The Football Coach • l.t. au

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen

We pulled over infront of a huge house. Not really mansion huge but at least 4x bigger than our house.
I still refuse to think of this place as home because it isn't. No one in this house will probably notice when I leave or stay.

I know my eyes are red and puffy right now but I really don't give a shit. When we climb down the van, I pull my bags out and gape at the house infront of me. I sigh. At least I only have 2 months to spend here before going back to university.

"Is this your house?" I ask rick absentmindedly as he stood beside me.

"Yeah. It's not much but it'll do. Your room isn't quite finished yet. We still have to get you a few things-"

"Like what?" I cut him off.

"Bed sheets, lampshade, hangers, a computer maybe?"

Is he trying to bribe me?

"I'm good with my laptop, thanks." I said and turned back to help Em with her things. Mum walked over to Rick to try and comfort him.

"She'll come around," she says. I roll my eyes and gave Em her bag. Good thing she stays quiet as Rick takes us inside.

The inside is quite larger. There's a glass staircase in the middle of the living room. Under it is a large piano with book shelves in the corner. the living room is all white and there's a large plasma TV on the wall. The kitchen is also huge I can tell from where I'm standing.

Mum tells us that Rick will show us to our room so we follow. I don't want to argue with mum right now no matter how pissed I am at her for not telling me our home will be demolished. He takes us upstairs and takes me down the hall.

"This room is yours," he opens the door and my eyes gape at the size. God it's larger than our entire living room! "Across the hall is Holly's-"

"Holly?" I said in surprise.

He nods and takes a step to me. But doesn't say anything. "Em and Karen are on the other hallway over there and our room is over there. There will be a housekeeper to put the covers on your bed so-"

"I think I've got it..." I said. How many times have I cut him off?

"Maybe you need help with your unpacking. I can call Lily now and-"

"No thanks, I'm good." I said harshly. I didnt mean it like that, honestly. It just sort of slipped.

"Oh, okay. You can join us downstairs for breakfast." He says and walks out.

I feel awful that I have to talk to him that way. I don't know how to get all this anger and frustration out of me. I could break the window but that would mean.. Mum... Sermon... Mum...

The thought makes me furious. Just because I moved here doesnt mean I have to stay here all the time. And I really can't stay here. Not another minute. I need to breathe. I got up and dug my clothes out.

It's awfully warm outside so I just stuck to my denim shorts, a navy blue tank top. I tie my white sweater around my waist in case it gets a bit chilly later which I doubt it will. I slipped on my black converse, grabbed my phone and slipped it in my pocket before running outside. Em's sitting on the dining table eating breakfast with the rest of them.

They have those perfect silver forks and silver spoons and perfect ceramic dishes and perfect glass and perfectly prepared meals with a perfectly organized seat plan on the table. Just as I thought... I don't fit in here.

I shake my head before walking out the door. I hear my mum call for me but I didnt look back. How do I even get to the park?! I haven't been in this neighborhood it's all posh and prim and proper. The 3P's I will never be because thats not who the heck I am no matter how long I have to stay here.

I spot the nearest stop about 5 blocks away. I groaned at the though of having to walk 5 blocks just to ride a bus. In our old house it was just right infront.
Luckily the buses that stop here pass Hall Cross. That side of town I'm familiar with. I take another bus from there to the Stadium and take another bus to the Park. Since when do I have to take 3 bus rides to get to the park? Excluding when I'm in London that is.

I erase the thought from my mind and wait for the bus. I let the thought slide. Three bus rides later that took about 30 minutes just to get to the park. It's not that far actually, it's just that the second bus took so many turns in small streets. When I got down the bus, I went to the café to get some coffee.

I woke up at 5AM today to help pack Em's clothes and some sentimental stuff in the house to take with us. My mind's pretty foggy and my head feels like paper. When I pushed the door open, the bell rings on the top of it. I stood infront of the counter and order myself a small cup of Espresso. I don't drink coffee that much but I need a boost.

I paid the cashier and stood on the side waiting for my order. I heard someone humming beside me, quite loud actually. I turn to face 'em only to find out he has earphones on to full blast. I can even hear the song he's playing and if I'm not mistaken, its a Green Day song. For a few seconds it was alright but he suddenly jumped and pretended he was banging on a drum kit. He looks at me with a smirk and turns to the cashier with his water.
He winks at me before he leaves. I rolled my eyes and turned my attention back to my espresso. Its on its way here to me when u heard a loud crash. I turned around and saw that same guy again on the floor whit a stool down.

I covered my mouth to keep myself from laughing. He scrambled onto his feet having his water spill a bit. He tripped and the water didnt spill. It did when he stood up which is kind of ironic. When I turned around my coffee was infront of me. I took it and took a sip before walking out the café.

I look out at Doncaster park. Its always happy. You see kids running around, teenagers chatting with their friends, old couples getting fresh air, Babies learning to walk, dogs and their owners going for a walk and even just adults chilling out from a stressful week.
Its a sanctuary, a hang out, a playground, and if I'm not mistaken, a sunbathing place.

I didnt realize I was already walking in the park. The warm wind hits my face making me sigh. It feels good after a week of awful weather. I took a sip of my coffee again. Well I gulped it down.

I look around watching the kids running around freely. Some parents running after their kids from jumping in the lake. I smile at the image coming in my head. A little kid jumping in the lake. His mum pulls him out soaking wet and splashed her. It's not only a thought but an experience. Not with mum but with Em. I hold a lot of memories with Em. She has to be the second one on my list after my dad.

I yelped when someone bumped onto my shoulder. It was the same guy at the café again. He turns around and removed the plugs from his ears. He looks at me as if he recognizes me.

"Hey Coffee girl." He says with a grin.

"Hey stool tripper" I said and walked away.

"Hey, hey, hey..."

"Yeah yeah yeah?" I said turning to face him.

"You can't just call me a name and walk away... That's not how it works." He says with a grin.

"You don't say" I murmured and walked away.

"Your not easy to get around, huh?" He says.

"Can I go now?" I ask him.

"Not without telling me your name, your not.."

"Y'know what, you could just stick to calling me Coffee Girl." I said pushing it away.

"But I will not allow you to call me Stool Tripper. My name's Niall." He says. His bright blue eyes beams at me. His smile is adorable like that of a little boy's.

"You're not gonna tell me your name?" He asks with a grin.

"Meg." I say then shaking my hands with him. I see the smile on his face grow as I did.

"You live here, Meg?" He asks.

"Yeah just a few stops from here. You?" I ask him. He shakes his head and answers me.

"I live all the way in Ireland." He says. No wonder his accent sounds different.

"Then what are you doing here?" I ask before I thought about it. Damn it. I really need to control my mouth.

"Can't an Irishman be here?" He asks with a smirk.

"That's not what I meant." I said before rolling my eyes.

"Alright, alright. Feisty one are you?" He asks before taking a sip of his water.

I didnt answer him. Instead I kept walking. He stuck to me like a dog's tail. He'd follow me everywhere and ask me random questions like if I like chicken or if I like leprechauns. He's a weird child.

"How old are you Meg?" He asks, poking my shoulders.

"Will you leave me alone if I tell you?"

He cocks his head then shrugs. I role my eyes and turned away from him. The universe hates my guts. I got away from my mum and rewarded with this annoying Irish stool tripper.

"Hey Niall!"

relief washes over me when I heard someone call his name. I turn around and see 3 boys. 2 of them are brunette and the other one has black hair.

They grab Niall's arms and pulled him backward. He waves at me before turning away. I chuckled and shake my head.

"Stop flirting with strangers, Horan." One of them says with a soft British accent.

I turned around to walk away. Finally being alone when I almost bumped onto someone.

"Meg?" I look up to see Louis looking down at me. I took a step back and took a deep breath.

"Don't sneak up on me like that. You scared the soul out of me!" I said slapping his arm.

"Sorry but... Did he just wave at you?" He asked. I turned around to see that he was pointing at Niall who seems to be laughing his butt off.

"Umm, I guess? Why? You know him?" I ask him.

"Yeah and they're idiots." He says with a smirk.

"Now that you've mentioned it........" I said looking at the blonde Irish boy who's shaking his tush. I smirked trying hold my laughter in.

"Come on..." He said grabbing my wrist and pulling to their way.

"What are you doing?" I ask him in panic. And I managed to drop my coffee... Because of his surprise.

Before he can answer I'm already standing in between all of them. Three good looking brunettes, one idiotic blonde and a mysterious black haired guy. This is getting uncomfortable.

Louis moves in between the one with curly hair and Niall. He threw his arms over their shoulders. He had to tiptoe on one of them cause curly here is absolutely huge!

"You've met, Niall..." He says ruffling Niall's hair. Niall elbows him on the ribs making him grunt. I scoffed and nodded. Niall winked at me and I returned it with a grin.

"This is Harry... He's...... Really tall." He says making me chuckle.

He moves way and went in between the other brunette and the guy with black hair. "Liam." He pats the brunette guy's hair. "And Zayn...." He says patting Zayn's head. He looks at me with a smirk on his face. "These are my boys." He says proudly.

I chuckled and shook my head. "They're crazy" I said with a grin.

"And this is Meg..." He says wrapping his arm on my neck and ruffling my hair. I push him away and brush my hair out of my face.

"Wow, nice to meet you all." I said running my hands through my hair to get rid of the tangles that Louis caused.

"How'd you guys meet?" Niall asks. Everyone's eyes turned to him, he shrugs.

"Her sister's one of the kids I train at the stadium." He says and shoves his hands in his pockets.

"From then on out you just... Clicked?" Liam asked.

"Yeah... Shes a nut job." He says. My eyes widen at him and I elbow him hard on the ribs. He groans and the rest of the boys laugh.

"Haven't you hurt me enough woman?!" He shouts with a pained look on his face.

"You deserve it... I'm not a nut job." I said rolling my eyes.

"I like this girl... Not the usual quiet timid girls you go for..." Harry says.

"I get rejected by those. Honestly I thought she was quiet and timid but looks can be deceiving." He says bed looks at me.

"She's crazy, I swear."

I haven't had these much people talking about me, it's odd. Not in a long time anyway. It's starting to get uncomfortable.

"I should just... Get going... I'll see you lads around..." I said taking a few steps back.

"Right, I'm gonna walk you to the stop." He says following after me. I roll my eyes and walk away.

"You can stay.... I'll manage." I said.

"Nu, uh." He says pushing me on my back. He leans down and whispers, "I need to tell you something."

"You're such a gentleman." I say sarcastically and scoffed. When we reached the stop, I leaned on the seat as he stood in front of me. I heard a few screams and turned towards that direction. It's them smiling and giving him a thumbs up. I look at Louis to see him swatting them away. To my surprise they did.

"They're idiots." He says a little embarrassed. I smirk and nod. "Like you?" I ask him.

He grins and leans on the seat beside me. "You didn't come here to stalk me did you?" He asks.

I stood infront of him in shock. "No! I don't stalk people." I said.

"Just checking... And I'm going to tell you something... Privately." He says.

I swallow hard and felt my hands go sweaty.

"Okay?" I said shakily. God pull yourself together Megan!

"I'm hanging out with the lads and some other people... You should come with us tonight... I'll pick you up?" He asks. I smile at the sight of him being nervous. He's always confident but he seems nervous now and he looks even more adorable.

The words are out before I can think about it. damn it.

"Of course."

I mentally slapped myself. I really do need to control my mouth.

"I'll text you our new address..." I say nervously and fiddled with my hands behind my back. He looks at me confusedly. "We moved today... Our building's getting demolished." I said and swallowed back the tears.

"Oh. Sorry to hear about that." He said. I shrug and pull back a smile.

"I'll come by at 8." He says.

"Where are we going?" I ask him. Another set of words not thought of wisely. I close my eyes and sighed.

"You okay? You're getting more forward, Meg."

Yeah it's the other side of Megan no one knew existed.

"Yeah I can't seem to control my mouth now." I said silently. He chuckled and stands up.

"We're going to London tonight... celebrating the end of another year of college, I guess. I honestly don't know what they're on about but we're meeting some people there..." He says.

Before I can answer a bus pulled over infront of us.

"Okay, uh, I'll see you tonight then." I said. I went in the bus, stumbling on the way. I turn around to see him smirking. The doors close just as I made my way to an empty seat.

He waves at me goodbye with a wink.

I swear his look gives me the chills. He's just adorable, simply adorable. And he invited me with his friends tonight? This is amazing. What is he trying to do? I don't want to presumptuous but a part of me wishes we'd be more than friends some day and another tells to stick to that Guardian-coach relationship we have. I shake my head and look down.

What happened if I haven't gone with Em on their first day of training? What if I didn't go home this year and stayed in London? There's not much I look forward to coming back here but Em.

This place is filled with horrible regretful memories. But I'm willing to push them aside for new ones. For new people...


__________________________

How's everyone's Christmas Eve doing?

I just minced the onions garlic and carrots. God I nearly chopped my finger off.

So Louis's 22... Time flies so fast huh? But the older he gets, the sexier, sassiest and more heart-stoppingly beautiful he is!

I hope everyone enjoys their Christmas! Here's my gift from me to you :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS LOVELY COCONUTS!