My Neighbor || Brooklyn Beckham

Chapter 29

*Laura🇧🇪*
It's been 8 months since that thing with Brooklyn, and praise God I haven't seen him. I have the most successful Premier League career of all the women. Not only do I play for Chelsea's Women's Team, but I also make more appearances for the U23 team. In two days, it's our World Cup final. It's the Belgium Women vs. England Women and I can't wait...except Grace Terry is the starting goalie for them.
"I'm going to Starbucks," I say.
"Have fun," Sophia says.
"Be back in 45 minutes," Kailick says. I walk down the streets of London, yeah, the Women's World Cup is held in England. We play at Wembley at 6pm Sunday night. I get to Starbucks and order a caramel frappe. I pay, grab it, and start walking to a table. Of course, I run into someone...as usual.
"I'm sorry," he says. Wow...he? I thought it was a girl and I don't even know why. He helps me up.
"Don't worry about it," I say. "It happens all the time."
"Wow, you're Laura Hazard," he says. "I have liked you since the first time I saw you on tv."
"Yeah," I say. "Wait, who are you?"
"Carter Johnson," he says, extending a hand. I gladly take it. He is very cute. He has very dark brown hair, blue eyes, and is about 2 inches taller than me.
"Well, nice to meet you, Carter." I smile.
"Wait, let me buy you another drink," he says.
"Oh no, it doesn't matter," I say.
"No. I'm buying you one," he says. I go sit down while he orders me a new drink.
"Thanks," I say. We talk for a while, and I think I fell more in love with him.
"So you have siblings, yeah?" he asks.
"Yeah...unfortunately. I have three older brothers: Eden, Thorgan, and Kylian," I say.
"I think I knew that." he laughs. "I have three sisters, two younger and one older. Megan is the eldest, Kaylie is the middle child, and Darcy is the youngest. Aren't you and uh, what's his face together?"
"Uh, not anymore," I say. He looks at me. "I needed to get out of there. It didn't feel right. Plus, he was clearly seeing someone else."
"Oh, I'm sorry," he says. "I think I remember seeing that on the news. I got out of a messy relationship, too, 3 years ago."
"Oh, what happened?" I ask.
"Used me for you know what," he says. "She had my baby, and then left me because she hated kids and said she was done using me."
"Sorry about that," I say. My phone beeps.
Sophia🍁: need to come back soon. almost midnight child...😂😂
Me🙌🏻: thanks Soph. I'm on my way
"I'm sorry, Carter, but I have to go," I say.
"Oh, that sucks. Can I get your phone number?" he asks. I nod and we swap phones.
"Crap, I don't know my way around this part of London," I say.
"I can walk you to where you need to be," he says. Ok, he is way too kind.
"Uh, thanks. I'm at the -insert hotel name-," I say. We walk down the street in a comfortable silence and when we get to the front door of the hotel, he surprises me. I feel his lips brush my cheek.
"Sorry," he says.
"No worries." I smile. Wait. I knew his name sounds familiar! "Wait! You currently play for Chelsea FC and England Men's teams. Don't you?" He laughs.
"Yeah, I do." he smiles. "And you play for the Chelsea Women and U23 and Belgium national."
"Oh, haha. I knew your name. Eden talks about you sometimes," I say.
"Good." he chuckles. "I'm going to your match Sunday."
"Oh. Well, find me afterwards and we can maybe talk more," I say. "Goodnight, Carter."
"Goodnight, Hazard." he smiles, kissing my cheek again. I think I've finally found love again.

*two days later*

It's the Women's World Cup final today! I don't know if I'll get a start today, but I probably won't. Maybe I'll get subbed. Trust me, I already know the Beckhams are here. Just about all the major football players ever are here, and plenty others. Cristiano Ronaldo is here and I hope I get to impress him today. I sit on the sub bench and cheer on my team as the game starts.

*overtime of the match*

There's only 3 minutes of overtime left and our coach has one sub left.
"Hazard," he says. "Come here." I go over to him and kneel by him.
"Yeah?" I say.
"You're going in," he says. "Just do your best."
"Thanks coach." I smile and get subbed in. There's only 1 minute left until penalties. Our main forward gets a hold of the ball, and gets trapped. No one is on me, so I wave my hand. She gives me the perfect cross, so I jump up higher than England's goalie and head it in. The stands start going crazy and my team screams at me and tackle me.
"And it's the goal for Belgium. An excellent one scored by 22 year old, Laura Hazard!" the announcer exclaims. My coach pulls the team off me and looks at me.
"I didn't expect you to score that!" he shouts, hugging me.
"Coach, I'm your secret weapon." I grin and glance at the England team, but someone beats me to greeting them.
"Good goal Hazard." I turn and see Grace Terry, smiling at me. I hug her really tight.
"I'm sorry," I say.
"Hey. It's a country pride thing. I understand," she says. "Did you see that Brooklyn is here?" I nod.
"Forget him," I say.
"Little sister!" I hear someone shout. I turn to the voice and see Eden. I run to him and tackle him.
"That was a fantastic goal!" Thorgan and Kylian exclaim. I hug both of them.
"Where are my nieces and nephews?" I ask.
"Calm down." Eden laughs. "They are on their way down here."
"Auntie Laura!" Jackson shouts. "You won and you scored that awesome goal!" I hug him and soon the others are piling on me.
"I think we should get a big family photo," I say. We get positioned and some paparazzi take our pic and some of my teammates do too for me. I take a pic with Sophia, and immediately post it on Instagram: "first Women's World Cup final and we won 1-0! I was the goal scorer off a header and it feels great!🇧🇪 #belgiumpride!" I take some pics with other people.
"So, Carter said he met you," Eden says. "I think he likes you."
"I think I like him." I smile, remembering he's here. Grace and I meet back up and walk to a certain part in the tunnel.
"Nice goal, Laura!" I hear Carter shout in his adorable British accent.
"Thank you!" I exclaim as he pulls me into a hug.
"Do you mind if I kiss you?" he asks.
"Beckhams headed our way," Grace whispers in my ear.
"Nope, go ahead," I say. He leans in and kisses me...it's perfect.
"Enough of that lovebirds," Sophia says, walking past us. "I'm back off to Belgium, Laura. Plan something for the summer." Carter and I pull apart, and Grace rolls her eyes. Someone covers my eyes, a guy.
"What one can do," John Terry says.
"JT!" I exclaim, hugging him.
"But how dare you score against my kid." he laughs. JT is a classic jokester. He walks off and David Beckham approaches Grace.
"You've got fantastic goalie skills," he says.
"Apparently not good enough to stop her," she says, pointing at me. David and I look at each other and there is no other word to describe it: awkward.
"I'm sorry that all of this has happened," he says.
"You didn't do anything wrong. And yeah, I've honestly missed you, David." I smile and hug him.
"So, who's this guy?" he asks.
"Carter Johnson," I say. "He plays for the men's
team of Chelsea FC and England."
"How old are you?" David asks. I'm curious too, he never told me.
"24," he says. "I was 21 when all of my story unfolded. By the way, Laura, there's someone who wants to meet you." He walks off. I see Alyssa holding on to Brooklyn's hand and I look at Grace.
"Hey, Laura," Brooklyn says. I turn around slowly. This is really awkward.
"Hi," I say, quietly.
"You know, I don't want this to be awkward between us," he says. "I know what I did and I've apologized a lot. I know you haven't forgiven me yet, and I respect that. But, I don't want our meet ups to be weird." I look at him.
"Me either," I say. "Just know, I'm still not ready to forgive you." He nods and bends down to Alyssa's level.
"Do you know who this is?" he asks.
"Yeah...mommy," she says, sticking her fingers in her mouth.
"Do you know if Andre Schürrle is here?" I ask Grace.
"Pretty sure." she smiles. "I swear, I think you have a crush on him."
"No, he's just my best friend," I say. "And I have missed him."
"Thought I was your best friend," she says. I laugh at her.
"Emboaba here?" I ask.
"Gah, I wish," she says. "Vacationing with Oscar as usual. So, uh, you still have a crush on CR7?"
"Little bit," I say. "If you're Laura Hazard's first crush, you're always her crush." Grace looks past me, towards Brooklyn, and smiles.
"I hear you've been looking for me, Hazard!" the one and only Andre Schürrle shouts. He still hasn't changed.
"Andre!" I shout, running into his hug.
"You never fail to impress me," he says. "I just couldn't believe that was you who scored that."
"I never fail to impress a fan." I smirk.
"So now I'm a fan?" he smirks back.
"Oh, in my mind everyone is a fan." I laugh which causes him to laugh too. Carter comes back, with a little girl in his arms.
"Meet McKenna," he says. "She's my kid. It's convenient that I still live at home because my sisters take care of her while I'm out. My sister is on her way down here, too."
"Hi McKenna." I smile at her.
"I wuv your hair!" she bursts.
"Can you watch her while I go find my sister?" Carter asks. I nod and he walks off. I see Kevin DeBruyne talking to the Beckhams so I give McKenna to Grace real quick. I run and jump on his back.
"Heyyyyyyy Kev," I say like a drunk person, as usual.
"Heyyyyyyy Hazard," he says. "You've gotten heavy, so if you don't get off me right now, I'm gonna throw you off." I jump off his back and he side hugs me.
"Are we always going to greet each other like we are drunk?" I ask, laughing.
"Haha maybe we will." he laughs. "Hey, who is Terry holding?" Eden walks into the tunnel.
"Her new lover's kid," Eden says.
"Oi, Carter Johnson?" Kevin smirks. I smack both of them.
"Hey, we are leaving," Eden says. "I'm assuming you're coming back to Belgium next week?"
"Yeah. I'll see you then," I say, and he pulls me into a hug. "One more thing though."
"Yeah, and what's that?" he asks. I grab a bucket of ice water and dump it all over his head and then jump on his back. I quickly regret my decision because he's freezing. I fall off and land on my back. I start dying in laughter because this is usually how the Hazards behave...like children. Who said staying a kid is a bad thing?

*Brooklyn🇬🇧*
I just watch her. She seems so happy even though I destroyed her. And I absolutely hate this Carter guy...no one takes my girl. He's got to have some flaw that can make him seem worse than me. I've got to do my digging around...this is just the beginning, Johnson.