Try Me || Erling Haaland

Chapter Two

"Fuck," I mumbled to myself, keeping my eyes tightly closed. I could tell even through closed eyes that the brightness from the daylight outside was peeking through my curtains. 

I flung my arms around my bed, patting it down trying to find my water bottle. With my eyes still closed, I sat up to take large sips of my water. I slowly opened my eyes, the brightness giving me an even worse headache. I must have overdone it last night. 

I threw the duvet from over me, climbing out of bed to get my phone. 

My clothes from last night were in a pile on the floor, my bag flung across the other side of my room and an empty pizza box open on my desk. 

I checked the time to see that it was 11:00am, I had a seminar at 09:30am that I had missed. Oh well. 

I quickly unlocked my phone, preparing myself for the embarrassing videos which I was confident all of my Snapchat and Instagram friends will have already seen by now. I opened Snapchat to see that I had posted a few pictures, starting with the one I posted of me and Imogen with our orange faces from pres. 

I carried on tapping my screen, the last story was a video. We were sat in the takeaway shop, Imogen was swaying side to side, struggling to get her pizza into her mouth. All you could hear was me laughing in the background.

My phone pinged loudly as I scrolled through my friends stories from last night, laughing at the videos they had posted. One which included me falling over a traffic sign. 

From: Mia

How's the head? 11:23am

I chuckled.

To: Mia

Awful. Can't remember anything from last night 11:24am

I watched as the three typing dots immediately appeared.

From: Mia

We shouldn't have had those shots 😂 I can't either 11:24am

I read the message and paused, trying to piece together the night. I remember leaving Ella's and getting into the Uber to the first bar and ordering a few rounds. After that, the night was a blur. 

To: Mia

Looked like a good night from what I've seen 🤣 11:27am

From: Mia

Hahahahah yeah it did! Back to bed for me though, can't wait to do it all again next week 🤪 11:28am

I reacted to Mia's message with a laughing face. The thought of drinking again next week made me feel sick, I couldn't think of anything worse than drinking or smelling alcohol. 

For the first time, I got up and out of bed, heading to the bathroom in an attempt to freshen up and make myself feel better. I looked at my reflection in the mirror, I had orange paint smeared across my face and in my hairline still. 

I turned on the tap and let the water get warm, washing my face with a flannel. The only problem being that the orange paint didn't move. I spent a while scrubbing my face, some of the paint came off but my face still had an orange tint to it and there was still orange paint in my hairline which wouldn't go. I gave up and decided to leave it. 

I snapped a picture of myself and sent it to Imogen with the caption 'Ffs I'm still orange'. My phone pinged twice. 

Imogen is typing...

New chat from Imogen

I opened the notifications to see her response. 

Imogen: 😂😂😂😂😂😂

        ♡

I was lay in bed watching Netflix and scrolling on my phone, I had eaten something and felt less hungover than I had when I woke up. 

My phone started ringing. I checked the Caller ID to see it was my friend Chloe. 

"Hello," I muttered into the phone.

I heard a loud laugh down the other end of the phone. I moved my phone away from my ear slightly.

"You sound as bad as you look," Chloe chuckled. 

I groaned. Chloe was one of my closest friends and we had been Snapchatting back and forth all day, she knew I was hungover before I even woke up. I always am on a Thursday morning. 

"Thanks mate, just what I needed to hear," I croaked back to her, a slight smile forming on my face. 

"You're welcome. Anyway, I rang to see if you're doing anything?" She asked, I could hear the wind in the background. 

"Apart from dying, nothing, " I replied. 

"Stop being so dramatic," She laughed again down the phone. "I'm just about to set off for training, was wondering if you wanted to come and watch?" She asked. 

I pulled my phone away from my ear and pressed the screen to check the time, 1:30pm, she starts training at 2pm meaning I had around 15 minutes to get ready if I wanted to go. 

"Yeah sure, give me a text when you're nearly here," I responded.

"Alright, see you soon," She chirped before ending the call. 

I brushed my long blonde hair and brushed through my eyelash extensions with a spoolie. I decided to wear something comfy, wearing a black oversized hoodie and my black Adidas sports shorts, paired with my slip on checkered Vans and Nike socks. 

My phone pinged, so I grabbed my keys to head out of my apartment and outside to meet Chloe. I saw her grey Audi parked across the road. 

I opened the passenger door and slumped into the seat. I felt Chloe look at me intensely before she started laughing hysterically.

"What?" I asked, my eyes looking at her rapidly. 

She continued to laugh.

"What?" I repeated, growing a bit annoyed. 

"Lottie, why the fuck are you still orange?" She questioned, staring at me as she laughed.

I broke eye contact and looked down at my hands which were in my lap. 

"It won't come off," I mumbled. 

"What?" She asked, her laughter eased a little.

"It won't come off," I mumbled again, slightly louder.

"What?" Her voice was more high pitched. 

"It won't come off!" I shouted. 

I looked up to see Chloe turn her lips into a flat line whilst she stared at me. The car was completely silent for roughly thirty seconds before she burst out laughing, this time harder.

She turned the key in her ignition and began to drive, I looked out the window as she drove, a faint smile on my lips, I also found the orange paint amusing. 

We drove for around 15 minutes before pulling up to the familiar black gates outside the training ground. Chloe played for Manchester City Women's team, they'd train every Tuesday and Thursday and I would often come to watch her train or I would meet her when she was finishing to do something. 

The season had ended two months ago and this was Chloe's first week back at training. She pulled into her usual parking spot and grabbed her training gear from the boot of her car.

"To help your hangover," She passed me an orange lucozade out of her bag. 

"You know me too well," I grinned, twisting the lid off the bottle and having a gulp. 

I helped her grab one of her bags, carrying it for her as we began to head to the automatic doors leading to the training grounds reception. 

    ♡