Rachel Daly - Dashed Hopes

Dashed Hopes - Part Two

Turning up at camp and shuffling towards the building with your bags you couldn't help but recognise the familiar blonde figure on the steps out front with her new beau. Too far across the car park to turn back without looking suspicious you had to keep walking, hoping to anything godly that neither would notice you. "Oh my god! (Y/n) is that you?" screeched the familiar voice of your ex best friend. Fuck. Time to put that Drama GCSE to good use! "Oh my god! Becky? I haven't seen you in years!" you squealed in fake excitement as you pulled her in for a hug. "Wait.. you know each other?" Rachel seemed surprised yet extremely worried about the altercation that was happening in front of her. "Yeah we used to be besties, what happened to that?" Becky twirled her hair around her fingers as she pretended to forget why you fell out years ago. "You shagged our best mate's boyfriend" you said bluntly, the fake smile wiped away and resting bitch face firmly back in her place. "And now you're shagging my ex! Funny how things change aih.. unlike your clothes" tugging at the shirt hanging off of the brunette's slim body. "Rach, you took my favourite shirt? I've been looking for this for weeks!" You knew exactly what you were doing but why the hell is she wearing your shirt? You wanted to rip it off her along with the extensions glued to her head. Unfortunately you have a reputation to uphold now and had to deal with things amicably, no matter how much you wanna hit her. "Wait, this is.. yours?!" Becky exclaimed disgusted at how she was wearing an ex's shirt that she thought was her girlfriend's. "Yeah.. Rach used to love me in this, didn't you babe?" smiling sweetly and stroking Rachel's arm, determined to wind them up as much as possible before you have to act professional until the end of August. Rachel visibly gulped as she scratched the back of her head which was her tell for when she was feeling awkward. "It's sooo nice to see you both again, byeee!" Lies. Big fat lies. The extremely heavy sarcastic sweetness that rolled out of your mouth was undeniably two faced. You thought you'd be more hurt seeing them together but you kept your horoscope this morning at the forefront of your mind - you'll be tested today but remember you're better than them - couldn't have been more true if it tried!

Strutting into the welcome meeting feeling like all the cards were in your hand, you were pleased to see some of your old friends again. There was a few you played with for England when you were younger and made your way over to sit with Georgia and Keira. Your overnight plane from America had only landed a few days ago and the jet lag was starting to catch up on you now - hoping Sarina's talk would be quick so you could get some sleep. Your dreams of a few hours shut eye were quickly shattered, Sarina clearly hadn't got the memo and bunked you up with none other than your ex. For fuck sake Sarina! Asking to have a quiet word with her after everyone left she said that if you found someone to swap with you could but was stern when she added "if you can't work with her then we're going to have to discuss your position on the team". Brilliant. Get along with your run away bride or get kicked from the team, what an ultimatum. You'd been fighting to be recognised from over the pond for years, Rachel was gonna get a call up no matter where in the world she was but not you. You'd climbed the England ranks since 15 but knew moving to America would put your national career on the line. You were convinced you'd have made the senior team a lot sooner if you had stayed in the WSL.

Dragging your bags up to your room you stood with your hand on the door knob for some time before gathering up the courage to enter. You didn't need to be nervous as the bags dumped on the bed told you Rachel had gone elsewhere. The luggage reminded you of how she would never unpack from travelling and it drove you insane. Busy sorting out your things you didn't hear your ex enter until you came out of the bathroom. "Hey" she mumbled awkwardly as you both clocked each other. Moving your headphones to sit around your neck so you didn't seem rude, "hi" you replied in a way that was unsure about how this was going to work. "I took this bed as I know you don't like being next to the door but I can move if that's changed" she said picking at her fingernails. You replied that you're fine where you are and started listening to your music again while continuing to unpack. That was until your headphones died and threw them onto the bed disgruntled at how you've now got to listen to your ex breath the same air as you. Spending what felt like forever in silence until Rachel made the first move "I'll get your shirt back to you" her voice somewhat perky like she was trying. There's nothing you would want more, the way it was slightly faded and shrunk a little in the wash made it show your belly button. It was your old uni top and you loved how it reminded you of simpler times but your voice didn't say that. "No it's okay, it looks good on her" you shrugged, it wasn't a lie per se but it wasn't the whole truth - it deffo looks better on you and Rachel seemed to think so as well. "It looked good on you too" she said quietly looking over at you. Well you didn't expect to hear that today! "Yeah it did, thats why it was my favourite" you hammered back with the same stiff eye contact she was giving you. "That's why I kept it" she shrugged, "what to give to your next fiancée?". Oops, that was meant to come out jokey but it deffo came out defensive and argumentative. "No, she wasn't meant to find it" throwing her legs over the side of her bed and putting her face in her hands. "She tidied the house while I was out one day and found it, I couldn't tell her it was yours. It still smelt of you and when I was sad I'd hold it. She washed it and put it on, I was so mad but I didn't really have the right to be angry with her." Rachel stood up from the bed "(y/n) I hate what I did to you, I just missed England so bad after the Euros, I needed to be with my family" she tried to win you over, to be honest the first part of her speech was quite cute but the last part hit a nerve. "I was your family too Rach, we were getting married! Do you know how humiliating that was for me? Calling all the suppliers, all of the guests, telling my family that my future wife had ran away? Just left me in a strange country you convinced me to move to!" your arms were flailing and your voice was raising. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it to turn out this way!" she pleaded but you had seen red. "Then what the fuck did you mean to happen? You didn't talk to me, you just left! You kissed me and said you loved me, waited til I fell asleep then fucked off on the first plane out of Texas!" you yelled. "I'm not proud of my actions" she said approaching you from across the floor "(y/n) let me explain, please sit down" grabbing your hand and trying to guide you towards the bed but you were determined not to get pulled into her sob story and snatched your arm away. "Your time for explaining was the minute you thought about leaving, now get the fuck out my face!" Pushing past her to reach the door, maybe you should have taken the bed closer to it for a quicker escape.

Bursting into Millie and Mary's room where some of the others had gathered, "eurgh!" you bellowed making your entrance known "someone swap with me! I can't stay in that room with her!" pleading with your teammates. "(Y/n), you're gonna have to get along with her for the sake of the team" Mary tried to reason with you. "I could do that a lot better by not bunking with her" begging the girls to swap rooms with you but they were all settled and didn't want to move their stuff again. "Millie please, you're her best friend why wouldn't you wanna bunk with her? I'll do your laundry until we leave" trying to bribe your ex's best friend. "I think it'll be good for you two to talk things over" she said taking you in for a hug. You sighed feeling defeated, "what's there to talk about? She set up a transfer without telling me and waited until she could disappear in the night! I'd rather sleep on the pitch!" throwing yourself back onto her bed in frustration. "That's not what she said went down" Millie said confused. "Well that's exactly what happened!" you projected around the room. "She said you broke up with her after she moved?" Mary said quizzically. How did she think the truth wouldn't come out? Why did she tell everyone I broke up with her? "That's absolute bollocks, you believed that? You know I loved her more than anything! I would have come home too, I wouldn't have moved there in the first place if it wasn't for her!" curling yourself up into a ball as the tears started to run again. "Okay, I'll swap alright but you still need to try and get on with her." Millie turned empathetic and stroked your back giving you comfort.

Knocking on the door Rachel was surprised to see Millie standing there with her bags. "Why did you tell us (y/n) broke up with you?" pushing past her to get inside the room. Rachel couldn't believe you'd got someone to swap with you and that the truth was out, rolling her eyes acting like you were the one being childish. "Can you blame her for swapping?" Millie's arms folded, sticking up for injustice came easy to her. "It was just simpler, I didn't think she'd be here" Rachel was pacing the floor trying desperately to figure out a way to wriggle out of the mess she had made. "You didn't think she'd get called up so you thought you'd never have to see her again? She's an amazing player Rach, you thought you could leave your old life behind and never get found out! I'm your best friend, why did you lie to me?" Millie's voice was raised, she was protective of the first time campers especially ones that had been wronged by someone she holds so close. "Because I knew you'd hate me!" Rachel's eyes started to fill up with tears as she felt interrogated. "I wouldn't hate you Rach, I'm disappointed though! You just left in the middle of the night? She was gonna be your wife!" Millie was getting more and more irate with every word that was coming out of her best friend's mouth. "I know! I'm sorry!" Rachel yelled across the room at her. "And who the fuck is this new bird? You do know Sarina told her she's got to get on with you to stay on the team right? You've put her whole career in jeopardy and she's a bigger person than I would be cause I would have knocked you out by now!"

"Look, I don't need both of you yelling at me okay. I know what I did was shitty but I have my reasons, no one will let me explain!" she pleaded to have her side heard. As much as Millie didn't want to give Rachel the time of day, she was inquisitive of why she did what she did. The defender threw herself onto the bed and patted the mattress beside her for Rach to scooch in. No matter how much she was mad at her right now, she knew she must have had a good reason.