I arrived early to the training center for practice the next day. Juggling both my practice bag and a tray full of coffee. No better way than through liquid caffeine to make friends.
"You're earlier than expected." Katie greets me as I enter the locker room. I smile and nod towards the tray in my hands.
"Fancy a coffee?" I offer the tray towards her. To which she eagerly jumps up and grabs one.
"Oh, may you be blessed forever you amazing soul" she says through sips of the warm coffee. I laugh at her obvious love for such a simple thing. "How do you feel, Y/LN, has it finally set in?"
I walk over to my space in the room and set down my bag as I think about the question she just asked. "Honestly? I don't think that it ever will." I pulled out the pictures I had packed in my bag, along with some tape to hang them up. I scattered the images around my space, faces of friends smile back at me, making me feel at home.
"Also, just for future reference, next time you get me coffee, could you get me a latte with no sugar?" She flashes me a cheeky smile.
"So, me getting you coffee will be a regular thing?" I questioned playfully.
"Just letting you know." She smiled and took another sip of her drink.
"Latte no sugar... noted." I laugh.
Being with Katie was so easy. Being with her made it easier to hide away the fears that have been slowly creeping up into my mind. Questions of my ability. New team. New people. Let's not mess this up.
"Anyways, Katie, I never really thanked you for your help with the whole getting adjusted to the new team."
"You don't need to thank me for that Y/N. Everyone is about to start pulling up for practice, and I still need to fully wake up and get ready." She tells me before standing up and stretching out her limbs.
7:45 in the morning and somehow that woman has a smile on her face and a delightful happiness in her tone.
She's perfectly organized and focused.
She's... oh she's so strong.
I watch her out of the corner of my eye as she takes off her shirt to put on her training shirt. Her abdomen contoured with muscles, forming abs that I want to reach out and trace with my hands. My focus on her beauty gets shaken when the Dutch players enter the room together, Viv, Jill, and Daan. I take one last moment to savor the image of Katie in front of me before beginning to get ready myself.
7:45 in the morning and I am fixating on a teammate in a way that I shouldn't.
I screw my eyes shut, shaking the image of Katie from my head before turning my attention to prepping for the practice ahead of me.
---
It's hard to keep the image of Katie out of my head as I go through the motions of practice. Luckily, I manage to focus, except for when during a water break, she sprays the water from her bottle all over her head. I watch the water trail down her face, down her neck...
Suddenly I'm startled out of my concentration on Katie as someone steps in front of my eyeline, blocking my view of Katie. My eyes shot up to meet her face.
"Leah." I say after clearing my throat. She stands in front of me, stoic as ever. We are in matching training kits, yet she wears hers so proudly, where I feel like hiding in mine.
"After practice, I am going to give you a stack of formations, play sets, and every other piece of information you will possibly need to be on this team." She tells me. No hello, just business with her.
I look at her questioningly. "You're giving me homework?"
"Yes" she says as if that was a dumb question. "You said you're the best in the WSL, so I'd like to see that. Can you handle that Y/LN?"
"Of course." I nod. I decided that agreeing with her would be better for me than arguing.
The corners of her mouth slightly turn upwards before she walks away without another word.
---
Practice is over, and when I get back to my belongings, there lies a stack of binders, all full of information. I quickly flip through to assess how much work Leah has just given me.
Caitlin looks over at the stack of work, "What is that?"
I roll my eyes and look at her. "Leah, gave me homework."
"What?" she questioned, "Does she think that she is the coach or something?"
"I guess so." I held up the stack. "I guess being new to the team means flashbacks to College huh."
"Well... I mean. We're both new here." She says, grabbing the binder that sat on top and opening it. "I don't think it would hurt to study this together."
I smile at her. "Let's get to work then."
---
Hours tick by on the clock as we sit in a conference room in the Arsenal training facility. The stack of sorted through binders pile up. Caitlin leans back into her chair, stretching out her tight muscles, "I'm exhausted... all this work better pay off."
"Shut up," I say eagerly.
"I... I'm sorry?" She questions, clearly shocked by my reaction.
"Sorry no, not you." I laugh closing the binder I was reading out of. "That was the last of it. We're done!"
"No more studying!" she sighs, "oh thank God! I thought we were going to have to sleep here." She jokes.
I look at the clock on the wall. 7:30 pm. "I'm so sorry I did not realize how much time has passed. You weren't asked to do this" I apologized. Caitlin stayed and worked with me for 6 hours.
"No worries. It ended up being very beneficial to me. I mean- I'm on this team now too." She yawns through the last part of her sentence, "although I will say, after a tough practice and all that work, I have to go home before I fall asleep here. Do you need me for anything else?"
"Nope I'm all good. Thank you so much Caitlin. Go home and rest. I'll see you at practice tomorrow."
---
I head back to the locker room to grab my things, bypassing... Katie? What is she still doing here? She is in the gym lifting weights.
"Katie?" I called her name. But she remains focused on what she is doing. I noticed that she has headphones in and is listening to music.
I walk closer, "Katie!" I say louder.
She jumps, "Jesus Christ Y/N."
"Katie, what are you still doing here?"
She blinks harshly, readjusting her focus from her workout to our conversation. "Working out?" she states plainly.
"It's almost eight."
"I still had a few reps I wanted to go over." She smiles, "plus you're still here."
"Williamson wanted me to study basically everything about the team. Handed me a stack of binders full of information." I hold up the stack of binders, "I got through all of it today... with some help from Caitlin."
"Look at you go Y/LN" she smiles at me.
"Well, I will leave you to your workout, I'm going to grab my stuff and then go crash."
I start to walk away, "Oh and Y/N" I turn around to face her, "yeah?"
"Well done" she says with that infectious smile.
"I haven't even had a game yet..." I say lowly.
"Either way." She shrugs.
---
I walk into the locker room exhausted. I have tunnel vision as I walk over to my locker and grab my bag. I decided to leave the stack of binders in Leah's locker- in a proud display of what I did. Prove to her that I will keep my promise.
I look up to figure out which cubby belongs to Leah when I jump back. Leah was standing, watching me, from across the room. "Oh! Um. Leah." I stuttered out, trying to hide my surprise. "I got through all of them." I let myself smirk proudly. Whether it's the fact it's late or the rush of adrenaline of being surprised by her presence, I find myself once again feeling confident in front of her.
"Not bad." She says, seemingly genuinely surprised by my success.
"Just like I told you, best of the WSL." I say boldly, which I instantly regret once she walks over from across the room to stand in front of me.
Her body is close to mine, sweet vanilla perfume whipping around me, drawing my direct attention to her body. Her beautifully sculpted figure, her face is chiseled with authority. Her blue eyes sending cold nervous shivers down my spine.
"You did okay." She says lowly.
"Okay..." I furrow my brow in confusion, "I thought I did pretty good. I mean you did give me a lot of work after practice. I've spent my whole day on this."
"Y/N... this is basic football. Anyone could do this." She rolls her eyes at me, "Hell, I think even a youth team does this work."
"Way to ruin my mood," I say lowly. Immediately regretting that the moment I realized that what I had said was audible.
Her eyes look over my body, her head tilts as a taunting put falls on her lips. "I'm sorry darling." She runs her hands down my arm, "well done... you're such a good girl." She teases condescendingly. Her soft hand lingering against the skin on my arm a little longer than necessary.
My stomach clenches at the silly name. Who does she think she is calling me good girl? Yet, I find my breath hitching in the back of my throat.
"Yeah... sure...whatever." I shrug loose from her grip.
"We will see how much you learned on gameday." She tells me firmly.
I quickly set down the binders and grabbed my bag. I turn and wave a quick goodbye to Leah as I rush out.
I leave the room and exit towards the gym I had left Katie in earlier. When she sees the doors to the room open, she looks over to me.
"You okay Y/N?" She asks.
"Yeah." I say, still slightly flustered from my conversation with Leah.
"You look a little pink." She smiles at me.
"Yeah... It's a bit warm in here." I chuckled, hoping to hide my flustered state.
"Okay. Y/N... I wanted to wish you good luck in the game on Saturday. From what I've seen in practice, you will do great." She smiles at me genuinely.
Her eyes focus on mine, building an undeniable awkwardness. I clear my throat before thanking her.
She clears her throat as well, turning her attention to the weights in her hands. "Yeah." She smiles. "Don't stress too much. Just make sure you rest, and you will be perfect."
I let out an exasperated sigh, "My nerves will actually be the death of me."
"How about this," Katie eases, "If we win, I will take you out for some drinks, hell even a few rounds on me." I raise an eyebrow at this invitation, "We can celebrate the game. If we lose... we will drink away our sorrows." She shrugs nervously, "but only if you want to."
"You have no idea exactly how much I would love that, Katie." I say it a little too quickly and enthusiastically.
"I will see you tomorrow then."
"Goodnight Katie." She smiles at me. God her smile.
"Night." She waves, before returning to her set.