ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇꜱᴇ ɴɪɢʜᴛꜱ

𝚃𝚆𝙴𝙽𝚃𝚈

Sophia had a restless night's sleep after Mason had been to her office. She thought maybe she was too harsh on him, she thought she really couldn't hold him accountable for his actions when they had never discussed what they were, she thought her heart would break when she had flashbacks of his broken face.

She had managed to get through the next few days just keeping her head down, doing the job she was bought there to do and saying no more than two words to most of the players outside of there scheduled time. She hated being like this, but whenever her gaze would lift up from her laptop when she was sat on the bench and land on his sunken eyes she could feel herself lose any control she was desperately clutching on to.

Mason hadn't found it any easier either. He had gone back to his room after his encounter with Sophia, his eyes brimming with little tears as he fought them back until he was alone. He didn't cry when he was upset really, he very rarely showed his sadness that way, however he did cry when he was angry, and that was exactly what he was. Angry.

He was so angry at Jack for telling people his business, he was so angry at Liam for spreading it further but most of all he was angry at himself. He was livid over the fact that he thought about sleeping with anyone else but Sophia. He had fantasied for so long about getting her into bed, and he had felt like his dreams had come true, so how could he be so stupid to ruin it all in one night?

He wanted to explain that to her, he wanted to tell her that he would never let her down again, that he didn't see her as just another girl on his list. But in the heat of the moment his nerves took over and he found himself rambling and putting on the same front he had done when he was faced with a tense situation on the pitch.

It broke him to walk away from her, it broke him to see her the following day and realise that him and her were possibly never going to go back to the way it was. He hoped with time that she would come around. He hoped with time she would see him as Mase again. he hoped with time this all would heal.

So, after the team won their friendly match against Switzerland comfortably they were all in good spirits. It was all this camp had been aimed for, even though it did seem like a bit of a waste of time for one match, however it was needed for their Euro's selection the following year.

They had all piled back to St George's Park and with a quick pitstop to get changed they made their way into the main function room, where food and drink had been laid on, although plenty of bottles of beer were already drunk in the coach home. Sophia found herself lightening up, she went to the bar with Alex and downed 2 shots of Sambuca before grabbing herself a double vodka and lemonade and heading to the makeshift dancefloor.

The music was bouncing out of the speakers as the girls danced together. Sophia could feel the weight lifting that she had been carrying for the last few days. She didn't feel like she needed to punish herself tonight, like she had been doing since she asked Mason to leave. She could just let her hair down and relax.

Mason smiled as he watched Sophia dance away on the dance floor, if anything all he wanted was to be close to her, not in the sense that would make any one suspect anything but within her orbit just to feel like he was a part of her world again. His eyes felt like they were drawn to hers and the best part apart it was on more times than not her eyes were drawn to his too.

*

The night was well and truly underway, and Sophia couldn't help but feel happily tipsy as she sat at her table, munching on the bowl of cheese savouries in front of her and drinking the last of her vodka lemonade. She turned her phone over in her hands, feeling uneasy with the fact that it had just died. She needed it tonight, and she didn't think she could sit in this room, feeling his eyes burning into her periodically without it.

Sophia stumbled out the function room towards the hallway that led to her office, she thought she may as well charge her phone in there rather than having to traipse to the other side of the building and up to her bedroom, just to have to walk all the way back again. She wished she weren't so reliant on it, but tonight it had saved her when she was feeling anxious, when she didn't want to look at Mason, she could scroll aimlessly.

She walked down the dark corridor; the sensor lights were turned off after 10pm and it was definitely past that as she reached her door. A loud click echoed round the silent hallway as she shuffled into her office. She flicked on the small lamp that rested on the sideboard behind her desk, she knew the main electrics would also be turned off like the sensor.

She opened up her drawers and rummaged through till she found her charger, she shouldn't have to hide it away, but Josh was known to come in and steal it when he had forgotten his, even with her name scribbled on the little tag she had stuck on it.

She unwound the wire and dropped to her knees, crawling under her desk to her extension lead where she left the plug constantly plugged in. She pushed the wire into the slot and then placed the other end into her phone. She waited for a while for it to light up as she heard the floorboard creak not far from her.

"Soph" his voice whispered as he entered the room.