EJ in Love

Connor 

I sat in my car as 'the party' by 'Ada Lea' loudly blared through my speakers. My seat was slightly reclined as I looked out of the sunroof of my car. The sun was hours away from setting but the clouds already had that slight pink hue I was always obsessed with. 

My chest was painfully tight as I closed my eyes and pretended the air conditioning was cool wind at some beach side resort. The winter always had me going through weird sessions of depression that you would think I had not grown up in England. I missed the sun. Just the plain smell of it during a hot summer day and all you wanted to do was laze around and enjoy the feeling. 

I had no idea what had gotten into me. 

I knew exactly what had gotten into me but I just chose not to acknowledge it. 

It had everything to do with Edward. Since our lunch together he had completely chosen to ignore my existence. I was not sure if it was better when he was always annoying me or when he pretended he never knew me to begin with. He had been radio silent. Even from the tabloids which he had been constantly trending on every week. 

This was the first week where there had been no sightings of him in public. I had seen him during practice and when we had our meeting with Coach. He addressed me as professionally as he always did when we were in the presence of our managers and bosses but that always shed off when we practised. Yet this time it did not happen. 

He treated me just the same during practice which had me feeling on edge. Why did it bother me that he no longer wanted to talk to me? I would never know. Even I should have been grateful that he had gotten his act together. This was what I had been begging for the past six years. I had finally gotten it. 

The first week of Edward's name barely leaving my lips because of stress. My heart seemed to finally get the rest it needed because my blood pressure barely went up. The calm was pleasurable. 

Yet why did I feel so terribly bored with life now? 

With a sigh I opened my eyes and checked the time. For the first time I was not two hours early for practice but just on time. I knew he would arrive an hour early before the players and I just could not take the suffocating tension between us. There was always tension but not of this scale. 

"There's nothing I can do or say that can please you Connor. I've tried my best to show you my worth. To show you my father didn't pay my way for me to be in this team but you choose to ignore that. You just see what everyone else sees when you know how hard I work. I've won us more matches than anyone else but because I am the son of Edward Coleman you don't want to acknowledge that," he had violently stabbed his finger into my chest just before we left the restaurant. 

Before I could even respond he had climbed into his Lamborghini and sped off leaving me standing there feeling more like shit than I had ever. 

It did not surprise me why he suddenly wanted nothing to do with me but this had always been our routine. I say something that pisses him off. He takes the bait or vice versa and we would repeat the process every time we saw each other. So what had changed? What suddenly ticked him off that he was done with me for good?

Not wanting to drive myself up the wall than I already had this week, I grabbed my kit bag and climbed out of the car before locking it. 

"Is that our great Connor I see!" Ted whistled as he walked with a group of the other national team members who had arrived. "You're late by your own standards."

"The less time I can spend with you all the better," I dismissively waved my hand before I greeted them all. Most had already arrived and when I saw the hoard of security by the entrance and of course the neon green Lambo, I knew so had Edward. My stomach twisted but I pushed the feeling down. 

When we entered Edward was about to explain the team strategy with our legendary Coach Bryan Erasmus. He had been part of the team that won England one of its most legendary World cups and he had the intensity of a champion. We all had to have our heads right or he would be on top of us before we could even catch our breath. 

We were playing against a South American team that was strong in its own right which left the atmosphere in the locker room electric. Edward was having a great laugh with everyone else whilst he pretended he could see right through me. I had no idea what about it today irritated me more than it had the entire week but the first moment I got with him alone I took it. 

"Why are you acting like this?" I quickly held onto his wrist to stop him from leaving as everyone cleared the locker room. 

He pursed his doll lips before letting out a sigh, "Connor, I'm not going to play this game with you anymore."

"What game?" I tried to sound unbothered but my voice held a sense of panic that seemed to surprise us both. "It's our thing. We've been this way since we've been playing together. It keeps us going."

"It keeps you going. I on the other hand can't take it," he looked down, colour fanning onto his cheeks. 

"Well I won't be too intense I promise. If it's bothering you so much. I just thought we were pushing each other. That's why we're magic when we centre together," I had no idea why I was explaining myself but I almost felt desperate. He was finally doing everything I had been asking for but it was not at all how I imagined it to be. "We'll put boundaries-"

Before I could finish my sentence he held either side of my face and pressed his lips to mine completely immobilising me. Paralysing me that it felt like I could barely breathe.