Miami
March 2023
Leah should have been focusing on recovery.
That was what everyone around her kept saying.
Rest properly.
Manage the knee carefully.
Instead, Leah Williamson sat in Arsenal's cafeteria staring at flights to Miami while trying not to smile at her phone like a complete idiot.
Across the table, Beth Mead watched her with deep suspicion.
"You've got the face again."
"There's no face."
"There's absolutely a face."
Leah ignored her completely and looked back down at the message from Elle.
Leah smiled immediately.
I survived North London and an ACL. I'm basically military trained.
Another reply instantly:
That's not a yes.
Beth physically leaned across the table trying to read the screen.
Leah pulled the phone away immediately. "Privacy is dead, apparently."
"You're planning something."
Leah hesitated for half a second too long.
Beth gasped dramatically.
"Oh my God."
Leah laughed helplessly. "Relax."
"You're going to see her."
"Maybe."
Beth stared at her. "You are literally glowing."
Unfortunately true.
Because in three weeks, Leah was flying to Miami with Elle for five days.
Five entire days.
No rushed airports. No short weekends squeezed around football schedules.
Just them.
The thought alone felt dangerously close to happiness.
"She invited me," Leah admitted finally.
Beth leaned forward immediately. "Where?"
"Miami."
Silence.
Then:
"You're joking."
Leah bit back a grin. "Nope."
Beth dropped dramatically back into her chair. "Oh she's rich rich."
Leah burst out laughing.
"It's for work," she defended weakly. "A campaign thing."
"And you're going because?"
Leah looked down at her coffee briefly.
Then softer—
"Because I miss her all the time."
That shut Beth up instantly.
Not because it was dramatic.
Because it was honest.
Leah wasn't joking about this anymore.
The distance had become something physical now. An ache sitting permanently beneath everything else.
And somehow Miami suddenly felt like oxygen.
—
Later that night Leah lay in bed FaceTiming Elle while London rain hit softly against the windows.
Elle sat cross-legged on her apartment floor surrounded by bikinis and clothes thrown everywhere.
Leah watched quietly for a moment.
"You own an alarming amount of linen."
Elle looked offended. "It's Miami."
"You're dressing like a divorced woman in a Nancy Meyers film."
"Thank you."
Leah laughed softly.
God.
She missed her.
Even now.
Even with her face right there on the screen.
"You excited?" Elle asked softly.
Leah tried to play it cool. "Moderately."
Elle raised an eyebrow immediately.
"Leah."
"Fine," she sighed dramatically. "I'm very excited."
"That's better."
Leah smiled helplessly before settling deeper into her pillows.
The room quieted slightly after that.
Then softer—
"I've never done this before."
Elle looked up. "Done what?"
"Wanted someone in my life this much."
The honesty hung quietly between them.
Because Leah kept surprising herself lately.
The openness.
The need.
The terrifying fact she now planned parts of her future around another person automatically.
Elle's expression softened instantly.
"You know what I'm excited for most?" she asked gently.
"What?"
"Seeing you relaxed."
Leah laughed under her breath. "That feels ambitious."
"I'm serious."
Elle leaned closer toward the camera slightly.
"I think football takes pieces out of you sometimes."
The words landed heavily.
Because nobody really said things like that to Leah.
Not directly.
People talked about pressure and recovery and leadership.
But Elle saw the quieter damage too.
The exhaustion.
The constant performance.
"You know what I think Miami's going to be?" Elle continued softly.
Leah smiled faintly. "A heatstroke risk?"
"A break."
The word settled somewhere deep in Leah's chest.
A break.
No captain interviews. No rehab cameras. No London rain or Arsenal schedules or pretending she wasn't emotionally exhausted half the time.
Just Elle.
Sunshine.
Five days of breathing properly again.
Leah looked at her through the screen for a long moment.
Then smiled softly.
"You know you've completely ruined my ability to be emotionally detached?"
Elle grinned immediately. "That was actually my plan from the start."
"Evil woman."
"And yet," Elle murmured, "you're flying across the world for me again."
Leah looked down briefly, smiling to herself.
Then quieter—
"Yeah," she admitted. "I am."