Isla Thomson is the captain of Arsenal WFC and the Scotland national team.
The last few years had been her hardest but luckily she had her best friend & teammate beside her.
Will the friendship stand the rest of time after the truth comes out?
"Oh my god. Is...is that...a tattoo?" The changing room fell silent while everyone tried to work out who was on the receiving end of Katie's questioning. Even I didn't realise it was me until she was tugging at my top, desperate to confirm her eyes weren't deceiving her. Shit. The entire team are looking at us. The matching tattoos. It's one thing having a matching tattoo with your bestie but I could see why anyone else might think there was more to it. Am infinity symbol with the initials "L &I" I'd managed to keep it covered even while wearing in a bikini in Germany. I had made sure to wear a sports bra that covered it or to get changed away from the team. How could I be so careless to walk straight into a room of my teammates in a normal bra thinking nobody would notice? It's not a huge tattoo but they all know I don't have any. How do I answer this? Swatting her hand away, "Might be, might not." I smirked "I wonder what Ruesha would say to you getting handsy with your captain?" Luckily that distracted her enough for me to grab my things and leave before she could say anything else. The whole team had heard so no doubt this would come up again.
I'd been waiting in the car for about 10 minutes before Leah appeared. "You took your time" I laughed as I started the engine "I was saving your ass, they're all in there gossiping about your tattoo. Don't worry I reminded them you're terrified of needles. I think they bought it" I turned to her raising my eyebrows, she knows them as well as I do. "Anyway chop chop, I don't want to be late. Can't be turning up tomorrow with nails like this" she said waving her hand in my face "Ohhh who are you and what've you done with Leah Williamson? Next you'll be stealing my lipstick" "Who said I haven't already" pulling out one of my favourite nude lipsticks. "Leah Cathrine Williamson!" Shaking my head while she giggled in the passenger seat.
We had Friday off since some of us were attending Emma Mitchell's wedding. Jen, Kim and I had played with Emma for years in the Scotland squad. She'd also played for Arsenal moving to Reading. Although I'm not a huge fan of weddings, I had been looking forward to getting dressed up since my summer had been spent mainly in training kit. I wore an orange dress that really showed off my tan (outfit below) I knew what accentuated my figure and this dress was perfect. I knew I looked good, not in a cocky way, but when you work out as much as we it's natural to have a good figure. Of course, I'd also seen the comments on social media and the messenger requests telling me the same.
Islas outfit
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Leah's outfit
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The wedding itself was short, the happy couple shared their vows and headed off for the photos. I always felt there was a lot waiting around at weddings, not today surrounded by so many friends. It was a lovely sunny day so we'd sat outside with drinks. Some of the kids at the wedding had appeared with a ball begging us to join them. They didn't need to beg, we were drawn to the football like magnets. I'm sure there will be a video of me doing kick ups in heels posted online in the next few days.
As the day went on we took lots of photos with and without Emma, Team Scotland, the Arsenal girls. The drinks were flowing and by the time we'd finished the meal we were all suitably tipsy. Most of the Arsenal girls were yet to arrive as it was only Emma's current club & country teammates that had full day invites. Leah had joined us as my plus one, she had her own invite but it had become normal for us to be each other's guests to events by now it was expected.
Poor Leah, I kept checking she was ok being stuck with the Scottish girls, they made Katie look sane. I mean who plays drinking games at a wedding? We do, I blame Erin Cuthbert it was all her idea. As the night went on the Scottish accents became stronger, that combined with the music I'm not sure she understood them anyway. By now the rest of the girls had joined us, they're must have been around 40 of us by now. I felt bad for the rest of the wedding guests but they seemed to enjoy the hilarity too.
After another round of shots we all ended up on the dance floor. We'd been dancing to all the wedding classics when one of my favourites started to play (I've Had) The Time of My Life from Dirty Dancing. I've no idea how we pulled it off, Leah and I managed to do the dance from the film including the famous lift. I don't think I'd trust anyone else to lift me above their head holding only my waist but it's Leah. I'm closer to her than anyone else. Thinking about it now it could've ended in disaster, we were both absolutely pissed by this point and I was wearing heels as well. Can you imagine the stories, 'Arsenal players injured recreating Dirty Dancing lift'
The entire room whooped and clapped as she lowered me down slowly. Her hands wrapped tightly round my waist holding me as mine were on her shoulders our eyes locked as my breathing returned to normal, it takes a lot of abdominal strength to stay in that lift for more than a few seconds. She pulled me even closer into a hug, her head nestled in my neck as she whispered "I love you Isla"
One minute we were dancing now I am being dragged by my hand off the dance floor and through the tables arranged around the room.
