Girls like girls | Elisa de Almeida - fanfic ♡ (english)

nine ♡

Elisa couldn't stop thinking about that night, especially about the moment when Celine confessed to finding her attractive. Was that really something friends say? She pondered on it all day.

"You're quite attractive yourself, Elisa. Thank you so much for bringing me home. I hope your team does well in all your matches and travels" Celine had said.

At that moment, Elisa nearly couldn't resist the urge to kiss her. The way Celine said it, with a hint of shyness or as if it were a forbidden confession, touched her deeply.

"Did you say goodbye to Oceané?" Karchaoui asked, interrupting Elisa's thoughts.

They were on their way to the airport to catch the private jet that would take them to their next destinations for the Nations League. In each country where they played, there was a house prepared for the players where they would share rooms. They usually enjoyed this dynamic, so everyone was happy.

"Yes, I said goodbye to her," Elisa replied and began to tell Karchaoui what had happened, omitting the part where she was with Celine because she wasn't sure how her teammate would react.

The Parisian defender had to say goodbye to Oceané hastily, as she had canceled on her to go to dinner with Celine. The goodbye felt more like a real farewell, as Elisa reiterated to Oceané that what they had was nothing serious and that she felt things were getting confused. The Bordeaux player insisted that she had no feelings for her, but Elisa didn't believe a word of it.

"So, I don't think I'll see her anymore," Elisa said. "Because she keeps developing more feelings for me."

"Wow," said Karchaoui. "I would have thought you'd take advantage of that."

Elisa looked offended. I would never do that, I'm not some dirty man, she retorted.

They arrived at the waiting lounge, and Elisa noticed that their coach looked worried, making a couple of phone calls. She didn't understand what was happening but decided not to dwell on it.

The defender continued to ponder whether she should tell Karchaoui what had happened. She was dying to tell someone. Her teammate seemed to read her mind and immediately bombarded her with questions about what was wrong. Elisa denied everything, but Karchaoui's insistence forced her to confess.

"Guess who else I said goodbye to" she said with a flirtatious look. Sakina instantly knew who she meant and began bombarding her with questions: where, when, how, why? Are you the other woman in Hervé's relationship? Are you crazy? What did you guys do? Tell me already! Elisa began laughing at her friend's curiosity.

"We didn't do anything," she started, but was abruptly interrupted by her teammate.

"Oh, now I get it!" Sakina exclaimed, teasing her friend. "That's why you decided not to see Oceané anymore, Elisa de Almeida, you're falling in love!"

De Almeida burst into laughter.

"How could I be falling in love? You're crazy!" she said. "Nothing even happened."

"That's exactly it!" her teammate said. "Nothing happened, and yet you decided to reject Oceané. You're faithful even before anything happens. How beautiful."

Elisa continued to laugh.

"First of all, I rejected Oceané because she was acting like we were girlfriends," she explained confidently. "Secondly, I'm not in love with Celine, and I won't fall in love with her. I just enjoy teasing her. Thirdly, I already have my eyes on the Norwegian girls. They say they're pretty."

"You're never going to change, are you?" Sakina said with a smile. "Tell me before we board the jet."

Both of them noticed that the preparations for the jet were taking longer than usual but decided to ignore it. Elisa began to recount how her entire outing was thanks to the jersey she gave her. She also talked about the dinner and the most important details, such as the terrible relationship between Celine and Hervé, when Elisa confessed she looked beautiful, and when Celine confessed to her that she found her attractive.

"Elisa!" her friend said, concerned. "Now, joking aside, be careful with that situation. I know you're not doing anything wrong, well, not directly wrong, but just be careful. Don't let that flirting get out of control."

The defender understood perfectly what her teammate meant, which is why this travel time was a blessing. She needed time away from Celine to find someone else to flirt with and thus push the Celine situation out of her mind.

"Don't worry, Karchaoui," Elisa said. "I already gave her the jersey, so I don't think we'll interact anymore, especially now with this time I'll be away. So, that topic will be forgotten."

The French players began to get anxious. Their jet was supposed to leave an hour and a half ago, and they didn't know what was causing the delay. Coach Hervé was just pacing back and forth with one of his assistants. It seemed like there was an issue with the team not being complete, but all the players were there, so who was missing? Among the players, rumors began to circulate that something had happened with the community manager, who handles all the team's social media.

"We have to do something!" Hervé shouted at his assistant. "You were supposed to take care of this!"

Everyone turned to look, scared. They had seen Hervé angry before, but they didn't think it was fair that he blamed his assistant entirely. The coach continued to pace as if it would help the situation, and it seemed to. He quickly pulled out his phone and made a call.

"Celine," Hervé said quickly. Elisa instantly paid attention to the call and locked eyes with Karchaoui. "I need your help, and you'll probably need a suitcase."

"And you'll probably need a suitcase?" Elisa thought, staring at her friend Sakina. They both seemed to be thinking the same thing.

Hervé began to explain that they had suddenly lost their community manager, and in a desperate attempt to find someone available, he had to call upon his girlfriend, Celine, as she was an influencer.

"Just to avoid any misunderstandings," Hervé said very seriously, "Celine will share a room with one of you. I want you to know that this is just a desperate measure to cover our community manager's position, nothing more."

The tone of his explanation made it clear to the players that it was a decision he wasn't happy with but was doing for the team's benefit.

Sakina looked at her teammate Elisa, who was in complete shock. 

Is Celine really coming? I can't believe it. Why? I wanted to focus on someone else and not her. Damn!

"Good luck with trying to forget about Celine," Sakina said, mocking the situation as she patted her friend on the shoulder.

Deep down in Elisa's heart, she was a little afraid of developing feelings for Celine and having to face the tangled situation: not knowing if Celine likes women and that her partner is coach Hervé. That's why the news didn't sit well with her.