The days pass quickly for Stefanie, who is loving her job. She has made more friends in the team, including some of the players' significant others. She has also gotten closer to Erik, who frequently gets into trouble for talking to her instead of training. He's gotten into trouble so much that at one point, the training staff had to put him on the other side of the field, away from Stefanie and her camera. However, she would still see that blonde tuft of hair turning around to smile and wave at her frequently.
-------------------------------------
Today is the first game of the season, one against Hannover 96 at Signal Iduna Park. Linda, trusting Stefanie, decides to allow her to take pictures, although only having the job for about a week. Stefanie is excited, so excited that when Isabel picks her up to take her to the stadium, she can't stop moving in her seat.
Isabel looks over at her and rolls her eyes, "Stef, it's not even that interesting, you just take pictures. You don't know how many times I almost called in sick so I can be in the Yellow Wall."
Stefanie tilts her head, "What's the Yellow Wall? I've heard Erik talk about it but I've never asked."
Isabel almost slams on the brakes and looks at her with an open mouth, "Wow, you unkultiviertes schwein. I'll have to educate you in proper fußball terms and language. And also give Erik a beating for not explaining what the almighty Yellow Wall is."
Stefanie blinks and smacks her lips, "Ok then. So is this 'Yellow Wall' an actual wall? Like Trump's wall? Or what?"
"It's a wall of die-hard BVB fans, dummkopf," Isabel laughs, "Now get your arsch out, we're here."
-------------------------------------
Having passes to quickly get into Westfalenstadion really helps when there are approximately 80,000 fans plowing their way into the stadium. To not lose Stefanie in the crowd, Isabel makes sure she has a death grip on her new BVB sweatshirt, which Stefanie claims is "not as comfortable as my Chicago Blackhawks sweatshirt," but needs to wear. After walking for at least 5 minutes, the girls reach an area where a security guard is. Isabel, still holding to Stefanie's sleeve, flashes her badge, which Stefanie does as well. The security guard lets them in and they go down a staircase. At the bottom is an open area; on the right is a door with a sign saying Umkleideräume, or locker rooms, on the left is a waiting room area, and straight in front of them is a hallway, most likely leading to the field.
"Ok, we are early!" Isabel says, plopping onto a couch. She grabs a remote and turns on the tv. Stefanie walks over to her and sits on the couch.
"How much time do we have?" She asks the couch potato next to her.
"About 20 minutes." Isabel gasps and grabs an Xbox remote from the coffee table, "Which means time for a round of FIFA!"
-------------------------------------
After 10 minutes of the two girls playing the game, Stefanie realizes that sports games on the Xbox are not that different, although there are some differences that caused her to miss a shot or block wrong. Isabel, being the kind person she is, laughs every time Stefanie makes a mistake, but then proceeds to help her. The pair are laughing at a dumb thing that Isabel said when the door to the locker room opens. Stefanie is so focused that she doesn't realize that someone is currently standing right behind her.
"BOO!" two voices scream at the girls.
Isabel and Stefanie screech, with Isabel grabbing the pillow on her lap and beating the living daylight out of the person who scared her, and Stefanie falling off the couch.
"Truce, truce!" Says the person getting pummeled. Isabel stops, but once she sees Chris' face she starts hitting him again.
Stefanie is laughing when she feels hands going under her arms, picking her up from the ground. She turns around and sees a shirtless Erik.
He smirks at her, "I guess you fell for me, Bauer."
Stefanie's face becomes slightly red, but then she starts smirking herself, grabbing the pillow next to her, "I wouldn't be too cocky about that, Durm."
She swings at him but he dodges, and grabs a pillow of his own. While Isabel is still hitting Chris, these two have a full out war with the pillows.
Until Linda walks in on them.
"Children!" She says, and the four stop in their tracks. Stefanie and Erik drop their pillows, and Isabel hugs hers. They are all breathless from their brief "break."
Linda eyes all of them, "Mr. Durm and Mr. Pulisic, it would be best for you to get ready."
The boys reply with a "Yes Frau Schmidt" and hightail it out of the waiting area, but not before Erik stealthily winks at Stefanie, who laughs, cheeks turning red.
She turns her head back to Linda, who is about to scold her and Isabel. But before she could say anything, Isabel starts talking, "Look, Linda, we came early here so we decided to play FIFA, but then the boys came and scared the living scheiß out of us, so we then decided to beat them into a pulp-"
"Isabel," Linda says and Isabel quickly shuts her mouth.
"Yes, Linda?"
"Just don't do that again."
"Yes Frau," Isabel says.
Linda turns to Stefanie, who is standing awkwardly near the couches. She motions for her to come over. Stefanie walks over to her, waiting for a scolding.
Instead, Linda smiles, "Let's show you this wonderful job you have."
-------------------------------------
Stefanie never imagined how big Westfalenstadion actually is on the inside. You could fit at least 3 Air Canada Centres she thinks as she walks off the field. It was a successful game for the home team, winning 3-0 thanks to Marco, Maxi, Chris, and obviously Roman. Stefanie had a great time, catching 2 of the 3 goals (Marco's and Maxi's) while Isabel caught the other (Chris'). Erik came out as a sub in the 65', so he played for a decent amount of time. He kept shooting Stefanie winks, and she kept shooting him play the fucking game glares the whole time he played.
After the game, she meets up with Erik, Isabel, and Chris, who take her to their favorite restaurant/bar in Dortmund; Der Einsame Fußball. The quartet eat a celebratory dinner, then go off in their separate ways. Erik drops Stefanie off at her apartment building, since he lives nearby. The two talk for a bit, determining their next movie marathon, and decide on the next day, in the evening. Linda allowed for Stefanie to take a day off to get ready for school, so she is happy to end the stressful day with a fun time.
When Stefanie is finally in bed, she realizes that since school starts that Monday, this would be the only game she will shoot for a long time. She is grateful for having this opportunity to do something she loved, and at the same time, get money to help her financially. Maybe this life is not that bad, she thinks as she drifts to sleep.
YOU ARE READING
So it Goes : Erik Durm 🗸
FanfictionShe should have stayed in good ol' Toronto, but no, Stefanie Bauer thought that it would be best for her and her future career to move to Dortmund. What did she want to become? Oh, just an aerospace engineer. And how will she pay for her tuition and...
