Straight from the academy

37.

That evening I decide to figure out what I'm going to wear.

"Leahhhh" I shout from my bedroom.

"What?" She replies and shouts back from the living room.

"I need helppp" I complain.

She walks to my room and stands leaning against the door frame.

"Don't know what to wear?"

"How did you know?"

"Because you do this every time you go somewhere." She says laughing. I just roll my eyes at her.

She starts to search through my draws and looks though my clothes.

"Beth said just keep it formal because it's just the team but I still don't know" I say ranting on.

Leah puts her finger to her lips. "Shush. Trust me."

She pulls out a pair of black cargo trousers and a black one shoulder top.

"How about this?" She says laying it out on the bed. "With your panda dunks."

"How do you always pick the right thing?"

"What can I say, I'm just too good." She says sarcastically, shrugging her shoulders.

"Thank you though. Can you do my hair in a bit?"

"God I have to everything for you." She laughs. "But yes of course I can. Now get dressed, Beth is picking us up in an hour."

I get changed and then Leah does my hair, giving me light curls and waves.

Hair:

Outfit:

Just as Leah finishes my hair, the door opens.

"Hey, it's me." Says a familiar voice as they walk through the flat into my bedroom.

"Hey love" I say draping my arms around Gio's waist and then bringing her in for a kiss.

Gio had an extra 1 on 1 training session which is why she came home later than Leah and I.

"Beth will be here in less than an hour, so you need to get ready."

"But why can't we just stay like this?" She says pulling me in for one more kiss.

"Come on, we've got plenty of time for that later. And also you stink so go and have a shower." I slip out of her arms and put my hands on my hips.

"Okay, fine" Gio drags herself to the bathroom and has a shower.

~~

Eventually, all three of us are ready and Beth texts me to let us know she's on her way.

Not long later, we walk down the stairs of the apartment building and all get in Beth's car, with Viv sitting in the front next to Beth who was driving and the three of us along the back.

The drive doesn't take long, only about 10 minutes.

Beth parks the car and then leads us all into a small bar on the corner of the road.

"I booked us a booth at the end." Beth says as we all follow her to our seats.

"Thank you for this Beth." I say, before sitting down next to Gio and Viv.

"No worries Ellie. Now, what can I get everyone to drink?" She says excitedly, really for the night to begin.

~~

After a while all the rest of the girls turn up, and we all get to talking and dancing.

I'm already on my third alcoholic drink of the eventing but I wanted to give a quick speech and I think it's better to do it now, rather than when I'm completely hammered.

I ask the bar man to turn down the music slightly so that I can be heard and then I clear my throat.

"I just wanted to say thank you so much all of you for coming. My dad always loved this team and he could never get over the fact that his own daughter played for the mighty arsenal. I just know that this would have meant a lot to him so thank you. And thank you so much Beth for organising all of this, I love you so much, you're the best."

Beth runs over to be and scoops me up in a big hug, as does Viv.

I then walk back over and sit down next to Gio in the booth.

"You okay gorgeous?" She says putting her hand on my inner thigh.

"Yeah, just thinking about my dad." She brings my closer to her and places a gentle kiss on the side of my head.

"Come on," she stands up and holds out her hands for me, "let's dance."

She leads me over to where the majority of the girls are, and where the music is the loudest.

~~

We spend the rest of the night dancing and drinking.

Actually, we did a lot of drinking.

It wasn't even the end of the night but before I knew it I was pretty drunk, as was the rest of the team.

I wasn't like 'I can't see straight' drunk, but I was getting there.

I was dancing around with Gio, my arms draped over her shoulders, when someone taps me on the shoulder.

Leah stands in front of me, clearly worried about something.

"You alright?"

She shakes her head.

"Hang on, I'll be back in a sec." I say to Gio before walking off with Leah and leading her to the bathrooms so that we'll have some more privacy.

"What happened?" I ask as she paces around the room.

"Jordan's here."

"Did Beth invite her?"

"No, but she just said the team could come, she didn't say specifically who could and who couldn't."

"Okay, so are you going to speak to her?"

"No, no."

"Let me put it this way, do you want to speak to her?"

"I don't know" she says covering her face with her hands.

I sit down against the wall and tap the spot next to me, inviting Leah to sit.

She does and I wrap an arm around her.

"Do you still love her?"

"Of course I still love her, I haven't stopped loving her from the moment she left."

"Well then there's your answer."

"I want to go with my heart, but my heads telling me something completely different."

"Your head is telling you what you want to hear, but your heart is telling you what is right. Trust me, go with your heart."

Leah takes a breath and then stands up.

I do the same and we both fix ourselves up a bit in the mirror.

"Come on, let's get back out there, I left Gio by herself."

We walk out of the bathroom and I give Leah's shoulders squeeze.

"Good luck" I say before making my way back to Gio.