A Second Chance

Chapter 5 - The Arsenal

"Nice to see you again Amelia" Jonas smiles as he shakes your hand, 4 weeks after first meeting him at the Emirates, you firmly shake his hand back and take a seat across from him in his office.
He begins to talk you through the conditions of your contract, letting you know you wouldn't be involved in games straight away as you'd been away from football for a period of time.
You nod your head in agreement, you knew this was one of the conditions, and continue to listen as he goes through the normal terms and conditions.

A few minutes later Leah walks in holding your Arsenal shirt with the number 24 on the back, your lucky number.
She pats you on the back and she hands over your shirt with a big smile on her face.

Over the last few weeks you and Leah had grown closer, texting back and forth about the decision you had made and also about your lives too. Opening up to Leah felt scarily easy and you were becoming more and more comfortable in her presence.

After taking your signing pictures at the Emirates and finally signing the contract Jonas claps his hands together and says "right i'll meet you guys back at Colney and we can begin your medical".
You enthusiastically nod your head and begin to collect your things ready to head towards the tube station.

As you are halfway down the road a car slows down next to you whilst their window slowly goes down, you look to the side to see Leah looking at you confused. She stops her car and asks "where are you going? Did you not park at the stadium?".
You shake your head and chuckle slightly whilst explaining "umm not quite i actually got the tube here, i was just going to get the closest tube then get an uber the rest of the way. I hate London traffic so i sold my car when i moved here".
Leah shakes her head and begins to clear her passenger seat whilst saying "don't be silly, get in and we can go together".

You hop into Leah's car ready to make the 45 minute journey over to the training centre.

10 minutes into the journey and you're already stuck in traffic, you let out a sigh and look over to Leah whilst saying "see what i mean now". You start to take notice of her features as you keep your eyes on her.
Her eye brows furrowed together whilst she looks at the long line of cars ahead, her lips pulled in a pout as she turns to you before saying "yes I see what you mean". You smirk at her annoyed face before running your hand across her forehead to smooth out her frown, you smile and say "don't frown so much you'll have wrinkles by the time you're 30".
Leah turns to look at you and smiles, your eyes meeting properly for the first time this journey. Leah's face softens as you watch her eyes move around your whole face before locking back with your eyes.
Time stands still as you both stare into each others eyes before a loud horn sounds from behind making you both jump.
You look ahead to see that traffic has begun moving again leaving a big gap infront of Leahs car.
"Oh shit" she whispers, a blush creeping to her cheeks, as she puts her car into first gear and pushes the accelerator to the floor to close the gap

The rest of the car journey is spent singing along to your sad song playlist whilst catching secret glances at each other.

Before you know it Leah's car came to a stop outside the big Arsenal training centre. As you look up at the big building in front of you, you begin to spin the rings on your finger, a thing you do when you're feeling anxious.
Leah notices this and reaches her hand across and takes one of your hands, she smiles at you before saying "don't worry, they're all so excited to meet you".
You smile at Leah's words of encouragement and give her hand a squeeze.
She jumps out of the car and runs around to your side opening your door for you, she reaches her hand out and pulls you out of the car before closing the door behind you.
"Wow a proper gentleman" you smile, Leah takes a bow whilst saying "what can i say". You both laugh before making your way into the training centre.

Leah does a good job of showing you around, making sure no room is left out. We look at the physio rooms, the medical rooms, the massage rooms, she even shows you the meeting rooms. We then make a stop at the hydro pools, sauna, steam rooms and ice baths before making our way past the food area to the gym. Leah shows you round each piece of equipment, giving a detailed description of each machine and how to use it.

You can't help but stare at her as she's speaking, using her hands to accentuate her words and gesture to things around the room. Your eyes move from her eyes to her lips as she speaks.

You begin to think about your feelings towards Leah, every morning she sends you a good morning text that never fails to put a smile on your face. Over the past week you have text each other constantly back and forth and you find yourself grabbing your phone at any notification hoping it's her.

Your thoughts are interrupted by Leah calling your name and waving her hand in front of your face. You shake your head back into reality and lightly chuckle whilst saying "sorry i was miles away". Leah joins in with your laughter whilst saying "i can tell, what's going on up there?".

You sigh and sit down on the bike next to you whilst a million thoughts run through your head. Before you know it words have left your mouth, "do you wanna come round mine one night so i can cook you dinner as a thankyou for everything you've done?".
A big smile breaks over Leah's face and she stands up and squeezes you into a hug whilst saying "of course I do you idiot, is that what you've been stressing about?".
You shake you head, "I actually don't know what i'm stressing about, i think i'm just putting too much pressure on myself instead of going with the flow".

Leah smiles and spins you round before putting her hands on your shoulder and pushing you out of the gym whilst saying "come on let's get this medical done then we can get you out on the pitch where you belong". You smile and place your hands over hers as you make your way down the corridor.

•

Two hours later and everything is done, you've done more exercises in the last two hours than you've done in the last two months. Your body is definitely going to feel this in the morning.

As you make your way outside to call an uber ready to get home someone calls your name from the other side of the car park, you look up from your phone and see Leah leaning against her car.
You smile and make your way over to her whilst saying "what are you still doing here?".

Leah opens her passenger side door and motions for you get in, she closes the door after you slide in and runs round to her side. She starts the car whilst saying "we'll I brought you here so obviously i'm not just going to leave you here".
You smile softly at her whilst whispering "thankyou for staying" as you feel your eyes begin to get heavy.
Not even ten minutes into the journey you fall asleep.

•

You wake up to a gentle shake of your shoulder, you slowly open your eyes and see Leah knelt down on your side of the car smiling at you. You sit up and rub your eyes whilst saying "oh god sorry did i sleep the whole way, thankyou for driving me home".
Leah laughs and puts her hand out to pull you out the car, she keeps her hand intertwined with yours as you begin to walk towards the door.

Leah stops in front of the door and says "not sure if you've actually noticed yet but we're at my house, i thought you'd be too tired to make food so i'll cook for you and we can watch a movie?". Leah looks down and begins to kick her feet lightly.
You put your finger under Leah's chin and lift her face up, you look into her eyes and smile whilst saying "i'd love to, thankyou for thinking of me".
You see Leah's eyes briefly fall to your lips then back to your eyes before smiling at you and opening the door.

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