Cause and Effect

Twenty two

"I swear I haven't said anything!" Alexis defended himself, before I could begin speaking.

"Well I certainly haven't, so who has?" I groaned. "This is just not what we needed at all."

"What happened?" Hector asked us, looking alarmed.

I sighed.

"Media knows we broke up."

"What? How?" Jack asked.

I shrugged.

"We were so careful, even in training, and it's literally just people at the club who knew," Said Alexis.

I glanced at him, he sounded so fed up with everything, and I couldn't blame him.

"Whatever. It was going to happen eventually."

I turned, and went to grab my clothes from my locker so I could shower, hoping the rest of them would just drop it. I could feel the eyes of all my teammates on me, but I ignored it, and one by one, they went back to what they'd been doing.

"At least we got that party tonight," Hector commented, as he sat in his seat beside mine, and I was grateful to him for changing the subject. "We're even in Manchester, which is a bonus. We don't need to travel far."

"Yeah," I nodded. "Gonna be good."

"Gonna go see if Neymar's good to go?" Asked Granit.

"Yeah, gotta shower still, and I'll be there."

"Okay," he nodded. "We'll wait for you. Don't be long."

The party was just a thing we did every year, not club official or anything, just tradition between the big clubs in the premier league, and whoever won the league got to host it, hence why it was in Manchester. The only stipulations were no plus ones, it was a players only event, and you had to wear your team's jersey. It was basically the only time so many different jerseys were on the pitch at the same time. Whoever was hosting generally turned their stadium into a massive party arena, much to the ground keeper's disgust. Sometimes our managers put in an appearance, but it was nothing official, just a fun idea that had slowly grown into something big.

It was a dark night, but all the lights were shining when we arrived at the Etihad. A lot of people were already there, and the sound of music and laughter filled the air. It was only ourselves and the United players who were yet to arrive, since our game had only just finished. The pitch looked amazing - there were a lot of tables up one end with food, and a dance floor in the middle. A bunch of footballs were lying around on the turf at the other end where the goal was. They also had their trophy set up (of course they did) and I could see Kyle Walker waving it in the face of his English national teammates who played for Liverpool, and they were laughing together.

"Looks amazing, init," Neymar grinned. "Hey, there's Anya and Jazmin."

"Oh, that's good, I was just about to go find them," I nodded.

Hector and Granit had already disappeared into the sea of various shades of blue and red, and, oh yes, there were a few white jerseys here and there too.

"You go then," Neymar said. "I'm going to find Gab and Bobby. Cya."

"Bye," I smiled, as he began to limp away. "Don't hurt yourself please."

"I'll be fine," he chuckled.

"Hey Nia," Jazmin grinned, as I joined the girls by the food tables. "You come to cry with us?"

"Pretty much," I groaned, draping an arm over both their shoulders. "This looks so cool, by the way! But did you see any of our game, it was ridiculous."