Page 25 of Couple Goals

‘Oh God, I just don’t think that now should be the time to make Coach guess about my performance. I want to be reliable, a safe pair of hands, you know? Like I always have been. It’s the only way I’m going to contrast favourably for the captaincy next to Kira…’

Maeve’s voice cracks a little on Kira’s name, and Adriana studies her friend’s face. Maeve definitely likes Kira, it’s clear from the way she blushes and her throat catches at the name. But Adriana wonders if her friend even knows herself.

‘Coach wants us to do extra training together, me and Kira,’ Maeve explains. ‘So I can’t let her get to me, can’t let her rile me up. But I find her…’

Maeve puts her head in her hands. Adriana rubs her fluffy-socked feet soothingly. Adriana hates seeing Maeve worry like this and just wants to fix everything for both of them.

‘And then there’s the wholeJacob Astorthing,’ Maeve carries on, oblivious. Adriana freezes.

‘Surely he was there today to watch and report back on us,’ Maeve continues, unaware of her friend’s shift. ‘Is he there to see who to let go in this transfer window? And I wonder if he has a say in who is captain too. Would it affect sponsorship or something? Optics? There’s just so much we don’t know.’

Adriana relaxes. Maeve clearly doesn’t suspect a thing about her and Jacob. Understandably, she’s preoccupied by her own dramatic day.

Maeve gnaws at her finger nails. ‘He is just this random man who suddenly has power over our careers! We don’t know what his metrics are. We don’t even know what he prioritises in a football player.’

‘He is just thinking about money,’ says Adriana, without thinking. ‘He doesn’t evenlikefootball.’

‘What?’ Maeve pauses, looking up. ‘How do you know?’

Adriana flushes and tries to cover up her slip.

‘Well, he’s just a– he’s just some business guy, right? With a rich dad? If he cared about football, he’d be more involved, not just watching from the sidelines barely looking at the field.’

Maeve ponders this. ‘I guess you’re right. But he’s an unknown quantity which I really don’t like. If only we had some way of knowing what he was thinking. Then we’d know how they’re deciding between me and Kira – or someone else – for captain, and which players they might want to move on before the season starts.’

Adriana has a great idea. She puts her tea down, excited. She’s going to fix all Maeve’s worries. It’s what she is best at, she tells herself, dealing with any little mis-steers behind the scenes without anyone even needing to know.

She’s going to use her unusual relationship with Jacob to find out who is in the chopping line, and save them from being on the list of outgoing players.

And if it also means getting to spend more time with Jacob –in a purely professional manner, of course! – she can reassure herself that he does like her as a person, that their night of romance wasn’t completely wasted, and that she is charming and loveable even when she’s not seducing a new man because it’s not the only way to prove her worth. Maybe she and Jacob could become friends! Stranger things have happened, she tells herself.

Adriana snuggles into Maeve’s familiar sofabed, hugging one of the many cow plushies Adriana has previously bought for her friend. She is proud of herself for not confessing all this to Maeve. She’s better at secrets than she thought. The less Maeve knows the more Adriana is protecting her.

‘Night night,’ Maeve kisses her friend sweetly on the forehead. ‘Thank you for being such a good friend.’

‘Night night,’ Adriana mumbles sleepily. ‘Back at you.’

Adriana sleeps well that night.

Over the next week of intense pre-season training, Adriana keeps looking out for opportunities to catch Jacob alone, without drawing suspicions of anyone else in the team. But on Wednesday, Jacob isn’t there. She takes her restless energy out by sprinting even faster during a drill, and earns a rare compliment from Coach.

On Thursday morning, Adriana thinks she sees him in the stands, a tall silhouette justwatching, like a sexy phantom of the opera. On Friday, she sees him talking to Coach Hoffman. He’s wearing a deep navy suit and his shirt is unbuttoned at the collar, just enough to see a glimpse of his toned chest. His head is bent listening and nodding seriously to what Coach is saying.

Jacob glances up, his eyes catching Adriana’s from across the pitch. Even though he keeps talking to Coach, his eyes stay fixed on Adriana. She is transfixed, like time has stopped. When he looks away, he then doesn’t look back, and leaves shortly afterwards. Adriana is left unmoored. Maybe he hadn’t been able to see her at all, maybe this is all in her head. Either way, it hardens her resolve to somehow form a good working relationship with him, and one that helps her teammates.

By the end of the Friday session, Adriana is on edge to talk to him.

So when she catches sight of his luscious dark suit waiting by the exit of the training ground, typing on his phone waiting for his driver, she sprints down the stairs shouting after him.

‘Jacob! Er, I mean, Mr Astor!’

Jacob turns, frowning, like she’s a charity collector he’s already turned away.

‘Yes? Can I help you?’ He asks, his voice cool and unruffled.

Adriana glances around, checking that none of the other team members are watching. In the same moment, Jacob glances up to see his driver isn’t here yet, and frowns at his flashy watch. Adriana doesn’t know if he’s doing a performance of being a busy businessman or if this is happening naturally, but either way, she gets the idea.

‘What happened to keeping a low profile?’ Jacob asks her in a low voice.

---