Back To The Beginning | Marco Reus/Erik Durm

Chapter 2

"Staff meeting in 10" She smiled, nodding at Marco. He smiled politely back at her.

"I better go" I mumbled, playing nervously with my fingers.

Marco nodded, looking down at the ground.

"Yeah, bye" he said, meeting my eyes.

We looked at each other for a moment, before he turned around, running towards the pitch, out to the others. Mario put an arm around Marco and pulled him into a hug. It made me smile.

They were good again, which made me happy. I knew how hard it had been for Marco, not having him so close as a friend. I was glad, they were back to normal.

I let my eyes glance over the pitch, as they caught Erik. It made me smile, as I saw him running around. It was his first trip with the national team, a dream come true for him, I knew that. It had all gone very fast for him, from getting his debut on the u19 team, to the u20 and u21, and now suddenly, he was here. I almost cried when he told me about it, I was so proud of him, so actually seeing him here, was a very big deal for me.

***

I was packing my things together, as the sun kept burning on my back. Gosh, I hadn't prepared myself for this heat. I felt how someone blocked the sun on my back, so I turned around and met Marco's eyes. He sent me a little, but crocked smile.

"Hi Mila"

"Hey Marco" I smiled, biting the inside of my cheek.

"Kind of surprised to see you here" he laughed, making me laugh.

"I know, football journalist, who would have thought?" I laughed, shrugging my shoulder.

"Not me! What happened?" he laughed, calmly.

His laughter was almost too calm. How could he be so calm? I was freaking out. I licking my lips, feeling my hands shiver.

"I learned the rules" I joked, making him giggle.

Marco licked his lips, before taking his cap off, letting his fingers run through his blond and sweaty hair. The tension between us got a little weird, as none of us knew what to do or say.

"So how are you?" Marco asked.

"I'm good" I smiled, nodding. Marco tilted his head, looking at me.

"Yeah?" he asked, keeping his gaze on me.

Weird.

"Yeah. I pulled myself together, you know. I'm a lot happier now" I said, but bit my lip, when I realized that was kind of mean.

"How are you?" I hurried, sending him a strained smile.

"Good, good. Happy to be here" he smiled, and I nodded.

"Yeah, it's kinda crazy" I laughed.

"And who would have thought you'd be here too" he laughed, still not believing it.

"I know, I know. I actually started running too" I nodded.

"Wow, you really changed" he laughed, I rolled my eyes at him.

We shared a laugh and it felt good. You know, it was one those laughs you share with a stranger. Like if a kid in public says something stupid, that's just too cute and you accidently catch a stranger's eyes and you laugh together. It was like that. In this laugh, we didn't have a history together, no one had gotten hurt, nothing.

"Yeah, my mom's happy that Erik could kick my butt and make me start running" I laughed, but then realizing what I had done.

Marco stopped laughing, and so did I. We weren't friends, I couldn't share this with him. Marco didn't even know about Erik. Big mistake Mila, big mistake. Marco played a little with his hands, before finally looking at me again.

"So you still hang out with Erik?" he asked, biting his lip.

I took a deep breath, calming myself down. I thought about lying, but it wasn't like that had worked out very well with Marco on the past. Besides that, he was probably going to notice at one point, so I might as well be the one to tell him. Like ripping a band aid of.

"Uhm, actually-" I started, biting my lips. "He's my boyfriend..." I finished.

I had to gather courage to look at Marco again. His face was blank; I couldn't spot any emotions at all. He stayed quit for a bit, but I knew he was thinking.

"Oh okay. Well I... I'm happy for you" he said, actually quite surprising.

"I'm sorry, I didn't want to rub it in your face, but it was better you knew-"

"It's cool, really. I'm... back with Carolin" he said, forcing a smile.

I knew, I had no right too, but I got hurt. It hit me, more than is should have. But it showed me I was right, he never really got over her and I was just the rebound, I guess. I had to take a deep breath, before I could answer him.

"Oh, I see. That's good" Was all I was able to say.

Marco nodded, he didn't have anything to say either. It was a stupid question, but this awkward tension was worse, so it just slipped out of my mouth.

"Is she here?" I regretted it the moment I'd said it.

I didn't want to know anything about her, I wouldn't want to know anything about anyone who was with Marco, because in the very back of my mind, when I looked at him, I still saw him with me. I know it's completely wrong, but I did.

"Uhm, not right now. Maybe later, she couldn't get off from work" he said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Oh, I'm sure she will make it" I smiled.

Why did I say that? That was just stupid, get a grip Mila.

"Yeah, I guess" Marco said, a bit confused.

I cleared my throat, just a desperate try to make the awkwardness go away.

It pained me though, not just that we didn't make it work, but that I had lost Marco as a friend. I had let him into my life, let him get close to me and now he wasn't even my friend. He broke that trust, when he ripped out my heart, but maybe I didn't necessarily miss him as my boyfriend, but I missed him as a friend. I missed being able to talk to him.

I was about to say something, when Erik walked up to us. He sent me a glance, because he didn't know I'd told Marco about us, but I nodded at him.

"Hi love" Erik said, as he got up to us. I smiled at him, as he kissed my cheek.

"Hey Marco" he said, and nodded at him.

Was drama about to happen? Something in my stomach screamed it would.