Ophelia ─ Caitlin Foord

III. Sounds Like A You Problem

SOUNDS LIKE A YOU PROBLEM
☥.                                          chapter three

"Nervous?"

The sound of Caitlin's voice filled Ophelias ears as a arm was swung over her shoulders. Ophelia turned to the sound "is it that noticeable?"

After a game of being on the bench, Jonas had decided to place Ophelia in the starting eleven in their upcoming match with Readibg FC. The nerves were more than just kicking in, they were giving her bruises from their punches.

Caitlin chuckled "totally. You're shaking. It's currently twenty eight degrees Celsius." She used the term the pair were more used to rather than the American temperature slang.

The two were sitting in the Arsenal locker rooms surrounded by their teammates, they sat in their sucluded cubbies, putting on their team shirt before Caitlin had moved to sit beside the newcomer.

Ophelia sighed "it feels like I haven't played in weeks, I'm just afraid I'll go out there and be a total flop."

Caitlin scoffed with a roll of her eyes "you are way to hard on yourself. You wont look like a total flop."

Ophelia pushed Caitlin's shoulder away with a small laugh "you're so supportive Cait."

Caitlin shrugged proudly "it's what I'm here for."

"You're infuriating" Ophelia couldn't help the smile tugging on the corner of her lips.

Caitlin smirked "sounds like a you problem, Ophy"

────────────────────────────────

Katie started with the ball, softly kicking it towards Lia. Lia controlled the ball easy, not giving a second thought to the defenders behind her as if they were nothing but walking bones. Catching Kim running into the box she decided to pass towards the sprinting girl.

Kim had quickly passed it towards Katie, who had been surrounded by defenders quickly, one in which pulled her to the ground. Katie shot up, raising angry arms into the air, she received the penalty she pleaded silently for.

Kim was the one who took the penalty, the ball barely scraping over the fingertips of the goalkeeper before slamming into the back of the net. Four minutes into the game, Aresenal were ahead.

────────────────────────────────

Ophelia had found herself in the back half of the field, being one of the three people in the second line of defence before the goal keeper while Jonas had swapped Leah out to a mid-fielder to test the newcomers waters.

Forty three minutes in, things were slowly beginning to grow heated, yellow cards where being thrown out everywhere around Readings, frustration was slowly getting to their players.

Ophelia's player had taken the ball from one of the other mid-fielders, passing it towards another player coming up on the side.

Catching the well-known movements of a back pass, Ophelia cut in front of her attacker, letting the ball fall to her feet instead of her players. She turned, running around her attacker before passing the ball to Caitlin.

Caitlin passed it onwards before shooting up the right side, getting the ball back running towards the square she noticed Frida with a perfect shot at goals.

Frida placed the Aresenal team two goals in front of reading.

────────────────────────────────

The next goal had come only three minutes after, and it had come off a readings player foot, marking it as an own goal, Arsenal had hit three goals as the half time whistle sounded.

The team of red and white entered the locker rooms to reorganize themselves before heading back onto the field. Ophelia grabbed her water bottle, taking large sips.

Leah sat down beside her, lifting her shirt to wipe the sweat from her face "fuck Conklin, cannot believe Barcelona kept you for so long. You're unstoppable out there." She huffed

Ophelia took another sip before playing her water down. She shook her head "Haven't played defence in so long, Barcelona never put me down there. It feels more like fun than a competitive game knowing I'm defending."

"They're missing out big time" Leah laughed through puffed out breaths "Do you prefer mid-field or defence?"

Ophelia hummed, thinking about her answer for a moment "mid-field. I kind of get to play both attack and defence that way, which I prefer. It always nice to play defence every now and then though. On a rare occasion the Matildas play me defence but it was mainly Manchester City that played me back there."

Leah nodded her head "Yeah, I hope you enjoyed your time as a defender cause Jonas informed me that when he takes me off, you're becoming a mid-fielder."

Ophelia chuckled "thanks for the warning."

────────────────────────────────

For a player that defended better than anyone Ophelia had ever seen, Leah had scored a goal.

Only a few minutes after her goal in the 69th minute, Jonas took her off the fielder, alerting Ophelia that she was now a mid-fielder while Katherine jumped into defence. At the same time Caitlin had been subbed off for Lina.

It was four to zero now, things were getting easier, Reading had began to grow fatigued and began to slow their pace which opened up a massive opportunity as Katie McCabe went for goals, it deflected off the side of the goal returning to a position outside of the goal square where Ophelia stood alone.

With a wave of confidence washing over her, Ophelia shoved the side of her foot into the ball. The crowd watching as it flew over players heads and hit the back net of the goals through the top right corner.

Her first goal for Arsenal had been an outstanding one, Kim got to her first. Not giving the girl a warning before she was picked up and spun around.

Before Ophelia had the chance to collect herself she was shoved into a bone crushing hug from the rest of her teammates. In the background she could hear the supportive yells of Leah, Caitlin and her other Arsenal teammates.

"That was awesome Little Lee." Katie smiled, bringing out the nickname she had called Ophelia since they were in their twenties when they first met during a friendly match between Ireland and Australia, they developed a friendship quickly and were now basically inseparable.

The final whistle blew, Arsenal winning with a five nil score compared to Readings zero. All nerves Ophelia once had had left her completely.

Everyone got up to shake the opposite teams hands, before letting out a celebration with the winning team. Caitlin shot out to Ophelia almost immediately. Catching her off guard as she placed her arms around Ophelia neck, standing behind the girl.

"Jesus Caitlin" Ophelia looked back "don't sneak up on a girl like that."

Katie, who Ophelia had been in a conversation with, smiled at their interaction with a knowing look. Her eyes swapping between the two players who couldn't take their eyes off one another, unknowingly.

Katie didn't even say goodbye as she left, there was no point, they were in their own world and they wouldn't hear her. She walked away to join Leah.

Leah laughed as Katie walked towards her "it took seconds before you got replaced."

"Milliseconds" Katie corrected