Page 13 of Couple Goals

It’s clear to Maeve that Kira is out to rattle her and this is a direct threat. She has to hold her ground.

‘They’d have to fight me for it,’ she says firmly.

Kira eyes Maeve up and down again in a way that makes her neck hot, then she grins wolfishly. ‘Sounds fun.’

Maeve doesn’t know what they would have done next – Brawl? Kiss? – if they hadn’t then been interrupted by the arrival of Coach Hoffman.

‘Ah, Maeve. Kira. So I see you have already become… acquainted.’

Maeve realises the two of them are stood very close, a little breathless, and that Kira is still half undressed.

‘What were you two getting up to?’ Coach asks, her eyes sharp.

Maeve can’t tell if the coach is asking what drills they’ve been doing, or something else, but Maeve’s brain goes into meltdown.

‘I was just– er, I mean, she was already…’

Maeve tails off.

‘We were just warming up, Coach,’ says Kira, innocently. Maeve’s cheeks flush even harder.

‘Quite,’ says Hoffman, then glances at her watch. ‘Well, I think it’s highly likely that as two of our highest value players, you will be working closely together. Your teammates will be arriving in ten minutes, why don’t you two go together to tell them to come straight to meet me here on the pitch?’

‘Yes Coach,’ Maeve says eagerly.

‘And Kira?’ says Coach. ‘Perhaps you’d like to meet your other teammates fully clothed, so go and get kitted out first.’

Kira grabs the old shirt Hoffman throws over and nods, then flashes Maeve a cocky wink.

‘See you later then, Murphy.’

Chapter 5Adriana

Adriana arrives at the training ground feeling terrible. Her crumpled kit is as skewiff and limp as she feels. Even though she was coming from her own flat, and had actually managed to do a proper skincare routine, she is so used to riding on adrenaline and endorphins of the night before that she barely recognises herself in the glass doors.

She looks paler and more withdrawn than when she was hungover.

Even though she’d gone to bed early, she’d lain there staring up at the ceiling fan, thoughts racing round, and then when she had finally fallen asleep, she’d had one of her recurring dreams.

In the dream, distorted faces of people from her life stare at her in a constant carousel. One face after another, like masks being lit from strange angles, glaring at her, their faces unreadable. Dream-Adriana had read their impassive expressions as angry and disappointed in her. All the members of the team had been in last night’s carousel, Maeve, Coach Hoffman, their now ex-Coach Fernandez, and then her family, and even Jacob from the other night, as well as exes significant and insignificant,faces of people from her life who definitely weren’t deserving of late night rumination. Everyone she had ever disappointed, everyone who had ever been angry at her, everyone she hadn’t been able to successfully please, all in this endless parade, where she felt that she had to justify her actions over and over, apologising. Every time making herself smaller and smillier until they might finally smile back.

The parade of masks started off slowly, but then sped up, one face after another, so that Adriana, begging and pleading with them, felt herself running out of time, unable to make any headway with any of them. When she woke up, her chest was tight, and she was breathless like she’d been running in her sleep.

She didn’t know when exactly these stress dreams had started – she had managed to avoid them for several months now, she supposed through a combination of feeling more settled in the team, and fun nights out to distract her. Because the thing was, she never got the stress dream after a night out. If she’d been out partying, or with a date or with a friend, she always fell into an exhausted, dreamless sleep, and woke feeling connected and rested. There had even been a moment of weakness when, thinking about her wonderful night spent with Jacob’s soft bed and even softer eyes, she had been tempted to find the number he had given her and break her no repeats rule…

Adriana tries to gather herself before she heads into the dressing room. It was just a dream. It was just a dream. Why does she always make such a big deal of it? Now is not the time to be a drama queen over something that’s only in her head. Not when the rest of the team need her to give them a morale boost more than ever and she needs to be on top of her game to impress Coach Hoffman.

She’s about to push open the doors, when her ears prick up to the sound of her best friend down the corridor. She’s talking to someone, an unfamiliar voice. She can’t hear the words they’re saying, but Maeve’s tone sounds kinda unusual? If Adriana didn’t know better, she’d think that Maeve could be… flirting?

Two people round the corner. Maeve appears stiff next to a boyish shorter player with artfully cropped black hair that’s curly on top, clear brown skin, and a distinctly cocky smile on her face. There’s something so unabashed andaliveabout the shorter player that makes Adriana’s face broaden into a smile automatically too. Adriana decides immediately that she likes her. (This, to be fair, is a pretty common reaction for Adriana to have upon meeting a new person, especially another footballer, to whom she always feels a sense of protective camaraderie.)

As Adriana watches, the shorter player looks over to Maeve.

‘So what if I was?’ Kira asks her. ‘What are you going to do about it?’

Oh my God, she is definitely flirting with Maeve! Adriana can barely suppress herglee. All her worries go out the window for now because witnessing her best friend being hit on by a certifiedhottieis a real delicacy.

Adriana and Maeve’s eyes meet across the corridor. Maeve’s ears flush pink, and she looks immediately away, which Adriana recognises to be a tell-tale sign of her embarrassment. Adriana’s chest does a surprised, delighted little cartwheel. Maeve fancies the stranger too! Maeve’s always been absolutely terrible at hiding when she’s into someone from Adriana although it really doesn’t happen very often. Adriana had been worried that dormant romantic part of her friend might have been killed off forever amidst her fanatical regime of becoming Captain of the Tigresses the first time round.But it seemed that no, this bud of romance could bloom in the most stressful of soil. Adriana has to cover her mouth to stop herself from squealing.

---