[ cuatro ]
During her lunch break, Valerie was sat in the employee lounge with a ham sandwich and a bottle of orange juice sitting there for her to eat. The blonde didn't like to rely on her parents' money and attempted to do things for herself. Cooking was one of those things, although she wasn't very good at it. After poorly attempting and burning a pot full of spanish rice, she finally gave up and made a ham sandwich. It was the simplest thing she could think of. It only required a few slices of thin sliced ham and bread.
The other thing she did while on her break was to try to text Sergi. When Marc introduced them, he had been so charming and polite. They had gotten on from the start. Now he never answered her messages. Valerie felt like an idiot, chasing after someone who didn't love her back, but it was what Marc had done and it was working quite well for him.
When it was evident Sergi wouldn't be replying to her messages, she tried texting her friend Ashley next.
'Eyy Catalana!' Valerie typed into her cellphone and hit send.
'Hola Madrileña.' Soon came the response from Ashley. Another message immediately popped up into Valerie's inbox. 'How are things in Madrid, the best city in the whole wide world?'
'Don't make me laugh, Ashley.' Valerie sent, but cracked a smile at her friend's message. She found it amusing how different, yet similar they were. Ashley had been born in Barcelona and was a die hard Real Madrid fan, while Valerie was born in Madrid and was a die hard Barcelona fan. Curious, the blonde sent another message to her friend. 'So how are things with you and Marc?'
'Marc is so cute. I think I love that Barca boy. Sigh. I especially like the way he looks like he's totally and hopelessly lost when he smiles. Wait, scratch that. He looks adorable and hopelessly lost at all times. He's such a dork.' commented the dark haired girl who was living in Valencia. A second later, she sent another message. 'Don't tell him I said that o se agranda.' Or he'll get cocky, she said in spanish.
With a grin, Valerie took a screen shot of Ashley's comment and sent it to Marc.
'Look at what Ashley told meee!' was the caption she attached to her message.
'She said that about me?' Marc's message came to her inbox. Next to his words was a smiley face.
'Mhm.' Valerie replied.
'But I don't look hopelessly lost all the time.' The Catalan footballer complained in his next text message. 'Do I?'
Valerie began typing away at her phone. 'Boy, do you own a mirror?'
'Yes.' He texted back.
'Go to it.' Valerie instructed.
'Ok.' Marc typed.
'Look into it.' Valerie continued, 'And see the truth.'
'I'm going to send that screen shot to Ashley, along with a picture which proves I never look lost.' The Catalan decided.
To which Valerie replied with, 'You do that.' And to her friend, she sent, 'Marc is ridiculous.
Soon after, one of the eomployees went to get Valerie. She was needed in taking care of the ten year old children in the art room. This was her favorite shift because ten year olds were the oldest at the after school care program and they were always well behaved. Quickly finishing up the rest of her sandwich, she grabbed her juice bottle and headed for the art room.
-
Valerie waited at the reception desk with the last child that needed to be picked up. For the most part, the day care closed at five, but she couldn't close until the last child was picked up. The rest of the emplyees were already gone, their shifts had ended.
When the German footballer walked past the front doors, he was met with the sight of his son playing with building blocks on the carpet floor of the day care lobby. Next to the small boy was a blonde haired young woman who was helping him set up everything, on her face was a genuine smile that she never showed for him. Leon was thrilled to be having someone spend so much time with him, and Toni felt bad for that. Because of his career, he didn't have as much time as he wanted to have for his son.
The two turned upon hearing Toni's hurried footsteps.
"Papa!" Leon grinned happily.
"Hallo Leon." He greeted his son as the child raced towards him and jumped into his father's open arms. In his excitement, he had toppled over the tower of bricks he had been setting up with Valerie.
Valerie remained sat on the ground watching them. The smile faded from her face as she spoke to him. "You're making my job so much harder, Kroos. Now I have to get the sign in sheet out and put all the blocks away. What is so hard about arriving at five like I told you?" She asked him.
"You never said anything about being here at five." He argued, holding his son in his arms.
"I'm sure I did." She said.
"No." He shook his head, he thought he would have remembered if she had mentioned it.
"Yes." She said as she picked herself up off the floor and began to gather the colorful bricks.
Toni sighed, "I'm not going to argue with you because you're like the refs at a football game, no argument can win. And complaining can get me kicked out."
Once all the blocks were in their box, she went around the desk to grab the sign in sheet. She had him sign out that he had picked up his son and was then handed the boy's belongings.
Valerie's expression softened at the German footballer. "Sorry, Kroos. I'm just a bit upset over stupid reasons, which have nothing to do with you. You can go home now, and I'll be seeing you tomorrow. It was a pleasure watching over Leon, he is such a sweet little boy. But he's very quiet, I wonder who he gets that from." She joked, a tiny hint of a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth as she looked at Toni. He was genuinely surprised that she was apologizing to him, or that she even knew how to apologize.
"Thank you for taking care of my son." He smiled at her.
"Like I said," She nodded, "It was a pleasure. I kind of wish the other children his age were more like him. The others spend most of their energy eating, playing, sleeping, or yelling. And when they yell, trust me, nine times out of ten they'll yell right into your ear."
"Maybe they need a warm glass of milk before bed." He chuckled, earning a laugh from her as well.
"Or they might need a late night adventure in which their dad fights a woman at the market for the last gallon of milk." She added with a small shrug of her shoulders, remembering the events of the previous night.
Toni nodded. The two waved goodbye to each other and he headed for his car with his son in his arms. Valerie stayed behind, making sure everything was in order before locking up for the day. Then she would return to her house where she would probably talk to Ashley again, or try to contact Sergi.
-
so here is a new update and i included marc and ashley! ^.^ i don't know if its just me, maybe it is, but when marc smiles i feel like he looks like he has no idea what is going on. does anyone else think that? like "what am i doing here again?" aww my little marc, he is a babe. anyway, i hope you all like the chap. please vote and stuff it means a lot.
i love you!
-clary xx
