'i'm nervous.' says zara as they stand in front of harry and kate's front door.

'hey don't be! i'm here and so are kate and harry. and eric's should be here.'

'i know i know, i'm just scared about meeting your other teammates. especially if their wives and girlfriends are there. i'm nothing special.' she says shrugging.

'don't you ever say that again zara, that you're nothing special. you're the best person i ever met, i thank my lucky stars everyday for bumping into you that night at this exact house.'

'you know you could have just said you're special to me and that would have been fine dele.' she says laughing making him roll his eyes before he knocks the door.

'zara! dele! hi come in!' says kate with a smile as they go inside.

• •

dele and zara have been at harry and kate's for about two hours. zara is in the kitchen by herself as she pours herself another drink.

'zara?' says a voice behind her, she turns around and there's eric standing there.

'oh hey eric.'

'you okay? i saw you come in here like twenty minutes ago.'

'yeah it's just this kinda thing isn't my kind of thing. i tried talking to some of the other women, they were nice enough but we had nothing in common. so i've just stayed here out of the way.'

'do you want me to talk to dele so he can drive you home?'

'no no, he's enjoying himself i don't want him to have to leave because of me.'

'well would you like me to drive you home? i didn't particularly want to come in the first place, the new game of thrones episode was on tonight.'

'are you sure? i could just call a taxi and-'

'of course.'

'let me just grab my coat and i'll tell dele.'

'i'll wait for you in the car.'

zara walks out of the kitchen and walks over to dele who is talking to heung min and kieran.

'alright babes?' asks dele with a smile.

'eric's going to drive me home because i'm feeling a little under the weather.'

'are you okay? i can drive you back to my place if you want and look after you.'

'thank you but it's fine dele, you're enjoying yourself. i'll just text you when i get home.' she says with a small smile.

'i'll come over and see how you're feeling afterwards. call me and i'll be right. call me if you need anything and i'll be right there.'

she gives him a quick kiss goodbye before saying goodbye to his teammates and heads towards the car and gets in.

the drive from harry and kate's isn't far from zara's so it's pretty quick.

'thank you so much for driving me home eric, i really appreciate it.' says zara smiling at eric.

'don't worry about it, it's fine.' he says with a small smile.

'well have a nice night eric.'

'wait zara can i tell you something before you go?'

'uh sure, what is it?'

'i was told not to tell you this but i feel like you should know this but please don't tell dele that i told you.'

zara just looks at eric blankly, slightly scared at what he's about to say.

'dele's been looking at engagement rings, he wants to ask you to marry him.'

zara just looks at him in shock, not knowing what to say or do.

'i know i wasn't supposed to tell you but i thought you ought to know. as you said, you wanted to take things slowly but surely from nowhere and i don't think asking you to marry him is going to help much.'

'what the fuck is he thinking?' she says suddenly.

'getting married? we haven't been together six months, there's still stuff we don't even know about each other! i'm not even twenty two yet and already wants to settle down?'

'trust me, i was as surprised as you are when he told me. he's never been the type to be bothered with marriage and kids, he always said he needs to live his life to the max then eventually settle down. i love dele to bits but sometimes he can be an idiot.'

'i can't believe he hasn't even mentioned it once about getting engaged, if he had then maybe we could talk about it. i love dele more than anything but getting engaged then eventually married? that's such a huge commitment and i am no way ready for that.'

'would you like me to try and talk to him again?'

'thanks for the offer but i think it would be best if i spoke to him. i'll try and bring the topic into conversation somehow.'

'well it's up to you. but text me if you change my mind and i'll talk to him.'

'thank you i really appreciate it. anyway thank you once again for driving me back and for telling me about dele's idea. one more thing, i get to stress about!' she says laughing slightly.

'you're welcome. anyway have a goodnight zara again.'

'you too eric.' she says before getting out of the car and walking towards the lobby of her apartment block.

🤣🤣