I Don't Want You Like A Best Friend

2

Y/N POV

"5 minutes to change and then we're out on the field for a warm up!" Jill announced as we entered the locker room, going over to our respective cubbies to change into our practice kits. 

"Wooo I'm a little nervous man." Abby said, shaking her hands out.

"Nah we got this one in the bag guys. It's been months since we've played France, and we've gotten a lot stronger since then. Hell, we're not even the same team we were four days when we played against Spain." Pinoe spoke with an encouraging smile, pulling her socks on.

I nodded in agreement then looked at the defender. "We're gonna kick ass Abbs."

The blond grinned then began to change.

I turned to my own cubby and opened up my duffle bag, neatly putting my sports tape, socks, boots, shin guards, and other items away before taking off my shirt and getting out my warm up jersey.

Despite having gotten top surgery a whole year ago, it still feels like it just happened yesterday. 

I can't stop the wide smile from breaking out onto my face every time I look in the mirror, wake up shirtless, go swimming, and get out of the shower with the towel wrapped around my waist. 

I have never felt more comfortable and more in love with my body than I have now, and it was such an incredible feeling.

"30 seconds guys! Let's move!" Dawn called from the doorway.

I hurriedly finished changing then moved to my shin guards and boots, lacing them up tightly. After that, I quickly tapped my fingers and then grabbed my gloves, following my teammates out to the tunnel.

The screaming and cheers from the fans was deafening as we walked out onto our half of the field, separating by positions.

Ash, Alyssa, and I went with Abel over to the goal while the forwards went with Jill, mids with Dawn, and defenders went with Mark and Erica. 

We did our usual pre-game routine of running ladders, weaving in and out of cones while Abel fired off shots at us, and other footwork exercises before moving on to blocking shots taken by the forwards, in goal.

Once our fifteen minutes was up, both teams returned to our locker rooms to change to our game kits.

Just as we did before every game, after everyone was dressed we formed a big circle, Pinoe, Becky, Alex, and I hyping everyone up with what Tobin likes to call our 'captain lectures'.

Becky and Alex's were definitely the most well spoken, while Pinoe and I's were all over the place, but we made it work. 

We lined back up in the tunnel, this time each of us taking the hand of our player escort. 

I smiled down at the little girl who held my hand. She looked up at me and showed me her own toothy grin, not looking the least bit nervous. 

"What's your name?" 

"Ella!"

"Ella? That's a very pretty name. Are you excited, Ella?"  She nodded eagerly.

"Yeah! My Mommy's watching!"

"She is? That's so cool. I bet she's super proud of you."

"She is! She said so!"

"You're definitely more brave than me, I'm nervous."

She squeezed my hand a little tighter. "Don't be! You'll do great!"

Our conversation was cut short by the start of the video playing on a huge screen in the stadium, which introduced the players of both teams. Since France was the home team, they went first.