IMAGINE. (wsl)

𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗺𝗲 - 𝗰.𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘁

𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘳𝘦: 𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘧𝘧
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"hello?"

"hi y/n, it's tony gustavsson, coach of the matilda's. how are you?"

"i'm good tony. what can do for you?"

"i was just calling to deliver some great news. you've been selected to play for australia in the world cup."

"wait actually? are you joking?" tony laughed at that.

"no this is very real, y/n. we have already informed your current club and you'll be flown over to brisbane next week. how does that sound?"

"oh my- that sounds amazing tony! thank you so much!"

"no worries, y/n. i'll see you then."

——
it had been a week since that phone call, with tony telling me i'd been called up to play for the nation. i had been elated, the first person i'd told was my mum and dad. they were just as happy as i was. i knew who was already on the squad and one name stood out to me. charlotte grant. my girlfriend. i hadn't told her about being selected, i wanted to keep it a surprise and show up unannounced. we hadn't seen each other in over a month because of the two different clubs we were with.

charli and i had been close since we were 15, playing in adelaide together. we instantly became best friends when we met and eventually i had broke the silence and asked her out. she said yes immediately and we had been like the 'it' couple ever since. our bond was tested when charli moved to rosengard at 18, and i stayed at adelaide. we saw each other in the under 20s national teams, but now we were 21 and 22, she'd moved to vittsjo gik, and we had aged out of the younger teams.

our days consisted of calling whenever we could, each one of us taking turns to stay up into the early hours of the morning just so we could talk for longer. it wasn't an ideal situation but we made it work. so when i got the call up for the matilda's i was so excited that i got to see charli again and we could play together again.

a week had passed since the call and it had felt like torture every second i had to wait. my bags were packed at least two days before my flight was scheduled and i was practically bouncing off the walls of my apartment. this was about to be the best couple of months in my life. my parents dropped me off at the airport that day, both of them getting a bit teary as i walked through the gateway. i knew it was sad for them but i was still overcome with happiness.

this was my dream, my first world cup. i pulled my phone out when i was boarded on the plane, i had a text from charli. 'call soon? lmk x' i smiled down at her text, she had no clue i was coming up to see her. i typed my response back out to her; 'not now, love. i'm super tired x'. i hoped it was enough to keep her satisfied until i landed in brisbane.

it was meant to be just under a 3 hour flight so i put my headphones in and turned on some music. i ended up falling asleep, only waking up to the air hostesses letting people know that we were landing in just over 30 minutes. i was till a bit tired so i put my headphones away, tucked my phone into my pocket and closed my eyes again, just to see if i could get a couple more minutes of sleep. i did fall back asleep and the hostess had to wake me up to get off the plane.

"i'm so sorry, thank you for waking me." she was a nice lady and didn't mind having to get me up. i grabbed my bag from the overhead storage and walked towards the exit. i got through security without a hitch and headed to collect my suitcase. i was standing by the moving row of bags when an older man walked towards. "hey, y/n right? i'm tony."

"oh hi tony, yea i'm y/n, i didn't know you were meeting me here." "yea i thought i'd take you to the hotel and training myself. you can meet all the other girls then." we grabbed my suitcase when it came through and headed outside to a black car mercedes which took us to a hotel. "we'll take you to your room so you can get changed and into something better for training then we'll head back out to meet the team. sound good?"

"yea sounds good." he showed me into the hotel and the lady at the front desk gave me the key card to my room. i managed to drag my suitcase into the room and tony said he'd wait in the lobby for me. i shoved the suitcase on the bed, shut the door to my room and pulled out some exercise gear i had on the top of the pile in my bag. a quick shower was in order to get rid of airport germs and i was changed in no time. i grabbed my phone and key card and headed back down to the lobby.

"okay i'm good to go." tony stood up and we headed back out to the mercedes which was still there, waiting for us. it was only a short drive to the field we were training at but the nerves were seeping in at the thought of seeing charli again for the first time in over a month. tony must have been able to tell something was up. "you okay?" "yea, i'm just nervous. i haven't told charli i got selected so this is a surprise for her." tony nodded along in agreement.

"i'm sure she'll love to see you again. the girls tell me she doesn't stop talking about you." i smiled at his words, hoping they were true. we had arrived at the facility and got out. tony led the way and showed me into the stadium. i could already see the players warming up on the field. "alright girls, listen up! there is one more person i'd like you to meet." i stepped out from behind tony as he said his next sentence. "please welcome to the team-"

"Y/N!" he was cut off before he could say my name. it was charli that had screamed out and was now barreling towards me full force. i grabbed onto her when she hit me, twirling her around a couple of times before putting her down. she wasted no time in grabbing my face and smashing our lips together in a long awaited kiss. "you didn't tell me you were selected!" she pouted at me.

"it was a surprise for you. did you like it?" she grinned. "absolutely." tony cleared his throat and we pulled apart. "as charli so eloquently put it, this is y/n y/l/n. go join the girls y/n." me and charli walked back to the group of other players and charli went around to everyone, introducing me to every single person. i don't think i've seen her this happy before, but it made my heart happy.