the football journalist || declan rice

chapter two

Dani began to prepare to interview Declan Rice. She found her notes about him that she wrote down during the match, so she could prepare adequate topics to ask him about his and the team's performance.

She hadn't touched up her makeup since the start of the match, so quickly went to the Toilets to look in the mirror. Dani fixed her hair, which this morning had bouncy curls but was now a simple wave. She put on some more blusher and lined her lips, not wanting to look a complete mess during interviewing Rice.

Daniella made her way out of the toilets and back to conference room 4, where her videographer and Declan were waiting for her.

"Sorry! I didn't realise you guys were waiting for me" said Dani, slightly mortified by her lack of punctuality.

"No worries. Declan's only just arrived too." replied Joe, her videographer.

Daniella's eyes met Declan's, and she initiated a smile that was soon followed with a verbal greeting.

"Hi. I'm Daniella, nice to meet you Declan."

"Lovely to meet you too, Daniella." replied Declan.

After their greeting Daniella finally had a chance to take in his features. 'My God, he is gorgeous' Daniella thought.

"We'll be two minutes. Just going to sort the camera out" said Joe to Declan.

Dani turned to Joe, giving him silent gasp that he would recognise to be Dani's attraction towards Declan. The pair and grown very close after working together, and no topics really seemed
off the table between them both.

"He's gorgeous." Dani whispered to Joe as she walked towards him. Just quiet enough for Declan not to hear.

"Tell me about it Dan. I would." replied Joe.

Daniella released a laugh at his comment that could easily be mistaken as a Dolphin being attacked by a Pig. Embarrassment washed over her for about the thousandth time today. Maybe one day she would be able to get through an entire 24 hours without regretting what she did throughout it.

Her unique laugh caught the attention of Declan, who discreetly smiled at her as he did want to embarrass her more than she already was. However, Dani glanced over her shoulder back to Declan and saw his smile. She looked back at Joe with widened eyes with regret and realisation.

"Shit. No, I still have my glasses on!" said Daniella slightly louder than she intended to.

"Dan babes you look fine" replied Joe.

"I can't look fucking fine when a 6 foot something brunette with insanely blue eyes is across the room. God, I look like Harry Fucking Potter mate" whispered Dani with a hint of aggression.

"Shhhh. Remember, he is across the room. Dan, if I liked Girls, you would be my first pick. You look lovely. Now shut up and do this interview!" said Joe whilst slamming her notes with questions into her hands.

Daniella turned back to Declan and began to walk closer to him. They both smiled at one another.

"You ready?" asked Daniella.

"Always." replied Declan.

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Daniella completed the interview without messing up once, which surprised her as she thought the his piercing blue eyes world somehow cause her to lose the ability to speak. Or breathe.

Daniella, Joe and Declan had made their way out of the conference room. But soon after Dani realised that she left her match notes in there which she needed to have to write a match report in her laptop over she got home. So she went back in there to find them. After searching for a minute of two, she located them on the top of a small table near where Joe had previously set up the camera. She grabbed them and began to turn around and walk out.

"Holy shit!" screeched Dani and she bumped into someone whilst turning round. She put one hand on her chest in an attempt to catch her breath from the scare.

"Fuck. Sorry I didn't mean to scare you replied Declan.

It took Daniella a few seconds to figure out who she actually has bumped into. But once she saw their blue eyes, she knew who it was.

"Oh. No worries, i have a serious lack of spacial awareness." laughed Dani.

"Me too. It's a miracle I don't bump into people on the pitch." said Dec.

They both laughed at his comment, which was slowly followed by an ounce of awkward silence when neither knew what to say next.

"Are you new Daniella? It's just that I haven't seen you around before." asked Declan.

'He said my name. He remembered my name. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God' thought Dani. 'Jesus calm down Dan, he only heard it not an hour ago. It's not that deep. Get a grip.' she argued internally.

"Yeah. Well Kind of. I've done this job for two years but today was my first day doing it at this level. If that makes any sense."

"well" said Dec. "It was lovely meeting you and hopefully i'll see you around Dani."

Dani. She almost had to slam her lips shut to suppress a smile which she had no idea was about to present itself on her face in response to a guy she met an hour ago. Before she could reply, she was cut off by Declan.

"By the way, your glasses do not make you look like you are Harry Potter. Or in your words 'Harry fucking Potter'." Smiled Dec and he walked out of the room.

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Dani made her way home after an exhausting day. As soon as she walked through the door her heels came off and her slippers came on. Why are heels so fucking painful? she thought.

She sat down on her sofa and turned on the TV, searching aimlessly for something to watch when really she needed to produce a match report or her boss would not be happy. Reluctantly, Dani grabbed her laptop and began typing in her password but was distracted by her phone pinging. She grabbed it and looked at the notification.

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