Stay Away

pleasant days

We sit on the floor, backs to the wall, both out of breath. Leah has pulled her shorts back on, and I have done up my jeans again, so now there is nothing to do but spend a minute with my head on her chest, relishing in being in each other's physical company for once.

"How's your calf?" she asks after a moment, sounding as exhausted as I feel. "Mum brought you here, right? And you're making sure to rest? It's so shitty that you're injured. I know that you're pissed off about it."

"Everything is fine, Lee. My physio is set up for me in London, and Marcus is going to drive me around to my heart's content." Her thumb swipes across my cheek gently, and then her fingers rake through my hair, detangling it after she caused it to look so messy.

"After this is done and you're staying with me, I'll drive you around." She sounds jealous of poor Marcus. "And you can come to my games if you want. I want you to. I want everyone to know that you're mine."

Someone calls for Leah, the voice sounding uncomfortably nearby. "You need to go, and I need to call a taxi. Amanda went back to your cousin's house. I told her I was fine to go back on my own." She leans down to press a soft kiss to my lips, smiling. Despite the setting, this feels oddly domestic.

"You know, I'll never feel the same about Stadium MK after this," she mutters, fingers ghosting the purpling mark on my collarbone that will cause me to opt for turtlenecks for the next week. Someone shouts her name again, this time right outside the door. "Yeah, I'm coming, Luce. Hold on!"

"Are you doing some weird meditation thing?" asks the woman, knocking on the door, pinpointing our location. I laugh quietly, but I think she hears. "Who're you with?"

"Go away. I'll be there in a minute." Leah shakes her head fondly. "I'll see you in Coventry, right? You got the tickets I sent you?" The family and friends section for both remaining England matches. Unfortunately, I have had to choose Fleur's ticket over hers for the final match in Bristol, knowing that things would be far too obvious if I sat with the England fans in front of my sister. She deserves to hear it from me, first.

The woman outside bangs on the door once more. "Fucking hell, Leah. Quit talking to your secret girlfriend. I'll close my eyes."

"Come on," I urge, standing up while trying to keep the weight off my bad leg. She frowns and quickly surges upwards, helping me right myself. "See you in three days."

Leah wraps her arms around my waist, groaning. "That's so long. I could sneak you into camp. Or just get a room at our hotel. Please, I don't think I can survive knowing you're in the same country and not with me."

"Leah!" I think it might be Lucy Bronze. I push her off me.

"Babe, go." I give her a little shove towards the door, and she opens it with a glum look, slipping out before Lucy Bronze can see me. I'm grateful for that, because I definitely look like I have been dragged through a hedge backwards, and am in need of sorting myself out before I find a way to escape the stadium and get back to Newport Pagnell.

━━━━━━━

The next day consists of a morning of physiotherapy which leaves me in need of a nap before Amanda takes me along to lunch with some more of Leah's family. It seems as though I am meeting everybody over the course of this week, but it is not as bad as it could have been, because most of them really like me. I'm grateful for that.

Amanda leaves me to it after we come back, though she tells me that she is pleased somebody like me is dating her daughter in the car ride back to their house. I blush and she calls me sweet. It makes it hard for me to concentrate on reading through my emails from Charley about more brand deals and interviews and other things I really can't be bothered with. I force myself to because of the amount of prize money I will be losing out on for the next three months – I have to pay my team somehow.