Page 80 of Matched Up

I sat down in the living room and looked at my phone.Missed calls from Megan and two messages.

MEGAN: Are you OK?

MEGAN: Call me!!!

I phoned her and she almost cried when I told her that her dad was right.And thenIcried when she told me what had happened at the end of the match.

The scout wanted to see her play again.They were really impressed.So not only did she ace the NI trials and get intothe training programme but she was also on the radar of a Premier League scout.

I was so happy for her.Yeah, I thought about how it would feel if it had been me, but being happy for her felt good.

Despite the painkillers and the ice that Niall had brought me, my leg hurt so much.

I had no idea how Niall was going to sort the house out by himself.But he tried.I’ve never seen him do so much cleaning in his life.

We didn’t talk.I sat there while he went from room to room, picking up more bottles and scrubbing bits of carpet.

Megan showed up in the evening.

‘I can’t believe you tore it.Does this mean you can’t …?’

‘Play football for ages,’ I said, finishing her sentence and bursting into tears.It was like I’d been holding it in all afternoon, and now that some of the painkillers had worn off everything felt even more unfair.

She leaned in to hug me.

‘That’s amazing news about the scout, Meg.’

Megan just listened as I cried, about the pain, about the fact I couldn’t play football, about Shane.

‘She’s OK,’ I heard her say.

I pulled myself from Megan’s shoulder and looked towards the door.Niall was standing there staring at me with a look of horror on his face.Megan pulled away and walked over to him.They left the room and I could hear them whispering outside.

I took out my phone and checked WhatsApp again, just in case I’d accidentally turned off notifications and hadn’tnoticed that Shane had sent me a message.But nothing.He’d read the ones I’d sent last night, but no reply.I thought about sending him a picture of my leg, but that wasn’t fair, so I flicked on to his Instagram.To the page that he barely updated.Some old photos of kids playing football in mismatched green kits.I looked at the picture carefully and spotted him.He was laughing at something, and he looked so happy.I ached to be near him again.Maybe I could forget it all, everything that had happened, just to have him back.And then it hit me how much I wanted him to tell me all his secrets, when I hadn’t actually told him all mine.Yeah, he knew that I loved football, but he didn’t know how it had completely taken over my life, that I was willing to do so much that an injury was inevitable.

Niall walked back into the room.‘Mum and Dad are coming back,’ he told me.‘Sorry I didn’t tell you – you were out of it, and I kind of freaked out.I phoned them earlier to tell them what had happened.I figured they’d want to know.They’ll be back in about an hour.’

Panic rushed over me.The house still didn’t look the way they’d left it.There was no way they wouldn’t guess.

‘But the house,’ I said.

‘I’ll do some more now, but I think we’re just going to have to wing it.’

Niall and Megan worked their arses off, trying to make it look like we hadn’t had a huge house party last night.They even opened all the windows and doors in a useless attempt to get rid of the smell of alcohol.

Niall dropped Megan home before Mum and Dad gotback, so for about fifteen minutes it was just the two of us again.But this time without the chaos of the hospital.

‘You need more painkillers?’

‘Yes, please.’

I swallowed the pills.

‘Lexie …’

Niall hesitated when I turned to him, my face tear-stained.

‘What?’

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