Interlinked- Kyra Cooney-Cross

*THREE*

"Hi." Kyra spoke shyly, voice cracking a little, her hands sweaty from nerves and clutching her tray of Pasta as well.

"We were just talking about you actually." Caitlin smirked and gestured to the empty seat to the right of her.

"Good things I hope." Kyra giggled as she perched on the seat. Her laugh was contagious and so cute, enough to upturn the corners of my lips. I stayed quiet, just admiring from afar, it's not like I wanted to overwhelm her or say something weird that would totally embarrass me for the rest of my life. So, I became increasingly interested in twirling a long strand of spaghetti around my fork.

"Earth to Evie." Caitlin, leant over the table and shook my shoulders. Jolting, I tripped out of my daydream and looked up at her confused.

"I said, since you seemed to be so interested in Kyra earlier, why don't you quiz her, yourself." my comical friend smiled, a streaked glimmer of mischief sparkling on the surface of her eye.

"I wasn't.." I stumbled and looked down at my plate, cheeks afire. Then, I did the worst thing I could of ever done to settle the turning of my stomach. I locked eyes with her.  Butterflies hit me like a hurricane, taking over every inch of my body, head to toe. I felt like I couldn't breathe, or speak otherwise my lungs would just fall right out of my mouth. Whilst fighting this inner turmoil, I took notice of the way the sunrays from the window hit her pupils at just the right angle. Lightening the deep oak colouration to more of a hazel glaze, creating a playful combination. I also mentally drew out the creases around her eyes when she smiled, or the way her nose scrunched up. These mental measurements would sure make an appearance in my dreams later. At this realization, I also realized there was no way I could get out of this situation, I just had to act along.

"Actually." I sat up a little straighter, trying to secrete an air of confidence, "I just was curious about why of all clubs, you chose Arsenal."

Her face lit up again, or I was just imagining it. It was like, she had been disappointed that I was about to declare no interest in her, but now I confirmed it, it filled her with joy.

"Well, it just feels right." Kyra began, expressing her emotions with her hands. I loved passionate people like that. "And, Steph and Caitlin have bigged it up for so long to me, it just seemed like a once in a lifetime opportunity."

I offered her a comforting smile back, admiring how she tucked a stand of loose hair behind her ear.

"Kyra, who was your like favourite footballer growing up." Katie chimed in with the conversation and I sighed, happy it didn't look like I was utterly obsessed. I wasn't yet, anyway.

I took this as my queue to leave, picking up my tray and heading to the large table in the corner, where we all dumped our dirty plates and cutlery for the cooking team.

"You like her don't you." Beth stated from behind me, nearly making me drop a knife on my toe.

"Shit Beth, you're going to make me have a heart attack." I panted, trying to avoid her question.

"Answer me." Beth prodded my side teasingly.

"I can't like someone I've literally just met." I tried to reason with her, but she wasn't buying it.

Sighing I paused, glancing back at our table, Kyra and Katie now engaged in a friendly arm wrestle. Feeling tingles running up my spine at seeing how strained the veins in her arm was, I carried on, "But I think she's fucking gorgeous."

Beth clapped excitedly and bounced, "That's so cute."

Suddenly, Viv appeared from nowhere, wiping the corners of her orange stained mouth with a napkin, "What's cute?"