Illicit Affair • Ben Chilwell

Quarantine Chronicles

      When the country shut down due to covid-19, Christian and Scarlett decided to quarantine together. They liked the idea better than being alone, and knew it would put their parents at ease. It was a quiet morning, Christian was working out with the equipment the club had sent over for him to stay in shape. Scarlett was in the living room filming the into for one of her "Quarantine Chronicles" vlog-style videos. It had only been two weeks and she was already running out of video ideas.

   Her videos were typically 15 to 45 minutes long depending on the concept, but she was lucky to get 10 minutes of content for a whole week. She enjoyed getting to spend the days with Christian, they had missed so much of each other's life over the last four years. He would try teaching her German and she would teach him TikTok dances. They laughed a lot, no matter what they were doing.

    She put down her vlog camera when her phone started ringing. She's picked it up to see it was a facetime call from Ben. She quickly answered, and walked into the kitchen.

    "Hey loser," She teased, grabbing the jug of orange juice out of the fridge. Ben smiled wide, his hair all over the place. She knew it had been time since he had gotten a haircut.

"Hello, we haven't chatted in a bit so I thought I would call. How's your lockdown going?" He asked. She grabbed a cup from the cabinet and set her phone on the counter.

"It's been alright, I'm staying with Christian. We're keeping each other from going insane," She chuckled. Ben furrowed his eyebrows, he assumed she was talking about Christian Pulisic. He knew about the American playing for Chelsea, he also seen pictures of him all over Scarlett's Instagram.

"No, I didn't realize you two were so close," He lied.

"Yeah, he's my best friend. We've known each other since diapers, literally. Our moms are best friends," Scarlett explained. Ben felt relieved, he could all of a sudden breathe easier knowing they were friends.

"I knew you and Mason had been friends since you were kids. I didn't know you were so connected in the football world," He joked.

"I mean, I'm a pretty big deal. I nearly broke your ankle when we played," She recalled the day they met.

"You did not. I let you get by me," Ben insisted.

"I psyched you out and you fell, but if that's what helps you sleep at night," She chortled taking a sip from the glass.

"I was just calling to check on you, but if you're going to keep being mean to me, I'll hang up," Ben tried being serious.

"Go ahead, sunshine," She smiled and then quickly hung up on him. She was waiting for him to call back when a sweaty Christian entered the kitchen.

"Who were you talking to?" He questioned getting a bottle of water out of the fridge.

"Uhh," Scarlett didn't know if she should tell Christian about her new friend. She distinctly remembered the conversation with him and Mason back in August.

    Mason, Christian, and Scarlett sat in her living room watching Aston Villa v. Everton. She made a comment about how fit Jack Grealish was. Mason sat up straight turning to the red-haired girl with a look of disbelief.

    "You wouldn't date a footballer, would you?" the British boy questioned.

       "I don't know. I don't have a type," She replied confused about Mason's behavior. He looked to Christian for backup, and the American boy cleared his throat.

      "Uhh. I don't think you should get involved with them. I mean, obviously, you can have friends, like Reece," He awkwardly spoke not wanting to get involved.

       "What we're trying to say is, we would feel more comfortable if you didn't get romantically involved with our teammates or opponents, or anyone who plays in the premier league," Mason concluded.

       "So you two are in charge of my love life now?" Scarlett laughed not believing the words her best friends were saying.

    "No, no. Of course not," Christian backtracked, "We're just looking out for you. The stereotypes about footballers aren't always true, but in the end, it would be better to not get mixed up with them."

      "Yeah, we're great and Reece is great, but they're all not like us. So, make as many friends as you want, just promise you won't be more than friends," Mason added.

      "Fine. I promise you idiots I won't get "involved" with any footballers. Now, can we get back to the game?" Scarlett rolled her eyes. It was such an odd request but, she loved them enough to agree. There were plenty of other guys and she didn't know any other footballers besides the Chelsea boys.

    "Just a friend," Scarlett continued her conversation with Chris.

"What kind of friend?" He teased wiggling his eyebrows and twisting the top off the water bottle.

"Not that kind of friend. That would be inappropriate considering I promised I wouldn't get involved with any footballers," She informed walking out of the kitchen. Christian almost choked on his water, then quickly followed after the girl.

       "Who? Do I know him? Does he play for the club? Is it Callum?" He interrogated as they walked up the stairs.

Scarlett laughed watching him get frazzled so fast. "No, no, and no," She giggled walking into her "bedroom".

     "Then who?" He asked, again.

    About that time her phone began ringing, it was Ben calling back. Christian peeked over her shoulder to see "Benji🙄" across the screen.

      "Who is Benji?" He asked as she silenced the call.

      "Ben Chilwell, if you must know. We met back in December after I finished filming a football video," She replied wanting the questions to end.

      "And you're just friends? Actually just friends like you and me?" Chris asked.

      "For fucks sake, yes! We're just friends, nothing more. Does that answer all 900 questions you have?" Scarlett ranted.

       "Jeez. Sorry for pissing you off. I just figured you would've told me," Chris shrugged sitting on her bed.

Scarlett took a deep breath as Christian's phone began to ring, she saw it was Mason as he answered putting the phone on speaker. He only called to see if Chris wanted to play COD now that training was over.

"Yeah, can you give me 20 minutes?" Christian asked. Mason agreed, but before he could hang up Christian spoke again.
"Did you know Scar is friends with Ben Chilwell?" Scarlett rolled her eyes, again.     

   "How does she know Ben?" Mason wondered, "Are they just friends?" He continued.

       "Oh my god. You two are so annoying. Go play video games with him and talk about anything other than me," Scarlett ordered sending the boy and his phone out of her room.

She knew they were just messing with her, for the most part, but she couldn't help but get annoyed so quickly. Quarantine was wearing her nerves thin. She wanted nothing more than to go to the pub with Harry and Freezy and down a bunch of Sambuca shots, but that wouldn't happen for a while.