Her to You, Mine to Me

chapter 1

her to you. mine to me.

CHAPTER ONE

author: because i love aston villa and the entirety of women in football.

warning: swearing

"i'm sorry can you repeat that? i don't think i heard you right"

she leaned back in her chair, relaxing her shoulders.
"i know you heard me georgia" carla spoke. my heart was shattered and i could feel my inner conscience go silent. then so deafening.
"but i didn't go down that hard? i don't need surgery? every other part of me is fine?"
she wiped her eyebrows with the tops of her fingers, her hands covering her face. her hands stopped and stayed on her face once her pinky fingers reached the ends of her eyebrows.
"i know i know i know and it kills me to be the one to say it. but you will not be able to play for these last couple of games left of the season"
i sat back in my chair. not wanting to think of anything else. wanting to be able to feel my pain. carla got up and handed me my crutches.
"let's go tell the girls hey?" i nodded and she helped me get up into them, giving me a small hug once i was all the way up.
"we'll get through this okay?" i knew i would. my first injury in my career, it's not going to be a dealbreaker for me.
i hobbled out of her office and into the villa's board room where all the girls were. they were talking and laughing and enjoying their non-twisted ankles.
i went to sit down but carla invited me to make the announcement myself. so i did.
"morning morning, i know we have a lot to get through coming off of last week's game but i'd like us to focus on something else for a moment. rather someone else" she looked at me and i didn't wanna speak. but i knew i had to.
"so you all know that i went down at the game last weekend and first of all, thankyou jordan and dani for staying behind and making sure i was okay. no matter how much this one was yelling at ya's" i smiled at carla and she rolled her eyes, getting quite a bit of laughter.
"what i haven't mentioned to anyone yet is that it's twisted and although it's not terrible, i will be out for the rest of the season" i frowned, a tough lump beginning to form in the back of my throat. eventually i felt a tear roll down the side of my cheek and i immediately wiped it away. hoping no one really saw. carla was rubbing circles on my back in efforts to comfort me. it helped but it didn't fix my ankle.
alisha immediately got up and was the first to wrap her arms around me. rachel, jordan and ruesha were all close behind and soon i was surrounded. i felt a tap on my head and i looked up to see ruesha's hand return to her side.
"we're with ya g" she spoke and the tears really started to flow then.
"thanks rue" i spitted out before hiccuping. i'm not a pretty crier, jordan knew that. thankful for her covering me up when i fell, the cameras couldn't see me cry then.
i had alisha's hands wipe away my tears and one by one they all started to return to their seats. i got one last hug from rachel before she sat down herself and i sat down residing in my position next to her.
carla went on about game plays, the other team's weaknesses and our strengths. but why bother being here if i'm not the one on the field.
then someone's phone buzzes and everyone darts to look at the suspect. of course it's ruesha, who else would it be?
"rue do you mind turning your phone on silent please?" rue hadn't bothered to look up, but was staring at her phone whilst furrowing her eyebrows.
"rue?" carla repeated only now being able to get a response from the inattentive blonde.
"yeah sorry, can i actually just head outside for a couple minutes? family emergency" she said, tucking her phone into her pocket and leaning on the edge of her seat.
"sure, you know what you're doing for the game?"
"yes ma'am" she nodded and eagerly left the room. you could tell rue had started to run by the clanks of her footsteps through the hall.
i felt myself feeling so so curious about what happened with her. she's not like one to miss out on something important with the team. never has that happened before.
luckily carla had called us all to training and since i cannot train, i decided to track down ms irish international.
i quickly made my way outside. well as quick as one on crutches can. i looked around on the training ground and she wasn't anywhere i can see. i headed back to the recovery rooms and again, no sign. the changing rooms were a desert and same with the bathrooms.
until i remembered her absolute favourite spot in the base camp.

i walked into the cafeteria and my head immediately scanned for rue. just as i suspected, she was sitting in her spot at the tables. the room was empty, the tables were bare. but she was like a little doll waiting for her owner to come back.

"rue?" i didn't want to frighten her too bad. even though it is quite difficult to do that with these plastic rock hard crutches.
"yes?" she looked up then immediately looked right back down.
ouch.
"you okay?" i waddled closer to her, still not wanting to commit myself to sitting down just yet.
"yeah it's uhh. it's katie"

katie alison mccabe. the captain of the irish women's international soccer team. the most booked player in the women's super league. one of arsenal's star players. my ex teammate. i could go on and on about this girl, especially since having a tiney tiny crush on her since we played together back in the day. yet it wasn't enough to betray ruesha, who just so happened to be katie's girlfriend of 6 years.

"hm?"
"don't worry" rue got up to leave but i caught her arm just in time.
"sit back down. we're going to talk about it" she hid her small smile behind a look of anger. but i knew she wasn't angry. she was most definitely upset.
she held her face in her hands before moving them to allow herself to speak to me.
"your teammate has been macking on with my girlfriend for a couple of weeks now. she told me a couple days ago but just told me then that she's already found a new place"
"i'm sorry what? who?"
ruesha stopped talking and let me connect the dots. then it was me that was the one with her face in her hands.
"caitlin." i whispered, not wanting to make it any truer by speaking normally.
"yep."