Page 44 of Couple Goals

Kira does a half-joking, half-serious, bow, accepting the credit for the goal. Adriana instead finds herself trying to laugh off the compliment. She doesn’t like being singled out in a team sport, and feels particularly embarrassed with Jacob watching her, knowing even he won’t be able to avoid looking at her while she’s the centre of attention.

‘Oh!’ mumbles Adriana. ‘Umm, thank you, but really, it was, it was a joint effort. Everyone had a great game.’

She can’t bring herself to look up, even as her teammates applaud her, and she just waves for them to stop.

‘Now. You’ll notice that I am not alone here and our club director watched today’s game,’ says Hoffman. ‘I know Jacob wants to say a few words so over to him.’

She gestures to him, inviting him to speak.

‘I’d like to take the opportunity to congratulate you on today’s victory in such comprehensive style, Tigresses,’ says Jacob. His voice has a practiced authority to it, but Adriana wonders if underneath that there’s a sense of him not really wanting to be there, perhaps more used to being behind the scenes than communicating directly. ‘I know this has been a time of a lot of upheaval, so I’m very pleased to see that the changes Coach Hoffman has been making in the team are already improving your performance on the pitch. If there aren’t any questions for me–?’

He says it in something of a hypothetical way, but Adriana feels it’s her chance that she has to seize. Show she has their backs. And if it means Jacob willhaveto finally look at her, well, that’s just a bonus. She coughs loudly, and the team all stare at her.

‘Uh, Ja-Jacob? I believe I speak for everyone when I say that the thing we’re most concerned about is further changes to the squad. I hope today showed what a great team we already are.’

She looks around for reassurance, and everyone nods along with her which gives her the confidence to go on.

‘We were told that with this new phase of the team, there are going to be significant changes – we want to know, how will you be deciding which players you might want to move on,if any–’ she adds, to try to plant the seed of that not being necessary especially after the way they performed today. ‘And, also, how you’re making decisions about who will be selected as captain on a permanent basis?’

Adriana hopes speaking out like this proves that she doesn’t want their one-night stand to cause any awkwardness between them, and she’s also putting the team’s best interests first.

‘I- I’m sure we all care a lot about doing goodbusinessfor this club, you know? We– we are not, you know, only here to put in our all to this team forone night, and then to just be thrown out tomorrow.’

Jacob’s eyebrows raise with surprise at her mention of ‘one night’, and she can tell he has understood that she’s trying to refer to their fling, but unfortunately, she doesn’t think she’s made much sense beyond that. Think, Adriana,think!

‘I just mean,’ she improvises quickly, feeling like she’s digging herself a hole. ‘I’m sure all of us want to be here with this team for the long haul. Not just for the sake of our individual careers but because we care about the cohesion of the group. Many of us are very loyal to the Tigresses.’

Jacob frowns and makes a gesture of being about to answer that immediately shuts Adriana up.

‘Thank you, Ms Summers, I hope I can set you more at ease in this matter,’ he says.

‘As club director, it’s only the commercial side which is my concern. As for the role of the captain, it’s true that I will havesomesay in this, as a captain has additional responsibilities off the pitch, such as forging new relationships with sponsorships. But Coach Hoffman is making her decision based on the necessities of the captainonthe pitch. And, as long as I have faith that her choice will also be suitable for any of these responsibilitiesoffthe pitch, then I will see no need to interfere. I believe that Coach will be making her recommendations to me by the end of this month after another few games,where she can gather more information to make her final decision.’

He looks to her to confirm, and Hoffman nods back.

‘I will be informing Jacob of my decisions in two weeks. If he accepts them, then the last stage will just be a majority vote from the team to confirm that you all trust my choices.’

‘So we’ll all get a chance to vote?’ Adriana checks.

Hoffman grimaces a little, as if it is a shame that this is given such a spotlight. ‘It’s not a popularity contest. It’s a vote that you agree with my decisions. I may ask a few of you for your opinions, if I see fit, but I am not expecting any resistance to my expertise.’

‘Are there any other questions?’

Jacob’s blue eyes pierce Adriana for a moment, and then turn very deliberately away from her to show they’re done here.

No one else has anything to add.

‘In that case, I would like to congratulate you all again on your brilliant result today, and to thank you for your hard work over pre-season. I’ve ordered a selection of pizzas for you all, which have just arrived, if you’d like to follow Kevin. Thank you all.’

And then Jacob turns, and heads off alone, as the rest of the team chat excitedly about their food, and how fit Jacob Astor is.

Adriana’s stomach does somersaults. Unfortunately, she agrees with them. Jacob seems to get hotter every time she sees him; every time he becomes more off-limits.

When Adriana’s at home that night, the elation of their victory wearing off, she finds herself sliding open her messages from Jacob yet again, the empty conversation between them. Adriana types out an impulsive message and sends it before she can stop herself.

Are you mad at me? I feel like I shouldn’t have said that earlier but I just don’t know what’s going on between us x

She throws her phone across the room, immediately regretting what she’s done. Then she rushes to pick it up and read it again to see if it’s as bad as she fears. She sounds so desperate and clingy! She sounds deranged! Andwhy did she put a kiss?

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