London is Pink

Chapter ten

We battled out a 0-0 draw against Croatia behind closed doors. Croatia were serving a ban due to their fans showing inappropriate symbols during a game, which meant we played the game in an empty stadium. It felt weird, not only empty, but eerily quiet. Both Dele and I played the full 90, but we were unable to connect the way we had on the training ground. Dele still hadn't spoken a word to me since that day, and when the game ended and a thought that wasn't football had space to enter my head, I made the decision to end whatever this was that had happened between us. I had an excuse to be quiet and moody on the bus, and then subsequently the plane, considering the result of the game, and the entire experience of playing with no fans to witness. It wasn't surprising that the whole team was quiet. Even Jesse was resting his head on his best friend's shoulder, and both he and Marcus were staring blankly out the window.

The peace gave me time to collect my thoughts, so once we reached England, I felt completely calm. I made eye contact with Del as we descended from the plane onto the tarmac, where our teammates were saying goodbye to one another. I took his arm, and pulled him to the side, away from the others. He looked at me with a defeated expression in his eyes, that made me feel like I was about to kick a puppy, which, well, I wasn't. Anyway it was the puppy's fault, he bit me first.

"I know what you're going to say."

"Oh? What?" I asked, surprised.

"You want this to end, this... whatever this is."

I sighed, letting go his arm.

"Del, I just don't understand why you're ignoring me."

"Isn't that what you wanted?" He asked.

"No, not anymore!" he retorted. "I thought that... I thought..."

I broke off, as Kyle approached us.

"Is now not a good time?" He asked, his eyes flicking between us. "I'm just about to leave to head back to Manchester, is all..."

Dele gave me a look I couldn't decipher.

"No," he shook his head. "I'm going. Bye Jordy."

I winced at the nickname, but didn't have the energy to correct him.

"Bye," I muttered, reluctantly tearing my eyes from him to meet Kyle's curious gaze.

"You not ready to go home yet?" He asked, and I could hear the heavy double meaning to his words.

"I'm more than ready, actually," I shook my head at him, a small smile on my face. Home sounded perfect, now that I thought about it. "I miss Auba, I miss Laca and Sienna, I miss... I miss Arsenal."

Kyle snorted.

"You're as bad as your dad," he rolled his eyes.

I glared fiercely at him.

"Woah, okay, I'm sorry, no comparisons," he chuckled. "Anyway, I need to go, I guess I'll see you at our league game in November?"

"Yeah," I nodded, as he pulled me closer for a hug. I returned it gratefully.

~.~.~.~

I knew Auba had noticed within an hour that I was out of sorts, but he didn't say anything immediately. He, Laca, and occasionally Matteo were employed in their usual occupation of making everybody laugh, themselves included. Laca wasn't this bad before Auba came, and Auba was never as bad when Laca wasn't in training. They had some ridiculous natural chemistry that effected every person on the training ground, which was incredible considering they'd previously played for rival clubs. And, well, it helped. I hadn't felt like doing anything this morning, but their energy was infectious. They called it the strikers energy, and I was inclined to believe them.