In the middle (Jesse Lingard/ Marcus Rashford fanfic)

Chapter 20

10th July 2018
Amandas POV-
I woke up to an empty bed and a really bad head ace. I shouldn't of drank so much, i looked to my bedside table to see a bottle of water and a note next to it.
I got the note and as soon as I read it a smile came to my face
'I know I said I wouldn't leave you but I had to get to practice, I hope you feel better when you wake up and hopefully I'll see you tonight
-Jesse'
I knew I didn't dream him being here, I took my phone from my bedside table I was so shocked to it was 1 PM and I was still bed. I saw I had a couple missed calls and texts from Stina and Pontus. I texted them telling them I was awake and well. I had a really bad headache and I felt so sick.
About 30 minuets later they were in my room and we were just hanging out eating some food while preparing for the semifinal that was tonight. It was going to be a tough match, could Belgium be the dark horse that win the World Cup? They've made it this far, I guess we had to wait and see.
As we continued preparing everything I revived a text from Jesse saying that him and the guys were gonna watch the semi finals in the game room if we wanted to join them.
I asked Stina and Pontus and they both wanted to join so I got dressed and got all the stuff I needed to before exiting my room. I wondered how it was gonna go since I needed to take notes of the match, would the guys distract me? Or could I get my job done. We went down to the game room and the guys were all sitting around watching it on this big projector.
"Hi" I said to everyone
Everyone said they hellos and I introduced them to Pontus for those who hadn't met him. We all sat down sort of everywhere and I squeezed in between Jesse and Dele.
"Why you got a notebook?" Dele asked
"Because I need to take notes" I said
"What for?" Trent asked
"It's my job, I'm writing an article on this match after it's done. So I need to be able to write down stuff that happens and my thought to later on be able to write an article" I said
"So that's your job? You just write articles about football matches?" Dele asked
"Yea more or less, but I also actually go out and interview players, I also write about other sports" I said
"What other sports?" Harry Kane asked
"Ice hockey, handball and a lot of winter sports and some other sports that are big in Sweden you guys don't have in England" I said
"What kind of sports?" Marcus asked
"One sport I don't think is played in Sweden is... how do I explain innebandy?" I asked looking stina and Pontus
"It's like ice hockey" Stina said
"But indoors and minus the skates" Pontus said
"And instead of a hockey puck you play with a small ball" I said
"It's honestly a really boring sport" I said
"Other then that do you like it?" Jamie Vardy asked
"Yea I really love it, it's my dream job" I said
Soon the match stared and all our eyes were glued to the screen. It was really intense and at half time Jesse looked at me and said
"You've missed like 90% of the match" While looking at my notebook
"I've not look at how much I've written" I said showing him my notebook
"Exactly you're suppose to be enjoying the match not sitting and writing during the whole thing" he said
"It's my job" I said
He just kinda nodded at me as the second half of the match was starting.
After the match France had one 1-0, this was the team England could potentially be facing in a couple of days.
Belgium during this match had a great couple of chances and it kinda sucked to see them go. It would be crazy if they were the dark horse who won the World Cup. They still had a chance of winning third place tho. After the match I had to go write my article but Stina and Pontus stayed behind to hang out with the guys.
-
11th July
It was game day and I was so exited for the boys, we were in the stands. As a sports journalist I'm suppose to be as neutral as possible but I'd really love to see the guys win this match. As the match started only 4 minuets in Dele was tackled and England received a free kick. Trippier took the free kick and it was beautiful, the ball was perfectly curved and it went topbins. 4 minuets down and England were leading. There was beer being thrown around everyone celebrating in the stands and the English bench.
Seeing all the guys celebrate made me so extremely happy. At the end of the first half it was 1-0 to England and the English fans were going crazy during the half time. In the second half England had some great chances that could lead to a goal but it didn't happen. In the 69th minuet Croatia equalised. Despite that happening the English fans kept up the high hopes. Then match went into extra time and the first 15 minuets the match was still 1-1. It was in the hundred and ninth minuet when Croatia made it 2-1. After the extra time Croatia had won and I could see the English players sit down on the grass, some crying and all of them looking extremely disappointed. It broke my heart it really did. Stina and Pontus rushed me towards the tunnels. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Marcus sitting on the grass with his head in his hands and I hated seeing him like that.
I got to interview Luca Modric, Harry Kane and Gareth Southgate, they were both extremely disappointed. I had yet to seen Jesse or Marcus and I really wanted to hug both of them and tell them I was proud of them.
"Have you seen Marcus or Jesse?" I asked Kyle as I saw him heading towards the dressing rooms.
"I'm pretty sure they're in the dressing room, come along" Kyle said as pulled me along with him.
"How are feeling?" I asked as I put my hand on his shoulder
"I'm so disappointed I think we all are, it hurts and it's probably gonna hurt for a while" he said
"I know this might not help at all, but I'm really proud of you and all of the other guys" I said
"It feels nice hearing that" he said as we walked into the dressing room.
Gareth was just about to start a speech so me and Kyle just awkwardly stood at the door.
"I know all you boys are disappointed and it hurts to lose specially like this I know it hurts, I want you guys to be proud of yourself and everyone else in this room. You guys are a young group of players and I know how disappointed you guys were after the euros you felt like you had let the whole country down, coming into this whole competition not even our own supporters believed we would make it this far, our own supporters weren't exited to watch us play, but you've seen the scenes back home, you've seen the fans getting exited to watch us again and you all are a young group of lads and I know you'll achieve so much more, so look at the whole experience as a learning experience, do you hear that the English supporters are still out there cheering for you guys. You've made the English supporters fall in love with English football again, you've done that and I know people will go around saying and joking that you haven't brought football home but you've brought the love for English football home and I think that's an fucking great achievement. You have not only made me proud but you've made your nation proud"
For some reason Gareth's speech made me emotional, I had no idea why, I wasn't English and they knocked my team out, if anything I should be celebrating.
"Are you crying?" Kyle asked making everyone around me look at me.
"That was a great speech and what he said was true you guys did great and you should be proud of yourselves your only gonna grow more and get better from here and I'm really proud of you guys you've done great" I said
"You wanna take over my job?" Gareth asked looking at me
"No im good" I said
Gareth then said to go out and thank the fans, I stood by the door and gave all of the guys hugs. Marcus tho was still in his seat his hands in his head.
"Come on get up" I said walking over to him
"Why?" He asked
"Because you need to go out there and thank you fans" I said
" I let them down" he said
"You didn't, they're out there singing don't look back in anger, they are so proud of you and I'm proud of you" I said giving him a hug
"There's more I could of done" he said
"You tried your best, what more could any one ask for?" I asked
"I just feel like I missed some really good chances" he said
"Look at me, I was watching that match and I could see you gave it your all, I know it hurts but I think over time you're gonna realise how much you've done" I told him
"I know but it hurts so much right now" he said to me
"I hate to see you like this" I said as I gave him a second hug
"I should go out there" he said while hugging me back.
I nodded as I let him go and he took my hand and I followed him out to the pitch.
I stood at bench area as I watched the guys thank their supporters and some went up to their families. Seeing the supporters sing don't look back in anger by oasis was actually really mesmerising. I sat down at the bench and just watch everything from afar. As some of the guys headed back to the dressing room, Jesse came and sat down next to me.
"I'm so sorry" I said giving him a hug
"It really sucks to lose something you've wanted for so long" he said
"Yea I understand" I said
"I really wanted to go trough and it felt like Ive let all the supporters down" he said
"Look at them you haven't let anyone down" I said pointing towards the supporters
"But they didn't want a potential 3rd place they wanted a win and so did we" He said
"There's still a change, your talking like England will never be in the World Cup ever again, there will be so many more opportunities for you" i said
"It just sucks" he said
"I know it does" I said
"But you should be really proud of yourself" I said
"I don't feel like I should be, I think it's gonna take some time before I realise that" he said
I took his hand in mine and we just sat there watching the scenes in front of us unravel. Soon Jesse went to the changing room and It was time for me to go back.
I saw Pontus and Stina standing with all the equipment packed up.
"Did you get to talk to them?" Pontus asked
"Yea, it really hurt seeing them like that" I said
"You should talk to them tomorrow, just give them a bit of space for now" Stina said to me
"Yea I know but it's so hard" I said
I never wanted to see any one of them hurting like that ever again.
-
So here's chapter 20, kinda painful to write. Had this done by last night at like 1AM but I didn't want to post it yet.
☺️👍🏻🧡