ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇꜱᴇ ɴɪɢʜᴛꜱ

𝙾𝙽𝙴

June 2019

"Three more laps' lads" calls out Gareth as the team continue trudging around the pitch. The team had been on a run of wins, and this was their last training session. They initially had the Euro's planned for 2020, however due to scheduling it had to be moved to 2021 which the team were glad about as it gave them longer to prepare.

Mason was lagging a bit today, they had only one more match to go in their friendlies and he couldn't wait to start his summer holiday now. He had been bought back into the Chelsea team and made a part of the first team this past season and the level of football was something else. He had been so excited to achieve this that he was completely blown away when he was also called up to the first team England Squad in their March camp. Granted he had been up to St George's Park before with the under's and also when he helped train with the first team before the last world cup, but he had never been included.

However with all the additional work and how busy he had found himself this year he was almost crawling to the end of the season. He had 2 weeks booked away in Santorini with his girlfriend Daisy and his family were joining them for one of them. And then after that they were jetting off for a week in Dubai with Dec and his girlfriend Laura.

He definitely needed the break. If he was being honest, him and Daisy definitely needed it. He had found with this past year their relationship had been strained. They were still the best of friends, that hadn't changed, but it was like the spark had gone out.

When they first started dating they were able to be more carefree, date nights any day of the week, spontaneous trips whenever they liked, and days spent in bed together. Even at Derby they could head into the town and enjoy some dinner and drinks and go almost undetected. However, since his move to Chelsea he had become somewhat 'famous'.

People knew who he was, people wanted to know who Daisy was, they were followed wherever they went, and it made romantic occasions harder to plan or a private at home affair.

And not to mention the fact that this year had really taken it out of him. He was getting home tired, he was exhausted from all the additional games with the new way of training and the lack of quality time they got to spend together.

Daisy never complained though not even once. She was always waiting for him when he got home, dinner ready, a bath run if he needed it and she was always on hand for his 'manky feet' as she put it, regularly massaging them as he laid out on the sofa dozing.

He truly loved her, and he knew she loved him too, but he wasn't sure if they were in love anymore. The romance was normally a lot more mundane than in their younger days, being able to share a meal together without him falling asleep was a bonus and as for sex, it was either scheduled in or was a quickie before one of them had to shoot off.

He always felt with her that it was like right person but the wrong time, like she could be the one if he met her later in life. He could picture himself settling down with her, having kids with her and retiring with her. But he also knew he couldn't ask her to wait, and he was well aware he had been making her wait long enough over the past year.

So, he hoped going away this summer would give them a chance to rekindle some flame that had long gone out or if not would give them one final last memory of this chapter of their life before they become just friends. Either way he didn't want to lose Daisy forever and that he was certain.

*

Sophia was sat on the bench. The warm June sunshine was beaming down on her face, and she couldn't help but mentally count down in her head the days till her holiday away with her friends. 10 days and about 4 hours till she would be sipping some form of cocktail in the Wetherspoons at the airport.

She was thankful for the warm weather. When she started with the England Team in March it had been miserable. It was rainy and grey, and she honestly thought she had made a terrible choice in taking up this role.

But that feeling lasted about 5 minutes as she knew she had worked so hard to get here. She knew she was doing a job that most people would only dream of doing and a lot of girls would be looking up to her. She had practically filled out the application for this job the day it came up online and felt like such a teacher's pet for sending it back with additional pages of information about herself, it felt like she had written an essay.

But it worked and she was here, and she couldn't help but keep pinching herself over this all as she looked out on the boys running round the pitch.

"Alright Coach" she heard shouted from that distinctive accent she had already come to know even through a crowded room.

"Mount" she replied as she looked up at him.

"The gaffer said I need to come and see you later about the data from my vest?" he questioned, having been asked to wear one of the performances vests which Sophia had been monitoring and noticed a slight irregularity from some of his previous wears.

"Yes, nothing to be worrying about" she said with a smile "When you get some free time later just head down to my office and we will go through it"

"Okay cool, see you later" he said as he went running off back to join the other lads.

Sophia had always prided herself on having a good rapport with the people she worked with. However, with Mason it was like they were drawn together.

Her first day in her new role was always Mason's first day in being called up to the first team. So, when she went round for a tour of the facilities, Mason came too. They had kind of clung together, helping each other out on the March camp. She had learnt quite a lot about him, she knew he was only 20, which made her feel very old at almost 26. She knew how he had a girlfriend, how his family were his whole world and how this was all he had ever dreamed about.

She didn't need to know anything about his Chelsea history, with her dad being an avid Chelsea supported she knew all about the up-and-coming Cobham 'star boy'. But what she didn't realise was how well they would get on. So even though she was technically one of his bosses she saw him more as a friend than someone she needed to keep an eye on and take charge of.

He had definitely made her time so far with the England team enjoyable and she knew with her help as a performance coach she could hopefully mould him and enhance the talent he already had.

*