kayladarose
At 21, Elodie Calloway is used to being watched. Cameras love her, sponsors chase her, and every headline calls her the future. She's fast, fearless, and just cocky enough to pretend she doesn't feel the weight of expectations pressing on her chest every time she steps onto the pitch.
Her new club is meant to be her fresh start - her chance to prove she's more than a pretty face and a highlight reel. But the moment she walks into the changing rooms, she runs straight into the one person who isn't impressed.
Lucy Bronze. A legend. A veteran. A standard Elodie didn't ask to be measured against.
Lucy thinks Elodie is reckless, arrogant, and all hype. Elodie thinks Lucy is controlling, harsh, and stuck in the past. Every training session turns into a battle - sharp words, hard tackles, and eye contact that lasts a second too long. And when the coach forces them to work together on the right side, their chemistry becomes impossible to ignore... even when their dislike is louder than anything else.
But Elodie's confidence is a mask, and cracks don't stay hidden forever. When pressure, criticism, and a target on her back finally catch up with her, Lucy sees the truth behind the attitude - the fear of failing, the loneliness of being the "next big thing," and the ache of carrying it all alone.
Lucy doesn't soften with apologies or sweet speeches. She softens by staying. By protecting Elodie when the game turns ugly. By teaching her how to survive at the top without losing herself.
Elodie came to prove she belongs.
She didn't expect the person standing in her way to become the one person she can't stop wanting.
A huge age gap, enemies-to-lovers slow burn where a prodigy fights to be taken seriously... and falls for the one woman determined not to fall at all.