Faulty Trust || Katie McCabe

02

"You okay?" A soft voice appeared beside me. Lotte and I began walking towards the changing room, falling into stride quite easily.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I didn't say anymore because there was nothing to be said. I think Lotte realised that as we walked mostly in silence, though neither of us felt uncomfortable.

As I finished changing into normal clothes again, I felt someone's presence beside me. I tensed just a bit before I realised it was Lotte again. "Oh, hey Lotte." I gave her a warm smile.

"Hey Emely," she paused. There was something she wanted to say, I could tell. I raise an eyebrow, silently telling her to continue. "Wally told me you've got the 95/96 Arsenal home kit... Is that true?"

A small smile found its way onto my lips. "I may or may not have it in my collection," I stifled a laugh when her face lit up. It was nice to see someone else who was passionate about collecting retro jerseys.

"I've been looking for it everywhere! How'd you even get it?" Lotte expressed sitting down beside me.

"I know a friend of a friend who owns a retro football jersey store out in Los Angeles." Which reminded me I needed to give my friend of a friend a call back since their latest shipment came in over the weekend.

"That's so cool," Lotte started as we fell into an easy conversation about what makes a kit so special. Soon enough, Wally and Le appeared in front of us, and we all walked out together, parting ways as Wally and I headed back to my apartment for the evening.

—

"Do I have too, Le?" I groaned as she tried to throw me into karaoke for 'initiation.'

"Yes, you do! It's a requirement," she grinned, wrapping an arm around me. I glanced around the table filled with most of our teammates searching for Kim to save me. We were all at dinner as a little team bonding on our day off, and Leah was trying to get me to do karaoke much to my dismay.

"Leah, leave her alone." Kim gave her a known frown before turning to me. "You don't have to do it, Emely; don't let Leah trick you."

"HA! I ain't doing karaoke!" I cheered as Leah frowned beside me, getting a majority of the table to laugh at our antics.

"Why not?" An Irish voice cut through the laughter. "Chicken?"

My laughter was now gone. I locked eyes with Katie, who had a smirk on her face I wanted to wipe off. There was no way she just called me chicken. "Fine then," I stood up. "Leah, set it up."

The table had fallen silent, and Leah tried to catch my eye as if asking if I really wanted to do this, but I was already walking towards the mic and speaker Beth and Viv had in their living room.

"What're you singing?" Leah asked me as she crouched in front of the speaker. I hummed, thinking of what I knew by heart; that's when it clicked.

"Better than Revenge," I said, simply receiving a snort from Leah. There was history where this was coming, and maybe some lyrics I wanted to direct at people. But hey, you'll just have to read into it.

"Alright guys, get ready for the performance of a lifetime." I quipped as Leah clicked play and Taylor Swift's voice echoed within the intro.

'Now go stand in the corner, and think about what you did."

Beth whistled, causing everyone to laugh and Steph and Jen to cheer me on. I think the alcohol in me gave me the confidence to put on the best karaoke performance I've ever given; mind you, I've done karaoke twice.

When I got to the chorus, Leah started cheering, throwing her arm around Wally as they sang it together. The whole table got into it as well, all of us letting out the emotions this song invoked. Maybe one of the reasons I loved it so much.