Of course she couldn't help but stare at the players of Borussia Dortmund train on the pitch.
That was something she fortunately got to see almost everyday for almost two months. Standing off in the sides, taking pictures of them during training and games. Excluding away games.
And she thought her job was decent. Actually, more than decent. Being able to watch footballers train and play while doing your favorite hobby that has turned into a career for you, it seemed like forever since she hadn't felt so stressed about everything.
She was never the center of attention of anyone in the team. She and Marco knew each other, though, it was only because she was friends with his girlfriend, Vika. Matthias had personally introduced himself to her after stupidly posing in front of her, but it was so unclear to her if the introduction was out of curiousity or hey, I think you're cute. She never though of herself as stunning or pretty or whatever, so she usually dismissed it.
She was only ever the photographer of Borussia Dortmund, her expensive camera and ridiculous lenses that stick out of it like a rabbit out of its hole telling everyone without her ever saying a word. Nothing else.
Kneeling on the pitch like she has been for the past month, she held the camera up to her eye and snapped a picture of Mats Hummels jogging with Marco Reus.
And it seemed didn't ridiculous to her that she would actually find one of men in yellow and black training kits attractive. Well, you would think she found all of them attractive, huh?
Partly true. A lot of footballers are physically attractive. She knows that from the long line of girls her twin brother, a fellow footballer, has charmed.
But she only has her eye on only one player. Not Mats, not Marco, not Bürki, not Sven, not even Matthias have caught her eye. No one on the team except Erik Durm have captured her gaze.
It's just him. Only him.
The two haven't spoken to each other at all. The closest they have gotten was whenever Erik would show off his tricks with the football, and that was it.
But what was absolutely killing her was wanting to go over there and just say hi. She just doesn't want to be the photographer of the team that nobody knows, she wants to get know them and at least introduce her self. This is a job she might keep for a few years now, and this city has to feel somewhat like a home even if she's not that far from home.
All she hoped was that Erik had seen her name on her ID badge that hung on the black lanyard around her neck.
Hanneke Leijerzapf. From Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Hanne for short.
She got up to her feet and jogged over to kneel far behind the net. Focusing her camera on Roman Bürki blocking kicks from Marco who received it as a pass from Erik, she adjusted her lens. Perfect spot, she thought, for the time being.
She took twenty pictures, shifting ever so slightly to get a better view on their training. Her thumb pressed on a button on her camera, going through her photos and deleting whatever looked bad to her. Majority of the photos she deleted were unfocused, and she wanted to make sure all three men where clearly seen in the photo.
As she was busy looking over her photos, she overhead the three of them turning the practice into fun and laughs. Passing it to one another instead of continue what they were actually doing.
"Watch out!"
Immediately after she head that, she knew it wasn't good when a football field is full of professional footballer who supposedly know what they're doing. So she leaned back, sitting on her heels as the football stopped in right front of her knees.
"Sorry," Marco said, his accent heavy, jogging over to grab the football from her knees.
"Marco, this camera is almost four hundred Euros," she told him, her lips pressed together in a sarcastic smile. She had decided bring the most expensive out of her two cameras, though, it's the camera she uses the most. Not to mention lens that cost over three thousand Euros.
He smiled awkwardly. "Sorry. But Erik says he likes your sweatshirt." Then ran back onto the pitch.
And if you don't know, Hanne is confused as fuck as to why in the world Erik Durm would like her red and white sweatshirt that has the AFC Ajax logo on the upper right corner. He plays for Dortmund for goodness sake! Then again, Nijmegen has their own football team, yet Hanne is wearing an Ajax sweatshirt.
But what really made her think was that Erik would even pay attention to her. Black leggings, white canvas shoes, sweatshirt, her brown hair kept straight, nothing was really different about her. Was her sweatshirt really that bright? No, Dortmund's jerseys are a literal sun yellow.
So she sat there, eyebrows furrowed, looking confused as to why Erik would like an Ajax sweatshirt.
Hanne will admit, she sometimes does feel guilty for wearing Ajax merchandise in Dortmund when she works for their football team. It's just that, she hasn't really gotten around to buying BVB's sweatshirts and shirts and whatnot. And she should really start doing that.
Quickly recovering from the brief confusion, she goes back to scrolling through the pictures on her camera and deleting whatever doesn't look good.
"Ok, so," she looked up to find Marco walk towards her once again, "Erik didn't know it was an Ajax sweatshirt. He just likes the way it is."
Okay, so that clears the confusion.
As he begins to walk back, she says, "How's Vika?"
"She's great!" he calls back.
At the same time, she gets up and jogs over to the side where she usually is and kneels onto the grass, adjusting her lens like usual. She looks up at the players bunched up together, Mats and Auba talking to each other about something.
Erik is standing just outside of the bundle, looking around. And Hanne swears to fucking God that he turned, smiled and waved at her.
first almost-interaction!!!!!
sorry if you were expecting for a full on interaction. i'm just cruel and love teasing you guys (not really i love you all)
but yes the girl's name is hanne leijerzapf. from nijmegen, netherlands.
so when will erik or hanne have the guts to go up to each other and at least say hi or their name? who do you think will do it first? erik or hanne?
love
nadezhda
