Something To Believe In [Dean Portman] ✓

𝗍 𝗐 𝖾 𝗇 𝗍 𝗒

𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗧𝗘𝗥 TWENTY

❝ if things were different ❞
•••

To say things in the locker room was tense was an understatement. There was so much tension between Dean and Sophie that even Bombay and Miss Mackay could feel it and avoided the locker room. It seemed that the entire team had agreed to change as quickly as possible, Dean and Sophie being the only ones to not skip out on showering. The team wanted the two to resolve whatever problem they had going on. It didn't only affect them. It affected the way the entire team interacted.

When Sophie realized that it was just her and Dean left in the locker room, she rolled her eyes. Of course her friends would do this. Dean scoffed upon seeing the girl's eyes roll. Sophie's gaze snapped over to him when she heard the sound and mockingly scoffed in response.

"What? Got a problem with me wanting to get my stuff and leave?" The girl's anger and irritation was evident in her voice and it was something Dean hated.

"It is when you're meeting up with the enemy," the words left Dean's mouth before he could stop them.

Did he regret the words? Absolutely. But he was upset and the way his words antagonized the girl in front of him made him feel as if he was winning this argument. He liked seeing the fire in Sophie's eyes as she came up with her next words. He hated arguing with her but damn he found her being angry attractive. He just wished the anger wasn't directed at him.

If Sophie was fuming before Dean opened his mouth, then she definitely was now that he did. He was aware of the fact that she turned down Reggie seeing as she had feelings for someone on Team USA. Of course Dean didn't know that the feelings were for him but still the fact that he knew the person was on their team.

"Stanson already does research on every team here! He doesn't need to have his low life players, who mind you I don't know, trying to romance it out of me. I'm not Bombay."

Sophie spoke using her hands to gesture to herself at the mention of herself. She made her best effort to calm her breathing as she felt herself get worked up. It hurt that Dean thought this low of her and thought she would tell some random guy on an opposing team her own team's secrets.

Dean let out a humorless, breathless laugh as he shook his head. He couldn't believe oblivious Sophie was being. Did she not notice the way the Iceland players would follow her around when they were at the stadium or at the dorms? Did she not notice the way that Stanson and his players would whisper amongst themselves and the coach would send one of his players near her?

Sophie turned back to her locker to finish getting her stuff together. She wanted to get out of the locker room and as far away Dean as quickly as possible. The girl felt she could no longer trust the boy and didn't feel like being in his presence any longer. Who did he think he was to have an opinion on who she would or would not be hanging out with. That was for her to decide and her only. No male was going to have a say in who she spent her time with.

"You may not know them but every single one of them definitely knows you. You don't see how they look at you!"

Dean took a step closer to the girl in front of him as he spoke, trying to add emphasis. He wanted the girl to know where he was coming from. He was trying to protect her and their team. He didn't want her to hang out the boy and have the view think differently of her. He didn't want anything bad to happen to her. The Iceland were bad news and didn't want Sophie to get caught up in the trouble that they would bring not only her but the team as well.

Dean watched as Sophie's body whipped around and faced him. Her eyes held fury as she stared into Dean's eyes. The boy slightly flinched at the look she was giving him but recovered quickly and sent her a glare back. The gears in Sophie's mind were turning as she tried to form her thoughts into actual words that made sense. Her stare was on Dean as she was finally able to speak again.

"I'm aware of how they look at me. I'm aware that they follow me around. I didn't mind because I was too busy focusing on you. God Dean I'm not stupid. I know what they want and that they think since Bombay doesn't let me play, I'm some stupid girl who shouldn't be here. They assume because I'll let my frustration with Bombay take over and tell them everything about the team to get back at Coach," Sophie barely took breaths as she ranted. "But guess what? I'm like that! It really fucking hurts that you assume that I would hang out with them. I thought we trusted each other."

Dean stared at Sophie as she roughly wiped away the tears of frustration. He knew that she hated crying when she was angry or frustrated because she felt it made her look stupid. She always thought it would make the other person invalidate her argument because she was crying. His eyes softened at the sight of her crying. He wanted to hug the girl and apologise but refrained from doing so.

Sophie's glare intensified when she saw Dean's eyes soften. She knew the reason he was becoming to give in was because she was crying. She hated it.

"Don't give me that look."

Sophie now refused to look at Dean, instead opting to stare at her feet as she clenched her eyes shut. She refused to let herself cry anymore in front of the boy standing before her. Dean took another step closer to the girl.

"Sophie-"

"Do you have an off switch?"

Sophie didn't mean to snap at him. She immediately felt guilty for saying what she had said and had no way of taking it back. She began cracking her knuckles against the side of her thigh as she tried to think of something to say.

Dean glared at the girl for snapping at her when he was trying to apologize. He watched as she began cracking her knuckles and cringed at the sound of all them cracking at the same time. He hated when she did that but if it helped her calm her anxiety and racing thoughts he'd listen to her do it for hours.

"Wanna try and find it?"

It was the first thing that flew out of his mouth. He didn't know what he was saying until it was said. Sophie looked up at him and he tried to see what she was thinking. He definitely didn't expect her to kiss him.