"the moon is high, like your friends were the night that we first met.."
×
Aurelius Montgomery, a 16 year old footballer, moves in with his famous sister in London, and soon realises how much different the big city is from his hometown in St Helens...
Leah had been messaging Damian since the custody papers went through, and today was his trial.
12th August 2021.
A day he'd never forget.
Ella, Alessia, Lucy and Kiera were all coming down from Manchester, deciding they'd come support their Cub as they'd taken to calling him.
In Lucy's words. "He isn't quite old enough to be a Lion. He's a baby."
As much as he complained at the nickname - he wasn't a baby, though he understood how it could feel like that to 30 year old Lucy Bronze - he did love it, moreso the fact that they thought he was important enough for a nickname then the nickname himself.
He'd met Ella and Alessia for the first time at the party Leah threw 8 days ago, and had instantly followed them on Instagram.
"What, they're cool!" He had defended himself to Liam when he got offended he was following Manchester United players.
They'd been messaging each other since, even going as far as to create a group chat, where they sent prank ideas and other random tik toks.
He pulled on a pair of shorts and a short sleeved t-shirt - not his Liverpool Wilson shirt, he was sure if he did that he'd be told to sod off - and got everything else he needed for the day.
He picked up his shin pads and his football boots, as well as a pair of knee high socks and made his way downstairs.
As if she knew he'd be nervous, the moment he got downstairs, Adrienne kpened her arms, allowing him to drop himself into her grip.
"You're gonna do amazing. I'm gonna be there, Leah's gonna be there. The Arsenal girls are gonna be there, they're all hanging back after training for you. And even Lucy, Kiera, Less and Tooney are gonna be there. You've got a village now, Riley, don't forget that."
Aurelius wrapped his arms tighter around Adrienne's waist. "So I gotta play in front of some of the best players in the world? And you? Yay." He teases.
Adrienne scoffs. "Oh shush you."
×××
When they got there, the nerves instantly kicked in.
"Addie. What if I'm not good enough?" He spoke suddenly making Adrienne's eyes widen.
Her eyes flickered towards him but she made sure her eyes stayed on the road.
"You're going to do amazing." She told him, no uncertainty in her voice. "You are amazing."
A single tear slid down his cheek, but he was quick to wipe it away.
"Hey, hey, hey, why are you crying?" She asked him.
"If I mess up. If I fail.. Leah is gonna be so disappointed. This is her job, could you imagine how embarrassing it would be for me to fail?" He rambled out, more tears growing in his eyes.
He'd always felt safe crying around his sister, she was the only person he'd ever cry in front of.
"Aurelius." She spoke calmly. "Leah will never be disappointed in you. Ever." She spoke sternly. "You mean a lot to her, she tells me every night how thankful she is that you live with us. And never has that been based on football. It's just you."
"I'm proud of her, Ren, she's so good at what she does. And I wanna be just as good as good as she is."
×××
And he is.
As soon as he got there, he got straight into the game, making every single drill perfectly.
Shooting Drills,
Passing Drills,
Saving Drills,
Defense Drills.
He did every drill under the sun, and he completed them perfectly. Even managing to score past Manu, once.
She did not like that one bit.
"Cubby!" Lucy was the first one over, smiling brightly at the teenager. "You did so good." The Manchester City player spoke as she patted his back.
The rest of the team slowly joined, all of them congratulating him, Beth even picking him up and giving him a spin.
Celebrations were cut short when Damian came over, a smile on his own face.
"Aurelius, you are insane. Your play is incredible. We'd love to have you on the team. No doubt about it. Are you free maybe next Thursday to come sign a contract? Would be quicker, but we've got to obviously sort it out."
He looked towards Addie who instantly nodded, having no plans for the following Thursday.
"Yes, that's great, thank you so much. This means so much to me. Thank you."
Damian smiled and patted him on the back softly.
"We're looking forward to have you."
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Okay- so- it's been like 5 months, but here's something at least? I can't promise I'm gonna update again anytime soon, but at least I've posted something?
