ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇꜱᴇ ɴɪɢʜᴛꜱ

𝙴𝙸𝙶𝙷𝚃

As the camp went on Sophia found herself more often than not focusing most of her attention on Mason. She wasn't sure if it was because she was noticing him more, the little things he did that made her laugh, hearing the sound of his voice shouting out loudly across the field causing her to search for him or if it was the fact that her eyes just seemed to be drawn to him. However, on more than one occasion she had to be snapped out of her thoughts of him and pulled back to the task at hand.

Mason tried to do everything in his power to keep Sophia's attention, to remain in her good books. He wasn't sure when it became such a turn on for him to see someone proud, he guessed when Daisy used to watch him play and cheer loudly he normally did put an extra shift in when he got home. But seeing Sophia's face smiling at him as he completes the drills she has set or make remarks like 'impressive Mount' or 'top of the class Mason' it gave him a slight twinge. He was growing to like the way she looked at him, not just like the other coaches, but truly looked at him.

Because of this Sophia and Mason had ended up spending more and more time together during this time at St George's Park. He had been referred to as a teacher's pet by Ben on more than one occasion when he would run ahead to chat to Sophia about his performance or her day so far, really anything to just be in her presence. They had also found themselves catching up in the evenings at times, when the boys would be playing pool and Sophia would be unwinding with Alex. He liked when she was present, it made him feel like a love sick school boy and it was a feeling he didn't think he would tire of when around Sophia.

He had even worked out after the first two days of them bumping into each other in reception that Sophia was normally downstairs for 8:45 for her morning smoothie, after attending a yoga session that some of the backroom staff went to in the mornings.

So even though he wasn't normally an early riser, he made sure he was downstairs for 8:40, ordering her smoothie for her for when she walked through. Sophia found it extremely endearing, she had joked that he was a stalker, but he claimed he was always up this early and passing through, so it made sense. Either way Sophia was charmed by him, she knew she shouldn't be, but she was.

She hadn't really given any thought to dating recently, and she certainly had never thought about dating one of the players. However, there was something about Mason that attracted her to him. Obviously he was one of the hottest footballers and celebrities around, but it wasn't really that. It was the way he could make her laugh just by being him, it was his kind and caring side, it was his whole personality. She wouldn't say it to him as she knew how big headed he could be at times, but he really was a catch.

Mason didn't think he was looking for anything serious after Daisy, he still wasn't exactly sure what he saw his future looking like, or who it was with. But every time his eyes crossed with Sophia's he could see a version of his life flash before his eyes, a version of him and her and he would be lying if he didn't quite like the way it looked.

*

Sophia had wandered outside after dinner on the final night, she couldn't listen to Liam tell one more person about the time he met David Beckham, for someone who only met him once he seemingly had varying accounts of the time. She knew everyone was in high spirits now that the camp was over, drinks were flowing, and the laughter had gotten louder. However, she felt like she needed just a little bit of peace after a really busy day.

So she grabbed a bottle of prosecco that was on the table opened and snuck outside to the gardens. She just wanted to hear herself think for five minutes. She walked for a while until she got to the large oak tree that sat in the field that could be seen from her office window.

She spent many hours looking at this when she was working. She was thankful she didn't have one of the pitch facing offices as she knew she would find it hard to concentrate on work when all she could see was the team's running around. So, she would find herself daydreaming looking towards the tree, seeing the birds land on it and the squirrels climb up it in the summer and come Autumn she would watch the leaves fall, shades of red, yellow and burnt orange float to the grassy field.

As she approached it she bent down to check the ground was dry and sat herself down, resting her back against the trunk as she looked back towards the building. It was pitch black round here, no lights on at all in any of the rooms facing towards here, the only light was the moon shining down.

She could hear some footsteps in the distance as she looked towards the corner of the building and sure enough another figure came towards her on the grass. She could just make out the features as the moonlight shone down on him, she noticed the pale grey hoodie first and then the smile the lit up his face. There he was.