Freed From Desire

Part 1

So. It's football season which means I'm back to writing about that. Probably won't complete this story either, I have a tendency to fall off the adhd hyperfocus bandwagon but eh, we'll see. Enjoy anyway! :D

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Nora

You would think I was more likely to run into a group of Arsenal players at the actual stadium than here, at a music festival. But low and behold, it was here that I spotted the light-colored ponytail of one Beth Mead, her head on a swivel, seemingly looking for someone. The much taller Vivianne Miedema was of no help, nodding along to the music coming from the main stage and not paying any attention to Beth's attempts to balance on her toes, her hand on Viv's shoulder.

I sipped on my drink and entertained myself with the sight for a few more seconds before turning around and making my way through the crowd towards the side of the stage. And as luck would have it, a woman crashed into me, almost sending me toppling over. I managed to grab onto her arm and stay upright but the sweet cocktail that splashed all over my shirt wasn't as lucky.

If it hadn't been for the woman's red and teary and very familiar eyes, I probably would've given her a mouthful. But staring at yet another Arsenal player, I found myself at a loss for words.

"Katie, listen, please.." A voice called out and the woman in front of me turned for just long enough to yell a hate-filled "we're done" over her shoulder towards none other than Caitlin Foord.

Huh, guess the rumours were right all along and those two were a thing. Had been a thing? It was quite hard to keep up with the situation at the moment, but looking across at Foord, it suddenly became quite obvious. Lia Walti was quite literally holding her hand still and I had a feeling they'd just recently been in more close contact than that. 

Katie's eyes returned to mine and then dropped to stare at the cup that had fallen from my hands. "I'm sorry, I-.." she started, but I quickly cut her off. 

"Your very tipsy girlfriend is walking towards us and I have a feeling you don't wanna deal with her right now, so how about we get out of here," I offered a way out. I needed to clean myself up anyway and well.. maybe I quite liked the way Katie's firm bicep felt under my fingers.

"Ex-girlfriend," was the only thing she said in response and simply nodded then, following me as I quickly made my way through the crowd, cursing myself in my thoughts. I couldn't just mind my own business, of course I was somehow caught up in lesbian drama. 

We came to a stop in front of two security guards and Katie anxiously looked around, probably trying to see if Foord was still following us. "She's with me," I pointed at the footballer and the guards let us pass and head into the makeshift green room that was probably just used for storage most of the time. But because of the music festival, it was now filled with comfy couches, a large table of food and snacks and a few screens, showing what was going on at the different stages.

"Uhh, do you need anything?" I asked, watching as Katie made her way to one of the couches and covered her face with her hands. Now that we were alone, the awkwardness of the situation became very apparent. Of course I knew who she was, but to her I was the most random woman who had just dragged her off seconds after she caught her girlfriend cheating with her ex. What a mess.

But I had to give the woman props, she ran her hands over her face a few times and took a deep breath. And even though her eyes were red, there were no tears. She was tough all things considered.