Slow | Chloe Logarzo x Reader
Words: 1.9k
Summary: despite a rough relationship with your parents, your closeness to your sister brings you Chloe, the only girl for you.
Warning: NOT PROOF READ I have no clue if this is any good and I’m so sorry I think it might be one of my worst ones😭, I know the WBBL started in 2015 but who fucking cares, I changed it – no COVID but Olympics still postponed for some unknown reason :D
Requested by - @charligrantismygirlfriend - not happy with this one at all i'm genuinely so sorry
Sport wasn’t something I was unfamiliar with. In fact, it was my favourite thing. As a kid, my mum and dad put me through many different clubs for different sports, from tennis to AFL. We always landed back at the same lush green cricket pitch in the western suburbs of Sydney on a Saturday morning, surrounded by other girls of all ages who shared my passion.
On Sundays my younger sister would play her soccer games, so we’d spend the weekend in a hotel in the city, then go to each other’s games, pretending to do our homework as we watch.
Not long into Ellie’s soccer journey, our parents decided the move from Cowra to Sydney was necessary for her to develop. The hours long trips to and from training in the depths of Sydney every afternoon proving to be more difficult as she progressed in school.
I no longer lived with them when they made the move, but I resented Ellie for a while. I’d been playing cricket before she could walk, albeit poorly as a 6-year-old, and had moved up through the stages into the best group in the academy by the age of 14. My parents insisted nothing much would come of it, so there was no reason to make such a drastic move and leave the farm and small-town life behind.
-
I started playing professionally for Sydney in the Twenty20 Cup at 17, the same year I got my first call-up for the women’s national cricket team. We, or they, still didn’t live in Sydney, so I dropped out of high school my senior year, and lived with one of the older girls who was also on the national team. I made my national debut a couple months after in a test match against England. My parents didn’t come, Ellie had some important game on that was simply impossible to miss.
-
At 15, when they finally joined me in the city, Ellie joined her first W-league team, and had her first senior team call-up. I made sure to be there for both debuts, avoiding my parents who sat in the crowd nearby. I cried the moment she first touched the pitch in a Matilda’s jersey, and rushed down from the stands to pick her up and hug her when the match was over.
That’s when I first met her… Chloe. My age, a beautiful brunette in the midfield who celebrated with my sister after their 9-0 win against Vietnam. We introduced ourselves and exchanged numbers but nothing much came of it. I can’t deny the many nights I spent awake dreaming of the girl.
The next time I saw Chloe in person was a Sydney Derby. Naturally I’d come to support my sister, but I couldn’t help but cheer whenever the older girl got a touch on the ball. I met up with her and Ellie again after the game, shouting them both dinner. That’s when Chloe asked me out on our first date.
It was somewhat rushed. Her departure for Newcastle was pending and it limited our options, leaving us to grab some shitty take away and dance around in a field down the road from where I lived. The sun was bright, but her smile was brighter. I stumble on my own feet whenever she looked at me, her beauty beyond compare. The beginning of a sunburn kissing my cheeks only provided me so much of an excuse as to why I was so red.
“I’m going to come to every single one of your games.” She whispers in my ear as we lay on the picnic blanket, beneath the over looming gum tree, me playing with her hair as she rests a hand beneath my loose linen shirt.
“You have your own training. And you can’t drive 2+ hours back and forth once a week. Also we have away games you can’t possibly make...” Despite my desperate want for her to be there every game, I begin to list all the reasons it wasn’t logical.
“I’ll find a way. And if not all, most home games.” She gives me a satisfied smile, one that tells me she knows she’s won whatever little argument we had.
-
Chloe keeps her promise, and I join her in my own. We both attend each other’s home games as often as possible, and very rarely, we managed to catch an away game. It usually happened when we were both playing a game in the same city, but we took whatever we were given.
Things went down hill when she moved to Sweden.
She hadn’t been the one to tell me. Ellie was spending a week with me after returning from the Olympics, which I had managed to attend most of, and asked me how I felt about the move. Chloe and I had been dating for a year, so the shock that she hadn’t told me was bigger than the shock at the news.
“What do you mean? She would tell me if she was moving to Sweden.” The pity in my little sister’s eyes is enough to break me. She pats and rubs my back as I sob into her shoulder. My whole body shakes as I moan and weep, and by the time I stop my eyes burn and there isn’t a dry spot on her shirt.
-
“So this is it? You’re breaking up with me because I’m moving?” Chloe looks at me like I’ve got 2 heads as I stand on her front step.
“No, I’m breaking up with you because I had to find out from my little sister, by accident, that you’re moving. Were you ever going to tell me? Or was I just going to have to find out when The Jets removed your name from the squad list?”
“I’m going to come back for the A-League season anyway! It’s not like I’m never coming back, I’ll barely be gone 8 months. And I was going to tell you!”
“When? Once your plane touched down in Stockholm or wherever you’re going? In 5 months when I called you so you can explain why you didn’t come to my game? When were you going to tell me Chlo?” I’m met with silence.
“That’s what I thought.” I turn and walk away, never expecting to see her again.
I can hear her shouting something at me as I continue to walk down the road, droplets of rain beginning to fall on the pavement in front of me. Nothing really registers until I’m standing in front of my sister’s apartment door, clothes heavy with rain and a face void of any other emotion except heartbreak.
-
I don’t see Chloe for years to come following the tragic end of our relationship. Despite her coming back during the summer to play for Sydney, I had no reason to watch her games, Ellie having moved to Portland to develop her career.
Then Ellie moved to Lyon, and I decided to move with her, putting a pause to my cricketing career. Further away from Chloe and closer to Ellie seemed like the perfect deal.
So I helped Ellie move and meet her new teammates. Every morning I’d make her breakfast and then walk around the city, usually finding myself in a café or museum and writing a book. Something I never planned on doing anything with, but found a solace in.
That’s how I found myself in the same café I go to every Saturday, typing in the same document I have been typing in for 5 months. Desperately pressing the backspace as I sip the now cold coffee, I don’t notice someone sliding into the seat across from me.
“Fancy seeing you here.” I’m surprised I didn’t get whiplash at the speed in which my head snapped up to look at the girl across from me.
She looks different. Not really, just… older. And her hair is bleached, skin just a fraction more tan, eyes still that shimmering blue. Still beautiful
“Chloe- what the fuck are you doing here?” the words nearly get caught in my throat as I try to process what’s going on.
“Well, I’m playing for Bristol now, in case you didn’t know. Only spent 2 seasons in Sweden then went back to Sydney, went on loan to Washington for a season, back to Sydney, now I’m in England. We have a small break so I thought I’d come see Ellie. Planned everything around you, knew you wouldn’t want to see me. I didn’t take into account you might still like coffee as much as you used to.”
“How’d you even know I’m with Ellie?” it’s a dumb question but I ask it none the less.
“You think I stopped tracking your career because we broke up? I have to say, when I read the “renowned cricketer Y/N Carpenter taking a break for an unforeseen amount of time to help her little sister, Matildas star Ellie Carpenter, settle into the big leagues at Olympique Lyonnais.” headlines, I was shocked.” I finally managed to meet her eyes, the crow’s feet that crack at the corners making her ever the more pretty. It’s aggravating.
“Thought it’d help me get away from Sydney.”
“Sydney? Or me?” I almost want to grab her by the shoulders and scream at her how much I miss her, but I stay sat and silent. A satisfied hum escapes her lips and a smile graces her face.
“I miss you.” She says what I’m thinking, and I begin to think how much of a coward I am. It was so easy for her, why am I struggling?
She doesn’t let me reply, getting up and walking out. I get up to follow her but she’s vanished in the crowd, so I sit, letting my coffee grow colder, thinking about her.
~~~~~
“Ellie this is a bad idea.”
“Common. Meeks is bringing Harley and Kirstey. You love Harley. You can babysit!” my little sister is determined, although my fighting is useless as we drag our suitcases through the airport.
“Chloe is going to be there El.”
“Chloe is going to be here.” I nearly bump into her as she stops in front of us.
“And she’ll be your plane buddy.” The cheeky grin I was once so familiar with graces her face and I can feel the corner of my own lips twitching as my heart clenches. Fuck.
“Oh goody.” I try to ignore the sweat that begins to prick through my skin as Ellie stalks away from us to meet Emily Gielnik.
-
“Real talk.” Chloe’s face is serious as soon as we take our seats on the plane.
“I miss you, and I want to try this again. I get you may not want to but you can’t tell me you don’t still feel even the tiniest bit of love for me still.” Her finger waggles back and forth between as to indicate exactly what she’s talking about and I sigh.
“I miss you too…” I meet her eyes and I can see the hope that grows behind them.
“But if we try this out again, we have to take it slow. Like go out on a few dates to start with.”
“I can do that.” She eagerly nods her head in agreement.
“I’d really like that.” I smile back at her, and that seems to end the conversation.
As the engine rumbles and we begin moving along the tarmac, I rest my arm on the armrest. I gently slide my hand into Chloe’s and rest my head on her shoulder, closing my eyes. Maybe slow wasn’t necessary, I love her too much.
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can I request a post about why cricket is interesting?
It is a very strategic game, there's something very enjoyable to me about how quickly the tide changes due to outside reasons – a little rain, an overcast day, too blustery or too humid and the dynamics of the game change.
It is a game of risk management at both the individual and team level. One of the few team sports where coaches are pretty unimportant, captains make both rapid strategic calls and contribute 'physically' in the game. I'm not too fond of sports where the brain and the brawn are artificially deemed separate, like in football, where the tactical genius is ascribed to this ascetic figure of the manager and the player is the spoiled gifted athlete.
Bowlers and Batters have a face off for 6 balls (1 over) trying to play chicken and read each other's minds and intimidate. The margins, like all elite sport are extremely marginal, a few mm is the difference between a great shot and a terrible one that flies off to the fielder. It's also incredibly thrilling, as a team sport it offers the joys of camaraderie, but the unique nature of individual matchups also foregrounds star players.
Cricket (sort of like timed vs untimed chess?) is basically 3 kinds of games wrapped into one. Limited overs cricket, aka one day games (50 overs) and twenty20 (20 overs) are TV friendly, often very thrilling to watch with pretty much non stop action. They're pretty recent innovations to the game (2008 saw the first T20 match.) Test cricket is played over 5 days and is more about endurance and maintaining consistency. Its the one played with red balls in white clothes.
When it's lopsided cricket can be incredibly boring. It's a sport that was long dominated by amateurs and the "international" game, with professional clubs coming in pretty late to the game. It was protected partly due it's english perception as a gentleman's game. It's got very elitist hangups as a result, which is really bizarre in a game that is most popular in the Indian subcontinent. Honestly, cricket is inescapable in India. It's the background noise of my life. I've sort of known how it works forever, so I don't have any other advice for anyone who finds the rules complicated apart from keep watching.
I've been watching the T20 Women's Cricket World Cup and it's had two amazing nailbiting thrillers in the semi finals. Australia are pretty dominant, but South Africa will look to challenge them with some home crowd support in the finals on Sunday!
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NEW PLAYERS!!!
Australia's biggest Twenty20 cricket league, the Big Bash League (BBL), is made up of teams located in cities. It is well-known for its fast-paced and exciting structure, and it usually runs from December to February. Since its founding in 2011, the league has gained prominence and drawn both Australian talent and talents from other countries. Teams like the Sydney Sixers, Melbourne Stars, and Perth Scorchers battle it out for the championship in famous venues across the nation. The Australian cricket season's biggest event, the BBL is renowned for its exciting atmosphere, engaging fan base, and high-scoring matches. The BBL gives players a competitive edge and a worldwide appeal by featuring both established international cricket stars and up-and-coming talent. Finally, the league has made a substantial contribution to the expansion of T20 cricket by highlighting the exciting elements of the format and helping to nurture players who succeed in this shortened version of the game.
The way that Cricket Australia has responded strategically to the recent turmoil surrounding the Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash League is a very well thought out plan. The challenging assignment essentially entails requesting detailed proposals from prospective Team owners who have already contacted a player to captain their teams. The last four possibilities have been selected by Cricket Australia, which will choose the best one to form a new Big Bash League team. In-depth analyses of the suggested cricket infrastructure, cutting-edge team facilities, creative marketing approaches, and comprehensive community engagement programs would all be necessary for CA. Carefully vetting each proposal is the responsibility of a carefully chosen selection committee made up of business professionals, league executives, and seasoned cricketing greats. Beyond the obvious, the criteria consider the importance of cricket to the club owners, the size of the leaders' current fan base, economic feasibility studies, and the possibility of igniting a thriving cricket culture in the neighborhood. Concurrently, the committee is developing strict ownership and management policies to create a model for openness, moral behavior, and sound financial standing.
This comprehensive and complex strategy aims to create a revolutionary change in the league's course rather than just solving the problems that plagued the Sydney Sixers. Cricket Australia hopes to establish a new side that will play at the highest level of T20 cricket while also fitting in well with the local sports culture. Through the cultivation of a culture that is marked by impartiality, absolute responsibility, and proactive engagement with the community, this all-encompassing project seeks to establish the Big Bash League as the pinnacle of quality and enjoyment within the international cricket scene.
Task in hand
For the CA to select you as the next team in the Big Bash League, you will need to make a proposal presentation. You will be given one business owner and a team captain. Your proposal pitch needs to contain-
• strategies to persuade Cricket Australia
• marketing strategies
• a three-year financial plan that accounts for player acquisition costs
• public relations strategies
• a jingle
• the team logo
• star player hiring plans
• a press release for the team
• 15-player squad.
Deliverables:
Ppt not more than 7 slides
Report not more than 20 pages Extra deliverables are appreciated
A jingle
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