Page 41 of Couple Goals

‘Oh, nothing, nothing of note! Just, you know! Excited for the new season! Glad to be playing football with my favourite people! As in, you! You, my favourite person!’

Adriana tilts her head, her red curls like question marks round her face.

‘How– how wasyourweekend?’ Maeve asks. Now Adriana is the one to look away.

‘Oh, yeah, it was… it was fine.’ She mumbles.

‘What did you get up to?’

‘Oh you know… not much…’

That attracts Maeve’s attention. She studies her friend’s frowning face. She looks different than usual, her sunniness dimmed. She’s hiding something. Or maybe Maeve’s just being paranoid.

‘You didn’t go out did you?’ asks Maeve.

‘No, no,’ says Adriana, looking a bit grumpy at being suspected of doing so. ‘I just, you know, went for coffee…’

‘Where?’

Adriana bites her lip. ‘At Honey. Emily’s doing well. The wildest thing I did all weekend was eat half of one of her brownies.’

‘Only half of your favourite brownie?’ Maeve frowns. ‘What natural disaster got in the way of you having the rest of it?’

Adriana shrugs. ‘Just wasn’t hungry I guess. Anyway, what about you, did you do anything wild?’

Kira jogs past them, and wipes her face with her t-shirt, revealing the abs Maeve had licked minutes earlier. Maeve can’t help staring as she replies to Adriana.

‘Nope, I didn’t get up to much either. Not much at all.’

‘So neither of us have anything to report,’ Adriana says flatly.

‘Nope,’ says Maeve. ‘Just… just football, I guess.’

There’s an uncomfortable silence between them.

Then Charlie and Elisa come over and hug Adriana in greeting, and Maeve peels off from her. She feels a little relieved. If they’d spent any longer together, she would have worried Adriana might see the trace of Kira’s hickies on her neck.

And so Maeve takes a breath to steady herself, and jogs over to where Kira is waiting for her, the string of her shorts still wonky and half-undone.

Chapter 13Adriana

Adriana loves nothing more than hearing the home crowd cheering. It fills her blood with excitement and she hops from foot to foot, eyes darting towards the door, longing to be out there already, singing along with the chants, bringing her A-game, earning the fans’s adoration.

Her family will be in the stands as always, wearing their replica kit emblazoned with SUMMERS on the back, and holding up a sign in a glowing gold sun saying ‘IT’S SUMMER TIME’. Her parents have been making signs like this one for years now, and just thinking about it gives her a boost.

She feels her spirits lift for the first time in days. Life is good again now the season has kicked off and everything will go back to normal. They’re going to win this match in dominant fashion, she’s going to make sure of it.

Always aware of the moods of those around her, Adriana notices how her own enthusiasm is helping infect the others too. Charlie and Elisa are like her, always more excited than nervous before a game, and their giddiness leads to them doing some pre-match jigging together, to get themselves hyped.Others in the team are harder to lift, but it doesn’t stop Adriana from trying. She’s brought a spare Lucozade for Milo, who takes it with rare gratitude, and she gives Nat’s shoulders a massage knowing she sometimes tenses up.

‘Don’t worry about me,’ sighs Nat. ‘I’m sure I’m going to be on the sub bench the whole time.’

‘Subs are as vital a part of the team as anyone else,’ Adriana reminds her with a smile. ‘They can make or break! When the shit hits the fan, you’re who we need the most to come and save the day!’

Nat gratefully pats her hand.

Coach Hoffman gives the team a final pep talk, restating what the team already know of the tactics for the game.

‘Right from the first whistle, be aggressive and press. Don’t give them time on the ball or their defenders a chance to recover. Kira, let’s see you get your first goal for the team and occupy the centre-backs. Midfielders, I want clean, quick passing to play through them. Defenders, remember what we said about keeping your shape and Elisa I don’t even want to see you challenged today.’

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