30 Day Angst Challenge

Twenty Six: Intruder On The Pitch

I wasn't particularly looking forwards to my afternoon, as I sat uncomfortably on my plastic chair watching my nine year old nephew Lewis playing on my phone waiting for the game to begin.

As a Christmas present, his parents (my older sister and her husband) had bought him two front row tickets to today's Liverpool game against Crystal Palace at Anfield. However both his parents had got food poisoning, and I was hardly going to let Lewis miss out on his big day, so I agreed to take him to the game. I'm not a particularly big football fan – Liverpool would be my club of choice, but that didn't mean I wanted to sit and watch the game in the freezing cold. Especially given that it was on the telly.

"How long til kick off?" Lewis asked me.

"About half an hour. The players are just coming out to warm up." I replied.

Lewis gasped, handing me back my phone and averting his attention to the players running out onto the pitch. He started giving them a round of applause, as did some other fans around us. The players clapped back.

"They're clapping us Auntie (Y/N)!" Lewis beamed. I couldn't help but chuckle a little at his enthusiasm.

"Is Trent starting?" Lewis asked.

"Trent?" I pulled out my phone to find the line-up. "Yeah, he is."

"Yes!" Lewis cheered.

"Why, is he your favourite player?" I asked him.

"Yeah." Lewis removed his coat to show me his personalised Alexander-Arnold shirt.

"Dad bought it for me especially for today." Lewis told me.

"You're a very lucky boy then." I smiled.

Soon enough, the players were done with their warmup, and the teams were walking out to start the game. Lewis was joining the crowd in singing the different songs dedicated to the players. Mo Salah scored to make it 1-0 to Liverpool in the 21st minute, and Lewis went crazy.

"Trent assisted it Auntie (Y/N)!" Lewis told me, excitement in his voice.

"Oh, that's great." I responded.

"Yeah, I really wanted to see Trent get an assist today." Lewis smiled. Well, he seemed happy. And that's all that mattered.

Half time rolled around with Liverpool still winning 1-0. Lewis wanted a hot chocolate, so we went to buy some drinks and some crisps before the second half started.

"Do you think Trent will score?" Lewis asked me.

"Remind me what position he plays in." I said.

I like Liverpool and everything, but all I really know about the team is the names of the players and that Mo Salah tends to score the goals.

"Right back, duh." Lewis teased.

"Alright!" I joked. "Is that a defender?"

"Yeah. But he also attacks and gets assists." Lewis explained.

"Well, defenders score from corners right? So he could score." I pointed out.

"Trent takes the corners." Lewis informed me.

"Oh. Well, I'm sure he could still score." I told Lewis.

The second half started, and during this half Lewis was completely in awe of Trent, as he would often run right past our seats. It was quite cute to watch. In the 53rd minute, Liverpool were awarded a free kick just outside the box.

"Maybe Trent will score this." Lewis said to me.

"Yeah, perhaps. Does he take free kicks a lot?" I asked.