hard feelings - an erling haaland story

twenty-four

It had been a long international break for him and only the first week of the tournament had passed. With his teammates away at the tournament, he felt alone, for the first time since he had landed in the city. He knew it would be better to keep the distance she had asked for. Amelia was a ticking time bomb of emotions, it was how she always had been. They differed like that. Where Amelia showed every emotion she felt, Erling hid his. His mind replayed the events that occurred. He wondered how the woman was able to hide her true emotions in that moment. A feat she had struggled with since they were young. Amelia was the blond's weakness, the person that he was unable to hide anything from.

Walking through the cobbled streets of the city felt suffocating. Areas that once were familiar, now seemed strange and foreign. With every stranger that passed him, he felt like the eyes of the world were on him, like he was in some type of twisted reality show. He felt claustrophobic as he reached an area packed with unfamiliar faces. Erling felt as though he was drowning in a sea of people and he was struggling to stay afloat. He desperately needed to feel a sense of familiarity.

A recognisable scent filled the air surrounding him, sending shivers through his body as a warm touch made itself aware on his arm. It was her. Or so he had hoped. Maybe it was delusion, he knew how much his words had hurt her. It was all he had heard from his disappointed sister. He glanced up at the source of the touch expecting to be met with her doe-like eyes and dimples.

His chest ached as he was met with an unknown person. He gave them a small smile, realising that he was sat on some steps near the New Islington marina. "You alright, love?"

Erling gave the blonde woman a quick nod, smiling at her as she took a seat next to him. "I'm Gracie. Saw that you looked pale when I was walking past and thought you might've needed some help or somethin'." There was a silence as Erling didn't reply to her, he just wanted her to leave him alone. "Think you were havin' a panic attack there, love. Is everything okay?

He found himself growing frustrated with every passing word, as she chatted away, stating she recognised him and that her brother would freak out when she eventually would tell him about the interaction. Her hand remained on his arm. "I said some mean words to my friend and instead of apologising to her, I told her I loved her. Then I just watched her walked away, saying she couldn't do it. Haven't seen her or heard from her in a few weeks now."

The woman let out a laugh at his words. "Well you fucked up there, didn't you? I don't know you or her but if you really do love her, you'll find a way to fix it."

The coincidences in his life almost seemed so uncanny. He felt like he was experiencing his own version of the Truman show, as the woman that was at the centre of the conversation had appeared in front of him. She had her hair pulled back into a braid, sporting a navy blue tunic dress covered by a thick winter coat. It had been the first time he had seen her in her uniform. "Amelia, what are you doing here?"

The woman next to him looked up at his words. Erling felt himself blush as Amelia's eyes flickered from him to the woman, who now had her hand on his knee. He brushed her hand off him, as Gracie spoke softly, assuming that the man didn't want to be bothered. "Who are you? Are you the girl?"

"Oh no, I don't think so. Just an old friend of E...er...Erling's." She paused before looking at the blond man. "The nurse I'm working with has a clinic at the New Islington GP today. Just on my lunch break."

He felt his heart flutter as her nickname for him fell out of her lips. "You look good! Glad to see you recovered well."

The Australian nodded, giving them a quick wave and greeted them goodbye. His eyes lingered on her, taking in all her features, the way the light reflected from her eyes and her nose, red from the cold. He was worried that this would be the last time he would see her for awhile. He wanted to remember her as she was.

The blonde woman next to him gave him a quick tap on his shoulder, letting him know that she was leaving. "Maybe I'll see you 'round, Erling."

"Thank you for your time today, Gracie. If you and your brother want to come watch us play at home after the world cup, I'm happy to set it up. As a thank you."

"It's alright, Erling. Sometimes good deeds don't need rewardin'. She's beautiful. Sometimes women don't want big grand gestures, just get her some flowers and tell her you're sorry. Find a way to fix it before I steal her from you."

He found himself questioning whether the woman was actally real, maybe he had gone into a state of psychosis and had imagined the blonde and seeing Amelia. He felt as though he had been withdrawing from being in her presence. He noted that the difference from when she first walked away when they were fourteen to now was he had a distraction and he was able to dissociate from the reality of losing his best friend. Now? He had nothing, everything reminded him of her and he spent his hours pondering if she was okay. There was one thing that was certain and it was that the woman he had just met was correct. He needed to apologise to Amelia if he wanted her presence back in his life.

An evening spent pacing back and forth made his brother and father grow frustrated. They found themselves gaining second hand stress from him. He was stuck in a routine, blurting out thoughts and ideas on how he could apologise to his sister, his brother and father agreeing to help as they had missed the Australian themselves. However, they were deemed unhelpful with Erling shutting down their ideas, calling them ineffective.

The two older men found themselves wanting to leave the room. His father turning to scolding his son in order to get him to stop. Alfie stating that he started this mess and that he needed to find the solution himself. Erling knew his father was correct, he had brought all this stress and trouble on himself.

Feeling defeated, he found his fingers dancing over his phone, the screen on her flatmate's instagram. There was a sense of hesitation, questions bouncing around his head. What if Chloe disliked him? What if she would send him messages berating him? There was a little voice at the back of his mind that screamed that no matter her response, it would be worth it if it meant Amelia would be back in his life.

Without a second thought, he typed out a message to the only person who could help him in that moment.

"Hi Chloe,
I hope you're well. I need to apologise to Amelia and I need your help. You both may hate me but I am miserable without her and I spend every waking minute thinking about her. I love her. Do you know of something that could get her to forgive me?
-Erling x"