The day of the match arrived. All eleven players were early. The forwards; Victor Crawford, Jack Lawrence, Leo Burton, the midfielders; Logan Riley, Bernard Williams, Tim Anderson, the defenders; Sebastian Bradley, David Young, Arthur Harris, Thomas Bennett, and the goalkeeper; Hudson Hill. The stadium was full of locals and people from the country against Valory, who had flown on a plane from their home to see their team, wishing that they would win. The footballers could hear how the chants filled up the stage, and Crawford was slightly nervous.

The coach cheered the team up for a last time before starting the match, wishing them all  a good game.

When the players entered the field, the chants grew louder, and cameras surrounded all the team members. The blinding stadium lights were hurting Crawford’s eyes. Each country had its turn to greet the crowd and sing its national anthem. Victor found the ceremony quite beautiful. After the traditional coin flip, the match officially began. 

It was a rough battle for the ball, each player was intensely focused on their role. But, after a half of an hour, an opportunity to score a goal came when the ball was passed to Lawrence, who kicked the ball when he was close enough to the goal, scoring successfully. The crowd was screaming, and Valory's team was celebrating with joy, most of them hugging their awesome Jack. Crawford, who was more amazed than a child watching a magic trick, didn't join the hug, even if he really wanted to. He was feeling weird, but he celebrated from the back.

However, with about only twenty minutes left, the opposing team scored a goal. Now, they were level, and it was a very closely fought match.

Valory's team was getting worried, the team against them was really putting things hard. Crawford  was sweating, not only for being tired, but also because he was scared. Suddenly, the ball was passed to him, who was cornered by other opponents. Now he had all the pressure from the audience and his team, so he started to dodge every movement so as not to lose the ball. But he was getting desperate. Fortunately, Lawrence got into a perfect position, and Crawford was able to pass him the ball. Again, Lawrence scored a goal. The roar of the crowd was incredible. Crawford and Lawrence exchanged glances, both really proud of themselves. There was only five minutes left, so the team decided simply to run down the clock until the end of the match. And it worked, Valory won the game 2-1, chants from the locals were louder than ever, and the local football team celebrated jumping up and down. 

“Let’s go celebrate, folks!” Said Leo Burton, and everyone followed his idea without any hesitation.

The team had reserved a table at a club for the night so, after recovering and drinking a lot of water, they took a drive to the place.

Inside the fancy, black limousine, Lawrence sat down next to Crawford, whose rigid body started sweating more than it had done so far in the match. While all the team was being loud because of the hype, he just felt claustrophobic, being quiet and really out of breath.

‘What the fuck is happening to me?!’ he thought.

“Well done, Victor. You truly did a great job.” Said Lawrence.

“Ah, t-thank you.” Victor’s weird feeling didn’t come out of his body, his head kept spinning around when Lawrence was close to him.

“Hey Jackie, you were totally a beast today!” Said Bernard, who was also keeping an eye on Crawford’s attitude.

“Thank you,” Jack giggled “but I also have to admit that my second goal wouldn’t have happened without Victor.”

Crawford was truly surprised about the recognition, but hearing Jack praise him was only feeding his strange feeling.

They arrived at the club, a rustic yet distinctly luxurious place, and it had an amazing view of the ocean. You could smell all kinds of expensive dishes and beverages that made all the team hungry in a few seconds. Despite Crawford wanting to see the view, he sat down on the opposite side of the ocean and the seat where Lawrence was, just to avoid his strange sensation. 

The menu consisted of various types of meat, seafood and a few salads. The drinks on offer were mostly alcoholic beverages that waiters brought from the bar. Crawford ordered steak with roast potatoes and, although he didn’t really like drinking alcohol, he decided to order a Ramazzotti with low alcohol content, for the special occasion. Lawrence also ordered a Ramazzotti, plus some octopus and salmon.

Victor sipped his drink slowly, after all, he was aware that he had low tolerance for alcohol. He was trying to concentrate on the dialogue between the team, who was arguing about which country they would beat in future matches. But he was not feeling great that night.

“Hello, earth to Crawford?” Said Logan, who noticed Victor’s weird attitude.

Crawford snapped back to reality.

“Oh, hello Logan.”

“Dude what’s happening to you?”

“Uh, I don’t know…”

“Has the Ramazzotti kicked in already?”

“I don’t think so, at least not yet.”

“Then what is it, what’s in your mind?”

“Yeah, you’ve been behaving really strangely these last few weeks.” Added Bernard, who was right at Crawford’s side.

“I told you, I don’t know.”

“Is it about Jack?”

“…No?”

Bernard called Lawrence’s attention.

“Hey Jack, can I change seats with you? I want to see the ocean.”

“Sure, why not?”

‘Shit’ was the only word inside Crawford’s mind, who received a tap on the shoulder from Bernard before he stood up. 

Crawford drank more of his Ramazzotti, hoping for his anxiety to subside, but it only made it worse, now he got drunk, and the atmosphere was too much to handle.

“Excuse me, I’m just going to get some fresh air.” He said before standing up and leaving.

Crawford sat down on a step at the entrance of the club and took a deep breath. He was finally relaxing, however, he felt bad about the fact that he could not have a good time with his team. He contemplated the ocean, trying to focus on every little and elegant wave. He could also see the stars that, due to the less light pollution, were brighter than other places in the city. Although his drunkenness was making him lose touch with reality, so it was hard for Crawford to find the constellations in the sky.

After a half of an hour, Crawford was almost falling asleep, but he was interrupted by the one who he thought was the  worst person possible at that moment.

“Hi, Victor, you okay?” Said Lawrence, who was genuinely worried and confused for Crawford. “Your friends don’t understand what’s happening to you.”

“I don’t know, man.” Said Crawford. The drunkenness made him shed a few tears.

“Are you worried about the World League?”

“…Yeah?” Crawford lied.

“You’ll be okay, you have skills for football, when you dodged our opponents and passed me the ball, that was amazing.”

Victor smiled and relaxed a bit.

“Thanks, I really appreciate it.”

“You’re welcome. Now, give me a hug!”

“Wha-”

Lawrence hugged Crawford before he could finish his sentence. His arms had a big amount of strength that could almost suffocate Crawford, but he didn’t want to stop the hug.

“God, my head hurts. Why did I drink that Ramazzotti so fast?”

“I think you should rest.” Lawrence was genuinely trying to understand why someone would get drunk so easily with a Ramazzotti, especially one with low alcohol levels.

There were some minutes of silence. 

“Vic, you awake? I saw some flying stars.” 

Lawrence wanted his friend to make a wish with him. For a moment, he thought he was asleep, but then he felt his teammate moving, leaning his head towards his.

“Man, you’re so handsome.” Said Crawford, looking straight to Lawrence’s eyes.

“Thanks dude.”

Before drunk Crawford started blurting his words out, the team members went outside.

“Hi guys, we’re leaving,” said Anderson. “Leo is way too drunk.”

The driver took a long trip and left everyone at their homes. At the point that sleepy Crawford entered his house, he was staggering, but at least he fell asleep immediately after laying down on his couch, which he chose because it was closer than his bed.