Feelings
Two weeks in, and Alessia was finally starting to feel settled at Arsenal. It had taken some adjusting—new teammates, new routines, new expectations—but she was enjoying it. More than that, she was thriving. Training was intense, but she loved it. The girls were welcoming, and while she still missed the United lot, she was forming solid friendships here too. It felt right, in a way she hadn’t expected.
Living with Leah was… interesting. They got along well, but there were little things—habits they both had—that took some getting used to. Alessia was used to a quiet house, to her own space, but Leah had a way of filling silence, whether with music, a podcast, or just talking to herself as she moved about. And Leah was used to coming home to a place exactly how she left it, whereas Alessia was still getting the hang of not leaving her trainers by the door or her jumper draped over the back of a chair.
They were learning, though.
Alessia kept up with Ella every day. Texts back and forth, voice notes sent during lunch breaks, and phone calls whenever they could fit them in. It helped. The ache of missing her was still there, but at least it wasn’t as sharp when she heard her voice, when they fell into their usual banter like nothing had changed.
“You better not be replacing me,” Ella warned one evening as Alessia sat curled up in bed, phone balanced against her pillow.
Alessia huffed a laugh. “No one could replace you.”
“Damn right.”
Alessia smirked, stretching out. “How’s training?”
Ella groaned. “Hard. We had a double session today. I swear, my legs have given up.”
Alessia winced. “Sounds rough.”
“You’ve been gone two weeks and already you’re losing sympathy for me.”
Alessia chuckled. “That’s not true.”
“Mm-hmm,” Ella hummed. “Anyway, what about you? How’s life with Williamson?”
Alessia rolled onto her side. “It’s fine.”
“Just fine?”
“She’s actually alright to live with,” Alessia admitted. “Bit messy, though.”
Ella cackled. “Bet she says the same about you.”
Alessia snorted. “Probably.”
It was nice, keeping that connection with Ella, but it was also nice having new people around. She was getting close to some of the Arsenal girls—Lotte, who was easy to talk to; Katie, who had decided Alessia was her new victim for constant teasing; and Beth, who had taken it upon herself to make sure Alessia never felt left out.
She and Leah weren’t in each other’s pockets. They trained together, sure, but outside of that, they had their own friends, their own routines. Alessia had her car now, so they didn’t drive in together anymore, even though Leah had made a sarcastic comment about how it would be better for the environment if they did.
They had their own lives, but there were still the small things.
Alessia cooked most nights. Not because Leah asked her to, but because she enjoyed it, and she couldn’t let Leah survive on cereal and toast. Leah always washed up in return, though she whined about it every time. And on the nights Alessia looked particularly knackered, Leah would take one look at her and say, “Right, I’m ordering. What do you fancy?”
Movie nights weren’t a daily thing, but they happened a couple of times a week. Just to catch up, to hang out. Some nights, they’d sit through an entire film without saying much. Other nights, Leah would talk through the whole thing, and Alessia would let her, half-listening, half-dozing.
They weren’t best friends, not yet, but it was comfortable. They were figuring each other out, learning each other’s habits, settling into something that felt easy, even if it wasn’t always smooth. A month passed, and she got used to life in London.
She trained, travelled back to Manchester when she could to see Ella and the rest of the United girls, and settled into the rhythm of life at Arsenal. She wasn’t the new girl anymore. She had a routine, friendships forming naturally as the days passed. Sometimes, she hung out with the girls after training, getting food or grabbing a coffee, and she still lived with Leah. They’d settled into that too. It worked.
She still cooked most nights, and Leah still left half-finished cups of tea everywhere. Movie nights still happened once or twice a week, and Leah still talked through the entire thing. It was predictable, familiar.
Things were good.
Until they weren’t.
At first, it was little things. Barely noticeable, easy to brush off. Leah would laugh at something, throwing her head back with a grin, and Alessia’s stomach would do something weird, something that felt suspiciously like flipping. She told herself it was just the second-hand embarrassment from Leah’s ridiculous laugh.
Then there were the moments when Leah would put an arm around her shoulders after training, pulling her into a quick side hug. Normal, friendly. But it left Alessia’s skin tingling, and she found herself thinking about it too long after Leah had already let go.
She ignored it. It was nothing.
But then there was the realisation that Leah was… well, attractive. Objectively, obviously. Everyone knew that. But Alessia had never noticed in that way before. Had never been aware of how good she looked after training, sweaty and flushed, or how the corners of her eyes crinkled when she smiled. Or how her voice dipped slightly when she was teasing, or how her lips curled at the corners when she smirked.
It was alarming, and it was definitely not something she should be noticing.
So she did her best to ignore it, to pretend nothing was wrong. She buried it deep, forcing herself to act normal. She wasn’t going to let anyone, least of all Leah, realise something was off.
Because it wasn’t anything, really. It was probably just because Leah was the first person she’d gotten properly close to in a while. Maybe it was her body’s way of telling her she needed to get laid or something.
That had to be it.
So she carried on. She went to training, she hung out with Leah, she texted Ella like normal. Nothing had changed.
At least, that’s what she told herself.