Lucy and Alexia were back in their moods. It was almost midday at the airport and they were sat with the group, though with headphones on and dissociating. Lucy was frowning at her phone, presumably texting her girlfriend while Alexia was staring into the distance with a resting face so terrifying that nobody dared approach the pair. Lucy had picked Alexia up last night and the pair had ended up talking in Lucy's car out the front of Alexia's house for a while. It had become a cathartic release for them to open up to each other rather than bottle it in. Alexia tried to help Lucy find solutions to flights, though there weren't any, she'd already exhausted all of those avenues. Lucy had shown disbelief and almost shock towards what Alexia had experienced with her 'crush'. They were both in similar boat, though Alexia knew Lucy's was better as she actually had the girl already. Alexia had hoped after last night that she would be turned off of Ridley, but she wasn't. That next morning the thoughts of her were still there and as she stared into the distance at the airport, she realised that longing feeling was also. She remembered the feel of Ridley's fingers, as if she already knew her body better than herself. The heat of her body against her back. The whisper of breath in her ear. She'd also noticed scars on her torso that she hadn't noticed before, as she wasn't usually half naked. She wondered at those before her mind went to what she'd said to her.
'I come here to see you.' Ridley frequented that bar just to see Alexia? Was she just saying that to get her to lower her guard?
'I don't think of you like that, Alexia.' She thought about her as something other than one of her fucks?
'I don't know how to give you anything else.' That one had sounded incredibly genuine, but what did it mean? Was it related to her scars? Had something happened to her?
Lucy nudged Alexia then, breaking her from her trance. She looked at her as she gestured to the boarding gate.
They boarded the plane and for the first time ever, Alexia and Lucy sat next to each other up the front. Neither of them made a big deal about it, and the rest of the team seemed to also have accepted that the two had become quite close now.
Alexia sighed as she looked out the window.
"If you keep thinking that hard, you'll have a stroke." Lucy said from next to her.
"You know what I think about, Lucia. I know you can't judge me." There's that broken English again. It got lazier the more distracted she was, and also had become lazier when she lost her care about making mistakes in front of Lucy.
"You're going back there, aren't you?"
"I'm not sure yet..." She turned to look at Lucy. "But I know I have to go back for my jacket."
Lucy knew it was an excuse, but she also knew it was Alexia's favourite jacket that she'd left behind in the room and as she'd described it, she'd left quite hastily.
"For the jacket...mmnhmn." Lucy responded sceptically.
Alexia didn't even bother to roll her eyes at her. Instead, she let the guilty look sit openly on her face. She had no reason to hide it from Lucy, she already knew everything and if anything, she was finally comfortable enough with Lucy now to be comforted by her.
YFN was upset. It was Saturday now, Lucy's game day. The storm had gotten slightly better, though there were still no passenger liner flights. She looked at the flights out and became frustrated as she realised other private planes and such were still flying. It was just coming up on 11am which meant it was midday in Barca and Lucy was already waiting for her flight to game. YFN looked down at the selfie she'd sent from the terminal. She was smiling but the happiness didn't quite reach her eyes.
YFN: Your eyes aren't smiling. Try again, please.
She knew it was cheeky, but she needed a bit of cheekiness if she had any chance of cheering Lucy up. She looked at her phone at the tickets to the game that Lucy had sent her. She'd sent two as each player was usually given a minimum of two. She felt her lips tremble as tears slid down her face looking at those tickets.
Another message from Lucy came through.
Lucy: This is the best I can do right now, little one.
She'd sent a selfie with it. She still looked a little sad, but her smile was wider as she snapped a selfie of herself and Alexia on the plane. They were sitting next to each other which wasn't a surprise to her; Lucy had told her how close they'd gotten. Alexia was smiling at the phone, her teeth on show, though it also didn't quite reach her eyes. The two most influential players in the Barcelona roster, both going into a game with hurting hearts.
Lucy and YFN had a long conversation the night before, after they realised there was no chance of a flight and were back in bed. Lucy had told YFN all about Alexia's mystery woman and what had occurred. She'd also been shocked, though she didn't misunderstand the woman as much as Lucy had. From what happened, it sounded like she was a little broken and it made her wonder what had happened in her life to make her that way. YFN was always genuinely interested about people, their true motives and what made them tick. This mystery woman was no exception to that. Lucy had been vocal about her worry, though YFN had eased that by letting her know that if it was Alexia of all people she was interested in, then that says a lot about her true self. Alexia was so unapologetically herself. She was a strong, outspoken leader, yet with a soft side that she held close to her. Not dissimilar to Lucy. She didn't believe Alexia could be manipulated easily, and she didn't believe the mystery woman was trying to take advantage of her. If she'd been doing that, she would have disappeared so often. It sounded to her as if she was trying to put some distance between her and her feelings for the Barcelona Captain.
When she'd explained all of that, Lucy took it all in and understood it a little better. That protective side softened a bit, though it was still present.
YFN: You're beautiful. I love
YFN stopped typing. Was she about to say she loved her? She'd caught herself the night before on the phone also. She shook her head and backspaced the message, typing it out again before pressing send.
YFN: You're beautiful, Luce. I'm so lucky. Please have a safe flight and a good game.... And can you do me a favour? No cards tonight please. You or Alexia. Message me after. x
YFN left the message like that, knowing that Lucy needed her space before the game, as much as she didn't want to admit it. Usually it was okay but at the moment YFN knew that texts from her were upsetting her and wouldn't help her getting into her game mindset.
YFN looked back at her phone for flights. The game started in four and a half hours. The flight to Barcelona was two hours. For some reason, she still had hope, even though she knew she'd have just over a three hour drive to Villareal even if she managed to get a flight. She looked back at the private flights taking off and shook her head in annoyance.
Suddenly, a thought came to her head. Why hadn't she thought of it before?! She scrolled through her contacts and found the one she wanted, calling it.
As reliable as ever, she answered.
"Hey baby Blue, what's doing?" Ridley asked. YFN didn't realise how much she missed her voice.
"Hey Riddles, how are you?"
She sighed.
"That bad?"
"Mmn. I made a mistake."
That surprised YFN. Ridley rarely made mistakes, though she'd always own up to them.
"At work?"
"Of course not. I'm the best at my job, you know that."
"I know, I know. Is it a skip school kind of day?"
"It's a 'might stick a fork in an outlet and call it a day' kind of day."
"Ouch, that sounds bad Riddles."
"I'll be fine. I was hoping to see you though. You always know how to make me feel better."
"You flatter me."
"Are you in Spain yet? I've been waiting for your call. I miss you."
"I miss you too. My flight was cancelled."
"Ah, of course it was. I was hoping you'd gotten in before all of that. Aren't you missing the game?"
"The game is at 4:30pm in Villareal."
"Cute little city." She must have looked at the time then. "It's late. I'm surprised you left it this long to call me."
"I know, I forgot. I was too busy-"
"-crying?" She chuckled.
YFN groaned audibly through the phone. Ridley knew her too well. Ridley switched to facetime then so she could see her face that was still puffy and red. YFN would have usually declined the facetime or been embarrassed, but she was neither of those things, because this was Ridley.
She gave her a soft smile when she saw her face "Do me a favour? Never change, Blue."
"I can see your nipples through your shirt."
"First of all, stop being ungrateful. Secondly...I have a solution to your problem."
YFN laughed at the first thing and immediately stopped at the second. "What?"
"I'm just looking now and we have a cargo flight from Birmingham to Valencia at 12:30pm your time. It's been delayed due to customs." She scoffed as YFN saw her playing on her laptop. "Typical of them. It's usually a two-and-a-half-hour flight so you'd arrive in Valencia at 4pm their time."
YFN started to Google and Ridley answered her question before she'd even finished typing it. "Valencia is a city south of Villareal. It's an hour's drive to the stadium."
An hour? So she could potentially be there by 5pm which would be just before half-time. YFN could feel her body shaking with excitement and she began to Google care hire from Valencia. Ridley answered this before she'd fully typed it out also.
"I can drive you."
YFN paused and looked at her oldest friend. "You're in Villareal?"
"No, but I can be." She stated simply. "Do you know if the game is sold out?"
"I have a spare ticket," she almost whispered in disbelief. How was everything working out so perfectly?
"That good karma is catching up to me."
"But the drive is so long..."
Ridley shrugged and YFN wondered if she had an alternate motive. "It's four hours from Barca to Valencia. I can leave now and I'll make it on time." She didn't seem rushed at all. Typical Ridley.
"O...okay."
"Okay? You're in?"
"I'm in!"
"Okay, I'm going to make a few phones calls to get you on that flight. It's cargo so there's little human customs to worry about, they just care about the cargo itself. I'll send you through the details and see you soon, baby Blue." She grinned through the phone and YFN was suddenly even more excited to see her friend. "Do me a favour?"
"Anything Riddles."
"Next time, don't wait so long to call me, yeah? You know I've got you. Whatever you need, whenever you need it."
"I know, and I promise. I love you and can't wait to see your face."
She gave a look. "I do have a pretty face. My therapist told me so."
YFN rolled her eyes. "Is this the therapist you slept with?"
"Yes, but in my defence, she started it. I have a new one anyways. She says I use humour to deflect serious trauma."
"I thought we already knew this?"
"Yes, but she also mentioned that it wasn't a good thing. All I heard was that she thinks I'm funny. She should be paying me for our sessions."
"Oh my god, Riddles, I'm hanging up."
She chuckled. "See you soon. Don't forget your passport."
"And?"
"And I love you too."
She noticed then that it felt so different to say 'I love you' to her friends like Ridley and Jordan, and then wondered why it was so much harder with Lucy. Perhaps because it had so much meaning to it. Regardless, she felt like she might end up blurting it out in Spain.
Her finger hovered above Lucy's name in her messages but she didn't click it. She already had the tickets to the game. She didn't want to distract her but more importantly, she wanted to see the look on her face when she saw her.
She checked over her little suitcase again, making sure she had everything she needed including her passport and her Australian flag. She didn't have a Barca jersey, Lucy was going to give her one before the game. That wasn't important though, what was important was the fact that in a few hours, she'd be with Lucy. She shook with excitement.
Her phone buzzed and she looked at the message from Ridley with the time, address, and the person she was meeting to get her through the private customs and into the aircraft.
Four hours later, YFN had touched down in Valencia. The pilots had been lovely and let her ride jump seat for the flight as it was just the three of them. They'd shaken hands and gave her well wishes for the game.
The 'customs' when she exited the plane was one woman who checked her passport and Visa, giving her a satisfied nod and a welcome in Spanish. Ridley was close by, having driven right up to the plane as if it were a private jet. She was leaning up against her car, sunglasses on and looking as stylish as ever in a leather jacket and jeans. YFN dropped her suitcase and ran to her, jumping on her like a koala. Ridley chuckled as she squeezed her tight.
"God, I missed you Blue."
She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen her in person. Ridley had moved to Spain several years ago and since then, they'd only met up once in Australia so Ridley could see Nan and her brother. They were basically her family.
"You smell the same."
She chuckled again and walked over to grab her bags as if YFN weighed nothing. She was one of the rare people who she allowed to be physically affectionate with her, because it was YFN and she was the closest thing she had to family. Ridley managed to get her suitcase and bag into the car one handed as her other hand held an emotional YFN to her. She knew she'd get emotional, she had always been the more empathetic one of the pair.
"Okay, Blue. In we get." She lowered her into the passenger seat and sat on the edge as YFN wiped the tears from her eyes.
"I'm s...sorry." She said weakly.
"I expected nothing less, Blue."
"We missed you last Christmas."
Ridley felt her heart sink a little. It was becoming a bad habit of hers to distance herself from emotion and being around YFN and her family tended to bring those out of her. Along with memories. Good...and bad. It wasn't until her new and terrifying infatuation that she still hadn't accepted, that she'd felt a need to see YFN in person, regardless of how much it would make her feel.
"How about I make it up by coming this Christmas?"
YFN nodded and then spoke huskily with emotion. "We'd really like that."
"Yeah? Hot Aussie Christmas."
"Actually, I was thinking of bringing them over to the UK this year...Lucy wants them to see a game and she even offered to pay for their flights and everything. I wasn't going to let her pay, of course, but don't tell her that."
Ridley gave her a look. "Or I can handle it..." YFN opened her mouth to argue and Ridley spoke before she could. "Besides, I really doubt you could stop Lucy from paying for them and organising everything. She seems very...persistent?"
"Stubborn?"
"That also. Speaking of, should we go surprise your girl?"
"Yes please."
Ridley reached out unexpectedly and touched her scar gently with a frown.
"We match now."
The car ride was all-round fun. They spoke of their jobs, their European experiences, all of the things they'd missed in each other's lives. It was always so relaxed with the two of them. Like family but without the drama of arguing or pranking. Ridley seemed the exact same to YFN, the only exception being that she seemed a little more...emotional? She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but whatever it was, it wasn't a bad thing at all, though she feared it may unravel her a bit over time.
They arrived just after 5pm and found their seats, Ridley insisting on popcorn on the way through. They settled in and YFN felt tingly and excited as she spotted Lucy on the ground. Their seats were right up against the tall boundary fence where the players entered, and luckily enough, Lucy was playing on this side of the ground and looked so goddamned sexy in their away colours. It was a simple white shirt with blue shorts, though she had white thermals on under it also. Cold Lucy. She always loved her sun.
They had arrived at the 35 minute mark during play, Barca were up 2-0. Lucy looked great, and YFN hoped her knee wasn't giving her too much trouble. Her speed made her believe she was having a good night with her knee and she wondered if the cold was helping.
There were a few delays with injuries and then five minutes were added to the half. Ridley was casually eating popcorn beside her, surprisingly focussed on the game. She would have questioned it if she weren't so focussed on Lucy and buzzing with excitement for when she saw her after the game.
That, however, did not go to plan in terms of timing. The ball was kicked out just in front of where the Australians were sitting and it was a Barca throw in on the boundary. Lucy jogged over as she always took the throw ins and held her hands out for a ball. She stopped suddenly as her eyes locked onto YFN and her mouth dropped open. She'd never seen Lucy so shocked in her life. She was frozen still, arms out, and it were as if the entire stadium was watching. YFN blushed at the attention and gave her a little wave.
A ball hitting Lucy in the face knocked her from her trance though she didn't react much to it beyond the wide grin that spread over her face. YFN's grin followed Lucy's and she gestured to the field. Lucy turned but sure made it obvious where she'd rather be as she couldn't help but look over at her again as she walked to her throw in spot.
She wiped the ball under her shirt like she usually did and YFN couldn't help but appreciate her ass in those shorts as she took her throw in.
Ridley leant towards YFN, stretching an arm over the back of her seat confidently. "So when's the wedding?"
YFN scoffed, though couldn't stop her smile as she watched Lucy.
A few minutes later, the whistle blew to signal the end of the first half. Lucy came bounding over to the boundary where they were and she still hadn't noticed Ridley, her eyes only for her girlfriend.
"Hi Luce!" She called down to her and reached a hand down. Lucy reached up automatically and hooked their pinkies together with a grin.
"Hi, little one. You surprised me."
"Pretty sure the whole stadium saw that, Luce."
"Your fault. How...wait..." Lucy jumped up and grabbed the bar, using her biceps to pull her up close enough for YFN to hug her. If that wasn't impressive enough, she took one arm off the bar to gently pull her head tighter into the crook of her neck.
"Little one." Lucy murmured into her softly, just for them. She got a little emotional and the longer she held herself there, the more YFN wondered how long she could hold on. She needed to speak quick.
"Luce I need to tell you something."
Lucy pulled her hand back to help her grip onto the bar again, her biceps bulging as she held herself there with surprising ease. She looked a little worried.
YFN leant into her and wrapped her arms around her neck so it was just Lucy that could hear.
"I love you, Luce."
She bowed her head to kiss her neck under her arms where no one would be able to see what she was doing and pulled back to see another shocked looking Lucy, though this one was very happily shocked. Lucy looked at her lips as if she were going to kiss her in front of all of those people and then opened her mouth to speak but before she could, there were sounds underneath Lucy. They both looked down at Panos and Oshoala dragging one of their cooler boxes under Lucy so she had something to stand on. Lucy relaxed herself down onto it as YFN waved back to the girls shyly who were now teasing them. She saw behind them that Keira and Alexia were wandering over to greet them.
"She made it!" Oshoala preached, arms held high as if she were praying. "She hasn't shut up about you."
"Oh?" YFN looked at Lucy who was still looking at her as if she had a million things to say.
"How?" She asked again, changing subjects.
YFN turned to Ridley who Lucy still hadn't noticed yet, only to see her leaning up against the rail with a teasing, dark expression as she looked down at one of the players. They followed her gaze to Alexia who was frozen on the spot, not dissimilar to Lucy earlier as she stared at Ridley with wide eyes.
Ridley leant over the bar just a little further to greet her.
"La Reina."