Only Friends

Chapter 12 - Birthdays

While Kristie and Sam continued to comment on each other's pictures, from sweet remarks such as 'Sammi game days' from Kristie or sarcastic comments such as 'Your dunks are creased' from Sam, the season continued as normal. Arsenal secured our spot in the Champions league for the following season fairly early on, which excited the team. We were hyped to be able to play in the most competitive club football competition in the world. 

Although Jill nor I never officially announced that we were together, the whole team knew. We became one of the many couples that were in the team - Leah and Jordan, Caitlin and Lia, Viv and Lisa, Daan and Beth and Jill and India. It felt nice, in a way, to have my person with me. I only hoped that I wouldn't have to verse Jill when she wears orange.

Jill is obviously Dutch and plays for Holland internationally and I am Australian, and I play for the Matildas. With the Olympics fast approaching, I just hope I don't have to verse her in the quarters or finals. It would be both devastating but exciting for either one of us if we lost or won. Similarly, for Kristie and Sam, I wouldn't want them to have to verse each other.

By the near end of the season, Jill and I had been together for nearly 5 months. We were confident in ourselves and our relationship, and we collectively decided to stop hiding. It didn't per say mean we would splash our relationship everywhere and anywhere, but rather we wouldn't actively deny. When it was Jill's birthday, and she turned the ripe age of 24, I decided to post something on instagram for her. I didn't care what people thought, or whether it was unexpected. We had posted many pictures of us together previously, usually game shots or team photos, but I wanted to post a birthday message for her.

I chose my favourite photos of us together. The first one was of her holding my hand at Brighton beach, when we went for a day trip. She was walking in front and I captured a very arty photo of her. She looked gorgeous with the sunset shining on her hair. The second photo was a mirror selfie of us together at my apartment. I was hugging Jill from behind and she leant her head down on mine. The third was a photo taken in the locker room of Jill and me after a game. We were gross and sweaty, but my legs were on hers and I was feeding her a piece of pizza - Lisa took the photo. And the last photo was a selfie we had taken where Jill was kissing my cheek, my personal favourite.
I posted these on my instagram page, where I have around 700k followers. I have so many because I am, in Australia, marketed quite heavily, similar to Sam.

indiharrison: Happy birthday to my love @jillroord. I love you my crazy chick. Have fun being 24 - so old! Always with u xx

The response I got from the post on instagram was insane. Normally, I receive around 20,000 likes on my posts, but on her birthday post I got over 100k. Similarly, my comments increased exponentially. Jill also gained so many followers - people are so invested. I got comments such as:

preathxjindi: My new favourite WoSO couple

soccerfan222: Jill and Indi #Jindi

wosolover33: Why was this expected but also unexpected?

walshisonstan: Highlight of my week

Jill also commented on the post. She replied with:

jillroord: With age comes maturity... jokes. I love you inds

People were obsessed with our relationship, messaging both Jill and me about it. We liked that people cared but it was kinda crazy. One youtube channel even did a whole video. They gathered evidence from when I arrived at Arsenal, finding clips of us together that neither Jill nor I even knew existed. It was scary how good of detectives people can be with the internet.

As Jill and I arrived at training, preparing for the end of season, we were greeted by the girls who looked at us suspiciously.
"So, it's official?" Lisa asked, in front of the team in the common room.
"Yes, yes," I replied, "official!"
All the girls cheered, which was sort of weird but they were excited that we had finally announced it and weren't hiding.
Lisa and I sat together eating lunch, while Viv and Jill talked between each other opposite from us.
"I'm happy for you two," Lisa started to say.
"Thanks, Lis."
"The post was adorable," she replied.
"I wanted it to be cute."
"It definitely was. Did Jill like it?" She asked, and I nodded, smiling.

The last couple of weeks of the season didn't go in our favour, and Chelsea ended up winning the Cup. Obviously I was bummed as I really wanted to win not only for myself but for the team, but sometimes, you can't control everything.