Lost and Found

seven

"Addison! Mallory! Wake up! It's match day!" 

The loud shout awoke me from my slumber and was immediately followed by a body colliding harshly with mine- all before I had time to open my eyes.

"Go away! Let me sleep!" I heard Mal whine loudly from her own bed. I laughed quietly assuming that she had received the same treatment as I had. 

"What are you giggling at then missy?" The voice on top of me asked. 

I opened by eyes finally and pulled the duvet away from my face and allowed myself to look up at the body now lying rather suggestively on top of me. 

My eyes were met by Lindsey's mesmerising green eyes as she grinned down at me. Not wanting to make her feel uncomfortable, I looked away and shoved her off me with a laugh. I noticed Mal and Emily were both now sat up in the bed observing us, also with smiles on their faces. I tried to copy them and sit up on my bed but I was pulled down by Lindsey who had now made her way under my duvet and was pulling me into her body, much like how we had fallen asleep the other night. We faced the other girls and Lindsey slung her arm over me as if it was a completely normal occurrence to be cuddled up to someone you'd only recently met. 

"Relax will you?" She whispered into my ear, clearly feeling the stiffness of my body against her. 

Following her advice, I took exhaled the breath I was holding and slowly leaned back into her. 

"Are you excited about your first match Addison?" Emily asked.

"No. I'm terrified but I doubt I'll get any minutes. Jill has plenty to choose from before she chooses me to go on that pitch. If anything that makes me feel less nervous." I told them honestly.  

"I'm sure you'll do great when you make your debut Addie, don't worry about it. We all get nerves and you've got us now." Mal told me, putting me at some sort of ease. 

Mal and Emily decided to get up and go in search of food leaving Lindsey and I in my bed, though we did promise to go down and join them soon. I thought Lindsey would have wanted to go with them but she made no attempt to move.

"You doing okay Addie? You're okay with me cuddling you aren't you? I'm not overstepping or anything?" She asked softly as her fingertips gently ran up and down my arm.

"You're good Linds. It's just, umm, it's been a while since umm, anyone's hugged me or anything." I mumbled to her. 

"You're always welcome in my arms Miss Morgan." She whispered before kissing the back of my head.

Although the girls had managed to ease my nerves somewhat this morning, that had all changed by the team we got on the team bus to head to the stadium. All the girls already had set bus buddies they liked to sit with on game day which left me to find an empty row towards the back of the bus to sit solo in. 

Jill had gone through today's starting eleven and the game tactics she wanted to try at the meeting after breakfast. And just as I had thought, it was extremely unlikely that I would be brought on today against France. Even though I knew I wouldn't be playing, I still felt terrified at the thought of kickoff. 

I went to my locker to get ready as tried to shake off the feelings that were bubbling up inside of me. I kept my headphones on in a hope to drown out the noise everyone else was making. Kelley, Ashlyn and Pinoe, in particular, were the loudest,  trying to get everyone hyped up before Jill came in for one final team talk. They were jumping around to their music, getting in everyone's way and just being generally loud. I tried my to block them out and turned my music up even louder but there was no use.