ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇꜱᴇ ɴɪɢʜᴛꜱ

𝚃𝙷𝙸𝚁𝚃𝚈- 𝙾𝙽𝙴

However, the meeting was as bad as Alex had said, if anything it was worse.

Sophia had played with the clasp on her lanyard the whole way through it, she couldn't concentrate, all she could think about was her and Mason.

She had thought initially that it should still be okay, that this would just be some kind of informational meeting, just to make people aware of it all.
However, it was worse. Southgate, aided by the head of HR, was warning them of the consequences of their actions and he was serious.

"If we find out that any players are sleeping with backroom staff there will be consequences for your actions, for both parties" he had said "this will not only mean an immediate suspension for both members of staff, it will also include exclusion for the squad for the player and a meeting with your line manager informing you of your role here at St George's Park for the backroom staff"

Sophia had felt her heart practically stop beating as she heard those words. She couldn't risk that, not for him or her, she couldn't put their jobs in jeopardy. He had gone on to say though;

"However if you do come forward and make it aware to us that you are in a relationship with someone else that works here we can then put into place the correct measures to make sure that this doesn't effect either of your work performances" his voice softening "ultimately all we ask is for honesty and to avoid any unnecessary drama for any parties involved"

Sophia didn't know how to feel about that, they weren't actually in a relationship and it seemed a bit extreme having to go to HR and basically declare themselves as together when they hadn't even said that to one another.

After the meeting ended Sophia stood up, Alex was next to her and Dani, head of videography on the other side of her.

"Shit" said Dani with a laugh "I do love a bit of drama but this is all a bit formal" she shakes her head.

"Tell me about it" said Alex laughing "it does make you wonder though"

"What does?" said Sophia as she looked at Alex as they headed out the double doors to the reception, stopping at the smoothie bar to pick up a drink.

"Well who else here might be fucking each other" Alex said as she looks amongst the group of people piling out of the room.

"Oooo I love your thinking Stones" Dani said with a smirk, her eyes narrowing in on the faces as they walk past her "I think it's the quieter ones we need to worry about"

Alex lets out a little laugh "why because the others have such big mouths that we would have heard about it the second they fucked someone?"

"Hang on" said Sophia, thinking she would have to join in without it looking suss "Grealish has the biggest mouth and none of us knew" Sophia points out as Dani frowns and nods her head.

"That's true" she smiles "I wouldn't be surprised if that whole little group of there's hadn't tried to get into a couple of the girls pants here"

Sophia covers her mouth, flushing slightly as she thinks she is one of those girls that her friends are chatting about but realising she will have to see the funny side in things because otherwise she will probably cry.

"Right recon tomorrow girls" said Alex as she picked up her smoothie "Project Fuckboys, we'll get to the bottom of who else is shagging at SGP" she winks towards them as Dani almost spits out her smoothie as Sophia just shakes her head laughing at her.

"Can't wait" said Sophia as she gave Dani and Alex a quick hug before heading up to her room.

*

Mason had been desperate to see Sophia after the meeting but he knew it wouldn't be as easy as that, he had to be smart, he couldn't allow any suspicion to go their way.

The boys had all been laughing and joking about Jack getting caught, Ben said he had saw him before he left and had joked that he couldn't believe he could be that stupid, which Jack replied saying 'win some lose some' with a shrug of his shoulders like it wasn't even a big deal.

However, for Mason it was huge deal.

This had really put an obstacle in the way of him and Sophia and he was so unsure of what to do, he didn't know what to think or what this meant for them, his thoughts were consuming him. He knew he needed to see Soph, she would know what to say, she would make this right, she always did.

After dinner he had thought of trying to work out a way of getting to go and see her, pulling her outside for a walk or heading to her room but he just had this sickening feeling of getting caught, however Sophia was one step ahead of him.

"Mount?" she said as she approached him still sat at the table with the boys listening to Phil tell them all about some film he had seen, or was it a tv show, to be honest he wasn't listening.

"Yeah" he said, turning in his chair to look at her.

"I know you have free time and I hate to do this" she said rolling her lips into her mouth "but we didn't get to have our performance meeting this afternoon about your stats this morning because of that meeting so I wondered if I could borrow you for like 15 minutes now to quickly go through it" she smiled at him as he smiled back.

"Course" he said with a bigger grin before hiding it slightly when turning to look towards his friends as he picked up his bottle of water.

"I've just stollen John for his" she gestures over her shoulder as John sits back down next to Kyle, a bowl of apple crumble in his hand after hearing Sophia tell him that his performance levels were top of the group, which he decided meant that he deserved an actual dessert today.

He did ask her to tell Alex what she had told him, which had Sophia laughing, telling him she wasn't going to tell one of her best friends that her husband was a top performer, but he thought it was worth a try.

Sophia had done that on purpose though, she knew if she just dragged Mason in on his own that questions would be asked so when she looked at her list and saw it was Mason, John and Jack who she was meant to meet with this afternoon and the latter was now on his way back home so she should probably pull John in for a quick catch up so she could have some time alone with Mason.

Mason got up and walked closely behind Sophia as they walked towards her office, exchanging pleasantries while they were out in the open, consciously not drawing any suspicion towards the two of them before they got to Sophia's office, the rest of the corridor now empty at the end of the day and closing the door firmly, finally finding some time alone.