Close - Ella Toone

Chapter 34

15:00

Ella's POV

"But you don't have to go back yet!" Madison said, following Georgia around as she packed up her things.

"Mads, I do. I'm sorry. I have to leave," Georgia replied turning around to face Madison.

"But what am I going to do without you?"

"You're gonna be fine! You'll go back to college for your last couple of weeks. You can visit me after you're done. My house is always open to you,"

"I guess,"

"Everything's going to be okay. I promise,"

"Madi leave her alone. Let her finish packing," I sighed.

"Fine,"

"Georgia how have you managed to get your things everywhere?"

"Madison," She sighed zipping up her bag.

"Huh?"

"She threw all my stuff around so I would spend more time here,"

"So you're saying that her 3-year-old niece is more mature than her?"

"Yep," She said laughing as Madison just sat staring at us.

"You got everything?" I asked.

"Yep. Let's go so I can get back home,"

"Alright. Come on, Madi. You're driving,"

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At the train station, we walked Gerogia to her stop and waited with her until her train came.

Madison not only threw her stuff all over the room, but she also pretended that her car wouldn't start, then she decided to stop at Costa even though she doesn't like coffee causing Georgia to miss her train so we had to wait.

We got recognized a few times and took pictures with a few people. We then spent the rest of the 20 minutes checking out social media to see what was being said about our games.

There was one tweet from a sports network that caught my eye. It was from Rachel's interview after the last game, and it was the video clip attached under the caption.

The caption was "Madison Lewis wouldn't hurt a fly. She's intense in games and practice, but never to the point of intentionally injuring another player. That's what's great about her. She cares so much about the game and wants to win more than anyone else, but she cares about others more."

Then the USA player that got a red card and was kicked out for trying to fight her. She retweeted and on it, she added:

"Wouldn't hurt a fly? Why's she come after me then?"

Before showing it to Madison, I looked through the comments. Almost all of them were saying how she owes Madison an apology because dipping into her personal life on the field was a terrible thing to do. Another comment said that the girl probably will never get another call-up because of her behaviour, which I think is very reasonable.

I clicked on her profile and she made another tweet about it saying, that she won't give an apology for something that wasn't her fault.

I wanted to fight back, but I realized that it would look bad for me and probably Madison too.

Then Georgia's train turned up.

All 3 of us stood up and I gave Georgia a hug.

"See you soon," I said before pulling away.

"See you soon," She said.

Then Madison stood there just looking at us sadly for about half a minute before giving Georgia a hug. I took out my phone and video them because it was so cute. They whispered something to each other before breaking the hug and doing their handshake.

As we walked out the train station, Madison pulled herself together but I could still tell she was sad.

"Everything okay?" I asked her as we got into her car.

"Everything's great," She replied.

"Are you sure?"

"Nope,"

"You want me to drive?"

"Yes please,"

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17:30

Madison's POV

As I watched Georgia get on her train, it truly hit me how hard it's gonna be when Ella leaves. I have no idea if she even has a train back yet, and I have absolutely no idea what I'll do when she leaves.

Ella drove home because I was scared I was gonna burst out crying while driving.

But I didn't cry.

I don't know why this has hit me so hard. Georgia and I were always close because of playing together for the youth national team, but this time just hit a lot differently.

"You wanna stop and get something to eat?" Ella asked.

"Sure, why not?" I smiled at her.

"My parents come home tonight so I'm gonna have to go see them,"

"So you're leaving too?"

"No. I'm just going to go for tonight. I'm gonna come back here so I won't pack all my stuff,"

"Okay,"

"It's not my first priority I see them often. I saw them just a week ago. Who knows how long it will be until I see you again?" She asked as we pulled up to the restaurant.

"I git it. You should be with your parents. They probably want to see you," I said.

"They'll be at my game in a few days. Who knows when I'll see you again,"

"Let's go eat before I get sad again," I said laughing as we went inside.

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At the table, I checked my Twitter and Instagram again as my phone was blowing up. I saw that the most popular tweet right now was Rachel again, but it was her quote about my heart of gold.

"Ella I have something I need to do after we leave. Just quick before you go see your parents," I said.

"What is it?"

"You'll see,"

"Fair enough,"

We got loads of looks in the restaurant, but no one came up to us. However, we did take a picture with the owner to put on her famous people's wall.

"Can I have the keys?" I asked Ella as I got into the driver's seat.

"Yeah. So where are we going?" She asked again while handing them to me.

"You'll see,"