Praise the Lloyd

5

"My name's Y/N." She says, and I tap her leg with my foot, making her look over at me, she gives me a look, silently telling me that everything is alright, so I relax. "Y/N Lloyd." She finishes, and the soccer coach smiles.

"It's a pleasure, Miss Lloyd."  He says, holding his hand out to her, and Y/N smiles politely at the man, shaking his hand.

"Likewise, sir. What can I help you with?" She asks, and he hesitates for a moment.

"I was just wondering what you were planning for this academic year." He says, and Y/N chuckles.

"Uh, nothing, right now, sir. I'm planning on going right into the NWSL when the time comes later on." Y/N responds, and he nods.

"Have you considered college?" He asks, and Y/N nods.

"Yes sir, I have, but my heart is on the pitch, rather than in the classrooms." Y/N says, and he nods.

"Well, if you ever change your mind, don't hesitate to apply to UGA, we'd love to have a student athlete like you." He says, shaking Y/N's hand once more before turning to me, and offering his hand to me, so I shake his hand, and watch as he leaves. Once he's gone, our food comes, and we eat our food in a comfortable silence. As we're leaving the restaurant, what had been bouncing around in my mind, since Coach Lesesne left our table, slips from my mouth.

"I can't believe you just rejected an offer to play for a D1 team." I say, and Y/N shrugs.

"I did it six times before the school year ended, too." She says, and I sigh, taking her hand in mine as we walk to my truck.

"I don't get it, though." I say as we get in.

"I know I've always wanted to play D1 soccer, but, things changed. Other doors opened for me." Y/N says, and I nod. "I wanted to play D1 to get the attention of the national team, but I've already got their attention, and I work hard to keep it. Too hard to balance school, practices, games, health, mental health, a relationship, finances, and national team duty." Y/N says, and Y/N freaking out after our English test a few months ago, the day before graduation, comes to mind.

"Yeah. You're right. I'm just surprised." I say, and Y/N smiles at me.

-

Y/N stayed with me for a couple of extra days, and left when classes started, because her mom told her to. They both had to train, Y/N for the next national team camp, and Carli, for her club season. Y/N wasn't excited to get back to training, because her trainer is her mom's trainer, and said trainer has known her her entire life, which, for some reason, is a bad thing. I don't know, I can't possibly know what goes on in the mind of Y/N Lloyd. It's probably because she thinks he expects her to be just like her mom. Either way, Y/N walked toward her gate at the airport with a frown, and I felt bad for talking her into leaving.

-
Y/N
-

When I got home, I went right to bed so I could be up in time for training, and went to meet up with Mom and Mike in Medford. When I got to the field we usually train on, I realized that I was the first one there, so I went and got some food, when I got back to the field, I was still the only one there, so I took my food, and went over to the bench so I could start getting my gear on. As I was putting my socks on, I saw mom coming over, so I continued to put my gear on, looking up when I hear her speaking.

"Are you really eating a burrito?" She asks me, giving me her famous judgmental stare, and I return my own as I take my burrito from where it was hanging from my mouth.

"I got up at five to be here on time. I think I deserve to eat whatever food I'd like this morning." I say, and mom shrugs.

"Fair enough." She says, and I nod to myself as I finish getting my gear on. Once everything was on, I sat beside mom and ate my food while she got her gear on. When I finished scarfing down my burrito, mom was just getting her socks on, so I pulled out my phone and dicked around on it. When Mike shows up, mom was just tying her cleats, so as he gets his shit together, mom and I get a ball, and start to warm up.