the actress & the athlete | sam kerr

twelve

celebrations were afoot for the girls in the jerseys. if there was ever an excuse to party, a 3-goal london derby win with a clean sheet to kick off the season felt pretty perfect. sam led her team down the tunnel as her friends congratulated her, handshakes and hugs all round. they were singing with a spring in their step all the way to the dressing room, finally reunited with the new additions to the team, sheva, margaret and sophia, waiting for them on the benches inside.

the flood of echoed chants, laughter and raised voices quickly pooled at the feet of the three actresses. sheva and sam compulsively ran to each other, sam crouching and holding her arms out wide so she could lift sheva off the floor. despite her shorter height, and her 90-minute perseverance on the green of kingsmeadow, she did so effortlessly, her hands loosely joined together around sheva's waist like a moat protecting a castle. sheva looked down into sam's  eyes, savouring the short-lived moment and wanting so badly to join their lips, but as she came down from her high, she realised that was probably enough pda for two people desperately trying to convince everyone around them they were just gal pals.

sam softly loosened her grip, only a few in the team actually catching the intimate moment as they poured into the dressing room from the tunnel in a single-file fashion. guro, margaret, sophia, erin and millie all exchanging knowing looks as normalcy pursued once again.

there was a blanket of mild and trivial tension in the room as the whole team eventually reunited, like there was something a fraction of the room weren't being let in on, but it didn't take long for the silence to be broken by millie, who tried to salvage the moment of celebration and most importantly... save sam's ass.

"important work today everyone, such a great effort and a massive win. the goals, the assists, the saves, so proud to be part of this team."

"I KNOW THAT'S RIGHT!" margaret yelled cupping her hands around her mouth, making way for her own speech as millie gestured for her to take the forefront in the middle of the room.

"thank you so much again for having us guys, I know it can't be easy to revisit the basics when you're such experts at your craft, you proved that today. I've always been a soccer fan, I was cheering on sam kerr back home before I ever knew I'd be part of something like this and it's just an unforgettable opportunity, not only the project, but meeting you all. so thank you."

the girls were, for a moment, touched by margaret's remarkable effort to say something meaningful and heartwarming, but that was instantly put to rest when she pulled out a bottle of champagne from her birkin 35 and popped the cork, fixing her thumb to spray it across the room like the team had just won the league. sheva was completely drenched, and millie was sporting a wet patch on her already sweated through football kit, but other than that it was pretty anticlimactic, standing in a fizzing golden puddle.

"dude what the hell?" sheva exclaimed, removing her cat eye sunglasses that were succumbed to droplets.

"I've always wanted to do that," margaret took her hand to her mouth, giggling as she realised just how much she'd targeted sheva, who just threw her arms up in surrender.

"do you have an actual wine cooler in there, how is that so cold?" millie asked gesturing to margaret's bigger-than-average bag.

margaret digested millie's words like a challenge, pulling out a portable wine cooler which wrapped snug around the circumference of the bottle, sticking her tongue out.

"how did you even get that in here?" fran laughed with raised eyebrows, but margaret just put her finger to her glossy lips.

"she's margaret fucking roberts." the matilda's captain complimented her fellow aussie who instantly reacted by taking a bow.