Better With(out) You (Sequel to Second Thoughts)

Two

For the first weekend of August, Sarah found herself in London as she traveled with her brother and the rest of Manchester City for the Community Shield game that would take place at Wembley on Sunday. It was an exciting way to start off the season as the lads would be competing for another piece of Silverware. 

London was a city Sarah was happy to be in. It was nice to visit for a few days as there was a lot to do, and a little bit of time in London would mean catching up with a close friend of Sarah's..

Laura Ramos had moved to London a couple of months after Sarah had moved to Manchester. After the wedding between Sergio and Pilar, Laura's relationship had gone down to the point where they called off the engagement. Of course, Sergio had a lot to do with the break-up, but Laura was happy with her move to London. She got a job working in marketing and running social media at Chelsea Football Club, which was something she dreamed of as a kid. She was now working at the club where so many of her favorite players stepped foot at. It was hard to end what she had with Gerard, but she was more than happy with her move.

Within the past year, every time one of the girls were in the city that the other lived in, they usually met up, even if it was for a couple of hours. Despite how much bad blood there was between Sarah and Laura's sister-in-law, the two remained very close friends. They were family to each other, and a person like Pilar could not separate the two. It would be two weekends in a row that they would see each other, because Sarah would travel to London the next weekend for the match against West Ham.

"SARAAAHHHH!!!!!" The voices of her brother, Kyle, Raheem Sterling, and Oleksandr Zinchenko yelled out as she got to her hotel room. Amused, but not surprised, Sarah turned and waved at the crazy group of young men. They were all amped up and ready to go for the game about to come, but they had to save their energy.

"Hello hello. What's going on?" she said as she opened the door to her room. John, being the annoying brother that he is, hugged his sister from behind and made it harder for her to walk into her room. "Are you coming to dinner with us?" he asked. "Yeah, we want you there!" Raheem told her. 

Setting her stuff down and wiggling out of John's embrace, Sarah just smiled and shook her head. "Sorry, lads. Meeting up with a good friend of mine tonight." she told them. Kyle smiled wide and stepped right in front of her. "A very good male friend?" he asked. Looking at him weirdly, Sarah shook her head. "No, I'm seeing Laura. You should know I do that every time I'm in London." she explained as she took a change of clothes out from her bag. 

Disappointed, Kyle just let out a sad sigh and flopped on her bed. "Go on a date for once, you!" he dramatically sang. Laughing, Sarah just rolled her eyes. There was no one in mind for her to date right now, since she really did not notice that she had feelings for anyone. She felt like she was at a good place to date right now, but there was no clear interest. No one had dared to ask her out anyways. 

"No one has asked me out. Can't go on one if I haven't gotten asked." she pointed out as Kyle sat up. Kyle was ready to give the secret away, but he was getting looks from the others not to say anything. Oh, he badly wanted her to know. "Well, maybe it'll happen soon. I don't know who wouldn't want to ask you out." he pointed out. Sarah smiled at him and shrugged. It really did not cross her mind. It's just that, she was not sure. 

"We'll just see. For now, I need to get ready though, and I'm sure that you need to get ready for dinner." she told them. All of them nodded and said happy goodbyes to her, before leaving the room. After they left, Sarah started to change into a more appropriate outfit for going out in. It was Laura, so she did not have to be too fancy. More casual worked. 

It didn't take her long to get ready, but once she was done, she noticed a direct message on Instagram from someone all too familiar.

jamesrodriguez10: hey, I just wanted to see how you have been, if that is okay?