Roommates...

Back to training

(Leah's pov)

Raven had just arrived new at the club a few weeks before the season ended so she didn't get to know anybody very well. I decided I might as well make her feel welcomed and a part of the team since day one. Also taking into account she literally left everything back in the US to come over here and is now 4 hours away from her girlfriend who used to live 2 minutes away from her.

It was her first day of training after the break and Katie had told me that Maeve had just left the night before, so I got up early that day and baked a cake quietly not wanting to wake my roommate Jordan up while I made her a cake.

"Come on Jordan! I'm about to leave." I shouted at her.

"Coming!" She shouted back at me. "Oh, chef Leah coming out today!" She teased me when she saw the cake inside the tupper.

"It's for Raven, she's new and she's got nobody here with her so I thought I would make something for her."

"You never make anything for me!" She joked.

"Oh get over yourself, if it wasn't for me you would never make it to training on time." I said, pulling away from the house.

"That's not true!"

"It is though! I have to drag you out of your bed every morning. since we became roommates" I said.

"I know, but it's because it's really early, I don't understand why we can't have training like an hour later, at 11 or 12 instead of this early." She whined

"Stop whining won't you. The preseason is about to start." I said right as we pulled into the parking lot.

We got out of the car and got our rucksacks out with us before heading into the training grounds. We got there pretty early so nobody was there apart from Raven, Dan and Beth.

Dan and Beth were just laying down on the couches waiting for the rest of the team to get here, while Raven was doing some sprints out on the pitch.

"She really is a workhorse." I said looking out the window.

"She's been out there for 20 minutes, doing sprints and some planks. I think she came around 7.30 am." Beth said.

"Someday she's gonna be the best if she keeps working so much. Or end up getting badly injured." I said.

"I hope it's the first, because injuries really be leaving you questioning your whole existence and self worth." Beth said.

"Anybody wanna come over and see how she's doing, I made her a cake so I'll give it to her too." I said.

"Sure, I mean I don't have anything else to do." Dan said getting up.

We both left Beth and Jordan speaking in the lounge while we headed out. I stopped in the changing room and left my bags before heading outside.

"So how are things going with you and Beth?" I asked Dan.

"I don't know, it's fine when we're alone, but as soon as people are around she gets all weird."

"She might not be ready to be fully open about it, or just doesn't like to be publicly affectionate to their partner." I told her.

"What is affectionate again?" She asked, since she was from Holland and English was just her second language.

"Like touchy, cuddly... you know what I mean."

"Oh okay. It could be, I don't know, but I don't really like that about us."

"It's no easy being open about something society has portrayed as bad for so long, some people still see it as bad. And it's harder when you're in the public eye. They always wanna know everything and sometimes pass boundaries they shouldn't." I said, right before we turned the corner to where Raven was. "Hello!" I shouted at Raven.

"Hi, good to see you guys back." She said heavily breathing.

"I made some cake for you. I thought it might make you a bit happier after having to say bye to Maeve yesterday." I told her.

"Oh my god! Thank you so much, you didn't have to make anything for me." She said as she took the tupper I handed her.

"I know it's not easy not being able to see your partner everyday or week, and even more when you go from seeing them everyday to spending months without seeing them so I thought I might as well."

"Thank you so much. I appreciate it loads, really." She said while joining us back to the changing room.

"Do you ever have a rest, like you're always the first here, and the last to leave." I asked her.

"My life inside the game is short, and as soon as i get home I've got to get all my homework done so while I'm here I give everything I have." She stopped for a split second. "I've had moments in my life that I didn't even know if I could ever play because I didn't have the money, now I get paid to do what I love. And I'll be able to give back to the community in a bit."

"Don't stop what you're doing and you'll make it big, but when you feel your body starts getting sore and stuff, take a break, and injury could pull you away from the game forever." I told her. "And if you ever need an early training partner let me know, I'm up for everything and anything." I told her, giving her a little nudge.

Raven left the cake back in the locker and the rest of the girls changed into our training gear before heading to the gym for our first session of the day.

We spent over an hour in the gym, lifting weights, especially working on our legs, since it was leg day. Me and Jordan stayed for a bit more to do some extra reps and work on our technique while the rest of girls showered and sat down talking and playing in the lounge room

"You're such a wussy, you can barely lift." Jordan teased me.

"You're literally 1 meter 50 something. You're the size of an umpa lumpa so shut up." I responded.

"This umpa lumpa is stronger than you, so you're a twig."

"You're not stronger than me! I bet you lunch." I said.

"Deal." She said shaking my hand.

We went around the gym doing different exercises to see who was the strongest all around.

"How does it feel to lose to a twig?" I asked Jordan after she lost.

"You cheated." She whined.

"I suppose I'm right, the only thing you know how to do is whine..." I said before running out of the gym, while she followed me.

I was running from her when she jumped on top of me like I was a horse. I caught her and started spinning making her dizzy.

"Stop! Stop! I'm about to puke." She said, before I put her down.

"Now you've learnt your lesson, don't try me." I said heading into the changing room.

PS: A bit of back story about Raven, I wrote about her but don't really like the story much so I'm not gonna post it, but she came over from the US after her second year of collage. She has a girlfriend named Meave. They are both Irish and met back in the US. She came in new afew weeks before the last season ended while Maeve came with her but is playing in Everton. (Let me know if you want me to post the book, it's really not that good, it has about 21 chapter because I got bored of it.)