Faulty Trust || Katie McCabe

14

Bristol City came faster than I thought it would, and before I knew it, I was standing in the starting eleven behind Vic. A light push forwards from behind me snapped me out of my daydream and into reality; I looked over my shoulder to see Katie. Her face unreadable.

I put it at the back of my mind as we started walking forwards. She'd warmed up with Caitlin today, and for some reason I couldn't get that out of my mind. So, against my better judgement, I iced Katie out afterwards and ignored her when she sat down next to me in the changing room. It was childish, and I knew that.

Pushing it all behind me, I turned my attention to the game, quickly giving Lotte a high five as we jogged to our positions. Almost right away we had a scoring chance as I collected the ball and passed it to Steph upfield. After a moment she passed it up to Caitlin, who got in around Bristol's backline and took a shot from a tight angle. In that moment I recognised what type of game this was going to be and had Lotte press forwards with me to keep our line high.

A corner came just a few minutes later; jogging to the box, I noticed Katie and Vic hanging back, ready to take a strike from distance. I put my hands on my knees, waiting near the back post for the kick. When the ref blew the whistle, Beth took the corner, and the ball flew through the air towards me. It was too far out in front of me, though, and Bristol headed it away, but it landed at Katie's feet, and as soon as I saw how much space she was in, a slight grin tugged at my lips.

The team surrounded her in congratulations, and I threw an arm around her waist for a moment. "Another banger, aye?" I quipped, my slight Irish accent making its rare appearance.

Katie raised an eyebrow at my words; a clear smirk spread across her face as her eyes held a mischievous glint. "Now you're talking to me again?" I didn't say anything, simply rolled my eyes with a slight smile at my lips as I removed my arm from her waist and jogged back to my position without another look, knowing Katie's eyes were still on me.

When the match resumed, we took control of the ball for the next ten minutes, pressing Bristol and trying our best to make them crack. Yet they got a breakaway, and I sprinted back to the box, watching as their winger set up for a cross. Timing my jump right, I clashed with a Bristol player in the air and got a head on it before she could. "YES, EM!" I heard Lotte shout as I fell to the ground and she cleared it back into the midfield.

"Great header," Manu offered me a hand up that I gratefully took, and I jogged back to get level with Lotte.

Before the end of the half, Lotte had collected the ball and slowly began walking it forwards, waiting for Bristol to come at us. When they did, she passed it to me, and I quickly scanned the field looking for anyone making a run; sure enough, across the field, Katie was in a lot of open space, and I didn't waste a second. With pinpoint accuracy, the ball was at her feet, and I watched as she drove deep into the corner before crossing it into the box where Alessia had gotten behind the Bristol defence.

So when the ball hit the back of the net and we were up 2-0, I jumped on the group in celebration, making Wally curse under her breath as I used her shoulders. With a giggle, I mumbled a sorry before congratulating Alessia and offering Katie a hand with a slight grin and a cheeky comment about her cross into the box that she tripped and fell after.

"Nice long ball," she whispered into my ear after pulling me in for a quick hug. Her words sending a shiver down my spine and sending me into a daze as I jogged back to Lotte and Steph.

Halftime arrived not long after our second goal, and Lotte and I walked into the tunnel together, debriefing the half and trying to figure out where our gaps were and what needed to change to stop Bristol's few breakaways. I let Lotte enter the room before I did, but before I could, I felt a tug on my jersey. Turning around, I was about to curse at whoever had just partially untucked my jersey until I realised it was Katie. She had a slight grin on her face that made me raise an eyebrow when she motioned for me to follow her.