end up here ≫ marco reus

018

From: MaR1989@hotmails.de

Sent: Monday, July 1, 2014, 10:28AM

To: ELO135@yahooh.com

Subject: RE: no subject

We're boarding now. I'll see you soon! Unless you forgot to pick me up. In that case, send me your address, then I'll find a taxi and make sure he won't scam me, because I don't know how to speak French. I practiced a little while we were apart, okay?

Love you.

---

MARCO

"Marco!" I hear somewhere on my left. I see Eloise's small figure running up to me and hugging me tightly, "I missed you so much!" I kiss her forehead, pulling my suitcases behind me.

"You didn't forget to pick me up from the airport," I smirk. She stomps me in my side playfully.

"Of course I didn't, that would be insane," she tells me, "Let's go."

"Did you pack your bags yet?" I ask her when we're in the taxi to her apartment again. She looks at me.

"Of course I did, they're at my parents place already," she says. And then raises and eyebrow, "I didn't tell you yet, but we're going to my parents place, my sister is there too. They really want to meet you."

"Well, I wasn't prepared for that," I say. I was wearing sloppy clothing and I didn't even do my hair well.

"You look great, my family will love you," Eloise says. And I take her hand. "I'm really happy to see you again, Marco." She said that in German and she made around 5 mistakes in that small sentence, but I understood her and it was such a good try. I smile.

"I'm happy to see you again as well," I say and look through the window and see houses pass by. "Where do your parents live?"

"They live in a small town somewhere near, don't worry, we'll be there soon," Eloise says, "How was your flight?" She squeezes my hand a little and I smile at her once again, thinking about how nice it would be to spend the night together once again, and not having to sleep in my bed all by myself anymore. And it would be so nice that she would be coming with me to Dortmund.

"So you must be Marco," a tall, lean, grey man walks up to me. He smiles and grabs my hand.

"I am," I say, "Marco Reus." I say that when shaking his hand. He introduces himself as Jacques Paquet. His English is really bad, but it's good that I understand a few words of French.

"This is my wife, Nadine Paquet," he says and gestures to a small, lady standing a few meters behind him. She waves at him, mumbling something in French and then moves back to the kitchen. "Don't worry about her, she's busy with the dinner for tonight and knowing that she'll have to cook for another person, only stresses her out a bit more." Both Eloise and I laugh and I ask her where her sister is.

"Rosalie will probably arrive tomorrow, I don't know. Maybe she won't arrive at all, and travel to Paris straight ahead, we'll notice," she says, "Let's get your bags upstairs, shall we?" She gestures to the stairs and I follow her. She opens the first door on the left and I follow her into a room smaller than her apartment. Two big suitcases are already in the room and I place mine next to hers. "I packed more than necessary I think. I followed the German team a bit and it looks like they're playing really well, so I hope they will make it to the finals."

"I hope so as well, they don't know we're coming though," I say and sit on the bed. "It will be fun, I assure you."

"It sure will be, my father seems to like you," Eloise says.

"Your parents seem like genuine people," I mention.

"They are really supportive of my decisions and they don't mind me traveling to Dortmund at all, if that is what I really want."

"That's really nice of them, I wouldn't be the guy to snatch their daughter away from them," I say.

"Not at all," Eloise says, "I don't know why they would even think like that, they just want me to be happy and if that's in Germany, that's fine with them. I could always go back to France, you know. It's not the end of the world."

"You're right, you could also have moved to the United States, that would be quite a bit further away," I say, "Besides, you could even go to Dortmund with car, if you like to drive and if you're not in the mood to go by plane or something."

"Exactly, but I think I prefer planes over cars," Eloise says, "Let's go downstairs, my parents are probably going to go out, run some errands, and then I can show you the house."

"That's fine, but first, let me kiss you," I say and get up. I press my lips against hers and pull her closer to me. "I missed kissing you."

"I like kissing you, but I think I missed your hugs and cuddles at night just a bit more," Eloise grins.

"I missed those too," I say and my arms drop to my side and I find hers. "You look really nice today, did you know that?" I wink and she smiles back at me. She's wearing a Reus jersey, probably on purpose, and under that a cute skirt with black leggings. Playful and young, but neat at the same time.

"I actually did that on purpose," Eloise winks.

"I guessed that," I smile.

Today is the day of Eloise's graduation. I was wearing a suit and tie, extremely fancy, and something I didn't particularly feel comfortable wearing. Eloise was wearing a short, tight dress, hair up and looking very pretty. She was holding my hand tightly. She couldn't sleep at night and we spent the entire night talking about whatever bad could possibly happen that would result in her not receiving her diploma. The conclusion was, that nothing could possibly happen, because she did all she had to do, and they had no reasons to not give it to her. In the end she calmed down a bit, and around 5 in the morning she fell asleep. We had to wake up around 8 again, because Eloise had made a hair appointment, and then she had to get her make up done, and a lot of other things. Actually, the majority of the day was spent making Eloise look extremely gorgeous and I would join her in that, and assure her that she did indeed look very pretty.

"It's time," I tell Eloise, when we're at her university and we have to part ways. She is supposed to be sitting at the front row, while her sister, her parents and I are seated a few rows behind her. I kiss her and then follow her parents to our assigned seats. The meeting with Rosalie was rather awkward though. Rosalie was very critical of me at first, not really believing that I actually wanted to be with Eloise, because in her eyes, Eloise was not pretty enough. It had angered me a little, seeing how much that comment had hurt Eloise. Rosalie was very beautiful, sure, but Eloise was more beautiful in my eyes.

Especially by the time her name is called out and she walks up onto the stage and takes her diploma. I have to hold back and not shout out her name, but I'm actually low-key proud of her. I wish I could have supported her years ago, but now I'll be able to support her in the next years to come, back in Dortmund. It will be great spending our years together there. I have no regrets how these past few weeks have gone, even though it would have just been great if I were the one playing in Brazil. But after Summer passed away, and my life went downhill, I can say that's pretty good right now. I'll do anything for Eloise to make this relationship work, and that's all I know. I'll do anything to not let it all go bad again.

"I'm so proud of you, Eloise," I say in my super bad French. She, and her family, laugh at me. And I'm not sure whether it is my French, or whether they are really proud of her as well. She is glowing and proudly holds her diploma and stands next to me. It's time for the millions of pictures that will follow, with all her friends, and with me and her parents and her sister and her. I kind of enjoy the process. I just generally enjoy looking at Eloise.

By the time we're home at her parents' place, we immediately get to the airport, because we have to catch a late night flight to Brazil. Which would be a great holiday for the both of us. Eloise deserves it, and I just want to see my team win in Brazil. I just want the fourth star for Germany. And I hope die Mannschaft will be able to make that happen and Eloise and I will be there, sitting on the front row.