Snap Out Of It - Alexia Putellas

They Fell For It All

Alexia's POV

I had decided to bake in some foolish attempt to try and forget about Hunter but after looking in my cupboard, I realized that I didn't have any sugar. I knew it would be too late for the shops to still be open but Mapi regularly borrowed things from my house, so I thought to go down to her apartment and ask for some.
It was handy that so many of the players lived in this building, I'd lost track of who'd moved in and out by now - things were always changing. 

But not me, I stayed in my apartment which I'd lived in for years. If anything I was turning back to the past as I looked at my phone with a sister who wasn't replying... again. 

I knocked on Mapi's door, also hoping my friend could calm my nerves slightly, I could feel myself teetering on the edge of panic and once I went there, it was difficult to come back. 

The door soon opened, I looked up from my shoes to see someone who certainly wasn't Mapi, nor even Ingrid. It was the last person I'd wanted to see tonight, Alana. 

Her gaze took a moment or two to settle on me, the smile on her face falling into a look of utter confusion and disgust, "No," she whispered, like I wouldn't be able to hear her, before raising her voice, something so jarring about the blonde's words, "No, absolutely not!" 

The door was slammed in my face, I took a sudden step back, surprised with the force of her action. I took one long deep breath, pulling out my phone and finding Mapi's contact.

It didn't take long until the lines connected, "Hola? Ale?" Someone asked, though it certainly wasn't Mapi and something was strange about their voice too, their tone was laced with confusion, though in my eyes this was a fairly standard event. Maybe not when Alana slammed the door in my face but after doing some research, I realized that she might have been a tougher match than I'd put her up to be. 

Not everything was so bright and bubbly behind those tumbling curls and blue eyes. 

"It is me," I cleared my throat, "Who is this?"

"Ingrid," I heard a clatter in the background. 

"Are you alright?" I checked, wondering what was happening behind the door I was currently staring at.

"Yes," she was quick to reply. Far too quick for her words to be believable. 

"I'm outside your apartment, would you let me in?" I asked. 

Ingrid clearly thought the idea over in her head, before sighing, "Mapi will let you in."

The phone then hung up, a few seconds later the door was reopened, this time by a much preferred face.

"Hey Ale," Mapi stood in the doorway, not completely opening the door.

"Hi Mapi," I furrowed my eyebrows, something felt rather strange, "Do you have any sugar I could borrow, I'm baking a cake."

"A cake?" She nodded, clearly pretending to have an interest, "Of course, I will get it for you now." Mapi went to walk away, leaving me in the corridor but reconsidered, stepping aside, "Just stay here," she told me, pointing to the spot only a couple of steps inside her apartment. 

Something about the smell in the air was so familiar, it almost felt like home until it finally hit me; Nana's paella. It was something I hadn't smelt since the final Arsenal team night, when Jill and I cooked, though she did the brunt of the work. That was the night before Nana died. The night before my world felt like it crumbled.

I almost never thought I'd smell it again.

"Are you alright?" Mapi asked me, walking back with a bag of sugar.