All or Nothing

Chapter 5

John calls Aimee again the next afternoon as the team wait for the flight home.  He pretends to be finalising the details of his Rosie's Kitchen order but really, he just wants to pick up where they had left off the night before.

"Just let me know how much I owe you," he had said as casually as he could; he always felt a little awkward discussing money.

"No charge," Aimee had said.  "Mates' rates." 

He smiled warmly at this; glad they were on the same page, she also now considered him a friend.

"Who you talking to?"  Kyle had stopped in the aisle and leant forward into John's seat as they boarded. 

"Just a mate," John had insisted. 

Kyle had frowned sceptically at him but before he could say anymore was shoved roughly forward by Luke Shaw frustrated that he was a holding up the boarding process.  As John finishes saying his goodbyes he receives a message from Kyle, a mate?

John rolled his eyes what was the big deal!?  He was always on the phone chatting to someone or other.  He didn't reply. 

Must be some mate got you smiling like that 😉 

John sat up straighter, allowing himself to peer meerkat like over the back of his seat in the direction of Kyle who was smiling smugly at him.  John made a 'what' gesture with his hands, amusing Kyle further, drawing a laugh.  John slumped back down in his seat, Kyle could be so immature sometimes, Aimee was just a mate.

*

The second match day of the International break arrived quickly.  Aimee had spent Sunday shopping for supplies for the week ahead whilst Rosie visited her grandparents.  In fact, she had been chatting to John as she pushed a trolley round Tesco.  Then on Monday it was back to work and school.  Tuesday arrived before she knew it.  She made an English classic for tea in honour of the occasion - bangers and mash.  Rosie cleared her plate, which was always a triumph for Aimee.  At the supermarket she had spotted miniature England kits for kids and hadn't been able to resist, so as she and Rosie settled down to watch the game, she snapped a quick selfie of them both and sent it to John. 

Rosie says good luck x

She didn't expect him to reply, certain that there were probably all sorts of rules about phones in dressing rooms.  But he quickly sent back a selfie of his own, dressed in the same white kit as Rosie, he was clean shaved today, different from the stubbly chin Aimee was so used to. 

Tell Rosie her mummy will be glad to know I've left my handbag at home tonight 

"What are you laughing at Mummy?"  Rosie had demanded, "What did he say?"

"He said he loves your kit," Aimee had lied.

The match ended England 1 Hungary 1.  For Rosie, who had managed to see through the entire 90 minutes this time it felt like a loss.  But Aimee, was on a high.  John had given a man of the match performance for her, no goals conceded from open play and after all his agonising about not scoring at the weekend he had England's only goal of the night to his name and had come close to a second.  She could not have been prouder and wasn't sure if she or Rosie had screamed more when the goal hit the back of the net.  But she knew that John would be frustrated, it was a game England should have won and despite a strong personal appearance it was points dropped and that had to hurt.

John didn't feel as badly as he did after the Andorra game, he was happier with his own performance tonight.  Frustrated to have missed that second chance, it could have been the winner, but his traditional post-match analysis had told him he couldn't have done much better.