The Stalkers' Guide To Roadtrips

Day 34: Xavier Blakely Is A Literal Sunshine

                                                                                       Say after me,

                                                                    It's no better to be safe than sorry.

Start Destination: Barcelona, Spain

End Destination: Barcelona, Spain

Via: The Nou Camp, Palau Municipal d'Esports de Badalona

9:03AM (GMT) / 10:03AM (Local Time)

I have no idea why I am stood outside of a football stadium queuing to go inside, but I am, and I blame Elise entirely.

For some reason she's obsessed with the sport and apparently visiting the Nou Camp is something 'we have to do'. I wanted so say no, I nearly did, but then Elise told me it was a lifelong dream of hers and pouted, making it impossible for me to refuse.

Luckily I wasn't the only one opposed to the idea but Elise managed to placate Levi, Rosie and I with promises of paying for lunch once we were done. There were grumbles but all four of us are here anyway waiting for the impending boredom to arrive.

I'm shocked by the number of people here, the idea that people actually want to see this stuff – never mind the fact that they are actually willing to wait to see this stuff – is alien to me although I suppose it is only like me waiting in line to get my favourite author to autograph my book or rebuying books so that I have the whole series with the same cover design.

And so I wait patiently and don't even complain once.

"We're going in," Elise whispers and the excitement in her voice brings a smile to my face because at least this wait has been worth it for one of us.

And I'd be in denial if I said that my stomach didn't twist with a slight tinge of excitement when she said that because the truth is that I don't care about football – like I actually could not care less – but I'm still intrigued as to what we'll find inside and who knows, I might be blown away by how interesting and amazing the whole experience is. Then again, maybe I won't.

We shuffle forward slowly behind everyone else and Elise grips my hand and squeezes it slightly; out of the corner of my eye I can see that she is doing the same to Rosie.

She drags us along faster and I have to grab hold of the material of Levi's shirt so that we do not leave him behind. He raises his eyebrows at me questioningly but says nothing and so I tug him along after us, trying to urge him to move quicker.

Inside we walk down a long corridor. The walls covered in pictures of people who I presume are players. In my ear Elise natters on about who they are and why they're there but I struggle to follow what she is saying. There are too many words that I don't understand for me to comprehend what she is telling me and so I nod along and focus on taking in my surroundings.

It is very clean. That is all I can think as we move as a group. I can only imagine that their cleaning costs are very expensive as I cannot spot a speck of dust or a stain anywhere. I know that it is a strange to be thinking but it is all I can focus on and so I squint at the floor, trying to spot any sign of dirtiness. I do this when I am anywhere that seems impossibly clean; I try to prove that even the cleanest of places cannot be devoid of dirt, it makes me feel better about the state of my own room.

"What are you doing?" Elise asks when she spots me squinting at the floor.

I know that what I am doing is weird and so I decide not to tell her truth, this decision will no doubt save me from plenty of teasing.