Jealousy

Out Out

"Heyyyy! Oh my god!" Lauren screams as I meet her and Chloe at our old shared flat. "Hempo! Chloe!! Guys I missed you so much!" I hug Lauren and then Chloe. "We missed you too, it's taken some getting used to. How are you? How is Arsenal going?" Chloe gushed. "I'm really well, Arsenal... is going good. I'm settled there, a few bumps in the road but otherwise all good." I smile widely. "I honestly thought you'd come back here sounding more London." Lauren laughs. "Nahh. You can take a girl out of Manchester..." I start "But you can't take the Manchester of a girl." Chloe finishes proudly. "Exactly that!" I agree.

The girls and I head to one of our favourite coffee shops, I tell the pair lots of stories about my time at Arsenal so far, of course I left out the Katie bits. They don't need to hear about the person I hate, plus why should she get any airtime. "Are you staying at a hotel?" Lauren asks. "No, I'm sleeping at Jill's." I shrug. "Wait Jill? Are you two...?" Chloe wiggled her eyebrows, suggestively. "No... well... not romantically. It's happened a couple of times..." I say as I try to find the right words. "Shit, ok tell us everything." Lauren cocks her head to the side looking at me. "We... you know, on my debut at Arsenal, she came to the game. Emotions were high. And then... last night." I sip my coffee.

"Girl you're way too brief. Last night? Why?" Chloe questioned. "Some things happened yesterday, I don't really want to go too deep into it because Katie doesn't deserve airtime." "Woah, woah, woah. You cannot say that and not explain. Airtime or not, we're your best friends Lili." Lauren shakes her head. "Come on, girl. Out with it." Chloe pushes. "Ok, ok... to cut a very long story short... Katie hurt me in training after making comments all through training, she really got into my head and I blew up. I made a real show of myself in front of the whole team, I grabbed the next train to Manchester. Jill fetched me back from the train station. I told her about it all and I guess with a drink in us both and yeah. Things escalated." I stare into my coffee before taking another sip.

"Wow, she's really not making life easy for you then?" Chloe scoffs. "Not really no. Arsenal is great, all my other team mates are fantastic. It's just her." I shrug. "Lili, be careful. You and Jill have history, what if all this makes her think yous have another chance?" Lauren raised her eyebrows. Maybe Lauren was right, what if Jill thought I was coming to her bed because I wanted us to try again. I definitely need to make it clear to her, that isn't the case. "You're right. I'll talk to her about it, later." I nod. "So Katie..." Chloe starts "No, no I absolutely refuse to talk about her." I frown. "You need to because in a couple of weeks we play against each other. You might not be in our squad anymore, but we still have your back and if anything happens I'm almost certain that Jill would fuck her up of she tried anything nasty."

I sigh in defeat. "Fine. I don't think she would do anything to you and Lauren but maybe Jill. I get the feeling she doesn't like Jill, I don't really know why. But then again I don't understand her issue with me either." Lauren and Chloe nod. "Look, we've got you." I smile lightly. "Hey, maybe both our teams could go out after the match?" I suggest. "Yeah! Like an England/ Arsenal/ City reunion type thing. That would be so good." Chloe grins. "I'll put the idea forward and see who's up for it." I smile. I was glad to have been able to steer the conversation away from the subject of Katie.

We spent the morning catching up and talking about all the changes in all our lives since my move to Arsenal. It felt good to be back with my best friends. I smile as my phone pinged with a message from Kyra.

I quickly read it in the notification that came up.

Kyra
"Actually came to your room with coffee this morning. Then I remembered you weren't there, two lots of coffee for me- I'm WIRED. Hope you're not having too much fun without me, loser. Xx"

Ok damn it, I miss the pest. I decided to text her back.
"Can you talk? Let me FaceTime you? Xx"
Not even a minute later Kyra FaceTimes me.
"Guys, I want you to meet Kyra, my house and team mate." I say quickly, receiving nods from, both Lauren and Chloe I answer. "Ky!" "Lils! Are you ok? What's happened?" She asked in concern. "No, don't worry nothing bad. I wanted you to meet Hempo and Chloe." I smile, her face softens knowing I'm ok. "Hi!" Chloe says looking over my shoulder to Kyra. "I'm Chloe, this is Lauren." Chloe says as Lauren now copies her action. "I'm Kyra." Kyra waves. "I hope you're looking after our star girl." Kyra adds. "Always. She's well taken care of." Lauren smiles. We all talk on FaceTime for a short while before Kyra says she has to go.