You're The One

Chapter 13

December 2020 - Manchester and north London, England

Before I knew it, our game against City had come around. The past week had been extremely uneventful; all I did was train, come home, call Kristie and feel the intense awkwardness between, go to bed, and then repeat. It certainly wasn't the best cycle.

That match was an extremely important one for the team. In past weeks, we had struggled when playing against the other top teams of Chelsea, City and United, losing to all of them already. We did have the advantage of City playing with a slightly empty midfield with their missing star player, Valentine Dahlberg, who was suffering with an ACL injury, although it was still full of more than enough talent.

We knew that we had to start with high pressure and it ended up being successful in the beginning. A poor pass from Lucy Bronze put Keira Walsh under pressure, allowing Viv to take advantage and steal the ball, slotting it low into the net from the edge of the box. We celebrated, but we knew that there was still the whole match left to play, having scored so early in the third minute.

Around the half hour mark, City was able to get one back with Caroline Weir assisting a Sam Mewis header. I hadn't seen Sam in a while, at least since we were back in the US, but we were friends through of Kristie. She too had come to England during the COVID period along with her USWNT teammate Rose Lavelle. Sam was thriving, but Rose unfortunately wasn't. Their coach, Gareth Taylor, continuously benched her, and whenever she did get to play, it was only for the final fifteen of a match.

"Oh, damn it." I cursed, extremely pissed off by the goal. City was growing more and more into the game as it progressed, and we were getting more and more tired. Thankfully though, we were able to hold them off for the rest of the ninety minutes.

That is until they scored again. We were approaching the end of stoppage time, when Weir was able to shoot a ball in from twenty yards and get it past our keeper Lydia. "Fuck this shit." I cursed yet again, collapsing to the floor once the final whistle blew. This loss would move us into third place, but at least City was still fourth. We could've definitely gotten away with a draw, but of course we had to concede in the final few seconds.

In the post-game huddle, it was clear how dejected Joe was with our defeat. "This was an extremely disappointing loss." He said, and we all stayed silent, although it was clear that we were all in agreement. "As much as I just want to say, oh, we will come back stronger in the next match - we could've kept the draw. We all know it. A lot of last minute goals in recent matches just show our lack of focus in the important moments, meaning we lose out on crucial points. Although we certainly didn't play our best, City were still quite disjointed as well. You can tell how they struggle to get on when they lack Dahlberg in the centre. We had our opportunities, but we blew it. However, the past is the past and there's nothing we can do to change it now. The only thing we can do would be to work even harder and smash Everton next weekend." We all went home in bad moods that day, the loss took out all my energy, and I was convinced I had a swearing problem so all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep. Thankfully, the next day we were allowed a lie in and a partial rest day.

Once I woke up the next morning, I was able to be crazy productive with the free time, doing some yoga and even getting around to cooking myself a big breakfast. I didn't touch my phone until around midday, just as I was about to leave for our afternoon recovery session. I switched it on, and tens of messages awaited me. Three missed calls from Kristie.

Initially I was confused, but then I realised my contract must have been announced already. I raced to Arsenal's Twitter profile and found a tweet regarding my new contract.

ArsenalWFC: We've got some exciting news to share... aleidvanalstine signs a new long term contract with the club!

Enclosed in the tweet was a news article talking more about it. Oh crap, it was posted two hours ago already. I should've known it was going to be today!

We are delighted to announce that Aleid van Alstine has signed a new contract with the club.

Aleid joined us this past summer from the Houston Dash in the NWSL, establishing herself as a regular starter in the right back position under Joe Montemurro. She has since made 14 appearances for the club and has already scored five goals in all competitions. Initially signing a short-term deal, she has now extended her stay here in North London.

The 24-year-old Dutch international was spoken about very positively by Head Coach Joe Montemurro, with him saying: "I am extremely happy that Aleid has extended her stay with us. She is an incredible player with a fantastic career still to come. I know she can make a large contribution to the team, both in the dressing room and on the pitch, so I am looking forward to the future."

"This is a great opportunity for me," said Aleid. "I think we have a great group of players who are all passionate about the club and the team, and we are all really passionate about reaching the next level. Hopefully we can start make a big step in that direction. I'm really thankful for this, and can't wait to see what we can achieve!"

Just as I finished reading the article, my phone started ringing again with a call from Kristie. I picked up instantly, my hands trembling with guilt.

"I am so sorry." I said as soon as the call connected, and I could hear her sigh in the background. That made me feel even worse, as I could tell she was feeling more disappointed rather than angry.

"Tell me when you signed it." She said curtly, and I told her the truth.

"Beginning of November?" She announced with astonishment, almost as if she couldn't believe it. "You waited this long to tell me? Not even that, you saw me in person too and still didn't?"

"Kristie, I'm sorry. I really am. I know I should've told you as soon as I signed it, I just knew you would be angry at me."

"Aleid I wouldn't have been angry at you! At the end of the day, I would've understood. I play soccer too, I know what it's like. You're playing great over there and extending was probably right decision! It's just that you didn't tell me or at least didn't want to tell me."

"Of course I wanted to tell you! It's just been so distant between us lately and I didn't know what to do."

"I think we need to have some time to ourselves. You clearly felt conflicted and restricted within our relationship, and I think that you need to fix that before we can continue."

"That's not it, Kris. It's not like that. Please don't do this."

"Time, Aleid. That's what I need."

"I'm really, really sorry. You have got to tell me how to make it up to you."

"Ok. Goodbye, we'll talk soon." And with that, she hung up. Abruptly.

"Fuck!" I shouted out loud, knowing I had completely screwed up. At least she said we would talk soon. That was about the only thing keeping me going.