evelyn alone in the middle of the pitch.
It was silent for a moment, Arthur's thoughts obviously elsewhere as Evelyn stared across at him. She let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in, the last of the flames immediately extinguishing within her burnt stomach. Finally, she felt free and worriless, not having the burden of preparing herself to face the creepy man once more at the unexpected holding her down.
"Well, that was-" she was cut off straight away. Arthur had suddenly spun on his heel and stepped forward, his body clashing into hers. She jumped in surprise as he wrapped his arms around her, one hand cradling the back of her head as the other swerved tightly around her waist.
"I'm so sorry," he whispered almost directly into her ear. The blonde relaxed in his comforting grasp, letting herself cling onto him as she rested her head gently against his shoulder. "I'm so sorry for not realising anything."
"Please don't be sorry . . . I don't want you to be sorry. It's not your fault I didn't tell you," she muttered back lightly. He tightened his grip on her, sighing into the side of her eye-catching hair. It smelled like avocadoes and calendula flowers.
"You shouldn't have had to . . . I should've known," he said as he pulled back softly, maintaining a small distance between them. Evelyn looked up at him, taking in his dark, pooling eyes. He slowly reached up and brushed the lone strand of soft hair that'd fallen across her forehead back behind her ear. She smiled, a dimple deepening in her left cheek. "Lynn-"
The whistle blew behind them, signifying three minutes left before the game resumed. Arthur whipped around as Evelyn peered out from behind him, watching the new linesman converse with the main referee.
"Come on, you need to get ready to beat some ass," Evelyn grinned as she moved beside him, directing him forward with a light push to his shoulder. He shot her a playful glance. "I know you're down two points but now you don't have the excuse of a shitty linesman."
Arthur laughed, tilting his head back towards the sky as the two walked back across the green field. It had seemed that the disappearance of the angry man from earlier had led to a direct change in atmosphere. Suddenly, the air had been filled with joy and uplifting energy.
As soon as the game started in the second half, Evelyn stood up with anticipation. She stood beside Chip for the rest of the game, happily chatting to him between interesting sections of the game. The times that Arthur was pulled up for a break he would immediately fall into the spot beside the blonde, standing beside the sidelines as he watched his fellow teammates run past at extreme speeds. It quickly became the friendly match that it'd originally been planned to be.
To everyone's demise, the game ended in a draw, leading to an intense penalty shootout taking place on the right side of the pitch. It continued going back and forth, shot after shot, miss after miss, before it landed back on the English team.
"Chris, it's your turn!" Harry cheered as he pushed the man forward. The other team immediately began to boo.
"Too easy! What about the content, Theo?" They collectively yelled, some even moving out of the line to push the well-known youtuber back towards the rest of his team.
"Too bad! We wanna win!" Theo retorted, until Chris shook his head.
"No, no, let Evelyn do it!" Both teams instantly turned to look at the blonde standing at the end of the English line. She looked at the man with parted lips and wide eyes.
"I'm sorry?" She asked.
"Evelyn! Evelyn!" The blonde heard Cam begin to chant on the other end of the Scottish line up. Not long after, the rest of the team joined in, followed after the English team.
"Go on then!" Simon grinned as he softly nudged the girl forward with a clap of his hands.
"But I've never played this before! I've never kicked a football!"
"For the content, Evie!" Chip shouted from the middle of the large group. "If you get it in we win! No pressure at all." She looked at him with a joking shake of her head, a laugh slipping through her pink lips as her eyes caught Chris'. She pointed at him.
"This is your fault . . . not mine, okay?" She said with a raise of her brows. Arthur laughed from beside the shorter boy.
"Just shoot the damn ball," he laughed, gesturing towards the goals. She sent Arthur one last look. You got this, he mouthed, which was all she needed to shake her hands and turn around to face the goalie.
Shouts and yells of excitement sounded behind her as she approached the ball. "I'll go easy on you," the goalie grinned.
She immediately shook her head as she gently rolled the ball backward. "No, no, don't. They'll say it's unfair. Just pretend I'm Chris or something," she shrugged. The goalie laughed with a shrug.
"If you say so," he said before bending his knees, ready to jump after the flying ball.
The blonde let out a soft breath, her hands freezing from their incessant trembling. On three, she whispered beneath her breath as the chants started from over her back once more. One. She cracked her toes within her shoes. She looked down - she wasn't even wearing the right footwear. Two. She scoffed beneath her breath but ultimately ignored it. She sucked in a deep, deep breath. Just one step. Just a movement of the leg and a kick of a ball. Top right. Top right. Top right. Three.
She ran forward, letting her leg fly out from beneath her and boot the ball forward. She watched it raise just above the ground and fly towards the net, the goalie pushing off the dense grass in a split second at an attempt to reach it. Please, she begged as his outstretched hand moved closer to the place the ball was speeding towards. Was that how Arthur felt as he sped down the side of the pitch? Was that how Theo felt as he kicked a goal? Was that how every youtuber felt in the middle of matches like the one she was participating in? She got so distracted and lost in her whirlwind of thoughts that she almost missed the sound of a net swooshing.
Screams erupted behind her as the ball got caught in the back of the net. "Evelyn, you bloody legend!" She heard Chris shout as legs began to stampede around the area behind her. With a grin, she turned around pridefully. Arthur was the clearly the fastest of them all.
"You did it!" He laughed loudly as he approached her, hands landing around her waist. "You fucking did it!"
"I know!" She cried happily, smile bright and eyes glistening with enlightenment. Before she could protest, Arthur easily lifted her up and rested her above his shoulder, hands immediately slipping from her waist to her thighs. Her hands flew to the top of his head to keep herself stable.
Although Cam was on the opposite team, even he had joined in on the celebration as himself and the rest of the English team jumped around the area where the blonde was situated on Arthur's shoulders.
Arthur looked up at her, causing her hands to fall from his hair to his soft cheeks. "You continue to amaze me, Lynn," he admitted kindly, a smile gracing his face. She bit the inside of her right cheek before quickly leaning down and pecking his forehead. He let out a soft laugh.
"You're coming to the party!" Chip shouted from beside Arthur. Evelyn felt weird having to look down on even the tallest team members. "You just saved my fucking team from embarrassment."
"You wanna come play for us in the Charity Match?" Harry asked as Simon nodded beside him, ecstatic. Evelyn shook her head with a laugh.
She was lost in a maze of pure bliss.