My Goalkeeping System

"So, you two met during the pre-season tour?" Amber said with her gaze on Sofia.

"Yeah, he came to my dad\'s store with Dave looking for a pair of shin guards, and that day, I was there to um….borrow a pair of boots." Sofia expressed before slowly sitting down beside her. "I know, it\'s weird for footballers not to come with spare equipment but I offered to help them find what they were looking for."

"Oh, I see," Amber said before slowly turning his gaze to Mateo who still had an awkward smile on his face.

"How did you get to know him on a personal level?" Sofia asked after giving her friend a little nudge.

"Oh, that was mostly because I work with his sister and our job involves interviewing players like him," Amber replied with an expressionless look on her face.

"Oh, so what are you doing here?" Sofia asked before turning her gaze to Mateo. "I wasn\'t really expecting to see you apart from watching your game."

"Um…."

"Their team is spending the night here," Amber said before the winger could say what he wanted to say.

"Oh, I never would have thought, and to think that we just booked the last room."

"Yeah, you were pretty lucky," Mateo said.

"Um….are you going to keep standing there? It\'s weird how you\'re standing while the both of us are sitting, I don\'t think you have anything urgent to attend to, right? So, why don\'t you take a seat?" Sofia requested.

Mateo didn\'t reply to that immediately and slowly turned his gaze to the entrance before turning it back to her.

"Okay, I guess I could sit down for a few minutes." He said before he walked closer to the seat and sat down beside Sofia making her the one in the middle now.

At that moment, Amber was left in shock but she kept her expression in check to avoid showing it.

To put it simply, she felt something suddenly pierce through her heart and she did not like the feeling.

"You said you were going to come here with your uncle," Mateo asked. "You did come with him, right?"

"Yeah, but then I found Amber here, I told my uncle I was going to be off with her and he didn\'t have any objections to that," Sofia explained. "We\'ve been friends for a couple of years, my parents know her very well and she\'s an adult now, my dad won\'t complain about it either."

"Okay, it\'s good to know that they won\'t be worried about you." The winger said.

\'So, when Amber said that she had one very good friend, she meant Sofia, that\'s a huge coincidence.\' He said subconsciously.

"You know I was expecting you guys to put on a show just like you did against Lazio but you guys looked underwhelming most of the time, if it wasn\'t for that penalty, that would have ended in a boring draw."

"Hm, you think?"

"Yeah, you had a couple of good moments but you weren\'t able to do anything most of the time which was quite surprising for me considering what you did against Lazio." Sofia expressed.

"That\'s really nothing to worry about, players have underwhelming games sometimes and in my case, it wasn\'t even that bad," Mateo replied.

"I know but it\'s still shocking how you got that man of the match award."

"Huh?"

"That award should have gone to the left back, Roland he was the best player on the pitch in my opinion and if not him then Dave or any of the starting center backs, they played way better in their positions than you did as a forward."

"I see you pay a lot of attention to matches." He smiled before letting out a little huff.

"Yeah, but that said you still tried and scored that penalty which won the game for you guys so I guess that\'s why you got the award undeservedly." She said.

At that moment, Mateo\'s eyes shifted toward Amber who had just been sitting there without saying anything since Sofia started talking.

\'Is she feeling left out?\'

"Hey, Amber." He called, causing her to slowly turn her gaze to him.

"Huh?"

"When you told me about that one friend of yours who your parents were okay with her coming over, you meant her, right?" He asked, pointing at Sofia.

"Oh, yeah, it was her." She replied with a nod.

He was expecting some kind of response filled with expressions from her, but her response was as blunt as ever.

"Oh, so you already told him about me," Sofia said before turning her gaze to Amber. "You two seem to be closer than I first thought, by any chance are you um…"

"Huh?" Mateo said.

"By any chance, are you two in a umm…. relationship?" She asked.

Mateo didn\'t reply to that question immediately as he slowly turned his gaze to Amber, and at that time, the two made eye contact and at the same time said;

"No."

Mateo was way more expressive about it and you could tell he almost blushed there but there was nothing from Amber.

"Oh, I see," Sofia said before folding her lips.

"So, Amber, what about that thing you were going to give me before Sofia walked in?" The winger asked.

"Oh, about that, I think I forgot it upstairs, I\'d like to go get it but I don\'t think I can come down here again tonight, so maybe tomorrow morning or whenever I return to Bilbeth." She expressed as calmly as she could.

"Oh."

"You were going to give him something? What is it?" Sofia asked before quickly leaning closer to her.

"Um….I can\'t tell you when he\'s here, it\'s a surprise." She said before slowly pushing Sofia off.

She was becoming less and less expressive as time went by.

Mateo tried to get her to speak in everything they talked about but with every response, it was like she was warning him to leave her alone, in the end, he had to stop trying to force it.

"So, Sofia, how are your studies and practice going?"

"My studies are going pretty well and as for practice, well, I didn\'t get to do much this week since I was working for that permission to be here today."

Mateo was about to say something in response to that when Amber let out a pretty loud yawn before getting up from the seat.

"I think I\'ll be heading back to the room now." She said before turning her gaze toward the elevator.

"Okay, I\'ll meet you there then," Sofia said.

She gave her a nod before she started making her way to the elevator.

Mateo kept his gaze on her until she got a little closer to the elevator before he quickly turned it back to Sofia.

"Please wait here for me, I just want to talk to Amber about something."

"Okay," Sofia replied with a nod.

As soon as she said that, he took off toward Amber and was able to catch up with her before she pushed the button.

"Hey, Amber, wait up."

She let out a sigh before slowly turning her gaze to him.

"Are you okay?" The winger asked as soon as he got close enough to her.

"Yeah, why are you asking?"

"Because you started acting weirdly after Sofia walked in and you found out that I met her back during our pre-season tour." He expressed.

"Oh, that." She said before letting out a sigh. "It\'s nothing."

"Are you sure? Because now you\'re acting like you\'re upset with me or something. Are you though?" He inquired.

"No, I\'m not." She said before shaking her head. "It\'s just that…"

"Just that what?"

"When you told me about this other girl that you liked, you were talking about her, right?" She asked.

"Yeah, it was her," Mateo replied after a couple of seconds.

"Yeah, it was pretty obvious." She said before pushing the button to open up the elevator.

"Was that the reason you were acting so cold?"

"No." She shook her head as she slowly walked into the elevator. "You sat down as soon as she asked you to and it looked like you were really comfortable chatting with her, you were enjoying yourself so I didn\'t want to get in the way but I know…."

\'So, that\'s what it was.\'

"What?"

"I know I still have a chance." She said before the door completely closed up.

With her gone now, he turned around to see Sofia making her way to him.

"Sorry, I couldn\'t wait for you."

"No, it\'s okay, I was about to start heading back myself." The winger said.

"Okay." She said before pressing the button on the elevator to open it up. "I\'ll see you tomorrow then, good night." She added before giving him a little nudge.

"Good night," Mateo said after watching her enter the elevator.

She waved at him with a smile before the door closed and he couldn\'t help but smile back.

________ ________

Morning came by pretty fast, and now it was time for the players to start heading back.

Mateo had time to catch up with both Sofia and Amber before leaving with the team and although Amber seemed to be in a really good mood that morning to the extent that she even hugged him which he was quite surprised about, he sensed that there was still something hidden behind her smile.

After parking their stuff, the team made their way to the airport and after everyone got on the plane, it took off toward Bilbeth.

Mateo was sitting beside Dave as always and he had a lot going through his mind.

\'That was a pretty hectic night, but I guess I should stop thinking about it now that it\'s over, I won\'t be seeing any of them for a while after all which is good. We have a one-shot match to play on Monday and losing is not an option.\'

"I know it\'s a bit of a stretch but winning the treble sure would be nice," Dave said.

"Um…. it\'s not really that much of a stretch, winning the Europa Conference League and the league is going to be hard for sure but we are still hot in the race and now all we have to do to advance to the next round of the Bilbeth Super Cup is knock out Frono FC." Mateo expressed.

"Yeah, you have a point, beating Frono is not going to be easy but one thing\'s for sure, we\'re going to beat them." The goalkeeper said.