The Only Exception

Part One - Chapter Eighteen: Drunken Leo

Lucia smiled as she watched Lionel prepared for a night out with his friends, she had insisted that he go out and celebrate the team winning the league; she would be fine having a peaceful night in without her husband of four weeks.

“Are you sure that you don’t mind me going out?” Lionel asked knowing that there was still two matches to the season, he was still out injured but he knew that his friends still wanted him at the celebrations.

Lucia nodded her head, she had her entire evening planned out and she was looking forward to having a nice quiet night in; it would allow her to think about her remerging feelings for the footballer.

“You deserve a night out,” Lucia said as she curled up on the couch, she knew that they were due to go and pick up Poppy in a few days’ time and she was excited to see the puppy again.

Lionel nodded his head warily, he couldn’t remember the last time that he had been out with his friends and they didn’t just want to celebrate the season but his marriage to Lucia; they were all so happy for him right now.

“Leo… I will be fine,” Lucia said as she carefully up from her place and smiled at him, she was glad that he was worried about her but she would be fine; she liked the peace and quiet, something that she hadn’t been able to enjoy by herself lately.

Lionel nodded his head as he looked at Lucia, he didn’t feel right about leaving her home alone especially since she had only been in Barcelona a couple of weeks; she didn’t really have any friends but Shakira right now.

“If you need anything… just call me,” Lionel said worried that something might happen while he was out, he didn’t want her feeling that she couldn’t call him.

***

“I can’t believe you didn’t invite me to your wedding,” Cesc muttered with a roll of his eyes, he sipped on his beer as he stared at Lionel a little disappointed that he hadn’t invited his best friends to his wedding.

Gerard sipped on his own drink, he knew that he was the only person at this party that knew why Lionel had really gotten married; he had talked with his own girlfriend about what had happened and he was a little disappointed that Lionel had done that.

“It was a small private wedding,” Lionel said as he tried to deflect attention away from his marriage a little, he didn’t want anyone suspecting anything about his relationship with Lucia; she might have been his wife but he wasn’t sure how he felt about her completely.

Cesc pouted as he nodded his head, he didn’t blame Lionel for wanting a private wedding; he had seen the madness that had fallen when Andres Iniesta had gotten married after the Euros and it would have been worse for his friend.

“So how did you meet Lucia?” Victor Valdes asked as he sat down at the table where Lionel was, he had to admit that a lot of them had been surprised that they hadn’t heard of the blonde before Lionel had turned up married to her.

Lionel sipped on his drink knowing that this was one of the easier questions that he would have to answer about him and his wife.

“We grew up together in Rosario… she was my best friend,” Lionel said with a fond smile, he was lucky to have her in his life; she was an amazing person and always had been.

Alexis Sánchez cooed drunkenly at his friend knowing that he was being sweet, he doubted that he had seen Lionel this happy when he had been with Antonella.

“So you’re childhood sweethearts?” Carles Puyol asked as he raised an eyebrow at Lionel, he had thought that most of them knew all about Lionel’s childhood in Argentina; there was little that people didn’t know about the Argentinian.