A New Chapter

Old Wounds

After your performance against spurs, Jonas knew better than to bench you. None of the girls seemed to complain either, knowing that you deserved to be in the starting eleven every match you were fit.

After a win (where you bagged a brace) against Brighton, this week was your toughest challenge yet, having to face a Manchester United team that you couldn't deny just seem to improve every year.

The preparation for the game remained the same as the rest. Your training sessions became easier and easier for you as you picked up the flow. Your connections with each teammates getting better by the day.

After a good training session, you basically ran to the dressing room. You didn't bother waiting in line for the shower, and instead dropped everything into your duffel bag.

"Woah what's the rush Frenchie?" Leah asked as she wiped her sweat away with a small towel.

"Is it a date I'm smelling?"Kim teased from across the room, earning oooohs from your childish teammates. Leah was not ooohing along with everyone, she was instead furrowing her eyebrows at Kim's suggestion.

"No, actually," You rolled your eyes "an old friend. Ona."

"Battle?" Jordan asked from beside you. It was a blessing the quiet woman was assigned the locker next to yours because after long days of trainings and games, she knew to leave you alone, being quite introverted herself.

"Yes but- you don't pronounce it like that silly, it's but-tee-yay" you giggled. "Alright I'm off! Bye guyssss." You kissed Jordan's cheek quickly and walked towards Leah to pull her into a hug. The poor girl didn't even have the chance to hug you back.

"But- we have dinner at Beth's!" Leah complained, not really registering what was happening.

"I know, that's why I have to go now so I don't miss dinner later. I'll see you soon." You kissed Leah's cheeks and left the room, not before waving to the other girls.

"Wow, kids grow up so fast these days. Look at her, now she has other friends than us." Katie quipped, before leaving to the shower.

Leah didn't know what to think, not that she was jealous or anything because
A. Why would she be jealous, you said Ona was just a friend.
B. She definitely didn't have a crush on you

Okay, maybe she was a bit jealous because maybe she did have a tiny crush on you.

—
Ona laughed as you copied Jordan's pronunciation of her last name. "That's how everybody in England says it honestly I just accept it these days." It's been a while since you've had full conversations in Spanish with someone, not needing it once you and Alexia were through.

But sitting here with an old friend, speaking a language you worked so hard to learn for her , you felt nostalgic. Alexia might be a private person to the general public, but she wasn't afraid to show you off to everybody she knew. Every opportunity she got to bring you to meet her teammates, she took. You became close friends with most of the girls, many of them even joking that you were an honorary Spanish player.

Ona was one that you became particularly close with, her subtle humour and kindness made her someone you adored.

You learned the beautiful language mostly from Alexia, first picking up the small loving words of "cariño" and "mi vida" to finding yourself wanting to fully immerse yourself in the words that she say to you.

Her English was good. She knew how to say "I love you" and made sure to say it to you as many times as she could. But sometimes when you sleep, she would kiss your forehead and whispered words in Spanish that you wished you understood. So you learned from her mom and read books and visited Barcelona every chance you got. It was all worth it because then you understood when the older girl would kiss you and tell you that "I thank the moon and the stars every night that I get to end my days with you by my side." (Even though you know that nothing still would ever compare to hearing the older girl say "I love you.")