Home is Where the Heart is - Pablo Gavi

Chapter 2: Meeting the team

I wake up the next morning at nine, feeling gross and groggy. I take a shower in the bathroom attached to my room and get dressed into some clean clothes from my suitcase. My uncle must've brought it in for me last night.

I went downstairs into his large kitchen thinking I might be able to catch him before he leaves. Instead I fought a note on the marble counter.

Training starts at 6am. Will be back around noon.

Help yourself to anything, you know where everything is.

Have a relaxing morning Isla, you deserve it.

Amar Tio.

I go over to one of the cabinets and pull out a glass, filling it with water from the giant cooler near the entrance to the kitchen. I chug half of it before going over to the fridge to inspect its contents.

My uncle keeps a full fridge—probably because of all the players always at his house—but only a few things I would consider making for breakfast. The top shelf has eggs, but I really don't feel like cooking so I pull out some yoghurt and fruit. I scoop the yoghurt into a bowl and rinse and throw the empty container into the recycling. I cut some strawberries on a cutting board and put them on top, adding some raspberries and blueberries.

Done making my gourmet meal, I take it with me into the living room where I turn on the tv. I flip through the channels but everything is in Spanish so I turn on Netflix instead. I already have my account set up in English.

About halfway through my show I go on my phone and look up the FC Barcelona Instagram account. Their PR already seems pretty good; whoever's controlling it has already posted a number of stories revolving around their training. I've never been good at social media, or interested in learning more about it, but this job could be good for me. I decide to push it off until later, knowing my uncle won't make me decide whether or not I want a position today.

For the remainder of the morning I did as I was told, I rested. I kicked my feet up and watched tv and called Alana and Evie who are convinced I am living the dream.

I'm about to find some lunch when I hear the front door open. I get up to greet my uncle. He hugs me and asks me how my morning was in Spanish.

"Relajante,(Relaxing)" I respond, hoping I didn't say something totally incorrect. "I was about to find some lunch."

"Oh don't worry about it," my uncle says, "the boys are grabbing some on the way over." He comes into the house fully, hanging up his jacket in the closet and closing the front door.

"The boys?" I ask.

"My players," he specifies and I feel stupid for not picking up on that. "They all wanted to meet you."

"They did?" I ask, unsure what to make of him telling his players about me. What did he tell his players about me?

"Si. I told them my young sobrina was visiting for the summer and they might see you around. They took that as an invitation to come over for lunch to meet you. Most of them are older, you might not have much in common with them, but there are a few—Gavi and Pedri—who are about your age."

I follow my uncle to the kitchen where he fills up his water bottle. "When are they coming?" I ask, looking down at what I'm wearing. Black sweat pants and a grey hoodie.

"They're on their way," he responds casually, preoccupied with the water cooler.

I don't want him to think I'm obsessed with the way I look so I casually say, "Okay I'm going to change real quick."