HARD TO GET | Benjamin Pavard

DOCE

IT WAS THE FIRST match day since the whole fight between Thalia and Ben, and Thalia had an uneasy feeling. She still had not talked to Ben and was avoiding him like the plague. Of course all the reminders of him were still there, especially when she looked in her closet and saw the jersey he had given her.

Now she was sitting in the stands before kick off, wearing a Kimmich jersey instead of Ben's. Thalia just wanted it things to be normal and for it to go back to how the way it used to be, but who knows if it was ever going to be like that again. At the same time, she wondered how Ben was doing. Was he upset over the situation? Did he miss her like she missed him? Was he wishing that he could tell her another cheesy pick up line?

The what if's went back and forth in her mind as the game against Borussia M'gladbach begun, but little did Thalia know that Ben was not stressing over the situation as much as she was.

Sure, he was upset about what had happened, but he used that anger as extra fuel during practices. Ben was not about to let his personal life get in the way of his career, so he put twice as much effort into improving during practice. He was like a machine, trying to score and be the best at every drill.

He wasn't really fooling everyone with his new fire in training though. All his teammates knew that he was just trying to avoid the situation with Thalia and hide his true feelings. The French players were the first to pick up on it because they had known him long enough to know when he was trying act like "Mr. Tough Guy with no feelings" as they would describe it. They hated when he acted that way because he turned into such a stubborn person.

Soon all the players understood what was going on, even the manager knew because he had secretly shipped the defender and social media admin together, but none of them were willing to confront Ben about it. Most of the players tried to get Manuel and Robert to talk some sense into him, but they both agreed that they should just give Ben enough time to figure it out on his own and fix his mistakes. Plus, meddling too much into players' lives was not their style, even if they really wanted Ben and Thalia to be together.

However, Ben's perfect facade came crumbling down with eight minutes left of the first half. Bayern had been leading the game for about eleven minutes thanks to a goal by Joshua Zirkzee, but they were not anymore due to a series of fatal mistakes by the defense that led to an own goal. The person who scored the own goal was unfortunately Ben when he tried stop an incoming cross, but it deflected right into the net instead.

Thalia watched in horror as the scene unfolded, and she could not help but feel bad for the French defender. Despite everything that had happened between them, seeing Ben shake his head in shame and disappointment broke her heart. She knew he was definitely beating himself over it.

Thalia was right about that, as a bunch of explicit words kept being muttered under Ben's breath and he was shaky for the remainder of the half. He thought he was making so much progress, but maybe it was karma biting him in the ass for his previous actions. Wether it was karma's doing or not, Ben was relieved when the whistle was blown, signaling the end of the first half.

When he entered the dressing room, he initially wanted to be by himself and wallow in his self pity, but Manuel and Leon were not about to let that happen.

"It's okay, Ben," reassured the thirty-four year old captain. "It's not all your fault. No one is mad at you."

"Doubt that," responded Ben, looking down at his cleats instead of the captain. He knew that the fans were most likely fuming at him, but he deserved it anyway.