Hi!

This Chapter has been sitting in my laptop for a while and I think it was time to update Goal! After so many years!

I hope you guys enjoy this chapter; the next one would be a lot different from this one, as this chapter was written over three years ago.

CHAPTER 06

When We First Met

Cagalli Yula Attha sat uneasily on the large living room couch, several eyes of admittedly good-looking soccer players, looking at her in curiosity. Almost five of them were across her as they occupied the other couch.

The blonde girl was growing self-conscious. Were they staring at because she was a girl, or were they there because of the swollen eye she was sporting (and the ice pack she was holding against it).

She couldn't explain the amount of relief she felt as Athrun Zala emerged from the kitchen with a tray of refreshments in hand. The man sighed at the sight of his teammates scouring over a girl as if it was their first time seeing one.

"Scatter you idiots. Don't make our guest feel uncomfortable."

It seems that his position as team captain had been ignored, since the men still stayed to oogle at her.

Just as Athrun was about to give them a good lecture once more, Aeul Neider spoke up, genuine curiousity in his face. "Are you sure you're not Athrun's stalker?"

Before she could reply, someone had bopped him in the head, sighing at the younger man's idiotic question. "Excuse him, he loses his brain 90% of the time." The man with orange hair— who she could tell was with her in the room earlier—said as he stood up from the couch. Unlike the other five who were oogling at Cagalli, he was sitting there to keep her company while Athrun got them drinks. Now that he was back, he felt the need to get going.

"Thank you for that Heine." Athrun chuckled as he settled the tray on top of the glass coffee table. Afterwards, he glared at the five remaining men "Go away guys."

Glaring back at him, the five all left without a word of complaint, Aeul sticking out his tongue at their captain before completely disappearing into the kitchen.

"Thank You." Athrun sniggered, turning his attention back to the uncomfortable looking blonde. "Sorry about that miss-?"

"Cagalli." The said woman replied while fixing the ice pack she was holding against her eye. It was somewhat embarrassing, looking like a wreck while this guy across from you who looked as if he had just got out of bed still managed to look like he was ready for some kind of photoshoot.

She studied him carefully as he took the cups of coffee from the tray, carefully placing them on top of the table. She did not expect this kind of elegance from a man his age—let alone a soccer player. His dark blue hair was tied in a ponytail while his plain white shirt hung loosely against his body, easily exposing his chest as he bent down. Truthfully, Cagalli was baffled how this guy's skin could still look so fair even with the amount of training his team does.

"Miss Cagalli?"

Cagalli snapped out from her ogling, quite embarrassed that she fixated on the obviously handsome man. "Sorry about that, it's cause you're pretty good looking."

An awkward silence surrounded them before Athrun broke into a fit of laughter, dumbfounding the blonde woman by the man's sudden change of demeanor.

"What's so funny?" She attempted to glare, but caught herself flinching as her eye stung, satisfied with just glaring with one eye to prove her point.

"S-sorry." Athrun had stopped laughing at that point, composing himself as he took a sip of tea. "It's just, I'm not used to people saying that to me so directly with such a straight face." He chuckled, looking at Cagalli directly.

"Shouldn't you be though? I bet you get that a lot."

Athrun was floored. This woman was blunt to a fault, and he had no idea if this was some sort of flirting he was not aware of. "I don't really know how to take that compliment but…thank you?"

Cagalli shrugged. She liked saying things as she sees it.

"Anyway, about your eye." Athrun steered the conversation away from such an embarrassing topic. He never did like people nitpicking about his looks. "I'm really sorry about that; my teammate can be an idiot."

Cagalli nodded. Lowering the ice pack to give her eye some relief. "It's my fault for going in like that. Sorry about that too."

"Speaking of which…I'm sorry for being rude but do we know each other? What did you mean by 'It's me?'"

Cagalli blinked, the memory of her savior rushing in once again. She stared once again at Athrun, the man giving a similar (albeit confused) one back. "Oh! Yes! About that, thanks for helping me out back at the stadium!"

"I beg your pardon?"

Cagalli was beaming, Athrun was just confused. "You know! You're the guy who saved me from those idiots near that wall!"

Athrun was trying hard to remember, but a memory suddenly clicked and he looked at Cagalli, recognizing the familiar blonde hair. "You! You're that girl!"

She gave him an amused grin. "Fate is interesting huh?"

"It sure is." Athrun sighed, relieved. "I was actually worried for leaving you so suddenly. You looked like you were about to cry."

"I was not!" Cagalli blushed, althought it was somewhat true. "I was terrified though, I never expected that people can get so violent over a game."

"Yes, I'll pretend to believe you." Athrun teased. "That's probably the worst one In my career, not all games end up like that. I'm glad you're alright."

"Me too, I'm glad you got out fine too. Although to tell the truth, It's surprising that you of all people saved me when you caused all that trouble in the first place."

"I'm sorry for being kicked in the shin then." The man acted offended, which Cagalli immediately dismissed with a light chuckle. "Anyway, I'm gonna go ahead and leave you guys be. Thanks again for the help back then—I don't know what would have happened if you weren't there."

"No problem." The blue haired captain gave her a smile, quite relieved that finally, that small part of his worries finally had some semblance of closure. "If you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you doing here?" The man looked at her curiously. Their coach had went out to buy some supplies for her eye while she was out cold; nobody managed to fill him in on any details.

"I brought you guys breakfast." Cagalli sighed, pointing to the bags on top of the kitchen counter that remained untouched. "I'm supposed to babysit you guys because you're VIP and stuff." She rolled her eyes unconsciously, only catching herself when Athrun gave her an amused look. "Oh shit, sorry please don't get offended. I just don't like helping out my parents when they have something to use against me."

Athrun did not understand a thing that she said, but went along with it. "Oh. We're sorry about that too then." He chuckled. "I'll tell the guys that the food is here then. Can you stay put so we can fix that eye of yours? Coach went out to get some bandages."

Cagalli sighed. She had to go to some employees orientation in a few minutes or else she was gonna hear it from Kisaka. "I can take care of it, I just need something to cover it up, I can look for something in my car." She was about to stand up and take her leave when Athrun did the same, slightly touching her arm.

Both froze, blinking at each other before the man coughed. "Er…wait up I think I can lend you something."

He shuffled to the adjoining lounge area and came back with what seemed to be sunglasses, handing it to the blonde girl. "Here, take it as an apology from us. You can return it when we see each other again"

Cagalli stared at the sunglasses before slowly accepting it, quite surprised by the sudden turn of things. "Oh…thanks." Wearing the sunglasses, it looked quite big on her smaller head, earning a chuckle from the soccer player.

"Cute."

This earned him another glare from behind the sunglasses, the combination of Cagalli's face and the oversized accessory quite the sight. "Shut up…