Further Apart| M. Mount

FORTY SIX

Chelsea vs Manchester City
📍Stamford Bridge, London

Today, the 25th September 2021 was one of the most anticipated game in the premier league so far, it was the day that Manchester City and Chelsea played face to face since the Champions League final back in May which secured Chelsea their second trophy in the competition.

The line up today was as follows:
Mendy in goal.
Azpi, Christensen and Rüdiger as the back three.
Reece, Kanté, Laia, Kova and Marcos in Midfield.
Leaving Lukaku and Timo up front.

Mason was completely out of the line up which allowed Laia to focus on the game rather than wanting to have a screaming match with him throughout the 90 minutes. There was 5 minutes to kickoff which meant that the team had finished their training on the pitch and had now changed out of their training gear into their usual blue kits as well as their jackets to walk onto the pitch with.

Like every match the team lined up together in the tunnel across from the opposition that they faced today, it was no secret to Laia that her nerves were through the roof but chose to put those nerves aside to focus on the match ahead. Once they finished lining up on the pitch in front of the fans, Laia and the rest of their team made their way to their positions on the pitch with the blonde getting into position and praying a silent prayer before the whistle blew for the beginning of the first half.

Chances came for both teams with Chelsea's first breakthrough came from Timo making a good run towards City's goal then passing the ball to Lukaku who ultimately missed the ball and fumbled with it making it go out for a Chelsea corner, nothing came out of the corner which was taken by Marcos which frustrated the whole team and especially Laia. Even though the blues made good chances frustration also came early on into the game with Reece getting subbed off for an ankle injury and ended up being replaced by Thiago for the remainder of the first half. The blonde was getting annoyed by all the chances they were missing with Lukaku being the main root of Laia's annoyance, multiple chances were missed by the Belgian which frustrated many and by half time Laia felt like she'd had enough.

While in the dressing room she listened to Thomas' halftime lecture which lasted about ten minutes and to calm her frustration she put on her headphones to listen to music for the remaining 5 minutes. Those last 5 minutes of bliss went by faster than Laia had wanted them to but knew that they had unfinished business to get back to on the pitch which snapped the German back into the focused mindset she always maintained during games.

Every player had gotten into position making the referee below the whistle to mark the start of the remaining half of the 90 minutes, however from the moment the whistle had blown it was obvious that the team looked sloppy and that only added to Laia's frustration which ended up with her shouting at the boys to focus on defending since City were starting to make dangerous advances in Mendy's direction. The quality of the team's form showed 8 minutes into the restart when Gabriel Jesus managed to score with all of Chelsea's defence clumped up around him, when the blonde saw the ball roll into the bottom left hand corner of the goal she brought her hands to her face accompanied with a groan. When she caught eyes on Antonio she started raising her voice at him expressing her annoyance on how they looked form wise, a sense of guilt came but quickly disappeared since in that moment she was having none of it.

Twenty minutes later Laia was subbed off for Ruben which she was thankful for since her attitude wasn't appropriate for the pitch and it was obvious that it was having an effect on her
performance, she left the pitch shaking her head and gave Ruben a small smile before she gave him a small high five. When she was heading to the bench the blonde felt a small pat on her back which she knew was Thomas since she had just walked past him, however her mood didn't change, she was pissed and she wasn't afraid to hide it.

The match had ended 1-0 to City which marked Chelsea's first defeat of the season which brought down the whole teams mood, after shaking the City players hands Laia made her way to the dressing room not making contact with anyone except for when she was about to leave when she said a small goodbye to the team.

Once Laia had gotten into her car the flood gates broke out and she broke into tears, the whole week had been too much for her to handle and it had started to take a toll on her mood as well as her behaviour which extremely annoyed her since this wasn't her usual self. She drove back home in complete silence while crying to herself and just letting all her emotions out, the blonde was just looking forward to getting in her bed or possibly having a full tub of ice cream which she had waiting in her freezer and was calling her name.

☆ ☆ ☆

After a silent 20 minute drive she arrived home, however when she started to park her car she noticed a figure in the corner of her eye standing by her front door and she knew that it could be only one person but one person she currently wanted to avoid at all levels. Laia grabbed her bag and made her way to the door with the keys in her hands walking right past the boy not paying him any attention.

"Laia just let me explain". Mason begged his neighbour.

"Laia, don't ignore me. Just let me explain". He begged again with no response from the girl.

All Laia wanted to do was scream in his face but she just chose to ignore him and walked through the door, closing the front door in the boy's face since she really wasn't in the mood for any of this. However Mason didn't give up, he rang the door bell repeatedly as well as knocking in the hopes that she would open the door and after 20 minutes she did just that. The blonde had opened the door but walked back to the living room and sat on the sofa making the boy walk in and sit beside her.

Mason couldn't take anymore of the silence so he decided that he would break it since he knew the German wouldn't anytime soon.

"Gabriella and I aren't together Laia". Mason told the girl, both of them avoiding eye contact due to Laia knowing that if she looked him in the eye she wouldn't know if she would break into tears again.

"Why would you think I care? I really don't give a shit". She replied with a sour tone to the Chelsea boy sitting next to her.

"Don't lie to me Laia, It hurt me to see you like that".

"I really don't know what you're talking about Mason, I'm perfectly fine". The blonde shrugged her shoulders slightly trying to convince him that she didn't care.

"So you're telling me that you didn't get upset when you saw Gabi at my front door and didn't run off when she hugged me". Mason said furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, however Laia's façade faltered when she shut her eyes trying not to think of that moment.

Mason placed his hand on her chin to make her eyes meet his and when they did his heart ached, she looked back at him with tears eyes making him want to make everything better and stop her from hurting. In that moment he wasn't thinking when he brought his lips to hers all he wanted was her, he always did, even though he loved her Gabi was only a distraction from his crush on Laia and when she moved away he felt broken.

All he wanted was her forgiveness, he didn't want them to be distant. Mason always wanted to be at her side , he never intended to hurt her like he did and he knew that the guilt would haunt him if he didn't make it right.

A/N: A bit of a longer chapter <3