'Bienvenido a Barcelona' that's what the sign said when I walked the halls of the Barcelona Airport. After months of waiting and preparation, I'm finally here. Not gonna lie, I'm slightly nervous.
I was walking around the airport trying to find my way to the exit. I only had a backpack and a small suitcase strolling behind me.
I was patiently waiting for Alexia to pick me up when I felt someone tuck my shirt. Turning around I was met by this cute little girl. She must have been six, maybe seven.
"Are you Eleanore Queen?" She shyly asked me.
"Yes I am. What's your name?" I crouched down in front of her.
"Emanuela." She blushed
"Waw, that's a pretty name for a pretty girl." I smiled at the young girl who beamed at my comment.
"Is it true you're going to play for Barcelona?" She eagerly asked.
"It is, that's why I'm here."
"Yes! ¡Mami, ella va a jugar en el Barcelona! ¡No es genial! ¡ahora van a ganar la liga de campeones seguro!" (Mom, she's going to play for Barcelona! Isn't amazing? Now there definitely going to win the champions league!) The little girl turns to her mom excitedly.
"I know mija, Isn't it great?" Her mom smiled at her excitement before turning to me. "I'm sorry for her excitement. You're her favorite player." She apologized.
"No worries. It's fine." I laughed. "So your mom tells me you're a fan?"
"I am. You and Alexia are the best players in the world and now you play for my favorite team too!" She grinned.
"You think I'm the best player in the world?"
"Of course you are. You were twelve when you got recruited by the Arsenal Academy, you made your debut with the senior team at the age of fifteen. In that debut, you gave two assists and managed to score as well." She rambled on.
"You were called up for the US Women's National Team in 2016 after the Olympics making you one of the youngest call ups in their history. This summer you became the 'player of the tournament' of the world cup. You scored eight goals and assisted twelve. So yes, you are the best player in the world." She finished her rant with a smile.
"Wow, you may think of me as the best player in the world but I'm pretty sure you're the best fan in the world. You seem to know me better than I know myself." I chuckled at the girl.
"You're my favorite so I'm supposed to know these things about you." She said, like it's the most obvious thing in the world.
"Well I don't have a Barcelona kit just yet so this will have to do." I grabbed an US training jacket, cap and jersey out of my bag and put them on her. "There you go." I stepped back and looked at her.
"Mami, Mami look! How cool is this?! Now we're twins." The girl pulled at her mom's shirt and then looked back at me to point out I was wearing the same jacket and hat like I gave her.
"I would really like to invite you both to one of the Barcelona games? Maybe I can hook you up with some Barcelona gear then." I smiled at the girl again.
"That would be so cool! Mami, can we go!" She pleaded with her mom.
"Of course, if it isn't too much trouble for you. We don't want to be a burden." The mom told me.
"Of course not! It's settled then. Just email me at this address and I will forward you all the details." I handed her mom a card.
"Thank you so much for doing that." The mom thanked me again.
"Na no worries." I shrugged her off. "How about a picture before I go?" I looked at the girl, who jumped at the opportunity.
I crouched down next to the girl and looked at the camera for the picture when I made eye contact with a certain brunette. For a brief second I lost my focus and stared at the girl who was patiently waiting for me at the door.
I focused back at the little girl next to me and made some silly faces to make her laugh more before we eventually took a picture together. I said my goodbyes and strolled towards the Spanish player.
"Hey hermosa, how was your flight?" I dropped my bag and walked into her awaiting arms, taking in her scent.
"It was okay. Glad I'm here though. It was a long flight." I mumbled into her shoulder, making the brunette laugh.
"Yeah, I'm glad you're here too. I've missed you." She tightened her hug and kissed me on the top of my head.
"I missed you too." I remained in her arms for some more seconds.
She reluctantly pulled away to look at me. "Ready to go home?"
Home.
"I am." I grabbed my suitcase again and followed after the Spaniard who had grabbed my free hand to drag me along.
"Someone's eager." I laughed at her antics.
"It's not everyday you get to take home a hot girl." She briefly looked back with a smirk on her face.
"You better get used to it because you'll be taking me home from now on." I winked.
Alexia had a satisfied smile on her face that faded once I said the next part of my sentence.
"Until I find some place for myself and then I'll be out of your hair." I felt her tense up for a split second, not thinking anything of it.
The car ride was spent singing and laughing. Even though I hated singing in front of people, without being drunk, I didn't mind singing for Alexia anymore.
"You're really good with kids." She suddenly broke the silence without looking at me.
"I guess I'm okay." I shrugged my shoulders.
Alexia scoffed. "Take the compliment. You're great with kids. They always seem to like you as far as I've seen. It was really cute what you did."
"She's a big fan of yours too by the way. I invited her to one of our games." I looked at her.
"I'm looking forward to meeting her." She simply said and parked the car.
Getting out of the car I went to grab my bags but Alexia beat me to it. She got my suitcase out of the trunk and smiled at me, making her way towards the elevator pushing the right button for her floor.
She opened the door and held it open for me. Without thinking anything of it and thanking her for being so chivalrous, I walked to the living room.
"WELCOME HOME!" People suddenly jumped up out of nowhere, making me fall backwards into the strong arms of the athlete behind me.
"Oh my God what's this?" I was shocked.
Alexia chuckled at my surprise. She helped me stand up properly again but never let go of my waist completely. There was always one hand remaining, either on my hip or on the small of my back.
"Yeah sorry about that but the girls forced me to throw you a 'welcome to Barcelona' party and a 'congratulations on winning the world cup' party." She awkwardly scratched the back of her neck.
"You do realize that I beat most of the people in this room right? I'm one of the twenty three reasons they didn't fulfill their dream." I told her in a hush voice that was full of panic. What if they hated me after kicking some of them out of the world cup?
"They don't hate you if that's what you're worried about." Alexia chuckled, not really easing my worries.
"If you say so." I mumbled.
"Stop being a scaredy cat. Vamos!" She pushed me further in the room.
"Hey I'm Maria Pilar Leon but you can call me Mapi." A blonde girl with a lot of tattoos walked up to me first.
I thought she was going to shake my hand but she pulled me into a hug instead. The feeling that it gave me surprised me though. It's not that I don't like hugs, because I do. It's just that normally I don't like physical contact with people I don't know but for some reason this hug wasn't uncomfortable or weird.
"Uh Hey, Eleanore Queen but call me Ellie." I introduced myself and we pulled away from our hug. "I love your tattoos."
"You do?" She seemed surprised.
"Yeah, they're cool."
"You've got any yourself?" She looked intrigued now.
"I do. I have three but they're small ones." I held out my hand to show the ones on my wrist. "I like to get more but I kind of have a hard time finding a good artist that I trust."
"Totally get that. Getting the right artist is very important."
"I love the ones on your hand." I pointed to the ones on her hand.
"I did those myself." She showed me her hand proudly.
"Really? It's beautiful."
"A lot of practice. My friends let me practice on them so I can not get all the credit." She laughed.
"Well if you want you can practice on me too from time to time." I smiled.
"Really? You just said you don't trust easily."
"You seem like someone I can trust." I shrugged my shoulders.
"I have a feeling we're gonna get along just fine." She gave me a warm smile.
"Allright Leon stop hogging the newbie. We all want to spend some time with her before Ale here steals her away again." A dark haired woman came towards us, pushing Mapi out of the way and wrapped me in a hug too.
I released a chuckle upon hearing Alexia grumble and at the funny behavior from the girl that I knew was Leila.
"Hola hermosa, I'm Leila Ouahabi and you can call me anytime." She released me from the hug, making me laugh at her opening line. Alexia didn't seem to find it all that funny. Normally the only one who called me hermosa, was her and it turned out she didn't like to share that nickname.
"I'll keep that in mind. It's nice to meet you." I smiled at her.
"It's nice to meet you too so you're the hot star midfielder of the US that kicked us out of the tournament?" She smirked at me.
"Yeah sorry about that." I sheepishly laughed at her.
"It's fine you can make it up to me." She seductively wiggled her eyebrow.
Alexia, who hadn't left my side, scoffed. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her roll her eyes.
"How would I do that?" I played along.
"I'm sure we'll figure something out. Now straight to the million dollar question, are you gay?" She bluntly asked me, making me laugh and some others scolded Leila.
"Leila!" Mapi gave Leila a soft slap before turning to me. "But are you?" Their curiosity made me laugh.
"Who knows, impress me and you'll find out." I wiggled my eyebrow at Leila.
For a split second she was shocked, not expecting that reaction but she composed herself quickly and a smirk appeared on her face.
"I like you." She pointed at me. "Challenge accepted." I laughed at her. Barcelona ain't gonna be that bad.