london nights

0.9

the next day, early training could be the death of everybody. luckily, it's nothing too stressful, some team building activities and set piece practice, which caitlin is grateful for. she's rarely ever on the end of set pieces. their next game is against brighton, who lost against leicester the week before, the same day as their game against chelsea.

most of the free time caitlin got throughout this past week has been spent with her friends and teammates, today is no different. she goes out bowling, fifth wheeling jordan, leah, beth and viv. caitlin is a terrible bowler, she can't remember the last time she hit a strike, but jordan gets a strike after a couple of tries, which beth catches on camera.

match day minus 1 is stress free. caitlin spends most of it near katie, who is attempting to nutmeg absolutely everyone.

"i bet you're not gonna get it through viv," caitlin says dribbling a ball besides katie. katie sticks out her hand and takes the bet.

"dinner on whoever loses, i'm taking that bet." katie says dribbling naturally towards over to viv. she starts some sort of conversation, but midway through, the ball casually slips between viv's legs and caitlin throws her head back dramatically.

"viv!" caitlin screams. viv turns over with a dumbfounded look on her face. "what was that! i'm trying to not pay for her dinner!"

"how was i supposed to know that!?" she replies with her scottish sounding accent.

"you got nutmegged, by katie! of all people!"

"okay, first of all, rude! second of all, she's got long legs! you know what that means, it's too easy to nutmeg you miedema." katie laughs boisterously as she dribbles towards laura, who she nutmegs easily. caitlin decides not to bet anything against katie for the rest of practice, her choice is smart because the irish international just about nutmegs every one of her teammates. the last two people that have yet to be nutmegged by katie are rafa and kim, both of which are talking to a physio.

"distract them for me caits," katie says fully focused on the task ahead of her.

"admit it, you need my help. can't nutmeg the great kim little without me huh!" caitlin says laughing.

"yes, yes, whatever will soothe your ego foord, just distract the physio, it's the least you can do." katie replies hurriedly.

"what's the most i can do then!?" caitlin calls back humorously. when she approaches, she overhears that the conversation is not at all about soccer, but about touristy spots in australia. she takes it as her moment to cut in, asking the physio to take a look at something for her. she makes small talk, but it's clear that the physio clearly thinks something is up, and katie is taking forever to nutmeg the veteran midfielder.

"so is anything actually wrong with your health or are you just here to distract me so that mccabe can nutmeg kim and rafa?" the physio asks with her arms crossed, a knowing expression on her face.

"um, my foot? it's been feeling a bit iffy, just want to make sure it isn't anything bad," caitlin replies, making up a lie on the spot. she sits down on the grass, intensely watching katie, kim and rafa. the latter goes off to chat with teyah, and as kim is saying her farewell, katie takes the opportunity to slot the ball through her legs. when the ball goes through successfully, katie celebrates as if she's won the world cup final, prancing around the training ground, holding the ball up as a trophy. caitlin hadn't even noticed the sharp pain in her foot because she was so focused on the nutmegging situation.

"did that hurt?" the physio asks raising her eyebrow.

"uh, yeah, actually it did." caitlin says surprising herself. she proceeds to put pressure on the spot, and caitlin winces every time she presses down.