I wasn't a morning person at all so waking up at 5 am was torture for me. I had luckily packed everything last night so I got ready quickly. Marc was perfectly on time to pick me up.
"Morning my naughty girl," he said, pecking my lips.
"Morning babe" I grinned.
"Eric is joining us too by the way" Marc informed.
"That's awesome! I'm one lucky girl to be accompanied by the handsome twins" I smirked.
Marc chuckled and we got into his car. I was slowly getting nervous. I was scared that everything would change once I tell Marc the truth.
We joined the team at the airport soon. I saw Neymar wearing his huge Beats headphones and playing with his two phones. We soon boarded our planes and I was seated next to Sergi.
"Olive right?" he smiled.
"Yes, Sergi right?" I asked.
"Yeah, that's me," he winked.
"Are you playing today?" I asked, referring to the match.
"Yes I am and I'm excited," he said.
"It'll be my first Barca match and the first match I'm going to photograph," I said.
"Oh wow, double exciting then," he chuckled.
Sergi and I chatted some more about today's lineup and stuff. He was very easygoing and a fun guy to talk to.4
"I'm going to take a little nap" he eventually said.
"Alright, sleep tight," I said.
I grabbed my phone and accidentally opened instagram. I saw that I had gained a lot of followers. I remembered the day Neymar made this account for me and smiled, looking at my first picture of us together. It had over 10k likes by now, which was crazy! I looked for Neymar on the plane and finally found him sitting next to Eric. He seemed to be asleep with his headphones on. I had to tell him that I was going to tell Marc the truth so I decided to text him.
"Hey Neymar, it's me, Olivia. I need to talk with you. Can we talk after the match please?" my text said.
I slid my phone back into my pocket and decided to get some sleep too. A warm kiss on my cheek woke me up sometime later.
"Wake up baby," Marc said.
I squinted my eyes and groaned.
"We are in Andalusia!" he grinned.
We got off the plane and waited at the baggage claim for our bags. Eric joined us a few minutes later.
"Hey, Eric. It's nice that you are joining us too," I said.
"I decided to come and support my twin here," he grinned and patted Marc's shoulder.
"He loves Andalusia, that's why he is joining us," Marc laughed.
"That too," Eric grinned.
We suddenly heard a female voice squealing. "Neymar!"
The three of us turned round and saw Thais jumping into Neymar's arms. They started kissing passionately, almost eating each other's lips.
"What's Thais doing here?" I asked.
"Ney's girl?" Eric asked.
"Yeah," Marc said.
"She is hot," Eric said.
"She is a bit odd," Marc added.
"Our luggage is here," Eric said.
We picked them up and were about to head to the bus when I hears someone call my name.
"Olive! Hey girl!" Thais shouted, a little too enthusiastic.
"Oh hi," I mumbled.
She embraced me and kissed me on my cheek. I saw Neymar behind her, looking a little awkward.
"How have you been?" she asked like she had missed me or something.
"Good thanks," I said.
"Still with Marc huh?" she asked.
"Yes, still with me," Marc grinned and hugged me from behind.
"Cute," she winked and held Neymar's hand.
"Your twin is also here?" she asked, looking at Eric.
"Eric Bartra, nice to meet you," he said.
"Thais," she said, hugging him.
I looked at Neymar and his eyes met mine.
"Let's go, babe," Marc said, kissing my cheek.
"Yeah," I mumbled and headed to the bus with Marc.
"Do we share a room?" I asked.
"I wish. We are not allowed to share a room with any female during matches," he groaned.
"So I'll get my own room?" I frowned.
Marc shrugged. I sighed and hoped I wouldn't have to share my room with for example Thais. She seemed nice, but there was something odd about her like Marc had said. The bus dropped us off at this luxurious hotel. The coach gathered the team together, leaving Eric, Thais, and me together.
"So where do we stay?" Thais frowned.
I shrugged.
"Maybe we'll be roommates," she winked.
"Olivia," Alberto suddenly called.
I walked to him and he handed me a key card.
"You can go get settled in your room and get some rest. I'll call you when we are leaving," he said.
I was glad that I didn't have to share a room with Thais. I told her and Eric that I was heading to my room to get some rest. My room was on the 6th floor and it was a cozy room. I checked my phone and saw that Neymar hadn't replied yet. I hoped he would soon though because I needed to let him know that I was going to tell Marc the truth. I sighed and lay on the bed. I wasn't entirely sure anymore if I should Marc the truth today. If they won, I would destroy his well-deserved victory and happiness. If they lost, I would only cause him more pain. My phone vibrated, waking me up from my thoughts.
"Babe, which room are you in? I'm on the 3rd floor, room 371," Marc texted.
"6th floor, room 611 and I got a room for myself." I texted back.
"Need to explore your room together after winning today ;)" he texted back.
"Someone is thirsty!" I texted.
"Tease me all you want, because when I get my hands on you, I'll make you beg ;)" he said.
"Match first you dirty boy :P" I replied.
"We have a team meeting right now babe, good luck to you today! Take some sexy pictures of me, will you?" he said.
"Thanks, baby! Good luck to you and the team! Go kill the enemy!" said.
"Check your hand luggage, I left a surprise for you! Love you honey" he texted.
I was intrigued and grabbed my bag immediately. I opened it and found a Marc Bartra jersey.
I put it on, took a selfie, and sent it to Marc with the message, "Supporting my sexy man!"
"More determined than ever to win!" he texted back.
I felt so happy on one hand, on the other hand, I kept thinking about telling Marc the truth and how he would react. I was scared of losing him and the happiness we shared. I was truly a lucky girl to have him and I hoped and prayed that Marc would forgive me.
Alberto called me later on and we headed to the Estadio Nuevo Arcángel. It was only a few minutes from the hotel. Alberto showed me where our place was, which was next to the goal. He set up the camera and did some test shots, before signaling me to do some test shots too. My hands were trembling slightly because I was nervous but I pulled myself together and took a few test shots. The camera felt amazing in my hands, but it was all about the perfect lens settings and focus to get the perfect picture.
"Take your time to set everything up, Olivia. It's your first time and you might be nervous, but breathe in the atmosphere during the match and just go with what you are feeling at that moment," Alberto advised.
"Thanks, Alberto, I will not let you down," I said.
I continued to set everything up and did some more trial shots.
The stadium slowly started to get filled up with fans. I took a few pictures of the stadium, to begin with. There were more Córdoba fans since the match was taking place at their home ground. I was enjoying the atmosphere, however, because I had never actually been to a professional football match. It was all very exciting for me and before I knew it, the match was about to start. I kept Alberto's advice in my mind and just went with the flow. There were photographers to my left and right and I felt honored to be there, among the professionals. I put my skills to use and took as many shots as I could. The game was going slow, well from my point of view. There were a few fouls here and there, but there was no real threat from both sides so far. I looked for Alberto during halftime, but I couldn't find him anywhere. I went through the tunnel and hoped to find him inside. There weren't any signs inside however to show me which way I had to go to get to the photographer's room at this stadium. I decided to walk back to the field, but then I spotted Neymar coming out of some room further away.
"Neymar?" I called.
He turned around and saw me.
"Have you seen Alberto?" I asked.
He shook his head.
"Oh okay, thanks. Good luck out there, I hope we win," I said, smiling.
He smiled and said, "Thanks, Olive. Good luck to you too today."
"Thanks," I smiled.
"Nice jersey," he said, looking down at me.
"Er...yeah, thanks," I mumbled.
"Always team Bartra huh? Anyways see you," he said, quickly.
"See you," I said.
He walked off, heading to the tunnel. After a few minutes of wandering around and failing to find Alberto or the photography room, I headed back to the field too. The teams changed ends so I was near the opponent's goal now. I was excited about that and hoped one of the guys would score, preferably more than 1 goal. Juan Carlos stood near the goal, warming up a little. I knew nothing about him or his skills, but he couldn't be better than Bravo or Ter Stegen for sure, I thought. The second half started. Barca was more aggressive now, which unfortunately led to a few yellows for the boys. Messi, Suarez, and Neymar were unstoppable, but it didn't lead to any dangerous goal shots. Córdoba's defense kept blocking the famous MSN. Barca was trying to score during the second half, while Córdoba focused on the defense. The minutes ticked by fast. There were only 10 minutes left, with maybe 3 minutes extra time. I held onto my camera nervously, because I wanted to be ready for the perfect picture if the boys scored. I was also tensed up because I wanted them to win this first match of the season. The boys had trained hard for it and I think they might have underestimated Córdoba a little. I saw Iniesta passing the ball quickly to Suarez, who tried to get passed the defensive players. They were blocking his path, however, so he quickly passed the ball to Messi who was free on the other side of the field. Messi caught the ball with great precision and headed straight for the goal. He saw that he wasn't at a good angle to score, so he sneaked the ball through the feet of one of the defenders and passed it to Neymar. Neymar thundered the ball into the corner of the net and Juan Carlos couldn't reach it in time.