Page 38 of We'll Meet Again

At first, Ethan thought Jordan was making some sort of morbid joke, but the way the color drained out of Peter’s face told him Jordan was dead serious. Ethan could scarcely imagine Jordan’s expression if it could strike such fear into a guy with an ego the size of Peter’s. Jordan turned around and looked at Ethan.

“Get it the fuck together, the both of you,” he said.

“Aye, aye, captain,” Ethan said.

Peter’s scowl might have made Ethan drop dead there on the pitch if looks could kill. Cursing under his breath, he jogged away. Jordan clapped Ethan on the shoulder.

“You alright?” he asked.

“All good, skipper,” Ethan said.

It wasn’t totally true. The business with Peter was unfinished, but it could wait another thirty seconds until they were in the locker room to settle it. By the time the whistle blew for halftime, Ethan was willing to bury it, but he could see the rage still coming off of Peter in waves, so when they reached the locker room, he was prepared for the blow up.

“Fuck you, Knight!” Peter shouted.

“Fuck me?” Ethan retorted. “You’re the one who gave away that corner!”

“After you’d already missed a shot!”

“I didn’t miss! The keeper saved it!”

“Same difference!”

“It’s really not, but unlikeyou, I don’t hold grudges against people just doing their jobs!”

“Alright!” bellowed Jordan, who came to step between them. “O’Riley, you can’t be such a prick that you don’t know what you did back there was fucked up.”

“I didn’t -”

“You did!” Jordan interrupted. “We all saw it, didn’t we, lads?”

“Yeah, man…” Israel spoke up. “It looked like you were playing for the other team.”

“And you might as well have been,” Artem added. “It’s your fault we’re down by two instead of just one.”

Peter glanced around, the angry stares and resentment finally sinking in. Even Devon, his most loyal companion, refused to meet his gaze, his eyes locked on his boots and his mouth turned down into a deep frown.

“You fucked it up, mate,” Devon finally said.

Before Peter - or anyone else - could respond, Coach Warren arrived. His usual jovial nature was gone, replaced with a shadow of fury, especially when he spotted Peter.

“O’Riley, you’re out for the second half,” he said. “Callum, you’re going in, so start warming up.”

“You’re benching me?” Peter protested.

“I am!” Coach shot back. “Remember that we’re on the same side out there! You don’t have to like each other, but you will - youmust- have enough respect for the game and this club to act like teammates!” He looked around the rest of the locker room. “Is that understood?”

A half-hearted murmur went through the locker room.

“I can’t hear you - is that understood?!”

“Yes, coach!” came the resounding chorus.

“Alright, let’s talk about strategy for the second half.”

Ethan found his gratitude difficult to shake. He had been worried that he was taking Peter’s antics too personally, which was why he ignored them for the few weeks he had been in England, but to see the rest of the team back him up was more validating than he could have asked for. He didn’t want anyone to think he was being sensitive, or causing a problem for no reason, especially when he was the new guy. Now he only wished that he and Peter could get to the bottom of whatever his problem was. He was more than happy to try and unpack it. As long as Peter was too. Coach was right - they didn’t need to be best friends, but they did have to collaborate on the pitch.

The second half began on a high. Subbing Callum in for Peter proved to be the right choice. Seven minutes in, after a gorgeous cross from Callum, Ethan sank one into the back of the net. They only celebrated a few short moments, since they weren’t in the clear yet. They would need to act fast if they hoped to equalize. With a team like Man City, it was unlikely that they would get lucky enough to catch the goalkeeper off guard a second time. They were going to have to work even harder for that.

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