the sun always rises || dybala

06: behind the curtains

She giggled a little. "Kidding. It was about your upcoming match this weekend."

"Y-You got me there, Charlene." He threw a couple of finger guns at her.

Don't get Paulo wrong, but he actually loves going to English tutoring. He actually gets to learn from someone who explains it clearly, and he gets to spend time with Charlene. "Did you eat yet? I brought you cookies," he slid the tray over to her. "Do you like them? Or do you like chocolate chip because I can run over and—"

"No, Paulo, it's fine," she chuckled, "but thank you."

"Oh, thank God," he put a hand to his chest, making it look as if he were out of breath, "I didn't know what kind of cookies you liked. But...you like pink frosting?"

Charlene chuckled once more. "Yes, I like pink frosting. You didn't have to get me cupcakes in the first place, Paulo." It's not that often you find a person like Paulo who genuinely enjoys learning and cares about Charlene as if she were the goddess of life. All the boys Charlene knew in school were utter trash and disappointment.

Like this boy in her calculus course in university named Nathaniel. He was a complete dick, honestly. Took poor Chars out for a date and left her sitting at the table when he said he'd get the check. Lord knows where the hell he went.

Of course she never told anyone about it. It was demoralizing. And four years ago.

"Oh, no-no problem, Charlene. I just wanted to, uh..." Paulo froze for a second, looking at the ground, his mind going through all the words in his head. "I want to show that I care. About you!" He pointed at her, fingertip jabbing into her shoulder. "Because you are," awesome, beautiful, amazing, "cool."

"Um, thank you?" Charlene's never tutored anyone who comes to visit her on days where she doesn't have to tutor. Or brings her little snacks daily. Or actually says that they care about her. Not like she minds. "It seems like you really like coming to visit me whenever I'm not busying tutoring you."

"Yes, uh—wait, do you not like it? Do you want me to stop? I can visit when you are tutoring Mattia—"

"No, it's fine! I kind of...like having company. It gets lonely here," she admitted.

Oh. "But can I still visit when you're tutoring Mattia? I like to annoy him because he's dumb."

She shrugged. "I don't see why not," she said as Paulo whispered a joyous yes! "Is there something between you two because he told me that you're dumb."

"No, no, he's dumb, and he knows it," Paulo stated, firm and proud. To be honest, it's just about Paulo not wanting to give Charlene's number over to the lovestruck Mattia De Sciglio. "Am I...annoying you? Do you want alone time? Because I can leave!"

"No, it's fine! I actually prefer not being alone," she told him, switching tabs on her computer to a blank Google doc. "It gets really lonely here, and I kind of don't have any friends because I just moved here like, last month."

He frowned hearing her say that she didn't have friends. She had him! She will always have him. "Aw, well—we're friends! Right?"

"Yeah, but you know, I'm not really surprised. I didn't exactly have friends back in Croatia."

Paulo scooted closer, just a little bit so he wasn't invading her personal space. "Spill the tea."

"So I had a friend named Natalija back when I was in school, and we were cool...or I thought. She started getting close to other people, reaching out, leaving me out to dry, and after we finished school, she just dropped me. Right after I moved for university."