𝙇𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 || 𝙋𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙤 𝙂𝙖𝙫𝙞

Chapter 6

"And welcome", Pedri said lightly, rubbing his shoes before entering the room, "Like it?".

I copied his actions before entering.

"It's....nice", I replied, hiding my real broke ass reaction.

"You can make yourself at home, I need to go make some calls, be back in a minute".

I explored the room, after my host left.

It was gigantic to say the least. I walked around the room in awe.

There was a dining table right next to the window which oversaw the ocean, a king sized bed a few feet away from it with fluffed up pillows sitting on it. I walked to it, softly touching the material. Across the bed, on the right was a closet with robes and clothes, a few which were Pedri's. It seemed like he'd been staying in the hotel for quite a while. On the left was a ceiling to floor window, with giant curtains on either side, which made it look like a magical entrance to some enchanted land. I touched the window pane, it's cool surface soothing me. Everything seemed surreal. How was I in a hospital , looking after Will, and then in some 5 star hotel with one of the most sought after footballers of the century, in the matter of a few hours? Everything felt surreal. I closed my eyes, sighing deeply.

"You like it here?", Pedri asked. I turned around, as he took out a couple of plastic containers from the mini fridge. "Yeah, especially with the ocean waves moaning"

"Moaning?", He chuckled.

"You know what I meant", I replied, my face burning.

"Let's not talk about that before we eat", He said, a  sweet smile breaking on his face. 

I'd always been strict about where I stood with the idea of me dating someone shot-gun, but every time this man smiled, the ice around my heart melted a little, and his frequent sweet smiling wasn't helping.

"I miss my Mom while eating", Pedri stated, before snapping his head at me, as though to make sure he didn't want to trigger something within me. "She must be an amazing cook", I answered, smiling a little. "She'd always make a huge fuss about me not eating properly when I was young, it's become the reason she blamed, for the thin body I had when I first began with football". I could see he loved his Mother a lot, and my heart hurt yearned for my own, for the first time in years. "Last Friday, when I was leaving, she actually cried a bit", He chuckled, "She's very emotional at times, my Mom, but that's because I'm still her baby, no matter how old I get, she never stops babying me. Sit on the bed". I obliged.

"She loves me to bits and hates it when I have to travel back to Barcelona alone", He explained, bringing the food in two paper plates. For once, I was genuinely interested in someone's family,someone's mother, and I knew Pedri could see that. "She prays for me non stop before every match, at least that's what my brother tells me", He said, sitting beside me on the bed. His carefree self and simple and childlike language was intriguing and for the first time in forever, I felt myself being strongly drawn to a guy.

"And did you know-"

The ringing of his phone interrupted him, much to his annoyance, as he grabbed it from the night stand before answering. A couple of yeses and a "I'll tell her", later, he faced me.

"I forgot to tell you but you may have to stay with me for a while, the groupies and journalists have surrounded your flat building, apparently", He explained biting into the food.

"What?"

"It's pretty common, especially when it comes to possible romantic partners of young players, you know, but this should die down in a few days".

"You seem to be very used to it"

"I am. Well...sort of, I've seen teammates get stalked by crazy people, they don't respect boundaries and within our close social circle, we don't consider them fans. They're simply obsessed psychopaths".

I nodded thoughtfully, chewing my food. Being a celebrity was hard, I'd realized that when I had to hide my face from the cameras and when I had to run from a seemingly safe place for my safety; even though I wasn't a real celebrity. Fan girls were harder to deal with, than Fan boys, and I shuddered thinking about the hate and backlash I'd receive for just being spotted with Pedri.

What about Gavi?  My conscience purred.

I shook my head hard. I didn't want to think about it.

"You're not from here,I assume?", Pedri questioned. I looked up at him. "Yeah, originally, but I've stayed here for about 10 years". "Your parents?".

I could see he just wanted to get to know me, but it was hurting me to think about them. "They left the country as soon as I turned 16".

"Who're you staying with right now then?"

"Mandy, well..Amanda, she became my legal guardian after I chose to stay behind"

"She's your relative?"

"Nah, we're just friends, I met her a when I was 14"

"Then, if she's your guardian she's a bit old to be called a friend, don't you think?"

"She just turned 21 this year, so not that old" 

Amanda.

I got up and immediately scrambled for my phone, digging into my jacket pocket.

17 missed calls from Mandy. 33 unread texts.

I could feel her anger radiating off of the phone.

I excused myself quickly before getting into the bathroom.

"What the FUCK, Evelyn?!! Where are you!!", She screamed, as soon as she picked up the phone. "Sorry...I had some things come up", I murmured. "Don't lie, Pinocchio, the pictures are ALL OVER THE INTERNET".

"What pictures?"

"Don't play dumb, how could you kiss Pablo Gavi and not tell ME?!!"

I rubbed my forehead in exasperation. "Look, everything happened really fast and I need to-"

A loud thud stopped me ,mid sentence, followed by angry shouts.

"Hello? Evie?", Mandy spoke from the other side. "I'll call you later, I'm fine. Take care of William", I whispered before cutting the call.

I slowly opened the bathroom door as the voices grew louder.

"How could you do that to me?!!"

My heart beat fast as I grabbed a vase which stood on the table beside the door. I peeked around the corner. Pedri was laying on the ground, rolled in carpet, as a guy kicked him continuously. I jumped out, holding the vase above my head, prepared to smash a head, when the guy turned around.

His fiery eyes locked with mine as he grabbed my wrist, snatching the vase with his other hand before throwing it on the bed.

"Gavi", I whispered, my voice trailing off.

Maybe it was the fear or the sudden adrenaline rush, but I could feel the sudden draining of blood from my head as I stood there, shivering.