Vivianne Miedema + Lisa Evans

Apart

Lisa had decided that she had to go on loan if she wanted any chance of getting playing time and in with a chance of going to the Olympics in Tokyo. She ended up joining West Ham on loan for the rest of the season. Even though both Arsenal and West Ham were in London she wouldn't be spending as much time with Viv. Every time one had a home game at the weekend the other would be away somewhere else in the country. It was even happening during the week with cup games, it seemed to be they would be either playing on different nights or one would have a game one week and then the other would have a game the next week with other having no midweek games. It was tough for both as there were no more car journeys together or moments together in the gym but they knew it was best for Lisa's career.

It made the time that they did have even more special. However, playing for different teams meant that they would have to play against each other. They went most of the second half of the season without playing each other. But then they seem to have a few matches against each other in the space of 2 weeks. They had a FA cup game then a league game then a Conti Cup game against each other. It was nice as they could travel together to the games with each other. But when the games started it was like they weren't dating at all. In the final game Lisa was playing full back which meant that she was marking Viv for most of the game. They took this as a positive though and during Arsenal corners and free-kicks and all the players were all huddled in the box, it gave the couple to have some contact. They would carefully put a hand on the other's waist for a brief second. Luckily both teams got a win and a draw in the final game made it even and both were happy.

The last 3 weeks of the season they didn't seem to see each other that much. The first weekend Viv was away for the weekend in Manchester while Lisa was playing at home then during the week Lisa was playing away in Liverpool on the Tuesday and Viv was away in Sunderland on the Wednesday so they didn't see each other from the Tuesday till the Thursday. However Lisa was then away on the Friday night as she was playing in Manchester on the Saturday and then got stuck there on the Saturday night. Viv was playing away at Birmingham on the Sunday evening and the couple didn't see each other for the whole weekend. This happened during the week and for the third weekend in a row where they were playing on different days and in different cities. They worked out that they had only spent about 7 nights together in that 3 week period. Then on the final day of the season both teams had away matches and had spent the night before away from each other. They then had the PFA Awards that night but as they were in different teams they weren't sitting together. They didn't even get to see each other between their games and the awards  as the West Ham bus had been slightly delayed due to traffic. Viv got a quick smile and small wave from Lisa when they came in seconds before the awards started.

Lisa was sad that she wasn't with Viv as Viv had been nominated for the player of the season. However she was happy to get a mention in Viv's speech when she won. After the awards there was a big after party for all the women's players and their families. Viv had been taken away for some media and thought that she was meeting Lisa had gone to the after party. However Lisa decided to stay and wait for Viv so they could spend some time together before the party. Viv was being interviewed and Lisa was waiting not far behind but Viv hadn't realised that she was there. The interviewer noticed Lisa and called her over to ask some questions and when Viv saw her a big smile came onto her face. For most of the interview all she could think about was Lisa. While Lisa was being asked some questions about her time at West Ham as well as Viv's award, Viv started holding Lisa's had. She liked to play with Lisa's fingers. It was her way of saying 'I love you' when they couldn't say it out loud. They finished the interview was finished and Viv was able to give the award to an FA official who said that they would send it to them the next day after the party. While waiting for a taxi to take them to the after party they both thought back to a morning they had together during the tough few weeks they had.

On the nights that they did have together they enjoyed the time that they had. One morning Viv came back home to Lisa after not seeing her for a few days. Viv had played the evening before in Liverpool and the team stayed the night there before making the return journey that morning before having a day off with Lisa. Lisa decided to make her famous pancakes which Viv loved. As Lisa was making the batter Viv came through the house and wrapped her arms around Lisa waist and sunk her head into Lisa's neck and started kissing her on her neck and chin. Lisa turned round and gave Viv a big kiss before resting her head on Viv's chest and just listened to her heartbeat. They stood there in each other's arms for a few minutes before Viv went to put on Can't Fight This Feeling on the speaker's. They both loved this song and even though Viv hated dancing she liked dancing to this song with Lisa. They just danced with each other and were glad to spend some time together. They picked a few more songs and just danced. After they finished Lisa quickly sprinted into another room leaving Viv really confused. Lisa came back into the kitchen with a haribo packet that she had stuffed in a hiding spot and saw Viv eating the Nutella for the pancakes with a spoon and knew she was making the right decision. She opened the packet and found the haribo ring, got on one knee and asked Viv the all important question. She knew that it was not in any way romantic proposing with a haribo ring while covered in flour from making the pancakes and with a half asleep Viv still in her training kit. But she knew after a few weeks of being apart she wanted to ask the question. While dancing with Viv she remembered the haribo that she had and decided that she wanted to at least ask the question and then more get a proper ring before asking her properly again soon.

At the awards night Viv was hoping to see Lisa before the awards started so that she could ask Lisa to marry her. She had planned it way before Lisa had asked her with the haribo ring but she couldn't do it as the West Ham team were late. She chose this time while waiting for taxi to do it. They were alone for the first time that day and so she got on one knee and asked Lisa the question. As she was getting on one knee Lisa also brought out a ring from her bag as she was going to properly ask the question now that she had the ring. They were both on one knee and asked the same question and both answered yes.

In the years to come Viv would always joke with Lisa about her haribo ring proposal but she loved it deep down