It's Always Been You

Chapter 19

February 14th 2022 - Lyon, France

After Danielle and I returned from Manchester, we suffered a difficult loss against Paris Saint-Germain, in the Coupe de France. A massive 3-0 loss, and the whole team had taken it difficultly. Thankfully it wasn't during the league, but with missing out on the title last season by just one point, it was a sour feeling to have lost against our biggest competitors, no matter the competition.

Our poor form continued through the beginning of February, with us barely scraping a 1-0 win against Bordeaux, taking the lead from an early goal from Melvine. Fortunately however, we had a collection of new signings and players returning from our NWSL affiliates the OL Reign; Eugénie Le Sommer for example, as well as signing Lindsey Horan, a top USWNT player who signed on loan from the Portland Thorns. Hopefully, with the addition of some skilful players, we would be able to continue our title race strongly and come out as champions.

After a rough patch, the team was able to recover, recently winning 8-0 against Soyaux. My on field connection with Danielle shined brightly during that match, with each of us recording three assists and a goal, all from link up play between us. After those three matches had been played, international break was set to begin, and I would be joining up with Sweden for the Algarve Cup in Portugal. It would be nice to get some sunny weather, and even though Lyon was nowhere near as cold and rainy as Manchester was, it definitely wasn't considered very warm, especially in the middle of winter.

The team had a final training session the day before the majority was set to leave for our respective national team camps on Valentine's Day, which also happened to be my birthday. It was going to be mostly a team bonding session, especially since we didn't want to risk any injuries, because of our tough schedule and high number of players going on international duty.

"Grattis på födelsedagen! (Happy Birthday!)" Daan said to me when I entered her car that morning, as she picked me up from my apartment to go to training.

"Wow tack! (Thank you!)" I answered, impressed with her Swedish. "Good Swedish as well, I'm proud."

"Tack (thank you)," she answered, smiling brightly. "How does it feel to be twenty six? I remember those days..."

"Don't try and sound like an old woman!" I said, slapping her arm playfully. Daan turned thirty this past summer, and she liked to act as though I was a baby, despite our age difference only being a little more than four years. "Twenty six already. Wow, just yesterday I was barely twenty one." I exclaimed, astonished how fast time had gone.

"Scary how quickly life just passes by." Daan agreed, a little solemnly. "The season's more than halfway over now but it feels like I've been here for just a few weeks."

We continued the drive in peaceful silence, which was pleasantly enjoyable. I was able to relax during the ride, which was surprising, considering we were in a car. Recently, I had gotten more and more comfortable with driving and being in the passenger seat, with Daan driving us around a lot more frequently. It was nice, I felt safe around her and I was proud of the little steps I was taking to completely get over my fear from the accident.

"So, are you excited for my birthday post for you?" Daan asked suddenly, reminding me of when she threatened to post bad pictures of me, back when we were in Manchester.

"Oh god, I'm a little nervous." I answered, grimacing. I wasn't sure of all the pics she had of me, but I'm sure she had a big enough collection, considering we had spent quite a lot of time together.