It was time to go back to Spain again. We ended up beating Portugal with four to nil and with that our camp came to an end. There was only one more game left in October before Jill would officially step down as our coach but as for now it was time to go home.
I was waiting on Alexia in the Barcelona airport to come pick me up. I had told her that I could also ask Mapi or Leila to do it but she insisted so I agreed which made me quite nervous.
Alexia and I hadn't really spoken with each other ever since our kiss, well more like our make out session. Besides the occasional text or the 'hey, how are you doing?' There was no communication whatsoever, so I had no idea where we stood.
"Hey there stranger." I heard from behind me. I turned around and there she was, the girl that I so desperately wanted to get over.
"Hey." I was surprised when she pulled me into a hug but I hugged her back nonetheless. I missed her hugs to be honest.
For the first time that I have got to know her there was this awkward tension around us. It never happened before but then again I had never kissed her until a couple of days ago.
"How was your camp?" Alexia tried to make small talk on our way to the car.
"It was alright. It's weird to know that there is just one more game left until Jill officially steps down as our head coach." I sighed out. Alexia unlocked the car when we had reached it and I had put my stuff into the trunk.
"Do you already know who's gonna be replacing her?" She started the car and drove off towards our home once I got in the car.
"Apparently it will be the coach from Seattle." I shrugged.
"And how do you feel about that?" She asked curiously.
"I don't know. Don't know the guy so we will see what it brings." I stared outside the window and the rest from the car ride was spent in silence. Not a word was said and like I mentioned earlier, for the first time since I had met her it felt a bit awkward.
"Finally! How long does it take to pick someone up from the airport?" Was said the minute I opened our apartment door, effectively scaring the shit out of me. Much like the first time I walked into the apartment when I had moved here, I stumbled back into Alexia who held me up.
"Thanks." I mumbled, quickly getting back on my feet.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Alexia asked the Spaniard, currently standing in our living room unannounced.
"Waiting." Mapi casually said like it was the most normal thing in the world.
"On what? To kill me?" I asked while I grabbed my stuff again and walked up to Mapi, Alexia hot on my tail.
"On you!" Leila yelled from somewhere in the apartment, by the sound of it she was raiding the kitchen.
Mapi ignored our friend and pulled me into a hug and welcomed me home. After Mapi, Leila appeared like I had expected out of the kitchen, munching on god knows what and pulled me into a hug too.
"We gave you that key for emergencies only." Alexia deadpanned at the two Spaniards, walking into the living room as well. On her way over she dropped the bags she was carrying at my door.
"It was an emergency. I had to miss my best friend and now she's back so I wanted to see her and I knew you had snacks." Leila smiled proudly at Alexia and showed her my snacks.
"Hey! These are mine." I pointed at the snack in her hand and tried to snatch them from her but failed, making the girl smirk at me.
Alexia just smiled at Leila and mine's antics and moved to the kitchen to get everyone something to drink. Both Leila and Mapi saw this as the perfect opportunity to talk some sense into me.
"Talk to her." Mapi sternly told me.
"What? What are you talking about?" I acted confused. Obviously I knew what she was talking about, I just didn't want to do it.
"You know what she's talking about. Ever since IT happened the both of you are either sad or in a bad mood. Do something about it." Leila instructed me.
Before I could react to either one of them, Alexia walked in again with the drinks, stopping the conversation immediately.
Leila and Mapi stayed for the rest of the evening, only leaving when we all decided to call it a night because the next day we would have a long day of training.
When both the defenders left it got awkward fairly quickly. Usually I would sleep with Alexia but now I wasn't so sure if that was still a good idea so I just went to my room before it got too awkward.
The awkwardness continued on the next day. Only a few words were shared at the breakfast table and in the car on our way to practice.
Patri and Aitana came to the rescue after we parked the car. The duo who I had gotten close with over the last couple of weeks, immediately stole me away from Alexia without giving her a chance to say something and obviously I didn't complain either.
And that's how I managed to avoid Alexia most of the day, teammates stealing me away every five minutes, claiming that they hadn't seen me in a week, which was true. But I couldn't avoid her forever. It was when the coach called for a water break that my luck ran out.
"Hey" the brunette came to walk beside me.
"Hey." I smiled back walking over to the cooler that held the drinks, taking out the one with my name on it.
"Uhm, I'm going out tonight. I hope that isn't a problem?" Just like me she took her bottle as well while nervously looking at me.
"No no no. It's not a problem. It's uhm not a problem at all." I was about to take a sip but stopped mid air and looked at her. I did my best to pretend not to be hurt by it. How could I be, I was the one who basically had set it up.
"Good. I just wanted to check if you were okay with it." Alexia tried to explain herself. I took my sip from my bottle and swallowed the liquid. Alexia watched my every move.
"Of course. I'm fine. I'll walk Nala for you so you don't have to do it when you get back." I smiled at the Spaniard, or tried to smile at least. I walked back to the cooler and dropped my bottle in it, trying to put some distance in between me and Alexia.
"You sure? You don't have to." She followed right behind me.
"Yeah I'm sure. Don't worry. It's fine. I'm fine." At this point I sounded like Ross when he was sipping his margaritas and burned his hand, insisting he was fine when really he was not.
"Okay, great. Do you need a ride home?" The brunette asked me sweetly with hope in her eyes.
"Uhm no no that won't be necessary, thanks. Leila asked to hang out anyway. So I'll be going home with her." I lied to the midfielder. Leila and I had no plans whatsoever but she didn't need to know that.
"Ooh." Was all she said. She seemed to be disappointed by it but I pushed that thought aside when I saw Mapi walking past us. This was my chance to get away so I cut her off before she could say something more.
"Uhm I gotta go. I promised Mapi I would pair up with her today. I'll see you later. I mean I see you in a bit I guess uhm yeah, gotta go." I hurried away towards the defender as fast as I could only to be met with her teasing because of course she heard most of that conversation.
"Smooth, very smooth." She laughed at me when I came to walk beside her.
"Shut up." I smiled, punching her shoulder. She instantly grabbed my wrist and pulled me into her side, giving me a hug.
"Yeah that wasn't awkward at all." Leila piped up from behind us. I groaned at the defender. Of course she saw that too.
"Oh my God, not you too." I hid my face in Mapi's shoulder, laughing. Mapi tightened the hold on my shoulders a bit.
I was thankful for these two crackheads. Mapi and Leila were the first ones I met when I got here and in the short time I had spent in Barcelona they became my best friends, the people I would go to if I needed a shoulder to cry on and in this case rant about Alexia.
"What? I just don't understand why you make it so hard on yourself. You're clearly hurting and it could've been easily resolved." Leila bumped my shoulder with hers. I looked up from Mapi's shoulder and playfully glared at the dark haired girl.
"She's right. I mean it's pretty simple." Mapi backed Leila up, making me roll my eyes.
"Don't say it." I groaned, letting go of Mapi and walking over to a ball to start juggling with it, doing my best to get away from the conversation we were about to have.
"You like her, she likes you. You both just have to accept that and boom. It's that simple." Mapi continued, completely ignoring me.
"No, not boom that simple. It's complicated." I kicked the ball in the air, controlling it again.
"Well because you make it complicated." Leila complained. She walked up behind me and pushed me lightly, making me drop my ball. I glared at the defender while she just sheepishly waved at me.
"Love isn't easy, definitely not saying that it is but you're really good at making it more difficult than it already is." Mapi pulled our focus back to the conversation.
"Geez thanks. Gang up on me why don't ya? Is that all you guys can do?" I looked at my two best friends. Leila took my ball and started doing tricks with it.
"It's in our best friend's contracts so yes. And besides it's a best friends duty to laugh at your face when you're making stupid decisions like you're making right now." She juggled the ball and passed it to Mapi, who passed it right back laughing at my face.
"Waw, geez thanks for the support. Oh by the way we have plans." I pointed at Leila.
"We do?" She looked confused. The Spaniard was wrecking her brain about what kind of plans we had made and if she had forgotten something.
"Well we do as of now. I'm coming over." I took my ball back, pushing her away, making her stumble over, making Mapi laugh.
"Ladies get to work!" Our coach yelled at us, making us jump.
"Yes coach." We all took our places and continued our training.