The Captain's Armband

43. Traveling

I wake up and turn off my alarm. Yesterday I trained with the physio on the pitch, it was great to be back on the pitch. I worked hard and it paid off because we had a great session, won't be long until I can play a match again. I grab my phone, I haven't heard from Leah since her online meeting last night. I did send her a text before I went to bed to ask how it went but she hasn't replied yet, maybe she was tired and went to bed straight after.
I go downstairs, my dad already left for work. I get a coffee and take a seat on the couch.
My phone starts to ring, I check the screen and I see it's an unknown number. I pick up the phone.
"Good morning Dani, it's Sarina."
"Hi Sarina, good morning."
"How are you doing??"
"Good, the ankle is doing better. How are you?"
"Good to hear, listen, I just got off the phone with Ajax."
Why would she call Ajax? To check about my injury? Did she find out that I lied? Did Leah tell her and is that the reason she is ignoring me? My heart drops to the floor, it couldn't be, right? She wouldn't do that. My thoughts are all over the place and I can feel my heart rate going up.
"Yeah.." That is all I can say.
"They gave permission for you to join in on media day this Thursday, since international duties are important they agreed on letting you travel to England."
Media day? Me? What? It's not about the injury?
Sarina continues talking. "We are inviting 6 of you in total for this media event. Just a reminder that being invited to media day isn't a free pass for being selected."
"Got it."
"Good, wanted to be clear about that."
Of course she does, she is a typical direct Dutchie.
"What is to be expected from me?"
"Your ticket will be sent to you this morning, you fly out on Thursday morning and we will have a short meeting before we start the media day and in the evening you are free, you will stay the night at St. Georges Park and in the morning we have another event. You will be flying back home on Friday, time is yet to be determined."
"Great! I can't wait." I say enthusiastically.
"Information will be sent to your email, see you on Thursday Dani."
"See you Thursday!"
We hang up the phone and then it hits me. I'm going to see Leah! Did she arrange this? Then why haven't I heard from her yet? Maybe she won't stay at St. Georges Park and we don't get the opportunity to be alone. A lot of options go through my mind. Perhaps I should text her again. I grab my phone.
'Call me.'
It takes a few minutes but then she calls me. I pick up the phone, I feel a bit nervous.
"Hi.." I say softly.
"Hi, what's up?" She says.
Seriously? What is up with her?
"I just got off the phone with Sarina and..."
Before I can finish my sentence Leah interrupts. "THANK GOD YOU KNOW! I'm so sorry I didn't contact you but I just knew I couldn't hold my excitement and Sarina had to talk to Ajax first and I wasn't sure if they would let you travel and I didn't want to tell you before you got green light..."
She starts rambling.
"... and I didn't want to have to lie to you so I decided not to have contact until you heard from Sarina."
I start to laugh. "Don't forget to breathe baby."
She starts laughing too. "I had to hide my excitement since last night! I feel like I've been holding this in for days!"
She is so cute when she is all excited about something.
"Did you come up with this?"
"Not entirely no. We have Lucy Bronze to thank for that. She said that we really needed some youngsters, since our aim is to make a change for the future. I did mention your name briefly though."
"Who are the ones going, you are coming, right?"
She starts giggling. "Yes, of course, I am. Let me check the list. Williamson, Bronze, Bright, Stanway, Lewis and Russo."
Russo. Shit, it didn't cross my mind that she might be there as well. Leah stays quiet.
"Wait, no goalkeepers?" I ask.
"No, they are going a separate day, they will have a special event and will do something for charity."
"Ah, I see."
And again, silence takes over the conversation.
"Want to talk about the elephant in the room?" Leah says.
"Well yeah, I wasn't expecting the confrontation between the three of us would be so soon."
Leah sighs. "Let's just all be professional during the meeting and media day. We have time for personal feelings afterward."
"Ok. Sounds good. As long as we are all honest, we should find a way to work this out."
"Yes. I did talk with her briefly, I do feel angry towards her but I know it's not fair to her that I feel this way. She didn't know about us and all she did was take a shot at love." She sighs deeply.
"I know. She got hurt too and I have to talk to her. Don't worry about it okay?"
"I will just focus on the fact that I get to see you."
"Aren't you nervous?" I ask softly.
"A little. Are you?"
"Yes, I am. I'm scared that things might feel different after everything that happened. I'm scared for that moment when you see each other, you look into each other's eyes, that it just doesn't feel the same way."
She stays quiet for a few seconds. "That hasn't crossed my mind yet but you have a point."
"Oh no, I don't mean it in a bad way, it's just one of my fears I guess."
"I get it. I just haven't thought about it like that, everything might feel different when we see each other again."
Great move Dani. Now you made her think about it. I feel so stupid.
"Let's just go with the flow. No pressure. We will see how it goes okay?" I say.
"Good idea. Go with the flow. Well, guess I'll be seeing you on Thursday then."
"Yes, you sure are!"
"Can't wait. Bye Dani."
"Bye Leah."
We hang up the phone. Why did I had to bring that up? She didn't even think about that, all she felt was excitement and I ruined it with my stupid anxiety.