Catching Feelings- Leah Williamson

Chapter Fourteen

Air has left my lungs from the moment her lips collided with mine.  A pair of string arms wrap around my waist and I'm pulled closer to her, my hands landing on her chest, her lips soft and foreign. 

For a moment it feels like I'm not standing in front of thousands of people, like I haven't just won the game for us.  As I'm moving my lips in the same rhythm, as a tongue slightly makes contact with mine, everything else seems unimportant. 

My lungs burn from the little air that's left in there but for some reason I can't stop. The way she's kissing me... it's the type of kiss that makes oxygen feel overrated.

It's the camera shuttering sounds that bring me back to reality.  I use my hands to create some distance and finally the grip around me loosens.  I pull away, slowly opening my eyes and breathing in.  I'm grateful for the hands still holding me in place since I would have collapsed on the floor because of the girl standing in front of me.

"Leah?"

Her lips slightly swollen and her hair is messy as she stands there, her signature smirk painted on her face. 

"Congratulations beautiful" Leah whispers and my heart skips a beat.

I've frozen in place from shock, my body heating up in all of the places where Leah is still touching me.  My eyes connect with hers as I'm searching for some kind of unspoken explanation from her, but those beautiful green eyes offer me nothing but some comfort as more people start gathering around us.

"What are you doing?" I ask her lowly when she starts leaning in again. 

"Playing the part"

My eyes drift away from her and as I'm looking around, I'm able to spot more than dozens of cameras that are taking pictures of us now.  Jonas is standing on the side of the pitch and gives me a thumbs up, but just long enough for me to see it, and for the cameras and reporters not to spot anything. 

This is what this all is.  We've been put on stage to perform for people who are enjoying our act, our little show. 

I put my hands on each side of Leah's face, cupping her and pulling her into me.  I'm the one who kisses her this time and I can see that she is a little surprised at first, but then immediately joins my performance.  The same feelings from the kiss we shared just seconds ago reignites inside of me. 

I can't help but question if she is feeling this too.  Did she kiss me just for show or did some part of her actually enjoy it, want it? It would be pathetic if she did. 

I'm pathetic. 

Her arms wrap around me one more time as im getting lost in her touch and im having an entire conflict inside of me.  A part of me wants to scream at her and tell her to get off me, and the other part wants me to to tell her not to stop, to kiss me harder, to hold me tighter. 

Suddenly, Leah pulls away from me and inhales slowly, as if she's trying to pull herself together. I almost flinch at the lost contact. 

"Dont ever kiss me like that again" Leah says slowly and lowly while offering me a fake smile. 

To the people around us, it might seem like such a sweet and wholesome moment, but the sound of her voice isn't sweet, it's everything but that. 

I thought that kissing her again would be more convincing since the first time we did, I was still processing everything but now I realise that it was a mistake. 

I try to make up something to say to her, how to apologise to her for it, not like it would really matter, when she interrupts me...

"I won't be able to control myself"

And with that, she walks away towards where the rest of the team are, while im still trying to figure out what just happened.

***   ***

I was seated between Leah and Kim on the press debrief on the game, my face flushed every time I made eye contact with Leah.  Kim would constantly give us confused looks but we couldn't really talk about anything other than the game because of all the cameras. 

As I was seated on my seat, I tried not freaking out on live television in front of thousands of people, which was hard but then Leah slightly brushed her hand against mine.  It was brief and she probably didn't even realise what she had done but for some reason, this small unimportant gesture managed to calm me down. 

How does she even do that?

A part of me is still in disbelief, but there's also a feeling of pride, gratitude, and adrenaline all mixed inside of me. 

Once my name is called, I move myself closer to the microphone.  I look at the crowd of reporters sitting in front of me and some of the players standing at the back of the room watching on.  Im trying to spot Katie out there but she's nowhere to be seen.  I gulp down th bitterness in my mouth as I begin answering some of the questions.  

I look towards Leah who is sitting to my right, a cold look on her face.  I can't help but feel a bit disappointed that she's not happy for me, for my winning goal, but then again, the glory is all that matters to her and I took that away from her.