I MISS YOU I'M SORRY, KYLIAN MBAPPE

017. gossip and hotel beds

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
. . .GOSSIP AND HOTEL BEDS

the late july sun shone right into louise's fancy sunglasses. her hands held her car's steering wheel, and ethan mbappé's voice was booming from her speakers.

she was driving on the highway, with psg's player bus driving right in front of her car. there was surprisingly little traffic, and the drive to le havre had been a very calm one so far.

at first louise had been on the phone with kylian, listening along to him and his teammates joking around was a good thing to keep her entertained.

but the french striker had fallen asleep twenty minutes ago and his younger brother had taken his phone and was exuberantly telling her a story.

"so this girl was still gripping my shoulders, and i'm thinking: 'alright godzilla, that's enough!' so i kind of gently push her away, but she grabs onto my arm and just starts bawling her eyes out!"

louise laughs and shakes her head in disbelief. her favourite thing about ethan had always been his story telling abilities, he never failed to crack her up.

"that's not even all of it!" he continues, "tears are streaming down her face, and she's all red and i'm thinking she's gonna like blow up or whatever, but then—" he cuts himself off by laughing, "sorry, sorry— it's so funny."

"she then looks me dead in the eyes and says: 'i have to marry your brother!' so i'm standing there, shell shocked, and i just burst out laughing."

louise's jaw had dropped and she was unable to stop laughing. "there's no way." she says, wiping tears out of her eyes, "there's absolutely no way."

ethan laughs as well, "well it happened! best fan encounter ever, if you ask me." there's a grumbling noise in the background and louise can vaguely hear ethan say something.

"bonjour." kylian's groggy voice makes the blonde smile. "désolé pour lui" she lets out a breathy laugh, "it's okay! ethan's funny, did he tell you about the fan encounter he had last week?"

        his laugh booms from her car's speakers, "he did!" louise smiles. there's distant voices talking to each other before kylian's voice is clear again, "sorry, ethan wants to know how long until we're in le havre."

        louise looks at the screen in her car, "thirty minutes." she says. there's a loud groan coming from someone that sounds an awful lot like ethan, followed by a thud and multiple gasps. "oops. i pushed ethan out of his seat."

✩

        when they arrived at the hotel louise got out of her car and walked over to the players' bus. some of the footballers greet her with a smile or wave as she walks past.

        with her bag slung over her shoulder she looks around for kylian. he's pulling his bag out of the bus, or he's trying to. ethan stands behind him, silently mocking his older brother.

        the youngest mbappe stops when he sees louise. he grins and swings his arm around her shoulder, "you wanna bet? i say it'll take him ten minutes to get his bag." louise laughs and shakes her head.