Tying up my shoelaces in the changing room I couldn't help but overhear Georgia say to the others that her sister was coming to our game tomorrow, my ears immediately perked up, listening intently to the conversation. "Which sister?" I asked hoping she meant her older sibling that I've been crushing hard on since Year 7. (Y/n) was two years above us and I remember always trying to make excuses to go around Georgia's house after school, she'd often ask why we couldn't go to mine which meant quickly making up excuses – mum's friends are coming round, the goldfish is sick, I've lost my keys ect. I doubt she bought my reasons and knew exactly why I wanted to go to hers in the slight chance that (y/n) was home. Being nearly two years older than us she'd often be out with her friends and going to parties at the weekends. She taught us how to apply make up when we were younger and told us all about the boys she was seeing, Georgia would often talk about the boys she liked too and I had to pretend to understand. I didn't find boys attractive, I never have and couldn't understand why anyone in their right mind would like them – they were smelly and gross and swore all the time. At least the one's in our class anyway! As we got older, my crush on (y/n) became much more noticeable, I'd become even more ditzy than anyone thought possible which only meant one thing – I was in love!
"The one you fancy" Georgia replied teasingly but I was so far off in my daydream that I barely registered that she'd responded to my question. "It's been 13 years now Hempo, when are you gonna get over her? You know she's straight!" she said throwing a bib at me, we were getting ready for our last training session before the Finalissima at Wembley tomorrow. "And you know I have a girlfriend so don't be speaking about this in front of her.. that goes for all of ya!" making sure I reiterated that for the louder members of the team, the ones that don't think before they talk (they know who they are!) Everyone groaned in acknowledgment of my request, my England and Man City teammates knew all about my secret crush, they tease me about it but it didn't go any further than that. In my eyes, there's no harm in fancying someone who's unattainable – Georgia's is David Beckham, Millie's is Kevin Hart, mine is my best friend's sister! There's no harm in having a crush that will never amount to anything, is there?
"I don't know what you see in her, I'm much fitter!" Georgia continued handing out bibs to the squad as she made her way towards me, poking my cheeks until she got a reaction. "Soz babes, I'm just not that into you!" standing up and patting her head before jogging out to the pitch. Since Stanners moved to Bayern, (y/n) had stopped coming to watch Man City which was weird at first because she would always come to our games. I've never been on a team that didn't include George, even in school (y/n) would come and watch us play after classes finished. She'd even bring her older friends too and if the most popular girl in school watched football, most of the other students did too. We regularly had a large crowd watching us but when (y/n) left for university, that all changed. That was until we both signed for England U15s at the same time. No matter where in the world we played you could guarantee Georgia's entire family would be there. They cheered for me like they did her as mine struggled to get to them all, my mum hates flying so would never come to the out of country games which meant Georgia's family celebrated me as much as they did her, they made sure I never felt alone.
Georgia had known since age 16 that I had a massive crush on her sibling. It happened during a game of truth or dare on one of our weekly sleepovers, I stupidly chose 'truth' and had to admit who I secretly liked.. that was also the day I came out for the first time. I made her pinky promise she wouldn't tell her sister or anyone else and to this day, she's kept it. With adulthood I came to accept that we would never happen and opened myself up to love with another person, I now have a beautiful girlfriend of 3 years but the news of (y/n) coming to our game tomorrow still made my heart sing. I know there's no way in hell that she'd ever feel the same way I do but that doesn't stop me daydreaming every now and then about her.
———————————————————
Walking out for warm ups I pretended to look for my family in the crowd but I was actually looking for Georgia's. Glancing around the stadium from the north stand to the south I finally spotted them, just as George launched herself at me making my arms fly backwards to grab her into a piggy back. "Your parents and girlfriend are in the west stand Hempo" she teased making me stutter in embarrassment at getting caught and innocently turning to where Stanners was pointing, waving up at my family she jumped down from my back and waved too. She then waved to hers which I joined in with, noticing (y/n) jump and wave to be spotted be us.. or just her sister, I'm not sure. "Try be a bit more subtle next time or you're gonna get found out" she laughed, pushing me in the direction of our first warm up.
The game was tough and after a late equaliser it came down to penalties. I was subbed in the 88th minute and watched from the sidelines as Georgia opened up the shots. My eyes couldn't drag themselves from her family in the stand opposite to me celebrating my best friend. Tooney missed her penalty but Rachel, Alex and Chloe didn't which gave us the win. We poured onto the pitch to celebrate with the team, launching myself onto Georgia's back like she did to me earlier. She carried me around the pitch for the lap of honour and after we went to see our families. George came to see my parents and girlfriend with me, she's like a daughter to my mum and the feeling felt a lot like the Euros final the year earlier. As they got the stage ready and engraved the trophy with the winning team we had just enough time to see Georgia's family too, "I'm assuming you're coming to see mine?" she said with a knowing smirk on her face, linking her arm through mine as we skipped down the steps. My expression said 'well DUH' to her question as we ran over to the other stand, confetti was still flying around in the air as we ran hand in hand across the pitch. Squeals came from the fans we ran past to get to her family who were screaming just as loud for us, enveloping us both into a warm hug in congratulations. "You done so well!" (Y/n) screamed in Georgia's face, lifting her up with her tight squeeze of a hug before turning to me, "and you!" shaking my shoulders then wrapping her arms around my neck, planting a huge kiss on my cheek.
It felt like my eyes bulged out of my head. I was speechless! Georgia was staring right at me with a smirk on her face knowing exactly how this interaction was making me feel. If anyone took a photo of me right now it would be obvious about what I was feeling with the dumbfounded expression on my face. I was undeniably in shock! "We gotta go!" George blurted out suddenly, grabbing my arm and dragging me away from the situation before I said something stupid. And lets be honest, I would have said or done something incredibly stupid.. it's me!
"Snap out of it El, act cool!" George encouraged, "we just won!" shaking my shoulders trying to change my emotion to anything other than smitten before collecting the trophy. It's like the real prize didn't even matter, I'd got what I had wanted for years.. something that felt even better than winning a trophy.
