needy | dele alli

one.

'dele, what the fuck are you doing?' says eric as he watches one of his best friends continuously swiping his telephone screen.

'he's on tinder trying to find a girlfriend. he's getting proper desperate.' says harry winks jokingly making dele look up from his phone and glare at him.

'a girlfriend? i thought he was seeing that tilly person.' says son confusingly, suddenly joining the conversation.

'tilly? i thought it was rebecca?' says christian.

dele just ignores his teammates, puts his phone back in his coat pocket before quickly getting dressed.

'oh come on dele we're just joking around!' says eric putting his arm around his shoulder but dele just moves out of the way, not saying a word.

'well done eric, you've pissed him off big time.' says winks rolling his eyes.

'me? you're just as bad!' says eric.

eric and harry continuing bickering like children making the other teammates roll their eyes, wondering how eric is twenty four and harry is twenty two yet act like children.

dele just puts his earphones in, not bothering to speak to any of them before leaving the locker room. as he walks down the corridor towards the exit, he feels someone tap on his shoulder. he takes out one earphone before turning around, glaring at them.

'i came to apologise about them.' says harry kane.

'you don't need to apologise h, it's not your fault.' says dele with a small smile.

'but if you're actually looking for someone, kate has this friend who's single and she's really nice. i could give you her number if you want.'

'thanks but no thanks, i think i need to stop meeting people through social media and dating apps. i just need to meet them in person.'

'well that's fair enough. just tell me if you change your mind dels.'

'i will, thanks h.' says dele with a smile, before giving him a slight wave and walking towards the exit. he gets into his black mercedes and drives off.

despite what you might think of dele, he isn't the type of footballer that goes out partying all the time and has constant one night stands. he's had his fair few of girlfriends, it's just none of them have kept his attention long enough. his longest girlfriend who was also his most recent, tilly. they were together just over a year and a half but he ended it because he just couldn't handle her anymore.

she was constantly jealous and checking his phone, thinking he was cheating. whereas most of his texts consists of him and eric sending reaction pics to each other.

he just wants someone who's funny not dating him for his money who doesn't get jealous and who loves dele for him.

• •

zara is currently on the phone to one of her closest friends kate. apparently kate's fiancée, harry, had this great idea that involved zara and now she's talking to her.

'a blind date? are you mad?' says zara as she's cooking her dinner in her small north london flat.

'come on, it's a great idea! you're single beautiful and half italian, what more could a person want?'

'i literally work at a school, i'm pretty sure they want someone who's got a bigger aim in life than that.'

'who cares about what you work as? you're only twenty two, you've got your whole life ahead of you.'

'and if it's someone harry knows, it's going to be one his teammates isn't it.'

'i don't know! he didn't tell me who it was. but come on it could be fun!'

'no, i don't want to.'

'please.'

'no kate.'

'zara please! i'll try and find out who he is and then i'll see if i approve or not.'

'no!'

'alright fine, you're lost!'

'i think i'll be able to live without finding out who this man is.' says zara laughing.

'anyway i have to go now, tell me if you change your mind. see you tomorrow!'

'of course, ciao bella.'

zara ends the call before finishing up her stuffed ragatini and dishing it on a plate.

zara is half italian and half british who grew up in canterbury to an italian mother and a british father. her dream is to become a journalist. she moved to london a couple of years ago, when she left university after studying journalism. she met kate a few months after moving to london and they soon became good friends. despite her fiancée being one of the best footballers in the world at moment, she is extremely down to earth. she doesn't buy lavish gifts for herself or her children, nor does harry.

however, she did go with one his house parties and met some of his teammates. it's certainly the experience she wants to forget when one of them constantly tried to chat her up despite her saying no.

zara's love life is pretty boring compared to dele's. she's only had one boyfriend in her life and his name was michael and that was back when she was around eighteen years old and they dated for about ten months. since then, she hasn't really been interested in dating because every date she goes on, they just want to sleep with her on the second date.

she just wants someone who is nice funny respects her and isn't a dick.

is that too much to ask nowadays?

okay first part lads, the introduction is kinda all over the place but it will get better. i just wanted to add some backstory to dele and zara.