Tyler swallowed some saliva before he started walking towards her. As if he wasn't nervous enough, him calling her "pretty lady in pink" had garnered quite a bit of attention and he was feeling a lot more self conscious. He dragged his leg on the floor for a couple steps before he picked up the pace.
'Confidence. Lenny always said to be confident'
"Hi". He said when he got to her. "Sorry about... um shouting like that. I just really wanted to talk to you".
A small smile tugged on her lips. "It worked, I guess".
Tyler rubbed his nose awkwardly. "Yeah, I guess it did".
He paused for a moment, trying to think of what to say, and then he started talking. "You work at the restaurant, right?"
"Yes". She said.
"It's a- It's a nice place". He stuttered, while racking his brain trying to figure out what to say now.
'Lenny always said it came naturally'.
"Glad you liked the service".
He nodded again, moving his weight from one leg to another. He wanted to say something else, but he just decided to be direct and tell her what he wanted. Girls liked honest guys... right?
"Alright, so this is a bit random but- but, can I- can I get your number". Tyler stuttered.
She didn't answer right away. She looked at him for a moment, then she took out her phone. "What's your name?"
"Tyler"
"I'm Jasmine". Jasmine said while typing his name in her phone. He then typed his number and she called it for a split second. "Now you have my number as well".
"Thanks". Tyler said.
"No problem". Jasmine glanced down at the street. "I should go. See you around".
Jasmine turned around and started walking again. Tyler stood there for a few seconds, staring at her departing figure before walking in the opposite direction, back to the club provided apartment.
By the time he got to his apartment, the sun had started setting. Inside the living room, Tony and Enzo were sprawled on the couch with takeaway containers on the table. Tyler didn't need to exert himself much to smell the fried rice and grilled chicken that were on the table.
"Hey". Tony said. "We realized that there wasn't any good food in the fridge so we ordered some".
"We got for you". Enzo said, nudging his head towards an unopened plate on the far side of the table.
Tyler shook his head. "I already ate out. I appreciate it though".
Enzo mock glared at him. "Fucking traitor".
"You must've gotten fat wages man". Tony said. "You've been here a day and you're already eating at a fancy restaurant".
"It wasn't fancy". Tyler murmured as he started walking towards his room.
"Still a traitor". Enzo said, before stuffing his face with a bit of chicken. "You're missing out though, this is pretty good. It's probably better than whatever you went and splashed your cash on".
Tyler shook his head and went inside his room. He took off his clothes, leaving himself with just his boxers before laying on the bed. He stared at his phone, more specifically, the message app which was already opened and his thumbs hovered above the keypad.
After battling with his thoughts for a few minutes, he finally sent a text to Jasmine. It seemed like she was already on her phone because she replied him barely a minute later and just like that the two of them started talking.
He learnt that she was the same age as him, which was a bit of a relief to him. He didn't know many girls that liked younger guys. She went to school in a... actually, Tyler didn't know the name of the school, but it was something in French. Another thing was that she could speak English. Tyler nearly did a mock celebration after she told him.
He learnt a little bit more about her before they decided to call it a night and wished each other goodnight. As much as Tyler would've wanted to continue talking with her, he had training the next day and the last thing he would've wanted was for him to come in late for training because he was talking to her.
The next morning came about quickly. He woke up, took a shower, brushed his teeth, put on some clothes and within thirty minutes, he was already outside and on his way to the training complex.
He arrived quite a bit early so he did some individual work before some of the coaches arrived and recommended a few drills for him to do to keep himself early while they set up the training pitches.
A few minutes later, some of the senior players started arriving. They gave him looks of approval while going in the locker room to change into their training wear. Some of them even came out to train with him.
Thirty minutes later, everyone was gathered around Adi Hutter and his coaches who stood behind him. There was a bit of chatter, but with one raise of his hand, he silenced everyone.
"Alright. We've done all the tactical and boring stuff yesterday, it's time to move on to something a lot more... football. We're going to the extreme today. We're going to have a full game. Starters versus reserves". He kept quiet for a few moments to allow the weight of what he said settle down. "If you want to break into the starting eleven, this is your chance. Show me you deserve it."
The players exchanged glances. George, who was standing beside Tyler felt his heartbeat quicken, he was very excited.
"This is great man, I could totally start next week". George said, while doing his best to stop himself from pumping his fists.
Tyler felt his heartbeat quicken, but for a very different reason. He was very nervous. A week ago, he was playing in a tournament friendly for grassroots academies in England and now he was about to go up against actual professional footballers.
As if he didn't feel nervous enough, the universe decided to make it worse.
[Ding! Host has received a mission]
A/N: Apologies for the recent shady update schedule in the last few days, I was quite busy with some stuff. I'm back now, and we'll have two chapters a day for the next three days to make up for it.
I haven't forgotten about the bonus chapters as well. We have already smashed the twenty power stones milestone so that's one bonus chapter on the tab.