Sealed with a Kiss | ✓

august 26th, saturday

The roar of the crowd was almost as loud as the roaring of blood in Cassie's ears. She could hear it echoed and amplified by the long corridor leading out to the pitch, muted only slightly by the set of closed glass doors blocking her from the rest of the stadium. She shifted from foot to foot nervously and wiped her sweaty palms on the fabric of her shorts. Taking a deep breath, she lead her team along the corridor and through the double doors, into a small by energetic crowd of photographers and camera crew, swooping like birds around Cassie and her team as they continued to walk toward the pitch, the crowd growing louder by the second.

As they all rounded the corner, the French national team appeared from around an identical corner, and Cassie nodded at the captain, a short brunette with a cheeky grin on her face. The teams walked parallel to each other and finally emerged out onto the pitch and into the sunlight.

According to their coach, this match had already beaten the record for number of people attending a women's rugby final. Cassie could easily believe it. The Stadio Olimpico was enormous and easily the biggest stadium she had ever played in and it was almost deafening to hear the road of the crowd as the two teams set foot on the pitch to start warming up. She could barely believe she was really there; it had been a long journey but she and her team had made it. They were at the women's world rugby final, and they could even win. Cassie knew it would be pointless to try and spot Mia in such an enormous crowd, but it didn't stop her from trying. Mia had said she would be in the box by the bench reserved for family and friends of the team, but Cassie was too overwhelmed to focus on individual faces in the crowd. It didn't matter too much. She would see Mia afterwards. They had already planned to go sightseeing after the game and have dinner at a fancy looking restaurant in front of the colosseum. Cassie smiled at the thought. She was going to ask Mia to marry her there. In the moonlight, with just the two of them, with their hearts full of love and their stomachs full of pasta. Cassie was so nervous and excited for it, even more so than she was to play. Thanks to her team's success, she hadn't seen Mia in person for weeks, and Cassie's heart ached to see her again. Sure, they would Facetime whenever they got the chance, but it wasn't the same. She thought of the ring in its little box nestled safely in her locker and smiled to herself. If that wasn't motivation to play well, she didn't know what would be.

Mia had been thriving since graduating from the University of Paris, and spent half of her time in Paris researching for the Louvre, and the other half of her time in London with Cassie. She had been trying to teach Cassie French, with limited success. Cassie was decent enough with basic conversation (she could order from the menu in restaurants easily enough) but the real challenge was being good enough that local French people didn't immediately switch to English every time she tried to speak to them in French. It was sweet though, how determined Mia was to help Cassie get better at the language. And although Cassie would never admit it, she found it incredibly hot whenever Mia spoke French. 

The first half of the game passed in a blur as Cassie focused purely on the ball and her team, the cheers of the crowd pushing her forward. Before she knew it, the referee's whistle was blowing and it was half time. The Women's England rugby team stumbled into the changing room, sweating and dehydrated. The French team was currently in the lead but just barely. One try and a successful conversion and either team would be able to pull ahead.

Cassie was jittery with an uncomfortable cocktail of adrenaline and nerves. The ten minutes of half time seemed to drag on forever, and all Cassie could do was sit in the changing room watching the time slowly tick by. The manager was due to make an appearance at any moment to give the team one final pep talk. Cassie would be lying if she said she wasn't stressed. The whole world was watching; the flocks of cameras and reporters proved that.

There was a strict 'no phones' rule in the changing room during half time, and Cassie was itching for it as some form of distraction, her stomach turning as the time dragged on. The manager eventually turned up, his expression neutral.