hard feelings - an erling haaland story

four

Amelia hadn't responded to his messages. It had been nearly a week since he messaged her and now he was off to Texas for the pre-season. Maybe she'd reply on his birthday as that was looming closer. His parents would be in the area, the week after the pre-season friendlies in Texas, to celebrate his twenty second birthday. He was hesitant about whether to send her a second message inviting her to the small meal they would be having. Perhaps his father had already done that, maybe she would be there and celebrate his birthday together, for the first time in a while. He sat dazed for a while, stuck in memories replaying in his mind. From Amelia surprising him for his tenth birthday, to him surprising her in Melbourne for her thirteenth. Who would've known that nine years later they would simply be strangers to each other. Not even a simple greeting from one another.

He watched her social media from afar, not wanting her to know that she was constantly on his mine, whether he liked it or not. Well, at least, he tried to. She had suddenly gone M.I.A, not a single sign of activity on her social media. Not even Jack uttered a word about her to him or to anyone else. Maybe, they had stopped chatting. Or, so he thought. Almost as if Jack had heard his thoughts about Amelia and him, he glanced over, catching Erling's eyes.

"Erl, have you heard from Mil?"

He hadn't realised that they were already on nickname basis. He, so desperately, wanted to lie to him and say yes, to get a reaction from him but he knew better. Afterall, they were the ones in regular communication, not Erling and Amelia. Erling shook his head, a smile on his lips. "No, I am sorry. Is everything okay?"

Jack nodded his head, clearing his throat before speaking. A habit he discovered that Jack would do when he felt awkward. It had occurred multiple times since Erling decided to create a stand offish front to him. Almost as if Erling had intimidated him. "Yeah, bro. She mentioned needing to get back to you when I last saw her but sh-"

Erling found himself cutting Jack off as he spoke. Intrigued by his words. He focused on the part where he mentioned last seeing her. His mind skipped over the part where Jack mentioned her intentions to message the tall blond back. "When did you last see her?"

"A few days ago, maybe friday. Not too sure. We live in the same building so we try to go to gym together." He paused, questioning as to whether he was saying too much to his Norwegian teammate. "Said she was exhausted and left early. I'm worried for her, bro, I'm not gunna lie, she did look knackered, like, but she was pale and just looked sick. She said somethin' about havin' to work seven nights in a row. 12 hours each night. I'd be blimmin' exhausted. Sure, she had a bruise on her cheek and all. Thought maybe she would've told you if somethin' happened at work, ya know."

Jack's words merged into one, as Erling found himself lost in his thoughts. Something he had found himself doing quite frequently in the weeks he had been in England. All thoughts surrounding the Italian-Australian girl, he knew well growing up. His mind rushed to their last meeting, she had tried to reach out to him, talk to him more than he had wanted to but his training had gotten in the way.

Eventually, after a few days of attempting to have one solid conversation with him, Amelia found herself giving up, only saying a few words to him as they passed each other in the house. She didn't even utter a word to him at dinner, only making small talk when flagged up on her sudden change by his parents. He glanced over at her, a frown plastered on her face, as she played with her food. This action got her a scolding from her mum. She mumbled a quick apology in Italian to her mother before going back to staring at her food. After that evening, she only spoke to him briefly, in a pleasant conversation. Often asking him how training went or if he had a good day. Nevertheless, she knew that their friendship was most likely beyond repair at this point. He wondered when the exact moment they drifted apart was. When did the calls stop? When did the messages stop? But most importantly, why did she stop coming to see him? Was it his fault? Did he do something wrong?

Now those questions were pushed aside by a built up feeling of something he couldn't quite put his finger on. Jack Grealish and Amelia Tiatto lived in the same building. Of course they did, out of all the buildings in the city, out of all the miles square there was, they lived in the same skyscraper as each other. The little coincidences made him laugh out loud, everything almost seemed as though it was planned, as if they were purposely done to ensure that Amelia would not leave his train of thought. He hadn't even thought about the fact that Amelia was working 84 hours in one week. That fact had yet to be processed by his mind, that lingered on the thought of Amelia and Jack being neighbours.

The pre-season friendlies were a successful introduction for the youngster, with him scoring twelve minutes into the match against Bayern. Although, he only played forty minutes, he was happy enough with the minutes he played. His birthday was uneventful, as he rested in the team hotel, calling his parents for a quick chat and to discuss their plans for the following week. He had hoped to hear from Amelia, just a quick simple greeting, he would've taken a simple 'HBD'. He was willing to take anything at this point. He questioned as to whether his actions of ignoring her, as she stood at his door, had upset her enough to decide she wanted nothing to do with him.

As he walked into the reception of his building, he was greeted by the receptionist, who mentioned that there was something around the back for him, stating that it had been waiting there since the previous thursday, which would've fallen on his birthday. He thanked the man for keeping it safe for him and carried it in front of him, keeping it close to him, as he pulled his suitcase behind him. He grew impatient, thinking that the lift up to his floor was going so slow. He wanted to open the box and see who it was from, hoping it was a particular person. He didn't want to get his hopes up, knowing that in reality, it would've been from his parents.

With a swift kick to his door, it slammed shut behind him. He didn't even wait to step further into his home before ripping the neatly wrapped present open. Underneath the wrapping lay a small card with an E written in delicate cursive. This, now, confirmed his original suspicions. It was from Amelia, she was the only one to call him that. Relief wasn't the right adjective to describe how he felt as he realised that she wasn't upset with him. She had probably just been too busy with her life to respond to his message. At least, she remembered his birthday.

Inside the delicate box was a small stuffed koala. His heart warmed, she remembered. They were no more than seven, he had given his friend a hug goodbye, hiding his sadness from her, knowing that he would not be seeing her until December, which was months away. She had yet to leave his side and he had already missed her. "Send me a koala so I know you got home safe, Mia." It only took her fifteen years to send a koala. What if this was her way of saying she finally felt like she was home? The thought was instantly pushed aside, that would be reading too deep into it. Amelia simply just wanted to gift him with something that reminded her of a memory from their youth.

He hesitated, not wanting to open the card, worried about what words she could've written. Almost as though he were watching a horror movie he gently opened the envelope, that encased the card, with his eyes shut tight. He stared at the card, a photo of them from their youth. She was looking at him, admiration in her eyes, almost as though she was bewitched, whilst he stared straight ahead at the camera. He frowned as he couldn't remember where the photograph had come from. She had handwritten the card, some of the ink smudged across the page, a problem both of them were familiar with. A smile formed on his face as he read her words to him.

"E,
Happy Birthday.
Buon Compleanno. Gratulerer med dagen.
Have a good day.

I'm sorry it took so long to get the koala to you. I just wanted to let you know how proud I am of you. Here's to being one more year older and being the most gorgeous man in the City squad for the 22/23 season.

See you on wednesday!

-Your Mia x"

Reading the last sentence of the card made his stomach drop, she would be at the meal with his parents. He wondered if she would be the same cocky woman he had bumped into at the bar or if she would show remnants of her younger self. He knew one thing for sure and it was the fact that Amelia knew how to get into his head and stay there, burrowing into his mind like a little rabbit.