Chapter 30

When Thursday afternoon came, I found myself at Emily's house, surrounded by the other soccer girlfriends and Finn. Natasha was putting some glittery eyeshadow on me, while laughter and chatter floated around the room.

Only about half the team was dating someone, so we were six girls in her room, and one oddball Finn. He didn't seem to mind though. Busy with Emily in the kitchen, he was making cocktails for everyone. It was so visibly obvious that Daniel would fall for him, Finn was exactly the type of person he needed.

"You've got to tell me your tricks girl, how on earth did you trap Noah Sterling?" Nat asked, putting the finishing touches on my eyeliner.

I only smiled slightly, afraid to move when she had a brush near my eyes.

"Oh come on, is it the sex?" Clara chimed from the bed, making me blush.

"I- we haven't-" I stuttered, feeling incredibly awkward talking about it with these girls. They were practically strangers, and sharing such intimate details with them was unsettling.

Julie gasped, now involved too, "You haven't? This has to be some sort of record for Noah." The room burst into a fit of giggles, making me uncomfortable. I was really trying not to hold his past against him, but truly I did feel some kind of inadequacy in being with him. Knowing that he's hooked up with so many girls just threw those feelings in my face, and I wanted the ground to swallow me whole.

"You should have seen him last year," Clara giggled, "I don't think there was a single vagina on campus he hadn't touched."

I pursed my lips. Thank you for that Clara. I didn't need to know.

"And why not?" Julie looked up from her phone, "He's good at it."

Jeez Julie. It's not like his girlfriend is in the room.

I checked my phone so I had someplace to hide my shame in. My last message was from Noah, and it wasn't like anyone else would be in there.

Remind me Alex is my best friend when I beat him to oblivion

Come soon, I miss you!

Even Noah's adorableness wasn't enough to stop my heart from sinking as the girls discussed Noah and his previous... relationships, until someone brought up Jennifer Paxton again. Trying to appear disinterested, I kept my ears open to hear as much as I could about her. Natasha had known Jennifer for the short duration that she was with Noah, and apparently it was a whirlwind romance.

"Noah was so obsessed! But they were kinda cute, no?" Clara had a dreamy look in her eyes. Julie added, "I know! I used to find it adorable when he used to do that thing to her nose." She flicked Clara's nose making everyone giggle and sigh dreamily.

I swallowed. I thought that was my thing. It was ours. Apparently there was a lot more about Noah that I didn't know, and we still had a long way to go when it came to honesty. There were things I was hiding and things that he kept under wraps, and when the time would come, these secrets would uncover themselves as they may. I couldn't stress about this for far too long. At least, I knew I shouldn't.

I responded to Noah first, He's your captain, shh focus on your game

I miss you too, see ya!

Noah: what are you girls doing

Talking about your ex. Making myself spiral. No big deal. 

Girl stuff, I responded, putting my phone away as everyone was packing their things, ready to reach the grounds in time. Coach never allowed the boys to meet people before the match, so going early was pointless. One too many incidents of awkward boners and necessary cold showers, apparently. Clara mentioned that the girls always arrived after the anthem was played, so the schedule was micromanaged to get the timings right. Julie drove us to the campus in her minivan, and we parked exactly as the national anthem was fading away.

In the evening glow, the grounds looked completely different. Finn held on to my hand as we took our seats- I wasn't even aware that we had reserved seats for ourselves. The crowds were screaming as the boys gathered on the field, and I spotted Noah and Daniel by their jerseys. 34 for Daniel and 1 for Noah. Even in sport, the Sterling boy could never stand second. Huddled close, they seemed to be discussing something before splitting up and taking their places on the field.

The referee stood out in his all white outfit, poor choice considering the ground seemed to be a little wet with dew and he would most likely be falling and ruining the shirt.

The opposing team was wearing red, stark in contrast with the black of our team and somehow Noah stood out to me even in all the chaos. In my brief and poor understanding of soccer, I knew that being Noah's positioning was rather difficult, but it wasn't like he would have picked anything lesser anyway.

The thrill of experiencing a match among fanatics was exhilarating, and for a moment I forgot I was feeling cold at all. The crowds were cheering for the Raptors far too loudly, and Finn and my voices were lost in the sea. It did nothing to deter us though, for we cheered on for our boys on the field with all we had, feeling the scratchy sensation in my throat already. The match hadn't even started.

Alex and the other team's jersey number 8 came to the center of the field, ball in the middle. The atmosphere was buzzing with electricity around us, and Finn and I shared excited looks. This was going to be good. Julie passed on the banner she had ordered, Finn holding one end and Clara on the other. In bold, it read GO RAPTORS! WE LOVE YOU! How original, I had to roll my eyes at that. At least I didn't have to wear Noah's jersey. Just an all black outfit was sufficient.

The whistle blew and the match started, leaving everyone's heart pounding. The Raptors were good in their game, but the Kingswood Cougars came at them with all they had. Their game was more rough, more violent, and I found myself cringing every time they 'accidentally' knocked someone down.

"That's a fucking yellow card!" Natasha screamed in my ear almost, "Send that son of a bitch off the field!"

Fuck. These girls were not here to just show some support. They were way more involved than I thought, and I really felt out of my element with them. I could learn though. If I watched enough people react to football matches on YouTube, I could pick up a word or two. I needed to add that to my planner.

Daniel had the ball at the moment I was shaken out of my thoughts, Finn's hand wrapping over my shoulder with intense anticipation. Awfully close to the goalpost, Daniel shot the ball as he could, cheers erupting from the crowd. Unfortunately, the goalkeeper was doing a good job, and deflected the ball away. It landed somewhere in the middle almost, and Jeff, or maybe Kevin caught it, sidestepping a few players before passing it to Noah. Noah looked up for a moment, just enough to probably see the field, before he took off with the ball.

Chants of his name echoed in the stand, and I found myself cheering with them as he bulldozed forward. He passed the ball to Alex when he was surrounded, and Alex sent it back as soon as Noah had breathing space. The ball switched a couple feet again before it landed on Daniel, and he made an attempt again, this time from rather far away. I wasn't positive he would make it, but the goalkeeper dived to the left and the ball went straight over his head and into the nets.

The roar that emerged from the crowds was deafening. I couldn't even differentiate my voice from the rest of them, cheering for my best friend as loud as my lungs could be.

"That's my baby!" Finn hooted, even as the cheers died down a little. As if Daniel heard him over all this noise, he looked up and smiled brightly at the banner, before returning to celebrate with his teammates.

Three words. I ship it.

By the time they came down to half time, the Raptors were leading by 3-1, but Julie did inform me that the Cougars got worse during the second half of the game. And she was right. Not even ten minutes into the game, Kevin had to be benched and Jamie was sent in to substitute him. The horrid people of that team left no chance to try and tackle the Raptors, or to kick their feet off the ground. Noah even fell twice, and I shrieked each time.

Clara laughed, "He'll be fine. Most of the time the boys will just act like babies about these injuries because they want a blowjob or something," she flipped her hair over her shoulder, "Don't do it though, you don't want to smell their balls after a match." Emily made a face. Okay, these girls had no filter at all.

"I'll remember that," I smiled brightly at her, turning my attention back at the field. If I had to spend all of Noah's matches with them, I might as well try to get along. The fourth time Noah fell, the guy from the other team got a red card, earning appreciative cheers from the rest of the crowd. There were only six minutes remaining on the clock, and the Cougars were leading by 4-3. I now knew why men were so obsessed with the sport, why every single second of the match was incredibly important to them. Once soccer was understood, it was ridiculously engrossing and fun to watch. The Raptors and Cougars were tied at 4 goals, and there were only three minutes left on the clock.

The last few seconds were nail biting, and the girls had dropped the banner to hold hands with one another, watching every move of the ball in anticipation. Jeff had the ball, but he was surrounded completely, so there was no way he could pass it along to someone from his team. Or so I thought. It happened in a quick second all too fast for me to completely notice, but Noah slipped in through the crack, taking the ball along with him to Daniel, who shot it through the nets just a second before the final whistle was blown.

The Raptors had won. 

*****

Noah saves the day again!

P.S. This is part 1 of a double update because we're at 10k reads and WHAT THE HELL WHOA I am so surprised everytime Bittersweet reaches a milestone, like ?!?!?!?!?! There's a c t u a l p e o p l e that read my story? WHoa. 

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