Page 26

The day after a game the team don’t usually have training, but Adriana wakes feeling blurry, flicking her phone screen, on and off, on and off again. No message from Jacob.

‘Urgh,’ she groans, burying her face under one of her many soft sofa cushions.

She sees that a few of the team have messaged and are going in to the ground today for some light recovery at the gym.

Adriana normally wouldn’t, preferring to balance work with rest, but today she wants a distraction.

She heads there with less pep in her step than she’d normally have the day after a win.

Before getting to the dressing room, she checks her phone yet again.

She knows that if someone had messaged her, the screen would light up, but maybe this time it will somehow refresh it to the answer she wants? What answer does she want?

Then, as she’s putting her things down, her phone lights up. She sprints over to it.

But it’s just an instagram notification.

Elisa posting a picture of their gang celebrating after the game.

Adriana hearts it, smiling genuinely back at their posing faces, Adriana with her tongue out in her classic photo face, Charlie caught comically off guard and Elisa doing a full blue steel – no wonder she was the one posting it, her jawline looks sharp.

Adriana looks back at the slice of pizza in her hand. It was nice of Jacob to order those in, right? Maybe she should have thanked him… Shit, she definitely should have thanked him. Is that a good reason to message again? No , she cannot double message, not when he’s blue double-ticked her. Urgh .

After a bit of stretching and gentle cardio with Charlie and Elisa, Adriana checks her phone again, and when she still has no answer from him, she starts to think – what if he gave her the wrong number?

She shakes her head, then opens up her chat with Maeve, which has been so much quieter than usual.

She considers yet again whether to tell Maeve everything.

She wishes she was here today – Maeve is usually up for any opportunity to be practicing more, but she is probably even now having extra training with Kira.

Maeve probably can’t stand the sight of Kira now she’s got the armband instead of her.

Adriana feels suddenly selfish, missing her friend.

It’s Maeve who had a more disappointing and surprising day yesterday, and, if she knows Helena at all, Maeve probably had to then deal with a drilling from her mum after the game.

In comparison, Adriana is getting on unexpectedly well under Coach Hoffman’s firm hand, thriving under the pressure and attention rather than hardening or petrified with it, like Maeve seems to be.

Coach even singled her out after the game yesterday – and she should be glowing with the memory, but instead it just makes her feel a bit disloyal.

She feels the team breaking apart. She wants to do something about it, but that’s what the whole Jacob message was about, and then here she is, back to the start of the spiral…

She sighs and rolls her ankles, tries to push everything out of her mind.

Her phone lights up again. She barely glances at it now, having exhausted herself with her spiralling.

It’s a text from ‘Jacob NOT JAKE!! HOT!!’

Her stomach backflips, and instinctively, like a cat with a cucumber, she throws her phone into her locker and slams the door behind it.

‘Jesus Christ!’ Milo startles next to her. ‘What did that locker do to you?’

‘Sorry, sorry,’ says Adriana. ‘Thought I… saw a spider.’

‘I bet you amputated several of its legs with that.’

Adriana gingerly opens her locker back up, and, her heart pounding wildly, she opens the message from Jacob not even attempting to play it cool.

Adriana, you have made it very clear that nothing is, ever was, or ever will happen between us.

It was always going to be limited to one night, even when we didn’t know each other, and that is why, as we discussed, it does not seem necessary for anyone else to know.

I assure you that it will not impact your job in any way, positive or negative.

I would appreciate it if you could stop bringing it up as I don’t enjoy being reminded of the situation.

Adriana reads it three times, her throat tightening up.

She had tried her best to reach out, and to smooth things over, and he clearly doesn’t care at all. It’s humiliating. It’s patronising. It’s… devastating.

It’s an unfamiliar feeling rising up inside her but she feels on the verge of tears. The possibility of anything happening with Jacob is slipping – if it hasn’t completely slipped already – through her fingers.

‘ Stop bringing it up ’, he says. He may as well be telling her never to speak to him again.

She knows he isn’t going to be at the grounds today, an email from Kevin this morning happened to mention that Jacob Astor was going to be at sponsorship meetings in London next week so he’s likely travelling down ready for those.

Her chest feels sore. She rubs her sternum, thinking she maybe pulled a muscle or something.

But no, it’s only when she thinks about Jacob, and him not being there, that it aches. What is this? Does she… miss him?

But that would be crazy. She hardly knows him, and what she does know of him, is that he decidedly doesn’t like her. She isn’t meant to miss a man. Not a man who was meant to be a one-night stand and who has been very standoffish with her ever since.

‘Hey,’ says a quiet voice behind her. ‘You alright?’

Adriana turns round to find Kira, studying her.

‘Yeah, yeah, hundred per cent,’ Adriana lies, faking a quick smile.

Kira doesn’t look convinced, but also seems to know, whether out of not caring or out of consideration that Adriana doesn’t want to talk about it, so doesn’t push it.

‘Just- just tired from yesterday, probably,’ says Adriana, performing a self-deprecating eye roll. ‘Maeve’s probably going to remind me I should be more professional and eat better. Again.’

Kira just watches her, and Adriana feels like she can tell Adriana’s lying, but leaves it. Kira seems to hesitate for a moment, then takes a breath and is back to her usual confident self. ‘Well, that’s a shame, ‘cos I was gonna suggest we go out sometime. Next week, maybe. Between matches.’

Adriana perks up. She turns to face Kira properly, and tilts her head, her curls bouncing hopefully. ‘Tell me more.’

Kira grins that wolfish smile, knowing her arrow has hit its target.

‘I haven’t seen much of Manchester’s night life since moving here. You seem like someone who knows which places are decent.’

Adriana swells with pride. It’s great to be seen, to be appreciated, for one’s special skills.

‘There’s a night called like, Joust?’ Kira ventures. ‘At–’

‘At The Basement! Yes!’

Adriana is impressed, it took her years of going out with her edgier friends to find out about Joust. Adriana is usually down for a night out, but right now?

With the painful churning from Jacob’s message, and Maeve’s distance, and all the chaos going on in the team?

It’s perfect . It’s necessary. It’s life-changing.

‘I am so down ,’ Adriana grins. ‘I already know what I’ll wear. We can do pre-drinks at mine, and then anyone who wants to can come out out with us afterwards.’

‘Sick,’ says Kira. ‘Something to look forward to.’

But then Kira looks away from Adriana, coughs, a flicker of hesitation.

‘I get if people don’t really go out much on the team. It wouldn’t have to be a wild one. But I guess I just thought, it’d be cool to try to, you know, hang out with everyone when there isn’t a football between us… Do you think there’s anyone else on the team who would wanna come too?’

Adriana realises what’s happening here. Kira doesn’t have the same fearlessness socially as she does on the pitch. She’s come to Adriana as the expert in such matters.

‘Oh, absolutely ,’ Adriana tells her. ‘Everyone thinks they don’t like going out, but then always has the best time. They just need a leader to follow! Leave it to me. We’re going to get everyone there, whether we need to bribe or kidnap them first.’

Without waiting another second, she calls out loudly to the gym.

‘Everyone! Tigresses social at Joust! After next weekend’s match! Be there or be sad to have missed it forever!’

There’s a cheer from the room, various levels of enthusiasm or groaning based on the player’s usual willingness to dance to techno, but Adriana knows from experience that they’ll be there, especially if they win next weekend’s game as she hopes they will.

‘Give me your number,’ Adriana holds out her phone to Kira. ‘Oh my God, are you on the Tigresses’ group chat yet? I’m so sorry, that’s my bad, I totally forgot.’

‘No stress,’ Kira shrugs, handing it over for Adriana to type her number in.

Adriana is about to add Maeve when she remembers about Kira and Maeve’s weird vibe and hesitates.

Maybe she should talk to Maeve about it before she puts her on the group chat, in case Maeve doesn’t want to be pressured into coming?

But maybe things have changed between them?

They need to get along better stat – it’s the start of a long season and there’s no space to have tension between teammates.

‘How’s Maeve this morning?’ Adriana asks, trying to sound casual, as she types. ‘Is she showering in her secret chamber or something?’

Kira blinks rapidly. ‘I was going to ask you the same. I thought she’d have taken any chance to be training more.’

‘Oh, I assumed she was training with you.’

‘Nope… we haven’t arranged our next one yet.’

Kira coughs and looks a bit shifty.

Adriana can’t put her finger on it. Why would Kira be worried about Maeve? Maybe it’s just that Kira feels awkward about how the captaincy was handled, especially if she also wants to be closer to the rest of the team.

‘I guess she’s mad with me about the captain thing,’ Kira shrugs. ‘Fair enough I guess. But I– It’s not like it’s up to me– not like I would, what, say at the beginning of the match, oh, no thanks Serena, I’m actually just going to let this other woman be Captain because she and I are–’

Kira clenches her jaw.

Adriana is about to ask more, when she sees across the room the door open and Maeve come through.

She looks like… absolute hell. Her hair is wispily falling out of her usually pristine ponytail, and she’s out of breath like she ran the whole way here, which is crazy, because often she does run the whole way from her nearby flat and doesn’t skip a beat.

At the sight of Adriana and Kira stood so close and Adriana holding Kira’s phone, Maeve puts her stuff in a locker as far away from the two of them as she can. Despite trying to make things better, yet again Adriana feels like she’s made them worse.

Maeve throws her stuff into the locker, then slams it shut and heads out.

‘Jesus Christ!’ says Milo. ‘Why does everyone have a vendetta against lockers this morning?’