For the Love of Football [Fernando Torres]

12

"So when are you going to start dancing again?" Steph looked at me.

I looked up from my book, and bit my lip. I hadn't been back to ballet since we got here during our first week. Everything had settled down, it's been a few weeks since Fernando moved in with us and we were all living in harmony. The kids didn't come the first fortnight but that's because Olalla had to work through a discreet lawyer and the woman had advised that they wait for a month or two before starting the visits.

"Um, not sure. I think I'll look around soon." I rolled my eyes at her look.

"Soon, as in today. We're going to the Royal Ballet today. They are having an open audition today." I gawked at her and then she laughed.

"B-but I haven't prepared?" I looked at her, still gawking.

She laughed, and then took my book from my hands, putting in my bookmark and snapping it shut.

"Go get changed, and go get your things. We're leaving in," She looked at her watch, "20 minutes. I want you showered and warmed up by then." I stared at her.

"Chop chop." She clapped her hands and pushed me in the house and up the stairs.

I rolled my eyes at her but I showered and started warming up like she asked me to.

The stretches in my body, the burn of the muscle as they were finally put into use after a few weeks of hiatus, it really made me enjoy my body. I did the warm up routines, so burned into my muscle memory that I didn't even need to think about it anymore. I descended into a split, just as Steph walked in. Without me knowing, she watched me as I started doing what I love the most.

Dance.

"I forgot how amazing you are." I looked up at her awe struck and warm voice.

I blushed and quickly stretched out.

"Thanks." I muttered grabbing my bag from the floor.

She was holding the keys to the car the club provided and I laughed at her impatient expression.

"I'll catch you by the car; I just want to quickly brush my teeth." I said, already turning to the bathroom.

I quickly ran, after I heard her small agreement and brushed my teeth, looking at my reflection.

I looked normal like always. With my long blonde hair in a pony, my blue eyes sparkling and my full lips covered with toothpaste. I laughed at myself. I don't see what supposedly everyone saw.

A beauty? Please.

I scoffed internally and spat out the used toothpaste. I washed my mouth out and grabbed my keys. I put off the lights in my room, and as I turned around I crashed into a hard but soft wall. I rubbed my nose, it being a victim in this crash.

"Sorry chica." His voice soft, my knees going just as soft.

I looked up, and went bright red. My mind immediately sprung to the evening we had last spent alone together. I had avoided being alone with him like a plague, Fernando doing the same thing. This friendship was getting too complicated and I didn't want my best friend to figure it out. If she did, Patrick would too and I was too scared to allow that to happen. Fernando didn't need the distraction that I was, so I was grateful that he avoided me too.

"Uh, uh. I'm going to go." I said panicked. 

As I quickly hurried away, his shout echoed after me.

"Wish me luck."

---

Fernando stared at the reporters, not really seeing them. He waited for Carlo to finish his introductory speech. He felt like he was betraying his family, as his mind flashed through the memories with his team, Liverpool.

Uh, his old team.

He mentally smacked himself but he couldn't help but feel very alone as he realized, that even with him going to Chelsea, he wasn't going to be part of the big family anymore. He had felt this way when he said goodbye but now, it was even more prominent.

The memories turned to bittersweet memories of him and Olalla. She was still in Liverpool but was leaving for Spain soon. Of course, his mother was happy she was going back with her grandchildren in tow. Somehow, he knew that his mother blamed him for their separation. He heard the clapping and made himself refocus on what was happening around him.

"Fernando Torres, sign here, here, here, here and here." 

Carlo pointed out the various places and as he signed, he heard the rising applause of the spectators and reporters.

He smiled at the reporters, and they took his pictures. He stood up and Carlo and he shook hands, making it a done deal.

Snap. Snap.

Shout. Question.

Snap. Snap.

Shout. Question.

"Why Chelsea? Why didn't you stay with Liverpool?" Rebecca Bloom, from the Sun asked him.

He looked at her, then smiled, not really knowing how to give her the real answer. Before he could reply, he was saved by Carlo.

"He decided to join us because he saw us a team with enough potential. It is not however our business to ask him as to why he didn't stay. So, it is now 12 o clock, I have some work to do so I have officially ended the press conference." His voice was brisk, blunt and to the fact.

Fernando nodded to the loud crowd of reporters. He followed the retreating figure of Carlo and as he walked around he couldn't help but feel like he was in the middle of his first day of high school. He felt like a little year 9, freshman or grade 8. The reporters were taking pictures of his 'first official day' at Chelsea, even though he had secretly been practicing with the team for a few weeks now. He stared around at the modern and spacious club, wondering if his decision was right. Either way, he had to get away, away from bad memories, from bad feelings and everything he didn't want in his life.

At least he can go back to Marietta now.

That's another thing that's been confusing him. Marietta. He did not need the drama of having feelings for her but it was becoming unavoidable.

What was it that really attracted him to her?

Her gorgeous wide smile, her sapphire blue eyes, her cute button nose, her luscious full lips? Or was it the body she worked hard for? He had noticed her graceful dancer walk, the way her toes go first, and then her heels like a lullaby.

It's as if she was always prepared to suddenly leap into a grande jeté and gracefully fall into Patrick's arms.

He envied him for their relationship. They were perfect together. Or so it seemed. He wasn't always sure, he had seen her react fearfully to him sometimes, but Fernando thought it was just a trick his love torn heart was playing on him. He wanted them to be torn so he could be with her but no, they were perfect.

They were what he wanted. Yet, why did she seem to be attracted to him?

He knew it was best that they avoided each other.