Harbinger Of Glory

The temperature outside and inside the apartment was like night and day.

Leo, as he stepped inside, quivered once as if to shake away the cold before closing the door behind him.

Seated in front of him, Sofia had her feet tucked under her on the sofa.

The television was on at a volume that suggested she was listening to it more than watching it because her eyes were on one thing and one thing only.

Her wine.

She looked up when Leo came through the door, and after fumbling with her words for a while, she made her thoughts out.

”Where’s....Where’s Carro?” she slurred, firmly painting the picture Leo already had in mind.

He took his jacket off and tossed it onto the chair by the door.

”He left,” he said, scanning the coffee table until he found the wine bottle sitting at roughly the halfway mark.

He picked it up, found the cork on the table beside it, and pressed it back in.

”He didn’t say goodbye,” Sofia said, mildly.

”He said to say goodbye,” Leo said, trying to get his aunt to lean off with the questions.

He carried the bottle to the kitchen and set it down by the cabinet, out of immediate reach, and stood there for a moment.

--

Carlo had looked at him for a long second after saying it, waiting, and Leo had said the first thing that came to him.

”Why?”

Carlo’s brow went up. ”What do you mean by ’ why?”

”I don’t mean it badly,” Leo said, waving his hand.

”I’m just. I’m surprised.”

Carlo nodded slowly, like the reaction had confirmed something he’d already expected.

”Yeah,” he said. ”I figured.”

He reached over and nudged Leo’s swing forward, a gesture that said sit down, and Leo, who had somehow ended up standing without noticing, sat back down.

”I don’t want to fully leave City,” Carlo said. ”A loan. That’s what I’m thinking.”

Leo listened.

”And I know what you’re going to say next,” Carlo continued.

”Why Wigan. Why not Serie A, which is sort of home or some mid-table Premier League club where you’d probably get decent minutes and nobody would raise an eyebrow about it.”

”Those were my thoughts, yeah,” Leo said.

”Because if I go somewhere like that,” Carlo said, ”I’m still a prospect. That’s all I am to them. They take me because of what City think I could be, not because of what they actually think of me. And so I get prospect minutes.” He paused. ”Better than what I have now, sure. But still prospect minutes.”

”And Wigan’s different.”

”Wigan’s different,” Carlo said.

”I’m ready, Leo. I know I’m ready. And I need to be somewhere that lets me prove it without putting a ceiling on it before I’ve even started.”

He looked at the road.

”Those other clubs, even the relatively smaller ones as compared to the giants, would still have questions. About my experience. About whether I can handle it. Sure, they could take me on and wouldn’t lose a thing, but I need trust.”

”And you think Wigan would?”

”At least they wouldn’t question me as much since they’ve experienced first-hand what I can do with a ball at my feet!”

Leo thought about that as a stretch of silence seemed to loom over them.

”I’m glad you told me,” Leo said eventually. ”But what am I supposed to do about it?”

Carlo looked at him.

”Dawson,” he said simply.

--

Leo was still standing in the kitchen thinking about it when he became aware of being watched.

He turned and saw Mia leaning against the hallway doorframe in her pyjamas with her hair wrapped in a towel, looking at him like she had been calling him for a while.

”What?” Leo questioned as he came to face her gaze.

”Are you going to drink that as well?” she said, nodding at the wine bottle by the cabinet.

Leo looked at the bottle.

Then at her, before, ”What?” he questioned again, this time genuinely and laughed despite himself.

After that, he stepped away from the cabinet, all while Mia kept on giving him some weird stares.

”Oh, leave it, Mia,” he said as his sister turned and walked away.

The days afterwards were the quietest Leo had had in a while.

He hadn’t known what to do with the quiet at first.

It had been so long since the calendar had had something circled on it.

And that absence felt strange, like waiting for something that wasn’t coming.

But he settled into it eventually.

Mornings without a schedule became his favourites.

He finally had time to indulge, though he was careful with whatever he ate.

Still felt sort of relieving for him.

And even with the break, you still couldn’t take the ball out of the man who truly loved it.

Leo went into the complex a few times, sometimes with Ezra and Jake and most of the time alone.

Just him and the ball and the training pitch in the early morning.

But outside of that, for the first time in what felt like the entire season, Leo had time, and he decided to use some of it in finding an apartment.

”This is the second one today,” Jake said from the driver’s seat, and it wasn’t his first complaint.

Leo was in the back, looking out the window as they pulled away from the latest viewing.

”I know.”

”Two viewings. And we were in each one for an hour.”

”I was being thorough.”

”You were reading the information pack they gave you out loud,” Jake said.

”To yourself. In the kitchen.”

Leo rolled his eyes at that, but Jake caught it in the mirror and pointed at him.

”Don’t roll your eyes. You’ve had me driving around since eleven, and it’s nearly three.”

”You offered,” Leo said.

”I was being nice.”

”So keep being nice.”

Jake grunted at that before making a left onto a new road.

”Just get your driving test done,” Jake muttered after a while.

”Seriously. You’ve been on about learning for months.”

”Yeah, yeah,” Leo said, but just as it seemed like he would say something next, his phone began to ring.

He looked at the screen, and on the caller ID was Noah.

”What’s up?” he said, answering while Noah’s voice came through.

He talked for about forty-five seconds, and Leo listened, glancing once at Jake in the front seat, who was pretending not to be listening and very obviously was.

”Yeah,” Leo said.

”I’m in the car with Jake, actually.”

Hearing his name, Jake perked his ear, but Leo went silent after that before he nodded a while later.

”Okay.” Another pause. ”We’ll be there soon.”

He took the phone from his ear afterwards, and Jake was already looking at him in the mirror with his mouth slightly open.

”We?” he mouthed as Leo put his phone in his pocket and exhaled.

”Let’s swing by and get Ezra,” he said. ”Then head to Wigan.”

Jake stared at him through the mirror for a moment.

Then he indicated and took the next left without saying anything.