I hopped out the car with Millie and Mary as we arrived at the hotel we were staying at. I smile and wave at the cameras and say hi to all the staff as we walk in. When I get to my room I unlock my phone and send a selfie to my best friend Alessia. I caption it "shift your arse" and hit send. A couple minutes later I get a text from her saying she's arrived. I get changed and tell her to dump her stuff and come meet me in my room.
"Less!" I shout when I see her in the hall and jump on her.
"Tooney" she said laughing. "God don't break me".
I jump off her laughing. We head into my room. We have a quick catch up. We go over her situation with Molly.
"So you've kept your distance" I ask her.
"Well we do see each other every day" she says laughing. "But as much possible, I guess". She shifted into a serious tone. "It was shit having to have that chat with her when I do like her but she took it well".
"Well that's good that she's understanding. She'll be looking out for her career too yeknow" I say.I'm in the bathroom setting my toiletries when I hear our door open. I walk out to see Molly, her eyes fixed on Less. I look between them for a second before having to say something.
"Awright Molly? Nice to meet ya, you the unfortunate one who has to room with me?". I say trying to lighten the air in the room. Her face seemed to fall when I confirmed that I was room 233 too. She must've initially thought she was rooming with Alessia when she came in. Alessia quickly excused us and we headed to her room."She was gutted she's not rooming with you" I say.
"Aw shut it Ella". Alessia say throwing herself on her bed. Millie soon walked in. We caught her up with what happened.Over the next couple of days I got to spend some time with Molly. She was actually very funny she just took a bit to come out of her shell. I love being at England camp. Getting to spend time with the girls I don't usually get to see and having Less so close again is brilliant. We near enough get to spend all day with each other. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't jealous that Less and Mil were sharing a room. Not that I had any against Molly, they were just my best friends.
Molly did bring me a coffee the morning of our game against Scotland. She came bursting through the door and handed me it then ran right back out. I had my first sip and it was gone 2 minutes later. It was amazing.
"Less if you don't marry her I will". I say to Alessia on the bus to training.
"What because she got you a coffee"? She said laughing.
"No Less it's not just a coffee, it was the best coffee I've ever had." I say "not just that I mean she didn't have to get me it. She just did".
Alessia was almost pissing herself laughing at me.
"You were the one who told me not to take it anywhere" she said.
"That was before I knew her" I said. "Now I'm full on team Molessia". I teased.Over the past few days I had seen the two of them stealing glances at each other. It was sweet. I had never seen Alessia get nervous around anyone. It was nice to see, and unfortunately I felt like I had to admit to myself I was wrong. Molly seemed to be a good match for Alessia. She got on with all the girls and was funny. And it seemed like she lit a fire in Less. There would be moments I saw Less get pissed if Molly was speaking to certain people for too long. By certain people I mean anyone with scope to date her.
At the gym I was sat having a laugh with Molly and Leah. I dared Molly to go up and squirt water in Alessia's face. I thought it would be a tease. But the bottle was lose and she instead threw a full bottle at Alessia. At first I genuinely thought she was mad so when Molly took off running I thought it was the best idea. I followed the two of them out to the pitch. When I got to the end of the path Alessia was laid on top of Molly. I was about to run on thinking she was going to batter her then I realised that wasn't the case. The rain was falling hard so I couldn't hear a thing they were saying but I could see they were having a moment. After a minute I had to shout and interrupt because I had heard a crash of thunder and wanted them to come in.
Alessia never mentioned it to me. I don't think she realised I had been standing there for a minute watching them. While we warmed up in between passes I saw her steal glances. And during the game I saw the smile when it was announced Molly was coming on. I had to help my best friend out.
After gaining victory I went round get ready in Alessia's room. We always got ready together at camp. Less was looking great, I curled the last strand of her hair at the back for her. And we went off to meet the girls.
After dancing for the first bit at the club me and Alessia went up to the bar to get a drink. I could see Molly looking over.
"I'm gonna help you out tonight" I shouted to Alessia as we took a drink of our cocktails.
She laughed, "what do you mean?"
"I'm gonna be yah wingwoman" I said seriously. She just kept laughing.
"I don't need a wingwoman Tooney" Alessia said rolling her eyes.
"I know you like her" I say back to her.
"Yeah well I can't exactly go back after letting her down before" she said with a sigh.
I look at her and tilt my head curiously, "how not? The girl adores you, I bet she'd be buzzing"
She's quiet her eyes flick off to the side looking for Molly. She doesn't bring them back. They're focused. I turn my head to see what she's looking at. It's Georgia with her arm around Molly and they're laughing.
Alessia's face is almost sad. I hate seeing her like that.
"Cmon" I say taking her hand and hoping off the bar stool.
"What?" She asks.
"I made this mess by telling you to ignore it before so I'm getting you a chance to sort it" I reply pulling her to the dance floor.When we dance over I act over the top drunk shouting at Georgia taking her hands and starting to dance leaving Alessia and Molly together. I turn my head and wink at Less who's already smiling. Me and Georgia dance together for a while then we join back with some of the group at a booth. The team is dotted everywhere from the toilets, booths, dance floor, outside and back at the hotel. I find Millie and we take to the dance floor. I keep my eye on Alessia. Her and Molly are laughing at the bar. Then a few minutes later are serious and seem like they're having deep chat then it's back to laughing.
An hour and a half passes and there's still no sign of them moving. I don't think either eyes have moved from looking at the other once.
"Cmon Tooney it's time to head" Millie was saying to me handing me my jacket.
"Yeah alright" I say turning to head and taking it. "Aw shit" I start. "I've not got my key for the room". I say patting my pockets.
"Go ask Molly if she's got hers" Millie suggests pointing over at Molly. I take a step then pull back looking at Millie.
"Would you mind if I roomed with you? Just saves the hassle" I say with a big smile.
"Sure" she shrugs not bothered.We head back and I text the plan to Alessia. Hopefully she's grateful of the opportunity her wingwoman has offered her. I'm already in bed when my phone rings. I tell her I forgot my key and I'm in her room now. She'll just have to say with Molly for the night. The convo was brief and she didn't seem too happy at first like I was making it awkward for her but she was laughing by the end.
I came off the phone and had got a text from her a minute later.Less: Night, Ly Tooney 🤍
YOU ARE READING
My No. 23
FanficYou've just been signed with Arsenal and have to compete with the best to earn your spot on the starting line up. Who are you competing with? Only Arsenals newest star, Alessia Russo. Everything included is Fiction and does not depict real life at...