Saved by the Whistle

twelve || offing

offing : the sea between the horizon and the offshore

After sitting on a plane for close to twelve hours, she was extremely glad when she landed in Manchester, United Kingdom. Although exhausted, a surge of energy lifted through her as she got her bags from baggage claim and she started towards the exits, a familiar face caught her eyes with a wide grin on his face as he greeted her.

"Georgia Jacobson, good morning and welcome to Manchester." Nick Cushing said with a gleaming smile.

"Morning? What the hell, what time is it?" She asked quickly.

"Oh, right, you're not used to the time difference. While it's ten o'clock at night back in Portland right now, it is 6 AM the following morning here in Manchester. There's an eight hour time difference." He explained with a chuckle as he grabbed one of her bags from her and extended an arm forward, and she laughed as well, the both of them walking through the rest of the airport lobby and out to the car parked out front. "I assume you slept on the plane?" He asked.

"Yeah, I slept the last half of the ride, so a good six or seven hours." Georgia responded as they both got into the backseat of the car, Coach Cushing instructed the driver to where she assumed to be the apartment complex she would be staying in.

"Good, because if you're up to it, we do have a mid afternoon training session and the team is really excited to meet you. I've talked up a storm and made you look good, so don't make me look like a fool." He informed, then added a laugh as he joked around.

"Sounds good." She replied with a grin.

"Your training stuff is all in your apartment, and your uniform, cleats, socks, shin guards, gloves, the like are kept at the locker room." He continued, and she nodded as they pulled up to the complex. It was a two story complex that some of the players that were from places outside of Manchester, such as Carli Lloyd and herself from the United States, Jane Ross from Scotland, and Kosovare Asllani from Sweden. He got out of the car and helped her with her bags, then as soon as they got to the second floor, he reached out into his pocket and held out a ring with keys.

"What are all of these for?" She asked, noticing three different keys on the key ring he gave her.

"The bronze one is for your apartment, the gold one is for the locker room if you want to do some extra training on your own time, and the silver one is for the weight room we have located off-site from the stadium." He explained as she took the apartment key off of the keyring and put it on her lanyard. "I would also suggest buying a car while you are staying here, and once you're heading back to the States, you can always sell it." He suggested.

"I'll keep that in mind." Georgia said with a smile, looking to the door and back to him with a sigh. "I will see you at training?" She asked.

"Of course. See you at two." He responded with a small wave, turning to head down the stairs, but before he got to far, he stopped and turned back around. "By the way, because you're probably going to need to catch a ride today, Carli Lloyd is to the right of you, Tessel Middag is to the left." He informed, and she nodded.

"Thank you!" She called as he turned and walked down the steps again, and she huffed, turning towards her apartment door and inserting the key in the doorknob and twisting to unlock the door. She lugged all of her things inside then closed the door behind her, looking around. 

It was very open, and she liked it that way. There was one bedroom, one bathroom, a kitchen that doubled as the dining room that also had a breakfast nook to give a little separation between it and the next room, which was the living room. There was a view over Platt Fields Park in the open window area, which was nice because it did not face other apartments and gave her a bit of privacy.