You are my mums (a Lucy Bronze fanfic) - Book 2

Chapter 8 - Succesful

Rosie's POV:

ENGLAND STAR BETH MEAD SUFFERS RUPTURED ACL IN POTENTIAL WORLD CUP BLOW

BETH MEAD SUFFERS SERIOUS KNEE INJURY IN HUGE BLOW TO ARSENAL AND ENGLAND

"Mum?! Keira?!", I yelled while leaping off the sofa and running down the hallway. Upon reading those news article titles, my heart skipped a beat, freezing my stunned body to the spot. Only when I realised this wasn't a joke, I jumped up and rushed through the house to tell somebody, anybody.

How could this be happening to Beth? 

Bursting through doors only to find empty rooms, I hurriedly continued my search. Eventually, Lucy exitted the bathroom and bumped into my pale body. She only needed to see my face to know something was wrong, "who's died?". I think she meant it as a joke, but I definitely wasn't in the mood for laughter. Shoving my phone in her face, she read aloud, "Beth Mead has suffered a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament...acl, shit". We both looked in eachother's eyes, knowing immediately that a return before the World Cup was going to be almost impossible. Almost. 

Lucy called out, "babe! Come here". The urgency in Lucy's voice was enough to make Keira come running out of their bedroom and see our startled faces. I held my phone up for her to read as well, her reaction was very similar to Lucy's, "shit...she'll be out for the rest of the season". They both exchanged worried glances between them - knowing how tough the next few months were going to be for our best friend. I broke the concerning silence, "do you think she has a chance for the World Cup?". Lucy exhaled and rubbed her forehead, "maybe, it depends how her recovery goes". Keira inputted, "she's strong so I wouldn't be surprised if she's back to full fitness for the summer". 

The upsetting news put a negative spin on the rest of our day, none of us quite knowing what to say. It was only a few weeks prior that she had to pull out of an England camp due to her mum's deteriorating illness. And now this. I so desperately wanted to jump on a plane back to England to comfort her and tell her that everything's going to be okay. Being in Barcelona is the worst feeling in the world knowing that Beth is struggling in a completely different country. I kept telling myself, "at least she has Viv". Little did I know that a few weeks later, she too would be in exactly the same position.

We all sent texts to Beth for her to read whenever she picks up her phone next - which I highly doubt will be soon. The England group chat was full of supportive and inspirational texts, we were all there for Beth. I think anybody who knows Beth -whether as a fan, family or friend- was just waiting in desperation for that announcement , "sorry guys, it was all a mix-up. I'm completely injury free. See you all out there on the pitch next weekend!". But it never came.

When Beth eventually got back to us, she informed us all that she had successfully undergone surgery and had been spending some time off her phone. I didn't blame her. She didn't need to be constantly reminded of how unfortunate everything was. Me, Keira and Lucy FaceTimed her one night when she was still in hospital. We spent as little time as possible talking about her injury and talked about anything else we could think of to try and distract her. I know that it's unrealistic trying to distract her from a career threatening injury that's just happened, but we wanted to do something to help. If that meant rambling on about absolutely nothing, then we were glad to do it. I'm sure that even at one point, Lucy started to talk about the weather and how snow's expected in England. 

Luckily, we know how tough and resillient Beth is as a footballer but also as person. If anyone can recover from an injury and have an incredible World Cup, it's her.

Lucy entered my room carrying a pile of clothes, "put these away please". Looking up from my extended TikTok watching session, I nodded my head and watched her as she placed them on the foot of my bed and put her hands on her hips. She looked around my room before commenting, "God, your room's a mess". It wasn't often that she commented on my belongings or the cleanliness of my room, so I knew that I should probably tidy it. I told her, "i'll do it later. But first...you're going to explain exactly what you told me last night". Raising her eyebrow, she told me, "fine, but only if you promise not to scream the house down again". She's exaggerating. When she told me that she wanted to marry Keira, I may have made a slight noise in excitement, but it definitely wasn't a scream. Unfortunately, we didn't have more time to speak about it the previous night because Keira got out of the bath and entered the room. Now today, Keira's downstairs so it's a bit risky, but I need to know anything and everything about it.