score - Pablo Gavi

chapter 7

Today was my fourth day in Barcelona, and also my day off. I slept in until around 9am, then finally got up. I made myself some toast for breakfast, then ate it on my balcony while watching the street below. This view reminded me of London. I didn't want to go out and do anything, but I didn't like the idea of doing nothing, so I just cleaned and organized my apartment.

I first washed any dishes, but there was only like three so it didn't take long. Then, I finished unpacking anything I hadn't already so there were no more boxes. I washed, dried, folded, and sorted all my clothes that I'd worn thus far. Lastly I cleaned up my bathroom.

Cleaning up didn't take long, so I decided to work on the article. I was hoping to get it mostly done within the first week so I could just enjoy my time here afterwards. I didn't have much, so I needed to turn my thoughts into sentences. I wanted to incorporate Gavi's quote, but not in the first paragraph.

"Mes Que Un Club: FC Barcelona," was all I had so far for the title.

"You've probably heard of the 26 time La Liga winning football team in Barcelona, Home to many iconic players such as Messi, Ronaldinho, and Xavi Hernández, but their talent would be nothing without their passion."

How did I even get this job?

I was stumped, so I decided to just call It quits for the rest of the day and look at it again tomorrow. It was 1:20pm, so I decided to warm up some left over rice I had. The rest of the day just went watch movies, get up, sit back down, repeat.

.

.

.

At 5:30PM, Gavi knocked on my door.

"Hello?" I said answering the door.

"Hi, Cleo," He said. When I realized who it was I smiled, "so, I was thinking."

"Oh no,"

"Well I feel like it's a little inconvenient for me to come up here every time I want to say something to you, and also a little creepy, but that's not really the point, but what if I come up here and you're not here or if you need to find me-"

"What are you getting at?" I cut him off.

"Can I put my number in your phone?" He asked.

"How long did you craft that speech for?"

"All practice," He said.

"Hold on," I turned around to go get my phone. Although he rambled on a lot, I thought it was cute. I handed him my phone, then leaned on the doorframe.

"Is that all you came here for?" I asked.

"Actually, no. I wanted to know if you wold come surfing with me. If you don't know how, that's fine, I can teach you, and I don't think anyone will follow us there, I mean its happened once before, but I found a new spot where the waves are good and-"

"Yeah, I'll go with you," he was rambling again, but I still thought it was cute, "do you want to come in while I change?" He didn't say anything, he just came in and sat down. I went into my room and shut the door.

No way. No way, no way, no way.

I went to my closet and pulled out the bin of swimsuits I brought. I picked the sturdiest one I had because I watched a video of a girl whose top fell off. The swimsuit I chose was just a plain dark red color. I put on my sunscreen, then threw a pair of jean shorts over top, and put a hoodie in my tote bag.

"Ok, let's go," I said, walking out of my room.

"My cars still in the garage," He said, so we went to the elevator. His car was parked in the same spot.

"Have you ever seen the movie about the girl who gets her arm bit off?" He asks me.

"Soul Surfer? Of course I have, I used to watch it with my cousins whenever we would see each other," am I doing it too?

"It made me afraid of the ocean. My sister, Aurora, told me that if I ever went swimming a shark would bite off my leg and I would never play football again. It's funny looking back."

"When did you learn to surf?" I asked him, curious how a dedicated footballer would have the time.

"After I watched teen beach movie when I was 8, I begged my mom and dad to teach me how to surf. My dad used to surf a lot, so he taught me. What do you do?"

"Hm, I used to play football, I've done volleyball, and I figure skated, I just stopped last year."

"Why'd you stop?"

"I didn't have time, I wanted to get serious about my career," I told him. The rest of the car ride was quiet with the radio playing.

"Is this your secret spot?" I asked.

"Kind of," he said.

"Its just the end of the beach," I said laughing.

"Were not quite there yet, grab a board off the top," he said, getting out of the car. I put my tote on my shoulder and grabbed a pink and yellow board. Should fit, right?

"Ok, down the steps, then walk to the right until you see the bridge," we walked over about 5 feet.

"This is still just the end of the beach," I said.

"No its not, if you don't get it, you don't get it," he said, grinning widely. I took off my shorts and briks, then set them in my tote bag.

We spent about 45 minutes going over all the basics. Don't lay too far to the front or back, paddle consistently, push up when you're sliding up the face, blah blah blah. Then I practiced pushing up while on the sand.

"I think I'm ready," I said.

"Uh, if you say so," Gavi said.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You got this," he said, laughing. At that point I had been preparing for over an hour, so I decided to go anyway, fuck it, right? I waited for a wave that wasn't too tall, then paddled out, then pushed up, and then I was surfing. I was actually doing it. I could hear Gavi cheering from shore. It was in that moment that I realized I had no idea what to do after. The wave started getting smaller, and then it rolled towards shore and my back slapped the water. I came back up, gasping for air, and Gavi was standing with his head thrown back, laughing.

"This is not funny!" I shouted, but Gavi just laughed harder. As they say, laughter is contagious, so I started laughing, too. I paddled in to meet him.

"You didn't do so bad," he said, smiling. I laughed a little.

"You can't do any better," I said, even though I saw him do better like 12 times.

"Cmon, lets go, it's late," I put on my hoodie, then went up to his car.

"Hey I'm going to get a smoothie, do you want anything?" He asked me.

"No thanks, I left my wallet at home," I told him. He looked at me like I just confessed murder.

"Are you serious? I'm buying, what do you want."

"I'll just get whatever you're having."

"Ok," he said. He ordered two banana coconut smoothies, paid, then handed me mine.

"Thank you," I said, taking a drink. It was delicious.

"Of course, thanks for coming."

Gavi had somewhere else to go, so he dropped me off. I thanked him one more time, then went up to my apartment to take a long shower. What a day.

A/N: long ish chapter... thank you for all the reads and votes, it means a lot!