.three. 

*recap of previous chapter*

It was some time into the night when VD told her he needed to go because he was going to get ready for his shift at the university. Alex had finished her slice of cake and was tempted to go have another. With her strict sports diet, she wasn't allowed to have many sweets and this was the perfect excuse to eat as much as she wanted.

She sat up on the bed just as she heard a knock on the bedroom door. Alex straightened out her dress and walked over to the door, pulling it open. She almost immediately wanted to close it again when she saw who was on the other side.

"Your brother said you were here." Servando told her a bit nervously. "How are you doing? You look great." He added after she remained silent for over an awkward minute.

Alex didn't know what to say to him. All of her feelings came flooding back, along with all the memories of their long relationship which was now over. Though this time they were no longer as intensified or even painful. Seeing him again was like a bucket of cold water falling on her head, soaking her from head to toe. Alex had been happy with Servando, and she had loved him, but there was something different now.

Though it was probable it would go nowhere, she had someone new in her life.

-

Alex suddenly felt sick to her stomach, seeing Servando there, trying to make casual conversation with her like he hadn't been the one to end their relationship. She had been the only one trying, and now he wanted to show up and pretend they were the best of friends? That wasn't something Alex thought she would be able to assimilate for the time being.

Taking a deep breath to steady her fast racing emotions, she asked him, "Why are you here, Servando?"

He looked to her with a puzzled expression on his face, as though her question had taken him by surprise. "What do you mean what am I doing here?" He wondered. "Its your brother's birthday party. He and I are childhood friends. Why wouldn't I come?"

To spare my feelings, she thought, but she would never say it aloud because she didn't want him to know that it still hurt. 

He had broken up with her when she was still madly in love with him ever since they were children, of course it still hurt Alex. But her pride would never let her admit it. Servando seemed to be completely unaffected by their break up while she was trying to put herself back together brick by brick. Her conversations with Van Daniel were what made her healing process speed up of the late. He always had the most interesting things to talk about and she liked the fact that he was so hard working. 

"And I wanted to see you too." He admitted to her after a moment. "I wanted to see how you were holding up."

She nodded, biting back her tears. "I'm doing just fine."

"That's good." He said awkwardly and left her alone once again. Alex shut the door behind him and knew that for the remainder of her brother's birthday party, she would not be leaving the safety of that bedroom. Not as long as Servando was there, acting totally normal while she was still hurting. 

-

By the third week since the two had met, they had moved on to texting rather than sending each other messages on instagram. Alex thought about telling her friend the truth several times, but every time she tried she ended up cowering out of it. How could she tell him that she wasn't the one he was looking at in his instagram pictures? Alex had been using her younger brother Ander's photographs to pose as a man on that social media account, so that other male football fans would take her seriously. According to her account, her name was Alex Smith and she played for Portland Timbers' second division team of the MLS. 

That Saturday was the team dinner where everyone would take their friends and families. 

But Alex no longer had someone to accompany her. The family had gone to a competition on the east coast to support Ander. It was in preparation for the Panamerican Games that would be held in the summer in Canada. Alex was rather upset that they couldn't attend, but she understood that they needed to support her brother just as they would be supporting her at the world cup in the summer.

She had almost considered not going to the party when Tobin texted her. 

tobin: ready for the party tonight? :D

tobin: allie and me decided we're gonna get pissed drunk til we start singing and dancing on tables lol

alex: nah, i think i wont go

tobin: why? :/

alex: one: its a family dinner

alex: two: i don't have family to go with me bc theyre with ander in nyc 

alex: three: i dont want to be a loner

tobin: well u can hang with me and my fam. 

alex: hm...idk

tobin: dnt make me beg dude

alex: fine, i'll go

tobin: awes. allie says gyasi's coming and he's bringing some of his hot team mates from la galaxy ;D 

tobin: boysboysboys ;DD

alex: allie's always showing off her gyasi zardes :p

tobin: mls boys are fine af

tobin: i will fight u on this

alex: they are............

alex: ............but im through with mls boys for a while

tobin: try liga mx boys maybe ;D

tobin: they must have some exotic legs

tobin: yum

Or maybe just normal boys, Alex thought as she looked at her cellphone screen.

-

Alex hadn't been entirely convinced that she wanted to go to that party. To him, a nice night consisted of sitting around in her house talking to Van Daniel with no distractions from her friends. She almost feared she was slowly turning into a couch potato.

Walking into her bedroom from out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her body, she got a text message from her younger brother. There was a picture of him and their parents attached to the message. The three of them wore smiling faces as he held a silver medal up proudly for her to see. The caption underneath his message read, Second place isn't so bad, right?

Alex clicked on her phone and typed out a response.

alex: so proud of u :*

alex: miss u guys!!

She had sat down on the edge of her bed and had just sent her brother a reply when she got an incoming message from Van Daniel. Her smile seemed to get even bigger, if that were humanly possible. He had that effect on her. Even though they were only friends and he thought she was a boy, he had the ability to lift her mood whenever they talked.

van daniel: anything planned 2night bro??

Again, Alex found herself frowning at the fact that he called her bro. She had brought it upon herself, using her brother's pictures to fool people into thinking she was a boy. But it still bothered her that he called her that. 

van daniel: the MAGICAL NIGHTS OF THE LIGA MX START TONIGHT

van daniel: week ten

van daniel: only seven more weeks til playoffs :$

van daniel: i'll bet u anything that pachuca will crush santos tonight. their joven tridente it on fucking fire.

Over the last few weeks, she had come to learn so much about the Mexican league because of him. He watched the other leagues as well, but the Mexican league was the one he followed religiously. And he was always talking about it as well. According to Van Daniel, Pachuca was the best team of the league. Alex knew he only thought that because it was the team he had been born loving. 

Alex had quite taken a liking for Club America. They played quickly, and had a strong attack. Also, she liked the fact that their team name was rather easy to pronounce for her foreign tongue. It was the same name as her country.

alex: i really wish i could man. but i told my friend i was gonna go with her to the portland thorns's team dinner.

alex: i can call her and say i cant go

She was quick to make the offer. The response from Van Daniel came seconds later.

van daniel: noooooooo

van daniel: go to that dinner bro

van daniel: as ur friend the last thing i wanna do is cock block u

van daniel: that would b savage of me

alex: nononononnonononono 

alex: omg tobin & me r just friends man

van daniel: u must not b talking about tobin heath

van daniel: say ur bullshitting me bro *-*

alex: yes tobin heath

She sighed as she typed out yet another lie.

alex: she plays in the women division of portland & u know i play in div 2

van daniel: go to the dinner with her and get me her autograph if u can pls 

van daniel: i'll lick ur holy footie playin foot if u do this for me jaja >.<

alex: ew danny

-

It had only been a few minutes after she had finished changing when the doorbell rang. Standing at the door were her two best friends from the team, Tobin and Allie. Both of them were dolled up with fancy dresses and high heels. Alex had done the same since most of the team dinners were mostly at expensive venues where there were photographers waiting to snap pictures of them for their sports magazines.

Alex was still unsure of going to the party. And she knew she still had time to change her mind. She could just sake a headache to her friends and they would have to understand.

"So, you ready to go?" Tobin asked her friend with an excited grin. She was more excited about Gyasi's footballer friends and the possibility of getting drunk than the dinner itself. 

Alex was surprised that Gyasi was nowhere to be seen. He was probably waiting for them in the car with his team mates which he had invited to the party. Knowing Allie, Alex was sure they had probably rented a limo to get the whole group to the party together. She and Tobin had probably also told Gyasi's friends that she was single and on the market, something that Alex wasn't at the moment. She was still moving on from Servando, and her friendship with Van Daniel was something she wanted to advance to something more if she would just find the courage to tell him the truth.

Pushing her desire to stay home out of her mind, she nodded her head with a friendly smile. "I'm totally ready."

"Okay, lets go." Tobin urged them, linking arms with Alex. "We'll be late if we don't leave now."

Tobin pulled her out the door, but she stopped them. "Wait." She said. Grabbing her cellphone out of her purse, she took the picture her brother had sent her earlier and posted it onto her AlexSmith13 instagram account.

Alex left her apartment, closing the door behind herself and making sure to have locked it. She followed her friends outside where there was a limo waiting, just as she had thought. Inside were three LA Galaxy footballers, including Gyasi Zardes. The other two were Giovani dos Santos from the Mexican national football team, and Omar Gonzales from the USMNT. From the moment they got into the limo, Alex noticed Tobin had her eyes on Giovani. He was delighted to make her company as well.

Alex sat next to Omar and tried to make awkward conversation with him, but the Galaxy footballer wasn't very into it. He was more stuck to his phone, typing away at a hundred miles per hour. Alex quickly got her phone out and did the same thing.

alex: two minutes into this dinner date & im already bored af

van daniel: how can u be bored with tobin heath? :o

van daniel: talk to her about football

van daniel: im sure she would have great conversation about the sport

alex: well our friend allie invited her bf zardes & he invited team mates from galaxy. 

alex: rn tobin is busy drooling over dos santos

van daniel: no fkn way bro

van daniel: dos santos is my idol

van daniel: he admires me

alex: wut??

van daniel: **typo i meant i admire him. i was typing so fast that i didnt read what i saw sayin

alex: i'll ask him since when he admires u bahaha

alex: "hey gio dos santos since when hav u been a fan of van daniel??"

van daniel: dnt u dare -.-

alex: jk man hahaha

-

At the reception, he was standing with her two friends and their dates, at times starting up a conversation with Tobin. But just as she had done on the limo, Tobin was too busy trying to include Giovani dos Santos in the conversation. It seemed that they had been really into each other. But Alex wasn't too sure about him. She had heard that he liked to drink and party too much. She didn't know if that was the kind of guy her friend Tobin needed. The conversation would die with every attempt of Tobin and Allie to include the LA Galaxy footballers, but Alex thought it was nice that they tried to be the peacekeepers. Not that there was peace to be kept.

After a while, Alex had walked off on her own to get some fresh air. When she returned, Allie bumped shoulders with Alex to get her attention. The Portland Thorns footballer turned towards her friend who held a glass of champagne in her hand hand, there was already a thick scent of alcohol in her words. Alex remembered that she and Tobin had the objective of getting pissed drunk that night.

Walking up behind his girlfriend was Gyasi, wrapping a strong arm around her waist as though he was trying to keep her upright. "Where's your boyfriend Alex?" He wondered, also slightly tipsy from the alcohol he had consumed. "We're all dying to meet him. I had invited Omar to keep you company, but when we heard you were taken, Omar decided he would back off."

That was why he ignored me the entire ride to the party, Alex concluded. It was for the best. She wasn't interested in Omar Gonzales.

Alex sighed in frustration, her eyes looking to the heavens dramatically. When she brought her gaze back down, the Galaxy footballer seemed worried, as if he had just said something wrong. 

"Did Allie tell you this?" Alex guessed. That was the only way he would have known.

He nodded his head in affirmation. 

"Yup." Allie slurred.

"I will kill you, Allie Long." Alex hissed. 

She hadn't wanted anyone to know she was talking to someone. The last thing she wanted was for the gossip to reach the media. Then they would surely do their digging and discover what she had gotten herself into. She couldn't allow Van Daniel find out her secret through anyone else. She wanted to be the one to do it on her own terms.

With a chuckle and placing a heavy hand on his Alex's shoulder, Allie said, "Relax, Alex. We're just proud that our little sister has found love again. Here," She handed Alex her untouched glass of alcohol. "Drink this and calm down."

Alex chugged the drink in one go. But still, she muttered, "I will kill you guys."

-

i know i hadn't updated this in a while, which is why here is an update for you all. i really hope you like it and give it a nice vote. its actually rather hard to adapt a book for a different footballer. i thought it would be much easier. i think its mostly because alex is a woman and women have different kinds of conversations.

and then when she talks to danny, it has to be different again because she's supposed to be a guy. so that kind of throws me off when im adapting a chapter. but its a challenge i like. and i like writing about a woman footballer.

again, thank you for all your support. it means alot. have a great week!

-clary xx