United in Break-Up

Chapter 3

"Damn, my head is hurting so much!" Beth complained as she opened the front door to Vivianne the next day after the finals. The Dutchwoman couldn't help but laugh, with as much alcohol as Beth drank at the party yesterday, she wasn't surprised at all - actually, she was more surprised that the Englishwoman could even remember her date to hang out today after the celebrations yesterday for sobering up together. "If it makes you feel any better, I brought us some food from the Chinese takeaway around the corner," Vivianne said, holding up a brown paper bag. Beth squealed with delight, snatched the bag from her hand and grabbed two plates from the kitchen before throwing herself on her big sofa. "Thank you, Viv, that's just what I need right now!" the English girl said with her mouth already full of food. "You're welcome, but please leave some food for me too," Vivianne grinned as she plopped down on the sofa next to Beth and poured some of the food onto her own plate.

"So did I miss anything at the party yesterday?" asked Vivianne after a while of eating in silence comfortably. "Actually, not much - unless you mean that crazy dance performance by Tooney and Alessia on the tables, or when Leah and Lotte had a competition about who could drink
more beer in five minutes," Beth laughed. Oh yes, Vivianne had been sent videos of both by her Arsenal teammates, who also played for England's national team, especially the drinking competition looked hilarious. She herself had gone home earlier, because she wasn't much of a party girl and still did want to have a bit of peace and quiet that evening.

"But anyways, thanks for letting me know that you got home safely. Otherwise I would have started a search for you even in my drunken state!" said Beth and looked over at her with a sincere smile. Those were words Vivianne could be sure she meant. She especially values that about Beth. "Thank you, Beth, I really appreciate your caring, but I wonder if the search operation would still have been successful in your condition," said Vivianne with a genuine grin on her face.

"By the way, did you already see what the fans made out of our picture together?" Vivianne changed the subject. She had posted a picture on her Instagram story just last night, with Beth sitting on her lap. The Englishwoman was proudly holding the trophy in her hand and both women were grinning from ear to ear. It was a very nice picture and Vivianne shared it with her fans without any ulterior motives. "Instagram is apparently freaking out and thinks we are a couple now! I can hardly save myself from messages with questions about us getting together and montages of pictures that show the two of us together. It's hilarious, isn't it?" laughed the Dutchwoman. She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and held it out to Beth to click through some of said messages and montages.

Beth didn't seem to find the content quite as funny as the other woman did, though. It's just that Vivianne was a little too engrossed in her narrative that she didn't really notice. "But not only the fans, but also Danielle reacted to the story. She told me to congratulate you and she called us a "mooie stelletje", which I guess means something like "cute couple" in English. Also a bit crazy, isn't it?" the Dutchwoman continued while Beth's mood continued to deteriorate rapidly.

Beth was still holding the phone in her hand when a new notification popped up on the top screen. "A new message from Alessia" was what WhatsApp showed her. Beth looked over at Vivianne questioningly, "Alessia as in Alessia Russo? My teammate on the England team?". Vivianne grabbed her phone and nodded. "Right, we got to talking yesterday and Leah and Jordan convinced me that I should text her. They think Alessia has been flirting with me and I should just see if I'm ready to meet someone new again - and a second later, Jordan had already saved Alessia's number in my phone."

There are rare moments when the usually very talkative Beth is simply at a loss for words, but now seemed to be one such moment. "So what have you two been texting her about?" was all she could bring out. "Actually, I was just asking her last night if she got home safely. Especially after I saw the dance performance with Tooney, which by the way was quite hot after all, I had my doubts about it," replied Vivianne. "Wow, you've still got it with the flirting! That's definitely a good text to show that you care about her and that you are interested in her," Beth mumbles but Vivianne was somehow not entirely sure if that was meant seriously, the undertone was hard to miss, but she still couldn't quite put her finger on what it exactly it was about.

"Russo really is a total catch!" Beth added with more conviction in her voice. "Wait and see, I don't even know her, but she's funny and interesting, I like that - and I guess there's no denying that she's very good looking, too," said Vivianne while grinning and shrugging her shoulders. "Absolutely! And it's good that you're opening your eyes to other women again," said Beth absentmindedly. "Exactly, we couldn't stay single forever! That would be such a waste for womankind, especially with you!" the Dutch girl replied with a laugh. Beth laughed along, but it sounded fake and not from the heart.

Vivianne meanwhile wondered if she had gone too far with the mentioning of Danielle's comment on her story on Instagram? Even though Beth and Danielle hadn't been together for months, the pain still seemed to run deep. They were also together for years and the break-up was not Beth's, but Danielle's idea and decision. Vivianne still remembered how unexpected the break-up was for everyone - and as she spent more time with Beth, she also realized that Beth hadn't expected the break-up either. Just because the Englishwoman seemed fine yesterday doesn't mean that her hurting is ultimately over now. When the pain runs deep, you have to let it go several times.

And then she had also talked about Alessia. Just because she was now trying to get back into the dating game doesn't mean that Beth is ready to deal with that again. Maybe she also felt pressured by it - Vivianne got a bad conscience, that was definitely not her intention. Or maybe she just didn't like Alessia? The way Beth had talked about her, it didn't sound like her honest opinion. Maybe she should just be careful about the topic of dating around Beth. So far, they seemed to have the same rhythm in moving on from their ex-girlfriends but maybe that changed at this point.

In an attempt to save the mood, Vivianne suggested watching a movie together. Beth nodded and handed her the remote control - when it came to choosing a movie, the Englishwoman left the choice completely up to her guest and the Dutchwoman opted for the feel good classic called "Easy A" and leaned back in the sofa. After just a few minutes, she heard a soft snoring sound next to her. Beth had fallen asleep and came with her head suspiciously close to her shoulder. At the sight Vivianne had to smile directly - it looked a bit cute how the blonde was hanging on the sofa with her mouth half open. Automatically, she slid a little closer on the sofa to her teammate, so that Beth's head could now rest comfortably on her shoulder. Maybe, after all, the Englishwoman was just tired or hungover and she just hadn't caught a good time for conversation in general and it all had nothing to do with the topic of Danielle or other women. In any case, sitting together on the sofa felt so cozy that a short time later the Dutch woman also fell asleep in front of the TV with a soft smile on her lips.