This was originally going to be part of a longer story, but I never got round to writing it, so I thought I'd upload a short snippet I'd put together.
May 15th 2016
I took a seat in the conference room, as guided by Raheem, and looked around me at all of the boys. The seats were full, and I wondered if this had something to do with my birthday. The lights were shut off, and a video began playing on the large screen in front of me. It had been edited in the style of an old home video, and it made me feel nostalgic. Bernardo appeared on the screen, a huge smile on his face. "Happy birthday, Lauren! We thought since you're not with your family on your 21st birthday and you're at work with us idiots instead, we'd make you a special birthday video!" The screen went blank, and seconds later, a video started rolling. It was me as a baby, taking my first steps. They'd obviously been in contact with my parents. Following the video were multiple other videos of me as a young child. The screen went blank once more.
"Happy birthday, Lauren!" Ederson said in the next video. "Have the best day!"
"21, ay!" Kyle mused. "I remember when I was 21." He chuckled. "Have a sick night tonight!"
Tears sprang to my eyes as I watched the rest of the boys say their birthday wishes. Then the screen went blank again. I thought it was the end, but a piece of writing appeared on the screen. 'You've done so much for us over the past year, so we asked all of the boys to tell us something they love about you!' I dropped my head into my hands in embarrassment as they started to speak; not because I was ungrateful, but because I was getting so emotional.
'How easy she is to get along with.' Phil Foden said. 'And for helping me settle in at City.'
'Her sense of humour is what keeps me going on the busy days.' David nodded.
'Her determination to do well in her job. She's someone I admire.' Pep added.
After a few more clips, the picture changed to a blurry picture of a chair in a changing room. Voices started to chatter, and the camera focused as John sat down on the chair. "Happy bday, Lozza!" He chirped. "I hope you have a great day and are looking forward to tonight! We're taking you on a bar crawl around Manchester!" He paused for a moment as the person behind the camera, who's voice I recognised to be Kevin's, asked him what he loved about me. He didn't hesitate as he answered. "Her little nervous laugh when she knows she's in trouble. Or her little frown when she's pretending to be annoyed at you. Or how that little broken hair band that has been tied up hundreds of times never leaves her wrist. She's got those funny little routines; she always has to tie up her left laces before her right. She makes a mean cuppa - but point blank refuses to make me coffee because 'it smells'". He mimicked my voice. "Or maybe how I know I've always got someone to talk to when I've had a horrible day." He shrugged. "You edit that how you want; I couldn't pick just one."
The final message displayed on the screen read 'Happy 21st birthday, squid.'
The lights came on in the conference room, and David Silva stood up from his chair, handing me a gift. "We thought it'd be fitting for me to give it to you since we now share a number." I unwrapped the gift, revealing a City shirt with 'Lozza, 21' written on the back. John was the only one who called me Lozza so I knew who's idea this was.
"Thank you, everyone." I said, wiping my eyes.
"You're such a sop." Aymeric chuckled.
We all sat chatting for a while, arranging what we were going to be doing tonight, until some of the boys started to leave. I'd finished work nearly an hour ago, but I was having a nice time, and getting ready to go out could wait. It was around five o'clock when only a few of us remained. I said my goodbyes to the boys, agreeing a time to meet them later, and John and I were left alone.
"Thank you for the shirt." I said, smirking at him.
"It was from us all." He said, scratching the back of his neck.
"Lozza?" I chuckled.
"Okay, it was my idea."
"And thank you for your message in the video." I smiled at him. "It was really sweet."
"Yeah, Kev was meant to edit that a bit more than he did. Made me look a bit of a sop."
"We all know you're a sop at heart." I joked.
"Only if I really care about something." We stood in a comfortable silence as he thought over what he had just said. "I mean, I care about you, obviously, you're a good friend of mine, but when I say something I care about, I didn't mean it like that." He looked at me awkwardly. "Or maybe I did. I don't know. I don't know what I'm saying."
"I care about you too." I smirked.
"I'm glad we've established that." He chuckled. "Shall we get going?"
"Yes." I nodded. "We have alcohol to consume."
May 15th 2018
'Happy 23rd birthday to my gorgeous girl. Two years ago, you were shown a video where I may as well have confessed my undying love for you, thanks to a serious lack of editing from @KevinDeBruyne. We spent the night getting ridiculously drunk in a local bar, and sung karaoke to most of the Mamma Mia sound track. Two years later, we are lying in bed, admiring our gorgeous month old baby girl. You truly make me feel like the luckiest man alive, and I can't wait to see what the future brings for us. Have the best day, beautiful. I love you endlessly.'
