Like Real People Do - Jill Roord

Home Is Always Going To Be Home

Hunter's POV

"They are really something," Ona shook her head, still slightly surprised by the forwardness of my teammates, as she pulled out of the car park. 

"Trust me," I sighed, "I know."

"But you're still enjoying Arsenal right?" Ona looked towards me, asking carefully.

I quickly nodded, "Yeah, I love it. And okay, the girls are a little annoying sometimes but I do love them."

I always knew Ona listened to every single word I had to say, she always felt interested, "Okay."

"Why'd you ask?"

"No reason," She shrugged. 

A playful smirk crept onto my face, "You want me to join United huh?"

Ona rolled her eyes, "no. You'd be lucky for them to take you."

"You'd be dreaming if you ever think I'd accept" I shot back.

"Noted," Ona nodded, though I could tell that wasn't the real reason why she'd asked.

"Why'd you really ask Ons?" I tilted my head. 

Even if I'd never confided in Ona, and barely opened up, I had this trust in her. Ona felt like this sea of calmness with the sun reflecting brightly onto the surface, it was refreshing yet brought peace upon the world. I knew she had a good heart, it couldn't be questioned, but we'd never been together long enough to get onto those deeper topics recently.

"I was just thinking about something," She responded quietly.

"What?" 

Ona sighed, "I was thinking about going back home."

My eyes widened slightly, my stomach dropping, "Wow," I breathed.

"What?" Ona grew anxious, "You don't think it's a good idea?"

I gulped, shaking my head, "No it's not that, I just didn't expect it, that's all."

"Do you ever think you'd come back?" Ona asked as we pulled up to a restaraunt.

No. 

Yes.

I didn't know.

I wanted to but I didn't. Everything about that question confused me because Barcelona would always have been the place that raised me, both Ona and I were born and bred there. We wouldn't be the players we'd turned out to be without Barcelona. My friends were there, my family, so much that I loved.
But also so many reminders of the things I had loved; the things I'd also lost. 

So maybe I did want to eventually return, maybe I'd never wanted to leave in the first place, but I had. And returning didn't feel like a choice, it felt like an option I'd packed away a long time ago. Realistically the choice would always be there, I knew they'd take me, but the choice didn't ever seem possible in mind. It wasn't that I didn't want to, it's that I didn't think I could.

I shook my head ever so slightly, looking to the floor, "I don't know."

Ona led us into the restaraunt, it was a sweet little tapas bar, I think she knew the both of us needed a small taste of home. 

"So are you leaving United?" I asked her, leaning slightly across the table.

Ona tilted her head to and fro, "I don't know. I don't think I've finished my journey with them just yet, but one day I'll go home. It's never been a question in my mind."

"You thought I'd go with you?" I assumed, it was a sensitive topic but I was willing to let Ona in.

We'd known one another for as long as I could remember, we'd both trained at the Barcelona academy, in the same age group, so we had grown up together. Ona had seen me at my worst but we'd never had the relationship to dwell on our emotions, she would just try and bring me up to my best again.