Good Luck, Babe! - Leah Williamson

13. Old Flame

Ella's POV.

The next morning, I woke up with a heavy heart, the events of last night playing on a loop in my mind. I couldn't shake the image of Leah walking away from me, her shoulders tense, her silence louder than any words she could've spoken. It felt like I had pushed her away just when I was starting to understand how much she really meant to me.

I lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, feeling that familiar pang of regret gnawing at my insides. Why had I panicked? Why couldn't I just let Leah finish what she was going to say? I knew the answer, but that didn't make it any easier to swallow. The fear of what everyone else would think, of how everything would change - it was all too overwhelming. But now, all I could think about was how much I might have hurt Leah, and how unfair it was to her.

I grabbed my phone and opened our chat. My fingers hovered over the screen for a moment before I started typing.

Me
Hey, I'm really sorry about last night. Can we hang out after you're done with training? I feel like we need to talk.

I hit send before I could second-guess myself, my heart pounding as I waited for her reply. Every second felt like an eternity, my anxiety growing with each passing moment. Finally, my phone buzzed, and I quickly opened her message.

Leah
Sorry, I already have plans tonight.

The pit in my stomach deepened as I read her response. She was shutting me out, and I couldn't blame her. After the way I had acted, I deserved it. But that didn't make it hurt any less. The thought of Leah going out and doing something without me, finding comfort somewhere else, only made me feel more alone.

I stared at her message, trying to think of something else to say, but everything sounded hollow.

Me
Okay. Maybe another time.

Leah
Maybe.

And that was it. No warmth, no reassurance - just a simple, cold "maybe" that felt like a knife to my heart. I put my phone down and covered my face with my hands, trying to push back the tears that threatened to spill over.

Leah had always been there for me, through every high and every low, and now that I was finally starting to realise how deep my feelings for her ran, it seemed like I was losing her. The irony wasn't lost on me. I had spent so much time trying to avoid what was happening between us, and now that I wanted to embrace it, I didn't know if she would let me.

I knew I needed to do something, but what? Leah was right to keep her distance - after all, I was the one who kept sending mixed signals, the one who couldn't figure out what I wanted. But deep down, I knew what I wanted now. It was just a matter of finding the courage to say it out loud, to her, to everyone.

I spent the rest of the morning in a daze, my thoughts a chaotic mess of guilt, fear, and longing. Every time I tried to focus on something else, my mind would drift back to Leah, to the way she had looked at me last night, so full of hope and something more - something I had pushed away.

I tried to distract myself by doing chores around the house, cleaning up the mess that had accumulated over the past few days. But nothing could keep my mind off Leah for long. Eventually, I gave up and collapsed onto the sofa, staring blankly at the TV, which was playing some reality show I couldn't care less about.

My phone buzzed again, and I scrambled to grab it, hoping it was Leah. But it was just a message from Josh, asking if I had thought more about our conversation, about the future he still wanted us to have together. I didn't reply. I couldn't deal with him right now. Not when my heart was aching for someone else.