You're The One

Chapter 24

7 years ago - Twente, the Netherlands

"Aleid, schatje, you have a visitor!" My mum calls, and I hear light footsteps coming quickly up the stairs.

"Goedemorgen!" Eline says, still dressed in her football gear; her blonde hair dark with water from a shower. "How are we feeling today?"

I'm lying on my bed with my foot elevated and wrapped in ice as she kisses me gently. I rolled it during a match a couple of days ago, so I've been bedridden the past few days. "I'm feeling great. My ankle's not swollen at all anymore. I don't know why I wasn't allowed back today."

"You are so silly sometimes." She replies, giggling. Her olive eyes glisten in the spring sunshine as she looks at me warmly, albeit a little disapprovingly. "You know exactly why! You need to rest so you can be as fit as possible when we play. They're all coming next weekend."

By 'they', she means the international scouts, and specifically for her: the ones from the top USA universities. They're coming to the final match of the BeNe league season, to scout for potential talent. Eline has always wanted to go to college in America and with this being her best opportunity, next weekend will probably be the most important hour and a half of her entire life, so it's been the only thing on her mind recently.

"How does that concern me, Eli?" I say back, laughing. "I know you're so passionate about it and all, but you know I don't want to go!"

"That is a fair enough point, but I need you there to make me look good." She answers and there is some fact to her response. She's an amazing striker by herself of course, but our chemistry reflects undeniably on the pitch as well.

"You'll do absolutely amazingly either way." I reassure her, "I promise."

"I'm so nervous. Do you pinky swear?"

"God you're such a child!" I say, still connecting our hands anyways.

"You still love me though!" She replies as she shrugs her shoulders. I nod in unashamed agreement whilst she stands and picks her bag up from the floor. "I've got to go, sorry for the short stay. My parents will be wondering where I am. I told them I was with Matthis but they might ask his parents if I'm not back quickly and I'm not sure how long he can cover for me."

"They haven't gotten over last weekend yet?" I ask, and she frowns in response.

"Nope, not at all." She came back thirty minutes past her curfew last Saturday because the movie we went out to watch finished later than expected. They were so pissed, especially since they saw me dropping her off instead of Matthis. She had to say he cancelled but I could tell they didn't buy her excuse. They have always told her that I gave off 'bad energy', so now they are keeping an even more watchful eye on her.

I give her a quick kiss goodbye and watch her hop out of my room, smiling in appreciation. She has such a resilient spirit, even though she always has her parents breathing down her neck. Although they are a pivotal reason who contribute to her desire to go cross country for school. They're very strict and not supportive of many things she does, although they're slightly more relaxed about football because she's able to keep up well with her schoolwork at the same time. As long as she goes to university somewhere and gets a reputable degree to secure her future, which she can do in America, they can handle it.

Our relationship on the other hand, is a firm no. They're not exactly supportive of lesbians, to say the least, which is why she's always telling them that she's with Matthis, or her 'boyfriend'. He's one of our close friends, so he always helps in our schemes.

April 2021 - north London, England

"You seriously can't be thinking of that again. We both know how detrimental that time was for you." Jill lectured as she gave me a hug and wiped away some of my tears.

"It's the first time I've thought of it in at least a couple of years. I've been able to block it out. It's just now every time I see Leah she just reminds me so much of her."

"Al, your life is perfectly fine without Eline in it. You need to stop working yourself up over the past, and especially over something that wasn't your fault."

"Well it was partially my fault wasn't it? I was reckless, I wasn't keeping track on who knew and I wasn't careful enough. She had too much going on to take it on herself."

"Yes her life was hectic, but keeping your relationship secret wasn't solely your responsibility. You weren't living her life, you were just a part of it. She screwed you over, not the other way around. Seriously though, I don't understand why you would be scared of something like that happening again. This is such a different situation?"

"I can't trust people, Jillie. They can't trust me either, everything seems to go wrong with me. Whether it's subconsciously or consciously, the difference doesn't matter."

"Stop talking about yourself like that. I don't get why you always try to make yourself out to be the bad guy when you're actually a great person."

"It's just that I have such a bad feeling about all of this. The way I'm starting to feel about Leah is too similar to how I felt about Eli, and not in a good way. It wasn't like this at all with Kristie, we didn't start as friends. There was something at the start and the feelings were different."

"You put too much focus on yourself. Nothing has ever been just your fault. Maybe you've just been unlucky!"

"It's not about me! I-"

I was so shocked at the words that came out of my mouth. We hadn't spoken about Eline in so long I practically forgot that I knew so much about her.

"She fucked you over. She's sorry for it too. Stop hanging yourself up on it."

"What? She's not sorry. She can't be."

"She is, Al. I asked her myself." Jill said, and my mouth dropped open in shock.

"Wait, what? You've spoken to her? Recently?" She looked back at me somewhat guiltily, and I knew immediately that was a yes.