𝗛𝗘𝗔𝗥𝗧𝗟𝗘𝗦𝗦 / 𝗚𝗔𝗩𝗜

twenty six

"The bus is here at 3." I groaned as I pushed Gavi off of me.

"And what time is it?" He asked in his raspy morning voice his eyes still closed.

"It's 7 am," I mumbled and pushed him on the edge of the bed.

"Stas if you push me off I'll kill you." He suddenly opened his eyes and I stabilized my head with my arms.

"You look cute after you wake up." I noticed and I saw him blushing. He quickly buried his face into the sheets.

"Stop" He mumbled against the sheets and I laughed as I sat up. I assume Gavi heard that I sat up and then lifted his head again.

"Can't we stay in bed?" He requested but I stood up anyway. I walked over to his side of the bed and he sat up.

He pulled my hips closer to his own body and then wrapped his hands around my waist.

"oh shit," I mumbled as I ran my hands down on his back. He looked up at me and furrowed his brows.

"What?"

"Stand up real quick" I took a step back and looked at his back as he turned around. I ran my fingers across the red marks. "I'm sorry" I mumbled.

"What?" He asked again, confused. "Oh, the marks? It's fine, I like it." He realized and turned around.

"You do?"

"I love it, I love it when you lose control over yourself." He said and cupped my face.

"That's not a good thing tho," I said and he smiled a little.

"Why isn't it? You're being yourself, doing what you feel like doing and I find it really hot" His hands slid down to my hips and he pulled me closer to himself.

I hugged him and buried my head into his shoulder. "Do me a favor." I began and looked up at him. "Win today."

"I'll win" He whispered against my neck as he buried his head in my shoulder.

—

"I'm gonna be sick," I mumbled as Enrique sat down next to me.

"60 minutes, no goal. We're not concentrated. Every attack goes through." Enrique mumbled and shook his head.

"As long as we don't concede any goals," I mumbled and looked down at my iPad.

"What do you have?" He leaned closer to me to look at my iPad. I showed him the results I noted.

"What about moving Gavi up to the left wing and having 4 in the attack?" Enrique looked at me.

"That would leave only 2 in midfield. Can't do that while Pedri isn't playing his best." By the loud noise in the stadium, we both looked up.

"I'll take down Gavi, he's tired," Enrique mumbled again and stood up. He sent someone else to warm up.

After speaking to the referee he turned around and waved me towards him. I went over to him immediately.

"Soler." Was my answer and he nodded. The referee held up the sign and I saw Gavi coming down.

He sprinted down and I went back to the bench. He gave everyone a high five and then as he was in front of me, I stood up.

"Anastasia I'm full of sweat," Gavi whispered as I hugged him. I buried my face in his shoulder and then moved away again.

"Here" I threw him a water bottle and he caught it with his right hand. He sat down next to me on the bench and looked to the field.

"I'm sorry." He muttered as he threw the water bottle on the ground and I turned to face him.

"What are you apologizing for?"

"I didn't play good enough. I could have stayed those 90 minutes." He mumbled and I shook my head.

"I don't care how you play, as long as you play and have fun I don't care," I answered and then saw Enrique walk over to me.

"We're gonna take down Ansu, who are we sending?" Enrique asked, I looked at my iPad and then up at him again.

"Let's make Morata play."

"Good, okay. Thanks." He walked away and sent Morata to warm up.

We kept watching the game and then eventually went into extra time. Some chances were created but nothing much.

Then Penalties. I hate penalties the most.

We watched each of us miss and then Hakimi to the ball.

"It's over," Enrique whispered when Hakimi scored the final penalty.  I sunk into my seat while I watched the Moroccan team run around and celebrate the win.

I saw Pedri sit down on the floor before he came over to us. Gavi also stood up and just zoned out.

I went over to hug Pedri as he came closer to the bench. "You did good." I tried to lighten up the mood a bit but in this situation, you certainly couldn't.

Pedri wrapped his arms around me and buried his head in my shoulder. I heard him breathe heavily quite a few times before he let go. He flashed me a quick smile and then went over to the bench.

I don't know where Enrique was but I couldn't focus anymore. The pain that I felt was unbelievable and I never would have thought that a team I joined 1 week ago could matter so much to me.

"Good game," I said to a Moroccan player who came over to the bench to dab everyone up. At least he has some respect.

"Stasia." I heard someone say and as I turned around I realized it was Enrique. "Come over here, please." He said and I saw that his eyes were slightly red.

"Go down with the team and-" He said and shut his eyes for a brief second. "and tell them everything I usually do. Please." he asked me and I nodded. I walked down the tunnel and then knocked on the changing rooms.

Everyone was mostly there as Gavi opened the door. "Is anyone naked?" I asked and he looked back and then shook his head.

"No," He says silently and I nod as he opens the door.

"Hey everyone." I clap my hands and gain everyone's attention. They all sit down and then look at me.

"Luis informed me to talk with you guys. However, I think he'll be back later." I began and I felt everyone looking at me.

"Great first half, ball possession was perfect and we put them under pressure which led them to making mistakes," I said and tried to look at every one. "In the second half, we ran out of energy and motivation. However, we had a great ball possession. The ball got lost in the midfield often which is very dangerous. That's also why they almost scored a goal on us."

"The penalties. The penalties were something, we all know that you all were under pressure. The whole stadium was full, we have a lot of younger players here, and after all, this is a World Cup. We also know that the keeper is good at his job which made it a bit more difficult." I continued and then nodded my head.

"Does anyone have anything else?" I asked again and everyone shook their heads.

"Okay, I'll meet you guys later."