Page 117 of Off the Pitch

“Oh. Well, good luck with that.”

“Thanks… I think.” He smiled at me, awakening the butterflies in my stomach. I’d never thought I’d find a smile to be so captivating, but Hugo’s was. Every time he smiled at me my heart stopped, and everything else ceased to exist. Hugo’s smile was the sun at the centre of my universe.

“It won’t be that bad,” I said, trying to be as encouraging as I could. I knew Hugo had been finding physiotherapy harder than he’d expected, but his morose attitude worried me a little. “I know you can do it.”

“Thanks,” he said. “I’ll try… even if Ellie hates me.”

“Ellie does not hate you. I know she pushes you, but that’s a good thing. She just wants to help you get better. It’s her job.”

“Hmm. I suppose,” Hugo said. “But as my boyfriend, I thought you were supposed to be on my side?”

“I am on your side,” I said. I pushed back the sheets and slipped out of bed, then padded across the soft carpet towards him. “But that doesn’t mean I’m going to let you stop going.” Without thinking, I leant up, standing on my tiptoes, and pressed a kiss onto his cheek. I felt the little bit of stubble underneath my lips and breathed in Hugo’s soft, woody scent.

“Come on. You promised me breakfast, and I don’t see any of that so far.”

“You’re very mean.” He laughed and followed me out into the kitchen.

“Nope, just hungry! But if you’re very good and go to physio, I might see if I can conjure up some sort of treat for when you get back.”

“Deal!”

The timer on my phone dinged as I carefully opened the oven door, reached inside to remove the tray of chocolate chip cookies, and then placed them on the side.

They were a tiny bit misshapen in places, but overall, I thought they’d worked out rather well. At least, they smelt good. And the dough I’d sneakily tested had tasted good, so I figured baking couldn’t have done too much to ruin them unless I burnt them. Which I had managed not to do because I’d sat on the floor in front of the oven so I wouldn’t get too distracted, and I’d also set a timer on my phone just in case.

I heard the front door close and moments later, a rather soggy looking Hugo appeared. “Something smells amazing.”

“I made cookies,” I said, gesturing to them with no small amount of pride. “I promised you a treat, and these seemed perfect for this weather.”

It hadn’t stopped raining all morning, the British weather system clearly indicating that summer was over and normal service was to be resumed, despite it only being the end of June.

“Is there a reason you’re so wet?” I asked. “Surely you have an umbrella? And haven’t you been inside all morning?”

“I forgot to take it,” Hugo muttered, looking a little sheepish. “I got soaked going from the training ground to the car and then from the car to the front door.”

“Well, why don’t you go grab a shower while these cool? Maybe then we can just chill for the afternoon?”

“Sounds like a great plan,” he said. “But I’d like to request one cookie now… just as a taste test.”

He shot me his winning smile and batted his eyelashes furiously so all I could do was giggle and hold out the first tray I’d made, which had cooled enough to be edible without molten chocolate sticking to the roof of the mouth.

“Thank you,” he said as he took one, taking a bite and practically melting. “Holy fuck. These are amazing!” He took another bite, a tiny moan escaping his lips as he ate. I felt my skin heating. Surely that was a little bit of an overreaction? I mean, people didn’t really make those noises about food, did they? Although apparently, they did…

“These are incredible,” Hugo said, licking a stray bit of chocolate from the edge of his mouth. “You are the best, you know that?”

“It’s been said.”

“Okay, I’m going to shower,” he said as he swiped another cookie and walked towards his room. “Why don’t you choose a film for us to watch?”

I stood dumbfounded in the middle of the kitchen watching him go, my whole being lit up with new sensations. They weren’t unwelcome, and they didn’t scare me… it was just strange because I’d never felt this way about anyone in my entire existence. I was starting to want things I didn’t know how to want.

First and foremost, I wanted to kiss him.

I’d never wanted to kiss anyone as much as I wanted to kiss Hugo.

Sure, I’d been kissed, but I might as well have been kissing a dead fish for all I’d felt about most of my experiences. But I got the feeling that kissing Hugo would be a little different. At least, I really, really wanted it to be different. I wanted everything to be different with Hugo.

Sighing, and trying to ignore the prickling of my skin, I plated up some cookies and carried them through to the living room. I placed the plate on the coffee table before folding myself onto the sofa. I was still flicking through Netflix when Hugo came back and flopped onto the other end of the sofa. His hair was still damp from his shower, and a couple of water beads clung to the skin at the nape of his neck.

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