𝙄𝙣 𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙌𝙪𝙞𝙚𝙩 𝙈𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨 - 𝘊𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘭𝘪𝘯 𝘍𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘥

𝙏𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙮 𝙏𝙬𝙤. 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘠𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘕𝘦𝘸 𝘉𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴

Caitlin's POV

It was New Year's Eve today and Sam and Kristie were throwing a party at Sam's apartment for all the soccer girls who could make it.

I was really excited to be going with a few of the Arsenal girls including, Teyah, Katie, Leah, Beth and of course, Elena.

We had been lying on her bed together in each other's arms, having the freedom to just be together since Steph was still back in Australia and it felt nice. I'd stayed over since Mum and Jamie flew back out and each night we'd do something different.

On the first night, I taught her how to make my pasta, though she nearly burnt it. On the second night, she pulled me close to her and guided me along to dance with her in the dim light that shown from oustide. Yesterday, we sat out on her balcony and just chatted like we did at the Olympics.

I was slowly starting to learn more about Elena. I'd learnt more about her upbringing and how she'd always doubted if there really was a higher being up there. I'd learnt about how she grew to love soccer and how she'd always felt a connection to it because of her mum. I'd learnt more things about her and Ona's relationship. I'd learnt things I'd never heard Elena say to anyone else.

I knocked on Sam's apartment door when we'd arrived, my hand in hers. When the door flung open, she immediately let go of me and before I could even process what was going on, she had her legs wrapped around Kristie's waist and was hugging her tightly.

"Kristen Anne Mewis!" Elena squeeled while I laughed at the two.

"Elena Daisy Pugh!" Kristie squeeled back.

I looked past the two girls to see Sam walking over to me to greet me. "Hey, Sammy." I hugged the girl, though our hug lasted way quicker than Elena and Kristie's as the two were very much still hugging.

"Come in, Leah, Teyah, Millie, Erin, Alanna and Macca are already here."

"Macca's here?" I ask as Sam guides me to where the girls are. "She never told me she was coming. I knew Alanna was, but not her."

"She surprised me too." Sam laughs.

I see all the girls and they wave at me as I enter the room. I say a few quick greetings to them all before I make my way over to Lani and Macca.

"Nice of you to finally join us, Cait." Macca says to me.

"You're the one that surprised us all." I say to her as we begin talking. The three of us catch up with a lot of laughter added in.

I finally see Kristie and Elena come into the room, their arms around one another. It was nice seeing Elena so happy to see one of her former teammates since they'd been so close and they had to now live in separate countries when they'd spent so long with one another.

I feel distracted from the conversation that's going on with Macca and Alanna until they nudge me and ask me what's up.

"Nothing, I'm just going to go speak to Els and grab a drink." I say to them and they let me go.

Elena was stood by the drinks, laughing with Leah and Katie who'd now arrived aswell. I stood next to her and grabbed myself a drink and turned to the three girls to join their conversation. I stood beside Elena, the back of her shoulder brushing against mine at every movement.

"I still can't believe we're going into 2022." Katie says while taking a sip of her drink.

"Yeah, I know. I remember lockdown like it was yesterday." Leah chimes in.

I think back to those lockdown days when I'd moved into the spare room Lia had and we'd eventually grown closer until we realised we had feelings for one another and kissed. That first kiss was special to me, it was so sudden and out of the blue that it caught us both by surprise, but we'd laughed afterwards.

I remember how melodic Lia's laugh was, the way I'd do anything to make her laugh and be able to hear it again. I'd laugh at her when she'd pick up the leaves outside with tongs or by hand. She would always have alternate ways to doing things.

"Hmm" I hum when Elena nudges me. I must've zoned out.

"Are you okay?" She whispers to me as Leah and Katie begin to walk away.

"Yeah, I was just thinking." I shake my head. "Also remember not to drink too much because you are infact an ass load of work when drunk."

"I'll consider it." She laughs. "2022. I'm going to the Euros." She says, still trying to comprehend eveyrthing.

"And I'm proud." I give her a warm smile. "You'll do great out there."

"You guys are hosting the 2023 World Cup, right?" Elena asks but before I reply, our attention turns to the new comers. Lia, Teyah and Beth walk through the door together and my eyes linger on Lia. It was nice seeing her again and I'd gotten used to being around her after the breakup since I had Elena to make me feel better, but a part of me wanted to talk to Lia like we used to.

"Elena!" Beth calls her over and she leaves. I hear her say 'Hi, Steffy' and guess that Steph and Beth are on FaceTime to one another.

I turn around to walk back to Macca and Alanna, but when I do, my body collides with somebody else's and they fall backwards. "Shit, sorry." I appologise. I look down to see Lia- laughing. She was laughing at the fact I'd bumped into her and made her fall. I'd missed that laugh.

"It's okay." She says as she takes my hand and stands up, patting down her clothes. One of her hairs lie over her head, out of place. I reach up and brush it back in place. "Thank you." She has her usual bright smile on her face which makes me smile back.

"Caitlin, come look at this!" Elena calls me and I turn away from Lia to go walk to her and Beth who were still on call to Steph.

The night passed with a lot of the girls chatting to one another, playing different games while tipsy and laughing at silly stories.

The countdown was about to start and Sam and Kristie had managed to get it projected onto the wall.

"10!" The girls yell and so do I, but then I get pulled away by someone. My light blue eyes meet green ones that give me a sense of comfort.

"Els, what are you doing?" I ask her as she holds my waist.

"Getting ready to kiss my girlfriend at midnight." She has a playful smile on her lips.

"I can't fight that."

"5,

4,

3,

2,

1,"

Elena doesn't hesitate to press her lips against mine as we hear the other girls cheer. Els and I were hidden in the shadowy corners outside the room as we kissed each other with a passion I hadn't felt from her before.

She pulled me closer to her when we finally pulled away, out of breath, and I wrapped my arms around her neck.

"Happy New Year, Elena Pugh." I whisper into her ear.

"Happy New Year, Caitlin Foord." She whispers back into my neck.