life as it is | e. durm

sieben.

"Ughhhh fine" I muttered to myself as I paused the match and stood up to go open the door to see Marcel holding a box of toys.

"Are those for me?" I jokingly asked as I put my hand over my heart.

"They're Lena's. Marco left them at my house along with some home DVDs, I figured I'd return it back to you guys." Marcel said as he handed them over to me.

"What are the home DVDs about?" I asked as I invited him to sit on the couch.

"I'm not sure.. Should we watch them?" Marcel asked.

"Sure just let me see if Rose is done so she come watch as well" I said as I walked over to the kitchen to find Rose already eating by herself.

"Hey! Why didn't you call me to eat?" I said surprisingly.

"Is Marcel still there? He still hates me." Rose said as she completely ignored my question and ate nervously,

"Why would he still hate you?" I asked with a mouthful of food.

"From when I sort of rejected him at Lena's party" Rose said.

"Oh naaaah he's well over that! Come to the living room." I said as I grabbed her plate as I heard her whispering my name loudly.

"You want food Marcel?" I asked Marcel as he politely rejected.

"Hey Rose" Marcel said as Rose said hi back.

"You guys are awkward as fuck" I said cracking up at their weird exchange.

When I put in the home video it was from the day Marco and Diana arrived back from America with Lena. Marco recorded Diana secretively as she sang Lena to sleep. The three of us us were all watching intensely as the video changed. Marco had recorded when we lost versus Bayern Munich and we were all in the locker rooms. He had recorded me starting to cry in the locker room as he approached me and we just hugged for the longest, I'll always miss his hugs. The video changed again and this time it was at Lena's party, we were all singing happy birthday to her and Marco had called Rose and I to take a picture with Lena even though he just continued recording. He recorded when I picked up a piece of cake and threw it at Rose, Lena started laughing so I picked her up just as she threw up on me right after. You could hear Marco's laughter from the back of the camera and he recorded his dad screaming at us whilst Diana cleaned up the throw up from my shirt.

We all stopped watching the videos since Marcel said he had to go and Rose and I didn't want to continue watching.

-

Rose sat next to me as she had finished making lunch. She stared at the painting of a sad clown that was next to the front door.

"You know I really hate that painting, it creeps me out so much." Rose said as she just shivered at the sight of it.

"You know we keep everything as Diana and Marco were to come back when we know they won't. Let's get rid of that painting, since we'll now be living here." I said as I went up to take off the painting.

"It was a gift from Marco's grandmother anyway, they just hung it up to not seem rude." I said.

"You're right, they left us their house. Might as well make into our likings." Rose said as she ran upstairs to their room.

"What are you doing?" I yelled as I followed upstairs.

"I'm throwing away their bed covers. I hate the color orange." She said as she ripped off the blankets and stuffed them into a bag and ran back downstairs again.

We started eating lunch as we heard a knock on the door again. Do people not see the doorbell? I told Rose as she went to go get the door.

Rose opened the door to some blonde lady in a suit.

"Hi my name is Nadine and I'm with child protective services." She said as she walked inside.

"Did we do something wrong?" I spoke up.

"No, no Mr Durm, I'm just here to check up on you guys and how you take care of Lena. Mr Reus' lawyer called me up to check if you two were taking good care of her." She said in a high tone, I was already annoyed of her.

Rose and I just both formed an 'o' shape with our mouths silently.

"Where is Lena by the way?" Nadine asked.

"She's sleeping.." I said as Rose said she was at her grandparents' house.

"So which one is it?" Nadine asked.

"Lena's grandparents picked her up as Erik took a shower." Rose said.

"Alright, well just get used to me stopping by unexpectedly every once in a while to come check up on Lena again." Nadine said.

"Wait, you're stopping by again?" I groaned.

"Yes, and thank you for the positive attitude Mr Durm" Nadine said irritated at me. I didn't care, she is annoying already.

"We'll be prepared for you next visit Ms Nadine, and thank you for your time to come visit" Rose said as she walked Nadine out.

"Don't be rude to her! She can take Lena away from us in an instant" Rose said.

"Sorry I didn't know.." I started to say.

"And dress well for her next visit, and be more polite." Rose said as she looked down at my stained white shirt and my BVB boxers.

"This is as casual as I get, and I know you're turned on by me right now" I said as I did a little walking dance over to her.

"Oh please, I'm not like those 14 year old girls who simply get turned on by the sight of you." She said as she shoved me away.

"Well if you do want to get crazy, I'll be in my room playing Fifa. Feel free to walk right in" I said winking and laughing right after.

"Ew gross, then 'feel free' to wait all day and the rest of your life because I'm going to go pick up Lena" Rose said as she grabbed her keys and walked out the door.

It was worth a shot.. Maybe that would've gotten her mind off of Marco and Diana. But she is always so arrogant like always, but I just can't seem to get over her. I thought as I continued to play FIFA.

(A/N: Hiii guys I have changed the book cover, although it doesn't fully come out lol. I'd like to give a shout out to claryvette for dedicating her prologue of her new story 'clocks' about Erik Durm 😊 go check it out she just published it! And thanks to the rest of you for voting and commenting! I always appreciate it 💖)