I Don't Want You Like A Best Friend

29

Y/N POV

"Alright guys, I won't bother making this a whole thing, because you all already know what to do. We've played this game a million times, we read each other without words, we know what's expected of us. Let's get out there and kick Ireland's ass!" I yelled with enthusiasm, hoping to widen the smiles on my teammate's faces.

"Fuck yeah!" Ash screamed, making Ali flinch.

"Jesus Ash, that was right in my ear!"

The goalie chuckled nervously. "Sorry Babe."

I grinned to myself, watching the two of them and thinking about how amazing it was that they were able to maintain such a fun, exciting, and loving relationship despite the stress, travel, and demand of our jobs.

A loud knock on the locker room door brought me back to reality, and Jill poked her head in. "Are we ready, guys? We need to start lining up."

Everyone nodded and made their way into the concrete tunnel, lining up in numerical order next to Ireland's team, who did the same. Just before going to the front of the line, I ran into my girlfriend, who looked so good in her high waisted jean shorts, high top converse, and one of my jerseys that was a bit too big for her, so it hung slightly off one of her shoulders.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, so happy to see her.

"I wasn't gonna let you go out onto that field without wishing you good luck." She replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

My heart skipped a beat at her sweet words, and I pulled her into a quick kiss, not caring that her red lipstick was now on my lips. Pulling away, I tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Thank you." They were not the words on the tip of my tongue, but I felt it was a bit too soon to say them, so I went with 'thank you' instead.

Taylor smirked, wiping the lipstick from my lips with her finger. "Good luck, baby boy."

"Y/n, let's go!" Jill called from the entrance of the tunnel, waving at me to get my ass in line.

"I'll see you after the game?" I asked hurriedly, walking backwards toward my spot.

"Of course!" Taylor replied. "Go kick ass! Oh, and by the way, you look really hot in your uniform!"

I had a smile on my face for the entire game. 

As expected, our team was an absolute unit on the pitch, and by the time 91 minutes had ended, the score was 3-0 USA. Tobin, Carli, and Lindsey had all scored in the first half. Our team kept over 80% possession, and I barely had to block the less than 10 shots Ireland took on our goal.

All in all, it was a fun, solid game, and as we waved to the fans, all I wanted to do was be with Taylor. After spending some time taking pictures and signing jerseys, everyone went back to the locker room to change. 

I was the last one to enter, but just before I could, I ran into someone, and as soon as I saw their face, my jaw hit the floor.

"Joe?!"

He glared at me with nothing but pure hatred. Looking down the tunnel past him, I saw that we were currently the only two people there. Everyone else was either still on the pitch or in the locker rooms. 

"What the hell are you doing here, man?" I questioned, eyeing him suspiciously. I had a really bad feeling about this.

"I told you what I was gonna do if you didn't stay away from Taylor, didn't I?" He said, though it didn't really seem like a question. The dark look in his eye told me that I better be ready to fight.

Still, I wasn't gonna let him off that easily. All of the anger I had for him began bubbling to the surface as I remembered every horrible thing he said to me. "You do realize you and her were never together, right? She didn't even like you. She told me herself. You're just obsessed with her and lied about being with her to scare me off. You know you don't have a chance with her, so I'm gonna ask you again, what are you doing here?" I spoke with venom in my voice, wanting to make it clear that he didn't intimidate me.

He looked baffled at my bluntness, and instead of responding with words, he swung a punch, which I dodged (just barely). I punched him back, my fist connecting with his face hard. He stumbled back in shock, then his expression twisted to hatred, and he charged at me, body slamming me and pinning me to the wall.

All of the air was knocked from my lungs, and in the two seconds it took me to recover, Joe managed to land two punches, one to my face, the other to my ribs. I felt my lip split and blood begin to pour from my nose.

In a desperate attempt to break free from his grasp, I kneed him in the crotch and scrambled away when he felt to his knees, face contorting in pain. I launched myself on top of him, no longer bothering to restrain myself as I assaulted him with my fists, over and over and over again.

"You son of a bitch!" I screamed. "Leave her alone! Leave us alone!"

Then I heard her voice, and I froze.

"Y/n!"

And Joe took that opportunity to right hook me across the face, hitting my upper cheek, just below my eye. My vision grew blurry and my head was pounding just like my pulse. Before Joe had a chance to go at me again, Ash and Tobin were holding him back, pinning his arms behind him.

Taylor rushed over to me, along with the rest of my team, the Ireland team, Dawn, Jill, Mark, and Erica. 

I tried to stay conscious, but it was growing hard to breathe, and my head hurt too badly.

Taylor's voice was the last thing I heard. 

"Y/n, please!"

Then everything went black.