Sunsets and footballers

Alexia Putellas x Character (17)

She felt the guitars and wondered which was her favourite, or if perhaps it was the piano sitting alone. The studio was set up well with a sound booth as if to properly record music and she wondered if she had. She went back out to the control room outside the sound booth and looked through the music on the shelves. There were vinyls, she smiled at the CD's – how millennial of her – and then sat down at the desk in front of the Mac.

Although Ridley had said she was welcome to anything and everything, she did feel a little like she was intruding. Regardless, she made her decision and clicked on the touchpad. The screen lit up. There was no password, surprisingly, it just went straight to the desktop. Alexia searched around hesitantly, hoping to find some music, any music. At least that's what she tried to convince herself. Really, she knew what she was looking for. And... she found it. A whole file of it. Ridley's music.

She hesitated again, her mouse icon hovering over the first file. She connected her headphones to the computer and clicked on that first file. And then there it was, the sound of an acoustic guitar softly being played. She closed her eyes and leant back into the chair, listening to the gentle way Ridley was playing the instrument, as if expressing her emotions from the deepest part of her. Alexia could feel her mind calming, her body relaxing and then... her voice. Like she'd never heard it before. She'd heard her playing loudly for crowds at Javier's with a band. She'd heard her do covers. But she'd never heard her like this. Vulnerable. Passionate. Almost whispering. Her voice husky with emotion. She sung in Spanish and again, Alexia found herself crying and feeling everything Ridley was at the time she'd recorded it. Oh, Ridley. Was music her only escape?

The song ended and Alexia was a mess, sitting in the darkened room, her eyes red and puffy from the tears she'd allowed to escape. Or rather, the tears that Ridley's voice had drawn from her. She moved her mouse icon to the second file and went to click when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Alexia yelped and jumped in her seat, getting the shock of her life. Ridley?

She spun to an older man looking guilty. He spoke, but she couldn't hear. She pulled her headphones down and stood.

"I'm so sorry," he apologised in Catalan.

"You....you're..." she hastily wiped her tears away.

"I'm one of the housekeepers, Benjami. Lovely to meet you, la Reina."

"Alexia, please. Lovely to meet you." They shared a Spanish hello as another man entered the room.

"Alexia, this is my husband, Richard."

"Hello, ma'am." He responded in slightly less comfortable Catalan as he smiled.

They were adorable. Ridley had mentioned they were a couple, but not a gay one.

"You're both Catalonian?"

Benjami shook his head. "No, I am, however Richard is English."

That explained Richard's limited Catalan.

"He move here for I," Richard explained.

"Oh..." She didn't know what to say. She felt like she'd just been caught, and that she had too many questions to ask. "Where did you meet Ridley?"

"In Barcelona," Benjami explained. "My sister and her husband are housekeepers of her home in the city. Richard and I lived there for a long time, and decided it was now fair to spend time in his home too. Ridley offered us this job a few years ago and it's the best thing that's happened to us."

Ridley... how on earth did she think she was 'not good'? She was the definition of good.

"I'm so sorry for interrupting you. I didn't see your headphones."