Gold Rush

Tast

It had been an exhausting week.

Every day was a new challenge and a massive adjustment compared to Sophie's previous role.
Her colleagues appeared nice, she had been introduced to the dieticians, coaches, psychologists, physiotherapists, exercise rehabilitation specialists, not to mention the admin staff and all the other faces she had been passing every day.
She couldn't believe how supported the team were, how lucky they are to have access to all these amazing professionals.

There was a gathering tonight at Pep Guardiola's restaurant, Tast, For 'team bonding' apparently - before the season started next week.

In all honesty, Sophie could think of nothing worse. She was mentally, emotionally and physically drained, but not from work.

The relentless WhatsApp messages and calls from Ryan had been multiple times a day, all week.
She willed herself to block him, to erase all memory of him, to delete his pictures.. but she couldn't. Not yet. Why did he have this hold over her?

She needed to move on.

But who would want this damaged woman, this woman who didn't even love herself?

*

Sophie stepped into her strappy heels and smoothed down the front of her high waisted black trousers. She smiled as she tucked in a little cropped sleeveless white blouse. It felt nice to dress up, to wear make up. Red lipstick in particular always made her feel good.. she'd not worn it in so long. 'Fake it 'til you make it' she thought.

Sophie's phone buzzed..
*1 notification... Uber: your driver is at your location*

One last look in the mirror, she pulled a brush through her dark curls to give them some volume. Feeling happy with the way she looked, out she strolled to the Uber waiting outside, feeling completely and utterly ready for some 'team bonding', as long as it involved nice wine.

The venue was dimly lit.. she could hear the heartbeat of music thumping throughout, she swallowed her nerves, took the glass of champagne offered to her and followed the waitress to the private room at the back of the building.

Once inside, her eyes adjusted and she took in her surroundings. Dark leather booths lined the walls and she could see her colleagues confined to one table, she smiled and waved as they beckoned her over.

Sophie slotted herself next to Cole and Kate, two of the coaches. She glanced around at who else was sitting at the table, she could see Jamie and Harry who were the physios and Rebecca and Rowan who she recognised from admin and reception. As the booth curved round, opposite where she was sat two lads chatted, she didn't recognise them.

Cole cleared his throat, 'ahh Sophie I don't think you've had the pleasure of meeting these two trouble makers... 2 of our finest players Phil Foden and John Stones' he gestured towards them.

'Lads, this is Sophie she's the new medic'

Sophie smiled and she noticed the little one nudge his mate, this prompted Stones to stand up and shake her hand.

'A little formal no?' Sophie laughed and a replacement champagne was almost immediately placed in front of her. Stones flashed a grin, he looked like he was about to say something but they were interrupted by Foden jumping out of his seat.

'Jacky boy!!!' Foden yelled, throwing his arms around the figure that approached the booth.

It was him.
It was Jack.
Why did she feel strange? Nervous? Excited?
Sophie lifted the fresh glass of champagne to her mouth and drank the entire flute.
Call it dutch courage.

*

The bubbles from the champagne burned the back of her throat.. it felt like they were travelling up to her brain and popping throughout every single vessel. A good feeling. A removed feeling. A feeling she'd not felt in a long time. Ryan didn't like her drinking, she felt like she needed to hold it together when they were out together, the sensible one, the sober one, the boring one. It was always thrown back in her face.

Sophie refocused.

Jack had his back to her, but she could still make out his swollen muscles under his t-shirt.
Good lord, his back.

Foden still had one arm draped around him and Stones handed him a bottle of beer, they were laughing boyishly.

'Soph, come to the bathroom with me?' And with that, Kate ushered her out of the booth.

Once in the safety of the ladies, Sophie and Kate stood side by side in the mirrors, both touching up their make up.

'Have you heard from Ryan? I hope he's been leaving you alone' quizzed Kate. She'd confided in her earlier in the week. Sophie sighed and pulled out her phone, handing it over without even looking at it.

'You've got to be kidding me.. 32 WhatsApp notifications, ALL from him, all abusive' Kate was horrified... 'You've got to show these to the police surely they can do something'. Sophie felt her friends arm stroking her back.

She shook her head, completely and utterly fed up with this burden, 'it's not worth it, he just needs to get over me and what we had'.

Unsure if it was the alcohol or her new support system, whatever it was, it made her click on Ryan's profile and she tapped the 'block' button, throwing her phone back in her handbag.

'YES girl' cheered Kate, they linked arms as they left the bathroom and headed over to the bar.
Tonight she wasn't sensible, she wasn't boring, she needed to let go.

*

A couple of hours passed by in the blink of an eye. The group had consumed their meals, chatted between themselves and the music seemed to louden, tables were cleared from the middle of the room, making space for everyone to mingle and dance.

Sophie cringed as Kate and Harry dragged her up to dance, Harry twirled her around and she threw her head back laughing, it felt good to smile and just to be around these genuinely wonderful people.

After a few songs, Kate flung her arms around Harry, they were both very touchy feely. Sophie took this as her sign to grab a drink, she partly danced and stumbled over to the bar.

'Double Vodka and coke please' she requested.

'Hey that's my kinda drink that Soph'

That deep brummie accent.
She glanced to her right. At him. At Jack.

The expression on his face was so pure. Cheeky and a little drunk. He was holding a beer between two fingers and his thumb, smirking.

'Hey I need it tonight Jack, no judgment please'

He howled laughing, 'nah I'm the last person that would judge, trust me with that' he grabbed both of their drinks from the bar 'let's go sit down, me lads have disappeared, so some company would be nice'.

She raised her eyebrows, took a deep breath and followed him over to the corner booth.