‘Stop it!’ Maeve snaps.
It comes out way more intense and serious than Maeve meant it to from the shocked look on her face but still, it’s clear Adriana’s jokes have struck a nerve in her stressed friend.Adriana falls quiet. Being told off makes her feel not only worried about her friendship with Maeve and that she’s pushed it too far, but it brings back unwanted replays of her conversation with Jacob earlier where similarly it felt that she was too much. She feels her lip quiver.
‘Oh, Addy,’ Maeve says quickly. ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to overreact, I’m just– you know, feeling so stressed, and I…’ She opens up her arms. ‘Come here.’
Adriana falls into her and they hug tightly. To both their surprise, Adriana starts weeping into Maeve’s shoulder.
‘Woah, woah! Sunny!’ Maeve sighs, stroking her hair. ‘I didn’t realise I’d upset you so much, I’m sorry.’
‘No, it’s not–’ Adriana sniffles. ‘It’s not you, I just, I didn’t sleep well, and I’m hormonal, and– and–’
‘And what?’
Maeve pulls back, wiping tears from Adriana’s cheeks.
‘It’s nothing,’ says Adriana, avoiding Maeve’s eyes. ‘Just some… business stuff.’
Maeve offers Adriana a tissue from her bag, and Adriana smiles to herself. Adriana is always in awe of how prepared Maeve is. ‘Business? What do you mean, “business”?’
‘No, no it’s nothing,’ Adriana dabs at her face. ‘I think all the stress in the team is getting to me. People fighting for the captaincy, and all this talk of people moving in and out of the team… I just want us to be able to have fun again.’
‘It is a really weird time,’ Maeve mumbles in agreement, pulling Adriana back into their hug. ‘But it’s going to be okay. Things will settle down. Change always feels the most dramatic at the start.It’s all just very fresh, and surprising, but we’ll get to grips with it.’
It sounds like Maeve is trying to soothe herself as much as Adriana, but she appreciates it nonetheless. Adriana’s breathing returns to normal.
‘Come on, let’s get out of here,’ Maeve. ‘You’re always saying we spend too much time in this training complex.’
Adriana looks up hopefully.
‘Are we going to go… out?’
‘No! We arenotgoingoutout, Addy.’
‘Really?’ jokes Adriana. ‘Not even to The Old Pig? Not evenonelittle bottle of wine each?’
Maeve laughs and shakes her head.
‘Okay, okay,’ Adriana gives up. ‘Want to come back to mine? I think we could both use a break from thinking about… all this. We can put pyjamas on immediately, and watch some noughties TV, and I’ll– Ooh, I can make you baba ganoush?’
Maeve squeezes her friend’s cheek affectionately, then studies her face more seriously. Adriana wonders if her own secrets are visible on her face.
‘You’re right,’ says Maeve. ‘Let’s go back to mine, andI’llmake baba ganoush. That way, we won’t have to deal with the fire brigade.’
They head out, Adriana squeezing her friend’s arm with happiness and an overwhelming sense of relief. She won’t have to spend this evening alone. Hopefully, that also means she won’t have her dreams haunted tonight by Jacob’s angry face.
Later, when she and Maeve have eaten a delicious array of dips and tofu noodles, they’re laughing together on Maeve’s sofa, drinking camomile tea with old episodes ofNew Girlin the background.
They do a good job of avoiding talking about everything to do with the team for, ooh, about two hours – but then Maeve shifts on the sofa and winces as she catches her arm. She rolls up her cow-print pyjama sleeve to study if the plaster is holding. (Adriana is also wearing a pair, proving you should always gift someone things you like yourself.)
‘Does it still hurt?’ asks Adriana.
Maeve half laughs, half sighs, as she looks down at her neatly bandaged arm.
‘It’s… It’s fine. At least it’s not my ankle, right? It’s just a scratch, it’s the least of my worries. Kira…’ She tails off and then groans. ‘I still can’t believe I lost my cool like that.’
‘Honestly, it’s okay, I think you think it was worse than it was,’ Adriana says, glad to be able to give her the reassuring pep talk she knows Maeve needs. ‘If anything, I think you proved to Coach that youcanbe aggressive if you need to be. Keep her guessing and show that you can follow her instructions.’
Worry lines appear on Maeve’s forehead and she sips her camomile tea.