Thank you Eliza!!!
Chapter 30 already?! ☕️✍🏼
Blinking away a tear as she watched Erin squint her eyes shut, Alexia couldn't imagine how hard all this must've been for her. She couldn't imagine the recovery not going as planned, and the blonde's career truly ending after that, for her own recovery went remarkably well.
"I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you, Bonita", the midfielder mumbles sadly, not sure what else to say, certain that she wouldn't be able to find the right words anyway.
Nothing could make up for it.
"It's just... it was so unnecessary, wasn't it? Why did she tackle me like that?", Erin asks, well aware that not even Alexia could answer all the questions she's been searching for answers to ever since the incident happened.
But she needed those answers.
She craved justice. Not to mention an explanation.
"It was, Bonita... it was enough to destroy the friendship Jenni and I had", Alexia explains sorrowfully, reaching for Erin's hand as she shyly plays with the cold fingers, entwining her fingers through Erin's, before giving the blonde's hand a soothing squeeze.
The therapist frowns.
"What do you mean? What... what happened to your friendship?", the blonde wonders, glancing up as she wipes away the tears that were slowly trickling down her cheek, trying to figure out and remember what Alexia was talking about.
However, she had no idea.
"I knew that when there's no soccer for you... there's no us either. We only... I only had the chance to see you during the international matches. When you're not there, then I won't get to see you. And as much as I tried to forgive Jenni and forget about what she did... I couldn't", Alexia shyly shrugs her shoulders, hazel eyes looking anywhere but at Erin, the rosy blush evident on the captain's cheeks.
Scooting forward on the bed until her legs tangle from the edge of the mattress, Erin keeps her head down to examine her knee, watching the way Alexia's gentle fingertips lightly stroke over wrinkled skin.
Just remembering the moment it happened hurt.
All of this hurt. So damn much.
"Is that... is that why she left Barcelona?", asks Erin hesitantly, goosebumps forming on the sensitive skin of her leg as warm fingers caress the scars, following the slightly darker contours left from the surgeries.
Three times.
Without another word, Alexia presses her lips together, forming the tiniest of smiles, before nodding slightly.
Erin's eyes dilate.
She immediately reaches out, folding her cold fingertips over Alexia's hand as the captain sits up, taking her seat beside Erin.
"I wanted... needed... her to leave Barcelona. I couldn't bear to look at Jenni after what she did to you. It was so... so unnecessary. And so wrong... I couldn't stand looking her in the eye anymore. Because if she hadn't done that... if she hadn't tackled you, then...", Alexia whispers sorrowfully, her hazel eyes gazing down at their hands as she imagines where the two of them might be now if fate hadn't ripped them apart.
Things should've been different.
Completely different.
"... then this would be our vacation?", Erin asks in a soft, quiet voice, giving Alexia's hands a tight squeeze when she feels more and more tears trickling down her cheeks.
"Then this would be our vacation", Alexia confirms with a slight nod, releasing her warm hands from around Erin's, choosing to instead wipe away the tears that wouldn't stop welling up.
